“Papa! Papa! I saw it! I saw it!” I yelled before even reaching Mr. Orion’s house, getting a few stares in the process.

By the time I reached the door, Mr. Orion had already opened it and I ran straight inside. “Papa! Papa! I—”

“Ep-Ep-Ep!” Papa quickly interrupted me. “Lyon, is that how we treat our dear Orion?”

I blinked twice in confusion before realizing what Papa was trying to tell me. “Ah...Good morning Mr. Orion.” I said, looking down in embarrassment.

“Better.” Papa nodded.

“Good morning to you too, Lyon. Where is all this excitement coming from?” He asked playfully, not bothered by my rude behavior.

“I saw it! I saw it!” I screamed, my excitement returning.

“What did you see?” Papa asked curiously.

“Quint! I saw Quint!”

There was a small pause, and Papa and Mr. Orion stared at each other.

That was not the reactions I expected.

“Wha—” Just as I was about to ask what was going on, Papa and Mr. Orion burst into laughter.

‘What is it? Did I say something funny?’

“Oho, Lyon, that was a good one.” Papa said through his laughter.

“Ee-ee.” Startled, weird sounds came from my mouth. “What’s so funny?” I asked, panicked.

Papa coughed lightly, clearing his throat, realizing I wasn’t joking. “No one can see Quint, you can only sense it.”

He paused and cleared his final chuckles. “Even the most sensitive of people, the closest they ever got in regards to actually seeing Quint, was when they manifested an element. And even then, it was only for a split second that they saw some particles. Mind you, each of them were unparalleled geniuses of their generation.”

“But-but I saw them! I saw the red, blue, green, and yellow lights!” I named the first ones that popped into my head.

There was another pause. There was no laughter this time. Instead, two different eyebrows were raised.

“You must be talking about the elemental lights. Remember what I just said about these unparalleled geniuses? They described the elements of fire, water, wind, and earth with the exact lights you just listed. I recently explained that to Cain. Wait, did he put you up to this?”

“What? No! I saw them! I really did!”

Papa’s face softened. “Lyon, it’s not that me or Orion don’t want to believe you. It’s simply impossible. Ignoring details such as potential or sensitivity, the one key aspect for one to begin sensing Quint is to have a core. It is only after that where higher forms of perception show themselves.”

“How do I get a core then?”

“It happens naturally, usually around the age of eleven.” Papa explained matter-of-factly. “Let me tell you one last theory over Quint. The theory goes like this: every living being has Quint inside of them. By that logic, we do too. It’s just that we, unlike Quint Beast, aren’t born with a core but the Quint is spread in us and naturally reaches the center of our body. That’s why the core is in the solar plexus, and that’s why most people awaken by early adolescence.

‘Wait a minute... Isn’t that exactly what I saw?’

“But there is a hole to this theory. If that...” Papa continued, but I couldn’t focus on what he was saying.” “…in fif—”

“Thanks, Papa!” I jumped and hugged him.

“-ty. Um... sure?” He turned his head to the side and took a glance at Mr. Orion, who shrugged as well.

“I have to go now, bye!” I screamed, already running for the door.

It took Papa a moment before screaming behind me. “Be careful!”

Waving back, I made a run for the forest.

Yesterday was amazing, but I didn’t have enough of it. Today, I was going to enjoy it more. Plus, there, I wouldn’t have to worry about Cain. Running at full speed, nothing could stop me. Nothing!

Sniff, sniff

Okay, maybe one thing. Mr. Herbert’s bakery was at it again.

‘One equals none, so a second day shouldn’t be any different.’

Finishing my cake, I returned to my goal, but was stopped my a familiar voice. “Lyon!”

Turning around, it was Theodore, holding a ball. “Wanna play?” He asked, shaking it in the air.

My hand reached on its own but quickly stopped it. I really wanted to play, but after yesterday and what I just learned, I just had to go into the forest again.

“I’m sorry Theodore, I have something else to do, maybe later,” I said and turned for my destination.

This time I didn’t have second thoughts. I just waved the leaves away and jumped inside. The forest was as pretty as I remembered it. After playing ‘checkpoints’, I ended up in the same sunny sport. It was also just as pretty as before, but this time I wasn’t there for the view... well, I was, but that wasn’t the point.

Shaking my head, I held my pendant and focused. Soon, the lights started appearing again. For a moment, I fell for their sparkling dance but got my focus back when my eyes crossed the lights inside me and the dim color they had.

‘Alright, it’s core time!’

...

A moment passed

...

Then another, and a next one followed. Nothing happened.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The realization of a small detail stopped me in my tracks. ‘How do I do that?’

Papa said it happened naturally, so did it really matter if I could see them or not?

“No!” I screamed in panic, making things worse. Having lost focus over the crushing revelation, the lights started fading away.

“Don’t go! Don’t go!” I cried out to them, making them fade faster.

“Ah! What am I doing!?” Holding my messed up hair in place, I put all my focus on the pendant, and the deeming lights took back their color.

Falling back to the ground, I breathed heavily, and instead of trying something, I just looked at them.

‘Great, now there is this feeling that pressured me to stay focused.’

Breathing in and out, I calmed down and noticed something I hadn’t seen yesterday.

All the different lights danced beautifully, but I was wrong about them being free. They were, but they seemed to like some places more than others. My pendant came into view again. Throughout everything here, it drew most of the lights to itself by a lot. The question was...

‘Why?’

What did my pendant have more than anything else here?

Papa said that an Elemancer was able to control or ‘manipulate’ Quint. For one to use Quint, they needed to have a core. Did that mean my pendant had a core? But a pendant was a pendant, it was not alive.

‘There must be something else.’

Was it even important that my pendant drew Quint more than the flowers here?

After some thinking, I brought it down to three words.

‘Pendant-Elemancer-Core... Pendant-Elemancer-Core... Pendant-Elemancer-Core... Wait! That’s it!’

My pendant drew Quint, and Elemancers had their core in the center of their body. So if I took my pendant and placed it over my tummy, wouldn’t that make me awaken faster?

Taking off my shirt and pressing the pendant on my skin - rrr cold - I waited.

The chilly feeling melted away when my excitement rose through the roof... erm, the trees? It was very small and hard to see, but the lights inside me did go faster!

“Yes! Just wait, I’ll be an Elemancer in no time!” I jumped into the air, screaming my victory.

“I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I’ve done it. I’ve... done... it...?” It took me a few moments to realize my mistake. I always wore my pendant. Didn’t that mean I was doing that already, and just didn’t know about it?

Taking back my excitement, I focused again. I was definitely on the right path, but not quite there yet.

‘Just what am I missing?’

The lights inside me were spread from head to toe and were moving, but my left hand, the one that held my pendant, seemed to have gathered them all in my fingers.

Putting the pendant back, they seemed, and even felt, relaxed to return to their normal movements.

‘Huh? That was weird. How did I feel that? Wait, no. What did I feel?’

I looked my fingers all around. Nothing was different. Then I poked at the pendant. Again, nothing.

“Huh...Hold on. What is that?”

As I poked, I noticed some lights were gathered behind the pendant in my tummy, where Papa said the core should be, but something didn’t feel right. They were very close to one another, much more so than any other light, but not connected. And most weird of all, they weren’t moving, like... like they reached their limit on their own and needed a final push to click together.

‘T-that’s it!’

I poked, squeezed, and sucked my tummy to try to make the lights touch, but nothing changed. The lights remained still.

‘Come on, mr. light, don’t you want to be closer to your other light friend? Please, just move a bit closer.’ Sadly, nothing happened.

I stopped, hurting from all the different shapes my tummy had to take. This was clearly not the answer, so instead, I took the pendant and shoved it in my belly.

“Come on! Go! Move! Touch!”

More and more little lights gathered because of the pendant. At first, they were no more than three or four, but now more than ten were gathered, all close and still.

My brows turned pointy. ‘Where is it?’

Something was missing. When the lights were gathered on my finger, there was this feeling. It was strange, but it was there. Where was it now?

Papa said that Elemancers can’t see Quint but sense it. Well, I can see it, even if they don’t believe me, but does that mean this strange feeling was me sensing Quint?

Letting my eyes and mind relax, the lights vanished. I took a breath, closed my eyes, held my pendant, and focused. Not to see, but to feel.

I waited.

Soon, the strange feeling returned, bringing with it different colors of Quint that illuminated the darkness. The lights swirled around, gradually filling the void, until they abruptly ceased. The darkness wasn’t so dark anymore. Across this... vast space, lights glowed brightly, each with its own unique brilliance, steady and unmoving.

It reminded me of checkpoints, so I jumped and jumped from one to another, connecting them.

“One, two...”

I liked counting while playing checkpoints. It made it more fun, and it helped with keeping a score.

“... twenty-three, twenty-four...”

How many jumps until I reached a new high score?

“... fifty-five, fifty-six...”

How many would it take for me to lose?

“... eighty-seven, eighty-eight...”

I was getting close. Would I succeed or would I fail?

“... ninety-nine, Ninety-nine.”

In the end, I didn’t win, but I didn’t lose either. It was a tie. Ninety-nine was my biggest score ever, but I wasn’t going to pass it today. There were no more lights for me to jump into…

No. That was a lie.

There was one more.

There was one last light that shined brighter than all the others combined. I had seen it from the very beginning and was excited about reaching it. But when I reached the ninety-ninth, I realized the last one was too far away. My jump wasn’t big enough for me to reach it, so it wasn’t a tie. I had lost. I had failed.

I wasn’t happy or excited anymore. I was sad. I wanted to cry. It felt awful reaching this point, only to not reach my goal. And my goal was right in front of me, ready for me to take it.

I was not excited anymore, but something inside me was not ready to give up.

It was right there, waiting for me.

I had to do it. I had to jump. I had to reach my goal.

I jumped.

The fire I saw inside the Emberfang’s eyes, I felt it as well. Suddenly, my senses got sharper. My breath filled the darkness, my heart’s thumping shook it, and with each passing moment, cracks of light shattered it to pieces.

“Come on!”

Extending my hand, I tried reaching for the hundredth, the brightest of them all, the last one.

As time moved slower, I realized it. I wouldn’t make it. I was off by a hair’s breadth. Still, I wasn’t ready to give up. I stretched more, my hand hurting as it reached further.

“Come on! Touch!”

Before the moment of truth, my eyes snapped open, the infinite darkness vanishing, and I gasped for air. It took me a moment to gather myself and snap out of whatever that was.

It was night.

Laying down, the clear moon beamed at me. To it, my experience didn’t happen, and even if it did, it wouldn’t change anything. It was the moon, after all.

‘I should go back.’

***

“Thank you, Mr. Herbert!”

“Haha, of course, of course. Have a nice day, Lyon.”

Waving goodbye to Mr. Herbert, I continued with the usual. Wake up, check on Papa, have a honey cake, and go to the forest. I have been doing this for a few days now.

‘Mmm, so good.’

But not everything stayed the same. Checkpoint had new rules! Now, instead of keeping a streak, I try to see how long it takes me to reach the sunny spot. Yesterday, it took me eight minutes and twenty-one seconds!

‘Today will be eight minutes and twenty seconds!’

As Twilight said, ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step’. If I got better by one second each day, in a year, I would have improved by 365 seconds!

‘Twilight is so cool!’

Taking one more bite from the cupcake, it didn’t taste as sweet as the rest. Cain was in front of me with crossed arms. There was no room for me to run, so instead of saying anything, I continued eating my cake.

Other than his brows turned even pointier, he didn’t do or say anything. He waited for me to finish. I ate pretty fast, not because he was getting angrier, but because the cake didn’t taste so good anymore.

“Why didn’t you tell me what happened when I asked you?” He began before I could even finish my bite. “There wasn’t a reason for you to not tell me, unless it had something to do with you.” He pointed a finger at me. “It’s your fault, isn’t it? You are the reason Father is in this state.”

I waited until I was sure he wasn’t going to say something else. When he didn’t, I spoke coldly. “Are you done?”

“W-what?” He flinched and his anger disappeared for a moment.

I wanted to laugh, but I had to keep on playing the role. “I said, are you done? Do you have something else to say? I have things to do.”

Sadly, his confusion didn’t last long, and his pointy brows returned. “Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

“Yes.” I said evenly before turning around at the last moment to hide my rising lips.

Taking a turn to my right, the moment I was out of his vision, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and laughed out loud.

“I can’t believe it actually worked!”

Having Twilight in my mind right before Cain popped in was the best choice I ever made. When he began talking, my mind immediately ran for one of the bad guys Twilight had to face, and how cool he was. From that point on, I knew exactly what to say.

‘Twilight is the best!’