The piercing sound Caine had dreamed about was real. It was the sound of air displacing violently around his hand.
He gasped, collapsing backward onto his mattress, clutching his right arm. It felt simultaneously frozen and like it was being dipped in acid. The pain radiated down to his bone, completely different from any training injury he had ever experienced.
"What is... this?" Caine choked out, sweat instantly slicking his skin.
He pulled his hand away to look. In the darkness of his small room, a soft, pulsating blue light emanated from his right forearm. It wasn't just light; it was mass. A crystalline growth had erupted through his skin, fusing directly to his flesh and bone.
This was the source of his initial thrill: the blade form that had flashed through his mind. The crystal was semi-translucent, beautiful, yet undeniably sharp. But it was only a foot long.
He had Materialized early, but only partially. And there was no handle. His body was the handle. This violated everything he had read about. For others, the CrystalHeart formed as a tool—a weapon separate from the wielder. His was biological fusion.
Bzzzt-fwoosh!
The blue light surged. Caine yelled as a sharp spike of exhaustion hit him. Materializing this unrefined form was consuming his stamina at an unsustainable rate. His core temperature was skyrocketing. The room felt stifling.
With a monumental effort, he willed the flow of energy to stop.
The pain receded instantly, and the crystal blade dissolved with a faint, echoing ping sound, like a bell. Caine was left gasping, eyes wide in the dark, the sore ache in his veins lingering like a memory.
Morning came, and while Caine managed to hide his trembling arm under his jacket, his mother saw the look in his eyes. He confirmed he had awakened. But the fear remained.