I glared at my kidnapper, his silver eyes boring into me with a mischievous grin. I so wanted to smack that smile off his face. I crossed my arms, standing in front of the giant rock, my demon of a brother padding gracefully up to me.

“Congratulations!” He said in a snobbish tone. “You actually managed to defeat this rock! I didn’t think your skull was hard enough to crack it open, but hey, even I’m surprised sometimes!” I looked at him in disbelief, my facial expression changing like the weather.

He clucked his mental tongue and made a disappointed growling noise. “Unfortunately, you did need to use your flames in the process so it wasn’t a total success…”

I exploded. “F&!% you man! I bet you couldn’t scratch that rock even if you attacked it hundreds of times! You're just a stuck-up, arrogant jerk!” His grin didn’t falter. He looked at me with such contempt I was starting to sweat. Wait… There was no way… It took all those monsters just to wear down the mana, and I had to kinda cheat and strike it perfectly through that tiny gap… He couldn’t possibly...

While I was having my internal debate, the air around Junior bent in a way that sent the wind screaming towards me. The wind felt startled, almost panicked. This raised my alarm by a couple notches. His fat grin and arrogant attitude painted him as the picture of pride as an icicle formed out of mid-air and just disappeared in the next second.

I whipped my head around, searching for the icicle, eyes wide in nervousness. I was beginning to doubt if that was all just bluster.

I heard a startling 'chinck!' The kind you hear when a Pickaxe strikes stone after digging through dirt for a while. I slowly turned, looking to the death rock as a gorge the size of me appeared, spanning at least 2 feet across and a half a foot deep. The black mana seemed to be unharmed, perfectly fine like nothing had just passed through it. My jaw dropped, turning back to Junior's smug face.

“You… You could’ve just…” I stuttered.

“It's all in the paw, you see? You just have to give it a lick with your forearm in juuuust the right angle to get past all that death mana! There's just a little trick to it you see?” I turned back to the rock, seeing another icicle flick forward piercing the death mana barrier like it was nothing. I looked closer with mana sense, watching as the Icicle seemed to merge with the black mana, flowing through it like a needle into thread.

I slowly turned to Junior, shock on my face.

“All this time...” I asked, voice quivering. “All this time I spent training, planning, almost dying… All that for what? To be shown up by this ‘flick of the paw’?! You're telling me that the whole time, all I had to do was use Elementary mana control to shift the death mana?! ” My voice went from gradually quivering to screaming at the end. I had spent 4 and half days like this, the threat of death hanging over my head like a weighted helmet. I spent all that time, tirelessly training and fleeing, almost dying like 3 times, and there was just a tiny tick to it!? I could have done that from the very beginning! It's so obvious too! Why wouldn't I be able to control the death mana? It belongs to no one! It's just essentially ambient mana!

Seeing my frustrated expression, Junior responded with a light laugh. Like he was laughing at me in understanding, companionship.

“Oh yeah, it's a bit confusing, I know. It took me almost 30 minutes to figure it out if that makes you feel any better. The fragment sure is tough, you know?” He said it like that would actually make me feel any better.

I stared at the fox, not moving or saying anything, rage slowly boiling over into a roaring flame. My fire mana responded, my face twisting into a furious snarl. I screamed telepathically, shooting forth on the winds, but not using any fire mana. This was supposed to be where I shove his face in with my success, and shock him with my ingenuity! Not the other way around!

Some distant part of me recognized this as childish, but I didn’t care. All I saw was a perfectly punchable furry muzzle, ripe for the smacking. My superb balance and surprise attack didn’t even catch him off guard, dodging out of the way of my tackle like an elegant dancer, just making me angrier.

“Aw come on! I expected something after all that head-banging and paltry mana advancements, but this is pathetic! There has to have been some gain for all that training! Come on! Show me what ya got!” I screamed. Much louder this time. I twirled in the air, almost stepping on it as I wasted mana like a box of 6 pop tarts in a house of 7.

My hands shot forth, shape of wind pulling on his fuzzy form, crimson eyes burning with flames. Smoke escaped my skin, little flares erupting across my body. I was suppressing the fire mana as much as possible, but it wasn’t exactly a perfected process.

Junior's fur rippled as an explosion of heat hissed out around him, battering against my winds with force as I wrestled the now hyper excited air, eager to move anywhere and everywhere. Junior stood there to no effect.

“Oh come on, where's the innovative smart fellow I knew that was accepted by mother herself!” He said with a noble daunt.

I knew he was taunting me, I knew he was riling me up, but dammit, I didn't care. I had gone through hell, with only the air around me, and a backstabbing snake as company! This stuck-up bastard was the cause of almost all of it! And it pissed me off he could just get away with it!

“F*%& you, and your mom!” I yelled, digging my hands into the dirt as I inflated the stuff with wind mana, rocketing a chunk of it forth when I applied pressure. Junior lept out of the way, dodging the earth strike while I followed, two Psychic tendrils lashing out and battering Junior. My face schooled, rage turning into a potent sharp and wild blade, freshly forged in this hell of a place.

“Hey! She’s your mom too!” He quipped back. I ignored him in favor of destroying his Psychic barrier

Junior let out a small whine, and then a growl as I slammed into his Psychic shield. He flinched as one of them pierced through, starting to wreak havoc on his mindscape. He responded in time though, a blast of frost coming towards me.

I spun the winds, creating a fork in front of me and sucked the air out around me. The icy blast pivoted to my sides for the most part, following where there was the most matter, and where there was heat. I flinched as I wasn;t completely successful, holding my breath as the icy winds buffeted my face. My Psychic tendril was quickly expelled in my distracted state, the ice dying down and fading.

I smirked, my fingers gathering wind mana as my other Psychic strike hit his mind in a flurry, slowing down at my dual usage of two different skills, but also slowing him as well.

I used elementary mana control to its fullest, goading ambient mana to subtly shift my attacks towards Junior. The air around him shimmered as my winds dropped sluggishly, a frozen shell freezing my mana before it could reach him. He was protected by a blurry thick sheet of ice, moisture freezing and sticking around him in a forcefield. It obstructed our view of each other.

But that was fine. I used the distractions to bolt forward, my feet in perfect tandem, wind mana surging as I struck out, bursting through his hazy frozen shield.

Junior whipped toward me, eyes narrowing as I sent a kick in his face, fire mana barely held back. My stubby feet connected to his muzzle, giving a satisfying… whoosh? The space around Junior warped, my attack seeming to slide to the side as Junior appeared a few feet away, the figure I was attacking collapsing into shimmering heat.

“If you want to get in all close and personal like that,” He said, thumping towards me on all fours as I jumped back, fingers fully charged, aiming at his face. “I would be happy to oblige!” Gusts of heat emerged from his paws, blowing back the air around him as he went way faster. My eyes were the size of saucers, mind subconsciously throwing my body to the side and shooting him with small strings of wind mana that trailed around him uselessly, deflected by well placed frost strikes.

He easily adjusted to my dodge, tacking me, heat burning into my skin. His paws planted on my chest, weighing me down as my mana infused body was pushed down, charred flesh reaching my nose. I grit my teeth, eyes burning as I fought both him and the surging fire within.

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You idiot! All you had to do was keep attacking at a range and goad me to waste mana while dodging but nooo. You just needed a piece of this handsome fluff!” I screamed again in his mind, arms clawing as his legs, a crazed look in my eye.

I thought of nothing else, scrambling my uselessly dangling mana strings together, animating them all at once and shooting them into the fox, wrapping around him in the blink of an eye. My rage turned to a victorious smirk, seeing his widened eyes. He was fast though, a blast of scalding scalding heat and icy frost blasting out of him simultaneously as he escaped 3 out of the 5 threads I had going onto him.

The rest of the condensed wind was rendered into icy chunks. I didn't care though, crying from my newly burnt face as I commanded the mana threads to squeeze, spinning in a razor like form.

I got off a half a second with my fur blender before blood was drawn. Junior yelped, frozen mana oozing out, stopping and expelling the threads of wind. I quickly glanced into my reserves. There was only around 40% left.

I wheezed, my voice charred and broken as I stood up. It took all my willpower to stop my fire mana from pulling at the energy around me, healing me. It really wanted to be let loose. There was no way I was using it. No way in hell was I succumbing to it again. I closed my eyes, training to blot out the voice that reached my mind anyway.

“Well, well! I wasn’t expecting that! Clever! That would have gotten me if you had waited a little longer!” I said nothing, focussing on calming the surging fire mana.

“Ah, but it seems you're out of commission! You really have to work on that fire phobia. That will render you nigh useless in prolonged combat! Hell, that was what, a minute of mock battle and you're already down for the count.” I still said nothing, trying not to focus on his voice. The fire mana bucked and roiled, responding to his words with a wave of pure wrath.

“See, I can just…” I didn’t even hear him, all the sudden, I just knew he was right in front of me, paw lifting up slowly, claw extended. It was pitifully slow. Like, agonizingly slow. His claw reached ever closer as my thoughts spun themselves into celtic knots. I mean, he was right in a sense. I either conquered the mana or submitted to it. It made me realise something though, my still thoughts racing. Mana is a reflection of yourself. My feelings of injustice and anger for the world? Fire. My thoughts of freedom and adventure? Wind. My persistence and willful determination? Psychic. It was my mana. It was a part of me.

Sure, I hated parts of myself, but I wasn’t someone to sulk on it, or even explode into a rage at the slightest provocation. Even if I was more prone to it than others... I was who I decided to be. The mana does not control me, I control the mana.

*You have taken your first real steps as a mage, stepping into your chosen element of fire! Your Fae Heritage and affinity allow for greater potential! As a Pyromancer, you are naturally inclined to sudden and snappish decision-making! Be warned, as most Pyromancers die early due to their insatiable lust for battle! You have learned the skill Fire Creation! Chosen Of Flame Boosts fire affinity and nudges skill evolution! Fire Creation becomes True Fire Creation. True Fire Creation allows for the manipulation and creation of flames! No longer are you limited to what's already there, like your body heat, or a nearby brushfire! You are only limited by your very imagination! Create Fire from mana itself! 50% increase to temperature of all and any type of fire magic.*

*Your insights and look into the workings of mana has caused your very soul to blossom! Elementary mana control II becomes Elementary Mana Control III*

I had no time to really iron out these thoughts and feelings, there was only time for action. I seized my fire mana, quelling it forcefully, and making it submit to my will. A part of me quivered, shaking my mindscape like an earthquake. Like some integral part of myself was being ripped away. I ignored the feeling, watching as the sea of fire mana calmed slowly, my corruption node filtering less ambient mana.

I opened my eyes, catching the paw of my foe with a burst of wind. Wind mana oozed off me, my crimson eyes no longer glowing in a rage. I was met with a smirking silver-eyed fox, red paw inches from my face. My face schooled with an expression of a deadly predator, my small form locking eyes with Junior. He was smiling.

“Well! I would say that took you long enough to figure out!” He chuckled.

I didn’t even give him a chance to speak beyond that. I socked him in the face, a blast of wind carrying him even after he had rebounded from my punch, skidding one and a half feet. He got back up again, looking perturbed and a little pissed off.

“Hey! I just helped you learn a new skill that helps you control your fire! You shouldn’t punch the fox who lended you a helping paw! That's… Really mean actually! Like, ‘you're a jerk’ kind of mean!” All at once he sounded like a child again, like he had just been acting wise before and his finally persona broke, leaving a smarter than average, pissed off, evil fox child.

I said nothing for a few seconds, glaring before taking a deep breath and exhaling. Did he help me learn a new skill that would probably save my life? Yes. Did he accelerate my training using death threats and an absurd challenge? Yes. Did I still want to punch him in the face again? Hell yes.

But… Resolve reached my eyes. I wouldn’t act on a whim. I wouldn’t destroy things or needlessly berate and argue with Junior. I wouldn’t be like the weird notifications had described fire mages. I would… Ugh, it hurts me to say it… Apologize to the damn fox… Right now… Aaaand now… Okay, maybe-

Stop stalling! I told myself, a bit of my sudden dual personality breaking out. I glanced at Junior, seeing him smirk at my turmoil. Dammit… I breathed deeply, a flicker of meditation coursing through my soul, the skill washing away my heightened irritation and anger.

“Look, Junior-” He scowled. “I’m sorry for uh, punching you. And wrapping you in a bunch of threads and twisting your outsides a bit. I just wanted to um…” I put on a similar scowl, seeing his arrogant smirk appear again. “I wanted to… Thank you for the… Training.” I grit my teeth, clenching my eyes shut as frustration bubbled within.

I waited for a response, refusing to look his smug, arrogant, excessive, stupid, and-

‘Pat!’

I froze, feeling a soft paw on my baldish head, rubbing my scalp. I opened my eyes in surprise and shock to see him towering over me. I hadn’t realized I had sat down and begun crying, but I totally had. My burned face looking up at Junior with confusion.

‘Pat!’

He just did it again. His thoughts flowed forth smoothly, seemingly amused at my attempted apology. His signature grin was plastered across his face.

Well, I forgive you!” He said chipperly. My tears came out quicker. “You’re not exactly what I would call my first pick as brother material, but I, uh, am willing to tolerate you!” Even if he minced his words together, mixing in more insults than heartwarming compliments, I knew I wasn’t getting anything more out of him. This was likely the nicest thing he had ever said to me.

I only resisted crying for a couple of seconds, battling my fear and anguish as I tried not to unleash the mother of all banshee cries, but I only lasted a second or two before I began wailing, clutching Junior.

I clamped down on his forearm, hating him and loving the damn fox at the same time. I felt his undisguised awkwardness, and confusion at what I was doing. I honestly felt the same way, but it just felt so nice to cling to someone familiar, even if he was a total jerk. My hands held tufts of his fur, holding them with iron in my grip. I felt absurd injustice, unfairness at all of it. At him.

“Why-” I sniffled mentally and physically. “Why can’t you just let me hate you!” I said while wailing. He looked at me in confusion, his amused sparkle fading from his eyes.

“You did all this… Horrible stuff and hurt me… Why can’t you just…” I bawled. Understanding flashed across Junior's eyes before he smiled again, much more sympathetic this time.

“You were supposed to be… Evil and bad… Tricking me into believing you cared! You're not supposed to have… Cares and worries! You're supposed to be… The bad guy…” I knew what I was saying was utterly ridiculous, but it just came spilling out, the stress from the recent days and near insanity all put forth into my tears.

Man. babies sure do cry a ton.

“Well, because I’m not a bad guy.” He said, almost gently. “I’m the guy who put you through small tastes of hell to help you get stronger! And you totally did! Look at you! All grownup, and uh… Well not mature, but certainly, somewhere up there on the scale!” He said teasingly, his horrible sense of humor leaking into his voice once again.

I let out a snorting chuckle through my cry, snot dribbling down my face and soaking into his fur. By the looks of Junior's revulsed face, he was not enjoying it. But, he said nothing, not moving me or removing his offered forearm I was crying on. I said nothing either, just burying deeper into his fur, the small amounts of mana that supported me with the skill balancing act flowing out of me, joining the ambient mana like smoke in the horizon.

“Let's uh, go home shall we?” He said, hoisting me on his furry back. My burnt face still stung, and the red blistered paw prints on my chest stung as well. But what stung most of all, was my failure at using that ever consuming flame, and giving into it multiple times while I had been in that clearing. Sure, It had saved my life, even healing me once, pulling me away from death and from my stupid recklessness. But the fact that I even needed it at all, having to rely on it when things got just a little bit rough, says alot about my character. And that stung most of all.

I clenched his fur, riding in silence as the forest blurred by, heat mana propelling him forward like a personal set of jet engines. I felt the wind in my flattened body, the steady thump of a heartbeat, and the galloping ground that rocked me back and forth like waves in the ocean. His paws hit the earth soundlessly, not even rustling the nearby plants. We stayed like that for a while, my nose burnt to a crisp, unable to recognize what his fur might have smelt like. Probably burnt blood.

I contented myself to occasionally pinging Psychic awareness, checking for nearby hostels, and feeding the information to the pale blue cord connecting our Psyche’s

Eventually, he spoke up, suddenly breaking the silence, making me jolt uncomfortably.

“Oh! That reminds me! We're going to have to do waaaay more training! Your mana control totally sucked in that battle! What the hell were you doing with that wind mana? You could barely throw yourself around to keep up with me! And I don’t even want to talk about your basic mana manipulation! That was horrible work! There was so much ambient mana polluting your wind and Psychic mana, I thought you were trying to play a prank on me! I mean, it totally destroyed your effective damage and speed, allowing me to dance circles around you! If I had wanted, I could have just frozen you and all your mana in an instant! You can’t even-” I tugged on his fur, hard. He yelped, sending me sparks of irritation and annoyance.

The image of me tumbling off his back and slamming head first into a nearby rock discouraged my yanking quickly. I stopped with a quiet sniffle, sensing his satisfaction at his successful conveyed threat.

“Now! As I was saying, You could do with a lot of work on your mana control! It is the most basic of basics! Not even a skill in the first place, more like a mandatory thing you learn quickly! I know monkeys more mana proficient than you! You should definitely work on-”

I take it back. This lecture stings way worse than any of my burns or failures.