Chapter-67 Versatility

The damp earth still clung to Frederique's bare feet as she walked back toward her apartment, her shoes long forgotten somewhere in the forest. Morning light cut through the thinning fog, painting pale streaks across the narrow streets, yet the chill in the air lingered.

Her mind, however, was far from the cold.

' Eldritch Prime.'

The name echoed in her thoughts, the memory of the flame, the water, the mist still vivid beneath her skin. The raw feeling of holding the elements themselves had left a strange, lingering ache in her fingertips, as though the power had settled there, just waiting.

She clenched her hand experimentally. Nothing responded... no spark, no ripple.

Only silence.

Frederique exhaled, frustration biting at her chest. She had summoned it before. Felt it. But it had been delicate, fleeting. The primal energy she touched had been… modest.

She thought of the other Changelings she'd trained with. Lira, with her uncanny grace, always dancing just out of reach as if the wind itself bent to her will. Eirlys conjuring spears of jagged ice with a flick of her wrist, the air cracking with frost. Even Vorn the swamp-troll, who could conjure a thorny snare that left her struggling for breath the last time they sparred.

' They command their elements so easily. And me?'

The truth gnawed at her.

Eldritch Prime wasn't as powerful as the Arts she'd seen the others wield.

She couldn't summon a pillar of flame like a true fire-touched Changeling.

She couldn't shape the water into spears or freeze it into jagged ice.

She couldn't make roots erupt from the ground and bind her enemies.

She couldn't raise walls of stone or launch boulders with thought alone.

She couldn't ride the wind like Lira or cut with invisible blades of air.

Her steps slowed as she reached the edge of the city, the looming buildings swallowing the last traces of the forest behind her.

But then she stopped.

Stared down at her hands.

' What can I do?'

The memory of the flame flickering in her palm returned.

Small.

Modest.

But steady.

' I can make fire.'

Not a roaring inferno to burn a battlefield…but enough to start one.

Enough to light a torch in the dark.

Enough to warm herself in the cold or scorch someone if they got too close.

The water she summoned had been barely a handful... but pure.

Clean.

' I could summon a drink when I'm dying of thirst. Or put out a small fire.'

The wood she conjured had been no more than a sturdy plank.

But it was solid.

' I could shield myself. Block a knife. Create a barrier for cover.'

The stone had crumbled when she tried to shape it further.

But it had weight.

' I could throw it. Smash with it.'

And the wind…

She hadn't conjured a hurricane, but the gust had been enough to disrupt the fog.

' I could blind someone. Knock them off balance. Cover my escape.'

Frederique's heart began to race.

' I can't master any one thing. But I can do…a little of everything.'

The ache of her power wasn't a flaw.

It was versatility.

She imagined it like a toolbox. No single weapon of overwhelming strength... but a dozen smaller tools, each with its purpose.

' No. It's not weaker. It's broader.'

The realization settled deep in her chest, pushing back the lingering frustration. The others excelled in overwhelming force, mastering a single element with precision.

But hers…

Hers was adaptable.

' And I can make it work.'

She reached her apartment complex, climbing the stairs two at a time, still barefoot. Her body ached with exhaustion, but her mind burned with the possibilities.

' What if I combined them?'

Fire to heat wood... no, char it for a smoke screen.

Water combined with earth... mud, slippery and blinding.

A gust of wind to hurl a burning branch.

A stone shard propelled by sheer strength... small but deadly.

The versatility wasn't just a weakness. It was a puzzle. A game of combinations.

But there was still a limit.

' I have to touch it.'

Each time she'd summoned an element, it had been close... within reach of her skin, just a flicker of existence she had to call into being. Not like Eirlys, who could launch her frost spears from across a battlefield. Not like the Vorn's vines, which burst from the ground wherever he willed.

Eldritch Prime needs proximity.

That meant no long-range attacks. No massive area destruction.

She was…hands-on.

Frederique paused at her door, the lock stiff beneath her fingers. A different thought crept in.

Hands-on was dangerous. It meant being close enough to strike.

But it also meant…

' Close enough to bite.'

A sharp smile crept onto her lips as she stepped inside, shutting the door behind her.

The familiar hunger stirred again... not just the endless ache in her stomach, but the darker hunger for conflict.

Frideria's presence shifted.

She felt it... faint approval.

"You begin to understand."

Frederique didn't respond.

She didn't need to.

Her Art wasn't weaker.

It was just…waiting.

And when the time came, she would show the others exactly how versatile Eldritch Prime could be.