[Chapter 8]

With a sigh, I stuffed the remains of my bread in my mouth, not even bothering to finish chewing it before I grabbed my bag from my side. My friends gave me forlorn looks, as if trying to show pity, but I knew they were just sad that I couldn’t join them for another round of snowball fight at the Sanctuary.

“Sorry guys, I gotta go.” I mumbled incomprehensible words through the bread in my mouth, but they got the gist of it. Sarah gave me a little wave while Logan only made a gesture for me to scram. That bastard. Logan had woken up on the wrong side of the bed today, so he had been all grumpy and sleepy all through breakfast. It didn’t actually help that his face was connected to the plate that he had been eating from.

It turned out that holding down two elements was not as pretty as things seemed. It was like double the workload. Everything was doubled. As compared to Madeline, the first-year air-user in my class, I had double everything. It was horrible… And it was only a few months since school started.

Of course, I fared well for both my elements. But elemental magick was definitely harder than normal studies. I almost couldn’t remember the times where I used to stay at home, not bothering to do homework, because I was smarter than the rest. Here, it was a mad dash to catch up with double the workload.

It didn’t help that many information got twisted as it went up to my brain. One day, my Training Master for fire would tell me that the first rule was to prepare for confrontation. The next day, I would tell the same Training Master that the first rule was to avoid confrontation –which happened to be the first rule the Training Master for air told me.

It did not help –too –that fire and air were vastly different elements. Fire demanded control. Air demanded freedom of flow. Fire demanded a strict hold over my power; air demanded that I let my power flow loose.

Yet, despite all these problems, I found I had no problem picking up use of both elements. I had no problem interchanging between both elements as and when I liked it –though I managed to piss of both my Training Masters doing that.

The problem for me, however, was the theory work. Information of the fire would somehow find their way to the essays I wrote for my Training Master for air. Information of the wind cycle would crawl their way onto the reports I came up about the usage and importance of fire. Of course, my Training Masters understood that I was still struggling to come to a balance between these two pesky elements, but they still had to squeeze me dry.

‘For my sake’, they told me.

I ran as fast as I could towards the Training Hall for Fire –aka. The Lava Sauna. It was easy to explain why that place was called the Lava Sauna. The Training Hall was basically where we wielded our powers and it was where everything involving heat right up to the temperature of hot lava would come to life. The Sauna name came in since the ventilators and regulators broke down, keeping the place a permanent sauna.

“Late again, Ms. Alveron.” Mr. Blaze greeted me as I swallowed the rest of my bread, pulling on my fire-gloves with haste. Beginners were always taught with fire-gloves; to protect ourselves from the fire that we held. Of course, the fire-gloves protected our hands, but I realized that they were also tweaked for our powers to be drawn inexplicably to our hands when we summoned it. It helped a lot, since fire was usually channeled from our fingertips forth.

“Sorry. There was Training from Mr. Kote just before breakfast. We stood against the cold wind the entire morning even before the sun rose.” I apologized, though we knew the excuse I gave wasn’t really valid. But seriously, of all Training Masters; I had to get Kote. The eccentric, ever funny but crazy man, Kote.

Kote was always looking for the wind. There would never be once where he would not stand out in the open, closing his eyes and listening to the tunes of the wind. Looking for the name of the wind –he would always tell us. He found the name a long time ago, but he never failed to relish the sound of it in his ears.

Obviously, we thought his head was pretty cracked –not that anyone was crude enough to tell him that.

“Come on. We don’t want to be late and waste ourselves more time.” Mr. Blaze waved my excuse away, turning to the door. Since the ventilator broke, the classes had to assemble outside. No activities spanning more than twenty minutes –it was the rule now, until after the regulators and ventilators were fixed.

My class made a sleepy grumble in reply, and I saw a few half-closed lids. Yeah, I felt twice as burnt out as them.

Still, one of them waited till the rest of the class had gone in, before she followed them in, waiting to walk in beside me.

“Hey, did you hear?” Marisse asked. Marisse was an enthusiastic fire-user who was passionate to everything related to her element. She still held her childhood innocence, which was pretty strange since she was already eighteen, but I guessed no one could blame her for being naïve.

“Hear what? Kote had me standing on the rooftops today, Marisse. All I heard today was wind howling in my ear and the chattering of teeth from my friends and classmates.” I sighed. Marisse was like Dru –always abuzz with the latest rumors.

“He did, really?” Marisse’s eyes widened in surprise as we entered the hot oven of a training hall. Three months already, and I still wasn’t used to breaking out in sweat upon entering this place.

“Ask Madeline when you get back today, alright? She’ll tell you everything.” I sighed as I left my bag with the belongings of my classmates.

It was only by coincidence that I found out that Madeline, my classmate and friend from my trainings of the air, was Marisse’s roommate.

“Anyways, guess what?” She asked, but didn’t wait for me to reply. “I heard Olivia found her Guardian today!”

Olivia was a fellow fire-user from the second-year who treated us first-years well. She gave tips and pointers when she could, and we liked her.

“She did? That’s wonderful!” I whispered back as we followed the class to the middle of the hot oven, which was basically where the large bowl containing the ever-burning fire was kept.

“Awesome, right? Her Guardian is an earth-user. Jonathan, I think.”

“That’s great.” I replied quietly, drifting from the conversation to listen to what Mr. Blaze had in stall for us.

But my mind couldn’t help drifting off too. Guardian.

The principle of a Guardian was easy. Faens were us, humans with elemental magick. But some Faens were also physically inclined –better at fighting, running or just physical combat. So these Faens trained to become Guardians. Every Faen has their own Guardian, but it is not by luck. According to texts, the perfect Guardian-Faen duo is when the powers of both Guardian and Faen are perfectly in tuned. It means that when they are in tuned, the Faen can tap in on his/her Guardian’s power, and vice versa.

The act of finding a Guardian is harder. Each Faen finds their Guardians in different situations. Yet, the most common situation is the Guardian having the compelling urge to save his/her Faen from mortal trouble. Almost like a damsel-in-distress thing. But Faen-Guardian relationships may stay neutral. There were instances where both Faen and Guardian were of the same gender. There were instances where both Faen and Guardian have their own individual partners. Of course, common relationships are when Faen and Guardian get close and personal. But it depends on the situation.

Noel was one fledging Guardian too. Xaviel and Sarah too. All three of them had taken up lessons and physical trainings –that was the secret to Noel’s hot body too –and even though they were fully trained to be Guardians, they still lacked something important –their Faens. Sarah and Xaviel had it easy, for they were only training for two years. They still had many more years to find their Faen partner. Noel? Noel started when he was fifteen. He had been waiting for his Faen ever since he was fifteen, and had never found. Until now. Until nineteen years of age, and Noel had not found his Faen.

I briefly wondered what type of a person Noel’s Faen would be. Would she be shy? Noel seemed one to like a shy girl. Would she be kind and gentle? Noel was a guy like that. Or would she be the total opposite, to compliment Noel? I was thinking too far…

“Ms. Alveron, are you listening to us?” Mr. Blaze’s voice cut through my haze of thinking and I jerked back to reality to find my class and Mr. Blaze staring at me.

“Um… Yeah.” I replied, knowing that I sounded unsurely. Damned, but I just couldn’t lie to even save my own skin.

“Well, if you have been listening, then I would like to invite you to demonstrate everything that I had just explained.” Mr. Blaze said, walking to one side, giving me space to walk up. I reluctantly tried to shuffle my way there, trying to think of what he had just explained, but someone pushed me forwards quickly.

“I… uh…”

“Go on.” Mr. Blaze encouraged.

I sighed quietly. Here goes nothing…

I summoned my power to my fingertips, watching as a few set of shoulders stiffened slightly. Gritting my teeth and holding on to my power tightly, I placed a firm image of a small part of the fire in the large bowl beside me jumping to my hand. It happened, and formed a fireball resting on my glove, crackling. The heat on my palm soared, but I kept the flame there, forcing the power to save my hand from frying to charred bits.

“Yes, Ms. Alveron. Now show the class how you’re going to insulate your hand from the fire totally.” Mr. Blaze’s voice sounded beside me –sounding surprised. Maybe he hadn’t expected for me to be able to do this. Frankly, I hadn’t expected myself to be successful either.

Still, I pretended to look confident as I summoned a portion of my power to cover my free hand entirely. I channeled all that I could afford to into my hand, before I let my free hand reach for the fireball. Everyone could see the shaking in my hands. But no one could blame me. No one would willingly plunge their hand in the middle of a fireball.

Anticipated breaths held as I closed one eye, trying not to see. My hand slowly, shakily, touched the fire and went into the heart of the fire. My power was still tightly knitted on my free hand, protecting. But I could still slight heat. I could still feel a tiny leak in the power I fixed on my free hand.

Still, I persisted, pulling me entire hand through the fireball.

Stunned applause met me as I stared at my hand too. I hadn’t expected that to really work…

“That’s good enough a demonstration, Ms. Alveron. I’m glad you have been listening to us.” Mr. Blaze voiced his compliment, and it was almost instantly that I drew my hand from the fireball, throwing it back to where it belonged.

Soft laughter mixed with loud applause met me with my panicked action, and I blushed a little despite the heat.

It was soon that we were spread out in the Training Hall, practicing the same thing over and over again. Mr. Blaze went around, pointing out where we went wrong. When he came to me, he told me that my weakness was my shaking and panic.

“Panic makes you lose focus on the fireball,” he said, holding out one in his hand, “If you’re fretting about how you need to keep your free hand insulated, you’re going to forget about the hand holding your fire.”

He mimicked my shaking hands making for the fireball, exaggerating the action a little more in the hand holding the fireball. I watched as the figure of the fireball wavered as the shaking became trembling. Then, as the trembling increased in intensity, the fireball grew smaller, and finally snuffed out.

“It could have happened. But you didn’t; and for that, I give you credit. You were scared. But you have the courage to try.” Mr. Blaze nodded, and moved on.

Taking his advice to heart, I tried the same trick again, trying to make myself less nervous.

‘I’ve done it once. I can do it again without fear.’ I kept on chanting, but the shaking was still there. I needed more experience. I needed to get burnt. I needed to get burnt enough to be no longer afraid of burns.

But at the same time, I didn’t dare to burn myself. I had always held strict control of the fire; had always been careful not to burn myself with it. I had been terribly proud to be unscathed from three months of fire-wielding so far, but it was my downfall. I needed to be burnt.

I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Again and again, I tried to face the fire without worry and fear. Again and again, I failed –ending up shaking like a loose leaf in a storm.

The frustration fueled my fire, and I had to return the fireball to the bowl before my anger made it any larger. Thanks to my annoying habit of being a perfectionist, I realized it was almost times up when I finally returned the fireball. The bell in the training hall rang, signaling for everyone to stop their activity, and I watched as my classmates returned their own fireballs, wiping off sweat as they made for their belongings.

“How was it?” Marisse asked as she joined my side, wiping sweat off her brow.

“Not very good. I can’t stop shaking.” I admitted. She nodded, her eyes alight in agreement.

“I know! I’m also scared of putting my hand in. It just freaks me out, you know?” She exclaimed as she retrieved her bag. We were all starting to get a little breathless in here. Twenty minutes –Ms. Maxwell hadn’t been joking. Twenty minutes was the average time we could spend here before we started to get a little breathless at the lack of oxygen in the air.

I nodded in agreement as we walked out of the Training Hall after Mr. Blaze. But something caught my eye the last minute. There was a shadow hiding in a corner. The shadow looked like a silhouette of someone…

“Hey, has anyone seen Teddy?” I heard someone ask outside, and gave the silhouette a second look.

Squinting, I saw the figure for who he was. Teddy. He was crumpled on the floor, clutching his chest. His expression was one of pain, and I knew enough that he was in trouble.

“Mr. Blaze! He’s still in the hall!” I shouted as I dropped my bag on the floor, bounding back into the hall to help Teddy.

Behind, I heard Mr. Blaze sternly telling my other classmates not to follow in after him, before he came in too.

“Teddy, are you okay? Answer me!” I shook him roughly, trying to get some recognition from him as he panted, clutching his chest.

“My… heart… hurts! I…… have… my… inhaler in my… bag…” Teddy wheezed, and since I saw no bag around in the hall, I guessed someone took it out for him. What was more important now was getting him out.

“You’ve got to work with me, Teddy. I’m going to help you out of here, but I can’t carry the whole of your weight. I need you to carry some of your weight yourself, alright? Once you get out of here, we’ll get you your inhaler.” I said quickly, pulling Teddy’s arm around my shoulders. It was lucky that Teddy wasn’t very heavy.

Still, we leaned by the side of the room, letting Teddy find support as he put his free hand against the wall, with me trying my best to pull him along.

“Mr. Blaze! Teddy needs his inhaler! It’s in his bag!” I called as we staggered another step forward, Teddy’s hand on the wall weak in holding him up.

I saw a serious nod from my Training Master, and he ducked from the door, presumably to get Teddy’s inhaler while I got him out of this hellhole of a training hall.

We took a few more steps, Teddy’s breathing getting harder. I could only imagine the pain he was going through right now…

“We’re almost there, Teddy. We’ve got to go around the renovation stuff, but we’re going to reach the door. Stay with me, okay?” I encouraged as we reached the clatter of machines, tools and machine oil on the floor, cordoned off by some tape.

Teddy nodded faintly, but I could see he was fading off anytime soon.

“Come on, come on. Stay with me. We’ll make it.” I encouraged again as we took another step, rounding around the clatter of items. Teddy was still reaching for the wall for support, his arms stretching straight to lean his weight on the wall.

We took another step, but his arm reaching a little higher this time.

“No!” I heard a roar from the voice I knew coming from my Training Master, and stopped, turning to see what he was shouting about.

I watched in horror as Teddy’s hand bumped into the lighted torch that hung on the wall –which had served as our source of light. The torch tipped from its holder and fell straight towards the clatter of renovation items.

Straight towards the bottles and barrels of machine oil.

The tangy taste of fear coated my tongue, and I did the only thing that came to me, in the time that took the lighted torch to land on the fuel.

I summoned my power and blasted air at Teddy’s side.

Boom!

The loudest explosion I had ever heard sounded, deafening me as I felt Teddy and I lifted off our feet. We were thrown through the air, and I lost grip on Teddy as we fell. Quick as everything started, I hit against the wall at the far end of the hall.

Then everything went black.