The Golden Core | Secrets of the Core #1

Chapter Four - Part Two

A hand forced her forward. She knew immediately that Mother must've gotten tired of them standing there. Her legs walked forward without her mind's consent as her mother pushed the two of them outside. She huffed as the door slammed in front of her face when trying to turn around, leaving her and Phoenix out on the front step. She knew Mother wouldn't let her back inside now.

The birds chirped, signaling they were wide awake, which only made Winter let out a big yawn. She covered her mouth with the back of her hand, then lowered it once she was done. "Well, I guess we have no choice. We might as well walk."

Phoenix nodded his head and walked down a couple steps, holding his hand out for her to grab to help her down. She waved her hand at him and continued down the steps by herself when a gust of wind appeared, blowing her hair in front of her face. She quickly turned toward the wind, almost losing her balance, as her hair silently whipped against her face. A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes that her father would soon show, even though she knew deep down that it wasn't possible.

He reached for her elbow and pulled to get her away from the wind. "He's not going to show up, Winter."

Instead of responding to what he said, she smacked his hand away from her elbow, making him rub his hand as he quickly pulled it back. She knew princesses didn't act that way, but she also didn't want to hear those words come out of his mouth. She would decide whether her father would show up, not him. Even though she knew that he was right.

A small frown touched her lips as the wind died down, but she quickly replaced it with a smile. She wasn't ready for this man to see her sad, mainly because she didn't know him well. She didn't trust him either. There was only one person she showed true emotions too; her father.

Witches and wizards passed the two of them every so often. She couldn't help but feel like there were eyes on her every second. They both walked to the left, their feet dragging against the road as Winter looked around. "How did you know my father passed?"

Phoenix glanced in her direction, his eyes full of sorrow when he spoke. "Of course I would know, Winter. I was here, in this kingdom, when he passed. To even try and make sense of the fact that I just saw him a few days ago is...unbelievable."

Winter sighed and nodded her head. He was right, there was no way she could get away from people knowing about the loss of her father. Wishing that she could was an understatement. The majority of the time now, she just wanted to be alone. She looked towards the ground. That was impossible. A princess being by herself. She shook her head. It's not like that would ever happen.

She decided changing the subject would be better than mourning. "Well, if you want I could take you through the training rooms. I know you haven't been in this one, but I'm not sure if they have one where you live."

Phoenix raised his eyebrows, looking skeptical. Winter wondered why everyone seemed to underestimate her. "Sure. Lead the way, Princess."

A slight smile crept up on his face as the two of them walked down the road to the main training room. It took about ten minutes of them moving between more wizards and witches tending to their crops outside along with some chatter between them before they finally arrived at the grey building. Winter noticed there wasn't a long line of her classmates waiting to get inside the door like there had been a few days ago when she came, but once she realized the time, she figured no one would be training so early in the morning.

Phoenix walked in front of her and opened the door, smiling as she made her way inside. "Thank you," she replied as he took a few steps behind her, the echo appearing loudly in her ears when the door slammed shut. Her head turned to the sound of voices when she saw two witches walking towards her.

"Hi Winter! Who's this?" She became surprised when they actually wanted to talk to her. She never saw them much and was pretty sure that they weren't in her training class, but she decided to answer them anyways.

"Hi, this is Phoenix. I'm just showing him around."

He waved at them. "Hello there, it's nice to meet you."

"You too," the first witch said, "but I've never seen you before. Do you know magic?"

Winter's eyes lit up at this question. She was almost positive he knew magic, but she was curious with how much. Everyone had different levels of magic and, of course, she was a beginner at it, but maybe he had more experience. It seemed to her like he would know more than a first-level wizard would, yet she doubted he would display it all. Could she get him to show it off?

"Of course, I know magic," he replied. He ran his hand through his hair and stood up straight with his hand reached out in front of him. The palm of his hand was facing up, making Winter and the other two witches wait patiently. After a few seconds, the grey swirl appeared above his hand before a small tornado appeared on the top of his hand. Using his other hand, he began to make circular motions, the tornado getting bigger the longer he spun it around.

She almost lost her balance a few times as the wind began to take over, her hair bouncing wildly all over the place. Winter gasped as it almost became as big and tall as he was before he quickly clasped his hands shut and the tornado disappeared. She smoothed her hair down a bit as clapping came from the other girls.

"Wow, that was awesome!"

Winter wasn't pleased, but she forced a smile on her face anyways. "That's...nice, Phoenix."

His eyebrows furrowed for a few seconds, then lifted his hand up to his face. He hummed, tapping his thumb on his cheek. "Not impressed, Princess? Let me show you another trick, then."

Perfect.

Winter crossed her arms over her chest and waited. Maybe now she could figure out what level of magic he had, but then again, there's always a chance that what he shows might not be much higher up. Oh well. At least he's doing it again.

The same grey swirl appeared over his hand as he stared intently forward. A small amount of wind rose up, then he pushed it straight in the direction that he was looking at, towards a white table up against the wall. As it got closer, he moved his hands counter-clockwise, making the wind form into another tornado. It soon overcame the size of the table, then right as the wind and the object touched, the table rose. Using his hands, he pushed it in all directions. Phoenix spun around smiling as it repeated the same movement.