The Land Set Aflame

Chapter 53: The Whiteflame

"I don't think I get to choose," Kithana said, "Not always. I don't burn Leofric anymore, and mostly I can stop it. But sometimes... well, it's just the nature of fire. Fire burns things."

"Not always," Alloria Rosa said. She raised a hand in an elegant gesture, and it suddenly burst into flames.

Well, it looked like a flame. But, it was white. Flickering, waving white light danced around the nymph queen's hand, without burning her.

"You can do pyrurgy too?" Kithana asked.

"Well, sort of," Alloria Rosa said, "You know that fire is a material phenomenon, but we're not material beings. For us, the rules of the Material World are... rather looser than they are for humans and other material beings. To them, mana is a wondrous thing that has a certain nature, be it fire or shadow or fairy or radiance. For us... mana is a bit more fluid."

Alloria Rosa brandished the whiteflame about for a moment. "Is this fire?" she asked, "Or, is it simply mana that I've made to look like fire?" She knelt down and stretched her hand out, touching the flowers that had just grown from the ashes of Kithana's last burn.

The flowers didn't burn.

Alloria Rosa gave Kithana a look. It was sort of an expectant look, like she thought Kithana should understand what was happening.

But, Kithana didn't understand.

"So, your whiteflame doesn't burn flowers?" she asked.

Alloria Rosa smiled and stood up. "It's mana, dear," she said, "It's not necessarily fire. Well, it is. But it isn't. The trick is learning how to do it. Here—" She held out her whiteflame towards Kithana. "Touch it."

Kithana obediently raised a hand to touch it. There was a sudden discomfort and pain! It felt like... actually, she didn't know what it felt like. She'd never experienced that sensation before. It felt like snow or ice, very painfully cold, but... not actually cold. She pulled her flames back and melted into defensive shapelessness.

"Sorry," Alloria Rosa said, extinguishing her whiteflame, "I hope it didn't hurt too much. You see, it's not really fire, so it doesn't burn quite like fire. In fact, it burns fire elementals far more than it would burn anything else."

"Why would you do that?" Kithana asked.

"Well, it wasn't necesssarily intentional," she explained, "But when the wildfires started spreading, I discovered this whiteflame, and how it actually burns spirits made of fire. I bet that's something that would be quite useful to you."

"Yes!" Kithana said, "Leofric would like to know how to do that. He's very interested in pyrurgy! And, if I have to help him fight fire spirits or shadowflames... maybe your whiteflame is the key?"

"Perhaps," Alloria Rosa agreed, "But I can't just... give it to you. You'll have to learn how to produce this kind of flame yourself."

"Can you teach me?" Kithana asked, "Or, teach us?"

Alloria Rosa laughed. This one was a bit of an unstable laugh... she was uncomfortable or unsure. "I'm a fairy," she said apologetically, "I'm afraid that magic comes to me rather naturally, and not through study. I'm not exactly sure how to teach it."

"Well, I'm a spirit too," Kithana said, "My magic is just natural to me. Maybe there's a way you could... transfer it? Or maybe, I could just... try it?"

She took a second to think about it. If whiteflame could burn a fire elemental, it must be incredibly hot! So, maybe she just needed to focus on making herself hotter.

She tried. There's a certain way to focus and condense her heat, to force a lot of energy into a small space. It was uncomfortable, but she'd done it before. She could—

Suddenly, there was a shimmering field of magic around her. She looked up in surprise, and saw Alloria Rosa smiling at her. It was a very particular smile.

"Easy, Kithana!" the nymph queen chided softly, "I don't think that's how it works. You're liable to burn the bluebells again."

Kithana stopped condensing her heat and made a frowning expression. "Well, then how do I do it?" she asked.

"I don't know," Alloria Rosa said, "To me, it's simply a matter of seeing the mana in front of me, and visualizing what I want it to do. Perhaps I could share my experience of it with you."

"Okay?" Kithana said carefully.

Alloria Rosa reached out to touch Kithana's head. Kithana shied back reflexively, not wanting to burn the nymph queen. But, Alloria Rosa simply smiled patiently and extended her hand further, touching Kithana's forehead.

She didn't get burned.

And suddenly, there was a strange sensation in Kithana's head. Her mind seemed to suddenly understand something, to feel an impression... she suddenly had an idea of what whiteflame was, and she could visualize it in her mind.

She held out her hand, mimicking that same, elegant gesture Alloria Rosa had used, and imagined her hand haloed in whiteflame.

One little droplet of flame turned bright white as it rose and wobbled away from Kithana's hand. But the remainder of Kithana's flames remained orange.

She looked up at Alloria Rosa in confusion. "I tried," she said, "It's hard."

Alloria Rosa smiled. This was that kind, patient smile again. "It will take some practice," she said, "Just keep working at it. I'm sure you'll figure it out, now that I've helped you visualize your goal."

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Thanks for continuing to read The Land Set Aflame! This is my first experimental chapter. I wasn't planning on this chapter existing, and I just cobbled it together a couple days ago. I haven't even really proofread it, so it feels really rough to me, and I'm not happy with it yet. Maybe I'll rewrite it at some point and upload a better version. But for now, this is what you get.