Manifesting | kotlc

- chapter - six -

I hesitantly took the seat across from her and she leaned down as if made sure that we were both equal in height, as if trying to show that she wasn't a threat. "First, I want to hear your questions," she started. "I'm sure you have a thousand and I want to answer to my best ability." 

I grabbed the notebook I had been writing random things in since I returned home from school the previous day, and her eyes widened when I motioned to the fifty-three scribbled out notes. "I have a lot," I told her sheepishly. 

"It's a good thing we have some time then. Usually first day is for rules and regulations, but I figure you're not exactly itching to abuse your ability so we can skip over that until tomorrow if it's truly needed." 

"Okay," I replied and looked over the questions. Some were super dumb, and I couldn't help but ask my first question, "Am I going to burn myself?" 

While I thought it was a stupid question, she grew serious. "Obviously fire is a dangerous tool. As long as it's used correctly in the right hands, no one should get hurt." She sighed. "Have you heard of everblaze?" I shook my head. "When pyrokinetics were allowed to manifest once more, everblaze was completely still against the law to summon. It's almost impossible to control an everblaze flame and extinguish it." 

"Really?" 

"Everblaze is the reason the ability was ruled out in the first place. It killed plenty of pyrokinetics who summoned it by burning them alive, and as of now pyrokinetic is still the only known ability to have killed elves without the previous intention to kill." I got confused at that last part until I saw her swallow and I realized that in the rebellion way back, she must have seen people die at the hands of other elves abilities intentionally. She took a deep breath. "I can promise you I will never teach you how to summon it, but it is a flame you could summon on your own. I am warning you not to. It has extremely dangerous repercussions. Not only legally, but it could harm you and everyone around you." 

"What about normal flames?" I asked. "Will those burn me?" 

She sighed. "It depends how trained you are and what exactly you're doing. Sophie told me that in the middle of a fight with a pyrokinetic her father, who as you know is a mesmer, convinced someone to burn themselves. Also, that same person set a fire to their home that killed his fiance but only left him scarred. 

Of course, I knew what she was talking about. With so few elves to have died, the ones who have are like scary stories told to children so they keep careful. But still, I had heard the story of Jolie Reuwen multiple times besides that. It was even mentioned in a history book that included "modern" history of Sophie Foster. 

"Okay," I replied before looking back down at my notes. "Will I get to learn how to like... suck in fire and get rid of it?" 

She laughed lightly. "You can't absorb fire, Nova. You'll learn to control fire. But you'll also learn that certain flames are almost impossible to control." 

I nodded and then looked down at my next question. "Is pyrokineticy just fire or is it heat as well? Because I went to my parent's restaurant this morning and when I was near the oven I could feel the heat calling to me." 

She nodded. "I think I've mentioned this to you before, but it's almost the same as hydrokineticy except instead of water, we're drawn to fire. Since you're best friends with Blythe Song, I imagine that you've met her aunt Linh Vacker?" I nodded. "Have you noticed how Linh is able to feel out how moist it can be inside a room. It's the same way we can feel out how warm it can be inside a room." 

We continued to go back and forth on different questions after that, and Marella tried to successfully answer as many as she could. There were a few that stumped her, because it was topics she hadn't even thought of trying out, so she simply said we could work on those as our lesson progressed.