Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter up, and I already have an idea for the next chapter, I'm excited to get that all written down for you all. Anyway, enjoy!
The normal sound of the door being pounded on woke me up once again. I sighed tiredly, my eyes flashing open as I still lay in my rather uncomfortable bed. My head still hurt from yesterday's training. After a moment of just sitting there and trying to clear my head, I finally sat up and glanced outside my barred window. Spring was just starting to enter the air, the snow only sparsely dotted around the now green-looking ground, and a few small birds were flying across the blue sky. I sighed longingly, staring outside for a few moments with tired eyes. It's been almost seven years since my life started and I had not once even experienced the world surrounding the secretive base, not once had I felt the cool caress of fresh air or enjoyed the fragrant smell of flowers. Why was I forbidden to go outside? I know, they always said that the outside world was dangerous, but from this window, this single, lonely window, it all looked peaceful and serene. It looked much different from the prison I lived in. I started doubting those who had created me, and I had to look away from the window and close my eyes to shut out my rebellious thoughts. Such thoughts, such actions would only end my short life prematurely, or it would even earn me a punishment worse than death. I shuddered at the thought.
When the impatient, annoying pounding persisted, I got out of bed and dashed towards the door, the waiting guard not even saying a word as we headed towards the training room. Once there, I walked inside and the guard left, leaving me alone with the Headmaster. He was sitting calmly at a lone table, only one empty chair across from him. He looked right at me and silently motioned for me to take a seat. I nodded and quietly complied, somewhat nervous about the unnatural silence of the room, and as I sat down, I looked at him uncertainly. How would we do this kind of training if neither of us knew how to start? "Did a clear mind allow you to remember?" he asked expectantly.
I looked up, trying to search the back of my mind, but any memories of what had occurred yesterday were still blank. It frustrated me that I still couldn't remember. Why couldn't I? Did I get hit in the head really hard and I just forgot? I sighed and shook my head in response to his question.
He sighed, "I was afraid of that. We'll start from square one, then. Try to call the fire again."
I nodded, "Where should I call it?"
He held up a match, "Bring it to this match. Light it on fire without touching it." He set it in an old, rusty metal tin and looked at me expectantly, obviously wanting me to figure it out instantly.
I gave him a small nod, feeling more nervous than ever. He was ordering me to do something that neither of us knew how to do. I sighed and tried to think about how I had lit my fist on fire. I was furious when it had occurred, so perhaps it was linked with my anger, my adrenaline. I stared at the match and thought about what angered me the most. My confinement from the outside, the secrets of my home, the fact that I didn't even know who or what I was, the Headmaster and his brutally endless training. I narrowed my eyes, none of those things that popped into my little mind seemed to light the match. Perhaps it wasn't linked with my rage after all; maybe it was linked with something else. What else could I do?
I remembered the alluring flames of the Bunsen burners in the laboratory, how they flickered and danced to their own, deadly tunes. Maybe I should've been focusing on the nature of the fire itself. I stared at the match once again in concentration, imagining a small flame flickering on it, burning and eating up the match. I imagined the warm heat of fire reaching it and catching it on fire, an image of the little match bursting randomly into flames from the sudden heat. Sadly, that did not happen in my reality. After a few minutes of trying to imagine the flame, I started willing for the heat to go to the match instead, as if the heat was a living thing that could be ordered around and could respond to me. Beads of sweat dripped down my forehead as I exerted my mind in a way I used to think impossible. The concentration, the will and energy put into what I was attempting was harder than I had originally thought.
Eventually, when I almost gave up, the whole match burst into tiny flames, the hot fire darkening the pale wood as it slowly decreased its size. I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back into my chair, wiping some sweat from my brow. The Headmaster looked at the flames and smirked, "It seems you found out how to do it. What did you do? Tell me."
"I just concentrated on the fire itself," I said quietly, "I willed the heat of the fire to it and it just lit on fire with a bit of effort and energy put into it by myself. It's . . . it's kind of hard to explain. . ."
"I see. . . Well, it is a rather small flame compared to your first one. . ."
I narrowed my eyes slightly, my fists held clenched in my lap, trying to keep myself from launching at him again. Really? He was nitpicking me again? It's my first time, give me a break! I'd like to see you try that, I thought bitterly.
"However," he said, "I suppose you will be able to create larger flames with more practice. Let's continue." For the whole day of training, he had me light random items on fire with my mind. It was tiring at first with all of the energy involved in it, but the more I summoned my flames, the easier it became to create small fires. At the end of the training session, I was dead tired from the exertion of my mind and exhausted, even my body felt like it didn't want to move. It was almost as if I had spent the whole day lifting extremely heavy objects. I trudged tiredly towards my rather empty room, finding that even my rock hard bed became a bed of feathers as soon as I plopped onto it. With a pounding head and an exhausted body, I fell asleep in seconds.
And, yeah, I know that most of the chapters so far is just training and sleeping, but that was most of her early years. I only plan to spend at least one chapter on the four types of training she does, so I've got that all covered and everything. We'll start having more variety in the next chapters, most definitely.