Fizzle! Crack! Pop!
"Dang it!" I say in frustration as my flame fizzles out in the air.
We are all still at the training grounds for now. Leena and Matteo are sparring against each other with armor. Zephyr, Ivy, and Neve are doing the deadly obstacle course.
Meanwhile, Ignis is busy trying to teach me how to have a solid foundation with my fire magic. For the past half hour, we have been working on just summoning a small flame and keeping it alive at the tip of my wand for five whole minutes.
It doesn't sound like a lot of time, but trust me, it feels like it.
"You are making progress, Nico! Three minutes is better than none," Ignis says to me in an encouraging tone with a smile.
"What you want to work on is channeling that frustration you have into controlled anger and determination. Just being angry and determined will for sure fuel your fire, but it won't sustain it."
"Focus your mind on what is specifically making you angry. Forget everything else and just think about that one or perhaps two things that make you angry. Feel the determination spread from your heart, to your mind, to every bone and cell in your body."
"Feel the power of the flames rage inside of you and make your thoughts known to the world through your fire!" Ignis says as motivation.
He raises his wand to the sky. "This technique is called Phoenix Sphere," Ignis says to me as an enormous ball of fire comes out of his wand.
He points his wand quickly at the target. The fireball follows his movement.
The fireball quickly expands as it travels into the air. As the fireball approaches the target, it transforms into a phoenix. The transformed phoenix of flames hits multiple targets instead because of its area of impact. The phoenix's fire covers the wooden targets, creating a hissing sound.
"This is a technique born from control and proper visualization. It allows me to set up a surprise attack if I need to hit multiple enemies. Even if this technique is only the fifth affinity magic level, because of my control, its strength rivals the eighth affinity level."
"Only when you have almost total control over your emotions, your direction, the world around you, and your situation can you become worthy of being a Court Mage," Ignis says, nodding as he gestures for me to try again.
My head nods to him in autopilot.
My hand tightens its grip on my wand.
I don't want to let down the man who is giving me his all to strengthen me.
My breathing steadies itself as I take a few deep breaths. With my eyes shut, I extend wand once more. My vision is dark. Flashbacks of finding my mother's letter appear in my mind. Flashbacks of students being severely injured by the battle simulation appear in my mind.
The image of the Keeper Principal occupies my mind forcefully.
A small raging spark of light flickers into existence in my vision of darkness. Yes! That is what I need! I say to myself as the elemental energy surges through my body. The angrier I get and the more I focus on what is making me angry, the more fire gathers at the top of my wand.
The more I understand my purpose in this world, the more elemental energy fires up inside of me. It is as if the elemental energy is coursing through my body out of my fingertips to form the flames. This flow of mana and energy I only see for a split second as I open my eyes in amazement.
I see a medium-sized flame levitating above my wand.
"Well done, Nico! Well done," Ignis says to me as he claps his hands.
"You exceeded expectations by a lot. You have successfully gathered enough output and stamina to maintain a medium-sized flame for over five minutes. The reason you weren't able to maintain it before is that you probably thought that through brute force you could maintain it," Ignis says to me as we watch Neve, Ivy, and Zephyr about to finish the obstacle course.
"Having the determination gets you far, as you still could maintain it for three minutes. However, to surpass your limits, you must free your mind of distractions and fuel your emotions, memories, and direction all together into one. This is called Elemental Eloquentia."
"It is a term you will learn in your third year here. Elemental Eloquentia is a term for every element where the right moment in time with the right connection between the mind, body, emotion, and soul can cause you to do magic you never thought possible," Ignis says with a smile.
"That is useful information. Thank you for letting me know," I reply as Zephyr, Ivy, and Neve walk back toward us.
I take a quick look at the duel that is still going on between Leena and Matteo. You can tell they both are from the noble house focused on flames because the entire area around them looks like a volcano paradise.
"Can I join them?" Zephyr says, grinning as he approaches us with Neve and Ivy right behind him.
As I am about to respond, I hear a loud explosion accompanied by screams coming from the other side of campus. Several other explosions ring out across campus with smoke billowing in the air.
It is as if we are being raided from the air by dragons.
All of us drop immediately what we are doing and run toward the closest source of noise. The closest building to the training grounds is the East Arena. The East Arena is broken into many black burning pieces of material. Purple flames like mine swallow up the East Arena entirely.
Cough! Cough!
The air is becoming too smoky. It starts messing with our vision. Who are we being attacked by?
As we all split up and race around campus to save other students from the wreckage, I notice several black cloaked figures in various places around the campus popping in and out of nowhere. Even the Keepers who are around seem confused and frightened.
The Keepers run around the campus, desperately trying to capture one of the black cloaked figures with their light magic. As I continue frantically running around campus to save as many people from the purple flames, some words Duke Grey said to me appear in my mind.
"The other organization that is on our side that I can't mention the name of right now has the elemental sphere of darkness," Duke Grey said to me in my mind.
These purple and black flames of darkness ravaging the campus could have a connection to that group. Their dark magic far surpasses my abilities, and the attack seems too coordinated to be a random group.
Are these people truly on humanity's side? I think to myself as several new explosions tear apart various buildings. My hands grasp the wall for support.
My gut tugs at me, and I spin around to find another masked, cloaked figure. However, this cloaked figure is looking straight at me. My footsteps ring across the ground as I try to reach the figure in time.
Before I can, the figure waves his hand and a wall of purple flames bursts forth, causing me to have to back off.
What does this all mean? An entire organization using the same magic I can use?