Origins (Book 4 of Alfireán age)

Second Level

Alf closed his eyes and massaged them with his free hand as he thought about what he had just done. It had come naturally and...

"Alf, your hand!" Olivia exclaimed, releasing the hand she had finished healing.

He opened his eyes and looked at his fingers. "What's wrong with it?" he asked, not seeing anything strange except for a patchwork of blisters.

"It's healing on its own," she explained, pointing to one of the rapidly healing wounds.

Alf's eyes widened in astonishment. She was right—the blisters were slowly fading, and the pain was already subsiding.

"Alright, what is going on here?" Valarinnia spat. "He," she said, pointing at Alf, "is absorbing energy and self-healing like some dark mage. And Miss Glowing Eyes," Rinnia added, flicking her hand at Zaphaniea, "is constantly acting like she can see the future."

Zaphaniea leaned against the shield and slid to the floor while she rubbed her eyes with her palms. "Because I can," she told the princess without looking up.

"What?!" Rinnia exclaimed, her violet eyes snapping with energy.

Drake stepped closer to Alf and furrowed his eyebrows as he watched his wounds slowly self-heal. "She is both a dragon kin and a holy user," the prince explained. "As such, she can use both holy and dragon Ra'avah simultaneously, which gives her the ability to see a few seconds into the future."

"Wha...," Valarinnia muttered, staring at Zaphaniea as if she were a freak of nature.

The grand champion exhaled heavily, and her shoulders sagged. "Yeah, but it takes a lot of energy, so don't expect me to do it constantly."

"As for Alf," Drake continued, raising his eye patch while he watched Alf heal, "he did not absorb any energy. When he accidentally tried to do so, it nearly killed him, which rules out dark magic altogether."

"I noticed that as well," Olivia agreed. "It looked more like he was bending and feeding the energy into his spells. But I've never heard of white blood cells being used to control energy outside of the body before."

"Yeah, it was like I could se-" Alf started.

"Ah, guys," Rex interrupted, cutting Alf off and pointing at the shield.

Alf's gaze shot up. The blue barrier was rapidly thinning as the raging heat continued to burn. "Ah!" he blurted, jumping to his feet. Placing his hands on the crystalline surface, Alf fed energy into the fading shield and glanced back at the hole in the floor. "There's no more power," he said, looking at the dead wires.

"Your fire probably melted them elsewhere," Zaphaniea breathed heavily, rubbing her temples and trying to catch her breath.

Alf gazed out through his shield. Most of the flames had died away, but tiny tongues of fire danced in the vast space, and a melted pool of liquid lava bubbled all around them.

"I don't think we can survive in that heat," Drake noted.

Rex pushed his hands against the shield and added his energy. "Yeah, and I'd rather not end up barbecued," he huffed, jutting his chin at the skeletal remains of the robots.

We need water, now," Drake said, glancing meaningfully at Zaphaniea.

The grand champion nodded and lifted her hand to her chest.

"And lots of it," Rinnia added as she helped reinforce the shield. "But we don't have any, and wind will just fan these flames."

Zaphaniea closed her eyes. "We don't, but your father does," she explained.