White Fire

Chapter Twenty: Teach Me

I blushed again. "No...I didn't say that. You're putting words in my mouth." His laughter filled the room and it irritated me. "For the record, it was I who kissed you. Anyway, you're the one who keeps bringing it up."

"You're right, I do keep bringing it up," he tried to straighten his face, but it was clear that he was still very entertained. Was I that pitiful? Did he think that I was drooling over him like his brothel of women? I felt angry and wanted to pick at him the way he had picked on me.

"You want to distract me from seeing your powers," I began. "What's the matter, Prince Sebastian? All bark and no bite? Why, I do remember the King saying that."

That last statement did the trick. Something in him snapped, and he fumed as he walked away from me.

"Have you forgotten that I healed you?" He stopped in the center of the room and turned toward me. His eyes were haunting, like how they had been the first day I met him. He lifted the hood to his jacket, completely shielding his face from me. "You want to see something powerful? I'll show you my power."

He held both of his hands away from his side, and ice rose from the snowy floor with sharp, pointed ends, trapping me where I stood. That one act put Titus's powers (during the competition) to shame. I could do nothing else but stand there and watch him in awe.

His first blast slammed into the snow-covered wall with a loud crack. The snow was gone in an instant. The second blast slammed into the barricade surrounding me, causing the ice to instantly evaporate. I was free again, but not for long.

The Prince snapped his finger and a white flame appeared a few feet away from where I stood. It grew into a large circle that enclosed me, and its freezing air was almost unbearable. I was so cold.

"If you were a Firelander, you'd already be frozen." The Prince told me. "Imagine if I surrounded ten dragons with one ring of white fire, they'd die in minutes. Their fire wouldn't even affect the temperature."

Prince Sebastian rotated his palms so that they were parallel with the ground and the snow began to turn and morph. As I looked around the room, every single inch of snow left was freezing into a thick sheet of ice.

Suddenly, the white fire surrounding me flowed back toward Sebastian and swirled around his arms, creating a majestic whirlpool of blueish-white energy. I'd never seen white fire look more than white fire. It was as if Prince Sebastian had created his own force.

He then inhaled deeply. With a raging scream, his arms slashed the air as he sent blasts of white fire around the room.

Every inch of ice evaporated, leaving nothing in his training room but the wooden floor and protected glass walls.

He drew his energy back inside of him and then removed his hood.

I should've been even more afraid of him, knowing how powerful he was, but I only had two words on my mind.

"Teach me."

He smiled. "That's exactly what I was trying to do before you interrupted me." He began walking toward me. "As I was saying before, the only way to increase your strength is to use it until you loose it. I've come up with a good idea. I'm going to try to draw your powers out of you while you try to hold on to them for as long as you can. Understood?"

"You can draw my power out of me?" I asked in awe.

"Something of that sort. I've mastered my powers and so there isn't really much I can't do. Now, we'll sit across from each other on the floor and then we'll begin."

We both sat facing each other with our knees touching. He grabbed my hands and put them in his. I noticed how his large hands easily swallowed mine. I also noticed how soft they were. I would've thought them to be much harder.

"I want you to create a fire ball. Once you have it, hold on to it for as long as you possibly can." I looked into his eyes and saw shining specs of silver swimming around his blue oceans. When those specs of silver caught the light, they shined like a million diamonds. He was truly mesmerizing. No he's not, I told myself. He's more like a beast.

"Why do I have to hold on to it?" I asked.

"Because, I'm going to try to draw your energy out of you. The more you put up a fight, the stronger you'll become. I'll warn you, it won't be fun or easy. In fact, you may hate me more than you already do."

"I'm not sure if that's possible." He smirked at my comment and squeezed my hands.

"Create the fireball and hold onto it for dear life."

I did as he said and watched as my fireball formed inches above my hand. I focused on keeping the shape, not sure how else to maintain it when nothing had happened yet.

And then I felt it.

It was like an ominous force was trying to suck my power right through my hand. I gasped and held onto the fireball, but my energy was draining fast.

I looked into the Prince's eyes, willing him to stop. It hurt to the point where I couldn't even open my mouth to speak. I started to feel as if my spirit was being sucked out of me and it made me lightheaded.

I tried to fight against his pull, but it only got worse. He grew stronger as I became weaker. I couldn't hold on any longer.

"Please stop," I said, but the words didn't quite make it past my mouth.

And then the room faded to black...