CHPT 143: Uncontrollable

The hot morning suns rays heated the back of Claude's neck as he sat in the grass with the large pot of dirt in front of him. While he struggled to feel for the small fragment of life/Nature inside the dirt, students all around him had taken the next step in their base form elemental exercises.

The Earth users in front of him were now refining their technique by trying to turn their blocks of dirt into smooth brown spheres. Everyone else that had learned to summon their element from scratch now continued to hone their skills and grow its intensity.

It was getting so bad for Claude that Professors were leaving their students to ask his own Professor if anything was wrong. One of the few times were he didn't appreciate his heightened senses.

"This is bullshit." He growled after letting go of the pot of dirt and running his hands through his hair.

"[You've just got to be patient. Remember, you're the only one with no teacher here. Cut yourself some slack, Claude.]"

"I literally can't afford to slack off.....and every time we've done this so far, my patience has done nothing for me. If I leave this class a failure again I'm gonna break this damn thing." Claude replied as he flicked the pot angrily.

"[Alright well, before you do that let's see if we can't fix anything right at this moment. Look around you, is there anything a lot of the students are doing that you aren't?]"

"Making progress...." Claude replied as he looked at the students playing around with their elements.

"[Seriously.]"

"I mean.....they're all too different." Claude pointed out as he looked around to the Fire, Wind and Lightning using students.

He was ready to forget about it and try a different method when his eyes fell on the students in front of him. One student in particular, he seemed to be the worst of the Earth users since he couldn't turn his block of dirt into a sphere, but he was successfully pulling the block out of the ground with ease. Like tiny steps, the grass would rise in the shape of a perfect square as soon as the students hands hit the ground.

"That's it.....the ground. Connection." He thought to himself before pulling the pot closer to his legs.

The student made him realize something that triggered a memory. When he had just started using his Nature Element in combat, he needed that connection to the ground— like when he rooted the Ghouls in place in his second Tangent. He didn't know if it was a fact that touching the Element he wanted to manipulate made it easier, but it was worth trying.

He quickly refocused himself and shook up the loose dirt in the pot, causing fresh earthy scents to fill his nose.

"Alright, let's see if this helps." He said before placing his hands into the cold packed dirt.

"[Now, remember what it was like to feel the Nature inside the trees on that Tangent. Remember how it was faint— but present. Search for that feeling in the pot.]" Arne said.

Claude listened to him while he tuned everything else out. All he felt were the small individual pieces and clumps of dirt against his palms while Arne brought up the unpleasant memory. He fought like hell to keep his focus away from the Heroes that were murdered and the Raiders he killed— or the one that got away.

Slowly, he remembered the feeling— the visual. Like a flickering green flame of life. All he had to do was find it and grow it with his mana.

He continued focusing and trying to remember more of the forest when memories he didn't even know were repressed came back in full graphic detail.

Shzzsh!

One of the students summoned a bolt of lightning. The sound brought up a memory of Chadwick using the last of his while he fought beside Claude— circled by dozens of cruel and violent Raiders.

"Hahahah!"

A female student to the left of him laughed. The silent and innocent sound blended and emboldened into Rikah's sadistic cackle.

The sounds of the outside world fed the fire of his nightmarish memories— continuing to highlight the memories of one person until her face flashed in and out of his mind on repeat while he continued to try and feel for the seed.

It was like he was subconsciously telling himself, "You didn't get her. You let her escape. She'll regrow her numbers and kill more Heroes because you let her go."

He suddenly had a firm grasp on the feeling of Nature inside the dirt. He was too angry to celebrate, his mind being split between Lupines and Rikah stopped him from feeling anything positive.

In time, he could feel his mana soaking into the dirt as he imagined the green flame. Only it felt different than he remembered— the black marking on his left hand that the Phantom Wolves came from stirred in response. Usually he felt like he was in control of the flow of his mana— it felt like his. This time, the energy felt like it was moving on its own. Like he was letting out something that wasn't entirely his.

It brought about the oddest feeling. He couldn't put it into words other than feeling both more connected to Nature and less in control. It no longer felt like he was manipulating. It felt like he was simply along for the ride.

MMMMMM!!!!

"[Claude? W-what are you doing? How?]"

CRACK!

Claude heard an odd sound in the depths of his mind before the pot in front of him shattered— bringing him back to reality and scaring the Earth users in front of him.

One of the rows of students in front of him were completely out of his vision due to the dark brown bark of a tree standing in his way.

"I...I finally did it." He said with confusion.

The roots of the tree were so big they shattered parts of the pot and stabbed into the ground around it like thick brown talons. The roots lead up through the dirt pot into a medium sized tree with the healthiest bark he'd ever seen. Small brown branches stretched out and intertwined, ending with vibrant green leaves that cast green rays on him from the sunlight.

This sudden explosive display of healthy and vigorous Nature wasn't what had the students attention— or what had him both confused and panicked.

The tree was still growing— and he wasn't feeding it any more of his mana. The students were too interested in the tree itself to realize he wasn't the reason it was growing. Or at least he thought he wasn't.

"Arne....what is this?" He whispered as the roots strengthened and dug deeper into the ground.

"[I don't believe it.....I think you just used Wild Magic.]"