Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

18. A New Light

Elaine stood where she was, voiceless, stunned, staring blankly at the wand flickering with golden energy. Of course, she had indeed witnessed what happened; that wasn't the issue. The Essence inside of her had slipped out of her body and filled the commoner's wand with enough power to cast a spell that...that she hadn't even learned. It was a rush, an electric, benevolent surge of energy.

That spell, it had been Light Magic for certain. When she had shouted those unknown words her wand had spat out of itself a concentrated flame of light shaped like a javelin. Had she ever seen a spell like that before? No, apparently Light Magic was incredibly difficult to cast, and even more so to master.

"Excellent job, Harwood!" 

Elaine jolted out of her momentary stupor. Whirling over to the sidelines, she discerned a grinning Professor Knight at the foot of the bleachers, clapping his pair of giant hands. 

"Now that's what I like to see!" the professor exclaimed. "Let your magic run wild, show me your fullest potential! Who knew you were holding out on me with such a great spell!"

Elaine grinned nervously at him. I actually have no idea what I just did...

An intense heatwave blinded her skin, baking it with enchanted radiation. What followed was a series of consecutive, rapid explosions detonating at various spots on the training grounds. The earth shook underneath her boots, and in the air wafted the faint smell of cooked Essence. From the looks of it, her classmates were making some progress in vanquishing their own homunculus as well. But on the far side of the court Elaine's eyes landed on one person, in particular.

Kliff Dresden upheld a solid stance—his legs were spread apart evenly from one another, and he'd bent his knees ever so slightly—whilst his indifferent expression concentrated on the homunculus blindly charging towards him. When Elaine sharpened her gaze, however, it was then that she took notice of the numerous scorch marks sprayed on the gray-colored creature's hide, like amorphous, black polka dots.

Kliff would only allow for the homunculus to shuffle a handful of steps further as he lifted his red-colored wand and took aim. His wand was a dignified breed, with a straight shaft and a partially bulbous hilt at its end. Closing his eyes, inhaling through his nostrils, Kliff shouted, "Fire Magic: Ignax!"

A subsequent wave of ignited wind poured over the training grounds, crashing into Elaine and scorching her face. She hadn't a clue as to how Kliff himself could withstand the intense warmth as indifferently as he did. And that brilliant, orange-colored light, why, it forced her to look away, even though she didn't want to. But shooting out the tip of his wand was a screeching fireball no bigger than a moderately sized boulder, or the wheel of a carriage.

The sphere of fire hurtled in the direction of the homunculus as an orange comet, and exploded as soon as it made contact with its chest. The homunculus was consumed by a thick, black cloud of smoke that expanded out of the creature's radius and engulfed that section of the training grounds in its darkness.

Not even a second later and the homunculus was sent soaring out of the smoke and across the magic circle, skipping on and off the ground as would a stone hopping over the surface of a lake. Finally, it came to rest a total of fifteen meters from where Kliff was standing. It didn't get up after that, lying face first on the ground with its arms and legs sprawled out.

"Nice performance on your part too, Dresden!" Knight congratulated with a hearty shout. "Though I shouldn't have expected anything less from someone of your caliber."

Kliff spun the wand in his hand, and then blew its tip which still had smoke streaming from it. "What a joke," he sighed, loosening the red tie of his uniform. Placing the wand back in its holster, the boy made for the bleachers, hands shoved in his pocket.