Ch. 3 - Aura [II]

The sun had came out of hiding and morning had been set with the fresh morning dew falling from plants nearby. The air ran through them all standing outside the cabin side ready to begin their first day of training. Hunter lectured them with a tiresome voice coming from his mouth with two out of the three wondering if he had even slept the day before with only Royal knowing that answer. He chose not to say anything wanting to keep Hunter's privacy and continued to listen to Hunter's instructions.

"Aura is difficult to bring out when it's your first time but after that period you can bring it out as if it was second nature. Feel the blood cells in your body move going to it's destination, go with the flow and bring that energy to a certain point in your body preferably your core or chest area."

They closed their eyes doing what was most comfortable for them while Royal sat down being the odd one out. Nonstop they attempted to get a grasp of what Hunter was speaking about but couldn't understand it no matter how much they thought it out. Eventually he decided to throw them a bone after an entire hour of attempts.

"Use your imagination. Aura turns to what you see it as. Create an image of what you see energy as and use that. Allow that image to circulate your body. Be it fire, water or even darkness. Sometimes it may even take a life threatening or traumatizing event to forcefully activate it."

Not more than thirty minutes later Royal was the first to get a start going commenting that it was eerie. The energy spiraled in the center of his chest and outward coating him in a layer of violet energy similar to darkness. Just above him a transparent outline of a lotus could be seen showing what Royal saw energy as was a lotus. To start a new, remove of ones sins and look at the beautiful in life.

"I can feel it surrounding my body, a sense of emptiness is what I feel when I'm inside it as if it's engulfed me."

Hunter was shocked seeing a teenager release their aura around them so easily. Normally it would take days even weeks and for some months. He congratulated him patting him on the back not expecting him to be so talented. Royal brushed his comment away saying it was the least he had to do if he was going to help him with his mission. Hunter smiled rubbing his hair thanking him from the bottom of his heart. After another hour went on by Nick managed to get a grip on summoning his energy around him. This time the energy did not come from the center but the top of his head and spread downward covering his body in aura. The color of his aura was most definitely suitable for him which was orange. Above a symbol of a flame made of aura could be seen above.

"Fire~. That is definitely fitting of your standards."

Hunter said not expecting Nick to hear.

"Hey! What are you trying to say?!"

"It was a compliment! Come on don't take it negatively!"

In reality he thought exactly the opposite of what he said seeing how aggressive his personality can be and how fast his temper can take off. Nick turned away and went to continue with practicing wanting to get better at using the energy around him. Moving over to Cloudy he struggled to grasp even the concept of it. Even so he continued practicing without stopping for an additional hour. Sweat dropped from his head and his breathing was rough. Hunter came over to give him some advice explaining that somethings couldn't be pushed to far or it would only make things worse. Cloudy took those words to heart but for the time being continued to practice accumulating the energy around. Hunter strolled around the area for a bit leaving the boys to practice on until about the afternoon he returned spotting only Nick and Cloudy nearby with Royal out of sight. He wondered where Royal was from afar with Nick replying back claiming he went to grab a few things from the cabin. Hunter moved closer to Nick pointing out something he could be doing better and helped him efficiently gather more energy to use. Out of nowhere he suddenly asked a strange question.

"Have you ever been cursed or blessed before? By a demon or a god is what I mean."

"Huhh~? Not that I know of why are you asking anyway?"

"Well I noticed a few things while you are gathering aura. One is the flames spewing out of your body that you somehow failed to spot and two you grew a bit."

"Oh~.. That."

He said in a almost somewhat sad tone.

"I've had that since birth. My body would periodically grow when I'm exposed to an excessive amount of heat. These flames must be fanning this weird ability I have. My muscles also get more refined and bigger as well which I don't personally mind but it's rather uncomfortable.. I'm not sure how to explain it."

Hunter put his hand up to his chin observing him closely giving his own opinion.

"You may have been given a blessing possibly."

"What is a blessing?"

𝐵𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔: A power, ability or some kind of force from a divine entity given or passed down to another. There isn't much known about blessings but normally they are good things to have while curses are the opposite.

"Is there anything else that was strange to you?"

"Well.. Mmmhm~.. No that's it. At least from what I can think of."

"Alright well get practicing on controlling your flames that are spawning out of you. If you leave that alone for too long you might catch the cabin on fire and that would not be good. Another thing.. Don't worry too much about what I said. You'll be fine. Honestly some people would consider you lucky."

In his head he said one thing differently though.

"Though.. I wouldn't."

Afternoon had passed and the sun had almost began to set with Nick and Royal both inside the cabin resting for the day. Hunter came back with animals to cook up for dinner spotting Cloudy still working hard on trying to activate his energy. With a look of boiling emotions rising Cloudy let out his frustrations kicking the ground unable to do what the others had done with little effort.

"Damn it! Why can't I get it?! It's as if this whole thing is against me!"

Hunter approached him just at the right time taking a seat right in front of him as he watched uncomfortably. He told him to continue showing a strict stare with his ruby eyes. Cloudy suddenly no longer felt upset but pressured seeing Hunter more serious than he normally would be.