The Hidden Realm

Chapter 27 – DANGERS OF FIRE

“BLACK FIRE is a curse…” these words from Kharyn echoed in Eleand’s mind. Nobody should know about this. Everything was an accident, and he didn’t intend to do it. The black fire in his hand triggered because he was careless. He needed to take extra precautions not to repeat this mistake.

Damn! Eleand thought of his faerie ancestor. Whoever he was must have had something to do with his magic. Now he firmly believed that his faerie blood was special. Could it be that his ancestor was a royal?

 Although, he couldn’t find solid proof as of now. But even Althy and Rade believed that his talents were extraordinary, considering the amount of mana resting inside his body. Even they were unaware of him being a mortal.

Eleand continued his study on Vatranum, and the cousins were considerate of his learning process. He never mentioned the minor accident inside his room. They must not know that he could summon a black fire, a curse.

The sixth day of his training came, and this was the schedule where Eleand would finally do the practical fire-wielding. Althy and Rade were just beside him to assess his improvement.

“How confident are you that you can manipulate the fire?” Rade asked, smiling.

“I’ve studied everything you taught me. I guess there will be no problem,” he said confidently.

They chose to train on the rear side of the temple, away from the crowds. The place was spacious, surrounded by frozen trees and thick snow—plants with blue flowers sprawled around the ground.

“Let’s begin,” Althy gave the signal.

They started from the basics. Eleand could not contain his happiness when he first summoned the fire. From the red fire, it seemed easy to cast. It simply danced in his palms. There were no burning sensations, just tickling feels. He concentrated well, and he didn’t let himself make missteps and wrong calculations.

Eleand let out a whistle when the fire was gone. He could not believe that he was capable of controlling fire! He laughed heartily, and the cousins appeared happy for him. 

“You see that? I did it!” he was teary-eyed. For a human being like him, it was a big accomplishment.

“That was impressive, Eleand. Now we’ll try other kinds of flame that you are capable of summoning.” Rade said in fascination.

“What you mean?” the line in his forehead creased.

Eleand started to feel uneasy. What if they found out his secret? He should not let that happen. He would never allow the fire to control him. He must be its master.

“We want to see if you can control the hottest of all, the blue flame.” Althy challenged him. He crossed his arms and stared at him intently.

“Come on. You can do it.” Rade cheered him.

“Okay, let me try.”

Eleand repeated what he had done earlier, and he couldn’t feel the fatigue even he was just doing things in a circle. It took him at least two hours to summon different flame colors; from red, it became orange, then turned yellow.

“Is this acceptable?” he asked. Grains of swears formed in his temple even the temperature around was freezing.

“Try to control a larger amount of fire,” Rade suggested.

He followed Rade’s order. He just remembered what he understood from his study. He was bewildered when the fire blazed larger in his hands just above a magic circle.

“And make it enormous,” Althy said.

Eleand closed his eyes. He made a full concentration to wield the fire in his hands properly. He chanted a complicated spell in faerie language. He suddenly sensed the light burning feeling in his body. But he knew he was doing it right.

He was not aware of how long he had stayed in that state. When he heard the applause of his trainers, he suddenly went back to his senses. Even he was surprised to see that his body was fully submerged in a blue flame without burning him, even his clothing. The flame followed the way he commanded it in his mind.

“Spectacular!” Rade gaped.

The cousins walked around him, examining the blazing blue flame.

“That’s enough, end it,” Althy ordered.

Eleand closed his eyes again to deepen his concentration. But he found himself in panic when he saw the black thing trying to consume the blue flame in his mind.

No, s**t! He needed to ruminate on ending the summon. It took him a lot of willpower to control the black fire. But it was too late. He already burned the entire training area. The flame scattered around; the sprawling plants withered and turned to ash.

He heard the cousins cursed. They managed to prevent the spread of fire. Rade used water while Althy used his ice magic, putting the entire training area inside a thick ice shield. It took them a while to kill the remnants of black fire. They had to wield high classification magic to stop it completely.

“If you can’t control your power, you will end up burning yourself.” Rade hardly shook his head and gave him a dubious look, “Moderation is the key. Do not force yourself if you think you can’t handle it properly. You need to practice more without scorching yourself.”

“But in all fairness, you’re pretty good for a beginner. Your manifestation of power must be fire. That is not surprising since you came from the Summer Region of Noyuh, right?” Althy said.

Eleand averted his gaze. “H-How did you know?”

If only they knew that he was an outsider.

Althy shook his shoulder. “It took more than a month for a normal faerie to learn the basics of Vatranum. You must be a royal since only the royalties could wield the nature elements magic with a short period of training.”

“Oh, I see.” He lowered his gaze and seated himself on the ground, knees still shaking. He almost killed himself!

Eleand considered checking his faerie ancestor when he got back to the human world. He would make sure to trace his family tree. As he discovered his magic attributes, he was more indebted to his forefathers, whoever they were. He would offer prayers and candles for thanksgiving.

“Look at us. We are not royalties, so it took us months to master the Aghenum. And we counted years to wield the water and ice fully. And for our long years of training, we became stronger. Mind you; we could master only the Vanire from the inborn magic of the royalties.” Althy explained.

“You mean you can’t wield fire?” he asked in astonishment.

Rade answered. “We can’t, but we possess the knowledge of the Vatranum. And yes, we are just the master of Aghenum. It’s because we’re not like you. Enkille told us that you are gifted, that you can master the four elements and shapeshifting in a very limited time.”

Really. “Me? Gifted?” he chuckled. Enkille must be joking!

Althy grinned. “You don’t need to humble yourself; we could see your vast potential.”

“Whatever, don’t believe Enkille that much. I can’t wield the Aghenum. I suck at water magic.”

The cousins laughed.

When Eleand regained back his strength, he thought they were finished in training. But they made him repeat the things he made earlier until they could see his further improvement. Thankfully, they prevented the accident from happening again. It was already dusk when his trainers decided to let him rest.

“What is our schedule tomorrow?” he asked while they were walking back to the temple. It was better to have an idea to be prepared before sleeping.

“You can rest tomorrow so that that you’re in your best shape when you fight with the high priestess,” Rade said.

“What if we go to Argia? You want to visit there, right?” Althy suggested with mischief.

“Can we make it within the day? We’ll be in trouble if they found out we’re missing,” he hesitated, but he liked the idea.

“No one will notice. They’ll think we’re just training here.” Althy winked.

“Well, if that’s the case, I’ll certainly go with you,” he smiled excitedly.

They talked about the details of how they would sneak out of the temple and go to the Capital City unnoticed. Eleand was thankful that aside from Enkille, he met another two amazing faeries.

What could happen in Argia?

Eleand was overjoyed.