“Understood.” Naomi coiled her braid upon the crown of her head and affixed it there with pins. “Bond with the gel, then split the mana as I pull it into my Heart. Got it.”
Scorio squeezed her arm. “You’ll see. It’s intuitive once you get in there.”
She gave him a hopeful, nervous smile, then doffed her robe so that she stood only in her undergarments. She sat and sank her legs into the pool. “Ew!”
“Ew?” protested Nox.
“Here I go.” And Naomi slipped into the pool.
The gel closed over her with barely a ripple, and his own memory of the experience returned to him. The crystalline latticework that the gel provided, the way it had felt so right, so refreshing, easing his fractured Heart’s pain.
He unstoppered the heavy bottle, crouched, and began to pour the liquid Gold mana. He could feel its stunning power even as it slipped into the pool, mana coalesced into fluid form, so rich that he felt a shiver of desire, an overwhelming urge to draw on it himself.
The Gold flowed into the gel and slowly spread out, hiding Naomi’s blurred form completely. Scorio tried to keep the pour at a slow and steady rate, and felt his heart pound as he considered Naomi’s plight.
As Flame Vault Gold mana was no longer as lethal as it might once have been, but it would still strain her ability to control it, to burn the mana, to prevent her Heart from cracking.
Silver would have been preferable, but there hadn’t been any Silver at hand.
And knowing Naomi, the very danger itself would provoke her to her best performance.
“Naomi draws the mana,” croaked Nox, waddling up to the pool’s edge. “She is very talented. Is working it faster than you did.”
“Yeah,” whispered Scorio, keeping the bottle steady. “She’s pretty incredible.”
“Why Scorio not take Naomi as mate?” This time the toad sounded pensive, genuinely confused. “Naomi cares for Scorio.”
“I care for her, too.” He stared down into the Golden pool. “But… something holds me back.”
The toad took a while to digest this. “Nightmare Lady supreme predator.”
“She sure is.”
“No. Nox say that Nightmare Lady is supreme predator.”
Scorio glanced at the toad. “I know. I heard you.”
“Scorio listen but not hear.”
“What?” The bottle wobbled in his hands and he returned his focus to it. “No, I heard you. She’s really fast, really dangerous. Completely lethal. I can’t imagine how incredible she’ll be as a Dread Blaze, or even higher.”
Nox rocked from side to side, his frustration manifest. “Is Naomi Nightmare Lady, or is Nightmare Lady Naomi?”
“How so?” Again Scorio glanced at this friend. “I mean, Naomi turns into the Nightmare Lady. That’s an expression of her power as a Great Soul. The Nightmare Lady is her power, just like my scaled form is mine.”
Nox’s quirked his great head, and Scorio felt the Imperial Ghost Toad focusing completely on him. “Is favorite friend Scorio sure?”
“What are you saying? That…” Scorio tried to fathom the toad’s intent. “That the Nightmare Lady is… what, the real Naomi? And Naomi is… the Nightmare Lady’s power?”
Nox rumbled deep in his chest.
For a moment Scorio considered the possibility, then he laughed. “Sorry my friend, that’s not how Great Souls work.”
“Then why favorite friend Scorio afraid?”
“Afraid?” Again Scorio laughed, but this time it sounded shaky. “I’m not afraid. Not of Naomi. She’s…” He tried to find the right words. “She’s amazing.”
Nox rumbled again.
The last of the Gold mana poured into the pool, and Scorio set the bottle aside. He probed at the gel, and felt Naomi channeling the mana beneath the surface. But was she splitting the stream? His mana sense wasn’t fine enough to tell. “Is she doing it?”
“Yes,” said Nox. “But dangerous. One stream narrow, other broad.”
Scorio moved his head from side to side, as if a different vantage point might afford him the ability to pierce the opaque pool.
The surface rippled abruptly. The shadow within thrashed, stilled, thrashed again.
Nox warbled worriedly.
Absorbing Gold at Tomb Spark was akin to staring at the sun. At Flame Vault? Marginally more palatable, but he’d poured so much into the pool…
Naomi jerked violently within the pool again, causing thick, stubby waves to splash over the edges.
“Enough.” Scorio plunged his arm into the gel, caught hold of Naomi’s arm, and drew her out.
She emerged with a gasp to flop over the edge, half-in, half-out, chest heaving. Gel oozed down her body, viscous and gleaming.
“Naomi?” Scorio caught hold of her under the arms and heaved her all the way out so she could lie on her side.
Her eyelids fluttered, she worked her mouth, then forced herself up to sitting with shaky arms.
“Hey.” He crouched before her. “What happened? Your Heart?”
“Not… shattered.” For a moment she just hung her head, then gave herself a shake and met Scorio’s eyes. “That was… it felt like trying to guide a stream of burning oil with my hands.”
“Really?” Scorio sat cross-legged before her. “When I did it the Sapphire was intense, but the gel controlled it, made it… I don’t know. Pliable?”
“Sapphire would have been far too much.” She wiped gel from her face with the edges of her palms and flicked it away. “Maybe this pool was more potent, seeing as Nox’s about to make his next level?”
“Maybe. But did you get a sense of the technique?”
Naomi smiled, the expression fierce. “Yes. I did.”
He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Excellent. Now you just need to practice splitting the stream by yourself without the gel’s help.”
Naomi bounced her knees in excitement. “Let’s go meditate and never stop.”
“Favorite friend Naomi pleased?” Nox leaped back atop his rock, slowly edged his way around to face them, then settled. “Make Dread Blaze now?”
“Naomi very pleased,” she replied. “Thank you, favorite friend Nox.” And she placed both hands on the floor and bent low from her cross-legged position.
Scorio stood. “We might be leaving the Fury Spires soon. The Great Souls in charge of the battle with the Blood Ox will be heading back to the Telurian Band. We’ll probably go with them to try to reach LastRock. Where do you go from here?”
“Nox journey to Radiant Pools of Gold. Wondrous mating party in Lustrous Maria. Long journey. Dangerous. But first Nox find perfect location to Ascend to Emperor Wraith Toad. Nox leave now.”
“Sure,” said Scorio. “But now we can find each other. We’ll probably be heading in the same direction.”
“Agreed,” croaked Nox.
“Will the pool work if you’re not here?” asked Scorio.
“Not long. Two, three Bastion days. Imperial gel decay.”
“Alright. Can we bring Lianshi and Leonis?”
Nox bobbed his head. “Favorite friends welcome.”
“Thank you. Ready, Naomi?”
“Hmm?” She blinked. “Oh. Yes.”
“Were you already working on the technique?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions. Let’s go. I can meditate while you do your social rounds.”
Scorio bowed to Nox. “Thank you, my friend. For everything.”
“Be safe, favorite friends. Acherzua as dangerous as she is beautiful.”
“We will be.” Scorio hesitated, wondering how he could put his affection for the toad into words. “I wish you the best of luck in the mating pools. May your mastery of Quantics be as legendary as the death you pursue.”