"Boy, if you keep using your energy in large bursts you won't have any energy left, and then either kill someone by absorbing theirs or die out here in the snow and ice. Your choice."
He watched in silence as the old man walked closer to him. He looked at the knee-deep snow instantly melt and evaporate around him. He shook the snow out of his long hair and looked at the old man in pain and slight annoyance.
"Boy, watch me, and watch how I use the energy." He nodded and watched as they started to circle energy around his body as a very thin barrier of intense heat formed off his body. He took a step back as the heat coming from them pushed him back. The intense heat faded.
"Boy, this here is a barrier that any beginner can do, however when you get better at control, you can actually keep the energy in your skin which can heat the environment around you so you're not wasting any energy at all."
The old man moved his arms as the energy barrier became larger encasing him. "As you increase the barrier you also increase the amount of energy you need to use."
He looked at the old man in confusion.
The old man stopped and look at him, "I see you have a question, ask it since we're outside."
"Sir, why is your energy black, because everyone else that I have seen and heard about had the color of red?"
The old man sighed and leaned on his black cane. "You and I are different than the others in the FireStrike unit, hence the flames are different. For now, that's all you need to know, as you don't have a tattoo."
"Boy, try again…"
He nodded and tried to form the barrier again around his body, as it started to form it was hazy and thick in some areas and thin in others.
"Aaarrrgggh!"
A large pulse of energy pulsed out exploding around him and the old man again. The old man sighed and frowned at him. "Over these past few days there has been improvement, but you still can't control it. You have only three days left. After that time, I'll have to…" He watched as the old man shook his head sadly. "That'll be a waste…"
He took a step back as the old man pushed him with a finger. "Find out why, it is not about your ability. You have lots of ability and strength. It's all in your head... Focus."
The old man turned around and sat on a rock staring at him taking a deep breath. "You have three more days to learn control or you'll not be allowed back in the unit and will be thrown off into the ice chasm where you'll freeze with all the others that have failed."
The old man tapped his fingers on his cane, "what's blocking you in your mind?Communicate with your fire, learn more about it, bond with it, fight with it, find out what the problem is together. I'm very positive that you don't even know its name…" The old man became silent as he stared at him.
He watched the old man close his eyes and admire as heat started to flow from their body. He watched the old man for a while, and then sat down on a rock and started to meditate.
Inside his body he floated around the fire and stared at it. "Your changing, what exactly are you? It's like you have a human figure, but also not." He waited for the flame to give a response, but it just silently burned inside him. "I must change topic." He took a breath and continued to float around the fire in silence.
"I'm sure that you heard what the monster said. We're still failing, and if we can't show an ounce of control, we're dead."
The fire moved towards him slowly, then it finally spoke.
"We joined out of a means for survival, I was a tiny spark out here finding my place and you fit the lowest requirements, but that's all."
The fire stopped in front of him as they floated in unison. "Do you know who I am?Do you know what we can do, or do you just use me for energy to add to yours? Do you even know where I came from?��
He felt sadness and disappoint come from the fire. "Yes, I know you are different to fire energy, and I know the energy in my body has changed due to you." He shook his head sadly. "However, you're right we haven't spent enough time together, and have been just using each other."
He thought for a moment and looked at the fire. "Is the reason I have no control is that you're fighting against me? He shook his head. "No, that isn't it, because when there is danger, you're always there… Is it possible you have always been in me?"
The fire floated a short distance away from him. "No, we haven't met before. That day in the snow was our first time joining together. You are right about not properly speaking to each other."
He looked at the fire in confusion. "The monster outside also said we have to bond or fight it out." He slumped his shoulders and shook his head. "Every time I ask him, he answers with a question, and if he does answer it is in strange riddles." He looked up at the fire. "How can I fight or bond with fire?"
The fire looked him and spoke with an annoyed voice, "we joined out of survival. There were no lessons for either of us, so we're both walking in the dark." He watched the fire flare. "For bonding or fighting, it isn't the time as we both have to walk down this path as young ones."
He sighed and glanced as the fire moved in front of him and watched in silence as a slender hand appeared out of the fire and touched his chest. "They use fire energy that their body gathers, our energy comes from around us and enters our body through the heart." He looked as the hand in the fire slid down to a point above his stomach. "The energy we use, gathers here. This is where we're now."
He looked around in the darkness. "There is nothing here, just you and me." The hand entered back in the fire. "Yes. It's empty because we can't absorb the energy outside because the path is blocked in our body. That is why you don't have control."
He looked over his body in alarm. "What do you mean, I don't see any injuries or damage at all."
"Euuughhhhh." He looked at the fire in annoyance. "What was that for?"
The fire flickered, "you're a baby, you know nothing about this and about me. Watch and learn" The fire flickered again and in the darkness a body formed. He sat as the fire floated around the body. "This here is your body. On the outside it looks healthy, on the inside the muscles and blood everything looks healthy." The image of the body changed as if it lost its skin and thousands of tiny lights started shining.He looked on in amazement. "What are all those lights? Some of them are very bright, but others are dim and fading away especially around the heart."
"Those dim lights are the blockages. Remember I told you that energy enters through the heart and then into your body?" He nodded in silence.
"Since it is blocked, there is no energy entering your heart, and you can only absorb a tiny bit when it is very close to you. Just like in the hot rocks room with the energy in there you had to keep moving because you could only absorb it through your skin."
He looked down at his body sadly. "How do we unblock those lights?" The image of the body faded. "That is something I don't know…" The fire responded sadly.
He looked at the fire sadly. "I'm sorry, but what is your name?"The fire turned in the empty space.
"My name is bzzzzzzzz."
He looked at the fire confused. "It seems due to those points around your heart being blocked you can't hear my name. That means our paths were never meant to cross and only death awaits."
They both floated in silence both feeling heavy and depressed. "You should return, it seems our time is already up. It was nice to know you even though it was a short time."
He nodded and opened his eyes breathing heavily. "Where am I?" He stood up and looked around. "Is this the ice chasm?" He touched a wall of ice and looked at his body as it started to turn blue from the cold.
"I failed the FireStrike unit. Am I that dangerous because my heart is blocked?" He shook his head. "I can't just quit because my heart is blocked…"
He stood up and looked around for an escape route. "I don't have any energy left to circulate in my body. What about my fire batteries? Maybe they can help." He checked the pouch on his waist and cursed. "The old man took them..." He punched a wall of ice in frustration and cursed again in pain as he felt his fingers break.
"Hey, you're going about this all wrong."
He watched in frustration as a figure walked into view. "You're from the trial, who are you?" He nursed his hand and watched the dark-haired man with clear blue eyes lean against the ice wall.
"You're doing this all wrong, you may have ability, and the spark chose you, but it seems you still don't know what is going on. Could it be your blocked?" He sighed as the strange man grabbed his hand with the broken fingers. A sudden flash of white and cold surged through his body, then the pain faded. He looked at his hand, and then at the stranger.
"How did you do that? Who are you?"
"Hahahaha" He watched the stranger sit on a rock covered in ice.
"My name is Krisen, I was like you, but my path is different than yours."
Krisen leaned forward and raised his eyes and head upwards. "The spark, must have showed you what the problem is." He nodded at Krisen. "My lights around my heart are blocked, and there is no way to unblock them…"
He watched Krisen smile and walked towards him. "To unblock the channels to allow you to absorb and control the energy around you… That is a difficult problem, but not one that is impossible."
Krisen came closer, "I can show you, but the condition is that in the future when you seek me out, before anything happens, you must listen to what I'll say then."
He looked confused at Krisen. "I only just know your name and that is all I know…" Krisen raised a finger to quiet him. "Do you agree to the terms or not?" He looked at Krisen and frowned. "I have no other choice, do I?'' He shook Krisen's outstretched hand.
"Sit here, let me see you properly."
He sat on the rock and watched as Krisen walked around him. "Do you know how it feels for when she feeds and how the energy is rotated and moved in your body" His head nodded slowly. "Yes, there was a time I touched someone, and the fire took all their energy. I remember how it moved through my body."
He saw Krisen shake his head. "No, that wasn't the spark.That was you."
He looked up, "I was the one who did that?" Krisen nodded, "yes, that was you, don't blame the spark for things it hasn't done, or you'll feel the spark's wrath."
He watched Krisen sit across from him and stared back at him. "Don't look so serious. I'm going to do something. It is going to be very painful and you could possibly be ripped apart. While I do this, it is very important that you do exactly what I say."
He nodded silently. "I want to be the best Firewarrior there ever was… So, I'll do as you say."
"First close your eyes and relax your body."
He nodded and closed his eyes. "I'm ready."
Krisen's voice filled his ears and mind. "I want you to picture a closed mouth over your heart. Then I want you to try and sense the energy that comes from the spark and try and find it around you."
He started to picture in his mind a mouth over his heart.
"Arrrrrrrrrrrggghhhhh!" He almost bent over in pain. "Focus on the image of the mouth over his heart. Try and ignore the pain, I have not even started on the channels yet…"
"I understand." His jaw clenched and he could feel his teeth starting to crack. "It burnsssss..." He could feel his consciousness slipping away from him. "Focus... Don't pass out yet."
He felt the sweat from his forehead freezing over. "I'm starting to feel numb. I need to make it through."
"Aaaaarrghhhhhh." He bit his tongue with his broken teeth as an intense pain rocked through his body at his heart. "Now I want you to create an image of a large road that starts at your heart and then goes to where the spark is."
He nodded as pain went through his body. "My body is going numb, must… find energy somewhere…" He bit on his tongue again and felt blood leak out from the corners of his mouth. His blood slowly froze.
"Cold… Can't stop shaking… Can't feel pain… Feel sleepy…"
"Good, now the channels are unblocked, you need to find the same energy that the spark has, or you'll freeze and die…"
He opened his eyes and shivered. He turned and looked at Krisen who was looking pale and tired sitting staring at him."You'd better hurry and find it or you'll end up being frozen here in this space. Maybe you'll last a few more minutes before your body shuts down."
He felt his body become sluggish and his eyes became heavy."I can do it… I must do it… I can do it…" He fell into the snow with his eyes closing. "What's that?" He forced his eyes open and stared at a spot above him.
"There, it's there. I found it. Mouth feed on it…"
He felt something above his heart move and a warmth starting to fill his body. He looked at Krisen.
"Remember our deal." Krisen's words thundered through the ice as it started to crack and fall around him.
"Light, I see light, I have made it out." He stood up and saw the old man staring at him in silence.
He smiled. "Her name… I know it… It's... Salina."
He fell into the snow in front of the old man darkness taking over…