Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 9 - First Lessons - V

  As it turned out, Alden was even less proficient at the elements than movement. It didn't help that Rika was vastly more proficient than him and enjoyed showing it off.

  He split his fingers, just as Rika had demonstrated, making a sort of reverse snapping motion with his mind focused on the element as Rika had described, and in the air a fireball appeared. It was a wispy little yellow flame, almost invisible and giving off so little heat he could barely sense it was hovering above the tips of his fingers. A few moments later, it puffed out, leaving only the faintest sense of warmth as evidence it was ever there.

  "Why isn't there any smoke?" Alden wondered aloud.

  "What?"

  "Like when a candle goes out, that trail of smoke. But there's nothing here."

  "Well, that's the wax of the candle still burning away. You can actually relight that smoke if you wanted." Rika made a large flame in the air—much more visible than Alden's paltry efforts—then dismissed it just as quickly. "But we're not burning anything. So no smoke."

  "If nothing's burning, how can there be fire? Isn't that... impossible?"

  Rika grinned. "Magic, Alzack. If you can solve that little mystery, you'll be light years ahead of the rest of us in figuring this shit out."

  "Huh?"

  "Like I was saying before. There's still science here. There's patterns and connections, lines between things. Everything is connected in some way, by relationship or by a mutual nature. We just gotta figure those connections out, and as we do we find out new ways to experiment. New spells to throw around."

  Alden still wasn't quite grasping it. Rika seemed to notice his confusion, as she continued to explain. "Take the simple movement stuff you've just learned. You can send things dancing through the air. Cool, but pretty limited, right? All you've done though is basic, visualizing grabbing at things from a distance and hovering them through the air. Everyone does that. Now imagine you can push things. Maybe send an entire wall of force, like a shockwave." Rika raised both hands, interlocking her fingers with palms splayed outward. Without warning, she shoved them forward at Alden.

  It was like an invisible brick wall had slammed into him. Alden watched the grass flatten beneath the wave as it rushed to meet him. He fell over flat on his back, coughing from the impact.

  "Oh shit!" Rika was at his side again instantly. Alden could have sworn she warped to his side. Had he blacked out again for a moment? "Hey, you okay?"

  "Yeah," Alden spluttered, pulling himself back to his feet. He was winded, but otherwise he felt fine. "Nothing permanent. I'm okay."

  "Fuck, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to throw that much out." Rika looked embarrassed.

  Alden starting laughing. "That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen."

  "Seriously?" Rika asked, a smile beginning to crease the edges of her lips.
He nodded. "How do I do it?"

  Rika shook her head. "Nah, can't make it that easy. You'll never learn that way. You gotta experiment." She retreated a few steps to give them some distance, sitting back on her legs on the grassy bank. "Go ahead, see what you can do to me."

  "To you?" Alden asked, feeling anxiety rise up again in his chest. "What if I mess up, do something terrible?"

  "Like what?"

  "I don't know. Seems like you can do a lot with telekinesis. What if someone just nicked an artery or snipped the nerves at your brain? Wouldn't you just... die?"