"I BELIEVE THIS IS MY FATE, FEI. SO, I JUST WANNA MAKE SURE."

"Okay… So, what's the but all about?" Fei insisted.

I swallowed before answering him. "I wanna be a sorcerer, but… I don't wanna have sex until Friday. I mean… You're gonna cum on me, right? For me to get your powers, yeah? And I wanna keep my promise to my Mama Oleander not to give my body up until the fifth date."

It was silent until…

"What the…" Fei guffawed as if I just told him the worst joke ever.

"Why are you laughing?" Now, I felt humiliated by my own words.

Fei kissed me on the cheek and faced me again. "I was laughing because I thought you would want your old job back. Like, you wanna work as a barista again."

"Well, can I do that?" I raised my left brow.

"Hmm, do you really want that?"

I squinted my eyes. "Is that a trick question?"

"No, it's a Fei question," Fei uttered with a serious look.

"You're teasing me again," I spoke.

"But… Are you really comfortable of doing it with me? I mean, it could not be on Friday. It could be sooner," Fei's brows raised twice.

I hit him lightly on his chest. "Silly, but yeah, I don't know if I'm ready…"

"For my dick?" Fei grinned.

"For being a sorcerer… but I guess that's what I will be. The fortune cookie told it and it already manifested in the Nubris. So… The question is when."

"I can wait, Trick. I can wait until you want to do it with me. I can wait until you say you love me. I can wait until you yourself will tell me that you want to be my boyfriend," Fei caressed my hand and smooched it.

"Thank you, Fei, for your patience. One day, everything will make sense. Also… I'm interested. In the event that I got your powers… What will I get from you?" I asked.

Fei smiled and took my hand. In a matter of a split-second, we arrived in front of that beautiful waterfall where he showed his powers to me for the very first time.

"I guess, I'm gonna have to teach you how to harness your powers, even before you have it. We'll start with the elementary ones," Fei waved his hands and magical symbols of various colors appeared.

"Elementary? Oh… I get it. Elements… I thought I'm going back to grade school," I joked, but it seemed that he didn't find it funny. Ugh, my humor sucks.

"So… basically, the Xings follow the Wuxing, a Chinese philosophy, in harnessing the elements. We have fire, water, air, earth, and metal. All of these elements are harmful and destructive if not controlled well, so be careful. In honing the elements, you must know the steps. One, creation. You have to create your own element." In just a blink of an eye, he made the nearby bush flaming. "You don't have the fire, so you have to make one."

"Wow," I uttered.

"Two, control. Basically, you've watched this in cartoons before." Fei pointed at the waterfall and he moved his hands up and down and jolted to the burning bush.

"Water bending?" Astonished, I spoke.

"Three, colossus." Fei took a piece of rock and threw it on air. Then, he supported his right arm with his left as he emitted powers from it and made the rock bigger and bigger, larger than the waterfall.

"Fei! That's too dangerous! What if it falls on us?" Trembling, I asked him.

He just snickered at me and stood straight. The shadow of the gigantic boulder is already covering us. Suddenly, the rock, before it hit us, had become countless pebbles and not one landed on my head.

"Four, curtailment," Fei whispered.

"You're crazy! I almost died!" I yelled.

Fei chuckled. "Of course not, I won't let that happen. But this one, I can."

Fei took something from his side, as if he pulled a sword. Well… he really pulled a sword. It has red strings at the end of the handle. Then, he placed the sword in front of him and all of a sudden, the sword changes its form. It turned into a chainsaw! Fei turned to the trees and tumbled and kicked and sliced the trees, and cutting them into pieces.

"Fifth, configuration," Fei said as he kept the sword again in his side, and it disappeared.

I sat down on a nearby rock. Gosh… I couldn't even remember the words. He could do all those things in ten minutes? He must be really powerful!

Fei sat beside me. "I can tell you're overwhelmed but once you have your own powers, you'll enjoy using them. For the good, of course." He drew a star on air and the trees are returning to their original state, like they weren't cut earlier.

"It is overwhelming, but you're so skilled," I said.

"I learned that when I was five," Fei said.

I sighed. "I am already 21 and I still don't know how to do that."

"Don't worry. All you have to do is to remember the Five Cs. Creation, control, colossus, curtailment, configuration. Make it, command it, magnify it, shrink it, and change its form. You're an adult now. When you have your powers, it will be greater when I was five."

"Come on. When I was five, I was just scribbling on our wall with broken crayons. I'm sure you're better than me," I said.

"I like it better when I'm with you, that's what I know." He grabbed my hand and he pulled me towards the waterfalls.

"Fei… What are you doing?" Stupidly, I asked, where it's really obvious that we're about to jump to the water.

"Let's take a bath together," Fei said as we both plunged at the foot of the waterfall.

Oh, the water is so warm. I thought it was really cold. It was like I'm in a natural jacuzzi.

We both emerged from the water and breathed heavily.

"The water is nice," I stated.

"It is… And it's nicer down there."

My eyebrows crossed. "What's down there?"

With both of his thumbs, Fei sort of drew a line on both sides of my neck, just below the ear. He did that to himself too and instantly, gills appeared on both sides of his neck. I touched mine and I was surprised that it was moving!

"Let's go." Fei pulled me and we swam below. I could barely see because it was too dark, but surprisingly I don't feel I'm drowning. I'm breathing underwater because of the gills!

A few more seconds have passed and… I can see a small light. We swam further, going to the light and it becomes larger and larger and…

"Oh… Fantastic," I uttered, with my mouth bubbling air.

In front of me is another world full of water creatures that I have never seen in my entire life. I don't know if these exist in this world. Are we like… in another dimension?

"This is Merizem, an aquatic kingdom in the Atlantic Ocean. They created this portal here to save the endangered sea creatures that the humans failed to take care of," Fei explained, with his mouth bubbling too.

"How did you find this place out?"

"One of the elders is friends with Gramms. When Gramms became one of the sponsors of their environmental program, he asked Dad to fetch them from here to sign the document. I tagged along with Dad and there, I discovered this spot. They don't really hear or know that we are here, because they're the ones who can open the portal. All we can do is look."

And that I did. I observed closely and saw that there were common sea creatures there like sharks, turtles, stingrays, squids, and a lot more. Plus…

"Oh, wow… I didn't know that mermen can be that gorgeous. Look," I pointed to a direction where a handsome merman riding in a carriage, pulled by these fast fish that have large fins.

Fei faced me with a stern look. "Really?"

I grinned and did the peace sign with my fingers. "It wasn't intentional. I didn't mean it."

"I know him. That's Tiberion, the great grandson of King Suvann, the current ruler of Merizem. I call him Princess, because she used to look like a girl back then, that's why he grew a beard," Fei mentioned. "And how about you? Do you have a crush on Tiberion?"

I looked at him again and he was really stunning. Like, come on, eight-pack abs! "Well…"

Suddenly, he looked on our way. I was shocked!

"Oh, my gosh, he's looking towards us. Do you think he can see us?"

Fei pulled me and we went up. "Let's go, before he sees you and develops a crush on you."

I grinned. It's not like every day that someone does this. Like, you know, it feels great that someone is keeping you away from other guys who might develop an interest in you.

When we reached the surface, we went up to the boulder we were sitting and Fei used his magic to dry us up. The gills also disappeared. I guess it only works underwater.

I excitedly turned to Fei. "That was fun! When are we going down again? I wanna see the fishes!"

Fei, with a straight face, looked at me. "Does this fish have a name?"

I winced. "Hey, I just wanna—"

"Is this yours?"

A voice emerged behind us. When Fei and I both turned our heads, an extremely massive weapon is heading us!