Inferno Rising (IR #1)

4 | From Spark to Flame

The weekend finally rolled around, and I’ve been given the chance to sleep in. Aszreal has been working with me all week, training my abilities and developing them ever since I activated them. The entrance exams to be admitted into Daisen Higashi are in a few weeks, and she wants me to improve my abilities as much as possible before that time comes. Daisen Higashi is an academy here in Cyelos that trains the supernatural to become heroes. Academies like this one are spread all across the kingdom, though Daisen Higashi is rated the highest and the most difficult to get into. It’s a four year academy, and countless professional heroes have graduated from it. But, out of the 2000 teenagers who apply and endure the entrance exams in hopes to be accepted, only 200 are enrolled. Some don’t even survive the entrance exams, particularly the final exam. Hundreds of kids have died in the past few years thanks to the entrance exams. Hundreds of other kids die during their first, second, third, and fourth years. To put it simply, Daisen Higashi is brutal, physically and mentally challenging. But I’m willing to do whatever it takes to earn a spot among their ranks.

After all these years of being doubted, strange, the “weird” kid, I’m going to prove everyone wrong. Of course, the people of Panaka won’t see me when I succeed. But I’ll make sure that everyone else knows I’m capable of great things. I shouldn’t be different just because I was born and raised in Panaka. I get it, I’ve only used my abilities a couple of times, and I have a lot of work to do just to catch up with everyone else. At first, I’m going to be different. It’s inevitable. But I’ll work my butt off harder than anyone else to rise to the top and prove that I am worthy of being a hero, and I will have Aszreal right by my side the entire time. Never again will I be “abnormal” or “freaky” or “weird.” I will be one of the greatest heroes Cyelos has ever known.

Besides that, I was granted the luxury of waking up at nine this morning. Per usual, Aszreal’s alarm blared at five in the morning, but I ignored it and fell back asleep. She utilizes her weekends for her own personal business, whatever that may be. She sits in her office half the day, working on things, filling out papers and signing them. That’s what she says she does, random things, and for the most part, I believe her, but at the same time, she’s kind of secretive. I hope she’ll tell me soon enough what her profession is, but for now, I’m being patient. I’m not sure how comfortable she is with me right now, so I think it’s best if I give her some time to warm up to me. In fact, I need to warm up to her more too. I guess that makes it easier for both of us.

At around 9:05, I changed from my pajamas into casual clothes, fixed my hair, brushed my teeth, and sprayed myself with cologne. At 9:10, I ate breakfast. Today was a simple toaster pastry, but it filled me up. And then, at 9:20, I greeted Aszreal who was sitting at the desk in her office, flipping through a stack of papers, reading them, and signing whichever ones she considered “logical.” I smiled at her, said “Hi!” and she returned the favor, then proceeded to leave her alone because I knew she was busy. I said good morning to my parents who have been sleeping in Aszreal’s guest bedroom for the last few weeks. All three of us have.

Obviously, we don’t have anywhere to live, nor do we have enough Cye money to buy a house, so we’ve been bunking with Aszreal, and surprisingly, she’s perfectly okay with it. The thing that makes me sad, though, is that I don’t see my parents very often. They wake up at ten in the morning, get ready, and head straight for work. They were hired at a business that studies supernatural abilities, and they don’t get home until nine. So while Aszreal and I are training, my parents are working. The only time I see them is right before they leave, and right before they go to bed. They even work on the weekends, trying to make more money so we don’t have to “bother” Aszreal with our presence anymore.

After interacting with my parents for a minute, I ventured into Aszreal’s library and rummaged through her bookshelves, searching for a specific book. For a while, I’ve been wanting to learn more about my abilities, like what they actually are and what they’re capable of. Since Aszreal is taking care of other things today, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I asked her last night if she had any ideas in mind to help me learn some facts about fire abilities, and she recommended a book to me that she owned called, “From Spark to Flame,” written by a Cye author named Claire Aetos, whose entire family inherited fire abilities. Her parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, everyone before them. Aszreal informed me that a kids’ abilities are usually based on the abilities of their parents.