*buk-buk*

  “Aki, this hen can’t move unless I allow it, and you know that I’m not going to release it. There is no chance of it getting free. Why won’t you come closer?”

  Currently, Mum is holding the elderly hen that she took from the cage and is keeping it from moving, while Talia watches from a distance.Her, self-procimed, brilliant idea was that since we now have an animal that is soon to perish, either to old age or, much more likely, a hatchet, it is the perfect time for me to discover why the essence in people and animals feels somewhat different from what is inside of every pnt.I’m fairly certain that she is more excited to learn the reason than I am.There’s just one problem.Birds are terrifying!Even ones that don’t truly fly.

  “Mum, I saw the way it looked at me with those menacing, dark eyes! It wants to eat me!”

  I would swiftly become nothing more than a rge snack if it caught me!And since I need to touch it, my new protective spell would merely get in my way.

  “You’re behind it, and my arm is blocking its sight, dear. It can’t see you.”

  “But it saw me as I flew by, and I’ve been speaking! It knows I’m here!”

  *Sigh*“Aki, there is no possible way for it to reach you. You are perfectly safe. Even if you needed an hour for this, you would still be okay. Touching it for a few moments will not harm you.”

  I know she is right, but…Looking at its head before flying back here was a bad idea.That beak seemed as if it could bite me in half!Before I can gather enough courage to approach the tail in front of me, Mum speaks to someone else.

  “Nibi, wait! There’s no need for that!”

  “No!”

  “Aki, could you speak to her please!?”

  With a fp of my wings, I rise above mum’s shoulder and see a shining Nibi collecting a ball of water in front of herself.She must have recognized that I’m scared of this creature.*Sigh*I suppose it’s time to be honest.

  “Nibi, Mum’s right. You don’t need to do anything to this chicken.”

  “Ak’ri?”

  “She has done this many times before, well, excluding the magic part. Although, why don’t you ready, erm, whatever you were pnning to do, but only use it if it gets away.”

  “Miep!”

  Mum, who is looking over her shoulder at me, rolls her eyes at that, yet.

  “If this is truly too much for you, I can simply pass it to Talia to prepare for dinner.”

  “N-no, I-I just need a moment.”

  “That’s what you said a few minutes ago.”

  Well, I’d like to see you approach a creature fifty times your size that wants nothing more than to eat you!However, she’s right in that this is a good opportunity to learn more about the essence inside of creatures.I may find this very helpful to know one day if ever I wish to heal more than a simple bruise.Fairy magic may be strong, but as I saw with my barrier, it still functions better if I know what exactly I want it to do.And I trust Mum.As long as I stay back here, I’m safe.Yeah, sure…*Gulp*

  With gentle fpping, I slowly approach the feathers before me.After noticing no response upon touching one, I attempt to feel the hen’s life force, yet find it quite dim.Apparently, there is very little essence in its feathers, so I’m going to need to get closer.Landing on its back, just behind the crook of Mum’s restraining elbow, I reach down and begin working my hand under the feathers, looking for its skin.After a few moments, my fingers meet something warm, and my sense of its life force becomes clear.Well, as clear as any other living creature that I’ve touched.It feels simir to nature magic but also not.Time to find out exactly why this is.

  My magic trials earlier used enough energy that I currently have a little space for more essence, so I needn’t worry about dropping dust.Also, I can faintly feel Mum’s life force nearby, unique enough that I can be certain I won’t be affecting her.Hence, I tch onto this hen’s odd essence and attempt to pull a small amount into myself.This elicits a squawk from the bird, but to my surprise, the energy refuses to move.Even earth essence, which tends to lie still, will allow me to effortlessly absorb it when I wish.However, unlike all the others that I’ve encountered, this particur energy actively fights against my pull instead of flowing to me.It also feels somewhat…slippery?At least, my mental grasp slid away from it when I found unexpected resistance.At any rate, it seems I’ll have to put more effort into this if I wish to draw it out.

  Closing my eyes, I focus deeply on the energy I’m sensing in this hen.Since the source is not my sister this time, I can explore without worry, yet I find the sensation is still that of an odd form of nature essence.No…wait…I think it’s mingled with something!Almost as if there is a thin veil hiding a precious substance, yet at the same time, also interwoven within it.And that gives me an idea!Instead of pulling on this life force in its entirety, I’ll simply focus my efforts on the portion I know I can manipute.Namely, the nature energy.Consequently, I focus on this familiar feeling, wrapping my mental grasp as tightly as I can around it, and then tug as hard as I can manage.When I do, several things happen.

  First, I instantly become aware that this life force is indeed formed, for the most part, of two different essences.This is because it splits apart immediately after flowing into my fingers.One I, of course, recognize as nature essence, the same as what I find in any pnt, but the other is unknown to me.Initially, it feels warm, strong, and, well, living.Yet unlike the green energy, which I would now describe as the feeling of simply existing, this essence strangely seems as if it wants to do things, in and of itself.Eat, breathe, have children, all the natural desires of a living creature I can somehow sense are contained in this odd energy.And this is with merely a small portion.Who knows what a rge amount of this would do to me!

  Then, only a moment ter, I discover something I truly wish I hadn’t.This new essence feels terribly, utterly wrong!!!There’s no pain, but an incredible sense of discomfort and unease spreads from my hand, up my arm, and begins moving towards my wings.Moreover, alongside, or perhaps in response to, the strange sensations I feel from the magic I absorbed, I can also sense that my body wants absolutely nothing to do with it.Without a shadow of a doubt, I know: This essence is not meant for me!…Not anymore.If I needed any further proof that I’m no longer alive in the manner that I used to be, I just found it.

  Finally, the hen beneath me lets out a single, loud cry, then goes silent.A few moments ter, I feel its life force begin slowly trickling up through its feathers from all over its body and out into the surroundings.With Mum still holding it!

  Swiftly tearing my hand free from under the feathers, I hastily unch myself towards her ear and scream.

  “Mum, drop it! There’s magic leaking out!!”

  Why its life force suddenly began leaving, I don’t know, and while it may not have been my fault, it doesn’t really matter.I don’t want to find out what will happen to Mum if she’s near it.My family has enough problems because of me.Gratefully, she heeds my warning.Mostly.

  Instead of dropping the hen, she swiftly pces it on the floor and then backs away near Talia.Seeing the bird free, I quickly soar up to the ceiling.Yeah, sure, I know it can’t fly, but I’d rather not see how high it can jump!

  “Miep?”

  When I flew upward, I noticed that Nibi still had a glowing ball of water in her hands, yet now, she seems to be reabsorbing it.Odd that she didn’t do whatever she had pnned.Yet, it only takes me a few moments to figure out why, though Mum speaks first.

  “Erm, Aki? I think you killed it.”

  The hen lies motionless on the ground, and I can still feel the very slow trickle of life force from here, though it seems to be vanishing shortly after it flows out.It would seem essence slowly begins leaving a creature over time once it dies.But how did it happen!?

  “I didn’t mean to do that! Honestly, I only absorbed a tiny amount!”

  It was truly a mere pittance.In terms of raw quantity, I gathered more energy from the giant flower I destroyed when I had my very first taste of nature essence, and I deliberately held back here as to not have a repeat of that.Talia, who had been watching the entire event, interrupts my thoughts.

  “So the energy inside the chicken is pink? That’s why you’re glowing that color, right? Is it pink inside me too!?”

  Pink?Looking back, I quickly spot a small spsh of pink amongst the colors of my wings, made simple to find by the extreme uneasiness I feel in that area.And now that I know what I’m sensing, I can tell even from here that both Mum and my sister have a mixture of this…life essence, along with nature and some quantities of others I cannot identify.Both of them have the energies in different amounts, giving each person a unique feel.

  “Yeah, sure, Talia, I believe so. But after seeing this, I have no intention of ever absorbing energy from you.”

  If taking such a small amount from a hen had this result, I absolutely cannot risk taking any from her.Not going to happen!She gazes at the chicken for a moment before replying.

  “Err, right, yes, please don’t do that.”

  “So, Aki? Is it dangerous if I proceed to pick it up now?”

  Hmm, now that I have time to consider it, there’s likely no harm for humans to touch this.It is simply life force, after all.Ugh, though I need to remove it from myself soon.It’s also possible that my meddling caused this leak and dead creatures otherwise retain their essence.Though I haven’t noticed any in the dried meat I’ve eaten.Perhaps it’s also cooked out?Another question for ter.

  “Probably not, Mum. But if you slowly draw nearer to it, I may be able to warn you if it is.”

  In order to be closer to her, I float down and nd on her shoulder.She then slowly approaches the still hen, and reaches out to grab it.As she does so, I can feel how the trickle of essence gradually flowing from the chicken is pushed aside by her hand and harmlessly scatters away.Oh…Now I feel silly.Unlike fairies, humans are hardly affected by essences in the area.It’s not as if they absorb earth essence by walking or wind essence by breathing.I’ve been so concerned recently with how often the energies affect me that I forgot for a moment that humans have no such issue.

  “Erm, yes, you should be completely fine, Mum. It seems to be ignoring you entirely, which is expected. I was merely scared of doing something dangerous again, so I didn’t wait to see what this energy did. I mean, I believe it’s just a kind of, well, life essence. Nngh, ugh. N-now that I’ve thought about it, I don’t expect that a small amount floating about could harm you any, though the portion I absorbed is rather disagreeable for me.”

  Gah, this feels terrible!And it’s getting worse the longer I have it!I need to get rid of this, but how do I use this energy?It’s not possible for me to create a living creature, is it?

  “Heh, so not only are you a fairy now, Sis, you’re also becoming a picky eater?”

  “Ugh, Talia, please not right now.”

  “Is it really that bad, Aki?”

  “Well, it doesn’t hurt, merely an incredible sense of wrongness. Imagine you saw a dairy cow happily feasting on meat, or a slime healing the prey it’s enveloping. In other words, the feeling of something being backwards from what is correct. Eck, ugh. I’m most certainly not supposed to have this, but I’m not sure what to do with it.”

  “Um, Sis, I know the st time I told you this, it didn’t go well, but, um, what would happen if you simply put it back?”

  Yeah, sure, I didn’t need a reminder of what happened the previous time I felt unwell, but her suggestion is easy enough to be worth attempting.Admittedly, I’m also quite curious if the chicken will revive when I do this.Hence, I quickly nd on the hen that Mum is holding.Then I attempt to push my intent into the pink essence, willing it to merely form an orb in order for me to convey it where I wish.

  Yet, I quickly realize this type of energy won’t behave like the others.Instead of forming a sphere between my hands, the entirety of that essence flows out of me in pink streams of light that immediately begin moving away.However, they aren’t aimless, nor are they directed beneath me.As soon as I notice where the light is heading, I give it my all to pull it back, mentally and physically, but like grabbing onto ice, it simply slides through my grasp.Without the nature energy mixed in, I can’t get ahold of it!Before I can react further, the streams combine into one as they swiftly fly into the nearest living creature.

  My mum.