She burrowed deeper into the sphere of rippling light. This part of the process wasn’t painful, merely overwhelming. Though she sensed it when she reached the core of her magic, she saw no clear path onward, no way to look at herself from the other side—whatever that meant.
It was usually at this point that she either lost her connection to her source or Viran forced her to abandon her progress. She sensed a faint tingling that meant he was trying to communicate with her, but she didn’t want to return to reality. She wanted to go forward, to take the next step. Instead of heeding Viran’s call, she dug in like a land crab burrowing into mud, and waited. Perhaps inspiration would come. Maybe she’d find a way through.
A sense of calm stole through her. Buried in her magic, she was operating
