The Last Celestial

New Light

The three of them were standing six feet away from Andrew. Since there was no cottage or trees big enough to shade them from the sun, they had to stand in a fair distance so the three of them can spot if the boy is doing good, but not too far that they can't rush into Andrew just in case he needed help.

And though Timothy absolutely told Dah it's unnecessary, the other male still insisted to bring along a hand carry fire extinguisher.

Timothy was forcing himself not to laugh at the horrible situation his friend is in. Tahani had no plans to warm up to Dah so soon. Her ego was so horribly stained, only a punishment could be accepted as compensation for his harsh words. He was tasked to cover her with an umbrella from the sun until she says so, a grim expression remained on his face, while Tahani pretended as if nothing happened.

With the sound of a whistle, Andrew knows it's time to practice. The boy's feet is close to the shoreline, warm water from the ocean was almost hitting his feet. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply then he slowly released his breath.

Sparks ignited on the tip of his fingertips, and with a flash it combusted and the usual orange fire he summons glowed. He slowly raised his hand, opening his palm. He was so focused on learning how to fly that he's shaking when it comes to manipulating fire using his hands.

Timothy's loud voice made Andrew look at the direction the taller man was. "Breathe kid." He heard his trainer said to him.

Taking a deep breath then blowing it out from his mouth, Andrew felt more relaxed. He summoned a bigger flame, and then he noticed something happen.

"Wha---what's going on?!" He shrieked when he noticed the glove turn black. "I---I think something's wrong!" He screamed, in total panic.

He thought the glove was melting down on his arms. However, he should've felt an immense amount of pain but he did not. Instead vine like material which is similar to tree roots crawled up to his upper arm.

Timothy and Dah rushed in to stop the boy, but Tahani stopped both men in their tracks with a loud and domineering "Don't." She commanded and the two looked at her confused and scared.

''The gloves is fusing with him." She said, voice filled with wonder and excitement.

With worry filed eyes, the two watched the Gloves form a black and sturdy latex on Andrew's arm. The fingertips of the gloves gleamed in red and as it goes up to the arms the color was gradient from red to black.

Andrew stared at his arms in awe. When he took a closer look, he saw that there were symbols embedded on the gloves.

Something in him felt like he should try to summon fire from his hands again. He closed his eyes and concentrated all his power to his hands. And when he did a glowing light of red and blue fire emerged from right on the palm of his hand.

Unlike before, the fire continuously combust and does not flicker against the strong wind. He turn around and positioned himself as if he was going to throw a baseball. And with a huge swing, he threw the fire towards the ocean.

Astonishingly, the fire he threw formed itself into a ball, midway to the sea it flicked three times before the ball of fire detonated mid air like a bomb. The blast created a massive shockwave. Shock waves are made by a rapid, continuous "push," or by an object traveling at supersonic speed. Cracking a whip creates weak shock waves, because the whip tip moves faster than the speed of sound. The strong wave seemingly pushed the boy back, making him lose footing.

The boy was fine but it wasn't the same for the others. The shockwave was so strong it's as if they were carried by an invisible force and was propelled up until they were thrown down like a sack of potatoes.

Dah was still coughing as he brushes sand off his face and body. He feels lightheaded and when he opened his eyes, his vision was almost nothing but a blur. He shook his head and tried to feel his surroundings. When he felt a tree bark on the palm of his hands, he used it as something to hold on to support his weight. When his vision came back to normal, he immediately looked for his mother and Timothy.

Timothy and Tahani were blasted off a good five meters from where they were standing, while Dah on the other hand was thrown farther.

The younger Keeper walked slowly to his mother and friend, and he watched as the two prompt themselves up and dust off the sand from their clothing.

"Are you guys alright?"

Timothy nodded with a pained expression on his face. "I'm fine." He said in a low voice, one of his eyes were still closed as he was probably blinded by the sand.

Tahani on the other hand was injured than the others. Her body was aching everywhere. And it feels like there was a sharp pain on her back. Dah immediately noticed this and ran to his mother's aid, forgetting the pain he's experiencing himself.

Timothy remembered something far more important. "Where's Andrew?" His question was filled with panic. With one good eye, he looked at the beach. A rush of relief came into him when he saw Andrew standing still on the shoreline.

"Hey kiddo, are you okay?" He shouted at the boy who was seemingly staring at a far off distance.

Andrew looked back at him with a daze expression. And just like them, the boy did not know what just happened.

Dah decided to go back to the house and take Tahani with him to rest. Timothy agreed and he told his friend that he'll stay and continue to check on the boy. He thought twice about coming close to the boy, but he dismissed his doubts and decided to come forth to Andrew anyway...

====================

The boy's heart was still pounding against his chest. A mixture of excitement, fear and wonder loomed in his mind. Fear was the one he felt the most. That blast could've hurt not only Dah and the others, it could've hurt other people who are passing by as well.

He looked down on his hand and balled it into a fist in anger. Eleven years... For eleven years he has been practicing controlling his power. Why did this kind of fire power show up now? Maybe it's because of the gloves created by Tahani or maybe it's something else.

"Kid..."He heard a familiar voice call to him. It was Timothy, his mentor. "...we're fine. Relax."

He turned his head to take a quick glance at his mentor. Yet he still feels shaken. Timothy noticed this and decided to walk closer to the boy until he could reach Andrew by the shoulder.

Holding his hand firmly against Andrew's shoulder, he squeezed it lightly. A familiar gesture exchanged between them whenever the boy's confidence is shaken.

"You can do it. This is why we practice..."Timothy gave the boy a wry smile. "...to make you stronger."

"But..."

"I'm fine." The older one butted in before the boy could say anything else. "I'll hide behind a tree or something, just keep practicing."

After hearing the encouraging words of his mentor. Andrew decided to continue. He tried again and again and again. But the results were the same. He can't seem to control when the ball of fire will detonate. Some times it will, and a few times it wont and will just simply land on the sea.

He was getting tired. And he was heaving and tried to keep up with his breathing. His body trickled with sweat and his arms were starting to shake.

"Come on..." He hissed at himself, and was refusing to give up. "...you can do this."

Concentrate. He said to himself like a mantra as he raised his hand to create another ball of fire. He opened the palm of his hand and closed his eyes, and thought of creating a ball much bigger than the ones he created before. Something much stronger. Much stable. One that will not be thrown on the ocean and make sizzling noise.

A ball of fire bigger than the others soon formed on the palm of his hand. With one deep breath, he positioned himself and threw the ball as hard as he can. When he did, the ball of fire created a trail of reddish blue plasma. It exploded at a farther point this time. But he did not anticipate for the shockwave to be this strong.

It felt like thousands of needles pierced through his body. Trees were shaking and some of the debris around the area was pushed up in the air then down. And it felt like a boulder was thrown in front of him, causing the boy to fly a few seconds in the air.

"Ooof!" He crashed hard on the ground.

Timothy was safely hidden behind a big tree---the Baobab tree. He grabbed a lot of the wide trunk as hard as he could. And when he felt the shockwave he settled he immediately ran towards Andrew.

He was in distraught when he saw Andrew lying on the ground. The boy was strong against the previous waves, but this one is not an ordinary one.

Soon enough locals came rushing into them, whispering and wondering what happened and how a huge blast came to be.