As soon as the last syllable left my lips, I felt something hot entering me. I prepared myself for what would follow. The sensation started warm and comfortable but became hotter and hotter until it felt like my insides were burning. The pain was terrible and I bent forward while groaning.
("Oh right, there was this the first time. I forgot.")
I hadn't forgotten, though, probably because I inspected his memories in detail during the day. The sentence he made me vocalize was a sort of contract with nature. It forcefully opened my flesh and blood to accept nature's power and the process was extremely painful. Fortunately, it didn't last that long and after rolling in pain for a while, my body cooled down.
I breathed hard to recuperate. I could feel the warm sensation much more stable inside me now. I was officially a shaman, albeit a fledgling one. I stared at Dukun with reproach in my eyes.
"You didn't tell me it would hurt so much."
"Sorry, I forgot."
'Why is it that people who are excusing themselves don’t feel sorry at all these days?'
"But anyway, congratulations, I guess. You can now use nature's power. I hope you don't misuse it."
I stood up and dusted my clothes.
"Thanks. It feels a bit weird. How does it work?"
"Now that you have nature's energy inside you, you just need to attune yourself to your surroundings. Then, think about what you want to achieve and let the power out. The image in your head is important. Also, at the start, everything is related to plants and vegetation. I can show you an example."
He extended his hand to the tree next to him again and closed his eyes. When I could only see a green light around him before, I was now able to feel the flow of energy. He was focusing it on his hand and sending it into the tree. Soon after, the tree bloomed flowers on many of its branches even though it was almost autumn. I gave him the expected exclamations.
"Wow, amazing!"
He opened his eyes a grinned a little. I could feel he was a bit proud of himself, even though he really shouldn't.
'Praising people is always an effective move.'
What he had done was almost nothing and I knew that he could do so much more than this.
"Does that mean you can make plants grow almost instantly? What about vegetables and fruits? Wouldn't that be the best power ever for farming?"
"Not exactly. There's a large downside to it. It still consumes energy from the earth… I mean, soil nutrients, as if it had happened naturally. If you abuse it, the soil will dry up very fast and you won't be able to grow anything for a long time. This power is best to use during emergencies only."
"I see. I guess it makes sense. It's magical but not omnipotent."
"Precisely."
"Can I try it?"
"Go ahead."
I didn't go for anything special and just aimed to do the same thing as him. I put my hand on another tree, closed my eyes, and tried to move the warm feeling inside me to my palm. However, it didn't go that well. I couldn't manipulate the energy to move at my will. No matter how I tried and focused my mind on it, only tiny little bits of power aggregated to my hand. And the second part wasn't any better. I didn't manage to send any of those scraps of energy inside the tree. It was like there was a wall blocking me from doing so.
After trying for a long time, I felt drained and removed my hand from the tree. Manipulating the energy was quite exhausting and I was already out of breath. Dukun patted me on the back.
"Don't worry. It's normal not to succeed at first. You'll need to train for some time. It took me a long while to get used to it too."
I nodded, having mixed feelings. I knew this was the expected outcome but I guess I somehow hoped I would be a genius at it or something. I was in a race against time and being able to use this power at will would have already increased my odds by a lot.
For the following two hours, Dukun taught me some more about how to use nature's power. While he guided me, I could feel he wasn't unhappy to have someone he could share this with. He would sometimes also look at me and get lost in his memories while I followed his pieces of advice.
Eventually, it was getting late. I asked to stop for the day. Dukun was fine staying in the forest forever but even he had a home and a family to go back to. More importantly, I still had one thing I wanted to do before calling it a day.
We went out of the forest and headed in different directions at the first street intersection. I thanked him for teaching me about nature's power and he waved carelessly as if saying it was fine. I watched him go on his way and when he turned the street corner, I went back to the forest.
A previous scan had told me where the second person I wanted to meet was located. After walking for a minute in a different direction from previously, I reached a clearing. The last rays of the setting sun were falling on a patch of grass next to the edge of the trees.
And there she was, sleeping rolled in a ball on the grass, precisely where the sun was hitting the strongest. It was now time to wait patiently. The sun was setting quickly and she would be forced to move.
As soon as more than half of the rays from the sun stopped warming her body, she lazily stretched on the ground with a big yawn and stood up.
'Here we go.'
I walked toward her.
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