Blue Phoenix Academy

Chapter twentysix-Chamber Trials Day XXIII

Celeste~

While our parents could assist in developing the powers that were identical to theirs, they had no telling if you had something inside of you that allowed you to, for example,  blast fireballs instead of just forming a flame in your palm. They knew how to facilitate the feeling of developing fire from a palm but had no clue whatsoever as to what throwing a flame would even consist of, how to make it come fully out from the palm, what making that energy move out from the skin would feel like and how you should direct the energy so it executed safely.

That's what we were here for.

"Wanna go eat or something, we need to before the next Trial starts, we don't know when it finishes."

Chloe and Rain both agreed and we made our way downstairs.

It was relatively busy as per usual. There were still more looks in my direction than I'd hoped for but I would have to deal with it. We did our usual routine of grabbing food and sitting down in the quietest area.

I haven't seen Chisila and Chimen for a while but they were here, and looking as prestige as can be. Latía was here too, and to my surprise, she was with the insecure bitch from before.

"Guys, that's the one who spoke to me in the hallway."

They both turned discretely to look at who I was talking about. "She really is pretty, too bad she's so pathetic," Chloe said.

"Honestly."

"You know it really makes sense that they're friends."

"I absolutely second that." Rain chimed.

We spent the rest of the time we had before the next Trial eating and talking to each other about menial things like what we thought the Academy was going to be like.

*Students, please listen closely for your final and most important Trial is about to begin. For this assessment, you will be asked by one of our practitioners to bend the will of your magic in ways that they have never been made to before. This is a very personal assessment, one that is based on your individual powers from what we have seen from you so far. This will take place in the individual Chambers, good luck to you all! And thank you for listening, please follow the guide towards your appointed rooms.*

And with that we went. I thought that the other Trails were going to be the peak of my anxiety but it would appear to be that this one was the most intimidating of them all.

We walked to a completely different section of the academy this time. The walls were different from the theme of the last section of the hallways, these ones being dark and carrying a weight that I could only describe as ancient in its energy. The ceilings and their chandeliers towered over me as we continued through this maze. We finally came to a point where there were a series of doors that led to where we were meant to be. Each door had a number and a letter attached to it, every one of us was appointed a room with their practitioner who I assume had been watching them since the beginning of the Trials.

When it was my turn to leave the queue, I said my goodbyes to both Chloe and Rain before going into the black door.

"Hi there, I'm your practitioner for this Trial, I've been watching you and your powers since the beginning Celeste, I must say, you are a unique one."

The woman who I assumed was of Indian descent stood in front of me with her black and emerald green hair, while it was a bold colour that I didn't think had anything to do with her powers, it suited her brown skin perfectly. The streaks of green laid at the fronts of the hair in a money-piece style with the whole underlayer being the same emerald colour. It was styled in a cute bob that sat right at her shoulders and it fit her wacky aesthetic perfectly.

She talked of me as if I was a science experiment in some sort of lab, I didn't take it personally through, you had to be experienced to be in such a position and I didn't mind that that made her focus on the powers instead of the person.

"Thank you, um, what is exactly unique about my powers if you don't mind me asking."

She smiled at me, "Of course not. Your energy, that's what you wield right?" I nodded.

"You can manifest it into a whip, and balls of energy?" I nodded once more.

"Do you know where this energy originates from?" She asked me. I didn't know the answer to be completely honest. From what I knew my mother wielded electricity, I didn't know what powers my father had. From what I've heard he wasn't a nice person so people stayed away, I didn't remember much of him or my childhood before Amy and Saul. It made training for and understanding my powers more difficult but I would learn just like everyone else in the end.

"My mother wielded electricity from what I knew and I do not know as to what my father's powers really were, I don't feel like my energy comes from electricity and I can tell because lights have never gone out or anything. I don't know where the energy comes from."

Where my energy came from isn't something that I had thought about until now, it made sense though, it all had to come from somewhere.

"I see, your energy has the appearance of energy gathered from electrical sources but doesn't act in the same way if you look closely. Pure electricity cannot be controlled in the same way other powers do. The price for the energy source not being internal and therefore practically unlimited, and electricity being so powerful and damaging means that it's hard to centre attacks and the electrical energy overall. Your powers don't follow this rule so yes, I agree that this does not come from an electrical source. Does your power feel more external or internal?"

The thing about all of this as well was how fucking different powers can be. We might not see an air bender who can blast wind in a line for decades on end but have one who can instead change the whole trajectory of wind for a city but with no real direction of wind energy.
Power sources could be nuanced as well, they can be internal and external at the same time which is crazy, some people even have the ability to change where they get the power from which makes them absolute powerhouses.

"I don't really know." It was hard to tell honestly, "The only thing I felt when I was harnessing my power was my hands tingling and burning sometimes." I had no clue what that meant though.

The woman's hand lay on her chin while she theorised further. "I see, that's very common for those with powers so that's no real indication towards anything. When you used your powers first and started to feel drained would you say it was a short or long time?"

"Hm, it didn't really take long, I had to practice endurance."

"Okay. I think we should proceed as usual, I have a few things I want to test out with your energy." She walked towards the glass box that was in the middle of the room. I assumed its purpose was to keep any magic that was fired contained safely while they were in practice.

"Step in, I'll be here at the front, you'll be able to hear me from outside." I followed her instructions and made my way into the centre of the glass container.

She took a seat in the chairs that were placed in front of the tables in front of the box and looked at her sheet of papers. "Now, can you manifest your energy whip for me."

I followed suit and did what she said again. The whip departed from my palm, I gripped it as I usually did while it cascaded down to the floor.
"See, it's like a perfect, thick line of golden energy, it hums but it doesn't crackle. Couldn't possibly be electricity."

"How much of your energy does this whip of yours take, you didn't use it much in the first two Trials." Wow they really took note of everything.