17. Strange Sensations

Although Ardan had completed his test, he hadn’t gotten his results back yet. An hour had passed. Not only had the two done the air test, but they’d also finished water. Water had been a breeze to Ardan. It was much the same thing that he practiced at home in the bathroom. The instructor for that element was a recent graduate from the academy. Unfortunately, he hadn’t received his results for either and didn’t get a chance to talk to Halcyon again.. He assumed that he’d get them once the workshop was over.

For now, Ardan was patiently waiting in line for his turn at the fire station. Unlike the water and air stations, the fire one didn’t have a completely separate room. Only a glass box in the centre, where a student would complete the tests. This meant that their performance was on full display to the entire group. Not exactly something Ardan was looking forward to- especially since it would be his first time doing it.

However, he assumed the fundamentals were the same for fire. Isolate the element. Activate element sense. Manipulate the element. Simple as one, two, thr-

“Alright! Who’s next?”

Shiloh strutted out of the enclosure, a proud smile on his face. “Come on Ardan, you’re next.”

So lost in thought, Ardan hadn’t been paying attention to Shiloh, who now thrusted a stained white apron into his arms.

“Wha-?” Then he remembered what he was doing here, and blushed in embarrassment. “Thanks.” He said meekly before trudging into the enclosed area, head down.

Before joining the viewing area on the opposite side, Shiloh gave Ardan an encouraging pat on the back. “Good luck,” he whispered.

As Ardan stepped into the humid enclosure, he was greeted by a bright, round bellied man. “Hello there! Looking a little nervous, hey?”

Ardan nodded and wrung his hands.

The room was completely bare, and it stunk of gas and smoke. To say it was hot would be an understatement. From the moment of entry, the sweat on Ardan’s palms practically begin to drip off of them. The bandage wrapping around his forearm changed from warm to an unbearable burn. Ardan rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie and scratched at it, wishing it would come off. He grabbed the collar of his shirt and shook it, trying to air the front of his body.

“Haha! I know it’s a little bit heated, but you won’t be in here for long. Can you bear it?” The man, who’s name was Lamont, pulled out a soaking towel from a bucket and held it out to him. “Take this. You might need it.”

Ardan raised an eyebrow. Lamont’s face was the colour of a tomato - and shape. However, his jubilant smile rid him completely of bad intentions. “Thanks…” Ardan accepted the towel graciously.

“You might want to put that on first,” Lamont said, pointing to the apron. “It’ll protect you from the flames. Us elves may be able to manipulate elements, but we sure as hell can’t withstand them.”

Nodding, Ardan slipped the cover over his head, but noticed it didn’t reach far enough to cover his forearms. However, he chose to ignore it. He was simply too hot to think clearly.

Lamont, who worked as a professional chef, held out a device. It was black and had a small red button on top. A wire trailed from the device to a pole in the centre of the room. He picked off a pair of safety goggles and gloves on the wall and held it out to Ardan. “Here. You’d probably want to wear these too. I’ll get the fire going and you can do your thing. For burst, please aim that way.” Lamont gestured to the opposite side of the room. “The high speed cameras will dictate the rest. Oh- Unless you want to start with bend?”

Ardan shook his head. “No, it’s alright. I’ll do burst first.”

“Great! Then I’ll start the fire now.” At this, Lamont pressed the red button in his hand and the top of the pole burst into a large flame.

While Ardan slipped on the gloves and goggles, he ran through his game plan. In reality, there were only really two groups of elements. Since air and earth were all around, they counted as one. These took the most effort to control. Fire and water formed the other group, a group that focused on specific spaces to manipulate. In short, fire was supposedly one of the easier elements.

Just like water… right?

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He approached the pole with caution. Although he hadn’t had any traumatic experiences with fire, he didn’t want to create some now. Fire was a crude thing. Dancing in the air, hanging on for dear life, it depended on air to sustain and destroy itself. It was small.

And then Ardan stopped.

It was small.

How in the heck am I supposed to do burst with this thing?

“Uh, sorry Mr Lamont, but…” He began.

“Yes? What can I do for you?”

“Can you make the fire bigger?” Ardan asked timidly.

Lamont gave him an apologetic look. “Sorry…” He paused, as if searching for something in his head. “Ardan. Sorry Ardan. That’s the maximum it can go. Besides, it would be a little unfair if the size of the flame changed for each student, right?”

“That’s true, I guess.” Ardan said, sighing dejectedly. Let’s just get this over with.

“Burst!” He whispered, one arm grabbing the other’s wrist.

The flame flickered in front of him, shooting forward a measly metre.

- Alert! -

You have learnt the sub-skill [Fire Manipulation].

No sense of accomplishment filled him. He hung his head.

“Great job! Now let’s move on to bend…” Lamont whistled cheerfully, acutely aware of the disappointment Ardan was feeling. The attempt was a pitiful one, and he would end up being scored one of the lowest. Perhaps the child simply didn’t have any affinity for fire.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll improve with time.” He said, trying to reassure Ardan.

That wasn’t what Ardan was worried about. What he did care about, on the other hand, were the dozen faces pressed against the glass, watching his every move. His soon to be classmates. Ardan always cared about his appearance, knowing that first impressions were the most important.

He stood there, transfixed and ashamed.

“Hey, Ardan. Let’s move on to bend now, alright?” Lamont touched his shoulder gently, peeling his gaze away from the others outside.

Ardan wiped away invisible tears and nodded. “Alright.”

He returned his attention to the flame, which was still burning brightly. This, he could do well. Surely the practice with water helped, right?

Activating element sense, he raised both his arms so they were on either sides of the fire. Ardan watched the flame closely, observing it’s flickering, raging movements. It was nothing like water.

The flame licked his gloves, threatening to burn him if he got nearer. Ignoring the heat, Ardan cradled the little thing in his hands, lifting it off the pole slowly. It hovered a measly few centimetres off of his hand, and gave off a warm aura.

That warm turned warmer, close to a burning hot and-

Why is this so hot?

Why is this so hot?

Something ignited within him. His breathing quickened. Hands began to tense. Fingers curled inwards tightening into a fist.

And the flame grew.

Hotter. Larger. More ferocious.

The fire expanded, growing closer and closer to Ardan’s gloves. However, Lamont wasn’t worried. Those gloves had element resistance, meaning they’d protect the wearer from fire.

But what the inexperienced chef could not see, was the heat crawling up Ardan’s wrists and wrapping around his forearms. His skin trembled and glowed pink. It was only when the flame began creeping up that Lamont began to see what was truly happening.

Lamont threw out his palm, taking control of the fire, and flung it away from Ardan. “Ardan! Are you alright?” He called as he rushed towards him.

Ardan stood stock still, feeling the sudden rage drain out of him. It went along with the pain and a strange stinging sensation. Probably what it feels like to be burnt, he thought. But it didn’t hurt that much. Not like that time he was attacked by the wolf. And then he watched in awe as his exposed forearm, the one that wasn’t covered by the bandage, burned. It stayed on fire for a few more seconds, before the skin turned black, followed by an icy feeling. The black area seemed to harden for a moment, then cracked and crumbled away, revealing perfectly healthy looking skin, the fire, gone.

Due to it being obstructed by Ardan’s body, Lamont did not see the bizarre series of events take place. Thankfully, nor did the rest of the cohort.

- Alert! -

Title: [The First Hybird] grants you [Fire Resistance].