Chapter 81: First Failure!

Ashanti swallowed and nodded.

She stepped forward until the tips of her boots hovered just shy of the cliff’s edge, the ocean yawning beneath her like a living abyss. The wind pulled at her hair and wings, carrying with it the deep, rhythmic pulse of mana that rolled endlessly beneath the waves.

Jax took a single step back, giving her space without withdrawing his presence.

“Slow,” he said calmly, “You don’t need force. Think of it like… asking. The mana is yours to control,”

Ashanti closed her eyes beneath the silvery band.

She inhaled and then exhaled, her mana shifting constantly.

At first, it was subtle, tendrils of pressure extending outward, probing, brushing against the surface of the sea like invisible fingers. The water below reacted instantly. Ripples widened into spirals, currents bending unnaturally as something vast stirred beneath.

“I feel one,” she said softly. “It’s… curious. I….I can sense its emotions once my mana comes into contact with it,” Ashanti said.

“Good, that seems to be a special ability you have, it should make it easier,” Jax said, “Now anchor to that sensation, just guide it,”

Ashanti nodded and reached deeper, however, the response was immediate, and very violent.

~WHUUUUM~

The ocean erupted.

A colossal shape burst from the water in a spray of foam and shattered moonlight, a serpentine beast plated in dark, iridescent scales. Its roar split the air, not in aggression, but in shock, its entire body dragged upward by an overwhelming gravitational pull of mana.

Ashanti gasped.

“No, wait!”

Her control slipped, and the mana around her surged.

The beast’s body spasmed midair, pressure crushing inward as if reality itself had clenched a fist around it. Scales cracked. Blood misted into the air.

“Halt,” Jax said, and his voice echoed with mana as Jax appeared between Ashanti’s mana construct and the beast, one hand raised.

~SHNNNNK~

Her mana was severed decisively like cutting silk with a blade.

The pressure vanished. The beast slammed back into the sea with a thunderous crash, vanishing beneath the waves in a churn of white foam and disturbed mana.

Silence fell.

Ashanti staggered back a step, breath hitching.

“I…. I didn’t mean to, ” her voice trembled. “I tried to hold it back.”

“I know,” Jax said, already back at her side, “Failure is fine as long as you’re learning, I’m not mad,”

She clenched her fists, “Every time I touch something living with my power, it reacts like that. Like it’s either submit or break.”

Jax’s gaze drifted to the sea. The waters had not calmed. Far below, massive presences shifted uneasily, wary now rather than curious.

“That’s because,” he said slowly, “you’ve only ever been taught one thing.”

Ashanti looked up at him.

“How to contain.”

They tried again, and again but each attempt followed the same pattern.

Ashanti would sense a creature, sometimes a massive leviathan gliding through the depths, sometimes something smaller, faster, darting through underwater trenches. She would reach out carefully, trying to cradle rather than seize.

And every time, the moment her mana touched flesh,

~BOOOOM~

The pressure spiked catastrophically.

Water imploded inward. The sea buckled. Beasts screamed as their bodies were nearly crushed by sheer force.

Each time, Jax intervened.

Sometimes with a simple severing motion and sometimes by placing himself between her mana and the target, absorbing the overflow without effort.

Once, he caught a creature mid-air with one hand, gently lowering it back into the ocean before it could be pulped by invisible force.

Ashanti watched every intervention with growing horror.

“I’m trying,” she whispered after the fifth attempt, wings trembling violently, “I really am.”

“I know,” Jax said again.

On the sixth attempt, her mana surged harder than before.

A massive silhouette erupted from the sea, this one easily the size of a small fortress, its many eyes glowing faintly beneath armored ridges. The moment it surfaced, Ashanti’s power wrapped around it instinctively.

The ocean screamed and pressure spiked high enough that the cliff itself cracked beneath their feet.

Jax didn’t even wait. He vanished in a flash of gold and a heartbeat later, the entire sea stilled. The beast dropped back into the water unharmed, unconscious rather than broken.

Jax reappeared beside Ashanti and placed a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Stop,” he said.

The word carried weight as she froze, her mana collapsed inward reflexively, wings snapping shut as she gasped for breath. She nearly fell, but Jax caught her effortlessly, steadying her until her knees stopped shaking.

“I failed,” she whispered hoarsely.

“No,” Jax said immediately. “You confirmed something important.”

She looked up at him, eyes hidden but face stricken. “That I can’t control it.”

“That your mind is still shackled,” he corrected.

He released her slowly once he was sure she was steady. “You’re trying to perform delicate manipulation with a power that has never once been allowed to exist naturally.”

Ashanti swallowed. “Then what do I do?”

Jax turned away from the cliff.

“We stop.”

She blinked. “Stop?”

“Yes,” he said. “This approach isn’t helping right now. You’re thinking too hard. Every attempt you make is filtered through fear. So it’s just never gonna work,”

Her hands trembled. “…That fear is justified.”

“Maybe,” Jax said, “But it’s not productive.”

He took a few steps inland, then paused and looked back at her.

“Right now, your power isn’t the problem,” he continued. “Your relationship with it is.”

Ashanti hesitated, then followed him.

They walked away from the sea, the roar of waves gradually softening behind them. The land here was wild, rolling stone, tall grasses, scattered trees twisted by constant wind and salt. Mana moved freely, untouched by wards or civilization.

After a few minutes, Ashanti spoke again.

“What are we doing now?” she asked quietly.

Jax stopped and turned to face her.

“We’re clearing your head,” he said.

Her brow furrowed. “Then…?”

“You’re going to choose a direction,” Jax said simply. “Any direction.”

She tilted her head. “And then?”

“And then we walk,” he replied. “Until we reach the nearest civilization.”

Ashanti stiffened. “Just… walk? Like normal people?”

“Yes.”

Her wings twitched uncertainly. “What if someone recognizes us?”

“They won’t.”

Jax raised a hand, fingers tracing a lazy circle through the air. Golden runes bloomed briefly, then dissolved into nothingness.

“A passive perception veil,” he said. “We’ll look ordinary to everyone,”

“…You make it sound easy.”

“For me, it is,” Jax replied calmly. “For you, it’s necessary.”

She stood there, frozen. Then, slowly, she lifted her hand and pointed westward.

“That way,” she said.

Jax smiled.

“Good,” he said. “Let’s go.”

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