The next day Jak killed a deer. It was late afternoon, and he was in the forest looking for mushrooms or berries, something easy to find, when he heard Ash barking off in the distance. The moonwolf pup had crept up on a deer, before barking as fearsomely as a tiny wolf could. The deer was startled by the sudden noise, and sprinted in the opposite direction--straight towards Jak. Without hesitating Jak swing his club out and hit the deer just as it was charging past. The animal tumbled over into the ground and Jak jumped on it before it could get away.

When the deer was skinned and the meat cut into strips, Jak breathed a sigh of relief. Mushrooms and berries were great for a little while, but having meat on the journey made a big difference. Alya set up a fire and Jak hung most of the meat up to dry in the smoke. Tim tried to look useful, but it was clear to the other two that he had never spent much time outside of a city. They didn't mind, and showed him how make a spit to turn the meat over the flames. Before long some juicy strips of venison were sizzling, and the three of them ate with contented sighs. Ash looked extremely proud, gnawing on a bone bigger than he was. The little tuft of fur on his forehead glowed brightly and his tail wagged as he ate.

Jak lay back, his hands behind his head, and looked at the stars. He watched his aura from the corner of his eye, practicing seeing it. He was getting better, and he could now see a faint halo around Tim as well. It wasn't flame-like, more like a fuzzy cloud around him.

"Hey Tim."

"Yea?"

"You said people can use their auras to create special abilities, how do you do that?"

"I'm not sure yet, maybe they'll teach us at the academy. The most important thing my old instructor taught me was to hide my presence, by withdrawing my aura into my body. He said in a big city, it's important to learn to hide your strength."

"How do you do that?"

"Your aura follows your willpower, you just... want it. Imagine your aura withdrawing into your skin and will it to happen."

Jak thought about it for a moment, gazing at the little grey flames surrounding him, on the edge of visibility. He tried to imagine them getting smaller, compressing until they would disappear under his skin. Following his thoughts, the shadowy flames did indeed become smaller, clinging to him more tightly. Then the strangest thing happened. Long shadows that covered the clearing lost their darkness. The fire suddenly grew a lot more colorful. Insects that were silent before suddenly started chirping in the night, adding a lively hum to the forest.

Hearing a gasp from Alya, Jak looked over and saw her aura. Now that he was learning to see aura, Jak had seen Alya's as a very dim grey, but now it was golden red, and so bright that it bathed the entire clearing in a magical light. Jak was stunned, he had never seen colors so bright and lively before. Then, just as suddenly as all this came about, it vanished. The shadows grew dark, the insects fell silent, and Alya's aura shrank back to the dim grey it was before.

Three of them sat there in silence, not knowing what happened. Ash gave a questioning bark, not sure what to make of all this, then settled back to sleep.

"Alya," breathed Tim, "what did you do?"

"Me? I don't know. Nothing?" Alya seemed confused but very, very excited. "I felt it though. Jak I felt it! My aura, magic, fire, everything!" She jumped up and danced with excitement. "I did something! I don't know what it was but I did it!" Jak smiled at her enthusiasm, but felt confused at the same time. He had done something too. In his shock at everything changing, he had let go of his aura, and the quiet grey flames surrounded him again. Had he...? He tried to withdraw his aura into himself again, and as he did so, everything played out the same as before. The shadows lost their sinister edge. The insects burst back into life. Alya froze mid-dance as her aura shone through the clearing once again. She waved her hands in front of her eyes, watching the faintest trail of red and gold as she did so. Then she looked at the fire, and saw that it too had a slight red and gold glow, similar to her aura. A curious feeling came over her, and she reached into the fire and picked up a small flame. She didn't pick up a burning stick, only the flame itself. The three of them stared in wonder as Alya held a small flame in her hand. Jak couldn't resist, and let his aura out. The flame, and Alya's aura, winked out as if they had never existed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

None of them could sleep that night. They kept experimenting with Jak's aura, seeing it sap the color and vibrancy from their surroundings, and seeing Alya's aura jump into life when Jak's was absent. Alya was beside herself with joy, playing with flames, trying to hold one in each hand, trying to juggle them, trying to throw them at Jak. Jak dodged one, then let his aura slip to snuff out the second. He was getting better and better at manipulating it. Tim was whooping and cheering them on with every little experiment. Jak was surprised to feel genuine warmth from Tim, no hint of jealousy or envy at these strange powers manifesting.

"Hey Tim," Jak said, "have you ever heard of these kinds of powers or abilities before?" He gestured at himself and then at Alya, who was causing a little flame to race around the clearing, while Ash yapped and leapt at the flame, trying to catch it with his paws.

"Fire magic? Sure, my dad had lots of mage friends in the royal guard. Fire is a popular combat magic, because of its destructive potential. They were all old people though, I didn't meet anyone our age who can do that. As for you," Tim gestured at the tiny shadows lingering around Jak, "I could be wrong, but I think you want to practice withdrawing your aura as much as possible, and never ever let anyone at the academy see what you can do. Once we arrive, you should just have it permanently shut off." The words came out heavy and with none of the joy they had just been having. Jak's stomach sank, and he started to have a bad feeling about his aura.

"It's not common, is it?"

"Not at all. I've never seen it before, and never even heard of it, except maybe in some ancient stories. A long time ago there was a group of people, who dedicated their lives to removing magic from the world. They were called Magekillers. They walked in shadows, and destruction and ruin followed them. I know, it sounds silly, and they were just stories, you know? Eat your vegetables, or the magekillers will wait in the shadow of your bed for you to fall asleep, that sort of thing. Anyway, let's make it our priority to find out what's going on once we reach the academy. Until we know more, better to be safe than sorry, right?"