Soul of a Human

Mor fought with Gorn. Even with his magical abilities, he couldn't overpower the bigger man. Gorn used his shield to great effect, catching or deflecting all of the young Soul-kin's attacks. No matter how fast Mor moved, that magically charged slab of wood and primarily bones was always in his way. Even the human grew annoyed at the lack of progress.

"You're moving well," Gorn said in a chatty voice, effortlessly parring Mor's wild swing with his shield.

"But when you're trying to enhance your movement with magic, it becomes less fluid and is easier to predict."

"I know!" Mor complained, using the sort break to regain his breathing.

°How do you not have the timing right?° The human grumbled.

°Shut up! You do it, then. It's hard making the move I want to make and applying magic at the right moment! And that stupid itching doesn't help!° Mor growled.

°Stop fucking complaining and get that thing down. If you can't do it on your own, then how do you expect to get a feel for it once I move?° The human grumbled.

Mor again grumbled something, then sighed in annoyance. Lately, he often couldn't control his magic like he wanted and got an itch on his whole body whenever he tried to force it.

"Are you ready?" Gorn asked, ready to continue.

"No. This is pointless unless I've mastered my pulse enhancement." Mor sighed, and Gorn nodded.

"If you need a repetitive movement, we need more logs for the fire."

°Yeah, that sounds helpful. Simply flailing around and trying gets us nowhere. It's time for more mundane tasks, ° the human stated.

"I will try it." Mor agreed.

The two men put away their gear and returned to the home, where Mor would get the wood splitter ax and prepare. He had previously helped Gorn split the lumber into smaller logs so he knew what to do. But today, the goal was different, and he challenged himself to split the hardwood pieces in a single strike.

Mor got ready, raised the ax over his head, and swung, adding his enhancement at the downswing. Instead of splitting the thick wood, the ax lodged itself in a nearby tree, making Mor curse.

°Why did you let go?° The human asked, accusatory.

°I lost control.° Mor grumbled.

°I thought we fixed that problem.° The human grumbled.

°Yes, but with that stupid itch!° Mor complained.

°Ok, where does this itch come from?° The human asked.

°I don't know. But it is somehow connected to my magic. I only wish another of my Kin was here so I could ask them.° Mor grumbled, then pulled out the wedged ax with a grunt of effort.

The human thought briefly, trying to make sense, before asking.

°Didn't Dino tell you your dad was a late bloomer? Maybe your reservoir is finally starting to get bigger, and you're getting "magic bullshit growth pains" .°

°I never heard any Soul-kin complaining about itching when their reservoir grew.° Mor stated, not convinced of the human's theory.

°Well, you're not a normal Soul-kin anymore.° The human offered, and it made a strange sense.

°Maybe we were so busy with Ice-kin training that we forgot to check the reservoir.° Mor mumbled.

Mor sat on the earthy ground and used the Soul-technique to evaluate his reservoir.

Elly and Jorgen sat inside the house, getting extra lessons from Lize. While Gorn helped Mor with his combat training, when the Ice-kin warrior returned, the two looked hopeful at him. However, he instantly crushed their hopes of escaping Lize's dry lessons as he simply sat down on a comfortable chair and took a quick nap.

Soon after Gorn entered the house, a very excited Mor threw open the door and rushed into the home. In his excitement, he embraced the first person in his way, a very confused Lize.

"It's growing!" He celebrated, though his wording made the two other youths giggle, and Lize shoved him slowly away from her.

"That's nice. I'm flattered? You feel this way." She said, confusing Mor.

"What?" He asked while the human broke out into uncontrollable laughter.

Gorn, who the stormy arrival of the boy had waked, looked at the boy, then sighed.

"Mor a word, please." He growled.

"Why are you laughing?" Mor asked, looking at Elly and Jorgen, who couldn't contain their laughter.

"Seems like your parents didn't explain some things to you," Gorn grumbled. "You know, when a boy reaches a certain age…"

At this point, he was interrupted as Mor understood what he had implied and turned beat red.

"That's not what I meant!" He said, almost fumbling his words. "I meant my magic reservoir! After so much time of being dormant, it started to grow. Finally!"

At this, Elly sprung up from her seat and embraced the boy, sharing his happiness.

"Congratulations!" She said.

On the other hand, Jorgen didn't understand and needed to ask. "What does that mean?"

"We Soul-kin have our internal reservoir, which will grow when we get older. Normally, it grows steadily. However, it seems we have a phase in my family when it doesn't grow at all, and now it seems I'm over this dry spell. Meaning I can use more power before needing to recharge," Mor explained.

"I see," Jorgen said with a smile. "Congratulations, good for you."

"Is that why you say you have problems using your powers?" Gorn asked, and Mor nodded.

"Yes, my reservoir grew a whole percent, which is pretty fast for a normal Soul-kin. And well, the volatility of the adjusting magic makes it hard to control, and my whole body itch."

"So it's something like muscle ache, like when you're growing?" Lize asked, and again, Mor nodded.

"The only problem is now I need to get my magic under control while it is growing. I can't wait it out, or I will be stuck here."

"Well, then, you know what you need to do. We will postpone any training until you're ready to continue," Gorn decided, and Mor agreed.

°Now that we're over that.° The human grumbled. °Get back to work!°

°Let me have that moment!° Mor argued back.

°Yeah, go ahead, but don't complain to me again that you want to go home!° The human retorted.

"Well, back to training," Mor said to the gathered Ice-kin and left quickly.

The human was right. After all, they had spent the last night comforting Mor through an episode of homesickness, during which Mor had curled up in a ball of misery and cried, wanting to go home.