Dreamscape 2 | A Fantasy Tetralogy

Chapter 18: Forty-two days | Chris

Chapter 18: Obsessive Love | Chris

My fist collided with the log Luke was holding, breaking with impact. Luke dropped the split board into the pile below.

"Again." I raised my fist, "Grab a thicker one."

"Chris-" Luke stared at my bleeding hands, "How about we call it?"

"No."

I got in my defensive stance, knees bent, hands up, and subtle bounces on the balls of my feet, ready to go again.

Luke shook his head just before grabbing another thick log.

"Ready?" He held the log up for me, "On you."

Within the second I round house kicked the wooden log, and with impact I exhausted my ore into it, sending water into each crevice of the log, leading it to explode!

"God-" Luke jumped back, "You could have warned me!"

"It was last minute thought." I sighed heavily; "You know, with having done this for years, my mind is filled with different ideas of how to execute any kick. It's in my nature."

"I'm going in." Luke brushed off the wood sheeling, as he walked off, "It's dusk. I'm hungry and tired."

"I'll be in, in just a second."

"Come on." Luke stopped in his tracks, "We've been at this since the sun came up. Nothing you do now can possibly-"

"That is when your growth starts." I turned to him, "When you're tired. Ready to give up."

"Is that the crap you'd tell your trainees?" Luke paused for a breath. "Like Alyia? That might have worked for her but not for me. I'm gone mate."

I pondered a bit, and Luke began to walk away.

"No." I called out to him, "I didn't say it as often as I would have like too, to her..."

Luke waved his hand and shook his head.

"Later man."

I took of my shirt and threw it in to the wood pile. I found a piece of wood with a slight dip in it and then a smaller stick. I sat the larger piece on the ground and then the placed the tip of the slender stick and began rolling it in between my hands. After a minute of trying smoke came, then a small flame followed.

I watched the flame grow and tossed the larger piece into the broken boards... and I found myself unable to take my eyes of the flames as they begin to grow in beautiful shades of red, orange, and yellow. Before I knew it the small piece had a large flame.

"Is it possible for me to manipulate this?"

As I thought such thing, the flame engulfed my hand,

"Ah!" I sucked my teeth as I bared the sting of the flame, "Shit!"

I tried focusing my ore to the flame- like I've done to other wooden pieces- just for the flame to weaken.

"No-"

I stopped exhausting my ore, trying to feel the flame upon my skin, to understand just how flames atoms and gas reacted- but it became a pain to great!

I dropped the small stick and used my ore to put out the fire in my hand.

I stared at my hand again, just to pick up the small wooden piece that had turn to ash. I grab it  and began rubbing the piece into my hand, feeling the atoms that once bounced around fast began slowing.