章 50: Chapter 48

[The user developed the magic manipulation organ: Sonilphon due to the user's effectuation of a magical phenomenon of the sonic subclassification.]

Regardless of how I looked or asked about it, that was the basic gist of any answer I received. Thinking back on it, I'd shouted something as we charged the wolfstags, and something had left me and influenced the rest of the pack when I'd done so. The feeling of that magic, assuming that was what it was, was different from a Calling. There hadn't been the feeling of imposing my will over and controlling a force that was greater than me, instead, it was the feeling of… spending something from within, something that was expended.

Looking within myself, I could feel, somewhere undefinable within my chest, a source of magic. My sonilphon. I could feel that it was at capacity, that it wouldn't be able to hold more. On a whim, I pushed it out, and it set to causing my whole body to quiver. I felt the shakes spread all the way to the tip of my tail and, after just a moment, the feeling faded. My sonilphon was halfway depleted by that, and I could feel it begin to slowly fill. Disappointing. Once more, I gathered the magic, but this time I sent it deliberately towards my throat, given the initial note given by the [System].

In my throat, I felt the magic gather and hold steady, different from the aimless attempt I'd had before. There, the pressure built more and more, until I felt it become "ready", for lack of a better way of putting it. Then… it did nothing. It simply stayed there. I gave it more. It built up, and after restabilizing, the magic remained inert. Finally, I fed all my magic into my throat, where it whirled, and seemed to be only barely under control. Would it finally show what it did? I excitedly waited, trying to understand what was happening inside me as best as I could, but after maybe fifteen seconds, the magic began to settle once again. I couldn't figure what to do from there, since I had depleted my sonilphon in its entirety, yet nothing had happened.

Then, there was a building tickle in my throat and I coughed.

As if a lightning storm had been condensed within my quarters, my cough was amplified and boomed out. Soil fell from the ceiling above me, and the echoes of the sound ricocheted almost like a physical object around me. I somehow knew that I'd protected myself from the initial blast of sound, but the echoes set my head to ringing and I suddenly found myself on the ground. The boom of my cough had been so powerful it had dizzied me, and I felt as if I was about to vomit. Surprisingly, despite the absolutely tremendous volume that my throat had produced, I felt no soreness or pain from having produced the sound.

I tried to master myself, to keep the bile from surging up my throat, and I was barely able to. I still couldn't hear clearly as Sybil and Took rushed into my quarters. Behind them I could see several other curious and queasy faces trying to figure out what happened. I forced myself to my feet and gestured in what I hoped to be a placating way.

"I'm ok. Everything is ok. You can go, sorry about that."

I could hardly hear my voice, but after a moment's verification that I was not injured or anything like that, most of my subordinates left my quarters. Sybil, however, stepped forward. I had grown again through my rest, I realized. Before I'd stood about 28 inches tall, now I thought I was at maybe 32 to 34. Nearly three feet tall, the size of an impressive but normally sized keelish adult. Not nearly so tall as Rulac or Wisterl, as I remembered them. They seemed to be exceptionally powerful members of what could only be considered the upper caste of the swarm, and I remembered them as over five feet tall.

Regardless of those two far away members of the swarm, one of my Betas stood before me, her face completely stoic and though there was no indication of it, pissed off. Regardless of her emotions, though, her tone was polite and respectful.

"Did you rest well, Alpha?"

I took a moment to try to clear my head, then flared my frills in answer, before asking, "How long was I out?"

"A full day. Or near enough to be counted as such." I wanted to cut in and divert the conversation, but Sybil seemed wise to my intent, as she continued speaking. "You seem to have changed once again." She let the implied question hang in the air, never being so bold as to make an interrogation of her Alpha. I thought of disregarding it and moving past the unwanted conversation, but Sybil couldn't continue to be her wildly valuable self if I withheld information from her. I sighed.

"Yes. I have gained some… abilities that I do not yet understand. That was the result of my thoughtless experimentation. I'm sorry, again."

Sybil clacked her teeth together. "No, you should never apologize to your subordinates. You must always improve, but you are superior to us. You cannot lower yourself to our level. You apologized before, and you should not."

Part of me, I was surprised to note, agreed wholeheartedly with her words. I was not only their superior, but also plain superior to the rest. That feeling curdled in my stomach, but I couldn't find any rational explanation to why I wouldn't be. We were all members of the pack, all keelish, but I… wasn't like them. Stronger, faster, more intelligent, able to use magic, access to the [System]. All things that made me intrinsically better.

"You're right." I had to bite down my intrinsic desire to apologize after my statement. In keelish language, it was communicated with a bow of the head and a subservient squeak, and now that I thought about it, the idea of bowing my head and lowering my stature to that of my subordinates made me inexplicably angry.

Sybil nodded at my response. "I am glad that you have recovered some use of your arm, but I do advise you to take it easy until you have recovered all the way. We are able to hunt for ourselves, and while your presence is a guide, you can allow yourself to be provided for while you regain your full strength.

I paused and thought over what she said, then looked at my current [Quests]. Slowly, I decided she probably wasn't all wrong, though the inaction of it was something that I had to fight to accept the possibility of.

"I'll consider it." Then, with a nod of my head, I dismissed Sybil.

I was willing to admit it–a keelish was what I was now, and that wasn't going to change. I needed to truly embrace that now. If only I could convince that small voice within me so simply.