Chapter 12

Chapter 12 (Version 1)

Excitedly, I skim through the page, stopping about halfway down where the words “Fire Nova Danmaku Explosion” catch my eye. This seems like a pretty advanced spell, but I start reading anyway. Once again, the words are memorised with ease. In less than an hour, the spell is all in my head, ready to be used to blow this place apart.

I prepare myself placing my feet apart, as the book taught me, and close my two hands perpendicular to each other, leaving an enclosed empty space inside. I shut my eyes and start working my magic. Thanks to Marisa’s training, I’m much more familiar with creating and manipulating fire and the magic comes very quickly. My body heats up and I feel a fire forming inside my hands. I open my eyes to see the empty space between the palms of my hands begin to shine a strong orange through my fingers.

I bend my knees, preparing myself to release the spell. I hear footsteps on the cobbled path slowly getting louder. I try to peek and see who it is, but I can’t lose my focus. I hear someone call out, but I’ve already started my release.

I expand my arms, to reveal a deep red fire suspended in mid-air with a radiant white centre for a split second before it expands erratically. The expanding flame, along with flaming fire balls, hit everything around me; The stone path I stand on, the grass patch, even some of it hit the trees outside the mansion and of course, the stone building behind me doesn’t get spared.

Once I steady myself, I inspect the damage. Around me, there is a circle of charred grass and flowers, some still burning. I look up and see that the branches of the trees are broken, mostly from the non-igniting fire balls, which is a nice touch to the spell.

“Ahem” I hear a voice to my left. I turn around to see Meiling, her arms crossed and looking angry. Curious, I ask her, “Is something wrong?”

“Well, other than the fact that you blew up half the garden and possibly outside. Nothing, nothing at all.” Comes her monotonous reply.

“Uhm… I didn’t mean to…”

“Just what were you thinking when you casted that spell right in the middle of the garden?”

“I don’t know… Patchouli told me to practice outside, so I did.”

“If you wish to do magic, please only do that outside, by the lake.”

Meiling sighs. Her anger subsides but her eyes starts to water, on the verge of crying. Feeling guilty, I try to think of something to say, maybe I should apologise.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t think it would…” I’m lost for words, I did not think through this properly. We both stand in silence, Meiling looking at the charred remains of the flowers.

The silence finally gets broken by the voice of a young girl, “What was that sound?”

We turn to the mansion and see the girl, who wore a pink hat and dress just barely taller than the balcony railing she stood behind. She saw the state of the garden and suffice to say, she was quite shocked. She immediately called for Meiling to enter the mansion. Meiling covers her face and quickly walk off without saying another word, leaving me alone.

I look around, not knowing what I should do. Eventually, I decide to head back to the library. I turn around to see Patchouli standing at the door. She had a perfectly straight face, and she was looking at me like Alice did. Without saying a word, she gestured for me to follow her. She turned around and disappeared into the library. I followed her inside to see what she has to say to me.

Patchouli walks over to her desk and picks up a book. She says nothing, and I can only imagine what she is about to do.