Amethyst 1. Inception ✓

20. A Flickering Flame

I made my way to the staff floor in the central building and reached cabin two hundred and eleven where Professor Everhart sat with a massive stack of books on the table in front of her. Her gaze was fixed on what seemed like a thick book lying open on the desk, her irises shifting as she read intently. Her head snapped up as I entered and she gave me a curt nod, gesturing for me to sit in front of her.

"Ezekiel," she began, shutting the book and placing her palms flat against the table as she took a deep breath.  "I have been trying to do some extra research and to me, it turns out that you must be a Dormant." I nodded as she explained further, still wondering what the term meant. 

"You do have the power inside you, but due to remaining in the mortal world for a long time, they have been suppressed." She stood up and started pacing around the room. "One of the ways to explore that power is to call it from within yourself."

I nodded again as she closed her eyes and gestured for me to stand up. "Now, close your eyes and concentrate. Look for the hidden power within you. Trust yourself."

I closed my eyes and tried to do as she instructed. I could feel nothing except pangs of hunger from a scarce dinner an hour ago. Even though her explanations were vague, it wasn't much different than what the professors had instructed me already. It seemed like it was all pivoted around the brain, rather than the body.

"Try to reach deeper. Into your mind. Into your self. Call for it."

I focussed on my breathing, trying to reach into the depths of my mind. I felt lost. Darkness, however, seemed to be my only companion in the pursuit of what largely seemed like emptiness. I  was unsure what exactly I  was reaching for. Was it possible to tread a path without knowing the destination?

I felt an inkling of a strange enigma, almost magnetic and yet elusive. Calling to me and repelling me with parallel force and rivalled passion. I was aware of an obscure unearthly entity and tried to reach for it. My heart seemed to pound in my ears, a monotonous metronome in the deathly silence of my own mind. I was scarcely aware of my own body, a strange fire kindling in my chest as I wondered if I was closer than I had been before. 

And at the very last moment, it slipped away from between my fingers. Seductively elusive, frustratingly obscure. A strange warmth, fading. As if a flickering flame vanquishing the darkness around its own insignificant self. 

We worked in vain for about a quarter of an hour before she sighed. "I suppose your powers lie deeper than I anticipated." She pursed her lips. "Perhaps, it is time to take a more offensive approach."

She stood in front of me, facing me. "So Ezekiel, what is your favourite colour?"
  
I blinked rapidly at her unexpected question. "Er...pur-" My words ended in a yell as I felt a sharp sting on my face- as if the wind was slapping me. My legs gave way under me as I felt my body rise into the air. Gravity lost its fickle hold. I was merely a foot away from the ground when my brain sized up, and everything came back to me.

I just want to play.

Powerless. Weak. Pathetic. Everything that I knew I was.

Vivid memories passed by me in a blur of colours. I was sucked into a vacuum, shrouded by burning paranoia that seemed to tear away at my skin and singe my very core. Pain shot up my legs, stemming from my knees as I slowly became aware of the hard ground underneath my open palms. I realized I was lying on the ground on my knees, pressing my palms flat against the floor. I felt dizzy, my brain incoherent as the violently vivid images of my past slowly faded into the background, leaving my lungs constricted.  

"This...approach should work." Everhart's voice floated to me as if from a great distance. Once again, I felt like I was pulled out from under the depths of an icy lake as I slowly gazed up at her, my vision hazy. I rubbed my eyes, trying to reestablish my working senses. My heart jumped to my throat when she finally materialized into my comprehensible vision.