A LAND OF FIRE AND DARKNESS

Chapter 21

Winter days continued to pass and soon those days turned into weeks as I trained with Laveen and Yarris. Delcallon had been gone for seventeen days now and no one could tell me when he would return.

I was not exactly asking though; I was too worried they thought I was actually interested in having him back.

Tristan had made a habit of meeting me in the halls or courtyard while I read. I had learned he was also born from two Oblivion parents, like Laveen, and he was Ashtarion like Laveen, but his upbringing had been far more cheerful. He was a lot younger than Laveen and the others too. He was only reaching his two hundredth year now.

Which to me was still very old.

The day before Laveen had been with me and Tristan had brought me candy. His face had turned the brightest shade of red when he realized Laveen was there, and the General did not help when he gave me a firm order that Candy was not suitable for my diet since I was training.

I doubted Tristan would be bringing me anything again after Laveen scared him off.

I stood in the clearing in the forest and focused on the flame that slithered between my fingers. My eyes watched and focused as it bent and shaped itself into my palm.

Yarris sat opposite me with his purple eyes narrowed on the purple blaze inside my hand. "Focus on bending the element to your will." He whispered trying to ensure he did not break my concentration.

This was the longest I had gone without the wind blowing it away. Nearly twenty minutes.

"Focus on whatever causes your mind and heart to react together." He continued.

Images of Delcallon immediately shot through my mind causing my mind to begin to panic. The image of his eyes was causing my heart to skip a beat while my head warm. The fire grew in my palm and I tried to shake away the images.

Anything but him.

Images of Eskar shot through my mind and I took back what I previously thought. I saw him chuckling over me while he slit my wrists and watched me die. The fire continued to grow in my palm and began shooting up towards my elbow.

"Shit." I breathed out as I tried to shake the flame away. It slithered up my sleeve burning the fabric away as it continued to spread.

It was engulfing me.

"Breathe, Alinta." Yarris tried to calm me down with a cooling tone.

But all I could hear was Eskar's laugh. I wanted to think about Delcallon rather, I wanted to take back my wish.

The flames spread up to my shoulder. It was engulfing me.

"Shit," Yarris stated as he jumped up from the ground and grabbed the bucket of water, we had for situations just like this.

He threw the water over me which did nothing to the flame, but it cooled my mind immediately.

I took in a breath and with it, the flame disappeared.

My mind completely cleared and as I continued to focus on my breathing. I looked up into Yarris's purple eyes.

"It is okay." He reassured me immediately like he always did when I failed terribly, "You will get the hang of it."

I disagreed but I chose not to argue with him. I stood up from the ground and examined Yarris, "Did I burn you?" I knew some of the flames sparked towards the grass, so I was unsure if some of them flicked at the Elemental.

"No," Yarris confirmed with a soft smile as he put the bucket down on the ground.

I sighed out in disappointment at myself while I wiped my hands through my now drenched hair.