A Will of Fire and Darkness

Chapter 3

The next morning, it was only Shade and I in the clearing, he had asked Ren and Mayra not to come so that I could focus. As much as I hated the dumb things he made me do to summon my father's power, I still did it so I could ask more about before the Great Massacre.

The birds were chirping as if they appreciated the warm summer sun. The rocks and stones of the clearing were nicely heated, I took a seat on a flat one under a tree. Shade said I had to be comfortable and unmoving during this practice so that I could focus on reaching that inner power that seemed to not exist.

Shade leaned against a tree adjacent to me, running a hand through his grey hair. "I want you to close your eyes once you're comfortable," he said.

I rolled my eyes and closed them, taking a deep breath before asking, "How is this supposed to help me reach my father's power? I feel like I'm about to do some deep meditating or something."

"It helps to have a mental image to help reach the power. What I want you to do is clear your mind of any distractions or thoughts, you need to be a blank abyss for your power to fill." He explained.

I relaxed my shoulders and tried to clear my head, thinking of a dark void of nothing. "Ok, now what?"

I heard him shifting against the tree. "No more speaking, just listen to me and keep imagining the abyss." A small breeze ruffled my hair as he continued. "Now imagen the space filling with dark liquid. Pure and dark. Let it fill your mind. Then dip your hands in it and scoop it up."

A cool dark liquid filled my mind, slowly rising around me. The coolness filled the space and a small ripple was the only interruption in the glassy still liquid. I imagined cupping my hands together and dipping them under the darkness, my lava sizzled as I scooped up the water.

"Drink the water and feel it going down your throat and through your veins." Shade continued. "Hold onto that feeling and focus it into your fingertips."

I stared at the dark liquid, no reflection, just endless darkness. I lifted my hands to my mouth and let the liquid slide down my throat. Focusing on the cool feeling in my stomach, I willed it to move to my fingers.

Nothing happened. I felt no different. I sighed in annoyance.

"See, I told you this wouldn't work-" I opened my eyes and found Shade directly in front of me. I fell back against the tree; his eyes were scanning me with such careful attention to detail. A look of something I've never seen flashed in his eyes before he stood up and cleared his throat.

"That's enough for today, I have studying to do," he said, dusting himself off and turning around.

Confusion was all I felt as I squinted at him. "Wait what? Nothing happened, I thought you would be pushier..." I murmured the last part. I stood up, walking after him. "Wait, I have questions." I grabbed his arm.

He gave me a side long look and crossed his arms. "Alright, ask away, but you can only ask 2 questions this time."

"What if I went to Urgriss where the Dark Eltrey are? Wouldn't they be happy to know another Eltrey is alive?" I asked, my eyes staring at him waiting for an answer. Shade usually avoided talking about Urgriss, he says it's a deserted place that no one goes to.

His jaw tightened and his brow furrowed. "Varia, I've told you, it's an empty place. If there were any Dark Eltrey left, then they would be feeding off each other and crazed. They haven't left that underground palace since the massacre. Plus, they hated all other Eltrey, they shut down their boarders before the current queen. They would torture and kill you. I advise you go nowhere near there."

My grandma had said similar things about the closed boarders and how my father escaped for whatever reason. He never told her why he left, but she said he often talked about how much he despised it there. I thought after all the Eltrey had died they might be grateful to see another.