Laska sat in her new room, meditating. On the floor in front of her stood a short silver candle, unlit. A thought lazily drifted through her empty mind, and the candle sharply sparked to life. She heard it, but tried to ignore it so she could accomplish her main task. Reaching out one hand, she lightly touched the flame. It didn't burn her at all. In fact, it made her stronger and sent weak bolts of energy up her arm. She slowly lifted her hand, hoping the flame would follow. She had attempted this many times before, but it always ended badly. She couldn't control fine amounts of magic, only large amounts. Laska swirled her wrist in an elaborate spiral, and felt the smoke from it drift up into the air. She could hardly contain her excitement and remain focused at the same time. She was almost able to separate the flame from the candle and control it with both hands. Just when she was about to, there was a thunderous knock on her door. Her eyes shot open, and the sudden burst of emotion caused the flame to grow and the candle to explode. She recoiled in shock, eyes wide.

Laska then remembered the person at the door. She stood up and brushed herself off, then opened the door. Axel stood there, looking puzzled from hearing the explosion.

"What happened in here? I knocked on the door and there was this loud noise..."

"You scared me half to death. I was trying to practice my magic while I was meditating, but you really startled me and it kinda…blew up in my face, so to speak," she said, watching some melted wax drip down the wall.

"Sorry," said Axel emotionlessly. Laska sighed, sitting on her bed while looking at the floor.

"It's not your fault. You didn't know."
"Why were you meditating, anyway?" She glanced up with morose eyes.

"Because I can't control really small amounts of my magic. It's just too powerful. I can sort of release a large amount of it all at once, but I can't control little pieces of it. If I could, then I'd be a lot better fighter."

"Okay…anyway, I tried using that spell you told me about."
"And?"

"And, it almost worked."
"But…"

"But not quite. It drained all of my energy really fast." She gave a quick laugh, then noted the serious look clouding Axel's slightly frustrated face.

"Sorry, but I'm not that surprised. It took me a few years before I figured it out. Remember how I said it's like tripling the strength of the third level of spells? Well, that's putting it mildly."

"But how did you get your power up to that level?"
"It was already there. I just had to learn how to control it. I'm not much of a control freak, you know." Laska stood up to face him.

"Don't worry. You'll get it. I believe in you." She smiled confidently, watching as he teleported out of the room, glancing at her like she was insane. Gazing around the room, she realized the wax was everywhere. "Aeroxa!" A tornado swept through the room, putting things back in order and sweeping away all the wax. 'I almost got it. So close…I'll try again. I have to get it right. I made a promise, after all.'

'How in the world could anyone be that powerful? Even I'm not that strong! It doesn't make any sense…' thought Axel as he trudged down the hallway of the ninth floor. Where he was going and why he didn't just teleport there, he didn't know. Besides, he needed thinking time. He recalled Laska's words. "It took me a few years before I figured it out." 'It shouldn't take me nearly that long. I'm already powerful.'

'I just couldn't tell them the real reason why I'm in the twilight,' thought Laska. She sat on her bed, examining the bracelet strung around her right wrist. It consisted of several pearly blue beads, each containing a swirling mass of clouds and strands of sparkling copper glass. It was a symbol of a friend's long-ago promise...

He handed her a thin blue bracelet. "Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!"

"It's not perfect, I couldn't really make all of them perfectly round, and the glass got a little lumpy sometimes, and the color didn't come out the way I planned it, and-"

"Will you shut up? I love it. It couldn't be more perfect." 13-year-old Laska knew that if she didn't stop his rambling, it would never stop. She tried to get the bracelet on by herself, but dropped it. She picked it up and tried again. Her friend held it on her wrist while she did it. When it was latched, he didn't let go of her hand until he realized he still held it, then quickly released it. Laska, ever oblivious, didn't notice. "Thanks. I'll never take it off, because I might not be able to get it back on!" she said with a laugh. She stared into his pale blue eyes, and saw the sadness that lay behind them. "I don't want to leave. I can't."

"It's alright. I'll see you again…won't I?" she questioned hopefully. He smiled at her warmly, grasping her hands in his. "Of course. I promise."

But she never did. He died in a fire the next day. Laska had been devastated, and cried for about a week. The real reason she walked the twilight was because she controlled his soul. The real reason she wanted to master her power was in hopes that she would be able to bring him back to life. Of all the souls she had power over, his was the only one that mattered to her. The bracelet was a constant reminder of his promise. Even though now she couldn't remember what happened, the pain always lurked in her heart.