The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 28 - Helianthus

"Jayson! Say something, come on!" Avery cried.

No matter how far you think you can run, there are things in this life you could never elude. Sorrow, inadequacy, emptiness, guilt, fear.

"Jay... please get up... you're scaring me." Sayu tearfully said.

"Everywhere your people go problems follow!" A lady in distraught shouted towards Avery and the others. "Conflict follows behind you people like a shadow! Can't you see?! This is your fault!"

Conflict? Yes, I guess if I had to pick one thing that I've never been able to escape, it would be conflict. A baby born to represent peace between nations, is what Jayson Hillinger was supposed to be. However, right now I'm just a problem for both sides.

.....

Several Hours Before.

"See these metal plates on the back hand side of your gloves?" Jayson said as he gave a demonstration to all of the kids. "You strike the back of your hands together like this to create sparks."

Jayson balled his fist and quickly striked the back of his left fist over the right, sending sparks flying out before him.

"All it takes is a spark to create a flame, so I'll be teaching you all on how to utilize this. First I'll split you guys up. Nakayla, Shaedon and Tanner, you guys will be with me. Camie, Mano and Sayu, you'll be practicing flame control with Avery."

"This way kiddies." Avery said as she and the younger ones walked off.

"I know you said you'll train us, but I didn't expect it this quick." Nakayla said as she adjusted her gloves.

"I wanted to teach you the bare minimum now because we'll actually be approaching our first settlement early tomorrow."

"For real?"

"Yeah, a settlement named 'Himawari'. Avery was telling me it's one of the larger settlements outside of Aestus."

"We're finally gonna see water continent people." Tanner said enthusiastically.

"I wonder how they'll react to seeing fire continent people." Jayson thought.

"We won't do any training in or around their town, so we should get the basics down now. You three are a bit further along than the others so this is what we'll do."

Jayson repeated the action he did before to produce the sparks, but this time he went a step further. Once the sparks were airborne, Jayson pushed forward with his palm, igniting the sparks into a wave of fire.

"The sparks don't stick around long, so once you see them you have to insert your fire essence as quick as possible."

"You make it sound a lot easier than it is." Nakayla exclaimed.

"C'mon, give it a shot." Jayson said.

The three of them lined up side by side and proceeded to make an attempt with Jayson's guidance. Tanner and Nakayla failed to produce anything resembling a flame, but Shaedon on the other hand created a flame wave that was very similar to Jayson's.

"Whoa..." Tanner said.

"That was really good Shaedon." Nakayla complimented. "How'd you do that."

"Um... well I..."

"Not bad." Jayson said with a grin while squating down to Shaedon's level. "You think you can do it again."

"...Mhm."

Jayson stood beside Shaedon while Tanner and Nakayla watched from the side.

"This time once you push that flame out, I want you to clinch your fist and hold it together." Jayson told him.