Xyrus Fire 1

“Congrats Dad. Now that you’re at solid orange stage, I think it’ll be okay to teach you something I’ve been messing around with.” I hang the towel on a nearby chair.

Giving me a curious look, he beckons for me to continue.

Focusing a tiny bit of mana into the palm of my right hand, I will a small flame to ignite. “Here is the most basic flame attribute technique you learn, Ember.” I throw the small flame from my palm unto the towel that was hanging off the nearby metal chair.

As expected, the small flame, by the time it reached the towel, was so diluted that all it left was a tiny black soot mark in the middle of the white towel.

“If you’re talking about mana theory, it’s not anything new to me, Son. For Augmenters, since we produce mana from within our bodies, the farther the mana travels away from us, the more diluted and weaker it becomes.”

“I wasn’t trying to demonstrate mana theory. That’ll be for next time Dad.” I wag my finger at him, earning me a hard thump on my head for being a smartass.

Rubbing my head, I will another small portion of mana into the palm of my hand. I ignite another flame but whereas the first time the color of the flame was bright red, this time it was orange. “Now watch Dad.” I throw the small flame, that was the same size as the previous flame, at the towel again but this time, it burned a small hole through the towel.

My father didn’t show much of a reaction. “Didn’t you just add more mana unto the flame to make it stronger?”

Shaking my head, I explain. “If I added more mana, the flame would be bigger. Dad, did you notice the color of the flame?”

“Yeah, the color was a bit lighter, more orange.” He scratches his head, trying to piece this puzzle together.

“That’s the key! What I did just now was a technique that is considered a high level spell by Conjurers to use only.” I grew excited as I began explaining it to him.

“You see Dad, fire’s temperature, or more accurately, the rate of combustion depends on a mix of different things: the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, black-body radiation, the type of fuel being burned, the oxidation of the fuel and so on. The so-called ‘fuel’ being burned, in this case is fire attribute mana. What I discovered while playing around with it is how versatile this ‘fuel’ can be. That orange flame, Dad, was a flame much hotter than the previous one, making it even stronger.” I stop to take a breath.

My father gives me an expression as if I talked to him in Hebrew but he understood the last portion of my explanation. “So what you’re saying is that, by using the same amount of mana, I can produce an even hotter flame for my techniques?” He fiddles with his beard while pondering.

“Exactly! Watch, it can go even further.” I demonstrate again, this time producing a yellow flame, which left an even bigger hole in the towel, with the ridges still aflame.

I don’t stop there. The last demonstration takes a bit more time, as I have to manipulate very carefully the fire attribute mana in my palm. After a couple of minutes, I produce a dim blue flame, which makes my father’s eye go wide. Upon throwing the blue flame at the towel, the towel instantly combusts and the fire spreads rapidly, eating away at the towel until only ashes are left.