“Stop,” Kai’s voice resonated in the training hall, making my bones shudder. I snapped back to reality and found Kai sitting crossed-legged in front of me. His composure was firm and yet relaxing unlike mine – I sat until my legs and bottoms are getting cramps. I flitted my gaze to his attire; it was different from just now. There was mud and grass on his boots and his brown hair was badly tousled.

“Wow, went for some horse-riding that went wrong?” I teased, pointing at my fringe to indicate that a piece of leaf stuck right at that spot in his hair. He crinkled his brow and tilted his head to his side, not sure what I’m saying to him. I grunted and shifted in front of him. I reached out but he leaned away awkwardly.

“What are you doing?” Kai raised his brows.

I rolled my eyes and took that leaf from his lock of fringes. “This,” I shoved it right in front of his face. “Is distracting, Your Highness.” Kai is bringing out the in me. I should really just leave him alone and make him a laughing stock in front of the Estrovians.

“Oh,” he answered, taking the leaf away from my fingers. “You should’ve said earlier. I went for horse-riding.”

“I told you. But you are too – pardon for my language, dumb to understand what I’m talking.” I was about to move back to my original position but he held my arm.

“Just stay here.” He said softly. I did what he asked. Kai shifted closer, our knees were brushing each other and the only sound I hear was Kai’s breathing and my own. Maybe if I went a little closer I would be able to hear his steady heartbeat thumping against my ear. Just… Maybe.

Kai released his grip on me and reached out to take a couple strands of my hair. This action was too intimate and I don’t really deserve it. I wanted to pull away and stay further away from him but his words beat me to my actions. “Look. Your hair returned to brown.”

I checked myself and was shocked by my shift that I didn’t know. Subconsciously, I’ve shifted back into my Human form while I was meditating. “Amazing.”

“Not really. You’re going to practice the ‘amazing’ part now.” The corner of his lips curled into a smirk. “Now close your eyes and picture your Aether Core.”

My Aether Core appeared in my head seamlessly. It’s now jumping around even more vigorously; like a child desperate to be let out and play. Unknowingly, I smiled. I feel my pulse speeding up and the excitement in me building up rapidly.

“Now, call out your name. Reach for your Aether Core, touch it with your fingers.”

Lee Jael

This time a spark of fire seemed to ignite in me when my fingers brushed against my Core. The fire burned through my nerves, making my body literally explode in pure wonders. I never felt this happy nor blissful before. I felt my Core fusing together with my body and soul. I sensed its power – my power channeling to my hands, begging to be released. Then, weirdly enough, instead of the usual Aether Core I’ve grown accustomed to looking at, instead, it kept changing its colours. From blue to green, green to yellow, yellow to red then red to white.   

“Jael? Open your eyes.”

I did, slowly opening my eyes and exposing myself to the world. I know if I looked into the mirror now, I’ll be in my Estrovian form. Unlike the previous time, I feel that I can control this; I can do it.

“Now, you’re going to test your power. Let’s see what you got,” Kai said it as if it was a challenge. I – too am curious about my own Magic. Will it be the lame if I actually had gotten some healing abilities instead? Telekinesis would be cool though. Especially for lazy people like me.

“I’m not really confident about what abilities I have…” I raised my hand and flexed my fingers. Open and closed it. Now I’m afraid – what if my Magic is life threatening? What if I accidentally kill myself or something? I held my hand close to my chest.

“Don’t worry, your abilities won’t harm you even if you used them on yourself. But it’ll harm me,” Kai replied as if he’s answering the question in my head. His eyes glinted and I watched as he lifted his hand out, palm facing upwards. Then, grey smoke began encircling the top of his palms, hovering it steadily as little bolts of lightning peak through the smoke. “This is my Magic. If you control it well, you can increase its quantity to make it bigger - ” the ball of lightning started to grow larger but still not dangerous. “or decrease it. Vise versa.”

Kai lifted his gaze up to me and closed his palms. The grey smoke scattered about and diminished quickly. “Now its your turn. Just channel your magic to your hands and, well, let it go.”

“Okay,” I breathed and faced my palm up and shut my eyes. My Aether Core was still switching colours. Gritting my teeth, I stopped at Red. With a shaky breath, I let that sensation that was stirring inside of me go.

Nothing happened at first, but then slowly, I could feel the heat making it’s way to the tips of my fingers. When I opened my eyes again, a ball of red hot flames danced above my palm, its size as big as a basketball but safe away from Kai. “Woah, Fire. Fiesty.”

I was laughing when I played with my own Fire. Well, at least it wasn’t so bad after all. Fire is good enough. It’s lethal and fantastic for defense and offense. I was satisfied. “Try making it bigger or smaller. Control it. Shoot it across the hall if you want.” Kai was happy for me too, from the way he spoke. Instead of sitting in front of me, he shifted to beside me and guided me along.

I pretended not to notice his closeness and focus on my own Fire. “Do it. Shoot.”

“I am not responsible for any damage caused in this hall.” I stated, aiming my hand towards the back of the hall. “Do not regret.” It was my time to smirk as I looked at him. Kai beamed at me and urged for me to just release it.

I pulled my arm back and was about to release it when I noticed my palm wasn’t emitting Fire anymore. Instead, another thing just popped out of nowhere. But it was too late to take it back and I swung it forward, releasing that ball of thing.

The back of the hall didn’t burst into flames like how I’d imagined but instead, it frozen into ice. Like a domino effect, the ice continued spreading to the walls and the ground, making the entire hall an Ice Land. I breathed and a frosty breath appeared.

“Did you do this?” I nudged Kai, whose mouth was hanging opened.

“No, but I kinda knew who did this,” Kai faced me, narrowing his eyes on me. “Tell me, honestly; how many colours do you see in your Aether Core?”

“5,” I answered instinctively. “Um, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and White.”

“Oh dear God…” he raked his fingers through his tousled hair and sighing out loud. “Dear Jael, you are much more powerful than I’d expected.”

Now it was my turn to tilt my head to one side. “What?”

Kai grabbed onto my wrist and started walking to the door. “It’s time for some history lesson, shall we?”