Radiance - The Alight Archives Book #1

68. Blinding Faith

Standing before the enormous Butt Rock, Kliff watched as the tiny, blood-red flame danced to an unheard rhythm at the center of his hand, billowing and whipping like the tail of some small creature.

But it wasn't embracing the Ember inside of him that was the problem; no, it was containing it when his emotions and ambitions fanned it into a nigh-uncontrollable inferno. Kliff closed his fist around the flame, staring with empty eyes as streams of smoke seeped through his fingers. The Ember frightened him as much as fire did normally, and yet, he couldn't escape who, or rather, what he was.

If he wasn't careful, he could accidentally reveal his secret to the world, so Autumn had warned him to use the Ember sparingly. Light and Shadows, she practically forbade him from tapping into the Ember at all, deeming it unwise given his lack of control. But he'd grown since then, hadn't he? He wasn't the mage he was back then, was he?

Shaking his head in frustration, Kliff swept a glance across what not long ago had once served as his battlefield. Puddles of mud—which had since solidified into shale patches—dotted the swaying grass landscape, complimented by blackened streaks that had incinerated where plantlife once thrived. This was far from a perfect duel, Kliff thought, irritated. Autumn would throw a fit if she were here.

Kliff looked over to where he had gently propped Jack against the sturdy trunk of a towering galbora tree. His head slumped forward, teetering to his lap as he tossed and turned fitfully in his slumber. In the aftermath of their intense duel, Jack succumbed to unconsciousness, a typical consequence of pushing one's magical abilities to the limit. Kliff could only anticipate that Jack would remain in that state until the conclusion of the examination.

I sure was lucky he didn't catch on. Closing his eyes, Kliff let the solid beams of sunfire drench him like scorching rain. If he had been a bit sharper, he might have put two and two together, but that would only have brought forth more problems.

Kliff was aware that he was more than likely being monitored by Professor Knight, though he needn't worry about him as the Glyph staff had already been informed of his unusual genetics. But if word of the truth reached a student—a fellow classmate, no less—well, rumors spread quickly at Glyph Academy, lies and half-truths slung from one tongue to the next. In a day's time, what had once plainly been a secret would evolve into an unproven fact.

There was bad blood between Kliff's kin and humanity. He had to tread cautiously when deciding whether to tap into the power of the Ember, knowing that one wrong move could have disastrous consequences for both himself and his family's long-held reputation. He couldn't afford to let anything else mar his legacy. He'd heard the rumors exchanged among the other students, who had now learned to fear him as the dreaded Pyre. How would they react if they uncovered the secret regarding his lineage? Blended mages like him were a rarity in the modern era.

Snapping branches and the heavy pounding of footsteps alerted him of movement coming directly ahead of him, and for all of five seconds, Kliff had expected to see Mason returning along with a disappointed Abigail trailing behind him. Instead, what he saw caused his eyes to spread wide with shock.

Out of the shadows of the galbora trees, a crowd of men trudged into the clearing. Kliff counted fifteen, maybe twenty in total, and each was dressed in tattered clothing, a blend of black and dark-greenish colors.

Their hostile eyes and aggressive scowls matched those of their leader—or, at least, Kliff assumed him as their leader—who appeared as a moderately tall and lean man with dark tan skin. His spiky dark hair danced in the breeze, resembling a hedgehog's quills or a wyvern's supple spikes. In contrast to his companions, he sported a high-collared white coat with a purple inner lining, a dark-colored shirt underneath, and a pair of dark green pants adorned with scale-like patterns reminiscent of a snake.