Elementalists: The Pyromancer

Part 2

Asher stood there and looked over the events from the past couple of minutes, trying to figure out how the fire started. Did the herbs in the basket react to each other? He wondered.

"Asher! What did you do this time?!" A voice said behind him. Asher turned, fearing he would face one of the town leaders. Instead he faced Weeko. Weeko's name meant pretty girl, and every one in the village agreed. Her long brown hair was braided. Her perfect light brown skin signaling she spent a lot of time in the sun. But what everyone remembered were her eyes. They were Amber circles that stared into people's souls. She was a kind spirit with the heart of a warrior. One of the best.

She yelled over the crackling flames, "I didn't think you could manage this!"

"Me either!" Asher yelled back, "We need to get to the village to warn everybody!".

They sprinted back to the village together, but Asher fell behind quickly. He was average height for his age, but he was scrawny and had no muscle.

They finally arrived at the edge of the village of Shameal. It was fairly large with about 150 huts and a population of about 300 people. It was well known for its resources but other villages didn't usually interact with it for other reasons besides market due to it's lack of Elementalists. Shameal had hard working people and many breathtaking works of art. It would all be ashes soon unless Asher and Weeko warned them. Asher wasn't much for subtleness, so he ran through the village yelling, "Fire!". Luckily, Weeko had thought of going to the village circle and altering them. Within minutes there were men rushing into the forest with buckets of water. It took hours, but they were able to stop the forest fire from spreading any father. After everyone settled back and didn't have to worry about burning to death, Asher and Weeko were called to the Village center. The Village Circle was made up of 12 people and led by an elderly man named Kanen.

"How did that fire come to be!" Kanen demanded. Weeko shrugged and turned to Asher for an answer.

"I was, um, out gathering when I saw a bear behind me", Asher stuttered "I threw my basket at it and it uh, burst into flames.".

"The bear?" one of the circle members asked.

"No, the basket." Asher clarified.

"What was in there son?" another asked.

"I thought I had grabbed some regular fruit and herbs that I always gathered." Asher said.

"I do not think so." An elderly woman spoke up for the first time. She Stepped towards Asher and asked, "You said the basket caught on fire?" She didn't wait for an answer. She grabbed his arm and examined his hands. She clearly had an idea of what caused the fire. But what? She stepped away and said "Close your eyes." Asher did as he was told. He had no idea of where the elder was heading with this.

"Now think of anger, a burning sensation inside of you." she instructed. Asher didn't see the point but went along with it. He thought of all the names he had been called as a youngling. Loser. Whimp. Mistake.

Every look of disgust he'd gotten. The disappointment on his father's face with a shake of his head. Where did I go wrong. He would ask Zeo. As if he actually cared about Asher. Maybe you should tell him about mother. Zeo would always suggest. That's when Asher caught a whiff of smoke.

"Fire!" someone yelled. Asher opened his eyes to see himself on fire. Asher jumped around cursing. He then realized that the flames weren't harming him. He looked around to see everyone staring at him, mesmerized.

The old woman stood forward and said, "I believe we've found ourselves an Elementalist."