Playing With Fire

It was the days after the tournament. I continued to be pumped up about my win. Apparently they were going to hold the rest of the tournament somewhere else or at another time. I would be moving to the next round, and this pumped me up. I knew I needed to have more than just two magixal techniques under my belt by the time the next tournament rolled around. I had gotten lucky and fought a relatively easy opponent. I had to fight some large blob like creature that didn’t seem too bright; the damn thing pretty much killed itself. I did finish it off with my fire ability, but throughout most of the battle, I didn’t have anything to hit it with. Still, if something like that were to attack the city, it could probably do massive damage; the fact that I was able to defeat it made me feel a little bit good. I felt I had a better gauge of what to be ready for in the next tournament. I had no clue when the next tournament was, but I did know that I had time to train and that I needed to get that out of the way.

Of course, my mom wasn’t all too thrilled that I had gone to a tournament to battle against demons. Oddly, she was very calm about the whole ‘spirits’ part and the existence of a hell that one could go to, she was just mad because of my involvement. I was chewed out for doing something dangerous and when I tried to explain that I couldn’t help getting warped there, I was scolded more. It wasn’t like I had the ability to warp and stuff like that Izumi lady did. I would learn it one day, but I wasn’t there yet.

I found myself in my backyard, since I was keeping close to the house these days. I needed to keep a watch on my mother and make sure she was cared for; the time when I was gone was rough on her. I was in the process of building my own daily training regime to get back into the practice of training my body. In the mornings, I normally worked on my martial arts. After that, I would prepare and have lunch with my mother and probably watch a little television for a while. After the short break, I would return to the backyard to work on my magixal techniques. Sometimes my mom would come outside and watch me; she seemed oddly calm that I could do magic as well, so I felt no real need to hide it from her.

I sit in the back of the yard with my legs crossed and my eyes closed concentrating on my meditation. My mom sits in a lawn chair in her robe with a summer dress under it and a straw hat covering her face; the sun wasn’t really good for her. She watches me as I train and enjoys the outside atmosphere. As I meditate I attempt to focus on the thing inside of me that enabled me to do magic. I didn’t have Ashram to show me the way, but I was determined to make it on my own. I planned to go back to the past realm when things settled down here and from there I would show Ashram how much I have improved. As my eyes close, I would focus on the fire element that I seemed the strongest in. After a while, as I did so, fire started to build up around my body in a spherical manner. I continue to meditate with my eyes closed and waves of heat start to push from my body. So far I was able to punch and send out a raw version of the fire attack, but I had limited control of it. It just went forwards instead of me actually manipulating it or anything like that. As I meditate, I concentrate and attempt to feel the fire as it builds up around me and I try to control the heat in a radius about my body. During this process, I begin to sweat profusely, though I tried to keep the straining from my face. Over time, it gets to the point where it feels like I’m trying to suspend a heavy weight for a long amount of time. Unable to hold the ability much longer, I lose focus and the heat fades away and the flames dissipate. My composure breaks and I lean forwards, resting my elbows in the grass of the lawn before me, breathing hard with my body rising and falling slightly.

“Not too bad, Seiki-kun,” chimes my mother’s melodic voice from the lawn chair, “You were able to hold it much longer than last time.” I frown as I lean up, catching my breath, “it’s still not good enough. I need more focus.” My mom giggles slightly as she obliges, “hai hai… whatever you say dear.” Her voice changes as it goes from cheerful to firm as she asks, “do you really understand how spells and element work?” I pause for a moment and look around to her. “No… but you shouldn’t either…” I begin. She pauses for a moment and agrees, “You’re right… but let’s just pretend it’s this way. Right now, you were attempting to manifest a spell without chanting. Well…. let’s just say something like that is impossible… just for pretend. If that were the case, it would explain why you were having so much trouble with it. If you were constantly chanting the incantation to control the spell, it would make it that much easier on you. Furthermore, you want to make sure you fully understand the spell that you are trying to do. Doing anything without a purpose is futile.” I blink twice and nod, “well I guess that makes sense.” With a smile my mom chimes “mother knows best, Seiki-kun!” and relaxes back into her seat comfortably.

Location: East City, Asakano Residence
1000 – Learned Heatblast (Novice)