Destiny Island

Chapter 42

While Jade and Royce were trying to find their strength and a way to communicate with each other, Amber was fighting her own battle.

Not surprisingly, her coach turned out to be Arijam the Protector of the Weak since he was the one who had the most experience with fire.
He might not have been human but his years of practice were indispensable and what made him the most qualified for the job.

Standing beside the most powerful beast she had ever encountered, Amber stared at him in awe.
The power and the magnificence of a dragon were more than a human mind could handle.
She felt like she was just a small speck of dust in the vastness of the universe, even in comparison to the enormous dragon.
For the first time in her life, she was able to understand how weak and vulnerable humans truly were and the feeling was making her head spin.
Also, she started realizing how inappropriate her actions were when she first met the dragon, asking him to pet him and all that.

Before they started with the training, she knew that she had to apologize.
"I am sorry." She said.
"For what?" The dragon asked his powerful voice reverberating through her bones.
"For being so childish, for asking to pet you when we first met." She answered.
"My dear, you are a child to me. Everyone is. I am eight hundred years old." He said chuckling to himself.

Upon seeing that she wasn't in a joking mode, the dragon decided to switch tactics.
"Very well, if it means that much to you, you are forgiven," Arijam said.
A huge smile graced Amber's face, and she was ready to do what had to be done to make the world a bit better.

"What you need to know before we start is that fire is powerful but to be able to control that amount of power, you have to respect it.
If you don't respect the strength and beauty of it you will surely get burned." Arijam said.
Amber just nodded her head impatiently hoping to move on to the more practical part of the lesson.

"I can see that you just want to start practicing using your power but if I were you, I would listen carefully because one day this might save your life." The dragon said.
His words had an instant influence on her as she started paying closer attention to what the dragon was saying.

"For us dragons, fire is just who we are. It is part of us as much as anything else is. That, in turn, means that I can control fire without thinking about it too much, it comes naturally to me.

It probably has to do with the fact that it is a part of our physical constitution plus I've had it from an early age.
Even so, I have always shown utmost reverence for the fire because even dragons can sometimes get burned. It's not as common but it does happen." He said.

"Wow, I didn't know that. I always assumed the dragon's fire couldn't hurt them." Amber said.
"It can't if you use it properly. However, when I was still young I was playing with fire too much and as your human saying says 'if you play with fire, you will get burned.
As you are human and new to this power, you need to be even more careful since it takes some time for people with newly found powers to adjust," Arijam said.

"Don't make the same mistake other magical creatures have made.
Never look at the fire as if it were your servant, but see your self as the servant of the fire.
For you see, without fire everyone would be lost, there wouldn't be any light or warmth but without humans or whatever you are, the fire would never be lost.
The fire would be able to prevail on its own, to get stronger, to devour everything in its path.
That is why all of us, dragons included, should understand that we are but mere servants of the fire, we help her grow and be free, but we are by no means its masters.
If it wanted to it could burn through both of us easily and effortlessly. Do you understand?" He asked.
"Yes," Amber said quietly contemplating everything that had been said.

Since she had been a small child Amber was in a way fascinated by fire, but she never thought of it that way.
For her, it was hypnotizing to watch the fire slowly moving, shifting, crackling. it seemed to her that if she looked long enough she would be able to see deep into its molten core.
From time to time, she would bring her hand closer to the fire just to feel the warmth radiating from it that seemed to be expanding her very skin if she came too close.
It was her friend, her companion, but she always thought she was the one in control.

After listening to Arijam's words, she realized that she was wrong and that what he had said made sense.
She remembered seeing on the TV firefighters battling the flames, many times unable to contain them until they satiated their hunger until they had eaten away whole houses or forests.
Humans liked to think they were in control, but that was rarely the truth.
Amber understood that this type of knowledge would bring with it the new ability for her to connect with fire, to ask for its help and to allow it to use her body for its goals.

"So are you ready to start?" Arijam's strong voice brought her back from revere.
"Yes. What should I do?" She asked.
"Let's start small. Summon a flame in your hand." Arijam said.
Amber had no idea how exactly to do that.
The last time she did it, it was in the heat of the moment and their lives were in danger, but now that she was safe and sound she had no idea how to replicate what she did in the Shadowworld.

She tried visualizing the flame but no matter how much she tried nothing happened.
"You are thinking too much. Fire is not about thinking, never was and never will be.
Fire is feeling. It is closely connected with your emotions.
What do you think, why does your human world use so many expressions connected with fire?
In the heat of the moment.
Between two fires.
Play with fire.
Because deep down, in your very core of being, you are aware that power is in close contact with emotions.
So it's only logical that to create the fire, you have to feel it." Arijam said.

What he said made sense to Amber.
She had to get out of her own head and listen to her heart.
As she tried to focus on her emotions, she could feel a small tingling sensation coming from her upraised palms.

Once she opened her eyes she could see that her effort paid off and now she had two flames sprouting out of the palms of her hands.
The strangest thing for her was not that she had summoned fire in her hands, but that while the orange flames burned brightly there was no pain.
She could feel the tingling warmth but that was all, there was no excruciating pain that she associated with touching fire.

It took her mind some time to adjust to the new reality she was faced with because her whole life she always knew not to touch fire, the pain she once felt reminding her not to do it again.
Now there she was with fire in her hands, just admiring its beauty without feeling the scorching heat.

"Now release the fire into that tree," Arijam said.
Although Amber wasn't much into destroying trees, she did what she was told.
Once the fire hit the tree, instead of burning it up it died out.

"What was that?" She asked.
"Fireproof magic. We don't want you burning down beautiful trees, do we?" Arijam said.

After that, they kept practicing creating and releasing the fire and Amber was getting the hang of it.
She wasn't an expert, but having in mind that it was her very first day of training, she thought she did really well.

"Okay, that's enough for today. Good job!" Arijam said.
It was obvious that he was proud of her and it was such an overwhelming feeling for Amber that a DRAGON was proud of her.
They headed off to get some well-deserved rest and Amber couldn't help but feel good about herself.

She might be just a small speck in the vast universe, but she was also a hard worker and a person who might be able to change the world, at least a bit.