Fire Angel

Author's Note: I'm sure a lot of you guys (the ones who even bothered to read my work) have been wondering what's been going on with this story. I mean, how many months has it been since an update? To tell you the truth, I was thinking about giving it up, but I kinda went through the reviews that it had and they made me think...'Hmmm, there are some people who actually like my work... maybe I should give 'em more...'

I hope you guys(and gals) enjoy this new installment... rate and review if you deem it worthy please and thank you ^w^

~~~~~~~

Days later, Karianna was training with the other angels while Melissa watched from the shade of a tree. Renaldo was explaining.

“Fire angels fall under the danger of always losing control, more so than the other elements because we are more prone to our element, or so they say.” he pulled a half smile and his class laughed.

“Sir,” one of them, an angel with pale green eyes and jet black hair half raised his hand as he spoke “I overheard Michalmus saying that fire angels are a threat to the society… how are we a threat?”

“Good question Rowan. How can we be a threat to the other elements? Can anyone guess before I tell you?”

“Is it because we can become pure energy?” Karianna asked, a book near her feet. Renaldo smiled at her and nodded

“Not just pure energy. It’s the form of energy we take.” Renaldo moved towards Sara. “Take for instance, we go up against earth, the weakest of you would still have the advantage over the best in the earth class, simply because you are the most destructive to earth… but what about water.” all of the students gave a collective shiver. “Yes, you all have an aversion to water, simply because they have a destructive advantage over us. However… the pure fire angels had managed to perfect a form that could counteract the water. Simply by using water’s destructive opposite.”

“Wind?” Karianna asked frowning.

“Not really. Wind does have an advantage over water that’s true… but there is another element, one that cannot be tapped into freely, simply because of the sheer complexity and amount of power that is needed for it.” on girl gasped and put her hand over her mouth

“You mean Lightening?” Renaldo nodded gravely.

“Yes, I mean lightening. But I do not advise for you to try to conjure lightening ever in your lifetime.” that statement got him more than a few odd looks so he continued while walking to the water, the class followed him. “I told you that it would be unwise for you to use your power while in water not so.” the class nodded while Karianna looked away, blushing slightly, “The reason for that was, not all of you would ever be able to have the power that would require you to be in the water to avoid scorching the earth.”

“If you have that kind of power though… what would happen to you?” Karianna asked tentatively. Renaldo looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

“If you had that kind of power you would have to go into Morrigan’s class for training.” he said simply “But that’s not what I want to talk to you about. The training for the element of lightening is usually done with most of your body submerged in water, thus only the true angels of fire could have done it… they say that the only one recently to have truly mastered it was Aelana, though the fact that she was erased by the water angels so easily in the eradication seems to say otherwise.” Karianna’s eyes glowed green for a moment before she turned and walked to the water’s edge and began whispering to herself. “I’m sorry?”

“I said… ‘What if she knew that fighting them would only lead to more destruction? What if her only option at the time was to die so that understanding would come about? What if she really didn’t want to die?’” she looked into the water with tears in her eyes.

“While all those things are possible outcomes, it still stands to question why she would give her life to show them how wrong they are knowing that there would be no way to fix the problem they caused.” Rowan asked pointedly “It doesn’t make sense.” Karianna smiled sadly and took a step into the water moments before Renaldo grabbed her hand and pulled her back as the water began to bubble.

“Sorry.” Karianna moved to the back of the class while the others followed her movement with their eyes and Renaldo looked to the bubbling water and back to Karianna periodically.

“Come back here Karianna.” she hesitated before complying and stood before him with her head bowed. “How long have you been able to go into the water with heat?” he asked quietly

“Sometimes I have to.” she replied equally softly while she fidgeted, knowing that her classmates were trying to hear every word. “It gets too much to bear sometimes…”

“Your heat?” she nodded and Renaldo frowned. “Why didn’t you say something before now?”

“I didn’t know it was wrong… I just…” Renaldo stopped her

“It’s not wrong. It just means that the techniques you’ve been learning thus far have been doing nothing to help you. I’m surprised you managed to keep your calm for so long and didn’t just jump into the water in the middle of my class.” he chuckled and shook his head “But you do need to go into Morrigan’s class. For your own sanity at least.” she nodded and he pushed her away. “Take the rest of the day. I don’t want to see you here tomorrow.” Sara rushed to Karianna’s side and gave her a hug while she was still at a loss for words.

“I’m gonna miss you.” Sara muttered while the other students crowded her

“Yeah! Who’s gonna try to burn Malcolm for us now?” that brought a host of chuckles and Karianna managed to separate from them and give them all sad smiles.

“Hey, we’re sure to meet up at some time or the other right?” she said backing away and shrugging. More laughter followed her as she turned to Melissa who was now standing up and smiling at her. Karianna smiled and gave her a small bow before running towards her. “You knew I was going to get moved today didn’t you?” Melissa returned her smile

“I was thinking of taking you to the wind country today if you were up for it.” Karianna looked confused

“The wind country… the east?” Melissa nodded

“I know you read about it, and the others but you have yet to see it all.” Karianna nodded.

“I don’t want to go to the north though… that’s scary.” Melissa laughed.

~~~~~

An angular room with four altars at the cardinal points and what seemed to be a swirling vortex in the center of an ornately designed room was the sight that greeted Karianna and Melissa as they stepped through the wrought iron doors of the grand temple.

“This is what’s shown to the public on ordinary days.” Melissa said as she motioned to the altars. “Those are the wind temple’s tributes to the elements.”

“Tribute…?”

“All the temples have a tribute altar to the respective elements. It’s a way to show that we have respect and honor for the balance of nature.” Karianna nodded and walked towards the altars.

“So… you have a tribute to all the elements… even your destructive opposite.” Melissa nodded “To water we honor. To earth we respect and to fire…” Karianna turned as Melissa’s voice trailed off.

“To fire?”

“To fire we love. And it is the same for all the temples. Honor their weakness, respect their advantage and love their compatible element.” Melissa looked away from Karianna’s intense stare and began to move to one of the other, smaller, doors.

“So wind would be my compatible element…” Karianna had turned to the altars and noted the key differences in them as Melissa walked towards the wind in the center. “Then… earth would be compatible to water… right?” Melissa turned to her and nodded

“You noticed the pattern already?” Karianna nodded.

“At least I think I did. It’s cool.” Karianna walked to the altar dedicated to fire and put a hand on it, her eyebrows coming together briefly. “It’s warm…”

“It should be.” Melissa laughed “It’s connected to fire’s temple. But not as well as it used to be.”

“I can imagine.” Melissa looked at her oddly before shaking her head

“Do you want to see any more of the temple or do you want to take a trip to the wind hall?”

“The wind hall?” Karianna looked completely confused while Melissa took her hand and gently lead her away from the altars

“The land is separated into five regions. North, South, East, West and Central. The cardinal points and heart.” Melissa motioned to the set-up of the altars and smiled “I would have thought that Renaldo would have told you about the theory of the land by now.”

“Oh… he was more concerned about getting me in control of my element that trying to give me Geography 101.” Karianna replied with a smug look on her face causing Melissa to laugh loudly. One of the doors opened and a tall man with auburn hair walked in, curious to the source of the outburst. His expression moved from curiosity to a warm and friendly smile as soon as he saw the two women.

“Melissa?” he asked, his voice smooth and easy “My lady,” he gave her a small bow as he got nearer “And you must be Karianna. I dare say you’ve gotten quite a name for yourself since that incident with Malcolm.” humor twinkled in his lilac eyes. Karianna looked away chuckling

“Well… he was in the way…” she shrugged, “I didn’t mean to do it though, not really.” Karianna looked curiously at him for a moment before turning to Melissa

“Ah, Karianna, this is Kareem. He’s one of the true wind angels who takes care of the temple.” Melissa said before Karianna had a chance to ask the question. Kareem got a cocky look on his face as he extended a hand to Karianna

“It’s a great pleasure to meet a fire angel that would stand up to Malcolm, however accidentally.” Karianna chuckled and turned to Melissa

“Mel was just going to take me to see the wind hall… I might see you around?” Kareem smiled and gave her a slight bow

“But of course. I will have to make a few more trips into the central continent simply for you.” he smiled and Karianna took Melissa’s hand and let her lead her out of the temple…

~~~~~

“So what’s the deal with Kareem?” Karianna was sitting at the edge of the balcony railing of an ancient structure with her legs swinging over the edge while the wind whipped her hair wildly about her.

“What deal?” Melissa asked leaning over the railing and looking back at her.

“‘My lady’?” she asked with a raised eyebrow while pushing her hair behind her ear once again. Melissa bowed her head with a chuckle.

“It’s a simple term, not one used in endearment in this case, believe me… I think he’s a bit more taken to you actually.” Melissa let her eyes wander as Karianna looked out to the bright horizon for a long moment before sighing and leaning back, her hands griping the railing to prevent her from toppling over. Her head tilted back to the sky before she answered

“But that would just be a wind/fire thing wouldn’t it?” Melissa moved away from the railing and extended her hand out, a swirl of wind started at her fingertips before extending to her body then shooting outward. Within moments, the wind stopped tousling Karianna’s hair.

“I’m not sure what Kareem’s thoughts about you would be, whether they’re due to the compatibility or whether it stems from genuine like, but it’s up to you whether you want him to be near you as well.” Karianna turned to her

“Why up to me? I’m just a fire angel, and I’m not even that good.”

“Wrong.” Melissa’s voice was quite but powerful Karianna righted herself on the railing and turned around so that her legs were now over the base of the balcony “You are not just a fire angel, you are the daughter of Aelena and Jarrod, the two most powerful and true fire angels to have ever existed in all of Sierra… and the mere fact that you have been able to control you fire, even now means that you are in fact very good.” Karianna looked to the ground.

“But there’s still so much I don’t know…” she let out a heavy sigh before glancing up at Melissa “On the up side, your antics with wind don’t surprise me anymore.” she let out a beautiful smile as Melissa just shook her head.

“Our elements are a part of us. For the pure angels, we are the elements; it almost makes us who we are… so it’s dangerous to cross us.” Karianna smiled and hopped off the railing onto the balcony.

“I think I’ll take you up on your offer to go to the wind archives.”

“Why the change of heart?” Melissa turned as Karianna began to walk to the door that led back into the hall

“I want to check the birth registry.” Karianna’s eyes held more than a little mischief as Melissa looked at her with her eyebrows furrowed.

“Why the birth registry?”

“Among other things of course, but I want to see if your birth registry might have anything on the fire angels since you’re so compatible with my element.” Karianna’s hand was on the handle of the door and she was looking over her shoulder

“That’s true… I think the only archives that would have a better fire angel registry would be…” Melissa let her voice trail off as she walked to Karianna and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t you think it would be faster if I just whisked us away?”

“What and miss the opportunity to walk the distance with you and get to know the streets? Isn’t everyone just teleporting anyway?” Karianna pouted slightly, the mischievous gleam still in her eyes

“True, that and flying are always quicker.” Karianna looked away for a moment before pushing the door open…

~~~~~~

They walked along the roads of the wind country slowly through the constant breeze that came with it. “So, up north are mostly rivers and lakes I take it?” Karianna asked as she got tired of fixing her hair behind her ear and simply allowed it to billow freely behind and around them.

“Yeah. I mean there’s enough land for us to walk around and stuff, but it’s not really fire angel friendly if you know what I mean.” Melissa replied easily smiling as her hair seemed to be unaffected by the near gale. Karianna chanced a sideways glance to Melissa and sighed

“What about west?” the wind picked up strands of Karianna’s hair and began twisting it around randomly as Melissa thought for a moment.

“It’s mostly volcanic now, but there used to be a lot of hot springs and fire flowers.” She smiled and took Karianna’s gently to lead her down another road “The land there is so unstable it’s scary, mainly because there are not enough fire angels powerful enough to maintain the land there…” her voice trailed off and Karianna looked at her curiously.

“What happened when the fire angels were killed off?” she asked “Was it a result of the killings or was it happening from before?” Melissa had to bite her lip and she paused in mid-stride.

“I’m not too sure about that… if I had to say anything I’d think it was a result of the killings, but the water angels would never admit to it.” Her voice was somber and she kept her eyes trained on the floor “The loss of the fire angels hit the wind angels most acutely due to the fact that there were some among them that were truly loved by wind…”

“You mean they were together?” Karianna heard the sorrow that was within Melissa’s voice and moved to touch her shoulder but paused as Melissa regained her composure and wiped the tear that was beginning to slip past her eyes.

“It was out of fear the water angels acted on. We knew that the fire angels never really meant any harm, and most of them stayed in the west until they were trained most times anyway…” she stopped herself as anger began to overtake sorrow, and the wind around them suddenly died down leaving Karianna’s hair braided quite neatly. “I think we’d better go through a portal.” She murmured enveloping the two of them in her portal.

~~~~~~~

Moments later they were standing before a building much like the fire hall with the main difference that it gave off the air of wind in its walls. Karianna seemed to feel so at home at that point it was almost unnerved her. As they walked through the halls, angels moved out of their way with a look of awe and respect on their faces.

“What’s with them?” Karianna asked as they passed through the door marked ‘Births’ in ornate gold letters.

“What do you mean?” Melissa looked back at her as she closed the door.

“Why were they moving to the walls for us to walk?”

“Oh that.” Melissa let out a small chuckle “It tends to happen, but it was because word travels fast in this place. I’m pretty sure everyone’s heard about your fireball incident with Malcolm.”

“That can’t be all,” Karianna was holding a book she had taken off the shelves at random while still looking pointedly at Melissa. “They were staring at you with awe and reverence in their eyes you know.” Melissa looked away and started rifling through the shelves “What are you hiding from me?”

“Nothing really.” She pulled out a book and Karianna raised an eyebrow, finally looking down at the registry she had taken out.

“I think I found something in this…” she said as she flipped it open. Melissa halted and looked at Karianna with mixed emotions. “It says ‘Living through fire’s eyes’ on the inside cover.” Melissa walked over to her as Karianna turned the page and began skimming through the words written there before freezing. “This is…” her hand slackened and the book fell towards the floor as her eyes turned green briefly and a wave of heat ripped through the room while Melissa’s wind caught the book before it connected with the floor. Karianna managed to pull the heat back into her before anything caught fire and slipped to the floor more than a little breathless. She held her head almost as though she was in pain and Melissa moved to her, placing a hand on each shoulder.

“Are you alright? Kari?” it took a few moments, but Karianna was able to relax and look Melissa in the eyes before nodding.

“It took me by surprise just now… that’s all.” Her voice was a little strained and Melissa put a hand on her forehead out of habit.

“What happened?” she asked concern at the fore front of her emotions and her wind was dramatically cooling down the room.

“I…” Karianna bit her lip lightly and avoided eye contact. “I saw something really strange just now.” Melissa’s eyebrows came together in a delicate frown

“Strange in what way?” she asked slowly. Karianna hesitated

“It was just… I don’t know… there were a few other angels forming a circle around five figures set up on some altar or something… I didn’t really know what to make of it, but before that… I saw my parents again.” Karianna’s eyes moved around the room and came to rest on the book that was now on the table near one of the shelves. “Living through fire’s eyes… it was written my both of my parents and hidden here…” her eyes turned to a shell shocked Melissa whose eyes, directed to the ground, showed her rapt attention focused on her thoughts. “Mel?” Karianna touched the wind angel lightly on the arm and Melissa looked up “Can we borrow that book please?” she looked up to the book and thought briefly before nodding.

“Of course.” Her voice was almost like a gentle breeze as she stood up and extended an arm to Karianna. “We should go now though, I think you need a rest before your new classes start.” Karianna nodded slowly taking Melissa’s hand and getting up. Karianna reached for the book, her eyes back to their now normal colored irises of red and green. Melissa frowned slightly before picking the book up. “Are you up for the walk back outside, or…”

“I can manage.” Karianna interrupted. “I need to walk of that image any way.” Melissa nodded and the two of them left the room.

~~~~~~~

Karianna sat in the den looking out at the patio with an odd expression on her face for a long while before she opened the window/door and walked along the path to the mini lake that she had found however long ago it was. The water was now constantly warm, almost like a hot-spring, though she couldn’t be sure as she had never actually been to a hot-spring before.

Melissa had watched her leave, but left her to her thoughts only checking once to see where she was going. Karianna stepped into the water, fully clothed as per usual, and summoned her fire. The flames surrounded her hands and formed themselves into a ball between her palms as she made a space between them and began to mold the fire into a ball, expanding and shrinking it periodically. Eventually she made it to look almost like an atom or a sun with flares. Her eyes and focus slipped away from the flame before her and moved on to the scenery, a rose caught her eye, and the flame began to change its form slightly to begin to resemble the flower in its wielder’s mind. When Karianna looked back to her fire, she was taken aback at the change it had undergone and it began to reshape automatically. A sound came from behind Karianna at this point and she turned around.

“Melissa!” the wind angel smiled.

“What’re you up to?” Karianna blushed slightly and extinguished her flame mumbling something about practice. “You didn’t even wait for me to go to sleep this time.” Melissa teased as she slowly lowered herself to the ground still smiling. Karianna looked away.

“Yeah, you weren’t really asleep were you?” Melissa shook her head

“I get worried about you, you know.” Melissa looked back to Karianna’s now limp arms “Can you do what you did just now again? I want to try something with you.” She looked even more embarrassed but raised her hands before her again, palms facing each other, and summoned her fire between them again. It was in the static ball with no creativity and Melissa’s hair suddenly whipped up with a sudden gust of wind that began to revolve visibly around her now outstretched right hand. The swirling wind left her hand in a gentle stream and fused with the fire, changing its color slightly and shaping it into an odd looking bird. Karianna watched with surprise as the flame seemed to take a life of its own, now not drawing from her energies, but Melissa’s. Karianna moved back as the fire shot into the air briefly before fading away.

“How did you do that?” she asked with her head still facing the sky where the image of bird still played in her mind. Melissa chuckled lightly and made the water swirl around her.

“Wind loves fire.” She said “Without air, fire could not exist. If there is too much fire, the air would be used up, if there is no air, there can be no fire.”

“Balance of elements.” Melissa nodded.

“Wind can also allow things to ride its currents if it is employed properly.” The water began to pick up speed around Karianna who did not move to show fear or apprehension and some of the water began to lift away from the lake and a swirling circle formed around the fire angel. Her eyes followed the movement as it suddenly scattered and splashed them both with a spray. “Sorry.” Melissa laughed as she got up from the floor shaking her head and patting down her body in a vain attempt to get the water off.

“It’s alright.” Karianna said getting out of the water, letting the light bubbles that were along the top of the water simmer down. “I dry off quickly.” The smile that was on her face exposed the more playful side of her that she was beginning to expose. The steam that began rising from her gave testament to that fact and Melissa pursed her lips to try to suppress the smile that was beginning to form. “Do you want to dry off to, or do you just want to get out of those clothes?” Karianna didn’t stick around to hear the answer to the question that stunned Melissa into a temporary silence. Karianna made her way back up to the house and to her room, while Melissa caught herself and followed her, blushing all the while.

~~~~~~~~

“So, Karianna… Renaldo tells me that you seem to have a larger aptitude for fire that Malcolm had initially anticipated?” Morrigan was a tall angel with a soft face and an open disposition. His hair reached somewhere along his mid back and seemed to be affected by the light as it rippled between red and yellow constantly and his eyes were a beautiful and deep violet. Karianna somehow felt intimidated by his open easy nature and kept silent as she nodded. The rest of the class looked on as he clapped his hands “Don’t be shy! Why don’t you show us what you can do?” Karianna looked down and let her eyes travel to the water.

“I haven’t…” her voice was barely above a soft whisper and, almost as though sensing her unease, the rest of the class dispersed and gave her some space.

“You haven’t what darling?” he asked in a softer tone, his face and voice radiating a gentle concern as he realized that his enthusiasm may have pushed her shyness into overdrive.

“I haven’t really, done much…” she muttered now feeling embarrassed. Morrigan chuckled kindly

“You’ve never just let loose with the fire? Never just let the fire get a taste of freedom?” he asked taking her shoulder and leading her to the edge of the water as she shook her head.

“It’s always been about control in Renaldo’s classes…” she said showing frustration on her face. “I always felt out of place when the fire would try to get away from me and I struggled to keep it in check.” Morrigan listened to her as she explained her problem and a knowing smile came across his face.

“Okay. I know this piece is going to be a bit hard for you now, but I want you to try and let it all out.” Karianna looked at him curiously. “The element control was never supposed to be about suppression as it’s supposed to be about mastery. You are supposed to master yourself and in so doing master your element. The more you know about yourself allows more abilities and an openness to see beyond simply what is given to you.” He raised his hand and it glowed for a moment before a burst of flame erupted and shot over the water making steam furl from the surface. “All you want to do is direct where it goes and let it move from there.” Karianna moved closer to the water’s edge and peered at her hand. She glanced back at him before allowing her focus to fixate on a spot somewhere on the water and raised her hand over the water…

~~~~~

Karianna’s perspective

~~~~~

I tried to calm the rushing heat within me and keep it focused in the general direction that my hand was pointing, hoping to come close to the kind of display that Morrigan had just displayed. My eyes closed inadvertently as I saw the fire within me before feeling a massive surge of heat leave my body. I opened my eyes in time to see the fire dissipate and steam rolling off the surface of the lake. I was also acutely aware of the heat at my feet and looked down to see the earth looking more than a little charred. ‘Crap.’ I glanced at Morrigan to see what might be going through his head, but his face was decidedly unreadable. I glanced back at the other angels and saw that they were, most of them, in the meditation pose. I looked back to Morrigan who was now wearing a kind smile.

“How long have you been able to display such power honey?” he asked sweetly and I shrugged.

“I’m not… entirely sure honestly.” He took a step forward and looked down as he heard a distinctive crunch. His eyebrows connected briefly to be replaced by a smile so fast I thought I imagined it.

“Here, I’m going to teach you how to utilize this firry disposition of yours so that you don’t need to be in the water to prevent the scarring of the land alright?” he said softly, as though he was trying to make sure no one heard us. I nodded slowly and he pressed his hand softly into my back, leading me into the water. “Very good, I’ll have Micah deal with your little accident, but for now let’s see if I can’t get you out of the water and into the realm of land walkers.” His smile got a little broader and we both went into the water until it came up to our waists. The cold water made me shiver slightly.

“Why is it still so cold?” I asked as goose bumps ran up and down my arms. I looked across to him and saw that the water was bubbling around him and he was looking at me expectantly. I blushed a little and looked down at the water letting my own temperature raise to keep myself warm.

“The water around these parts is able to stay a specific temperature because the first layer is usually evaporated instantly leaving the layer below at the same temperature.” He answered. “It’s only when we come in like this is the water affected.” I nodded and looked back up at him. “I want you to be able to decrease the amount of bubbles around you as you use your fire, basically learning how to allow a more efficient usage of your power, because as it stands, you’re doing more wasting than you should.” He opened his hand over the water and called forth a fire ball without raising the temperature around him. My mouth nearly dropped but I focused, instead, on the heat within my body and tried to replicate what he had done. Needless to say, I failed. He let out a low chuckle as the water’s bubbling increased as my fire formed in my hand.

“What did I do wrong?” I asked putting the flame out.

“You’re letting the fire get away from you. You have to see your fire in your mind’s eye and allow it to simply allow the fire to escape where you want it too. It’ll take some practice and it’d be easier without having to heat the water around us, but you can take it as a challenge.” He began to move out of the water while telling me to try to make the fire without increasing my external heat more than it already was muttering something again about my ‘firry disposition’ before moving out of earshot.

~~~~~~

Most of the day passed and I was still not getting the hang of it, though I did think I understood the theory behind it. Eventually I let my body lean back and floated on the water for a while, while I got my bearings. The sky was impossibly blue and I almost got lost in the patterns that the clouds were forming above my head as I began to drift in the water. As I drifted, I began to think. I thought back to the times I was on earth, when I used to hang out with Angela, Kaori, Jason and the others from our group. We didn’t do much more than hang out and relax, studying occasionally when our parents demanded it and generally kept our grades up. I thought back to the day we decided to skip school and go to the beach instead. We had found a small and hidden cove and just dove into the water only to resurface and float around, talking and laughing… I raised my hand to my face and took in the delicate lines that had formed since before I knew what my hands were called. I traced each line with my eyes and tried to call my fire simultaneously. The effect was actually unnerving. Each line in my hand glowed brightly and I was actually able to see the network of veins and arteries that lay under the skin before my hand burst into flame and I felt a slight increase of my body temperature. I righted myself excitedly and felt my body temperature rise even more and pouted. ‘Just when I think I was on to something…’ my feet came into contact with the ground and I found that the water was now at the base of my neck and extinguished my fire hurriedly as I began moving closer to the shore again. I saw Morrigan looking at me from where he was and I thought back to what I was doing before the heat increased and frowned. After a little while I began to calm myself and as I focused on my hand again, I tried to keep my mind calm and allowed the heat in me to bubble up, but kept the focus on my hands. Both of them glowed brightly for a moment before bursting into flames with only a minimal increase in the temperature of my body. My focus remained on my hands for quite a while after and I gradually felt the temperature of my body begin to drop as all the heat began being directed to my hands and the flame got bigger and brighter for a moment before I felt the icy chill of the water slide into me and my concentration was broken. Morrigan was in front of me and I moved back automatically, slipping on a patch of ground and nearly got submerged were in not for his hand grabbing mine.

“You managed to almost completely erase your temperature on the first day, quite an accomplishment I must say.” He said smiling and righting me. “I think it had something to do with the fact that you took a break too.” He chuckled slightly and looked back to his class, most of whom were now standing and stretching.

“They didn’t take breaks in their training?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Most of my students think that taking a break once in a while might actually make it harder for them to learn new things so they tend to keep trying and trying until they get it.” He gave another chuckle, his eyes twinkling with laughter “If they had been observing you at all they’d be most surprised.” I gave a nervous laugh

“But it took me a while to manage to get my temperature to lower.” My concern was evident and he began to lead me out of the water, the hand he now had on my back wasn’t exactly pushing me but applying a pressure and warmth that I didn’t fully understand.

“Ah, but now you know that you can do it. I would advise you to go back with Melissa and take a rest, you’re going to need it, and try to practice without the heat. If you start off with no heat, it should be easier to keep it that way. Just don’t try to push yourself.” The tone he took at the last six words seemed to be more of an order than a request so I nodded my head, suddenly feeling drained. We were now out of the water and despite the heat I was feeling seeping into my body, I felt strangely cold. Warm, delicate hands held my mid-section, though I couldn’t see who it was as my vision had suddenly failed me. I heard a sigh and felt something hard pressing against my body. It took me a while for me to realize that I was lying down and it was Melissa’s hands that held me. I tried to move my body and receive a light touch on my face followed by soothing words and the promise of a warm soft bed before I lost track of everything altogether.