Immortal Awakening

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-three

I walked into the clearing at exactly 9 p.m. It was a bit chilly outside, so I felt completely justified wearing the one-size-too-big pull-over I had put on before leaving the house, and my brown combat boots. I hoped she'd meet me, and on time too, because Leanne had started checking on me at midnight, and I had hoped to sneak back in before then. I didn't want her to ask me where I was. I didn't have many excuses, and to spend time to think of a plausible one sounded too tiring.

At a few minutes after 9, Malaya showed up dressed against the chill of the night. "I'm glad you decided to let me help you," she said as she approached me. I nodded, stuffing my cold hands into my pockets. "I'm glad you chose this place. I could teach you some simple nature spells here."

"Nature spells?" I asked.

"There are different kinds of spells. Nature, healing, attack, protective, defensive, transfiguration, convergence, and even dark spells. Then, there are special spells. Ones that are unique to the person casting the spell, but you have to master a certain level of witchcraft in order to find your special spells." She started walking over to the lake.

I had listened intently like a good student as she spoke, and followed her as she headed towards the lake. I watched her walk around it for a while, before stopping and beckoning me over to her. I went and looked down at the flowers she stood in front of. There were a lot of them, but they weren't completely open since it was night time. They were small and ranged from shades of blue to purple.

"This is a flower called Golden Alexander." She knelt beside the flower and gently touched it, resulting in the tiny flower opening up as if she had given it life. "Try it."

"I don't even know what you did," I said, kneeling next to her.

"You have to feel the power coursing through you. Once you can feel it, project it onto the flower. Imagine what you want to happen, and make it happen," she urged.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to do what Malaya had done. When I opened my eyes, I stared dejectedly at the unopened flower and sighed. Easily discouraged, I said, "I can't do it."

"Yes, you can. Feel your power, Nina." She put her hands on my shoulders. "Try again."

I sighed and cupped my hands around the flower like I saw her do. Closing my eyes, I focused on myself, my body, my heart and its beating, my every nerve, and muscle, and vein, and I felt something. It was a faint buzz of warm energy. The more I focused on it, the stronger and more noticeable it became. Opening my eyes, I focused that, and projected it towards the flower. The change was slow at first, the flower barely moving. But then it blossomed and came to life. That buzzing didn't stop, and I felt that energy flow through the flower and me. I smiled.

"You did it."

"Yeah, I did."

Over the next two hours, Malaya had me go over the process again and again, eventually making almost all the flowers around the lake bloom. Then, she moved onto trees and I managed to restore a dying tree. She said she had never seen someone learn nature spells that fast, and with renewed confidence in myself, I allowed her to teach me more.

None of what she went over with me had to do with strange enchantments or stranger words. Just me feeling the power within me and projecting it onto another thing. She taught me how to do so without touching the object, which proved to be a little more different. At least when I was touching the object, I could imagine the power flowing through my hands and onto the object. Without making contact, there was no way for the energy to travel to the target.