Kalen sat on a fallen trunk eating a portion of berries. Beside him on one side, laid a small assortment of edible leaves, on the other a pile of seeds.

Since exiting the cave he had relied on Sarah's knowledge of the forest to encounter food. Besides the most basic options which he could collect while walking around, there weren't many alternatives left for him. He had no idea how to hunt, and with his still limited understanding of wielding he would probably get himself killed even if he tried.

Learning how to wield anima was considered a long journey, with teenagers beginning their training early. Kalen might have studied to become one unbeknownst to him, but he still needed to practice and explore the almost infinite stimuli-trigger able to create manifestations. In other words, he needed to gain insights into a plethora of phenomena wielders usually took years to.

As night fell Kalen meditated and discussed several concepts with Sarah, then began learning some of the basic manifestations which would help him survive wild life.

'So when wielding anima,' Kalen said, stacking the firewood in a cleared area and then lighting the fire with his own anima. 'are we always influencing the energy particles in the atmosphere? Even when the manifestation is a physical or sense enhancement?'

'Correct.' Sarah replied. 'The brain alone isn't able to enhance our body's capabilities. It needs some sort of fuel to override the limits biology normally imposes on humans. The energy particles which we have called 'vital particles' are that fuel.

'By channeling them through our blood stream we are able to temporarily affect the many different biochemical reactions happening inside our bodies. Think of it as some sort of glucose, albeit much more potent.'

Kalen paused. 'I guess that explains why I felt such a stronger effect on my enhancements after I deepened my connection with Gaea.'

'That is what differentiates the caliber of a wielder.' Sarah said. 'The deeper your connection the stronger your manifestation will be. Before, you were only wielding instinctively. Now you are starting to know exactly what you are influencing, which will allow you to tap into a much larger concentration of energy.

'Take influencing elemental energy particles as another example. Your connection will determine the magnitude of the phenomena you are triggering, and there is a big gap even between wielders who specialize in that type of manifestation. As you can imagine, someone would need more than a few fireballs to defeat another wielder who can create mini blizzards around them.'

'Mini blizzards?' Kalen asked apprehensively. 'Is that much power common between wielders?'

Sarah chuckled. 'Don't worry, it's not common per se. I just used it as an extreme example. But, there are wielders who reach that pinnacle. You can expect all of the gods to be able to influence the environment in some sort of extraordinary way. Many descendants and other talented wielders as well. Let me show you.'

Sarah shared a memory of one of her manifestations and Kalen saw her trigger countless flame pillars. As she expanded her influence over the phenomena, the pillars eventually turned into a wildfire, consuming its surroundings with frightening speed. What was most impressive to Kalen, however, was the white color of the flames created by her.

In a radiation spectrum, the closer to white the flame hue emitted is, the higher the temperature. That is a result of the proximity between the flame region and the fuel. The sheer amount of influence over the atmosphere to produce enough fuel to constantly blaze at such high temperatures was mind blowing to him.

'Please,' Kalen said, throwing a handful of seeds into his mouth. 'Tell me there isn't anyone out there capable of controlling fire even better than you.'

Sarah laughed. 'My humble nature won't allow me to say that.'

Kalen rolled his eyes. 'Fine, I'll be satisfied with just the implication them.'

'Expanding the comprehension of the phenomena we're able to trigger is paramount to wielders.' Sarah said. 'It is the difference between a common soldier and an elite commander. If I was able to reach that level, than others who are just as committed can as well.'

Kalen paused, staring at the fire and having his thoughts drawn to his parents. Trying to guess which manifestations they commonly relied on and if they were as powerful as Sarah was.

He imagined his father would be the brawler type. Specialized in close combat to some extent and using other abilities to aggressively pin his opponents down. Maybe Kalen was putting his father in too big of a stereotypical role because the man was so well built, but it made sense in his opinion.

His mother, on the other hand, Kalen could only picture as a doctor. She had always been in charge of the clinic in Iroyama, and now Kalen thought it was impossible that she wasn't using anima to help the residents there. The realization made him feel even prouder of being her son. He had to also expect her to be proficient in some aspect of combat manifestation, he just had no idea which one.

Could mother control fire, ice or lightning? Maybe she was a deadly assassin with stealth abilities. Kalen laughed internally at the idea of his lovely mother slitting the throats of her targets like a kunoichi.

'One detail to keep in mind, Kalen,' Sarah said, cutting the imagination of his parents' abilities short. 'is that strength of manifestation alone won't always determine the outcome of a clash between wielders. I am sure you have been taught to recognize that by your parents.'

He nodded. 'Ingenuity, adaptability, endurance, both physical and mental, are just some of the aspects of any clash which can overcome an existing gap in strength. I imagine it isn't different just because anima is added as another variable.'

'Exactly,' Sarah said. 'If anything, anima makes it even more nuanced. It is sad for me to have to admit it, but that was my downfall. I am dead because I failed to realize how far my opponent could go to accomplish his goal.'

'Decided it's time?'

'I suppose it doesn't make sense to continue avoiding it.' She said.

Dropping to the ground, Kalen leaned his back and head on the fallen trunk. Then he closed his eyes and was soon back in his mind space, his own soul projection sitting beside Sarah's.

'Ready to handle my imprinted emotions again?' Sarah asked, looking at him with a gentle expression.

Kalen nodded.

'As I mentioned before,' She said. 'I was investigating irregular gates. These rare anomalies are pockets of unstable reactions between spatial and temporal energy particles. They always dissipate on their own, but investigators had never been able to determine what triggers them, nor the destination of the matter that crosses the threshold.

'A friend of mine in the Northern city belt of Vilzen found one by accident. He then contacted me after being instructed by one the continent's officials to only quarantine the area and wait for its own dissipation.'

Kalen frowned. 'That's odd. I would imagine investigators would want to prioritize studying them every time one showed up.'

'My thoughts exactly.' Sarah said. 'After speaking with my friend, I went to my mother to understand their reasoning. She told me the matter was being handled by another official, which obviously, didn't satisfy me. And here is where I made my first mistake.'

'Let me guess.' Kalen interrupted. 'You politely asked her to be so kind as to share with you who it was.'

'Sometimes I hate how smart you are.' Sarah said, thinning her eyes. 'Well, we both know I did the very opposite of that. My relationship with her had already deteriorated too much — and there were other underlying issues — so our conversation didn't go so well.

'After she refused to tell me who it was — saying I would only jeopardize the already volatile political atmosphere of the continent — I gathered wielders I knew were interested in that kind of phenomenon and led them to Vilzen to investigate.'

'Without informing her?' Kalen asked.

Sarah nodded. 'For quite some time there had been strange movements from an organization opposed to the rule of the gods. In several occasions where their plans had been thwarted, pursuers failed to captured any of the attackers. It was as if they had all escaped through a gate to a safe location.

'However, there were never records in any of the official warping gates that could help uncovering that mystery. I even asked people I trusted to check the gates for residual signatures of anima, fearing they might have been tampered with, but nothing came up.'

'So you started to suspect they figured out how to use irregular gates.' Kalen concluded.

'It seemed like the only other possible explanation.' Sarah said. 'I matched the reports of irregular gates' appearances and the dates of attacks, and finally found a connection. It was a flimsy one, and it didn't cover all of the attacks, but still, it was a lead.

'Problem was, since I couldn't trust the officials without knowing if one or more were working to aid that organization, I decided to be ready with my team to ambush anyone that crossed the irregular gate as we studied it.'

'Bold.' Kalen noted. 'But also risky.'

'We thought we had taken every possible precaution.' She said. 'Aside from a combination of some of the most famous wielders of Novarus, I couldn't see us being defeat by any force. When they finally appeared we were ready to ambush them. And it was going just as we planned.'

'But something changed the status quo.' Kalen said.

Sarah nodded. 'The white eyed descendant appeared. Not from the gate, but behind us. His movements and abilities were on par with mine, sometimes I wonder if not sharper. The way he was able to kill some of friends... I knew instantly he was a trained assassin. I also realized the insurgents were only bait. That the one being ambushed was in fact me.'