[Third Person's PoV]
After the party…
Lucian, Thalia, and Annabeth made their way down to Lucian's underground lair. Bianca and Nico, exhausted from the day's events, had opted out of joining them and headed off to bed to rest.
"I think the reason I never realized you could use magic is because of the Phoenix Quill," Lucian mused. "Whenever you used your abilities—like creating a ward—you were converting stamina into magic so I didn't notice anything strange."
"I'm still shocked that Annabeth can use magic now," Thalia said in amazent. "Wait, does that an I can use magic too?"
"No," Lucian replied, shaking his head. "If you could, I would have sensed it imdiately."
Thalia pouted slightly in disappointnt. "Are you sure? I an, I can manipulate the wind now—sothing I couldn't do before. That has to be magic, right?"
Lucian shook his head again. "Like I said, I would know if it was magic, and it isn't. But this is making really curious… I've never considered sothing like this before." He adopted a pensive expression.
Annabeth nodded thoughtfully. "I've been wondering about that too. If it isn't magic, then what exactly is the source of these new abilities we're developing?"
"Isn't it from the monsters we hunt?" Thalia asked, tilting her head in confusion. "We absorb their essence, and that essence grants us abilities. That makes the most logical sense, doesn't it?"
"You're not understanding what we're asking," Lucian said, shaking his head. "We already know where the abilities co from. What we don't understand is what powers them. It's not purely magic—most of my abilities don't drain my mana to activate or use. Take my power over magnetism, for example. It's not a magical ability or spell. It doesn't consu mana, but I can still use it. So, what's fueling it? We've been taking these abilities at face value without really analyzing their inner workings."
"I see what you an… Then isn't the source the sa as what powers our demigod abilities? That 'tug' we feel in our gut when we use them?" Thalia reasoned.
Lucian shook his head. "I don't feel that tugging sensation when I use my magnetic abilities."
"But I do when I manipulate the wind," Thalia said, furrowing her brows.
Lucian nodded. "I also feel it when I use my powers over curses, but that's because they fall under our parents' authority. As demigods, we have an inherent connection to those domains."
Thalia placed a hand over her mouth as she pondered. "That actually makes sense… I see what you're getting at. What's the true energy source behind these powers?"
"Actually, I think I already know the answer," Annabeth said, raising her hand slightly.
"You do?" Lucian and Thalia asked in unison, surprised.
Annabeth nodded. "As I just said a few seconds ago I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I have a theory. It's not conclusive, but I believe the source of these new abilities lies in our souls. We've been subconsciously using spiritual energy to activate and wield them."
Lucian frowned slightly in confusion. "And what makes you think that?"
"Think about it," Annabeth said, growing more confident as she spoke. "We're all striving to reach a level of power that surpasses even the gods. To do that, it's not just our bodies that need to grow stronger—our souls do too."
Lucian's expression shifted to one of deep intrigue. "Go on." Even Thalia was paying close attention now.
"There's a reason we can't look at a god's divine form when they shed their mortal guise, right? Their souls—or whatever you want to call it—are simply too powerful. If we aim to stand against them, let alone surpass them, our own souls would need to evolve as well.
Our souls are the core of our existence—they define who we are. By elevating the power of our souls, we're also elevating our very being to match the strength of the universe… or even surpass it.
You know how every ti we drink one of those enhancent potions, we experience excruciating pain? At first, we assud it was because our bodies were being reconstructed and strengthened. But what if that's not the full story? What if it isn't just our bodies being affected?"
"…It's our souls," Thalia muttered in disbelief.
"That would explain the mind-numbing pain," Lucian said, awestruck.
"There are things that support this theory of mine," Annabeth said, lifting a finger, her excitent growing. "When we drink the potions and use our acting thod, we always have to co to a realization, right? What if that realization is what enhances our spirits—what makes our souls stronger? It could be the key to fully digesting the potion.
"And there's more. Future Lucian unintentionally confird that this is so kind of test. What if these tests are ant to asure the strength and power of our souls? Take what happened when we took the Sequence 6 potion, for example. Maybe that was a trial to see how strong our spirits were—to see if we could resist losing ourselves to the whispers.
"What the whispers were doing was no different from trying to corrupt our—"
Annabeth was abruptly cut off as Lucian teleported in front of her, clamping a hand over her mouth. He was sweating, his breath coming in short, uneven gasps, his expression a mix of confusion and deep concern. It was as if even he didn't understand why he had moved.
Both Annabeth and Thalia stared at him in shock.
"What? Why did you stop her?" Thalia demanded, looking at Lucian. Though he still seed bewildered, his face was set with the utmost seriousness.
"I… I don't know…" Lucian muttered, cold sweat running down his back.
His answer sent a chill through both Annabeth and Thalia.
"My intuition suddenly flared—stronger than it ever has before. It was like every nerve in my body was electrocuted all at once. Before I even knew what was happening, I moved on instinct," Lucian said, struggling to explain.
Then, he turned to Annabeth, locking eyes with her. His red eyes glowed intensely against her stormy gray ones.
"But now I know one thing for certain—" Lucian said, voice low and firm. "—if I hadn't stopped you, you would have died."
Annabeth's eyes widened in shock. Thalia, on the other hand, practically shouted, "What!?"
Lucian took a deep breath, steadying himself, and slowly removed his hand from Annabeth's mouth. But the mont he did, both he and Thalia froze in disbelief.
Annabeth was grinning. Broadly. Proudly. She stood tall, her chest puffed out with excitent.
Thalia gaped at her. "Why the hell are you smiling!? You almost died!"
Annabeth's eyes glead. "Don't you see? This is exactly what Future Lucian ant when he warned about being too smart—that I needed to rise in sequence to understand more! That ans I'm on the right track! That just proved my theory was correct! This is the confirmation we needed!"
Thalia and Lucian exchanged a look of exasperation and resignation before sighing in unison.
"Only you would see almost dying as an advantage," Thalia muttered, shaking her head.
Lucian ran a hand through his hair, the other resting on his hip as he exhaled sharply. "Be careful, Annabeth. Out of all of us here, I think you're the one in the most danger."
Annabeth smiled at his concern. "Don't worry, I will. But this confirms the source of our power."
Thalia and Lucian nodded.
And together, the three of them said:
"It's our souls."
"Spiritual energy."
"Our spirits."
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