And then it grew in potency, flaming, then lashing at mine, pushing against it.
No. Not pushing.
Pulling it toward him.
What the—
His eyes shot to mine and flamed with blindingly-bright crimson.
He grinned.
Then in one sudden rush, all that expelled power was sucked into the crimson film encircling him, concealed from view. Gone.
No. It couldn’t be gone.
That was impossible.
He staggered back, choking.
I went to call out, but he held up a shaking hand.
Then what looked like red flash lightning lit up his eyes.
Holy. Fuck.
He dropped to his knees, and I rushed forward across the snow, only to pull up short abruptly when he brought his hands together in front of him, his whole body shaking with it.
The moment he clasped them, a red and amber glow began to emanate.
He let out a cry between pain and ecstasy, then thrust his hands up toward the sky.
I choked as thick streams of violent lightning—our combined crimson and amber—tore into the atmosphere.
Thunder crackled overhead.
The ground shook beneath us, rocks even cracking.
A growled command from him echoed all around us.“Collige. Redi ad me.”
Gather. Return to me.
He yanked his hands down, and twisted his palms, cupping them slightly as he held them apart.
I watched in utter amazement as the streams separated and shot down toward his palms, the crimson to the left, my amber to the right.
He rose to his feet as the crimson disappeared into his palm—back into him, while the amber swirled into a forming blazing circle of glowing flame and sparks.
The circle stabilized, hovering an inch above his right hand, while the crimson was all re-absorbed and gone from sight.
He held it out to me. “Here you go. Take it back into yourself carefully. Any sudden rush, as you know, will cause that uncomfortable scraping sensation to your insides.”
I closed the distance between us. “Dad, what was that?”
“That was a new exercise I’ve been working on.”
“Seemed like a hell of a lot more than an exercise.”
He pushed his hand with the sphere at me, and I slid my hand into its core, slowly pulling it back into my being, bit by bit, as we talked.
