The rain didn't stop. Nikola was chewing through his nails.
"I don't understand," Jack began, as he tried to calm little Timmy down, who was scared of the thunder outside. "How could you screw up getting some rain? What sort of druid are you?"
Nikola had no answer to that one. He continued to chew through his nails and to search in the system.
Which he was fairly certain now was just some snarky AI.
For things like: how to stop the rain. He got messages like: how about you just learn mana control?
Nikola had a book with mana control exercises open, but he simply couldn't read it.
He was fairly sure that it was either in Mandarin or Japanese.
Either way, he was way over his head.
"I can help!" Tangra said. Nikola shuddered. "But you will have to burn a couple of Selkie on the pyre!"
"Grill horse meat?" Nikola thought. "I do that every day!"
He heard Tangra chuckling.
"Yes, it came easily to you, once. But now, if you so much as near the water, the head stallion is going to let you have it."
Which to Nikola sounded like something he'd rather do than watch as the flood rolled over the land.
He looked at the door, where, in the umbrella rack, was his bow and the arrows.
"Ok, if I die, I die," he said, as he stood up. "Better me than everyone else!"
Dimitri grabbed him by the hand and pulled him back down in his seat.
"You have a boyfriend, a son, and two adopted brothers!" The man hissed, as he stood up.
"Don't you have the same things?" Nikola asked, as his nails found their way into his mouth once more.
"Yes, but I won't make matters worse. Come now, Niki. You have thousands of mana stones which are worth their weight in blessings. Do you honestly believe that we can't get out of this pickle?"
Nikola didn't respond. Oh, why did he have to have such a big head? If he had researched first what to do with the rain, this wouldn't have happened!
Jack turned on the TV. He didn't want to listen to the drama anymore. He handed the baby to Jean, who began to smile down at it.
The news reporter was out in the rain, looking so, as if her promotion depended on her being soaked to the bone.
"The rain is spanning the entire world! Even in the deserts! It is a miracle, or maybe even a new Biblical Flood! Please, if you are in a low area, follow the instructions for evacuation!"
Nikola whimpered.
Dimitri clapped him on the shoulder.
"Everything will be fine," the blonde told him, as he exited the cabin.
Nikola finally stood up, only to glue himself by a window. He watched Dimitri dump plenty of mana crystals in the outdoor cooking pit. Then he began to dance.
Jumping over the fire.
Nikola was as pale as a ghost. Dimitri was weak to fire!
He rushed out. The rain soaked him through the bone in seconds.
"Dimitri!" Nikola yelled, just as the man was preparing to jump over the fire again. "I did this! It should be me doing this!"
Dimitri simply waved him over.
"How about we do this together? When was the last time I took you out to dance?"
"You… never did," and if Dimitri died, he would never get the chance to do so, anyway.
Dimitri grinned.
"Then it is about time, don't you think?" He asked, as he offered his hand once more.
"There is nothing to fear," Dimitri added, when it became obvious to him that Nikola was going to simply sit in the rain and panic. "It is just fire. It is a pure force!"
A thunder sounded in the distance. The water in the lake was responding to the storm.
Nikola rushed to Dimitri, taking his hand, and letting the man lead him into the dance.
They jumped over the fire again and again. As the rain soaked them to the bones.
They jumped, and Nikola could even smile after the third jump. For the fire wasn't emitting any heat.
It was a pure force, just as Dimitri had said.
They lost themselves in the dance. Lost themselves in each other's closeness.
Nikola felt something in himself after the tenth jump. Something that was bubbling.
He had felt it before, but he had thought that it was just something like an upset stomach.
They jumped over the fire once more. Nikola tried to calm himself down. To calm the bubbling something in himself.
The rain began to lose its power. The thunder was coming further and further apart.
The lake's surface was just being broken by the raindrops, instead of the storm which he knew must be raging under the waves.
Nikola took a hold of that bubbling thing and forced it to part for him. He smiled, laughing, when it finally calmed down.
"Congratulations! You have finally located your mana source! I hope you don't end the world the next time you decide to use magic for something! For that, I will translate the mana control book into a language of your choosing!"
Nikola smiled. Even if the system was still snarky, he felt better.
When the rain finally stopped, Nikola looked at the skies.
"Ok, I think I learned my lesson," he said, as he took in a deep breath. "No magic until I figure out how to use my mana."
But the question which swam in his head was how the rain had spread to the entire world. It should not be possible. It was something that should have drained him of mana.
"Oh, that was me!" Tangra pipped up, making Nikola frown. "I figured that if you want to erase the deserts, then you need plenty of rain! You're welcome!"
"Darn him." Nikola yelled, as he kicked at a stray root.
Before he could fall over and into the pit with the mana stones, Dimitri caught him.
The vampire was going to get to the bottom of this.
And he was going to act.
No one made a fool of his Niki.