Chapter 37

A deep groan left Lucas's mouth as he slowly awakened from his slumber. While his vision was a little blurry, he found himself focusing on the white ceiling above him. Instead of stiff and itchy grass, he found himself lying against the soft and much more comfortable bed and pillow. A puzzled look crossed his face as he silently lay there for a few minutes, trying to figure out what happened, how and when he got into his room, and why was his right arm was killing him. Silently rising and leaning over his bed, Lucas readied himself to go and find his mom for answers. Until-

"Ouch."

The words left his mouth as he tried to get to his feet, but a sharp pain and sick sensation made him sit back down. His eyes landed on two crucial things that caused his heart to beat faster. The first was that someone had changed him into shorts, and the next was the sight of his entire right arm covered in bandages all the way up to his bicep.

"What the hell happened?" He mumbled to himself while focusing on his arm. He tried to touch it using his other hand and felt it tense up, and jerk as a jolt of pain spread throughout it. He saw blue sparks dance off of his fingers before moving and then fading back into his arm.

"Ouch," the words left his mouth as he could see and feel his arm slightly twitch and throb.

"Okay. Easy does it." He told himself as he pushed himself to his feet.

After a few fumbles, he managed to hold his ground and walk steadily. Before reaching his bedroom door, he looked at himself in the mirror and entirely stopped. Ever since he started his training and tried to juggle his job on top of it, he's barely had any time to look at himself in the mirror. He was blown away by some of the showing progress. He had muscles forming along with a visible six-pack.

"Whoa," he let out in disbelief.

Lucas was nearly speechless at how much progress he's gotten within one entire month or two. He then examined the bandage on his arm and was shocked at how tightly they wrapped it but still allowed him to move.

"Right. Find mom." He spoke out loud, remembering his main task.

After throwing on a shirt and slowly going downstairs, he went straight into the kitchen, where he guessed everyone was. To his surprise, he saw his mom, Martha, and Amay sitting at the table, giggling to one another.....Well, Martha wasn't laughing but had a slight smile on her face. He also noticed that they had gotten Chinese again.

"You're awake!" Elizabeth gladly said, taking a bite of her Singapore noodles and coughing from the seasoning. She quickly placed her fork down, rose from her seat, and went to the fridge to receive something.

"Yeah. Uhm. Would you mind filling me in on what happened and why my arm is wrapped up ?" He asked as he watched his mom grab a cup from the refrigerator. He noticed that she had bandages around her stomach while quickly walking towards him.

"Drink this, and I will explain." She told him in a serious tone before presenting the glass to him.

Lucas hesitated for a moment but grabbed the cup with his left hand. He noticed that it was a weird color of green. Puke green was the only color that came to mind, and to make it worse; it even had a smell that made him think it was puke.

"What....is it?" He hesitated to ask.

"Short story. It's something that will help speed up your healing and restore some of your strength." Elizabeth said in her casual tone as she leaned against the island. She crossed her arms as she waited for him to take a sip.

Lucas looked at the sludge and then back at his mom. He took a deep breath as he brought the cup to his lips and braced himself for the worst. As the sludge touched his tongue, his eyes went wide, and he started to chug the drink. Instead of having a weird or disgusting taste, it tasted like mint with bananas. Before he realized it, he drank all of it. A small burp escaped his mouth as he realized the aftertaste was horrible.

"Uh. What was that?" Lucas asked again.

"It's a homemade healing juice," Elizabeth explained. "Like I said earlier, it's supposed to speed up your healing and restore some of your energy. It's mainly going to help with your arm." She finished before pointing at his bandaged arm.

"What happened? Did I do something bad?" Lucas asked as he was becoming uneasy with the fact he barely remembered what happened. No matter how hard he tried, the memories were fuzzy, and he just remembered the sensation.

"Calm down. It's nothing major..sorta." She said, raising her hands at her son to get him to relax. "You expressed what we like to call Over Mana Congestial Strain or O.M.C.S. for short," Elizabeth added. She saw the perplexed look on her son's face and then sighed.

"Have you ever heard of something called Hysterical Strength?" She asked.

"Is it those situations where people become really, really strong in life or death situations?" Lucas inquired.

"Yes. That's something that allows you to push past your normal limit. Well, magic users have that as well. When we are in a situation that feels dire, we experience that boost. Well, some experience this, not all." Elizabeth stated. She took a deep breath before continuing. " When this happens, we experience a significant boost in magic. This allows us to channel it into something, usually our bodies at that moment, then it ample it. Either in attack, defense, an element you use, weapon, etc. The effects are quite impressive. " Elizabeth said, giving credit to it.

"Whoa. That doesn't sound too bad.." Lucas said, actually thinking about it.

"That's where you're dead wrong. Over Mana Congestial Strain is the effects that happen on your body afterward. It sorta blocks your into of magic depending on where you channel it and damages your body if you use it." She stated before moving to look at his arm. She watched as her son grabbed his arm a little. "If you allow it to happen too much, I won't, nor anyone else will be able to save those limbs. Or you might not be able to use magic again." She coldly told him the truth.

Her words nearly gripped Lucas's heart as he couldn't help but swallow. He finally worked up the courage to ask her. "Am I going to be alright? Will I still have my arm and be able to use magic?" He asked as a cold sweat went down his back. His heart began to beat faster as he waited for her answer.

"No. You should be fine in roughly three days to a week at the most. I was able to heal a great deal of the damage, but your arm needed bandages and a chance to heal independently. Your magic will come back small, but it should be back to normal within that time frame." She reassured him with a soft smile. "That means your training is on hold until you get better."

An audible sigh could be heard from Lucas as he grabbed his chest with his left arm. "That's a relief," He said with a rattled chuckle.

"You do need to be careful. This is the first time it got this bad." Elizabeth said, slowly unraveling the bandage around her stomach to show him the damage he did. Her stomach, while healing, had a crater-like scar that was still heavily discolored from her normal skin tone. The worst looked to be focused where he first made contact with his fist.

"We are both lucky that I am a lot stronger and magically skilled than you. However, this is isn't good. I should be clear up in another hour or two." She told him.

"Mom...I'm so so sorry. I didn't mean...Oh my god." Lucas said with utter shock and tears in his eyes.

"I know, sweetheart. I need you to understand that while you have gotten stronger, you need to keep at your training to gain better control of your power. It would be best if you control your emotions a little more." She softly told him as she rewrapped her stomach up. "Don't beat yourself up over this. I was the one to provoke you, and we both didn't know it was going to happen. I should not have gotten carried away like that. So we are even, okay?"

Lucas paused for a moment taking in what she said and the wound he caused. He needed to have better control of his abilities. He cursed himself out in his mind as he let out a sigh.

"Yes, ma'am." He said dejectedly. He then felt his mother's warm hands wrap around him and push him closer to her heart.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm still proud of how far you have come within just a short amount of time. You are doing well, but you still have so much to learn." She softly told him. She could feel his left arm wrap around her in a hug as he started to relax. Elizabeth then pulled back and smiled at her son. "Now stop being sad and come eat with us. We were just getting into a good talk."

"Yes, ma'am," Lucas softly chuckled as he did feel a little hungry. While all this was processing in his mind, he began to make a mental note of him needing to work harder, and he would not allow himself to stoop so low again.