Chapter 14: Fire and Ice

Ki Jung heads to the slums where she intends to learn and practice her new spell: Elemental Fire. It is a few minute’s walk, but she arrives without any problem. Finding a place to sit to learn her spell is another matter. Eventually, she “rents” a spot from a squatter for 2 Copper after haggling him down from five.

With a space procured, she gathers some rocks and makes a little fire pit. She then collects bits of trash and scraps of wood. Once this is all taken care of, Ki Jung makes herself comfortable in Lotus and pulls out the spell scroll. She reads it multiple times to be sure she understands it. Once she is convinced she understands it, she returns the scroll to her ring and places a small piece of garbage in the fire pit.

Following the directions from the scroll, Ki Jung focuses her intent on the piece of garbage. Pointing her index finger at it, she whispers the short incantation. She can feel the energy seeking out her intended target, but it fails. It is a small setback, but she does not give up. Over and over, she attempts to cast the spell. Finally, she sees a little spark on the edge of the piece of garbage.

Her delight is soon snuffed out along with the spark. In that instant, her focus was lost, and the spark lost its power. This only makes Ki Jung more determined to succeed. Soon, she creates a spark that grows into a small flame. Encouraged, she starts going through the garbage she collected from smallest to largest. Soon, a window pops up, informing her that she has become earned the Novice Rank 1 for Elemental Fire. After reading it, she closes it and turns to her next challenge, casting it on an inflammable object.

Casting her eyes around her, Ki Jung decides one of her rocks will have to do. Recalling how difficult it was to get the spark to take hold at first on flammable objects, she blocks out everything else to focus solely on the rock. Whispering the incantation for inflammable objects (it differs slightly from the other), she points her finger. She finds herself facing a blazing hot flame that is surrounding the rock. It is so hot that it is starting to become uncomfortable.

As bright as Ki Jung is, she was not prepared for this. Not the ease with which she accomplished encasing it in flame, nor the heat of it. She can now appreciate how effective it may be as a weapon buff. She also realizes how dangerous it can be to the user, too. As these thoughts are speeding through her mind, she scuttles back and away from the flame. Her extreme focus broken; she notices that there are many eyes upon her. Before she can do anything more, an older woman walks up, and just as fast as the flame erupted, it is put out.

“Don’t you know better than to play with elemental fire? What idiot taught you that? Didn’t they tell you how to extinguish it?” This is the woman who just put an end to the flame. She isn’t screaming, but worse, she’s got the bearing of an experienced teacher who is very unhappy with her student.