" Fire as you are. Fire you will be. But remember you can't be always the kind of flame that destroys or else you'll be in forever seclusion," Rysher said to Akash.
Akash didn't reply. Still wondering who was this stranger in front of her giving a lecture.
" You don't want this tower...do you?" he asked.
Akash narrowed her eyes. She frowned, and her grip began to glow.
" Uh..uh.." Rysher smiled looking at her fists.
" If you don't want to be forever locked in this tower then you should learn how to control your temper!" he said.
Akash's facial expression softened then she lowered her fists.
" Who are you?" she asked. Now her tone was soft.
" Will you set me free from here?" Akash asked.
Rysher shook his head. He didn't answer her questions too.
" From now on, I will visit you here, and teach you before you became a threat to humanity. If you fail to tame your fire, then I will lock you in a more fortified place than this," he said instead.
Hearing that, Akash was left astounded. She sits down as her knees had weaken in the disappointment of what she expected as salvation would turn out a nightmare.
Days after, Rysher visited her as he said. He would always take him out of the tower and taught her in a far-open field. They would engage in combat, or sometimes he would place her in a situation where her emotions are being challenged. He would trigger her vulnerabilities or sometimes her empathy. She wants to learn so she keeps in mind all his advice, until one day he placed him in a situation she never had tried confronted her whole life - the very sight of death.
She doesn't want even to look at it, nor even in her memory.
That smell of explosion, one night in Ofedin was engraved in her mind. And the sight of her father being tortured by blades, and the devious growled of their intruders, were the scenarios she didn't want to recall in her thoughts. Whenever those popped out in her memories, she can't help herself but explode in mixed emotions she couldn't even identify. All she was aware of then is...she is angry.
Yeah, hatred perhaps this is the thing that fuels her flame.
Rysher compassed his hands and she fell into a vision or perhaps transported to another time. She's not sure. All she was aware of then was the loud pounding of her heart as she was again witnessing the same scenario that she was avoiding.
Her mind knows this isn't real.
That was unfolding before she was already a time in the past, but her senses say the other thing. Akash's eyes widened as tears fell from them.
She was shaking. Yet, in the other part of her mind, she was telling herself to just calm down.
She growled.
Until, gradually, her growl became a scream.
And as her fiery red eyes manifested in her sight, the scream then turned into a howl.
Then after a few seconds of silence, she finally flamed on.
She exploded.
Seeing herself in that situation, the more she panicked, but before she completely loses herself, she felt a force sweeping her back to the field where she was a while ago.
" You have a problem with generating fire!"
Rysher blurted out.
" What?"
Rysher sighed.
" The problem is you're not connecting to your element! Instead, you're making your emotions a passage of your elemental force!" he said.
His tone sounds like lecturing. It's obvious on his face that he's slightly irritated.
Akash frowned in response.
" Do you even realize what you did to me a while ago?" she replied.
Now, she sounds whining.
Rysher also flared up.
" That..." he pointed at her.
" That's basically the problem with you! That attitude of yours! If you can't control your temper then you won't control this fire...ever!" he shouted.
Silence.
Akash couldn't say a word too.
Rysher was right. She's been waiting for a mentor anyway, and she doesn't want to end up being locked forever, so she needs to do this right.
" Okay... sorry..can we do that..again," Akash muttered.
Now, she sounds like she had cooled down.
Rysher took a deep breath.
" We can't always throw fury to those that challenge our safety. I understand where you're coming from," Rysher said to her.
He was looking straight into her eyes. His voice sounded like he was a real concern. And for the first time in her life, she had heard such a speech as this. She is always feared. She is always shunned. None had dared climb the fire that surrounds her. None dared to rescue her, only this...what is he again? Akash asked in her thoughts.
Perhaps he's the god I was waiting for. The kind of rescue I had always prayed for every time I directed my gaze in that night sky. She thinks.
She lowered her gaze, refusing to meet his eyes, scared that he would see her soul, scared that he would find out, that the shaman wolf whom everyone was afraid of is actually scared of herself too.
" Look at me...bearer of my fire," Rysher said to her.
" The moon wouldn't have chosen you that time of your birth if you can't take care of this element...okay?" he said.
His tone was reassuring.
Akash nodded. She's teary-eyed.
" Let's do this again...one more time, okay?"
She nodded.
" Remember you are the fire that protects, not the one that consumes, okay? And the key to that is...you connect yourself to the fire...yourself..okay? yourself..not your emotions," Rysher was again coaching her as she again tried to tame the element.
It took months for her to master the element. She learned with him in secret until she finally have the courage to request her freedom. The elder of their pack was hesitant, yet with his father's help, she again was taken out from that fire-proof tower. But the condition is, that she needs to prove she's safe to co habitate with her pack.
Her heart raced with the drum rolls, as she stands facing their pack leader and the elders, while the other werewolves of her pack were surrounding her. They were there to witness, and to assess if she indeed can now control her element.
Akash took a deep breath before she began to move her hands.
She closed her eyes trying to focus on things that could calm her fears, recalling Rysher's words in her thoughts.
"It is crucial to exercise restraint, control, discipline, and planning. Using this element inadvertently, emotionally, impulsively, or recklessly can result in disaster. Remember that. Distance, and mass precision, depends on your knowledge of the element, and your own strength. Remember the key,"
And as she was about to begin, a force suddenly interrupted their midst.
And they were all startled to see who had arrived. It was the Lycan God. Of course, the entire Scandinavia knows who he is. The werewolves of Ofedin has got a common question in their mind. What is the Lycan doing in their valley? Until their Alpha had finally articulated their thoughts. And they were even more shocked when they heard him reply that he was there to witness Akash's initiation.
When Akash, sees Rysher's presence has become tenser. Her heart raced more as she watched him proceeding to the seat that was offered to him. Though he had given her a reassuring smile, still it didn't calm her.
She again exhaled.
You can do this...Akash! She told herself.
And she began.
Then in a moment, fire comes out of her grip like a golden ball. It doesn't look threatening, yet magnificently igniting the icy valley, outshining anything that glitters around.
Akash smiled as she felt a sense of control in this element she was scared at first.
Next, the elder shaman rose from his seat, and stomp the ground with his staff. A great dark force rushed towards Akash, engulfing her.
Her eyes widened, yet she reminded herself to relax.
The eldest shaman rushed towards her father, and grabbed his neck, making him hostage. The eldest shaman looked at Akash as if challenging her, waiting for her reaction, waiting for her to flame up in anger.
Negative emotions began to reflect on her face.
Her fiery red eyes showed up, as she bare her fangs.
Rysher, who was quietly watching her, darted a look at her as if he was reminding her to restraint.
She was breathing rapidly, struggling hard not to lose her temper.
"Not all threats should be responded to with fury... not all that is scared trembles, sometimes they are angry,"
Rysher's words echoed in her mind as she tried to draw out courage within her. She tried to focus her thoughts on the reasons why she wanna go out of that tower.
Yeah, maybe I was just afraid....you have to overcome this Akash. She told herself.
No, I can't forever be hidden in there, or else I cannot protect my father, these people, and this home of ours. Akash reminded herself.
She swayed her hand and fire began to climb up on her until it finally surrounded her. She was able to do that technique without hurting anyone or destroying anything.
The eldest shaman decided to let go of her father when he was finally certain that Akash can really control her element.
" Okay...you passed," he muttered.
And formally announces to the pack the granting of her freedom however there are some restrictions. The eldest shaman made an appeal that she could only go out of the valley whenever its winter.
For Akash, that was just fine. That's better than being locked in the tower. But for Rysher it's not. He interrupted the elder's conversation.
" She had proven her ability...isn't it enough to trust her?" said Rysher.
" And isn't it the right time now, she'll be taught about shamanism? She's was marked for that isn't she?" he added.
His tone sounds inviting to an argument.
" But..."
" That's in my point of view," Rysher insisted.
" Now, if you are worried she's gonna be a disaster, then I'll be handling her myself, and make sure she will be not!" he added.
The entire pack fell silent.
The Lycan god was right. And his offer was enticing.