Myra had prepared breakfast when Mella walked back into the kitchen. They ate in silence, and when they were done, Myra finally spoke up.
"Today's going to be really simple, Mella. I don't want you passing out again. I'm just going to teach you protective fire magic and teach you how to protect yourself. I'll probably throw in some history about Rhydona, too."
So I'm stuck here because of that…eh, that's okay. I still get to learn new stuff. But history? Ugh. Maybe a memory will come up about it and we can skip that part.
Myra stood up and Mella followed suit. They walked back through the house and downstairs into a studio like Rei's. The candles were already lit around the room. There was a shelf full of glittering weapons, and training staffs leaning in a pile in the corner.
"Right, let's get started." Myra said. She conjured a fireball into her hand.
"Obviously, this is a fireball. The way it is right now, it will hurt someone if I threw it. But," and with this she put out the fire, "if you’re thinking of healing someone, the magic changes. It's like your heart knows what you want to do, and the magic acts." Myra conjured a new fireball. This one was different. The fire had turned green and it sparkled like a diamond.
"See? You try it now."
Mella tried. A fireball like Myra's appeared on her palm, except hers had turned pink. Mella was about to ask why when she got a sudden headache, sending pain, and images through her mind. A new memory? So this is how it works then…I wish I could live without the side effects…
As soon as it had appeared, the pain was gone. Mella was still standing in front of Myra, but their fireballs had gone out.
"Are you all right, Mella?" Myra asked.
"Yeah. I remember this now. The headache stuff is memories. It's how I remember…I think." It made sense in her head, so Mella was going to go with it.
"Good. That means we can move on to something else."
"Wait, Myra? Why was my fire a different color? And what did you mean about a history lesson?"
"Oh, those…well, your magic color is affected by your aura. Everyone's aura is different. I'm going to assume yours is pink, so some of your magic spells will look pink. Auras might change, because they display who you are as a person. I don't really remember what pink is, but mine is mint green. Green usually means you would rather heal than hurt, and you look to others with kindness and an offer for help whenever needed.
"As for a history lesson…I meant things you need to know about the people here. It isn't really a lesson." Myra thought for a minute. "Since we're on the subject, might as well tell you what you need to know."
Myra sat down on a cushion and motioned for Mella to do the same. Not wanting a repeat of yesterday, Mella sat down carefully to avoid any possible dust clouds.
"Pretty much, what you need to know about Rhydona is about the royal family. Queen Ursula has the blood right to the throne-King Stephen came from some country called Merca, very far from here-and she's a powerful earth elemental. Stephen, on the other hand, is something of an oddity. There's some weird magic in Merca, and it gave him the powers over fire and water."
"He must get sick a lot." Mella said. Then she fell silent. How did I know that? What memory did that come from? She had no clue how she knew this, she just knew that when fire and water mixed, disaster usually followed.
"Now that you mention it, he is ill a lot, but when he's not ill, he's very dangerous.
"His twin children aren't much better. Apparently, the magic from Merca is passed down to the next generation, so they have to ability to control multiple elements as well."
Mella jumped a little when Myra said twin. She remembered Lea's warning: Beware the twins. They aren't what they seem or as friendly as they appear.
"What are their elements?" Mella asked.
"No one really knows for sure. They don't go out much, and only to do things for their parents. Although, I'm almost certain that the girl, Rin, has fire in her veins. Roxas, no one's really sure about. Something is strange about him. He acts like a puppet vainly trying to keep his sister in check."
I bet I know one of his elements. Mella thought to herself. Her newfound memories had told her as much. One of Roxas's elements has to be fire, for the magic he used at that place…
Mella thought back to the memory of the temple, with the twins throwing fire down on her and the woman, Bri. Definitely fire…
Pain flared up on her left shoulder, worse than any headache she had ever had. Mella gasped in pain, her hand flying up to the burn mark, which felt white hot. Myra was still talking, but Mella didn’t hear a word. Make it stop!!!
"The queen's sister…Mella? Mella! What's wrong?" Myra had noticed Mella wasn't paying attention. More like she can't pay attention, what is that?! Her eyes flew to Mella's shoulder, half hidden by her hand. Red light was escaping between Mella's fingers. Myra jumped up and stood behind Mella, gently moving her hand out of the way.
The mark that Mella had pointed out to her yesterday morning was glowing red. Myra had hoped that it could've been something from Mella's past, a training accident, since the mark wasn't a birthmark. It was worse…
Myra acted quickly. She conjured a healing fireball like the one she had shown Mella minutes ago. Myra said a short spell, and the mint green fireball darkened. Myra pushed the fire into Mella's shoulder. Red and green collided, and it started to hiss. Mella yelled in pain.
Mella watched the mark as the glowing red starburst faded, leaving nothing but the memory of a shape on her shoulder.
"Mella, are you alright?"
Mella didn't say a word; she was looking off into space, her eyes glowing.
"Mella?" Myra asked desperately, shaking Mella's shoulder. The glowing faded, and Mella's violet eyes snapped back into focus.
"Wha…what happened? What was that? And don't say it's a birthmark. Birthmarks don’t do that!"
Myra sighed and went back to where she was sitting. "Yes, the birthmark story was a lie. That mark was left from a curse, and a powerful one at that. It should stay dormant for a while, but where did you get it? Do you remember?"
"I…I think so, maybe." Mella told Myra about the first memory, about the attack on a temple, and the twins she had seen.
"That makes sense. The twins led an attack on the Ivadonan elemental temple for something, but that's all we heard about it. How could you possibly have been there?"
"I don’t know…it still doesn't clear much up though, does it?" Mella said quietly.
"No, but if you're up for it, I can teach you how to protect yourself. We'll leave off on the magic for now."
"Okay, sure."
They both got up and Myra started teaching Mella about defending herself with weapons.
"You can't always use magic, it will drain you. So, you need to know this."
Myra showed her different types of weapons and how to use them. Hours later, the two of them were exhausted.
No memories at all had surfaced during all of that, which made Mella a little disappointed. I guess I have to learn this the long way.
"So, Mella, I've figured from all of that, your best type of weapon is the throwing knives. Sounds okay?" Myra asked.
"Yeah, it kinda makes sense too. I don't want to be anywhere near the other person attacking me." Mella said as they cleaned up the training room.
As they were walking back into the kitchen, Mella was trying to puzzle out what she had seen as her shoulder was on fire. Neither of them were hungry, so they went to their own rooms to clean up. Mella sat down on the edge of the bed and recalled the vision as best as she could…
She was standing alone in an unfamiliar place. There was boy standing next to her. It was Roxas, and he was holding a sword wreathed in flame in his left hand. His hair was red again.
"Stay close to me, Mella!" he yelled.
"How sweet! You care for the fragment." A girl's voice said mockingly. They both turned to see Rin and another woman. Rin's hair had turned red too.
Roxas didn't hesitate, and soon the four of them were all fighting, Roxas with his sword, Rin with her twin katana, Mella with her long daggers, and the woman with strange kunai knives…
The vision shattered like it had in the training studio. None of it had made sense. Why would she be with Roxas, of all people? Who was the woman? Questions like this ran endlessly through Mella's mind, the most important one of all was:
Who am I? What's happened to me?
Mella wanted these answered desperately, but was too tired to act. She had to learn what Myra and Rei had to teach her before she could do anything or go anywhere.
Mella was still troubled by the vision, but everything left her mind as soon as her head hit the pillow, and no dreams troubled her as she fell asleep.