A Lumen Ripple | An Elemental Story

Chapter 30 - The Glimpse

The noon sun neared, but an hour away as Ember's exam was well underway. After feeling unsure, she felt as though it was going better than expected.

With 11 am now upon them, an alert notification sounded on Phil's phone indicating such. He looked down at it, acknowledging it with a nod. He turned his attention over to his talented pupil seconds from finishing their current step.

"2 hours in," he called out to her.

The final piece of the mini pillar stacking project was carefully laid atop by a wary Smock via a ladder. As it was adjusted just right, he turned around and gave Ember a thumbs-up.

As he carefully got down, she monitored with an authoritative smirk. She shot Phil a look, giving him a thumbs up and nod as if she were passing it along. Smock and his fellow builders stepped back, marvelling.

"Okay, Ms Lumen. Do your thing." Brock said.

She let out a nod at him, heading to approach the first pillar. She stopped at it, standing in her spot for a second. She gently went to hug the pieced pillar, using her swirling inner flames to light the thing. After a few seconds, the pillar pieces began to melt and fuse together, creating one big pillar - just as she'd intended.

As it cooled off, she stood back, looking at it in marvel. It held together and stood straight, giving her a big, dumb smirk of pride.

"It worked." she thought to herself in delight.

Now that her plan had proven itself viable, she went on her merry way in doing the same for the other 7 pillars.

-----

Following roughly half an hour of hugging and fusing, she arrived at the 8th and final pillar stack. Like she did the first, she stood at it for a moment before doing her thing. She wrapped it in a gentle hug and lit her flames, this time closing her eyes.

She could feel each flare of her flame engulf the pillar into one - an almost transcendental experience. It mirrored the idea of love; becoming one with something or someone. Perhaps everyone around her was right; Glassitecture really was her dream. In that moment of embracing the pillar, something else began to wrap its arms around her.

"It's not your fault. I-- I'm sorry I made it look like it was."

Pulled by the neck out of the situation, Ember stumbled back sharply. She could've sworn she heard his voice right there and then.

Thoughts of last night removed the shackles she'd forced them into, beginning a revolt of hurtful proportions.

It was about to get worse, however...

She'd neglected to realise that her stumble caused the pillar to slant, beginning its slow, helpless descent to the ground. She bruxed her teeth in fright, steering clear by leaping out of the way.

It crashed to the floor, letting out a weighty crunch on the concrete floor. Besides the pillar itself, thankfully not a soul was harmed.

Like she, the judges, workers and Phil bruxed their teeth in reaction. Ember let out a frustrated grimace, clenching her fists in stress. In a bit of a shock, she raced back over to the workers.

To them, she had stress written all over her face. After all, fire folks didn't take all too kindly to stress regardless. Like all eyes on her were judgmental bullies, Ember flatly returned to the broken glass bins, taking a heaping handful to rebuild the thing.

"Need our help again--" Roc perked up.

"Please." Ember sharply agreed.

Enlisting their help once more, the quartet restarted the engine and began rebuilding the fallen pillar.