354 All Natural

Vyrena led them in with great caution. She put her heightened senses to full use. They entered a long hallway. With daylight working in their favour, they were able to see what was ahead of them despite the lack of any light sources in the building. 

There were torches that lined the hallway, but none of them was lit. Vy tried to harness the power of flame through her hands and light a nearby torch. She underestimated her abilities, causing the entire torch to catch fire. 

'Wow! Easy there," El exclaimed in surprise.

"Ah sorry, sorry, it just got out of control," Vy swiftly apologised as she reduced the intensity of the flame. 

Bringing it near to her mouth she blew on it lightly. Instantly, the flame bounced off her hand and hoped from one torch to the other until all the torches were lit. The additional light source allowed them to see their surroundings more clearly than before. 

"It seems like we're the only ones here," Ronni commented. 

His voice echoed down the hall as they made their way through. Towards the end, they could see a marble altar. The marble altar had a golden plate on it with a set of instructions. On the top, was a pair of normal-looking scissors. 

All of them crowded around it, curious as to how it was to be used. Vy took out the instructions from the letter and read through it once more. Once she had the steps memorised, she decided to be the first one to try. 

"But you don't have the bands around your wrists anymore, Vyrena," Boss stated the obvious. 

"Indeed, but there is one more step before the cutting of the bands, which I think might have some effect on me," Vy explained. 

She pointed to the sculpture that was stuck to the wall behind the marble altar. It had the shape of a man's face, with widened eyes and a gaping mouth. The mouth was hollow, a slit that was just wide enough for someone to put their hands in. 

When some of them turned to see it, they flinched, having not noticed it before. They were also a little uneasy with the way the sculpture looked.

"The first step is to put each hand through the hole, until the eyes of light up green. After that, then the bands can be removed using the scissors."

Vy walked over to the sculpture and examined it in greater detail. There was minimal dust on the sculpture. It had recently been used. 

"Wait! Are you sure this is safe?" Maribelle exclaimed just as Vy was about to put her hand in. 

"Yeah, what if this was a trap?" Jos added. 

The other children were worried, but Boss was confident that this would work. His gut told him that. 

She placed her left hand into the mouth of the sculpture. Everyone held their breath, Maribelle covered her eyes with her hands in fear of what could happen. Vy embraced it with a calm composure. 

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Just as she considered removing her hand, thinking all of this was a hoax, the eyes of the sculpture glowed green. A cool mist was emitted from the sculpture's nostrils. 

Vy could feel a tingling sensation coursing through her body as she removed her left hand. Since nothing bad happened so far, she placed her right hand in. The same thing happened. After a few seconds, the eyes lit up and mist emitted from its nostrils. 

She removed her right hand, the tingling sensation remained for a few more seconds before disappearing. Seeing that everything seemed alright, she turned back to them with a wide smile on her face. 

They were relieved to see she was alright. 

"Does anything feel different?" Ronni asked as Vy walked back to them. 

"Yeah, do you feel anything?" Sorren added. 

Vy looked down at her hands. There were no physical changes, and she certainly did not feel like she had been poisoned either. Her heightened senses were still present, and the added strength she had gained seemingly increased in prowess. 

"Let me test," she muttered as she stepped to the side to have a little more space. 

Vy closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. In the blink of an eye, she took the form of a raven, flapping her wings as she flew around the room. Everyones' jaws were collectively dropped. 

As she flew back towards them, she swiftly shifted to the form of a regular wolf. She could change her size at will too. Finally, she took to her Kyu form covering herself with flames and ice before returning to her human form. 

"How… how did you do all of that?" Boss asked when he finally recovered from the shock. 

"I think I've always had these abilities. Whatever spell was placed on the red bands prevented me from accessing them."

Vy went on to explain her theory of how it happened. When the red bands were first destroyed, it allowed her powers to be leaked. She had access to some of it, but also did not have complete control. 

The sculpture removed the spell entirely, hence returning her abilities to her. But the dreams she's had of herself turning to ash still worried her. Vy wondered how all of that fit in with her abilities. 

Since everything seemed fine for Vyrena, the rest decided it was time for them to get their red bands removed. The adults had theirs done first. Ronni went first. Once his bands were removed, he was able to shapeshift into his animal form. 

He was also able to retain a fully human-like form at will. 

"All of this feels… it feels so natural," he said as he retracted his sharpened claws. 

Some of the children were in awe of his abilities. 

Sorren was up next. Vy was there at the altar to help him cut off the red bands. Once they were off, they immediately disintegrated. The same had happened for Vy's and Ronni's. 

"How do you feel, Sorren?" Vy asked. 

She had hoped that this would also help to lift whatever curse he's had that prevented others from understanding him. Sorren could feel a source of power flowing through his veins. 

"Yeah Sorren, how do you feel?" El added, eager to find out the curse on him had been broken. 

"I… I feel like I have control over something, but I am not sure what," he explained while looking at his hands. 

When he looked up, he noticed the expressions of excitement on El's face. Almost everyone had a wide smile on their faces. 

He looked from side to side, unsure of what was happening, "Is something wrong?"