The very ground beneath our feet shook as it cracked andfissured,crystals rising from deep within. Then the plants surrounded and climbed her, and the shadows circled, and Icouldn’treach her despite how hard I tried.
Then she went up in a pillar of flamesI thought would touch the clouds.
A few moments later, the fire went out, and she fell to the ground in a slump.The plants had burnedoff ofher,the shadows dispersed, and the earth and crystals returned to how they had been—almost as though they’d never been disturbed at all.
She slept until the afternoon theday after that. Fortunately,we’dbeen so far outsidethe castle grounds that nobody had mentioned seeing anything to me—yet.Onceshe’dawakened, she and I reasoned that because it happened when thealychitestopped touching her, that the odd events from the night before had been a buildup of years ofzirilium. That it had been lying beneath her skin until then, just waiting.
And we’d let it loose.
After that,we’dbeen much more cautious about taking the cuff off her ankle, though the eruption of powerdidn’thappen again.
I’ddecided the cuff would remain on for now. Just because she was my motherdidn’tautomatically grant her my trust.
The night after, we officially began my training.
It’dtaken the next four nights before I could move a rock larger than my palm around at will, even with us changing locations to try to connect todifferent typesof rock and earth.
Though, onceI’ddone it the first time, it felt like a floodgate had been opened within me. Myearthziriliumfelt easier to access and tap into—a connection Ihadn’tpossessedbefore then. And after conquering the basics of earth earlier that week,we’dmoved onto fire.
My chest heaved as I stood from my crouch, turning on my heels to face my mother, prepared to try again.
Instead, she was already standing.
And the smile on her face could only be one of pride.
“You’re beginning to use your zirilium based on your instincts, not your emotions,” she praised.
“It just felt…natural.” I looked down at my hands in muted awe.
It had been just over a week and a half sincewe’dleft the encampments outside ofNeokell. The time since had mostly been consumed by meetings during the days as my advisors argued about our next moves, and training myziriliumwith Mother during the evenings and late into the night.
The past few nights,she’dbeen forcing me to form different shapes out of my deep orange flames. BecauseI’dalready associated my fire abilities heavily with my emotions, it had been much more difficult than I thought it would be to construct simple shapes and forms.We’dbegun with a flame, then focused on how to control its size. Then we focused on thefire’sheat level, then its form—my favorite being the shape of a longsword, whichI’daccomplishedjust the night before.
In the beginning, when I first began with earth wielding, I was so tiredI’dfall asleep the moment my head hit my pillow after training with Mother. Now thatI’dbeen using myziriliumconstantly for a couple of weeks, though, I could feel the difference. My mother had claimed that using yourziriliumwassimilar toworking a muscle—that it would gain strengthover time with use.
Due to the sheer amount oftimeI was putting into these tasks and my training, my sleep schedule had become atrocious. I could see it in the dark circlesappearingunder my eyes,and in the way I could hardly focus on my daily meetings.
I was exhausted, but at least I was doing things.
I was still trying to push forward.
I would still win.
“That’s how it’s supposed to feel,” she reassured me. “Your abilities are a part of you—they’re not something foreign.”
Still looking at my hands, I flexed them a couple times,relishing inthe residual power I could feel in them.
“Let’s go again,” I said, sliding into a loose fighting stance.
Smiling softly—as she always had in my memories—she shook her head.
My heart felt as though it lurched out of my chest as she moved towards the door to the small training room we were in. Reaching out to stop her from leaving, I paused as she turned back around to face the center ofthe space.
She shot me an empathetic look once she noticed my hand still halfway extended toward her. Shedidn’tcomment on it, though; she simply lifted her arms towards the large, metal chandelier overhead and forced the flames to grow smaller and dimmer.
“Come,” she said, moving to the middle of the training ring and sitting on the floor.
“What are we doing?” I questioned as I drew closer to her.
