Chapter 4 - Damn Arm

Chapter 4 - Damn Arm

" I gnite the spark..." I inhaled deeply, thrusting my hand outward. "FIREBALL!"

It didn’t do anything. I was standing in the middle of the dusty study room with my right arm rigidly pointed at the wall like a statue.

"Okay… Nothing happening. Perhaps another element?"

I turned back to the Source of Power that was lying on the chair and flipped through the novice incantations again. There wasn’t much choice since the entire page was ripped in half.

"Um… Gather the stream, Waterball!"

No results whatsoever.

"Push the air, Gale!"

"Harden the stone, PEBBLE!"

"Bring forth nature's growth, VERDANT TOUCH!"

"Shroud of decay, fade and fall, WITHER!"

Frustration started building in my chest, slowly and steadily. I drew a ragged breath and went back to the very first incantation on the page.

"Ignite the spark, FIREBALL!" My hand jerked. "EURGHHHH!"

The big thick veins in my neck popped out, as my four-year-old face crumpled in a scowl. I let out a long breath and looked at my useless hand.

"C’mon…" I murmured. "What’s going on?"

This was absolutely mad, but my desperate need to conjure a single spell took precedence over anything remotely sane or anything that could be termed as adult pride. I set the bulky book aside on my lap and kept it pinned down by the edge of the table so as to keep the pages open.

"Verdant Touch: A basic Wood-affinity spell designed to induce minor cell proliferation or movement in dead wood. Can be used as a basic litmus test to measure the natural affinity towards nature in a young child."

I stopped, my eyes squinting a little as my brain was thinking. Something about that particular entry was just not adding up.

I moved on to the very next listing: "Wither: A spell designed to decay and kill simple vegetation."

"Hold on a minute. Wood?"

I flipped through a few pages to verify the elemental chart of Kalaum Jade. According to the author, there were four fundamental elements for practicing magic, which are Fire, Geo, Water, and Wind. Plant manipulation is meant to be sub-elements of Geo. If it is a sub-element, then why does a wood spell appear here?

I skimmed the footnotes, my eyes tracing the faded text until the underlying logic finally clicked into place.

Ah. I get it now.

It is not that the novice needed to thoroughly learn the Geo technique to even touch on its sub-elements. No, what they were going through was a low-risk diagnosis that aimed at finding out whether the child was naturally gifted in that particular sub-element since birth. It was basically an aptitude test in video game language.

"Nice," I mumbled. "Except I still can't cast a single one of them."

A bead of sweat rolled down my temple as I slumped back into the wooden chair. Defeat tasted bitter.

Over the next hour, I desperately cycled through every single beginner spell in the chapter, my high-pitched voice growing hoarser with each failed attempt.

"Ignite the spark, Fireball!"

"Harden the stone, Pebble!"

"Gather the stream, Waterball!"

"Push the air, Gale!"

"Bring forth nature's growth, Verdant Touch!"

Each chant sounded more pathetic than the last. With every failure, a heavy, familiar dread began to settle deep in my chest. The childish excitement drained right out of me, leaving me staring blankly at my useless four-year-old hand, my white hair sticking to my sweaty forehead.

Of course it didn't work, a cruel voice whispered from the dark corners of my mind. What made you think you were special here? Back on Earth, you were a loser who spent decades rotting away in a locked bedroom, running away from reality. You couldn't handle real life then, and a change of scenery isn't going to magically turn you into a genius now.

My breath hitched.

You're still the exact same disappointment.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

Clack!

"Ow!"

Something sharp bounced off my temple. The heavy book slipped from my lap and hit the floorboards with a loud thud. I winced, rubbing the sore spot above my eyebrow as the sting faded. Looking down, I saw a small, jagged pebble rolling across the rug.

"What the...?" I picked it up, bewildered.

"HEY!"

"WAHH!" I shrieked, jumping half an inch off my seat.

I whipped my head toward the window. There she was... Lyra, my eight-year-old sister, perched precariously on the second-story windowsill like a feral goblin. She was grinning from ear to ear, resting her chin on her crossed arms over the ledge.

"Gotcha!" She chimed, giggling. "Haha!"

"Are you insane?" I gasped, clutching my chest. "D-did you throw this at me?!"

"What? It was just a little toss!" She laughed. "You were so completely locked into whatever you were muttering about, I had to climb up and see it for myself!"

I blinked, looking past her shoulder down to the sheer drop outside. "Wait... you climbed up to the second floor? How?!"

She jerked a filthy thumb over her shoulder. "Used the garden trellis, duh . It was super duper easy."

I cautiously peeked past her over the sill. The wooden trellis was ancient, weathered, and looked barely strong enough to support a stray cat, let alone an unhinged eight-year-old girl.

"You are completely mental, Lyra."

"Me? Mental? What's that supposed to mean?" She scoffed, rolling her golden eyes. "You're the one sitting alone in the dark, talking to paper."

I rolled my eyes right back, picking the book off the floor and brushing dust off the cover. "Unbelievable. I was studying."

"Yeah, and it looked terribly boring," she sneered, leaning further inside. "By the sounds of it, were you trying to do magic?"

"Modern science dictates that I am failing miserably at it, yes," I mumbled, setting the book on the desk.

"Cool! Did you explode anything?"

"No."

"Did you at least almost explode something?"

"Also no."

Lyra let out a dramatic, disappointed sigh. "Wow. That is insanely lame, you wuss."

"Thank you for the glowing encouragement, sister."

Her expression shifted instantly, her amber eyes lighting up with a dangerous, chaotic grin.

"How about we try a real exercise, hm?" She suggested, practically vibrating with energy on the narrow wooden ledge. "Something your incredibly amazing older sister just unlocked yesterday!"

"Okay...?" I tilted my head, taking a cautious step back. "You mean your Aura?"

"Yep!" She beamed proudly, standing straight up on the narrow sill. She threw her hands onto her hips and puffed out her chest.

For a brief, fleeting instant, the air right against her skin shimmered with a faint, translucent blue glow.

"Do you want to awaken yours early like me?" she asked.

I paused, stepping closer to her legs as the shimmering field became clearer. Up close, I could see the blue barrier extending an inch or two from her skin. Reaching out a finger, I lightly touched it. It felt... strange, like pressing against a warm, acrylic-like texture, but with a subtle liquid hum swirling just beneath the surface.

"You actually triggered an awakening?" I looked up at her, pulling my hand back. "How?"

"Of course I did!" she declared confidently. "I got mine yesterday when one of my underlings tried to bean me in the face with a rock the size of a potato. Figured you get Aura when your life flashes before your eyes or something."

I stared at her, my left eyelid twitching. "That is a profoundly unsafe methodology."

"What are you even saying?" She sat down on the sill, throwing her legs inside. "Stop using those weird, long words. You're creeping me out." She smirked, her golden eyes flashing with mischief as she leaned down toward me. "Whatever! The point is, it worked like a charm!"

Before my brain could process her expression, her small, surprisingly strong hands shot forward, locking onto the collar of my shirt in a vise grip.

"Wait, Lyra—what are you doing—?!"

"Which is why I'm throwing you out the window now!"

...

"WHAT?!" I shrieked, my hands frantically grabbing at her wrists. "No! Stop—wait—!"

She didn't hesitate for a single microsecond. With the reckless confidence of a child who possessed zero concept of mortality or consequences, she threw her body weight backward, dragging me out into the open air.

"LYRAAAA!!!" I screamed, my stomach launching into my throat as the ground rushed up to meet us.

"TRUST THE LIGHT OF THE GOD OF SHIELD!" she cackled as the wind roared in my ears. "ARM-TWIST SLAM!"

"AHHHHH—!"

CRACK.

[End]