(Outdated) The King of Elements

Playing with Fire

"You. Are. Late!" his distant-eyed teacher stated, tapping his forehead with a thick book with each word.

Dre sighed while rubbing his forehead. "Sorry, Miss Bright."

"It's Bianka," she said, shoving the thick book into Dre's chest. "Take a seat." She pointed at the only seat available; front row, next to Kimmy.

Well, at least there was one thing to cheer him up. He sat down, ignoring the peering gaze from his classmates. It suddenly felt like school in Prescott.

"Hi, Ke'Undre," Kimmy whispered with a bashful smile.

"Hey Kimmy," he said, returning her smile with one of his own.

"Back to what I was saying," Bianka began, "Out of all five elements, fire is the hardest to control, and the second hardest to master. Our element thrives on the anger you feel in your mind. The more rage you feel, the strongest it is, and the harder it is to control. As I'm sure most of you have tried, you'll find it hard to tap into your element now. The reason why it was so easy to use it at the entrance exam was because you were acting on desperation; your will to live. Once you were safely taken away from the forest, your body was able to calm down. And even though you've tapped into your element, your body doesn't know how to tap back into it. Of course, you'd be able to unlock it without force, but that has serious complications. If we had waited until it unlocked on its own, you would barely be able to control it, and it will eventually kill you. Worse, we would probably have to place a Limiter on you if you didn't learn to control it properly." Her cheerful tone had turned serious so fast that it was almost frightening. "But that's why you are all here, to make sure that doesn't happen," she said, beaming at the students. Her pink lip gloss shimmered under the florescent lights, making them stand out from her brown skin. He could hear the students mumbling behind him, and he had an idea why. Bianka seemed to have a couple of screws loose.

"Alright students, stand up. Up, up, up." The class hesitantly did as told. "Now, hold your dominant hand out, palm up, and try to form a fireball."

Is she serious? She wanted the class to forage a fireball, even though no one in class knew how to control it? Bianka didn't just have a few screws loose, she was full-on insane.

"Er... Miss Bianka?" Kimmy began, raising her hand. "Are you sure we should be attempting this inside? I mean, what would we do if we can't control it?"

Bianka gave Kimmy a wide smile. "Don't worry, Miss Stewart. There hasn't been an Apprentice in this school who have been able to successfully form a fireball on the first day. I'm just curious to see how far some of you can go. Now, close your eyes. Focus on making the fire appear in the palm of your hand."

Dre closed his eyes, straining to force the fireball in his hand. Concentrate, Dre. Imagine the fire in your hand. He snuck a quick peek at his hand. Nothing. He slid his eyes over to Kimmy hand; a small amount of white smoke began to exude from her hand, looking as if it could combust at any given moment. He grew angry, considering yesterday he was able to release a large wave of flames. What made today so different?

"Okay, you can all stop now," Bianka called. "I see that some of you still have a ways to go, but no need to worry. You'll get there before the end of the end of this term. You'll even be able to do this at the end of your Apprentice year," she said as she effortlessly formed a grapefruit-sized fireball and displayed it to the class. The students all looked in amazement as she raised her left hand, igniting another fireball. "If you think that was cool, check this out." She directed both fireballs at each other, and brought them within inches of each other. The flames began to diminish as flashes of electricity flowed in between her hands, linking both fireballs together. Just as sudden, the fire disappeared, only to be replaced by lightning.