Aylia’s face scrunched up slightly as she thought about it.
“When you throw a ball, you don’t think too hard about it reaching your target,” Kilven said as he came over and joined us. He had changed into loose shorts and a light green tank top. His hands were in his pockets as he sauntered over to us. “Your body knows the level of strength to use, the angle to throw, and how to get it where you need it to go. Let your body naturally do that for you. Let it do the calculations while you just focus on building your attack.”
Kilven lifted his hand and lightning effortlessly formed in his palm. He stepped up next to me, glanced at the target, and then threw his lightning at it, just as if he was throwing a ball. The lightning shot from his hand and smashed into the target with a loud crackle. I almost expected thunder to boom all around us.
The ball absorbed it, not even moving. There was an extra scorch mark on the fabric, but that was it. Yet, I had no doubt what he just did was powerful and deadly. What kind of damage would that do if it hit someone?
Aylia scowled at him. “Show off.”
He grinned, winking at her and giving her a crooked smile. “Thank you.”
I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. Kilven was clearly flirting with her, and by the way her cheeks turned a little red, Aylia knew it too.
“Your turn.” Aylia finally turned to me. “Do as he said.”
“Right, just do that,” I mumbled. “Easy.”
Kilven shrugged. “Not easy, but doing is the only way you will learn. It goes without saying, you’ll need lots of practice.”
I sighed and went through the motions. I gathered the lightning in my right hand, and then as Kilven did, I lifted my hand and aped the movements of throwing a ball. I jumped as a surge went through my arm, not painfully but definitely uncomfortable. The lightning left my hand, but instead of going at the target, it slammed into the ground only a couple feet away from me with a small crackle and fizzled out. All that was left was a small scorch mark on the ground, some of the grass glowing as it burned away.
But then something interesting happened. The affected grass quickly disappeared, replaced by new, fresh grass. I blinked in confusion as all signs of my failure disappeared.
Aylia giggled. “The benefits of the Fae. They are in tune with Nature all around us. Revitalizing dying grass is nothing to them, and since so many Fae are here, it happens almost right away. I doubt a single Earth Fae has to give it a second thought to keep the plant life healthy like this.”
“That’s why everything looks so beautiful,” I said.
“Exactly. There are a lot of Earth-based Fae here, and so Nature responds to them the most in terms of plant-life growing, and that makes everything so vibrant.”
I nodded, understanding.
“Now that we saw that epic attempt, do it again,” Kilven said.
Aylia whacked his stomach with the back of her hand. “Be nice. She’s learning.”
“I am being nice. That was a really good attempt. Most can’t even get it to leave their hand the first time. It’s always fun watching them wave their arms around but with nothing happening.”
Aylia rolled her eyes. “Not everyone can be as perfect as you.”
That got him chuckling. “Right you are. Rayna, keep trying. Do it again.”
“Only if you two are done flirting with each other.”
Kilven broke out in laughter while Aylia turned really red. I almost wanted to feel bad for embarrassing her like that but didn’t really have the energy to do it.
Feeling like we weren’t going to move on unless I just went for it, I tried again. The lightning gathered in my hands, and then I threw it. It went further this time but fell short of the target by like five feet.
“Oh! So close,” Kilven said, and somehow managed to make it sound more like a taunt. I was beginning to think Kilven was a complete asshole.
That spurred me on as my anger spiked. I refused to allow him to look down on me, especially since he was on the Fae’s side.
I repeated it, but it fell even shorter. I scowled, staring at the grass as it covered up my failure.
Kilven chuckled.
Rage pooled inside of me. Aylia mentioned that I wouldn’t have to hold back since the balls were designed to take our attacks. Fine. I was going to give it every single thing I had.
The tingling in my chest was intense, hot, and heavy. I shoved it all into my hand, my arm practically shaking from so much concentrated magic. Even the lightning was intense. I couldn’t look at it, the whiteness blinding as it grew.