It was too good to be true.
Ren knew that. Part of him had always known it, with that same cold certainty with which he knew two plus two equaled four...
The sensation was false. It had to be.
But convincing the rest of him that knowledge mattered was a different problem entirely.
The power filling his core didn't hurt. It didn't burn the way that ball of spiritual energy had, that slow but intense heat he'd felt seeping through his mana lines. This was nothing like that. This felt like pulling off a pair of boots he hadn't realized were too tight, like taking a full, deep breath after so long without one that he'd forgotten what breathing right felt like.
Freedom.
The word rose in his mind without invitation. Like something that had been waiting for him.
And in that exact instant, another voice crushed it.
"You must fight against the sensation of 'freedom', it's completely false! The complete opposite!"
Liora.
