The Hidden Spark

The pale Agolit crystal disappeared from Zonaar's hands as he kept feeding the energy from them to his newly awakened flame. He felt the warmth slide down his arms, curl into his chest, then settle behind his ribs.

It felt good, perhaps too good as this was the first time he was experiencing this flow of energy in his body. The flame inside flickered eagerly clearly wanting more.

So he fed it another. And another.

By the third, his breathing had already changed, slower and deeper and he felt a pull behind his sternum like something had opened too wide but that didn't make him stop.

As soon as he held the fourth Agolit to devour its energy, the flame inside him snapped.

Heat shot through his spine like lightning through a soaked wire. His lungs seized. His vision blurred. The calm he'd felt earlier was torn away. The fire wasn't steady anymore but was thrashing, lashing out against his body like a wild thing in a cage.

"Zonaar?" Mira's voice hit too late.

He gasped, hands clenching his chest. His heartbeat was pounding against his ribs like it wanted to escape. Heat bled through his skin, red veins started to pop up glowing under the surface.

"Shit! he's burning out." Mira lunged forward.

"Don't touch him." Orravia's voice was cold as ice. She didn't move from where she stood near the water's edge, just crossed her arms.

"But he's!"

"I said no." Her tone didn't falter. "Let him feel it."

Zonaar dropped to one knee, coughing, and his eyes wide. His fingers scraped at the sand. The fire inside didn't obey him but instead roared.

The pain was ugly as his bones were too weak to carry the heat. His throat dried up, eyes stung, and somewhere deep in his chest, the flame began to twist sideways, dragging everything with it.

Then, everything went black.

Zonaar collapsed without saying a word onto the cold sand. One moment he was trying to drain the fourth agolit, the other he just fainted even before he soaked the whisp of sea energy.

"Zonaar!" Mira came running towards him who was looking around the sea before barely managing to stop his head from hitting the sand now. "Zonaar... hey, get up! Come on."

She checked his breath. It was there. Slow and shallow. His body was hot and cold at the same time, and his hands were twitching slightly like he was still seeing something even unconscious.

Panic rose like seawater in her throat. "Is he?"

"He's fine," a calm voice said behind her.

Mira spun.

Orravia stood nearby, arms crossed lightly, her expression remained unreadable. "His body just isn't used to channelling that much sea-borne energy. It's not fatal."

"But he... he just passed out."

"It's his first time hosting the sea energy in his newly awakened nirith flame. His frame isn't refined which made the energy surge. It'll settle soon." She stepped closer and knelt beside Zonaar, one ghost-like see through hand resting briefly over his sternum. "His flame hasn't even stabilised yet. He needs rest."

Mira glanced down at her brother's sweat-drenched face. "Where can we put him?"

Orravia turned her gaze towards the nearby grove of thin, pale-blue trees lining the edge of the sanctuary. She raised one hand and the trees responded instantly with harmony.

Wood got detached from the trunks like flowing bark, reshaping mid-air into planks and then frames. Ribbons of seaweed came rushing from the waters as she moved her other palm and the threads of seaweed twined themselves into hanging mats. Stones from the sand rose and got arranged into a smooth floor. Within moments, an entire structure was formed: a simple house with a sloped roof and a small deck facing the waters.

Mira watched with her mouth open towards the house built within seconds in front of her. "You… built a house by just moving your hands?" 

Orravia gave a small shrug, eyes half-open. "It's nothing special. You'll manage it too if you ever stop hiding that flame you awakened when you were ten."

Mira stiffened. "What? How did you?"

"Did you really think a spark like that could stay hidden from the goddess herself?"

Mira opened her mouth, then shut it again as she couldn't find words to say and before she could gather her thoughts, Zonaar's body rose from the sand, weightless as a feather. With a wave of Orravia's hand, he floated into the house, the door slid open just in time to let him in. He vanished inside.

"Sit," Orravia said, gesturing to a smooth boulder nearby. Mira sat without thinking much.

Another wave and the fish leapt out of the water in a clean arc, three of them with glistening silver skin. A flick of Orravia's wrist, and a trail of blue flame shot out which roasted them mid-air without even burning them.

A final gesture, and one of the roasted fish floated gently into Mira's hands. It was warm, perfectly cooked, and somehow smelled like it had been seasoned with wild herbs.

"Eat," Orravia said. "You'll need strength too."

Mira picked at the roasted fish, still unsure if she was dreaming. "You knew I had it all along?" she asked after a while, eyes still not meeting with the goddess.

Orravia sat on a flat stone nearby with her legs crossed and gazing on the water. "Since the moment I woke from my 700 years of sleep. You carry a strong flame. Not as wild as your brother's, but steady and more in control, burning inside you when you never even fed it to grow in all these 4 years."

"But I never trained because I didn't want Zonaar to feel..."

"Weak?" Orravia interrupted, turning to face her. "He already felt that. Long before you ever had a flame."

Mira looked down.

"I was ten," she mumbled. "It flickered once and I got scared and hid it as I knew how hard he was trying to awaken his flame with every method he could use but never even felt any warmth of the flame."

"You're fourteen now," Orravia said, voice calm. "And your flame is stirring again, it wants to grow."

Mira looked up. "How do you know?"

"I don't guess." Orravia leaned forward slightly. "Your body's too clean. No injuries. No signs of spiritual strain. And yet your energy coil isn't dormant. It's like a lantern covered with a cloth, you think it's dark, but it's just hidden."

Mira bit her lip. "I don't know how to train."

"You can learn now," Orravia said. "Beside your brother but I won't make it easy."

"Wait.. so you're training me too?"

"I'm not training," the goddess said smoothly. "I'm guiding. And only because you two are the only creatures in this sanctuary who can listen."

There was a beat of silence.

"…Do you really think I can do what he does?" Mira asked with a small voice.

"No." Orravia stood, brushing her hands. "Your path will be different. You awakened your flame at ten while most don't until they turn fifteen. That makes you a prodigy, whether you admit it or not."

Mira whispered under her breath. "I'm… a prodigy?"

Orravia gave her a flat look. "Don't let it get to your head. Your flame burns steadier but you need to cultivate diligently if you want it to reach greater heights, and your body's stronger than his so, you won't need to do exactly what he does. You'll do what you must and that will be enough."

She turned and began walking toward the house. Mira watched her go, roasted fish forgotten in her lap.

Then a quiet voice drifted back to her.

"Rest well tonight. Tomorrow, we begin with control. You've been hiding from your flame long enough."

✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧✧𓂃⋆༶⋆𓂃✧