I think I'm finally going to go crazy.
Every single day, it's the same. "Flick there." "Again." "Again." "Again." And if I mess up, I get beaten up.
A few days had passed since I first used my point on purpose.
Well, it's not like I've mastered it, more like I can just throw myself around.
But at least now, it didn't feel like I was trying to catch the wind in my hands.
Plor hadn't spoken much recently. Just a grunt when I got it right, a raised eyebrow when I didn't.
But, today felt… different.
She stood in the clearing, arms folded, her mouth stretched in a wide yawn. Around her were a bunch of flat stones. They were rough, uneven and scattered across the ground like a forgotten path.
She looks like a crazy witch. Wait, is she about to summon a demon? No, did someone summon her?
Despite my imagination, the rocks looked ordinary.
Wait… has she finally come up with a new torture method?
"Congrats." She said, grinning ear to ear.
She motioned her hand to the stones.
"You're past warm-ups, let's see if you crumble after this."
I narrowed my eyes.
"What's 'this', then?"
"Precision."
I glanced at the stones. No markings. No pattern. Just awkward chunks of rock half-swallowed by the earth.
"What, do I have to land on them?"
She shrugged. "Yeah, just teleport onto them. You can start on any, doesn't matter."
"They're barely the size of my boot."
"Exactly, all you need to do is touch it." She smiled.
I sighed and stepped back, lining up with the nearest one. Maybe three paces away. Pretty easy in theory.
Just land on the stone. Not that bad.
I reached for that flickering tension inside me. It was thin as thread, sharp as glass.
Flick.
I landed half a meter wide, one boot in some grass, the other sinking into wet soil.
Plor chuckled.
"Well, you didn't hit a tree."
"I thought Points were supposed to work."
"I mean," she said. "It did work, you just need to mold your will more precisely."
I rolled my eyes.
Thanks, great sage, super helpful… Now I'll be able to do it for sure!
But this wasn't like moving your hand or flexing your leg. There was no warning. No charge-up. Just a snap, then you're just somewhere else.
I tried again. Pictured the stone as if it was glowing. I latched onto the shimmer, trying to pin it down with my thoughts.
Come on.
Flick.
Too far. I landed awkwardly on the edge, slipped, and fell sideways into the dirt.
Plor didn't flinch. Just stared at me as if it was amusing.
"Pretty unique plan, rolling to the target. I'll give you points for imagination"
I groaned, staring up at the sky.
This sucks. Shouldn't teleporting just be smooth, cool and effortless.
Instead, it felt like sneezing mid-step. Like being yanked through your own spine.
I sat up, dirt streaked across my shirt, which frankly was beyond looking just homeless now.
"Why stones?" I asked.
"They're small, easy to rile you up with. If you make it, you learn. If you don't make it, you learn twice as much." She said.
She crouched beside one and tapped its edge with a knuckle.
"Your Point isn't as easily controlled as others. That's not an excuse, just work harder. You already have some level of control"
I stood, brushing off the worst of the mud.
"Control's generous. Right now it's more like, 'guess and pray.'"
Plor raised a brow. "Then pray harder."
I inhaled and held the shimmer a moment longer. Tried not just to imagine the place, but how I'd get there. The angle of my legs, the weight in my feet.
I reached.
Flick.
I landed dead center on the stone. Wobbly, but still upright.
Plor gave a slow, exaggerated clap.
"Nice. Now, let's pick up the pace."
She didn't wait. Her voice snapping out commands.
"Right. Left. Back. Left again. Forward. Middle."
I stopped just thinking. That wasn't working. I started remembering them, the grit of stone, the cold dip of moss, the pressure underfoot, the balance.
Sometimes I landed clean. Sometimes a step off, but I wasn't failing miserably anymore.
My breathing quickened, not from exertion, but from that strange inner friction. Like each flick scraped something raw under my head.
After the twentieth jump, I dropped to a knee. Plor tossed me a canteen. I drank, breath catching in my throat.
"You sure this isn't just punishment?" I muttered.
"Most people don't need to do stuff like this to themselves, just to control their Point."
"I'm the one doing this to myself? I think your brains missing a couple gears."
She shrugged her shoulders.
"You seem to require the extra motivation."
She snorted and sat beside me, elbows on her knees. She didn't say anything else.
Plor never filled silence unless it meant something.
We sat in the quiet a moment.
Then I stood, legs burning, breath mostly steady.
"Again?"
She gave a faint smile.
"Now you're catching on."
⸻
The next challenge was worse.
The stones were gone, replaced by tiny copper coins half-sunk into the mud. Plor pressed her boot next to one.
I blinked. "That's the size of a fingernail."
"Your problem, not mine."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to—"
A loud snap cut me off. "Go."
I groaned inwardly and fixed my eyes on the edge of the coin, the way the mud hugged it like a closed hand. I clutched that image tight.
Snap.
Too far again. I landed with one foot deep in a puddle.
"Close, but close means death." She muttered.
"Wow. Uplifting."
"If you want praise, get it between your feet."
I tried again. Then again. Each flick dug deeper than the last. It wasn't just focus anymore, it was precision. I had to know, without doubt, exactly where I wanted to be.
By the twelfth try, I landed with the coin between my boots.
Plor's voice came up behind me.
"Good job Kael! Is that the praise you wanted?"
I grit my teeth.
Where'd she learn to rile people up like this. I feel bad for her friends, actually would she even have any?
She didn't let me rest, just took me somewhere new.
Now I was stood between two trees, twenty or so meters apart. She placed smooth stones at the base of each.
"Back and forth," she said. "Until I say stop."
"How fast?"
"Just keep in time with my rhythm."
I frowned. "That doesn't answer anything."
"Each time I clap, you teleport."
I faced the left tree. Waiting for the sound of her clap to hit my ears.
Clap.
Left tree.
Clap.
Right tree.
Again, and again, and again.
The shimmer came smoother now, like breath.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
Dozens of times.
The ache crept in slow, soaking deeper than muscle. Something inside me was stretched thin.
But I kept going.
If there's a limit, I need to find it, and break it.
Eventually, Plor called it.
I dropped to a knee, chest buzzing, vision sharp-edged and electric.
She circled me, arms folded.
"Good job, that was a lot better."
"Thanks demo… I mean Plor"
She looked at me with a strange expression.
"I don't get it, you are really weird. The more I see the less it makes sense. Most people can control their points soon after awakening, almost like an instinct they were born with, but you just don't have that."
"So what am I meant to do?"
She looked down at me with a feint smile.
"You train until you gain that instinct."
I frowned. "That sounds… impossible."
"Exactly."
That night, I lay on the porch beneath a sky veiled in clouds. Wind threaded through the grass like breath.
I didn't feel sore. Not the usual kind.
This wasn't muscle.
This was something stranger. Like my insides had been peeled back and re-stitched in a different pattern.
What do I want to do after all of this?
Strangely, thinking about what I want scared me more than Plor ever could.
Plor stepped out with a steaming cup in hand. She kicked off her boots and dropped beside me with a quiet sigh.
"Don't stay up too long," she said. "You'll need that stubborn little brain tomorrow."
I turned my head. "Hey what did you do before all this?"
She looked over, studying me for a long moment.
"Well, I killed people, saved people, fought in a couple wars. All that fun stuff."
I blinked. "Sounds like a strange job, pay well?"
"You bet, might not look like it now, but I've got a pretty big sum of wealth."
Well that's news to me.
"Yeah, whatever you say. So why'd you leave?"
She wore a bitter smile, as if she was reminiscing.
"Just taking some time off, a holiday if you will."
I shook my head. "We have different ideas of ideal holiday locations."
She laughed, standing up, then disappeared back inside.
I laid there, staring up at the sky.
Well, I guess there could be worse holiday spots.