Princess Crystal of Coralon

Chapter 28

After a well deserved break, we all decided to call it a day. The next morning, it was back to usual. Jodie, Bill and Gill all grew tired of the fire challenge an decided to head back to the water room. Meanwhile, Marco and I were stuck in the fire room. We were practicing from the break of dawn all the way to the afternoon.

Every time I tried the challenge, I failed. If I went too fast, I failed. If I went too slow, I failed. I was getting extremely frustrated. I growled as the flame disappeared once again. "You need to stay focused Crissie!" Marco's voice came from behind me. "Maybe Fire isn't for you. You have three elements, that's enough. Right?" "No. It's not enough," I sighed as I stepped down to face him.

"What!? Why? Having three elements is amazing. Why do you need all four?" "I..... can't tell you."

"Okay?" He shrugged, placing another flame into my hand. "Well.... if you want to get the fourth element so badly, I'll help you." He dragged me all the way to the beginning of the challenge and shot me a toothy grin before I started climbing again. "Take it slow...." he whispered, going up the steps with me. "Okay," I mumbled softly.

For once, I actually felt calm when I did the challenge. I tried to block out my surroundings and focus only on the small fire I had. Then, I was half way to the candle at the top stair. "We're so close," I said, a bit of hope glimmering in my green eyes. "Stay patient!" He reminded me. "Right."

Step by step, I was finally getting to the top. My eyes widened when I saw it. The candle. YES!!! I mentally screamed, rushing over to the table. "W-wait! Slow down." Marco was too late, and the flame suddenly disappeared. I stood still for I while, clenching my fists as they shook violently. I can't believe it, I thought. Once again my incompetence stopped me from doing what I need to do...

"D-don't worry, you'll figure it out soon. It's just a matter of time." "Stop saying that," I grumbled. "Huh?" "Stop saying that!!" I yelled louder than expected, quickly turning around to glare at the brown haired boy. "I'm sick and tired of this! I'm trying, Marco. I really am. But at this point, there's really no hope for me."

"Why are you beating yourself up over this?" He asked. "What's the big deal?" "The BIG DEAL is that I need to learn the other elements!" I snapped before realizing his hurt expression. "I'm sorry. It's just that..... I-I ran away from my parents, hoping to master the other elements and go back to them to make them proud....."

Then, the most unexpected thing happened to me. I cried. I had a very tough shell to crack, but thinking about how hard it was to learn how to control fire tore me up inside. It was like a part of me knew that I would always be a failure. And that part slowly ate me piece by piece, until I was completely devoured. "But I just can't...." I sobbed.

Marco reached out to pull me into a hug, but I forcefully slapped his hand away. "I DON'T NEED YOUR PITY!" I barked angrily. I felt bad for lashing out at him like that, but my bottled up emotions were filled to the brim. "Crissie, what's gotten into you?" He asked surprisedly. "What's 'gotten into me' is that I've learnt three elements, and I'll be stuck not learning the last one. Even if I DO learn it, it'll be TOO LATE!"

I stomped my feet angrily. Then, the wave of frustration came over me again. I just stood there, sobbing silently. They weren't sad tears, but more like tears of anger. I hated being vulnerable, not to mention scared. But in the condition I was in, I wouldn't have been able to face my uncle if he came. Suddenly, I felt a massive wave of heat on my hand. It didn't burn, which surprised me.

I glanced at Marco whose gaze was fixed on my left hand, mouth hanging ajar. When I looked down at my hand, I saw the last thing I expected; a huge ball of fire. "Y-you did it!" Marco yelled. I was speechless. "Aren't you happy?" I quickly dried a tear that trickled down my stained cheek. "Yeah. I'm happy but.... how did I do I?" I asked hesitantly, staring at the hand that still had the flame around it.

"Fire is normally linked with anger or frustration...." he said. "What were you angry about?"

Oh, nah. I wasn't angry about anything too serious. I'm just angry about my psychopath mysterious uncle who convinced me to learn all the elements and is probably hunting me down right now. No big deal, I sarcastically thought. I slowly opened my fist and the huge flame suddenly disappeared, replaced by a smaller one in the palm of my hand.

Through the corner of my eye, I spotted the candle that I spent days to get to. I slowly approached it with the fire cupped in my hands and placed it near to the candle, lighting it.

I finally did it. I completed the challenge. Just as I was about to break into a very passionate victory dance, I found myself frozen. I tried to move, but it was like I was a statue stuck in that spot. I tried to breath, but instead it came out as heavy gasps. I couldn't even see. My vision was invaded by pure whiteness.

The only thing I heard was someone's voice calling me. "Crissie? Crissie!?"

Then the voice died out, leaving me in the blankness.

A/N

Yay! She learnt the last element.

NOO. What happened in the end?

Haha😂 I'm so glad I'm done with the chapters dealing with the temple. They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boring
☹️

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Peace👋🏽