Raizelight

The attack left Kyran floating in seething darkness, his version of unconsciousness. He vaguely wondered how it had generated so much light and heat, as the runes were coded to implode, and should have swallowed it instead.

That was until he felt a burning sensation sweep through his body, seemingly elated to be brought back to its rightful place.

Fire was back.

Its immolating presence seemed to rouse the rest from their slumber, and one of them lazily detoxified his body, burning away all abnormal conditions.

Burning away the smothering blanket on his thoughts, allowing him to feel again.

It hurt.

The last time he felt like this.. it was the week after his Change, where he was preparing for the Finals. Huh, the Finals. He should have passed by all accounts.

He was barely hanging by a thread anyway, so he let the memory sweep him away.

*** 

"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Supervisor asked me. She was a severe woman in her early thirties, with silver wire-frame glasses and dark eyes behind them. Just the type of person who would take a supervisor job without any hesitation. It didn't really come as a shock that factions had an authority figure overseeing them, since any form of division was bound to breed conflict.

And children are never to be trusted to govern themselves.

Of course, the Asura Squad supervisor had a name, but I couldn't be bothered to remember it, so I referred to her as supervisor even in my head.

We were sitting in the Squad home's living room, Zari slouched on a couch next to me, the woman standing over us.

"I actually don't, funnily enough. Care telling me?" I replied.

She looked at me like I was a particularly challenged child before sighing. "Since you don't seem to understand the implications of not only immolating a good part of the planetoid, flying almost 2 billion kilometers during the school day, but also tampering with the site of this year's AMT Finals, then I can be the first to tell you that it's grounds for another suspension."

"It's also the first time she's been called to give disciplinary action to one of the squad members in around 30 years. You broke a record!" Zari butted in.

"Really?" I asked.

"No, dumbass. There's no ranking for delinquents."

I just stared at her, completely forgetting about the angry woman behind me.

"Whyever would you say something so crass? I'm not that person anymore." I defended myself.

Supervisor then said with a sweet voice, "I was under the impression that I was talking to you, Kyran."

I turned around and responded, "And you were, dear Supervisor. Please go on." as Zari snorted in the background.

She proceeded to lecture me about the stupidity of my actions, which was well deserved when I think it over. She then shows me my new schedule now that I've Changed, with elective classes that she recommended for me based on what she knew about me.

"Deviant Psychology, Spell Creation, Theory of Minds, Advanced Deviant Combat, Making Meaning, Planetography, and Application of Magic." I read out from the list. I stopped on Application of Magic though.

"No." I said, looking up.

"Yes" She responded.

"No, please no."

"It's not even a matter of what you want. You are a powerful Deviant, and without any proper guidance on how to generally use Deviant abilities you are nothing but a liability." She said with an air of finality, "So you bet your ass that you are going to be in Professor Astor's class." With that declaration, she vindictively sent me off to my next class, which coincidentally happened to be Application of Magic.

Oh joy.

I stood on the threshold of the forest, taking deep breaths and trying to calm myself down. I was scared of the scathing looks and the penetrating stares of the students, the thinly hidden whispers of the horrors I harbored. I was terrified of whatever personal vendettas Professor Astor could cook up during that class. I was petrified of any punishment that might follow after my display of barbarism. Why did I do it? I should have just asked one of the others for a fight and no one would have been hurt.

I was scared of myself.

But I was even more scared of being late, which is why I teleported straight to the classroom door.

I opened the door, walking into the rowdy room. It was at the top of one of the domes, so it was a massive wide open space with a glass roof, letting in the sunlight.

I looked up at the sun, smiling, but was broken out of my reverie by an overwhelming sensation of being trapped, like an immolating heat crushing my Mind, like I was looking at a web of stars and realizing I was trapped in that web as they stared back, forcing upon me the truth of my insignificance. Like in that vast field of burning chaos, I would never leave. A buzzing sound filled my ears, growing into pain.

I widened my eyes and whirled around to look for what could cause the sensation, flaring my Aether into a protective halo and lowering into a fighting stance.

Then froze in place as I saw my classmates had all turned into towering pyres of flame. My Aether flared as I was about to summon ice Aether when The room had become dark. In the darkness it filled with horrifying shapes and sounds; the hissing and slithering of serpents, hurricane force winds accompanied by the flapping of countless wings, flashes of light that came from the shining of countless blue and gold eyes.

I froze in horror as I realized what happened, their screams a backdrop to the horrifying scene.

I wasn't the target of this sensation. I had picked up the collective emotions of all my classmates when I entered the room. My presence made them feel trapped, and when they instinctively used Aether to protect themselves, I overpowered them and turned it into my own Aether, which was Insanity and Reality aspected, with another two affinities that might have been even more incompatible with humans, so much so that they burst into flames. Worse yet, when I flared my Aether, it made the problem worse, turning a sensation into a full on illusory madhouse. None of what I saw was real apart from the burning people, but as far as they were concerned, they had been thrust into literal hell.

I couldn't think or move. My classmates were still burning and the sounds grew louder yet all I could do was stare. I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have Changed.

So I ran. Their pain bled into mine so badly that I was almost catatonic and I ran downstairs and bumped straight into Astor.

As I looked up at him, tears in my eyes, he just looked down at me, a slight sneer on his face and said, "Having trouble, Hunter?"