“I…I haven’t been entirely honest with you, Sell,” Adion admitted, “I hope you won’t get mad. It’s not that I didn’t trust you, or didn’t want to tell you. I just feared…Well, it’s something quite shocking. I wasn’t sure how you would react.”

“What are you talking about, Adion?” Sell asked, “What’s going on?”

“The truth is that I still have a secret. One that no one knew about before I met my family and told them. Not even Sahra, Benji, Lomin, or Rufus managed to figure this one out,” Adion said, “Remember that treasure I found that allowed me to keep control over fire?”

“Of course,” Sell nodded.

“Well, the truth is, that treasure was actually a collection of pills. Pills that were made during the Age of Wonder, and were probably the most priced possession of the last sect master of the Celestial Phoenix Sect. The pill that gave me, what I call Authority, over fire, was the Fire Phoenix Wisdom Pill. It was made from the blood of the Fire Phoenix and gave me the ability to control fire to a certain limit. But there was also a Celestial Phoenix Wisdom Pill, and that gave me Authority over space. Without that, I wouldn’t come anywhere near my current abilities. Space is way too hard to conjure. The last of these pills was the Moonlight Panther Wisdom Pill, it worked pretty much the same, but for shadow, only to a slightly weaker effect.

“There were also bottles of Elixir of Life and healing pills made by the goddess Mesana. There were even pills called Grand Soul clarity Pills, making the trip through the Soul stages a lot easier. That pill is the reason my grandpa was able to advance, by the way.”

“These pills,” Sell muttered, “You realize not even my family has anything close to this precious? With those pills…”

“I have long realized that these are priceless treasures that I can’t carelessly reveal,” Adion said with an awkward smile, “I gave a Grand Soul Clarity to Fellion in return for teaching me, and his reaction made me become acutely aware that I should never take anything for granted. I think Fellion is very kind, wise, and fair, and I owe him a lot. But even with all that, I think there is a possibility he could cast all that aside and killed me had he seen all the pills I had.”

“That’s probably true,” Sell nodded seriously, “A thing like this. Adion, you can never tell the Headmaster, or anyone else for that matter. Not until you can protect it.”

“I know,” Adion said, “I’ll be careful.”

“So…You don’t think I’ll cast everything aside and rob you?” Sell asked with a small smile.

“Not for a second,” Adion smiled, “And I had to tell you about it in order to give you this.”

Adion pulled out the Fire Phoenix Wisdom Pill he had carried with him in his pocket.

“This is?” Sell asked, staring at the pill in Adion’s hand.

“A Fire Phoenix Wisdom Pill,” Adion said with a small laugh.

“There was more than one?” Sell asked, shocked.

“There was only one from the Celestial Phoenix, unfortunately. But there were five Fire Phoenix Wisdom Pills. I took one, and my family took one each. This is the last one.”

“And you’re…to me?” Sell asked, looking up from the pill to stare at Adion.

“Of course,” Adion said, “You can’t take more than one of these anyway.”

“Adion…You don’t want to save it? What if you need it for someone else? What if you regret it?” Sell asked.

“I’ll never regret it,” Adion said with a smile, “According to the Headmaster, Authority is what separates Immortals from Soul mages. He even thought my kind of Authority might be the kind of Authority that belongs to gods. So…I thought you might want to see if we can become gods together?

“Gods?” Sell asked.

“Don’t dare take on the challenge?” Adion teased.

Sell smiled brightly at Adion, “Of course I do. But it doesn’t sound even like a challenge somehow. When I hear you say it, it almost feels easy. It sounds fun.”

“Want to have some fun, then?” Adion asked, pushing the pill toward Sell.

“I do,” Sell nodded. She got on her knees and moved to the pill. But she didn’t take it. She pushed Adion’s hand away and put her face right in front of Adion’s, looking into his eyes.

“I love you, Adion,” Sell said, leaning in to kiss him.

“I love you too, Sell,” Adion smiled more brightly than ever and kissed her.

After what felt like just a second, but must have been minutes, they pulled apart. Sell didn’t move away, though. She put her head against Adion’s chest and rested in his embrace.

“What are you doing?” Adion asked, looking down at Sell.

“I’m listening to your heart. It’s a nice sound,” Sell said in a low voice.

“What about the pill?” Adion asked with a small laugh, “Aren’t you going to take it?”

“Won’t I need to focus on that then? I don’t want to move. I’ll take it later,” Sell said.

Adion smiled and put his chin to rest on Sell’s head. “Okay.”

Adion and Sell stayed like that for a long time, relishing every second of being close to each other.

Eventually, Adion finally spoke, “Did you know that I saw you for the first time at that auction in Dorbarta?”

“Yeah,” Sell nodded softly, “Why?”

“I just think, looking back at it, I fell in love with you right there,” Adion said.

Sell raised her head from Adion’s chest and looked at him with a smile, “Really? Was I so dashing?”

“You were,” Adion nodded.

“When I first saw you, I just thought you were silly and cute,” Sell said with a laugh.

“Cute?” Adion questioned, “Surely you mean ‘strikingly handsome?”

“Hahaha,” Sell laughed, “Nope. Just cute. I still think you’re cute.”

“I don’t know how I feel about that,” Adion muttered.

“Well, that’s how it is,” Sell said with a smile, “In particular your eyes. I always thought it cute how they revealed everything you were thinking.”

“My eyes reveal what I’m thinking?” Adion questioned.

“I never told you?” Sell asked, “I have always been very good at telling things from people’s eyes. It’s not always a sure thing, but it works a lot of the time.”

“That’s how you always know…” Adion muttered, “That’s cheating. Can you do that with anyone?”

“I can tell more than most people on almost anyone, but it works the best on you. Your eyes are my favorite,” Sell said.

“Your eyes are my favorite, too,” Adion said with a smile, “Let me take a look and see if I can see something.”

Adion leaned close to look deep into Sell’s eyes. But he couldn’t really focus being so close.

“I see,” Adion nodded.

“What do you see?” Sell asked curiously.

“I can’t tell what you’re thinking. So it must be empty. Maybe you’re stupid?” Adion questioned.

“Haha,” Sell laughed, “I’m not!”

Sell jumped on Adion and pushed him to the ground. “You’re just not as amazing as I am. Admit it.”

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“Never,” Adion grinned.

Sell gave Adion a quick kiss before pulling back, “Admit it?”

“Okay, I admit it,” Adion immediately gave in. He raised his head to give Sell a deep kiss.

“I guess we can be equally amazing,” Sell said after breaking the kiss.

“Thank Ganta,” Adion said with relief, “Because I was just bluffing.”

“You-” Sell jumped on Adion again.

After a wrestling match in which Adion gave Sell the victory, they both lay down to look up at the night sky. Adion had his arm around Sell, pulling her close.

“Want me to teach you some stars?” Sell asked.

Adion just wanted to listen to Sell talk, so even though he didn’t see the point in the information, he agreed to be taught by her.

“That big one is Quimine, and the three right below are the sister stars Hursia, Julia, and Fersia,” Sell explained, pointing out three stars to Adion, “It’s part of the Gelemeian constellation. It is said that those sisters were once slaves, but through the grace of the spirit of the Quimine lake, they eventually became gods and ruled over the kingdom that once enslaved them for thousands of years.”

“Is that true?” Adion asked.

“I don’t know,” Sell said, “I doubt anyone knows any of the stories of the stars are true. But it’s still fascinating, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” Adion said, “So the stars are old gods?”

“Not all of them,” Sell said, “Maybe a star is something that is born when a particularly outstanding person dies.”

“How far away do you think they are? I wonder if you could fly there with enough power,” Adion said.

“Anything is possible, right?” Sell said.

“I really want to fly someday,” Adion sighed.

“That’s right, you got to fly on Fellion’s back. Is it really that amazing?” Sell asked.

“It’s incredible,” Adion said, “I’ll show you when I figure it out for myself.”

“But you’re just a human. Would you be able to take me with you?” Sell questioned, “We are different from beasts, after all.”

“If I can’t, we’ll just walk together,” Adion said, “That seems nice too.”

Sell smiled at the answer and leaned in to kiss Adion again. And Adion was never one to refuse.

“I think it’s beginning to get bright,” Sell said after breaking the kiss and looking up at the sky. It was still very dark, but hints of light were showing on the horizon.

“You should take the pill now,” Adion said, “Before it gets too late.”

“Okay,” Sell nodded. She got up to sit in a lotus position. “What will it feel like?”

“It will feel like all the fire in the world is yours to control,” Adion said with a smile, “It’s an unreal feeling. It’s like you are all-powerful. It goes away after a while, and you will be left with just a part of it, so try to focus and enjoy the experience.”

“Alright,” Sell nodded, slightly nervous.

Adion handed Sell the pill. She looked at it curiously for a second before popping into her mouth and swallowing it.

Adion observed her carefully. This was the only time besides Tib that he had seen the experience from outside.

He didn’t notice anything at first, but after a few seconds, he thought he noticed an increase in fire mana around him. It was small at first, but it spread more and more. Adion started getting afraid that the grass and trees around him would light on fire if it continued.

Adion tried to take control of some of the fire mana but realized that it was impossible. No matter how much he pushed his Will, the fire mana around him wouldn’t budge.

That might be a good thing. If it’s under some sort of control due to Sell, it likely won’t set anything on fire.

“Adion,” Sell's low voice broke through Adion’s thoughts. He turned to look at Sell, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“You never said it would be so…so,” Sell struggled to get the right words out.

“Awesome?” Adion suggested.

“Yeah,” Sell said with a small laugh.

“Try to conjure some fire,” Adion suggested.

Sell did as asked. She began with just a small flame, slowly increasing its size until it was about the size of Adion.

“Alright,” Adion said hesitantly, “Maybe not so much.”

“I can control it,” Sell said, “Even this big.”

“What?” Adion questioned. “How?”

“I don’t know,” Sell muttered, “It just lets me. The Will of the world doesn’t fight me. I’m almost all out of fire mana.”

Sell put the fire on the ground and let it spread. She still had control over it, though. It wasn’t until the flame was about the size of a small building that it seemed to slip out of Sell’s control.

“Haaah,” Sell sighed, “I almost hoped that I didn’t have a limit.”

“This is still absolutely amazing,” Adion said, “I never thought you’d gain this amount of Authority. Wait, first of all, put the fire out. This is bound to attract some attention.”

“Oh, you’re right,” Sell said, hurriedly smothering the huge fire.

“We should get going,” Adion said, “It might be that no one bothers to check, but better safe than sorry.”

“Alright,” Sell said. They quickly made their way out of the park. Adion had his attention on the surroundings to make sure no one was sneaking up on them.

“It must be because you have a fire spark already, and perhaps because you are so close to fire,” Adion speculated.

But why, then, wouldn’t it be implied to take the pill much later? Maybe it was just common sense back then.

“Or it could be some other reason,” Adion said, “But it’s still a very nice surprise.”

“Adion…with this…I feel so powerful!” Sell said excitedly.

“I think you could fight even most Gold mages without a problem,” Adion speculated, “That amount of fire under your control, with your concepts, I don’t see how someone could stand a chance.”

“I want to go train,” Sell said, “But it’s late. And where do I even train now? This would attract too much attention, even in a private fighting pit.”

“Well, you might not have to push it to the limit every time,” Adion said.

“But I want to,” Sell muttered.

Adion laughed, thinking Sell was really cute. “Maybe we can take a trip sometime, far away from any people, and just train without worrying.”

“That sounds fun,” Sell said with a smile.

They got out of the park and onto the street again. Fortunately, there wasn’t a crowd of people outside curious about the fire. Adion turned back and estimated that without being as close as he was, people probably wouldn’t notice.

But the city is far from dead at night. Someone has for sure noticed. Oh, well, it’s just a large fire. It doesn’t prove anything. But we should still get going.

“Are you going back to the Academy, too?” Sell asked as they were making their way back.

“I thought I might spend the night at my grandpa’s mansion,” Adion said, “Do you want to come too? My grandpa has been asking to meet you.”

“Oh? I…” Sell hesitated, her face turning red. “O-Okay.”

“Good,” Adion nodded with a smile.

They continued walking leisurely through the city. The night was cool but not cold. Sell seemed a little nervous at first but lightened up as Adion talked about Authority and his thoughts and theories about it.

Eventually, they reached the Remori mansion. The Silver guard outside spotted Adion and Sell as they approached.

“Young master Adion?” The guard asked.

“I thought I’d spend the night here. Is my grandfather up?” Adion asked.

“I’m not sure. You’ll have to ask Marli about that,” The guard answered.

“Alright,” Adion nodded and headed inside. Sell followed carefully a step behind him.

The guard gave Sell a look and turned to give Adion an approving nod with a slight grin as they passed him.

Oh. This might look strange if we are just supposed to be friends. I’ll have to have Grandpa tell them an excuse and make sure nothing spreads.

It didn’t take long for Marli to appear once they got inside the mansion.

She sure is diligent.

“Young master, I didn’t know you’d visit. Your grandfather has turned in for the night,” Marli said.

“Oh,” Adion said, “I guess that’s to be expected. I’ll talk to him tomorrow then.”

“Good,” Marli nodded. She turned to look at Sell. “Shall I arrange a room for the young lady?

“Well,” Adion was about to speak but was interrupted by Sell.

“Yes!” Sell said in a slightly panicky voice and hurried over to Marli. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Adion.”

Marli tried hard to suppress an amused smile, but she wasn’t very successful.

“Right,” Adion smiled, “Goodnight, Sell.”

I guess that’s to be expected. Adion thought as he made his way to his room.

Well, I tried.