Pyra sighed as she looked at the collection of humans standing around the training yard. They had reached the Capital a few days back, and no weird events happened again. In fact, when they reached the walls they were let in without a "tax". Then, sent directly to the Guild where they were told they would compete for a spot in the next dungeon dive.
Yana had thought everything was going too smoothly, and had been on his guard about it all. Yet, things went exactly as they were told. During the testing Yana did a few extra tricks again, and they passed with approval. Now, they were waiting for the members of a guild. A guild that was very respected by the people of Masire, but both Yana and Pyra didn't like the name of; Cult of Madness.
They were a big deal in Masire because they went into the Gates almost every week to gather loot and report changes. It was the perfect group to be a part of since they had priority on entering the dungeon as well. While independent groups were sent in at odd hours and only near the middle of each month. It wouldn't be hard for them to make it work, but Pyra felt like she was in a rush.
Each day had felt like a tick was going off in her head, and pushing her to do more, faster. The sound and feeling had quieted in a the last couple days since they reached the Capital, but it was still ongoing. Yana had been concerned about her attitude, but wasn't sure what was the cause of it. Pyra knew the cause.
Even if Yana had freed her from the hands of the System, it was still doing terrible things out there. Once freedom for herself would be enough, but she couldn't help but remember the looks on that young boy's face in Lolacal. An empty look of someone who lost the most precious things. Then there were the bodies she had seen.
Flesh slowly turning to ash as the person was already burned from the inside by the flames forced on her by the System. Now she had her own flames back, but she never felt like it was enough. No matter the number of smiles she brought to their faces. The soot stains and hallow gazes of skulls still haunted her when she closed her eyes.
Today was going to be an exhibition of skills so they could be selected by the parties within the Disciples. Today was a day she would have to show the way her flames could burn, sear, and destroy. She didn't know if she wanted to do this, and her hands shook as she looked around her. Born of her Mother and a perfect being she might be, but her mind was flawed. She understood this after watching people walk the streets.
They had this understanding of how everything fit together, and could find joy in the simple things like watching her dance with fire. Yet, she did it to try and capture that joy and simple smiles. Even looking back she couldn't remember laughing at a joke, or smiling at something without trying to understand it. As names were called, she had fallen into her mind again.
Yana thought she was experiencing issues with his magic, but she knew the truth. The magic had freed her mind from the anger and rage, and now she had to face what she had done back then. A whole town had been ravaged by her magic, and it could have been so much worse if she had let it. She had the power to kill all those in this courtyard, and melt the stone to slag. She could-
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"Pyra!" Yana tapped her nose with his finger. The shock brought her out of the daze, and saw that everyone was looking at her. Various expressions from annoyance to laughter were present. Though there was one or two that seemed to just nod at her. As if they could understand her state of mind, and that made her feel a bit better. Her brother couldn't understand, but humans and beastkin, despite their imperfection, could likely relate.
"Glad you are back with us, beauty," A human said, his stance wasn't as welcoming as his words.
"Over there," He said, pointing a finger at a series of targets that must have been set up before, but Pyra couldn't remember, "Is where you will show us your short, medium, and long range attacks." He then crossed his arms waiting. Likely, there were other instructions, but she had missed them. So, she just summoned the mana from within her to encase her hands. A crackling signaled the dancing flames and the transformation of her ashen hair to a burning ember.
Muttering voices came from around her, but she couldn't hear anything but the rumbling of sound and the screams of burning people. The first target had a line in the ground within a couple feet of it, and was heavily shrouded in a shield of magic and metal. She just stepped to the line and thrust out her hand like a blade. A burning white lance pierced the target and wall behind it before they both began to burn and melt.
Spinning she moved to the line at the second target and slashed her hand out. A similar edge of blinding heat split the target in half, and the two behind it burst into flame from the heat alone. She could have hit both, but it wasn't needed. Pure fire mana moving as fast as she had it had no equal in her mind. She imagined that her flames were dancing with her as she completed another spin.
Her foot crossed behind the third target's line, and she waved her hands like she was dismissing someone in court. A series of white lines flared in the air, before the target simply fell apart. A pinpoint application of fire mana dicing it like razor threads. She knew that was the end of the demonstration they wanted, but the flames in her hands wanted her to dance more. It would be so easy to just let go for a minute and show off more.
Yana felt and saw the gathering mana long before the rest of the participants. His fingers began to draw out a series of fine glyphs in the air in front of him. His sister hadn't been feeling too good in recent weeks, and Marshall had told him it started after the events in Lolacal. Which is why he had hoped that purging that insidious System would help, but, if anything, it had made it worse. The last cold blue runes filled the script, and he clapped his hands before drawing them back out. Visuallizing the two bubbles of protection around the training yard and the tight group of watchers.
A couple people looked over at him in surprise, and even put hands to weapons. Such fools would have been easy for him to exclude, but he decided that it would be better to save all of them. It looked better to the bored looking human. The man even looked over at Yana with a nod of approval, though Yana didn't know if it was for the protection or just the skill of the script. Honestly, the man should have been grateful to see either.
Pyra suddenly opened her closed eyes, and the air around her spun in waves of incandescent light. From afar it would look as if a column of white light was releasing waves of blue, white, and orange flames. Up close it was hard to see anything, and luckily the script that Yana created had limited the range of the destruction. Anything not protected was turned to slag and glass, and when the light and display ended. Even the Recruiter was looking around with a nervous eye.
Fire was a common element for mages, but often they had problems with either range or with multiple enemies. For Pyra, she was fire, and there was nothing that she couldn't burn.
"Well, I think I have the group we will be taking on then." The Recruiter visibly swallowed after taking in all the damage around them. Pyra couldn't really hear his words since she only saw how fire had burned it's fear into people and it was her fault again.