The sun hadn't even peeked over the horizon when Kael felt a small hand tap his face multiple times. They weren't forceful taps, but with the tensions on his mind, he woke up almost instantly and stared into the darkness. Liora's voice spoke from it. "Time to head out, chosen one," She said playfully.
He sighed in response. It seemed she was the only one that was trying to cheer him up in their group of three. Seris was too strict, despite the fact that she only looked to be at best a few years older than him. He wondered if growing up in the Order was what made her that way, and if Liora was so cheery because she lived a more carefree life.
He stood, washed up, and went to the frontage where the two ladies waited for him. "You took your time," Seris noted. "Hopefully that means you're prepared to take everything I throw at you today."
Kael gulped in apprehension. He keenly recalled the feeling he got last night after trying to direct the Flame at her. The way it recoiled and shirked back.
"Um... Just to be clear, how strong are you, Seris?" As the girls led him through a small alley and down a few deserted paths, he noticed they grew closer to the city walls. Seris tilted her head in the fashion he had noticed she tended to when she was thinking seriously. 'Not like she's ever not thinking seriously,' he thought.
" Well, I'm not that impressive, if I must say..." Seris started to answer, but Liora cut her off almost immediately. "Not that impressive? Don't let the girl deceive you, Kael. She's a bit too humble for her own good. I've never seen our Mother Luminary so enthusiastic about a child's potential before. And I should know, Mother Luminary is almost never impressed."
Liora's outburst earned her a scalding glare from Seris. Kael, on the other hand, was intrigued. "Mother Luminary?" he asked probingly. Who was that? A member of the Order?
"I'll speak on a lot of things before we start your training, Kael. But first, we need to leave the city." Seris said to him as they stopped before a worn down church built into the city wall. Kael looked at it and wondered when last it was occupied. The Dominion were very strict when it came to abolishing Order practices, but it seemed they were too busy to fully remove this particular building from the city.
" Come with me," Seris said. She led them through the dilapidated doors, into a hall full of rotting pews and illuminated by early morning light passing through uncleaned stained glass. When they got to the pulpit, Seris bent over and touched a certain stone, which glowed with a faint light and then triggered some sort of mechanism in the ground, opening up a stairwell right before their eyes.
"You'll be the torch, big boy. It's just straight walking from here," Liora said to Kael. He sighed, and decided to treat it as training. Willing the connection he felt at the forge to leap into his palm, a ball of fire came to life in above his outstretched hand, and he took the first step into the darkness.
As they walked through the tunnel, Kael tried to pry more information from Seris's lips, but was met with stone cold silence. Liora only chuckled at the sight. "Just wait a bit," she said to him. "When we get out of here, she'll tell you all you want to know."
After walking for about 20 minutes, the trio got to a dead end with a ladder against the wall leading upward. "Go on," Liora said. "You don't expect us girls to climb first and give you a peek, do you?"
Kael's face went red at the suggestion, and he started to climb the ladder, but immediately he engaged his hand in doing something other than focusing on the fire, the tunnel was plunged into darkness.
"Um... I can't climb it while lighting up for us so could one of you please help out?" he asked a bit sheepishly, only to be replied with a cold snort. Seris spoke as if slightly irritated. "You mean to say you need to use your hand to control Flame?"
Kael was confused. Was he getting something wrong?
"I think so....?" he ventured, only to be met with another more annoyed huff from Seris and a chuckle from who he assumed to be Liora.
"Flame is not something that you control with your muscles, Kael. We haven't even gotten out of here, but I'm already giving you lessons. See, Flame is something you communicate with. Not by moving your hand, or saying magic words. Flame is something you will with your mind. As such, you can do anything you want with it, as long as you can think it. Do you understand? The possibilities are only hindered by your imagination and connection to it."
Then suddenly the tunnel was bathed in light from a white orb of flame. It hovered silently by Seris, it's presence so strange that Kael couldn't draw his eyes from it upon seeing it.
"What is that?" he couldn't help himself from asking. He felt no heat from it, or smoke, but he knew it was Flame. And he thought it was beautiful.
"This is my White Flame," Seris answered while glancing at it. "There are different disciplines of Flame manipulation, and this is the one I'm most gifted at. Now climb."
Kael made a mental note not to get on the bad side of Seris's White Flame. As he climbed, he made sure to ask behind, "Discipline? What are Disciplines?"
"When we get out, Kael. You'll have your answers when we get out."
He climbed until he got to a wooden board above his head. Glancing downwards and seeing Liora and Seris looking up at him, he gave the board a push. Rays of early morning sunlight immediately rushed in, bathing his face in the warm glow. He felt something like hay blow against his face.
Climbing out of the hole they emerged from, he found himself in a wheat field. The underground passage was very well hidden, because the board was completely out of sight by the time Liora had covered it with fallen wheat behind them. As they led him through the expanse of farmland, he felt somewhat grateful, knowing that he had finally safely left the city of Pyraxis behind, and avoiding the imminent threat of the Dominion.
They got to an abandoned shed a few minutes after walking through the field. There, they met an elderly man and one much younger than him forking hay.
"Good morning, Seth!" Liora called out to the elderly. He raised his head, squinting due to the sunlight. Seth flashed an almost toothless grin, but the young man beside him walked over to the trio and bent forward in greeting. "It's a pleasure to meet the envoys of the Order," he said. "My name is Garen. Seth is my father. We're happy to be of assistance in any way possible."
As Garen straightened up, Kael noticed the young farmer towered above anyone present at the scene. He had a kind face, but his body seemed like it was constantly ready to leap into violent action. More scary people, Kael noted to himself.
"We'd like to use your land for a bit," Liora said to Garen. "This young man here is a new Emberborn, and we need to familiarize him with his new strength."
"Please, follow me." Garen said.
He led them to an expanse of land that seemed to be scorched bare by some sort of incineration. "This is where I practice, Lady Liora. You're free to do as you wish. And feel comfortable going all out," he said to Seris in particular. "Our farm is well clear of any patrolling eyes or the city. You can teach without restraint."
"Garen is also an Emberborn," Liora explained to Kael. "Hence the scorched field."
The wheat field stretched farther than Kael expected, rolling in uneven waves beneath a blue sky. The stalks were burnt down, and Kael was somewhat grateful for the freedom in the air. No walls. No alleys. No cover. Just open land and distance.
Seris stopped several paces ahead of him and turned.
"This will do," she said.
Kael slowed, glancing around. "You're serious?"
"Yes."
The word carried weight. She stepped away from him, boots pressing the ground flat in a widening circle. The wind shifted, carrying the dry, clean scent of grain and soil.
Somewhere far off, birds cried and then went silent.
Seris faced him fully now. Her hood was down, pale hair tied back, her expression unreadable. Calm in a way that made Kael uneasy.
"Today isn't about refinement," she said. "It's about exposure."
"To what?" Kael asked.
"To yourself."
She lifted one hand, palm open, and invited him to make his move.
"Come at me," she said. "With everything you think you can do."
Kael frowned. "You're serious serious."
"Yes."
He hesitated. "I don't..."
"You hesitate because you're afraid of losing control," Seris interrupted. "That fear will get people killed."
Her gaze sharpened. "Attack."
Kael swallowed.
The field felt suddenly too quiet.
He moved.
Not elegantly. Not with confidence. He drove forward with raw intent, closing the distance in a rush, forcing his body to respond before his mind could overthink it. The air parted around his legs as he surged ahead, arm drawing back for a strike meant to end the exchange quickly.
Seris didn't retreat.
She stepped sideways at the last moment, her movement minimal. Kael's strike passed through empty air, his momentum carrying him forward. Before he could recover, pressure struck his shoulder. It was not a blow, but a redirection. His balance vanished.
He hit the ground hard, fallen wheat snapping beneath him.
"Again," Seris said.
Kael pushed himself up, breath sharp. His pulse roared in his ears. "You didn't even...!"
"Again."
This time he adjusted. He came in lower, shifting his weight, letting his feet guide him instead of brute force. He tried to remember what little control he'd felt before; how pressure moved, how momentum could be bent instead of unleashed.
Seris met him head-on.
She didn't strike. She intercepted.
Her hand caught his wrist, not gripping, but aligning. The moment their contact settled, Kael felt something wrong. His strength wasn't gone, but it wasn't his anymore. His body twisted against itself, joints protesting as his own forward drive turned sideways.
He stumbled, barely catching himself before hitting the ground again.
Seris released him instantly.
"You lead with intent," she said. "Not awareness."
Kael clenched his jaw. "You're not giving me a chance."
"You don't get one," she replied. "Try again."
Frustration flared. He didn't wait for permission this time. He broke into a sprint, the air once again tearing at his legs as he closed in, then changed direction sharply, circling her instead of charging straight on.
For a moment, just a moment, he thought he'd outmaneuvered her.
Then the ground seemed to tilt.
Seris moved through the wide space without disturbing it, her steps impossibly quiet. She appeared where Kael didn't expect her to be, her presence suddenly there, close enough that he felt it before he saw it.
She struck his center. Not hard, not fast, but very precise.
The impact folded him.
Air left his lungs in a soundless rush. His knees hit the earth, hands clawing at crushed stalks as his vision swam.
Seris crouched in front of him.
"You rely on momentum," she said softly. "Momentum can be corrected."
Kael coughed, forcing breath back into his chest. "You're… enjoying this."
Her eyes flickered. "Well..."
She stood and stepped back. "Again."
Something in him snapped decisively. Kael rose slowly this time, rolling his shoulders, grounding himself. He shut out the field, the wind, even Seris's presence for a breath.
When he moved, it wasn't explosive.
It was deliberate.
He advanced, each step measured, adjusting his pace to hers. When she shifted, he didn't chase, he mirrored. When she tested his balance, he gave ground instead of resisting.
Seris's expression changed.
Barely. But he saw it.
She increased the pressure. Faster steps. Sharper corrections. Kael stumbled, recovered, twisted out of a lock he didn't fully understand. His body ached, but something was clicking. It didn't feel like mastery, or control, but recognition.
He finally understood, somewhat.
He wasn't meant to overpower her. He was meant to endure her.
A sudden strike caught his forearm, sending a jolt through him. He reacted instinctively, not thinking, redirecting the force away from his center. The impact slid past him instead of through him.
Seris froze.
The wheat swayed between them.
"You felt it," she said.
Kael breathed hard. "Yeah."
"That's the burden," she continued. "Not strength. Not dominance. Awareness. You don't end conflict. You contain it."
She stepped closer, her presence pressing in again, heavier now. "Every time you might fail, someone else pays the cost."
Kael met her gaze, sweat streaking down his temple. "And you? What do you do?"
Seris's jaw tightened. "I make sure the cost is paid by the right person."
Silence settled between Kael and Seris, broken only by the wind through the wheat. After a moment, she stepped back.
"Training ends here," she said. "For today."
Kael let himself sink to the ground, staring up at the sky. His body trembled. It wasn't from exhaustion alone, but from understanding.
A slow clap started from somewhere forgotten by Kael, which slowly sped up into full blown applause from one person. He looked to the side and saw Liora clapping, Seth leaning against a shovel, and Garen looking impressed.
"For your first time fighting a trained envoy, you did pretty great, Kael!" Liora shouted at him. He smiled wryly. That wasn't even a fight. He was certain all through that Seris was going awfully easy on him.
"You did something there. Where you shifted the impact of my strike. That was a utilization of Flame, was it not?" The voice of Seris brought him back to the present.
"I don't really know what it was, but yes. I redirected the energy somehow. I'll have to figure that out more, though."
He could almost swear she looked impressed. "People don't come up with brand new ways to utilize Flame in the heat of combat, Kael. You're gifted. I should also explain how I moved back there. High control of our abilities can enable you to move with measured bursts that place you exactly where you intend to be. Never more, never less. It's an Order technique that we call Pale Traversal."
"After polishing that impact redirection technique you used there, I have a strong feeling it would be a very invaluable technique, Kael. Good work."
He smiled. It seemed Seris was capable of compliments after all. "Thank you, Seris," he said.
She sat beside him, looking ahead, and finally said words he had been dying to hear.
"It's time to answer all your questions. About your being a Catalyst Emberborn, and everything else. Ask away, Kael. I'll answer anything you ask."