oppositum [a (maybe) Nikolai Lantsov story] (currently being reviewed)

I*

13 years before the discovery of the Sun Summoner
in the palace of Fjerdan, in the room of the princess

A candle by the bed, a sleepy hand movement and it all began.

The flame flew across the room, burning everything in its path, and the girl began to scream. Her guardians, soldiers, entered the room, one of them grabbed the girl and hurried her out, the others tried to extinguish the fire that was spreading, greedily eating the walls, the floor and the ceiling.

Sent straight to her parents' room, 5-year-old Nix trembles in fear of being severely reprimanded for burning her things.

"What's going on, soldier?" The king's tenor voice echoes through the royal antechamber.

"A fire has partially destroyed the princess's room, Your Highness.

-No injuries? Do we know the cause of the fire?

-No injuries, Your Highness. The fire probably came from the burning candle on the princess's bedside table."

The King turns away from the soldier and crouches in front of his daughter, grabbing her wrists so she can look him in the eye.

"Look at me, Nix, if you avoid my gaze, you will avoid the gaze of others in the future and show weakness."

The child raised her head and looked into her father's eyes.

The king read the fear in the child's eyes and, without turning, asked the guard to leave the room for privacy.

"Don't lie to me Nix, we are alone, tell me everything.

-Father..."

The little girl moved slightly away from her father, shaking and rubbing her hands together.

"I had a strange dream father, a woman kept telling me that I was the first flame and forced me to rub my hands until they burned."

As she explained, a small flame formed above her hands.

"Impossible... you are a Grisha..."

The king's reaction surprised Nix, she had expected him to call her a witch and hand her over to the drüskelles, who would kill her.

"Such beautiful power wasted on the beliefs of our homeland..."

The king watched, fascinated by the flame coming from his daughter's palm.

He stood up, took Nix in his arms and walked towards the exit, mumbling some sort of prayer.

"Stop them, my daughter, and don't worry, I'll make sure no one finds out..."

In the dark on the night, he walked the long corridors of the palace before turning to the right and entering the royal training room, somewhere no one would come and disturb them.

Father and daughter sat around a table.

"Listen carefully, Nix, for your survival and the survival of our family, we will have to impose some rules on each other."

-I'm listening, Father.

-Of course you can't tell anyone, not even mother or your brother."

The girl nodded.

"Then you'll have to learn to control your flames and make yourself more cunning and intelligent than your potential opponents. To do this, you'll have to cut out all the playtime from your day and spend it learning other languages, science, politics, the art of war, world history...

-And when will I work on my strength, father?

-I'll get to that, let's say three nights a week, we'll meet here to train you."

The girl sighed at the busy schedule her father was imposing on her.

"But Father, Mother will wonder why so many changes...

-You're right, what should she think..."

The king stroked his chin in thought and snapped his fingers as an idea came to him.

"Nix, I'm going to make you my heir and you're going to pretend that you've decided to double your hours to meet my expectations, got it?

-Yes Father" the girl said, a bit surprise. She was only 5 and she had a brother, choosing an heir could seem a bit reckless of him.

-Great, let's start with your first lesson."

-Now?" she said, her eyebrows furrowed.

-Are you questioning my orders, girl?" her father responded, his voice harsh.

-No Father

-Good."

The King took a candle from a bag beside the table and placed it on it.

He made a vague motion over the candle.

"I strongly advise you to do the exercise again when you are alone in your room.

-What should I do, Father? Light it?

-Light it without it exploding or melting."

Nix concentrated and as she stared at the wick, she rubbed her hands together as she had done to make the flame appear in the antechamber.

"No! You have to light it from a distance! Do you think you'll have time to rub your hands together and stick them to your opponents during a fight?"

As the King shouted this to his daughter, he slapped her hands to make the flame disappear.

The girl's eyes filled with tears and her lower lip trembled.

"But...

-Don't cry, Nix! Don't show your emotions, they'll betray you and use them to trample you!"

The girl wiped away her tears, took a few minutes to put on a neutral face and stared at her father with lifeless eyes.

"Okay father, I'll do it again."

Nix stared at the wick again and turned her hand a quarter turn, causing the candle to burst into flames before exploding into a thousand pieces.

"Again." her Father said, in a monotonous voice and placing a new candle on the table

Nix started again and again, more than twenty times without success before her father let her go to bed.

"Meditate on your power Nix, we'll continue after tomorrow night. Tomorrow you will start learning Ravkan and go deeper into the other subjects.

-Understood Father, as you wish."

The king took his daughter in his arms and placed a light kiss on her hair.

"Sleep well my daughter.

-You too, Father, good night."

He then left the room, leaving behind a mentally and physically exhausted Nix who, once in bed, fell into an empty sleep.

rewritten the 26/03/2023