Chapter 84

(Cyrus POV)

It's been a couple of weeks since we helped out lady Arya with the Hollow Branch cult. I would have loved to get moving again, but my father and Lady Arya insisted that I rest up no matter what I told them. When we got back to the grove, Lady Arya immediately got us to a safe and secure place within the large astral city.

It wasn't long before my eyes regenerated and returned my sight, thanks to the Scale of the Eternal Hydra. Surprisingly, it took longer for my eyes to heal compared to an arm or a leg. I knew my father was absolutely up in arms once he saw my condition. He didn't leave my side at all, and Lady Arya was helpful as well. I couldn't tell if it was because she cared about my well-being or if it was because she wanted to rekindle things with my father. Nonetheless, I was thankful. She also had gone out of her way to grant me a large supply of celestial cores to maintain my reserves while in my fused form.

During this rest period, I took time trying to understand my Gravity Well minor ability. I had found it to be difficult compared to activating my first ability—where all I had to do was flood cosmic energy into the first rune of my tattoo and boom, the gravity around me would increase. But when I activated the rune now, I could feel that there was something else I could do, but it took more intention to access this second part.

"I wish I could enter my Nexus and see if Dox potentially had any tips for me," I muttered to myself. "Hold on—he did say something to me earlier actually… What was it?"

Pacing back and forth in the room Lady Arya had prepared for me, I tried everything I could to jog the memory. Until it finally hit me. "He said that sensing the gravity fields around me now will be of great help to me… But how does this help me?" I thought as I walked out the door to head over to the open field of grass that was attached to this nice, secluded residential area.

Laying down in the middle of the astral grass connected to Lady Arya's compound happened to honestly feel better than lying in the bed I was given. It was almost like I was lying on what I thought clouds would feel like. I found myself wanting to get lost in the comfort as the breeze gently glided across my body, soothing me. But I knew even though this seemed like the time for it—I couldn't. I was fully healed now, and I needed to continue working on honing my abilities.

I propped myself up from my prone position and got into the meditation position I was taught years ago. As the wind curved around my ears and tousled through my freeform locs, I felt the deep sense of calm and balance take over. I began to enter my Gravisense state. I felt the gravitational fields of everything around me flood my brain with information. I felt the distortions of the vines dangling from the room, I could feel small astral rodents native to the grove run around. I could also feel the distortion of two celestial cores from a nearby room. But I did my best not to pay too much attention to them—I just needed to be present in the experience. Every time I entered this state, it became more natural for me to maintain and understand. It was the only thing I could really do while I waited for my eyes to heal.

I let myself stay in the state for what felt like five or ten minutes before I moved on to my next course of action. I poured cosmic energy into my first rune. Normally, without Gravisense, I couldn't notice the effect. Now I understood. It was like the air around me somehow gained more mass and just exerted its pressure. The environment felt dense and heavy. But it soon faded back to normal when the five seconds were up. I repeated this several more times, trying to study every characteristic of this invisible concept.

After several cycles, an idea spawned in my head. I decided to place my blade down in front of me, still maintaining Gravisense. Channeling cosmic energy into my rune once more, I could now feel how the blade was affecting the space in the area—making it bend beneath it. Through my visualization, I tried to unbend the space as if I were reaching out with a mental hand and just popping it into place. At first, I felt a great deal of pushback. But the harder I tried and the more I concentrated, I felt the space start to give to my will. Then, there was no longer a bend, and the blade in my sphere of influence began to float weightlessly.

"Hey Cyrus, I don't know what you're doing, but could you not terrorize my little critters in my yard please?" A soothing, elegant voice said from behind me. I turned around and saw what she had meant. The little rodents were suspended in the air, trying to escape for dear life. I immediately let my ability fade and caught the little creatures out of the air.

"I'm sorry about that, I kind of lost myself in my training," I said, trying to plead my case.

"Don't worry, hun—I was really just teasing you, the creatures do seem to be in distress" Lady Arya said to me as she brought me something to drink. "By the way, what exactly were you practicing? I was sensing a great deal of pressure, then it just faded instantly. Like the area just became really light and almost hollow."

"Wait—you don't know? I could've sworn my dad mentioned it to you, with all that time you guys have been spending with each other in that room of yours. You know these rooms aren't soundproof," I responded jokingly, as I watched Lady Arya's face turn bright red and flush.

"Don't worry, miss… I was just teasing you," I continued as I gently took the cup from Lady Arya and started my break, laying in the soft astral grass, enjoying my rest and gazing upon the various stars and planets in the astral realm sky.