"Just let her sleep," I heard in Viktor's deep voice.

"We need to make sure she's okay," Qīwù was saying, obvious worry coloring her voice.

"She is quite fine, I assure you," added in my other Elder.

"Are you sure?" said my attendant. "She looks like she's poisoned or something!"

"It is backlash," said Viktor. "Happens to me all the time when I am experimenting."

"Sounds like you have fun, then," I said, sitting up. Qīwù jumped a bit when I did that, and István gave the younger lady a look I can only describe as 'I told you'.

Viktor smiled widely, ramming his fists together, and a gout of flame shot down his arms. "I save all the fun for the real deal; the practicing is very serious." He mimed what he undoubtedly thought was a serious face, and I cracked up laughing.

"Okay then," I said, rubbing my eyes and looking around, "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," István said. To be honest, I wasn't sure how he knew, but I trusted that the information was accurate either way.

Moving was… fun. I felt as though I'd actually been caught by the big lizard and chewed on, and escaping had been a hallucination instead of objective reality. I did some stretches and then settled down to try to meditate. I still had a lot of Nebula just kicking around in random places, with emphasis on the 'kicking'.

Assuming my usual pose, I tried to harness that energy to 'kick'-start a Stream, and it was like mud was running through it. I could motivate some Nebula, but it really didn't want to go anywhere. It was like the first time I'd done it, or something. At least I knew what I was trying to do. As I retraced the riverbeds my Streams had run in, I used the headwaters to pull in any stray wisps of Nebula that I encountered.

A refreshing feeling ran through me, following my progress. It was as though a crushing pressure had lifted from my body - and a cooling wind had blown through in its place. I kept working, seeing to be free from all the pain wracking me.

"Oho… that is…" I could feel István's gaze on me. Undoubtedly interested in whatever it was I was doing.

You and me both, brother.

As I went, I could feel additional spaces opening up beside the Streams, something I hadn't noticed before. They were like little tributaries, side channels split off from my Streams. I could feel a flow of Nebula from them as well. Was that more draining from my tissues? Or was it some form of additional power? It was difficult to tell.

If my Nebula had any one property, it'd be uniformity. Every Mote was as powerful and potent as any other Mote. Which made it difficult to really see exactly what was happening on the finest grain.

I opened my eyes, ignoring István hovering over me, and looked down at the arm I was working on, noticing that while the marks weren't gone, they were looking better.

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Cranking my aura vision up to eleven, looking very carefully at my arm. I could see the Stream inside it now, flowing in a turbid manner; though the upper reaches by my shoulder were better than those nearest the work area.

Searching around the Stream itself, I was able to find the extra channels feeding it. They were very delicate and hard to focus on, but definitely there. I had spent a fair bit of time examining myself, both at the level of my Soul Sea as well as in meditation. I had so many of my needs met at the Circle that it felt like I spent an inordinate amount of time doing so.

Which, I guess, was expected from a Venerable like myself. No one even blinked an eye when Celistar said she'd be spending an extended amount of time in seclusion.

But why had I never noticed these smaller features? Were they not there before? Always a possibility. After all, it felt like my internals had been ripped and torn after the backlash. Apparently, Viktor had this happen all the time - I had no idea how he handled the pain.

Maybe he just scared it away or punched it or something.

I had to work through mine the old-fashioned way.

It took several hours for me to open all of my Streams back up again. I lifted myself to my feet with my Nebula, floating briefly into the air, to test everything was working as expected.

It was, and if anything, I felt noticeably more powerful. Maybe all those microcosms within my body were just contributing that much? I didn't know, and didn't really care that much. 'More is betterer', as Liam would tell me when he was just a little sprout.

Well, probably now too. Hard to say. Sometimes he would say things that sounded very mature and then instantly shatter the illusion by saying or doing something silly or ill-advised.

As is the custom for kiddos.

I looked around for the first time since coming to.

We were on a beach next to a shallow pond, well a lake really. It spread out in a cavernous overhang, and the beach went up towards the front of the overhang, allowing light to spill into the space while not being truly open.

Back toward the lake, I could see a river entering it, but I didn't see any exit, so I wasn't sure how the water was escaping. Maybe it just percolated through the ground? I'm sure István would be curious to know as well, but that was a problem for future me.

With our backs to the lake, and a limited path forward, we were in trouble if something came in here to attack us. We needed to figure out where we were and what our options were.

Luckily for my tired leg muscles, the sand of the beach faded to a low carpet of interesting four-leaved plants before the pitch of the hill really kicked in.

Not that it stopped me from cheating and floating myself up. Why walk when I could give myself a free ride? Well, almost free. I had to keep some level of concentration on the process, but it seemed like it came more naturally than it had prior. Or the flow was easier; either way, I was again noticing an improvement.

I was starting to see the wisdom in Viktor's backlash-based training regimen.

Reaching the top of the hill, a ruined city landscape came into view. A yellowish fog, which did not look kosher to me, looped in and out of the streets and alleys of the part we were in. I could see the shadows of taller buildings in the distance, but here, only single and double floor constructions, mostly dwellings, existed.

The area I was standing on was lower than the city proper, and it looked like water drained out of it this way. It occurred to me that the depression behind me might even be one of the fundamental ways water was able to leave the crater. As far as the eye could see around us to each side towering sheer walls rose, the sides of a massive depression in what I assumed was the center of the mountain we'd been climbing earlier. The fog obscured the far side of what was probably some kind of caldera.

When the others caught up with me, we moved together towards the edge of the city.

The transition ahead of us between verdant plants underfoot and the stone pavers making up these ancient city streets was abrupt, almost foreboding.

I took a step over it.

A searing, ripping feeling engulfed my whole soul, like someone was trying to tear it in half. I hit my knees, and behind me I heard Qīwù yelp as if she'd been shocked. What was happening? I thought I was done with pain for now!

"Ancient One!" my attendant exclaimed, and I heard the noise of Qīwù's clothing as she went to her knees and prostrated. "What are you doing here?"

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