The caravan stopped near a shallow valley where a narrow river cut through pale stone.
The guards began setting camp without much conversation. Wagons formed a loose half circle. Horses were tied along the waterline. One of the drivers kicked a ring of stones together for a cooking fire.
Lucius watched them for a moment before crouching beside a small pile of dry twigs.
He had been studying how the guards started fires for the past few nights. Most of them struck steel and flint, but one of them had used a small trick of mana to spark the tinder.
Lucius glanced over his shoulder.
Aelius stood a short distance away near one of the wagons, speaking briefly with the caravan leader.
Lucius returned his attention to the twigs.
He held his hand over them and focused the way he had seen the guard do.
At first nothing happened.
He frowned and tried again.
A faint warmth gathered in his palm.
The twigs caught.
For a brief moment the flame flickered.
Orange.
Then blue.
Lucius blinked.
The blue vanished instantly and the fire dropped back into a normal weak flame.
He stared at it.
Aelius’s voice came from behind him.
“Do it again.”
Lucius jumped slightly.
He had not heard him approach.
“I was just trying to start a fire,” Lucius said.
“I saw.”
Lucius hesitated.
He pushed a little more heat toward the flame.
The fire flickered again.
Orange.
Then the same strange blue flash appeared for a split second before fading.
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Aelius crouched beside him and watched the embers carefully.
Lucius rubbed the back of his neck.
“I keep doing that by accident.”
“You’re forcing it,” Aelius said.
Lucius looked at him.
“Forcing what?”
Aelius reached forward and nudged one of the embers with a stick.
“The heat.”
Lucius frowned slightly.
“It felt like the fire didn’t want to spread.”
Aelius nodded faintly.
That was exactly what he had seen.
Most fire mages pushed energy outward.
Lucius’s mana moved inward.
Compression.
Aelius had only seen that behavior once before.
He looked back at Lucius.
“Come with me.”
They stepped away from the wagons and walked down toward the riverbank where the sound of the water covered quiet conversation.
Aelius picked up a small piece of charcoal from the ground and placed it on a flat stone.
“Focus heat into that.”
Lucius looked uncertain.
“Just heat?”
“Just heat.”
Lucius crouched and extended his hand over the charcoal.
The warmth gathered slowly in his palm again.
Nothing happened.
He concentrated harder.
The charcoal glowed faintly.
Then the glow shifted.
For a heartbeat a thin blue flame appeared.
It vanished instantly.
Lucius exhaled.
“I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
“You’re not doing anything wrong,” Aelius said.
Lucius looked at him.
“That didn’t look very stable.”
“It isn’t.”
Aelius studied the charcoal.
The reaction had been fast.
Too fast for someone who had never trained.
He reached into his cloak and removed the crystal artifact.
Lucius recognized it immediately.
“The thing from the vault.”
Aelius held it loosely in his hand.
“Yeah.”
He let a small thread of lightning mana move through the crystal.
The shard responded instantly.
A faint flicker of pale light stirred beneath the surface.
Lucius leaned forward slightly.
“That still makes me nervous.”
Aelius placed the crystal on the stone beside the charcoal.
“Try again.”
Lucius hesitated.
Then he extended his hand once more.
Heat gathered.
The charcoal began glowing again.
For a moment the flame appeared.
Orange.
Then the crystal reacted.
Lightning pulsed faintly through the shard.
The flame compressed.
Blue fire burst upward.
It held for two full seconds.
The charcoal shattered with a sharp crack.
Lucius jerked his hand back.
The flame vanished.
Both of them stared at the broken charcoal.
Lucius looked up.
“What was that?”
Aelius answered calmly.
“Hotter fire.”
Lucius laughed once in disbelief.
“That didn’t look like normal fire.”
“It isn’t.”
Lucius rubbed his palm.
“So what happened?”
Aelius picked up one of the charcoal fragments and turned it between his fingers.
“Most fire spreads,” he said.
“It grows wider.”
Lucius nodded slowly.
“That’s what I was trying to do.”
“Your mana doesn’t want to spread.”
Lucius frowned.
“Then what does it want?”
Aelius dropped the charcoal piece.
“It wants to compress.”
Lucius looked down at the stone.
“So that blue flame was… what? Too much heat in one place?”
“Something like that.”
Lucius sat back on the ground.
“Can I do it again?”
“You will.”
Lucius glanced up.
“You sound pretty sure.”
Aelius watched the river for a moment.
He remembered another battlefield.
Another man standing at the center of a burning formation while blue fire tore through an entire line of soldiers.
That man had nearly been unstoppable.
Nearly.
Lucius followed his gaze.
“You’ve seen something like this before.”
Lucius waited.
Aelius did not elaborate.
Instead he said, “You’ll need to learn how to control the flow first.”
Lucius looked back at the stone.
“How?”
Aelius sat down across from him.
“Breathe.”
Lucius raised an eyebrow.
“That’s it?”
“For now.”
He demonstrated slowly.
“In through the nose.”
Lucius copied him.
“Out slowly.”
Lucius tried again.
The rhythm felt strange at first.
After several breaths he felt the same warmth gathering in his chest that he had felt earlier.
Aelius watched quietly.
“Now try the ember again.”
Lucius focused on another charcoal piece.
The warmth moved from his chest into his arm.
The ember glowed.
Orange.
Then a thin blue spark flickered.
It lasted longer this time.
Only a moment.
But longer.
Lucius looked up with a surprised grin.
“That was longer.”
“Yes.”
Lucius wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“That felt different.”
Aelius nodded.
“You’re learning.”
They repeated the exercise for nearly an hour.
Most attempts failed.
The flame either stayed orange or died completely.
But twice more the blue spark appeared.
Each time slightly stronger.
Eventually Lucius leaned back on his hands.
“I think my brain is melting.”
Aelius stood and slipped the crystal back into his cloak.
“Good.”
Lucius laughed quietly.
“That doesn’t sound encouraging.”
“It means you’re working.”
Lucius looked down at his hands again.
“So this blue fire thing…”
He hesitated.
“Is it strong?”
Aelius looked toward the dying campfire near the wagons.
“Very.”
Lucius sat quietly.
Aelius studied him briefly.
Lucius had no idea what kind of force he might one day wield.
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