Disclaimer: I do not own Wish.
Author's note: This is the revised version of chapter 5. I only changed spelling, grammar, syntax and some minor details.
The feel of the water all around Touki made her mind enter an enlarged state – everything that otherwise would have been kept within the driblets now was filtered, and each important information sought out. Of course, nothing of this process was visible to the eye – in fact, she wasn't even visible. In her state of semi-translucency, which resembled her being dissolved in an equal portion of water, her cover was perfect, and frontiers were to be overcome without hesitation or change of way. She wasn't consciously guiding her way – the way was in her, and yet she did not know where it exactly came from. It formed, while it manifested, while it disappeared. Her present past and future condensed into one single moment when she was melting herself into her element, and it was then when time and space became completely relative. The exact way of her movement is not to be understood by any human mind, no model of plummeting satin forming valleys and peeks could ever show how exactly relativity appeared to those minds able to set themselves next to it. It was a moment of true perfection, of the very essence of being condensed into something only ignorant minds would seek to measure.
Yet, Touki knew that she had never before reached this stage of perfect melange with the world around her. She sensed that it had to be because for the first time in her life she had an aim, and for the first time she had admitted that aim to herself. She needed him, she needed Ranshou more than anything else, and paradox as it is, even a second more without him in her timeless state was insufferable. And she sensed that something had happened because the water drew her away with even more energy.
Normally, "performing spells", or in fact the gathering and concentration of nature's strewn energy towards an aim needed to be guided, centred in a medium – an angel's primary occupation. It drew energy from the medium, and afforded a large amount of practice to control the energy, which is why angels were only able to maintain spells for a short time, and often needed to recover them after such a performance. But in this state of merging only boosted her own energy. The water did not need her guidance, because she was the water. Her mind had been enlarged and controlled every single unit surrounding her.
Some part of her saw him at some point in this special journey. He was lying unconscious, on a small amount of earth seemingly unshaken. At least the very primary resources, not unlike a shielding function, were still being powered. However, it was quite obvious that Ranshou had not been able to undergo the full transformation she had just experienced. Controlling an element, which was only half his, and half Ryuki's must have been straining. Touki cursed Ranshou for going alone to control the Magma, and not asking Ryuki to control the heat, or at least herself, to cool everything with water in case it was necessary. Instead, he took her on minibreak and left her on an island to relax. It seemed that he did not trust her. This thought broke her heart, but she barely noticed it. All musings were secondary, her focus was on Ranshou. He seemed unhurt, but judging from the chaotic scene around him, that was quite a miracle. Hot magma was still erupting from the ground, and had burned the tropic scenery that would otherwise have been enchanting. Now it was only grey, red brown, with steam hissing upwards where the raging earth met her water.
She needed to rescue him, without drowning him in his unconscious state, and without evaporating herself, if she approached too slowly. But maybe evaporation was just the way.
She had never experienced her present state of dissolution before, so she could not tell whether her body would survive a change of physical state when she joined the water in the process from going to fluid to steam. It seemed that she simply needed to find out. She had to near herself and the water towards the magma, and simply hope that the steam that would consequently develop be enough to gather as a cloud and pour down, transporting her towards the place where Ranshou lay unconsciously. She was scared, but it was the only way to get close to him without burning herself. On the other hand, it might just be the way to burn herself in her present state…
A wave of melted earth hit the water, and Touki felt herself being a lot lighter – she still was somehow linked, but she felt that the spaces between the water molecules holding her conscience had been enlarged, and she knew that she must have been rising towards the sky. Most fortunately, her will had brought a sufficient amount of water to meet the magma wave, and, upon reaching height, she felt the effects of condensation. The essence of her in water directed the forming cloud to the right space, but she sincerely wished that Hisui would be here in order to guide the water with a breeze. Her energies still remained untouched, but she was afraid that being inside the cloud would perhaps make her miss the right spot, rather than being able to spot it from the outside.
Just at that moment, she saw the little patch of land which was still shielded from the chaos around – it seemed smaller than she remembered, and she began to fear that Ranshou's energy was now very near depletion. Commanding her will again, she gathered the steam around her, making it form a cloud that grew heavier and heavier, while she tried to keep her position. The heat radiating from the soil made it hard, as it formed into turbulences and breezes upon meeting the fresh air. Lingering so high over the ground, and so far away from her natural element, Touki only could hope that her plan would work