I sat up in the bed, eyes met with pitch black. It must be late.
Rubbing my eyes, I tried to feel around for a light switch. A sharp tingle creeped through my legs, leaving them unbearably hot. I crumpled to the ground before huddling, knees pressed against my chest.
"I want to go home!" I whispered, hot tears trickling down my face. My lungs constricted as I remained there, sitting in my bundle of sorrow.
A soft knock made me realize the room had gotten slightly brighter. I looked up to see Vee.
"Are you alright?" she asked gingerly.
I nodded, sniffling, "it's too dark and I can't find a lightswitch or anything to help and I just feel so useless here."
She stayed silent before sitting next to me.
"Don't you want to go back to bed?" I asked. She shrugged.
"We've got time. Why do you feel useless?"
I found myself spilling about how I didn't know how to use arcane and how I didn't have any idea what my branch was.
Vee leaned her head against the wall, "you should take the extra lessons with Cree. He can help."
"But what if-"
"Everyone born in Loic has the capacity to do arcane at the very least," she spoke before standing up, pointing her finger at a lantern, and snapping. Almost instantly a cyan flame appeared within it. "See?"
Woah.
"Can you teach me..?" I asked lightly.
She turned around, "what??"
I sat up straighter, "can you teach me?"
She hesitated before walking towards the door.
"I'm not a good teacher R. Ask one of the others or go to Cree."
And as she shut the door, the flame went out with her. No, no, no, no, no, no...
The rest of the night I tried my damndest to light that lantern. To no avail, but there was a flicker at one point.
"Hey R, how did you sl-" Lyn asked as she ran into my room, only to see me viciously snapping my fingers at the damn lantern.
.
.
.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Trying. To. Use. Ugh... Arcane," I explained. She nodded somberly.
"Try to imagine the flame flow throughout the veins in your arm, all the way to the tip of your finger. Once you have that pictured, and only a little amount of fire envisioned, think about the tension releasing the flame into the lantern. Snapping just helps with the visual," she explained. I gulped and tried three more times, only for nothing to show.
Before I could think, I looked down and yelled out, "I can't do it!"
Then I heard a pop.
And a crackle.
Slowly I raised my head to see a bright orange flame.
"I... I did that?" I whispered. Lyn nodded, grin plastered on her face and clapping her hands as she did so.
There was a faint call for us echoing through the hall, cutting our celebration short. Lyn and I looked at each other before dashing down the hallway.
"I'll teach you more on the trip back. Eris and Remus would be the best to ask though," she told me as we waited outside. I nodded, hand still tingling.
