The Dragon's Gift

Chapter 10

I wake up to the now familiar horn. I eat my breakfast, which happens to be oatmeal and an orange today, and continue on to train. Kai and I continue to spar. We end up tying again. Afterwards, we go to training with my mother. "Phoenix, yesterday you manipulated Solferin's fire. Today, I want you to create it. Kai, you will be learning to control the air around you. Ok?" she says.
"Ok. Where do we start?" We ask.
"Focus. The energy you felt when manipulating the fire, focus on that. Then expel it at the target. Don't worry about looking stupid, everyone will be doing it."
I try to find that boiling sensation that I felt yesterday. It comes and goes, never strong enough to do anything with it. Suddenly, I feel the rising, bubbling feeling that I recognize. Almost naturally, I fling my arms at the painted target. A puff of smoke and a small ember is all that happens.
"Good Phoenix. Now try again, just keep your focus on that feeling and it won't fade into an ember." Once again, I keep trying to get that energy. This time I try to stay focused on the energy. It comes much sooner. Instead of throwing it at the target, I try to direct it carefully. I point my hand at the target. It flows out naturally. A burst of flames lick the target and it catches fire. I stare in awe at my hands. Still not believing that I just did that.
"Great! That was exactly what should happen to every fire wielders target," says my mom. I look to see how Kai is doing, only to see him flying around like a bird. I'm shocked. I focus on my abilities once more. I shoot flames at the target time after time. Eventually, after long, tedious hours, it becomes second-nature. I can create fire immediately. I can control it. I practice well into the night. Before I realize it, it's midnight. I finally walk into the sleeping quarters to find Kai, sitting straight up and awake.
"What are you doing awake?" I whisper.
"Counting sheep. No I'm just thinking. I still can't believe that I can do so much with air. I wonder what we'll do tomorrow," he says.
"I don't know but I can shoot fire! From my hands!" I whisper.
"I know! It's so cool. Those elves won't see it coming. I'm gonna levitate them and when I learn space, I'm gonna teleport them to another planet," he says excitedly.
"Whoa Avatar, let's not get ahead of ourselves," I say. He tries not to crack a smile but looks so funny while doing it I have to put my fist in my own mouth so as not to wake the others.
"And here I thought I was the funny one," he says after calming down. Eventually I talk myself to sleep. I wake up the next morning exhausted. To my surprise, I got extremely lucky. Today, we had pancakes and hot coffee for breakfast. I see my mom and she winks at me. Immediately I know where the coffee and pancakes came from. I sit down next to Kai and talk some. We walk off to train once we finish. Kai and I are about to spar when Samson walks up. You two will be fighting other people today. As amazing as your fights are, both of you aren't learning anything. Kai, you will duel Alex. Phoenix, you will fight Raphael." At that, he walks off.
"Ok. You better kick Alex's city butt, in your words," I say.
"Oh don't worry. I really wish I could accidentally forget the guards," he says.
"If only." I find Raphael and apparently Samson told him as well because he seems to already know why I'm looking for him. He doesn't look to be older than sixteen because his arms are so scrawny. He's about my height and a toothpick.
"Hello, I'm Phoenix."
"I'm Raphael. Let's get started, shall we?"
"Why not?" I say.
I draw my glaive. He draws his falchion. I move first. I shove the blade into his stomach. He doubles over. I hit him in the side with the pole hoping to knock him down and end this quickly. I'm about to swing again when he leaps up and immediately swinging ferociously. I block each one, but barely. I counter his strike with a spin and I hit him in the head with the other end. He swings again and this time with surprising strength. I catch his sword with the blade. Unable to get my weapon free without him having the perfect opening, I push him back. I slam a well placed kick into his ribs and the force sends him sprawling to the ground. I pull his sword from my glaive and drop it on the ground. I move to put my weapon to his neck but he rolls out of the way and dives for his sword. How did I let that happen? I think to myself. I continue to fight. I swing the glaive and it connects with his head. Dazed, he swings too slowly and I strike his thumb. He drops the sword and I position the blade of my glaive just beneath his ribcage. He raises his hands. I lower my weapon. The horn sounds again. I walk off to element training next. I get there to see Marissa fling a tentacle made of water at a blonde guy hovering in the air. I watch a while longer to see Marissa use that tentacle to pull him out of the sky. I watch in awe. He spins and a gust of air knocks Marissa into the air where she backflips back to the ground. Gymnastics did help her. I'm startled by someone snapping their fingers in my ear. I turn to see Kai standing behind me. Are you gonna train or just watch your girlfriend over there?" he asks.
"Very funny," I say sarcastically. I walk down to figure out what I'm to be doing. The rest of the class shows up soon. My mom gets up and begins speaking.
"Class, yesterday, you practiced creating and using your element. Today, you will be learning to fight with it. I will assign partners. You will not fight an opposite element. For example, fire wielders will not fight water wielders. Air will not fight ground. Light will not fight dark. So on and so forth. I will now assign fighting partners. Kai and Phoenix, Alex and Raphael, Sam and Veronica..." I daydream off. Then, a sudden gust of air knocks me off my feet.
"Hey! I wasn't ready Kai!"
"Oh boohoo." My mom walks over and tells us to put on elemental vests. They supposedly absorb the energy from a wielded attack and turn it into the same physical sensation yet render the attack harmless. Strange. I get Kai back after he puts his on. I quickly slip my on. I fling a whip of fire at him. The orange flames lick the best and leave an orange glow behind. The glow eventually fades.
"Ow! That was hot!" he shouts.
"Oh boohoo," I playfully mock. He spins and looses another gust of air. I jump out of the way and shoot a fireball at him. He lets loose a thin wave of wind that makes the air around it shimmer with a green light. It cuts through the fireball effortlessly and is still headed right at me. I duck as it just barely passes over my head. I loose a flame jet of orange fire. This time, it hits him. He spins and shoots another blast of wind at me. I meet it with a giant barrage of fire. For a second, I think it will work. Yet, it only slows, it doesn't stop. It hits me right in the gut. I fall to the ground. Almost immediately, Kai is standing over me with his hand raised to shoot more wind. Refusing to accept defeat, I kick his hand and roll to unleash for fire. It catches him off guard and he lazily aims a gust of wind at me. I move out of the way easily. I spin and kick him right in the side. He stumbles before sending more wind my way. It hits me square in the chest. I step back. I throw more flame at him. He takes some and dodges others. Still on the offensive, I fling a fire whip at him, trying to prevent him from having any time to counter. It doesn't work. He simply pushes air through it and cuts it. He forces a great wind at me. The battle goes on for what seems like forever. Finally, the horn sounds and we head off to sleep.
"Will we ever not tie? I mean, we tie at fighting, we tie at wielding. I've got to better at something," he says.
"Face it Kai, you've met your match," I tease. "We're equal in all aspects. It is weird."