Part 2: before the sunset

“Zvezdoprah. ”

"Wow, the sky's beautiful isn't it?" 

"Zvezdoprah."

"Let's go to the festival already, I'll get all the awards," mumbling strange words, everyone around her snickered except for one enraged man.

"Zvezdoprah!" 

"Hey," Alice fell to the ground, her hair covering her face,  "We did the games fair and square so gives us the awards-oh." 

Looking around, she spotted several kids her age laughing and a stern old with a long black beard tapping his foot to the ground.

“...Oh.”

“Had a nice sleep?”

"...I didn’t sleep, I just," she got up again, “I was…mingling about all the knowledge brought upon me on this day.”

“Oh really? Then do you mind telling the class what exactly we were talking about?"

"...We were, uh, starting an extended lunch break," she pointed finger guns at him.

"..."

"...Just kidding! We were studying…stuff! That’s right! I know what I'm doing, heh."

"...Anyway" in a middle of a grass field, with some trees across in the back, the professor put two tree branches across the floor. The students sat on old small tree stumps, excited to see where this was going. 

"Before a certain snore interrupted me, one of you asked what's the difference between the blue purity flames and the flames the natumagi people have, it’s really simple actually" 

The first branch, he lit with a match and it slowly turned to ashes. The other branch, he sparked blue flames on it, the branch didn't burn, it flew. The professor controlled where the branch would float around the sky and it fell into Alice's grasp. The students were amazed, jumping excitedly to see what was coming next.

"As you see, the flames the Natumagi people control are like any other flames while ours, the blue purity, does not burn the objects or people it engulfs, nor does it generate heat, but it does hold incredible strength in combat and with enough skill, the ability for one to levitate themselves." 

"What about climates," a student raised his hand, "Does that affect it? 

"Good question, you see, the empire of Unia is split into different sections depending on what the weather and climate are best suited to each different elemental power, ours are not affected as such, and thus can even be used when it rains and it won't blow out"

"Sweet! We must have the best power then" 

"Hm, I would have said that’s true, but it’s wrong. Another thing the two powers share is the consequences of when we lose control of it. If a natumagi mage is enraged, for example, their powers will go berserk and could lead to a lot of harm in the process. If the same thing happens to us, the flames will engulf us entirely and we could lose our ability to use them for days, months, or even years in the most extreme cases."

The students were feeling uncomfortable hearing that, while Alice got lost in thought and raised her hand. 

"What is it now Zvezdoprah," the professor turned away removing the spare branches around the ground, “No, you can’t go back to sleep.”

“That’s not what I was going to ask. There’s something I’ve been wondering about?”

He rolled his eyes, “What is it this time?”

“If blue purity is so great and everything, why didn't any of our hunters join the war?”

Hearing that, the professor dropped all the branches, "...What?"

“Well, yesterday I checked some history books about and I couldn’t find anything about someone using blue purity in it, not even a mention of my father either, did he go alone or-”

“Alice Zvezdoprah”

“Uh…”

The professor suddenly slapped his wrist against her table, leaving everyone startled and quiet around. He gazed at her with an expression of anger, and disappointment. His eyes widened when he realized what he did, so he walked away and turned away from everyone.

“You should…already know that the only reason he joined it was because he used to live with those people, we had no connection to them otherwise so that’s why we didn’t get involved. It’s that easy to understand, so don’t ask any…unnecessary questions again, got it?” 

“Uh, yes sir…”

“Good, after I’ve done cleaning up we’ll go to train. So take a small break now.”

“Al-alright.”

“Great, you  pissed him off twice today.”

“Ugh, he’s going to make us work to the bone during training now.”

“Thanks, Alice.”

Hearing all of that and seeing her professor upset, she crawled under her table.

Man, why did I wrong? I should probably stop talking about the war for some time.

“Zvezdoprah, please get up,”

“Huh-ouch,” surprised, she accidentally hit her head against the table, “Oof!”

“Yeesh, please be careful,” her professor reached out his hand to her, “We’re heading out now.”

She got up and after packing her books and feather quills, the professor brought them all deep into a small forest. Alice tried to join small groups as they walked but they all ignored her or walked away from her. She tightly held her skirt frustration filling her face and she began walking faster than the others, causing her to accidentally bump into her professor again.

“Oh! I’m sorry!”

“Forget about it, we’re here now.”

In the middle of the forest, they arrived at a giant field, training dummies and wooden weapons all positioned around a giant tree stump in the middle of the field.

“Now, do light exercises and then we’ll do simple 1:1 training with blue purity. Zvezdoprah, grab the training weapons to everyone,”

“Uh, me? On it!”

Yeesh, I really got on his bad side today. It’s alright, Ally, you got this! Just impress everyone now during training and all will be forgiven!

“What are you doing? Quit standing there and hand everyone the things!”

“Oh of course!”

Or not, we’ll see.

The kids all lightly began training against one another. Some used swords, some spears, but Alice picked up a bo staff. While she was not the best, she handled herself well, being able to hit the others lightly and taking them off guard.

“Great job everyone. Though you all need to focus on your defenses more, especially you,” he looked at Alice as he said that.

“Heh, got it!” 

“Now then, it’s time for you all to learn something I mentioned earlier today, and that is levitation.”

The kids all got excited when hearing that. They all began screeching and jumping all over the place as if they found a bunch of gold.

The professor chuckled seeing that, “Now calm down everyone, I know you’re all excited but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s the spell that takes the most usage of flames to control and you must be fully concentrated as you use it. One slip and you could die falling into a cliff, that’s both a metaphor and literal warning, please don’t die falling into cliffs.”

The kids all calmed down, some pondering the chances of them dying by falling into cliffs.

“Of course, Zvezdoprah, why won’t you go first?”

“Uh, me,” she was startled, “Of course, it’s me who else is called Zvezdoprah here. Uh, I’m coming.”

She climbed up a wooden step-ladder, a pillow placed on the ground in case she falls. She looked up in the sky and back to the ground, meeting the mocking stares of the other student, and the professor’s silent judgment of her.

Yay, I did absolutely nothing and I am already ‘the bad example,’ great. Ok, calm down. I need to be calm. I already messed up enough, can’t mess this up too. Just close your eyes, and take a deep breath. Mind at peace, heart at home.

Keeping her eyes closed, she jumped. Unable to hear anything but muffled noises, she tried to touch the ground below her.

“Open your eyes already”

“Huh-wow!”

Opening her eyes, she saw herself several feet away floating from the ground, the ends of her hair burning in blue, and her eyes shining like crystals. In that moment, she was able to see her entire village, the giant walls surrounding it, and the mountains and forest beyond them.

I see it. I can really see it. A world beyond.

“It’s beautiful,” her smile widened and she kept levitating herself across the skies, feeling freedom at the grasp of her fingers.

This feeling. I have done this before. And yet, it’s so nostalgic. Was I born in the skies, so wide and azure, away from everything and close all the same? These feelings, these questions, why do I feel like this happened before?

“Zvezdoprah,” her professor shouted, “Can you hear me?”

“Oh, yeah,” she arrived in front of him, still floating midair, “This is absolutely amazing!”

“I know but…”

“I could do this for hours on end!”

“That’s great to hear, but…”

“Thank you so much, professor-”

“Uh, you’re welcome, but,” he held her arm, “Do you have any idea on how to land?”

“...”

“Zvezdoprah?”

“Uh, don’t worry! I’ll figure it out! I just need to…do this!”

Speeding through everyone and blowing their hair away, she saw the closest tree to her and hugged it.

“...Uh?”

“Give it a minute!”

After a few minutes, her flames were blown out and she climbed down, “See, I got this!”

“...I’ll teach you more practical ways of doing that.”

“Pfft, that was so lame.”

“Really couldn’t come up with anything else?”

The other students began laughing at her making her embarrassed.

“Heh, you guys are right,” frustrated, she looked away, her professor taking notice of it.

“Ahem, children,” his coughs silenced everyone, “Make fun of her as you like, but I don’t recall you all doing anything either, or am I wrong?”

The students were scared, “Uh, no, you’re right sir.”

“Good. Now, get back to training.”

“Heh,” Alice giggled.

“And you aren’t done either.”

“I know,” she happily went after the other students.

He’s harsh but means well. Gotta appreciate that more.

***

As the sun began to set,  the students all went back home in small groups, while Alice approached her professor alone.

“Good evening professor.”

“Oh, good evening.”

She quietly smiled at him, leading to awkward silence quickly.

“...What is it?”

“Nothing!”

“Alright then.”

He began walking away, unsure what to do with the fact that she was following him, the wide smile on her face creeping him out.

“Uh, isn’t that way over there closer to your home?”

“Yeah, but I want to change things up today!”

“...I see.”

“...”

“...”

The awkwardness went on, a cow close by witnessing it all firsthand.

“Professor, can I ask something?”

“Thank goodness,” he made a sigh of relief, “I mean, what is it?”

“Should I call you ‘professor’ or ‘mister Adam’ outside of school? Or is ‘Adam’ alone enough? Or should say ‘Addy’ like dad did-”

“Please, just keep calling me professor…”

“Ok, thank you, professor!”

“Uh, for what?”

“For standing up for me when I trained to levitate earlier and everyone made fun of me!”

“Oh that, they were being noisy is all, I would have silenced them even if you weren’t involved.”

“Sure, I believe you.”

“Oh, I am not hiding anything, that was just me doing my job.”

“Sure,” she said with snark.

“...”

Huh, he got silent all of a sudden. That’s weird. And he looks nervous, is something wrong? Oh, he looked away! Is he staring at the sky or the cow?

“Zvezdoprah…“

“What is it?”

“I apologize if this sounds inappropriate, but, in two weeks, it’s going to be two years since…your father die right?”

She was unsure how to respond, “Y-yes.”

He’s right. But why is he asking this all of a sudden?

He gulped, then he put his hand into his coat’s pocket to grab something, a bottled opener, which he gave to her.

“Huh, why did you give it to me?”

“It’s a gift, for him. We used to go drinking a lot together, your father and I, so maybe bring it to his grave, he might appreciate it, wherever he is right now…”

“I see,” she held a soft smile on her face, “He is going to love it, I just know it!”

“Heh, good to know,” Adam smiled, and after realizing he did, he walked several steps away from her, “Just get home already before I hear from your mother tomorrow. I have enough on my plate to handle that now.”

“Okey-dokey,” she giggled and went her separate way home.

I'm telling her this. Should I do that when I come back or wait when we go to his grave? Hmm, the former would ruin the element of surprise, but the latter would just make it look suspicious for me to have this lying around in my bedroom. Either way, that was really nice of him-Huh?

Gazing into the sky above. She noticed several streaks of what appeared to be smoke fading into the sky in small streaks from one another, someone made several campfires outside.

Are the hunters going out late tonight or something? I mean, it’s hunting season but why are they so close to the village’s walls, I should ask mom about this.

Arriving at her home, she hurriedly knocked on the door, doing small circles waiting for her mother to come.

“Oh, welcome back, sweetie! How was it-agh!?”

“Let’s go,” Alice suddenly grabbed Talisha’s arm, running through her streets.

“Ugh, Alice calm down!? Where are we going, did you get into trouble again?”

“No! I mean, yes, but that’s not what this is about!?”

“Then what are you-”

“Look,” she pointed her mother to the streaks of smoke in the sky, “Is it the hunters or…”

“...”

“Mom?”

She took immediate notice of her mother’s worry. From covering her mouth and her eyes terrified, she knew something was up.

“I’m,” Talisha shook her head and crouched down to Alice with a fake smile on her face, “It’s the hunters definitely, they’re probably trying to hunt for rabbits for dinner. It’s the season after all!”

She’s lying. 

Unsure of how to help her, she followed along with what she said, “I see, I worried for nothing then, heh.”

“See, it’s all gonna be alright now, so go back home and go to sleep. You don't wanna be late for tomorrow’s classes, right?”

“...What about you?”

“Oh, I’ll get back home later, I need to check something about the library with the chief, good night.” 

She gave Alice a kiss on the forehead, walking away with her body shaking ever so slightly. Alice noticed it quickly and watched her as she got farther and farther away, seemingly unreachable.

Something is up, I know. But what? She looked so concerned. Can I really leave her like that in her current state? No, I shouldn’t bother her.

She walked back home.

I can’t get involved, what the heck can I even do, but, she might get lonely.

Clenching her fists, she kept walking

No, you can’t get into her way. You need to go back home, you need to stay away from this. You need to, I need to-AH screw it!

She decided to follow after her mother, “I need to be by her side, no matter what!”

—

That’s chapter 1, or 2 I guess part two! Sorry for the sudden disappearance the past few weeks. If you checked my social media, you probably already know that I got accepted into college! I was so busy studying that I didn’t have time to work on Rebellious Flame for a while, but I’ll be back on my schedule again from now on! The next update will be the chapter’s ending so get excited! Goodbye everyone, and thanks for reading!