Emmia exhaled shakily. Despite her best efforts, she had somehow lasted a shorter amount of time than last time.
'What am I doing wrong?' Emmia tried to think of what she had done wrong.
'...'
'...'
'Arghh, I can't think of anything,' Emmia was frustrated at her brain for drawing a blank.
'How did Ica last so long? I mean he is tougher than me...' Emmia tried to think of what her brother might've done to last so long.
'I'm not as skilled as him in this,' Emmia berated herself. Icarth had always been better than her in these sorts of things. Fights, and skills that are related to fighting.
Emmia felt her breathing accelerate as a pressure to do better descended on her.
'What do I need to do? What do I need to know?' Emmia questioned herself furiously, trying her best to move her brain to think of a solution.
"Alright, I'll be starting now, get ready," Melvin called out to the class as he waved his hand once more.
Emmia panicked as she felt the temperature around her rising.
'I'm not ready! I don't even know what to do! Maybe just bear the pain and then-' Emmia's rushed thoughts were cut off as the pain descended onto her.
Gritting her teeth, Emmia resisted the urge to shout. The pain had been abrupt and hadn't given her any time to prepare herself like the other times.
Sweat dripped from her brow as she felt the pain hammer itself into her body.
'Hold on....hold on...no..no nonono!'
Emmia felt her will slip away and then suddenly the burden eased itself from her.
Emmia opened her previously shut eyes and looked towards her teacher who had released her from the session.
Melvin held her eyes for a moment before shifting his attention elsewhere. Taking a glance around, it was obvious to Emmia that she was the first one to tap out.
Despite the heat, Emmia felt her eyes sting as the sudden urge to cry presented its ugly face.
'Don't cry,' Emmia repeated the phrase as she pulled her knees to her body and curled into a sitting ball.
*Inhale* *Exhale* *I-Inhale* *Exhale* ...
Emmia tried to get her shaky breaths under control as she wallowed in a pit of misery.
'No.'
'I need to see. Observe and notice what I've done wrong. Then fix my mistakes.' Emmia steeled her mind as she started to observe the person that she was most familiar.
Watching Icarth, Emmia couldn't see anything yet she kept observing, his breathing, his posture, how long he held his breath, and other minute details.
'Nothing, nothing, nothing. I can't see anything of use,' Emmia noted to herself with a calmness that was unlike her previous panic attacks.
'It must be something that he is doing. I can't see it for some reason...Universal Energy. I can't see universal energy hence I can't see what he's doing.' Emmia felt her brain finally start to work, to think, and to search for a reason.
'Then why can't I hold myself to bear the heat for as long as the others?'
'Every time I try, it's painful. Maybe that's why....my body has a lot of nerves...more pain receptors, hence the more pain is transmitted.'
'Maybe that's why the others are lasting longer,' Emmia noted as Vollax dropped out next.
'How does Mr. Melvin decide who is at their limit in the first place?' Emmia had a stray thought.
'Not important now,' Emmia tucked away the thought and re-focussed on the matter at hand.
'I can't see universal energy right now, and because of that I can't copy Ica.'
'Then I just need to focus on copying his posture and breathing...maybe that can help.' Emmia decided finally.
She continued to note down her twin's actions as he continued to cleanse his body.
Time passed quickly as Melvin ended the second session.
Just as the students were about to relax that their class was over, Melvin decided to destroy their hopes and dreams.
"Alright, since the progress of the class is exceeding my expectations, I'll be starting again. From now on, we will have three attempts regularly," Melvin said with a hint of excitement in his voice.
Upon his words, a dreadful silence descended on the class.
"Mother******," Vollax cursed softly.
"Hahahaha," Ragnar laughed boisterously. "Give me four sessions!" He shouted at Melvin.
Melvin just smiled at Ragnar's enthusiasm and kept silent.
The rest of the class followed a slow descent into madness as most of them refused to accept their fate.
The few that did, prepared themselves mentally as they would be needing it. All of them were already exhausted from just two sessions, they would need all the mental fortitude that they could muster if they wanted to get the most out of the third session.
'Another chance,' Emmia clenched her fist. She had already imprinted the process that Icarth had followed into her brain, now it was just a matter of whether she could do it.
'Can I actually do it?' A wave of self-doubt swept through Emmia.
She had already failed twice and she couldn't even see Universal energy yet. What was to say she would do any better this attempt?
'I-' Emmia finally caught sight of something from the corner of her eye.
Tilting her head to get a better view, Emmia found Luna waving her two hands curled up into a thumbs-up gesture.
'Good Luck!' Luna sent the message across the best she could, seeing that Emmia had seen her message, Luna dropped her arms heavily.
'Thank god she looked over-' Luna's thoughts froze as her mind short-circuited the next second.
Emmia was still curled up with her knees tucked into her chest. Her face tilted towards Luna, with her hair falling to her shoulder, curling up at the ends. Her ruby-red eyes shined like miniature stars and Emmia started to laugh.
Luna watched entranced, time seemed to distort around her.
Finally, Emmia pulled herself together and gave Luna a toothy smile with a thumbs-up of her own.
Luna managed to nod and then she turned away with a mixture of embarrassment and something else roiling inside her.
Emmia chuckled once more as the memory of Luna waving her hands like a maniac resurfaced once more in her head.
'Alright, I can do this.' Emmia focussed her mind and got into the right posture.
'I just need to follow the steps,' Emmia exhaled to settle her nerves one last time.
"I'm starting now. Get ready," Melvin informed his class.
With a flick of his hand, the process began again.
Emmia felt the temperature around her rise once more as she started to follow the steps that Iarth had been following.
'Breathe...'
'Hold.....'
'Exhale...'
'I just need to repeat while I sit like this,' Emmia sat in a cross-legged position as she finally started to feel the pain.
'It hurts,' Emmia thought as the pain started to resonate inside her as she inhaled the hot air.
'..wait....it isn't as bad as before...' Emmia concluded after a few moments. While it was painful to take each breath, it clearly wasn't as bad as before.
'Did Mr. Melvin reduce the concentration around me?' Emmia thought doubtfully as that was the only explanation for this. She couldn't just suddenly increase her pain tolerance after all.
With each breath, Emmia started to feel hotter on the inside. While the pain was everpresent, Emmia could numb the feeling of the pain to some extent.
'Breathe...'
'Hold....'
'Exhale...'
Focussing her mind only on these three commands, Emmia forced her mind to disregard the signals of pain that were being transmitted all over her body.
'Breathe...'
'Hold....'
"Arghh," Emmia suddenly grunted as a spike of pain pierced her eyes. It was as if her eyes had caught fire and were hell-bent on sending Emmia unconscious.
'..br..eathe..'
'..hold...'
'....exhale...'
Emmia continued to singularly focus on the set of instructions she had prepared beforehand.
The pain in her eyes continued to increase until Emmia was subconsciously sure that she was bleeding from her eyes.
Melvin gazed at Emmia's situation with a hint of concern.
'She did better than last time, but I think that's her limit,' Melvin sighed as he moved to disperse the energy around Emmia.
But then he stopped midway through the action. His instincts, honed over the years told him that it would be a mistake to stop Emmia's refinement right now. That she was on the verge of breaking through some barrier and that the change wouldn't arise so easily the next time.
Melvin trusted his instincts, they had served him well over the years.
'Looks like I'll have to give an explanation to the nurse,' Melvin thought to himself after seeing Emmia's skin start to turn red from the prolonged exposure to the heat.
Emmia's mind was just blank at this point except for the continuous pulses of pain that were transmitted, especially from her eyes.
Emmia held her posture and breathing through just following the set of instructions that she had set for herself.
Just when it seemed like Emmia was going to slip into a critical condition, her eyes finally started to change. The burning pain started to lessen as her eyes underwent a physical change.
Her original ruby red eyes had turned entirely red, no pupil or iris, everything had disappeared and had turned red. It was as if two gemstones were cut out and had replaced her original eyes.
Unconsciously Emmia opened her eyes, and the world around her lay itself bare to her gaze.