The equivalent to two weeks on Earth passed on the Bastion Planets and with that progressed incredible amounts of hours put into manual labor.
The new recruits were brought up to speed and dispersed throughout vast Granian Colonies, each equipped with wonderful pieces of durable, strong, and almost fashionable armor and weaponry.
Ships continued to move in and out of the Bastion with colossal pieces of metal dangling under them. These pieces, larger than Space Stations on Earth, were welded and bolted together into ring-like shapes, giving them the shape of what looked like fictional space gates.
’So that’s what they’ve been building all this time.’ From the surface of the planets, one could easily spot the rings hovering and rotating in the void of space with hundreds of ships hovering around them. ’I wonder what those things do?’
While Granian engineers, slaves, and laborers worked on the rings, the five Humans were tasked with showing what they had learned so far to their instructors.
Time had passed since they began training and already, they surpassed many Granians who spent years learning Eneraflux. What would have taken a Granian a quarter of their lifetime to learn was accomplished in two weeks by the Humans.
The Humans presented themselves before One Horn, Huntress, and Glissk, the three Granians who were tasked with teaching them the arts of Eneraflux. After training, learning, and growing for two weeks, it was time to produce results that would please the higher-ups.
"The first to go will be Jim, the Golden Blood Mutant." One Horn announced and the Blood Knight took center stage.
Taking a few calm breaths, Jim’s body began to generate a slight heat, followed by a faint golden light. Instantly, his eyes peeled open with his skin bulging, ripping, and exploding with golden blood covering his body.
His bones, instead of breaking and rebuilding, morphed and elongated until his transformation was complete.
Behold, the Golden Blood Mutant, shining bright in all his glory. Skin glimmering under the night sky, a body so tall, bulky, and glorious, eyes as white as milk.
"Terrible," Glissk snapped at Jim, the bags of flesh under her neck swinging side to side, "you exerted too much aura and now you’ve transformed. Not only that, but your energy’s all over the place. If I was the enemy, I’d be able to spot you out in my sleep."
"Don’t fret, Jim," One Horn encouraged the Mutant, "you’ve covered the basics wonderfully. You being able to transform and activate an aura this quickly and that is already enough progress for us. Your training has now changed. You’ll focus more on refining your Energy output and controlling it properly. Next."
The next to follow was Anya, the screeching Blood Knight. Similar to Jim, she stood still with her eyes closed and arms resting on her sides. Now the difference between her and Jim was in her aura.
An eerily calm, white, smooth-flowing mist flowed from her body and glowed bright, so bright that her entire body glowed. Her hair, which was tied in a ponytail, flowed as though it were in water. Thankfully, she didn’t transform with her energy output activated, a feat that the Golden Blood Mutant hadn’t achieved.
"Incredible." One Horn marveled.
"At least someone has gotten that concept right," Glissk mumbled, her eyes staring directly at Jim while she made her remark. "See how easy it is, golden man?"
"Excellent," One Horn congratulated the Blood Knight while motioning her to join Skyler, the only one of them all who was a few leagues above her fellow Humans in Eneraflux, "you’ll be training personally with Skyler and I on your input. Your output’s astounding so we’ll redirect your efforts elsewhere. Next."
Cherry took center stage and like the others, she activated her energy through a series of deep, calm breaths. A full minute passed and the Crimson Knight’s body hadn’t changed one bit. There was no light, no wind, or aura escaping her body. it was as though she wasn’t trying to activate it.
"Hmmmm," One Horn sighed while Glissk intently observed the Crimson Knight, "seems she can’t access her power ye..."
"Oh but she has!!" Glissk interrupted, her eyes widening with excitement while she looked Cherry up and down. "Can’t you see it? Do you see what I see?"
The others looked at the Granian as though she had lost her mind. To them, Cherry’s body didn’t show any signs of Eneraflux and those who knew how to sense Eneraflux didn’t not feel anything coming from the Crimson Knight and yet this old creature was showing opposite reactions.
"Can’t you all see it?" she questioned but no one agreed with her...except for Ace.
"I do." Ace chimed, his eyes twinkling with a bit of hope and excitement. "I see it. It’s..."
""Horrifyingly beautiful."" They both muttered as their heads tilted upwards, their eyes scaling the towering wall of aura escaping the Crimson Knight’s body.
Because Cherry’s power was granted to her by her brother, a Blood Bishop, she didn’t produce normal levels of energy like other creatures. Instead, she produced what was a mixture of Eneraflux and intense quantities of Blood Aura, all concocted inside her body.
"She’s producing more Blood Aura than you did when I first came across you." Glissk commented but the others, excluding Ace, didn’t know what exactly she was talking about, not even Cherry. In their confusion, they inched closer to Cherry, only to unravel a chilling discovery.
"My skin’s starting to bleed..." Anya took a few steps back while her pores closed. Unknown to her, she had gotten in range of Cherry’s energy but wasn’t able to see it. "Did she..."
"Don’t come any closer, all of you," Glissk warned but did so with a smile, "I want to see if this energy she’s producing can be transferred to her brother."
Calmly, the old Granian grabbed her staff and started walking towards the Crimson Knight. As she got closer, she too activated her energy to counter Cherry’s and protect herself from its effects.
Now at an arm’s length, Glissk laid her palm on Cherry’s chest and then, from nowhere and unexpectedly, fell to her knees.