t had been two days since that first day of combat training with Uano, and in that time period, Uano had completely sold out on all of her stock. Once she closed down the store, Alden had nothing to do for most of the day. Alden wanted to begin training for longer, but Uano wouldn't allow it, stating that such a thing would only decrease the effectiveness of his training, make him tired, etc.

Eventually, she shooed him off into the village.

"Go have some fun. Live a little, there will always be time for training, but the people around you may disappear at any moment."

Alden frowned at her.

"That's cryptic."

Uano looked at Alden with knowing eyes.

"Indeed, but what I said is still true. You only have one childhood to live."

Alden rolled his eyes at Uano like a child who was being scolded. He didn't take what she said seriously, since he didn't value many people besides Uano and Noel. Who else could he need? Alden walked into the village aimlessly, unsure of what to do.

It had been a long time since he had free time like this. Well, in reality, it had only been 4 days since . . .

Alden frowned deeply and closed his eyes as the memory flashed inside his mind. He tightened his hands into fists and instantly regretted trying to enjoy himself. He looked around at all the happy people, food stalls, and other quaint oddities within the small town of Eope. Alden took out the 7 pieces of silver he had received from Uano. He could easily eat whatever he wanted for the next week with this amount of money.

But . . . It wasn't that simple. For some reason unknown to Alden, his consciousness wouldn't allow him to enjoy himself.

I don't deserve this.

A strong sense of guilt stormed Alden's mind, robbing him of any thoughts about enjoying himself. Tightening his fists, Alden resolved himself. He recalled Uano's advice on trying to enjoy himself and thought.

To hell with that.

Alden went from person to person, asking about the location of William Sendle. After a quick minute, he headed off into the direction of the adventures gathering place. Once Alden arrived, he looked at the two-story building on the western outskirts of Eope. It was built like a doughnut, with a courtyard at the center of the construction site.. Alden couldn't see what this courtyard held, as the walls of the building towered above him. After a moment, Alden jogged to the front door and opened it, revealing a large interior.

It was mostly undecorated, with reinforced walls in case of a little infighting. In this entrance room, a long desk occupied by various different people could be found at the very back of the room, but most of this place was filled with tables and chairs, where people of all kinds gathered. Alden scanned the crowd of people and saw some huge, towering Earians, multiple lanky Skyians, and even some Watian's, which was rare this far west. Each of these different races had a unique way of dressing themselves, with the Skyian people have some sort of flowing toga, optimized for movement, while the Earians would have tight-fitting, hard leather armor at all times. The Watian people varied too much for Alden to get a generalization on what they wore.

Moving forwards a bit after scanning the room for a second, many heads turned towards Alden, which was natural due to his unique red hair and eyes. Soft chatter filled the air, not too overwhelming, but enough for Alden to become annoyed at. He felt his skin crawl under all these eyes. He increased his steps and came to the front desk quickly, and asked a nice-looking old man a question.

"Sir, can you point me in the direction of William Sendle?"

The man looked up from whatever it is he was doing and looked at Alden before nodding.

"Uano's kiddy, eh? Alright, this way."

Uano's kid?

As Alden walked away, he began paying attention to what the people were saying and caught some worrying sentences.

"I hear he's a prodigy, chosen by the Silver Witch!"

"I heard the other day that he . . ."

Eventually, Alden was too far away to distinguish their words from the general chatter, but he got the gist of what everyone seemed to be talking about. He felt his ears burn in embarrassment at some of them, and them extreme worry at some other rumors.

Prodigy? I can't control my fire at all! What if they laugh at me once they find out how bad I am at Elemental manipulation?

The old man chuckled, snapping Alden back to reality. He had become lost in his worries.

"Relax kid, don't let other people's opinions get in your way."

Alden nodded, unsure of how to respond. After a moment, they exited through a door, wherein the courtyard, William Sendle could be seen sparing with his daughter, Tasha Sendle. Their blades blurred for a moment, before reconnecting with a loud clanging sound. Tasha's blade was forced to the ground as her father overpowered her. William then sent his blade upwards towards Tasha, who groaned in pain as the dulled blade smacked her on the cheek, not hard enough to deal any lasting damage, but it was still a pretty good hit. It would bruise up in no time. William shook his head at his daughter before chastising her.

"Don't try to overpower your opponent when they're stronger than you, you need to- oh, hey Dean! Alden, nice to see you here too lad. What's the occasion?"

Dean responded while pushing Alden forwards.

"Uano's kid wants to see you."

William raised an eyebrow at Alden, waiting for him to speak. After a second of hesitation, Alden swallowed nervously and tried to sound as confident as possible.

"Please, teach me how to fight with a sword!"

William nodded, and unlike Alden, responded quickly without hesitation.

"Sure, no problem. Here, catch."

Alden blinked in surprise and caught a heavy iron blade that was tossed at him. He stumbled a bit before hoisting it up and facing William with a surprised-looking face. William laughed upon seeing that confused face.

"What, you think I was going to say no? Besides, Tasha needs a sparring partner."

At the mention of her name, Tasha looked up at almost went white at the sight of Alden for some reason. Alden knew that she saw him using fire with Uano, but to think she was afraid of him to such a degree. On the inside, Alden felt saddened, but not surprised. Eventually, William waved him over, and the beat-down session began.

Tasha's blade blurred for what seemed like the one-thousandth time, and smacked Alden's wrist with great force, causing him to wince and drop his blade. Tasha looked at Alden with wonder painted on her face and thought to herself.

This is that demon boy I saw earlier?

Tasha shivered as she remembered how Alden had fought against Uano. Back then, he had been incredibly fast. Even when he didn't use that explosion technique to move, he was still quick on his feet. He was swift to the degree that Tasha feared he could easily run circles around her before Tasha was able to take one step. He almost seemed unnatural. His limbs looked skinny and lanky at a glance, similar to a Skyian, but at the same time, he was freakishly strong.

During the fight with Uano, she had seen him make small craters in the ground when he started running. The air would whistle as his hands swiped and flew at Uano, indicating how great his speed was. All of this, combined with his flexible and unique fighting style made him more than a match for Tasha, but at the moment, none of that technique and speed could be found. It was almost as if he was holding himself back, but not on purpose. Every time Tasha swept his legs out from under him, slammed his blade from his grip, smashed the air out of him, or sent him reeling, he would get back up and get a little better each time.

Every time Tasha used a certain technique, that technique would get less effective. He wouldn't immediately know how to counter her moves, but after the third or fourth time, he would get a little better at anticipating it. Every time she used a feint to create an opening, he would be faster at fixing that opening the next time she used a feint. Little by little, he was improving.

After an hour or so, Alden finally won one sparring match against Tasha, who was beginning to tire. Tasha brought her blade upwards, expecting Alden to sidestep it, but instead of doing that, he stepped forwards into her personal space, causing Tasha to take a step backward accidentally. Just like that, she lost her footing. All Alden had to do was give her a slight push for her to fall over. Alden then collapsed backwards and let out a small sigh and muttered to himself.

"Finally . . ."

Tasha stood back up and extended her hand to Alden, who took it and stood up as well. Tasha then shot him a shit-eating grin and cracked a joke.

"I definitely let you win."

Alden frowned and seemed like he would cry.

"Really? Damn it all, I really thought-"

Tasha quickly interrupted him by waving her hands.

"No no no! I was joking, you really beat me."

Alden looked at her with suspicion for a moment before responding meekly.

"Really?"

Tasha nodded confidently. A small spawned on Alden's face, which was enough for Tasha. He had seemed very frustrated during their sparring, so naturally, she felt he deserved at least this one win. Even though he only won because she was tired. Definitely. That's the only reason. The only reason at all.

William applauded their training by clapping.

"Final score, 43 to 1! Congratulations Alden, you won your first match!"

Alden's head fell, despite her father trying to cheer him up. He muttered to himself.

"43 to 1 . . ."

Tasha frowned, she hated it when he got like this. He was like a turtle that would retreat into its shell at any sign of danger or rebuke. Tasha shot her father a mean look before offering a few tips to Alden.

"You seem really tense whenever we're sparring. Try to loosen up and stay limber."

Alden looked at her with grateful eyes and nodded, while William scratched his head and apologized.

"Sorry, didn't mean to . . . nevermind! How about we all eat out, dinners on me!"

William and Tasha both looked up with a certain look in their eye. As teenagers, their bodies were still growing a lot, making food the number one thing that they could both rejoice over. After such a simple sentence, his rude statement to Aldenw was instantly forgotten.

Everybody loves food.

After eating with Tasha and William, Alden headed back to where Uano's shop was located. There, Uano was petting a sleeping Noel. She glowed with a fiery red brilliance since she had consumed so much of Alden's flames yesterday.

"Hey! Can we start training now?"

Uano sighed and waved at him.

"Patience, child, patience! Can't you sit and enjoy this peace for a moment?"

Alden shook his head, but nevertheless sat down and tried to relax. It didn't work, at all. After only a minute or so, he sighed and spoke his mind to Uano.

"Uano, please, I don't want to waste any time. I-"

Uano sighed and interrupted him.

"Why do you seek strength, child?"

Alden didn't miss a beat and responded quickly, for once. His timid atmosphere was gone, replaced by an aura filled with conviction.

"I don't want to be a danger to anyone around me. I want to control my fire."

Uano looked at him with knowing eyes and nodded to herself. Then, she walked over to the shelf and examined the one item she hadn't set up for sale. Alden gazed at that one item in her hand which seemed to be a simple orb the size of his palm, yet it was impossibly complex. The light which entered it seemed to be refracted over and over, eventually causing light to spill out at angles completely different from which it entered. Alden could tell it was some kind of magical tool, and once it came up Uano's hand, it emitted a rainbow of light, cascading throughout the small shop they had set up.

Its colorful brilliance captivated Alden instantly, and Uano nodded to herself once more. Without saying anything, she began to walk out towards their training place a mile outside of town. Alden scrambled up to his feet and set after her, slightly confused.

Once they had made it to that clearing upon the hill, she turned to face Alden. Her face was serious. It was the same face you would see as if she had just threatened to kill you. Her eyebrows arched down in a frown, and her eyes were sharp, and almost seemed to have a dangerous glint to them. She tossed that shiny, perfect orb into the air, and caught it. She did this a few times, before speaking to Alden in a quiet, yet commanding voice.

"Look me in my eyes when you answer, Alden Burgess. Why do you seek to control your flames?"

Alden began to break out into a cold sweat but still managed to answer truthfully.

"I don't want to hurt anyone because I can't control myself. I want to protect people. I want people to look at me and smile. I want to be . . . I want to be someone they like."

Wait, why did I say that? I could've stopped at wanting to protect people! Damn it, why am I so stupid? I bet she thinks I'm an idiot now . . . damn it!

Alden studied his shoes and closed his eyes in shame. To him, admitting something so childish like that was just as horrifying as being stark naked in school. Those words had just spilled out of him, like Uano's gaze had pulled the truth from his soul and out his mouth. Alden hand;t even realized what he was feeling until he vocalized it. This made Alden question himself deeply for a moment.

Why did the opinions of others matter to me? Why do I want to be liked? Surely, the only people who I care about are Noel, Uano . . .

mom . . .

dad . . .

Under Uano's tense gaze, Alden realized that he in fact did not want to be a monster. He came to know himself in a way he never had before because of how cloudy his guilt had turned his mind. Alden looked back up at Uano with a renewed sense of self. Those eyes of her's scoured every inch of his soul, searching for something. Alden could feel her eyes on him, not in the metaphorical sense, but he could actually feel the natural spiritual energy inside the air shift on his skin at her mere gaze. It was almost as if she wanted to see a lie, but after a few tense minutes, she muttered something to herself before tossing him the ball. Alden barely caught the orb. As soon as it touched his hand, the orb began to glow.

"Good luck . . ."

Alden was about to question her when he felt a sudden pull. Alden closed his eyes and fell forward onto his chest and extended his arms in surprise. He expected to touch the ground, but instead, his arms felt nothing. Alden opened his eyes and almost screamed as he hurled towards the ground below. It was as if he had just been teleported. Alden's eyes widened as the ground came near, and something clicked inside his brain.

It was an involuntary reflex, something Alden had no control over. Alden pointed his feet to the ground and spread out his arms, and inhaled deeply.

The ground got closer and closer.

Alden exhaled, and flames roared into existence at his feet. The superheated air screamed as it flew by, but with his fire element activated, Alden felt nothing. Alden's ears rung with a high pitched noise as the noise from his feet was incredibly loud. The fire twirled and spun downwards at high speed, pushing Alden up and slowing him down. Once he reached the ground, the flames from his feet had completely turned the surrounding 100 meters to ash. Alden normally would feel bad for hurting the land for no reason, but to his horror, Alden felt a smile tugging at his face.

Alden quickly shut off his fire affinity before the feeling got stronger, and punched himself in the face as hard as he could. The throbbing pain woke him up from that stupor. Alden felt his fire affinity leave him and looked down at his pants. They were completely burnt off all the way up to his thighs. His trousers had just been turned into shorts via flame treatment. The silver coins in his pocket had also all melted together and could be found a few feet away. Alden sighed despite himself and imagined Uano's face when she saw it. Alden cringed.

Taking a look at his surroundings, he was in a completely flat open plain with no trees. Nothing but green grass for miles. However, that was when a small dodecahedron appeared in front of him. It was a deep blue color, and nearly translucent, only being solid at its center. It warped the space around it with its spiritual energy, which made Alden hurl his stomach's contents on the ground.

Your joking, right? That's not possible!

This being's spirit energy was completely on another level. If Alden had to use numerical values to describe it, Alden was a 1, Uano was a 20, and this creature was a 200. Alden was like a mouse before a lion; a pebble before a mountain. If Alden resisted its exploration, it would be like a toddler trying to arm wrestle the world's strongest man. It was so bizarre a feeling to be completely overwhelmed like this. Its spirit energy seeped through Alden's body, quickly making its way to his heart, and then even deeper into his mind and soul. It was an unmistakably unique and weird feeling, but not bad.

When Alden felt it touch his soul, a connection was formed between them, similar to Noel. It was the same technique but on a much greater level. There, a simple question was transmitted to Alden.

What do you seek?