Hello

Morning all,

On the advice of my aunt I did a word count on my story so far, as of this morning I was at just under 13, 000 words. Now my word document is only at about 30 pages, and I was feeling that I wouldn't be able to make enough pages to make a book size story, but now I don't feel quite as bad. Still a little concerned about length, but not so much so.

Anyway, I am getting tired of calling this this untitled. I would like to have a real name for it, but I can't really come up with anything. I keep coming up with things that involve fate, examples include:

Hand of fate
Twist of fate
Push of fate

etc. unfortunately I really don't like any of those. If anybody has any good ideas, or even really likes one of my lame ideas please lemme know. I really would like to throw a title on this thing.

Anyway, for now That's all I have. Let's continue the story:

[Untitled]
14

She awoke with a start. Looking around she realized that she was still in her living room. She must have fallen asleep.

Julius was staring at her. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just a bad dream.”

He walked around her and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Close your eyes.”

She looked up at him. “I would really prefer not to.”

“It’s ok, it’ll only take me a moment to get the information that I need. Then you’ll be able to open your eyes again.”
Uncomfortably, she closed her eyes.

Julius’ touch was gentle on her shoulder. She could tell that he cared about her well-being. Soon enough he removed his hand and told her that it was ok to open her eyes.

“So what was that about?”

“I had to find out if the dream was implanted, or if it was natural.”

“Well?”

“Just a plain old bad dream, no outside influence.”

“That’s good. Now, why did you let me fall asleep?”

“You needed it. I have worked you hard these past few days.”

“Yes, but you have said many times that we had little time. The more prepared I am the better my chances of succeeding.”

“True, but it does no good if by the time for battle I have worked you so hard that you have no energy left for the fight itself.”

“Well, if you’re worried about physical exhaustion then let’s work on some of the other things that you need to train me on.”

Julius moved back in front of her. He paced back and forth in front of her. Then, apparently having made up his mind, he stopped and faced her.

Suddenly she had a fireball flying at her. Crossing her hands in front of her face, she readied herself for it to hit her.

When it never hit, she cautiously opened her eyes. Julius was staring at her. “More likely than not your battle will be in this form, rather than the physical type that we have been practicing. Jack has an absolutely huge store of magical energy, and so do you. He is also more comfortable using magic; even tough he is no slouch with weapons either. I started with physical forms first in order to get you into the mindset of a warrior, but it seems that you are ready to move on to more useful forms of combat.”

Julius took a candle down from a bookshelf and set it upon the coffee table. “Remember that I told you that fire was your strength?”

Maureen nodded.

“Light the candle.”

Maureen almost stood up to grab some matches before she realized what it was that he wanted. Settling back onto the couch, she looked at the candle, then at Julius.

“I know what you want me to do, but I don’t know how.”

“It’s different for everybody, so I cannot tell you how. Just try.”

Maureen returned her attention to the candle. She focused on the wick.

How am I supposed to light this, she thought. Heat, heat would force the wick to ignite. What was heat? Heat is energy.

She refocused on the candle. She envisioned energy centered in the wick. She kept adding more and more energy to the place where she was imagining. Soon she had problems even imagining more energy being added, the energy already there was heating up from the compression.

The wick burst into flame.

She almost lost her concentration, then she saw that the fire hadn’t yet stabilized on the wick. Once she saw that the fire had a hold of the wick she lessened gradually her concentration.

“Good. Now hold out your hand.”

“Why?”

“You need to create the fire without a physical surface for it to attach to. You need to learn how to make fireballs.

Do the same thing that you did to create the flame on the wick, and apply it to the air in your hand.”

Maureen had reservations about creating fireballs, but not knowing what she was up against, she decided to try it. Doing the same thing that she had done to create the fire for the candle, except this time without the wick. She was hardly surprised this time when the air in her hand exploded into flame.

“Good. Now without letting that flame go out, create another one in your other hand.”

Maureen kept her concentration, but just had to ask, “You really expect me to be able to do that?”

“You’re keeping the one going and talking to me… Most beginners wouldn’t be able to do even that.”

Maureen smiled, then decided to try and see what she really could do. She managed to keep the first fireball formed as she formed the second, but before Julius could say anything he had one of the fireballs flying toward him.

It was weak, and he was able to easily nullify it, but he was pleased with Kyra’s initiative. Kyra, however, seemed disappointed with her inability to even challenge him.

“You did very well, and it was a surprise that you even able to keep it going while it was coming at me.”

“Yes, but you didn’t even have to try to stop it.”

“Practice will make it stronger, and control will make you stronger.”

“Well then, how are we supposed to practice this?”

“Same way that we practice everything else. By getting out there and doing it, but if you are serious about practicing I had better teach you methods of nullifying magical attacks.”

Maureen’s stomach grumbled. “How about we don’t start a new lesson on an empty stomach, eh?”

Julius looked at her, then agreed. He still had something to say, however.

“Kyra, you are getting stronger every day. Now we need to make sure that your abilities don’t overwhelm you. Let’s lay of the physical training for a day or two, or at least the weaponry. We should build up your other abilities, and then try to combine them in a few days.”

“Julius… Getting worried that I’ll hurt you?” Maureen asked with humor in her voice.

“No, but I do worry that you could hurt yourself.”

“I didn’t think that could happen while you’re around.”

“I try to keep you safe, but I can only protect you so much from yourself. Now, let’s see to that food you were mentioning.”