The Fire Within (Book 1 of Dragonfire series)

Chapter 8

"I need to go back to Earth," I told Kokel with a determined mindset. The previous night, I dreamt about what I saw during the meditation, and remembered that Vesta told me to return to my Earth parents and ask them about the night they found me. Kokel gave me a look as if he already knew I would want to go, and had a reason planned for why I should not.

"I know what you're going to say, but please! I need answers!" I said flustered.

"Tomorrow," he said blatantly, "I want you to have another training session before you go. You will have it today, but with Alfio instead of Cullen. He is very good at being precise with his power, and I want him to teach you so you will also have better control." This seemed reasonable, so I thanked him and ran off to find Alfio. As I was walking through the hall, I saw Cullen with a girl clinging to his arm. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at me while laughing at something Cullen said. Who is she? That can't be his girlfriend, can it? Although, it would explain why he pulled away yesterday at our training session....

"Hey Alena," Cullen said as I passed them, causing me to stop. "This is Clarissa, my-"

"Yeah I actually gotta go but it was so nice meeting you," I said with a complete bitch tone and walked away abruptly. Was he actually going to introduce me to her and rub it in my face? "Alfio!" I yelled as I saw him leave a classroom. "I need you to come train me. Now," I demanded with a fake smile.

"Kokel told me he wanted me to train you today, but are you sure you want to do it-"

"Right now," I finished for him, and grabbed his arm. I clung to it, similar to how that Clarissa girl was on Cullen as we walked by them. Cullen gave me a confused, and possibly hurt look as I smirked at him. Once we were out of Cullen's sight, I released his arm and we continued to the training room. We began by doing the orb exercise. This time it didn't turn into a raging fireball.

Alfio the set up targets around the room and said, "Since your Fia focuses around fire, I want you to throw a fireball at each of the targets. Nothing crazy, but a normal sized blast." I wasn't exactly sure what he meant by "normal size", but I put my hands together, and pulled them apart forming a good size fireball. I held my hands out toward the first target, and "pushed", in a sense, the fireball without ever moving my arms. Another fireball instantly regenerated as I brought my left arm back at threw it at the next target, and so on. One after another, I was hitting the targets with ease, amazed at my skill.

"Impressive, you're a pretty fast learner," he said, proud of his teaching skills.

"That's what I've been told," I shot back with a grin.

"Ok next you are going to create a force field around yourself. This is where it gets a little tricky, but you will get the hang of it." He held his arms out a foot or so from his sides, and began moving them in a circular motion. A white transparent energy began to form, encircling him as he moved his arms. When he was done, he crossed his arms and spoke through the shield. It was a bit muffled, but I could still make it out.

"This type of force field is meant to last longer, like if you were in a battle situation and needed some protection while you regenerated your Fia." I walked up to it and placed my left hand on the force field. It felt just like a wall. I'm never going to get used to this magic stuff. With a swipe of his hand, the dome encircling him vanished into thin air. I took a few steps back and repeated his motions. Within a few seconds, I had generated my own force field, but mine was red rather than white.

"Good, now the other type of force field is for when you need quick protection, such as to block a blow from an enemy. Like most objects you create from magic, you need to picture the image in your head, and use your magic to do the rest. I first lifted myself into the air, wings flapping so fast they looked like a blur. I closed my eyes, and opened them, seeing a red transparent sphere encasing me. I gave Alfio a big smile as I landed next to him, removing the force field.