the Magic of Secrets

Chapter 4

Aron woke up face down into fluff. Except it was cold. Really cold. Aron jolted up. The fluff was snow. It was snowing. He was in the middle of a pine forest, the full moon illuminating the night, and the mystery girl was lying face-down, the snowflakes dotting her pitch black hair. Wait a minute. Snowing? How could it possibly be snowing? It was summer. Where the hell am I? Aron hugged himself. It really was cold. He pulled his hoodie around him as much as possible and tried to conserve heat. "Well? Aren't you going to get some wood for a fire?" A voice rang out from behind him. Aron whipped around fast as a cheetah to see Mystery Girl standing there, arms crossed, face grim. If looks could kill I would be dead. Strangely, she didn't look cold. She was in her flowing silvery dress, moonlight glinting off of it like a mirror. "Well?" That jolted him back. "W-what?" Aron stuttered. "You're cold, aren't you?" She looked him up and down. "Uh. Yeah. J-just getting some wood n-now." His teeth were chattering as he trudged over to a tree and feebly tried to tear off a branch. "Sheesh, you're pathetic. Allow me. Then questions." She ripped off the branch like it was a leaf. Aron stared. "How...?" He started to say, but the girl cut him off. "I said questions later." 

It felt like hours before the fire was ready to be lit. Aron sat in the snow, clutching himself and shivering so hard he thought he would never be warm again. The girl circled the fire pit, looking thoughtful. "H-how will we l-light the f-f-fire??" He stuttered. The snow was still falling and it was colder than ever, but she still looked perfectly warm. She looked up, and with her eyes full of amusement, she said "No problem." The girl held up her hand. To Aron's surprise, it started to glow. A line of flames shot out and was so bright that he had to clamp his eyes tightly shut to block out the immense light. When it finally died down a fire was burning warmly in the pile of sticks and twigs. Aron's mouth dropped open. The fire melted the snow around the pit and the girl sat, and gestured for Aron to do the same. "Now you may ask me anything. I'll answer the best I can."  She said. His first question was "Where the hell are we?" She regarded him with an unreadable look in her eyes. "Laeitha." 

"Lay-thoo? What's Lay-thoo?"

"Laeitha. Some call it the otherworld, but its true name, and the name its inhabitants call it is Laeitha." She responded. Noticing Aron was still struggling to pronounce it, she added "Say it like 'Lie-ee-tha' but fast and all together." Aron nodded. He still found it difficult to pronounce, as the girl had a strange accent that made the word sound like 'Lie-ee-thay' but he tried. "Question two: How did you do that? With the fire and all..." She looked at him and sighed. "I was afraid you would ask  that. See, in Laeitha, every person has some, well, it's too hard for you to pronounce in our language, but on Earth you call it magic. In fact, even you those on Earth have some magic in them. Earth just does not have a strong enough, let's say aura, for you to control it. And it's pretty weak. But you know people have reported having a 'sixth sense'? That's the magic. It's weak, and not everyone has it. But here everyone does. Everyone has some sort of magic here, and some are more powerful than others." She looked up at him. "Now, you'll be able to use any magic you have. And that may not be a good thing" She finished. "Not be? That's so cool! So I can like shoot fire from my hands and stuff?" He blabbered excitedly. "No. At least, not unless you are amazingly powerful. It's hard to explain." She responded. "You have to learn what you can do first, and that may take years. So don't get too worked up about it." Aron sighed. Damn. She had shot fire from her hands, although considering the look in her eyes she didn't want him to ask. But he still have one last question for today. "This isn't going to be the last question I ask you. But I've been wondering it since I first saw you. Who are you?" The edges of her mouth curled up slightly. "My name is Kalista."