There's a limit in magic, as Leo learned in his training. Not only about the energy that needs to flow through your spirit, but also because of complexity. The spirit needs to mold that energy, give it the effect the user wants it to have, and then direct it to its target. The more complex the magic is, the more precision it requires, and the higher the precision, the harder it is to control. That why it is so hard to do things we would think as easy.
"Why can't you just cook something using magic?" Because you need to keep a constant heat, during all the time it takes to cook.
"Why can't you 'transmute' food using alchemy magic?" Because it would require you to create every cell in it.
The same answer can be applied to a lot other cases, like body regeneration. There's things it's just better not to try, and organic matter is just too complex.
In the world Leo lives now, coins are made of wood, and marked with complex patterns. The material makes it hard for people to make new coins with magic, and the patterns make it hard to make them with other means. Also they use the wood from really uncommon trees, and the ones they grow are heavily protected, like the treasure they are. The trees, just like any other living being, have a spirit, and the wood, even after the tree is dead, keeps a residual spirit energy charge.
That charge, while not infinite, lets the authorities, and anyone with enough spiritual sensibility, distinguish the real coins from falsifications. When the coins' energy gets too low, or their patterns start to get blurry, those coins are sent to the official money makers, who exchange those coins with newly cut ones, and then destroy (burn) the older ones. For the same reason, keeping older coins is never a good thing, so in that world, it is common to keep the spare money in bank accounts. Those accounts are magically signed, so that only the real owners' spirits will resonate with the signature, proving their permission to access it.
The coins have different sizes, and patterns, depending on their value. The bigger coins are really valuable, and rarely seen. They are about 50 cm of diameter, so those coins are not specially practical. One could use a few of those coins to build a small house.
To have a value equivalent to 1 of the bigger coins, one has to own 100 of the smaller sized ones, with a size around 5cm of diameter. Those ones are more common around rich people, and still rare in poor people.
The smallest size, and the most common one, are coins with a value of 1/100th of the medium ones. Those coins, though, are not proportional to their value (for practical reasons, it would be too easy to lose them with only 0.5cm of diameter), so they made them 1cm instead. These coins are also thin, and being made from wood, it is not strange for them to break in half when not handled properly, and then they need to be sent to the makers for replacement, taking care to keep both splits together so they can make sure all the parts of the coins are there.
Life had been a bit boring for Leo after what happened in the cathedral. The order had accepted him as an apprentice, assigned as Andur's disciple. Being still not adult, by the rules of that place, that meant Andur had full responsibility over both Leo's safety, and his behavior. Leo knew that, and he knew Andur expected a lot from him in exchange. That, and having learned his tutor and teacher was one of the High Bladirs made now him look at him in a different way, something Andur got annoyed with: he hated formality.
That day, though, wasn't the day they wanted it to be. When Leo woke up, he opened the window, and noticed a strangely dark cloud in the horizon. He had never seen a tempest in that world, so he didn't know if that color was normal. When he walked downstairs he saw Andur looking through a window.
- Good morning Andur... is something wrong?
- The cloud, it's not normal. I can sense a strange aura coming from it. It feels... bad. I don't know what should we do. I will go get Ly. you stay inside, I don't trust that thing.
Leo had no choice but to stay. Not only because of Andur's order, but there was something inside him telling him to hide, to run away from it. That feeling was slowly growing more intense.
When Andur came back with Ly, they both had their eyes open. Andur seemed tired, and Ly was even having a hard time breathing. Her eyes were wide open, like if she had seen a ghost.
- Fear -said Andur-. That cloud plays with our fear. The nearer you go, the more you want to leave. In a way, it's like the aura in the desert, but it is also different. The Tear wanted to protect. This cloud wants to destroy. The Tear was telling us to leave. This cloud tells us to die. And it means it.
» I do not know what it is, but it is really powerful. Maybe we should leave. But we don't know its intentions. It might just be on its way to somewhere, or it might be chasing us. We can't just open a portal to the city. If it is following us, then we would be putting everyone in there in danger.
- I... I don't know how dangerous it can be - said Leo -... but I think we should see that first. We should check if it is really following us.
- You are right Leo... the fear doesn't let me think straight. It's getting too strong. Let's go, we will start to move away, then around. Hold my hand... you too Ly.
Andur used his blue spirit to teleport them some meters away. Teleporting was a complex magic, so it didn't work well for long distances. That meant they had to go in steps, but while a normal teleport could allow up to around 100 meters (depending on the user's skills), Andur's fear only allowed him to move less than 25 meters in each step.
After a few steps, they reached a hill, and from it, they looked at the cloud. What they saw matched with Andur's feelings: the cloud brought destruction around its way, and its way indeed seemed to be them.
Andur decided to move around it more, so they could try to protect their home. He stepped a few times more, moving in a curve around the cloud. After that, Andur was starting to get tired, but he thought the new direction would help avoiding damage, as the sea was nearer in that direction.
Leo was more worried about Ly's state at that time, ans she seemed to have troubles keeping herself conscious. The pressure coming from that cloud affected her a lot more than Leo or Andur, and that made Leo furious. He hated seeing her suffer.
While Andur was trying to recover a bit from all the magic he had used, the cloud was getting near them. It seemed like if it was moving faster then, or maybe they just didn't notice its real size. In any case, it was big, powerful, and getting closer.
At that moment, Leo's mind was in an internal war between the irrational fear that wanted him to run away for his life, and the part that wanted to protect her. Protection. That word triggered a memory... one about something Andur said in the house. About the Tear.
If the Tear's power wanted to protect something, maybe it would protect them against that cloud. He couldn't think of anything else to do, so he told Andur.
Andur didn't like that idea, it was a great risk. A collision between two energies of that level of power could produce a disaster... if that happened, it would have terrible consequences. It could destroy the whole country, or even the whole world. But what other option did they have? They couldn't just give up and die. It could just not stop there, and continue to destroy everything else on its way, and that would be just as much of a disaster, if not bigger.
When such great powers are involved, the consequences of the decision of a tiny human, even a powerful one, are hard to bear. Andur doubted. But he didn't want to die. He didn't want his daughter to die. It was the only other option, they would have to take the chance with the Tear.
The place wasn't far from there. In a few steps, Andur managed to get them to the border of the crater, but ended up exhausted. Leo held him any Ly one in each side, and opened his eye. Then he created an energy barrier around them, so he could attenuate the strong energy coming from the Tear.
That worked surprisingly well, but he didn't have time to think about that, so he started to walk, almost dragging them with him, to where the altar was. Step by step, they reached the altar. Leo stopped a few meters away from the Tear, because if the tear had got inside the barrier, then all its aura would have got compressed inside it. Then Leo sat down, looking at how the cloud was getting closer, waiting for the decisive moment, and wondering if they had taken the right decision.
Some minuted had to pass, but the auras finally collided. A collision of forces, of opposite powers. The auras started to destroy each other, generating huge amounts of energy in the process, and that was just the beginning. Suddenly, both auras started to glow, one in bright white, and the other in the darkest black. Like fists trying to punch, like bullets trying to pierce, millions of white, and black tentacles started to appear, attacking their enemy, crashing and exploding with invisible, but not less powerful waves of energy.
Leo started to think they chose the wrong option... they had failed, and they would probably die in that moment, he gave up on his fears... "we are gonna die"... "we are gonna die"... "we chose wrong"... "we are gonna die", he repeated that to himself, blaming his own head for giving that idea.
Then he heard a voice inside him.
- It's not yet your time, my son, not yet. You are still not ready for this fight, it's too soon. I can't allow it.
Then a burst of energy started to grow inside him, bigger and bigger, it pierced through his spirit, trying to get free. It was painful, it was too strong for him, but it was the only way. He screamed in pain. He couldn't think, he couldn't hear, he couldn't see, the pain was too big, he was losing the world.
Suddenly, from his back, two bright, white wings found their way through Leo's clothes. His hair also became white, and when he opened his eyes, they were now completely white. He opened his mouth, and started to talk, but the voice they could hear wasn't a human voice. It didn't specifically come from his mouth, it was anywhere, a strong voice, talking to the black cloud.
- Yaeth! It's not yet the time for the battle, I won't allow this. This guardian is not supposed to be out here, it has already caused enough destruction as it is... Be gone!
And with a soft movement of his hand, a light surrounded the whole cloud, and reduced it to nothing. Then Leo... or whatever was in his place, looked at the now scared Andur.
- Andur. You are one of the chosen. You should remember my voice, so you should already know who am I. When Leo wakes up, he won't remember anything after I took over his body. Don't tell him, he is not yet ready to know the truth. And also, I have a request for you. Leo will soon have to leave. He will need to find the truth on his own, and to do that, he will have to awaken his powers. Please follow him, and protect him, because I won't be able to help a second time.
- As you wish, my goddess.
Having heard his reply, the goddess' power faded away. Leo's wings disappeared, his hair went back to the normal color, and his pupils appeared in their respective eyeballs. Without the power, Leo fell into the ground, unconscious.
At the same time, Andur could feel his energy renewed, enough energy to take all of them back to the house, and rest.