Mist of Doom

21. No Pain No Gain

"I'll teach you a simple one first." Katrina's hand glowed, and a basketball-sized radiant sphere materialized above her palm. She tossed it at Mika, whose eyes widened.

"Wha-"

Katrina pulled back her extended arm. The orb swerved away from Mika and returned to Katrina's palm as threads of smoke.

"If you can control where your sphere goes, you can hit your target more easily. It also helps you avoid friendly fire."

Mika nodded, her face dull. A maneuverable explosive orb? Couldn't it be something cooler and stronger?

"Nobody learns something advanced without mastering the basics beforehand," Katrina reminded.

Mika gasped. Not even Brandon could read her that accurately!

"You have to know that I'm a mother to a nineteen-year-old boy. My son joined Kutaba Ryu Meditation Course, but he kept complaining about how dull it was to learn the basic breathing techniques."

"And then?"

"He wanted to quit, but I told him that it'd be his loss." Katrina shrugged. "Then I explained how the meditation could calm one's mind and help improve one's memory, which would be useful for a student like him. He eventually changed his mind."

Mika's jaw dropped. "Wow. If he has gotten a folk when the mist outbreak happened-" Seeing tears in Katrina's eyes cut her off.

"Then he'd have been here, practicing his powers and sparring with you." She wiped off the tears from her eyes. "Now, conjure a sphere."

Smiling a bit, Mika nodded. Katrina reminded her of Brandon whenever he decided to open up a bit about his relationship with her mother. He had always redirected Mika into something else before she could question him further.

"Focus!" Katrina scolded.

"Oops!" Mika reached out her hand and concentrated. A pulsating orb of light materialized above her palm, growing bigger with each passing second.

Once it reached the size of a basketball, Katrina told her, "Look at the sphere and form a connection with it."

Mika complied. Soon, it felt as though the sphere formed an invisible rope that bound itself with her brain. Her head throbbed and tears welled in her eyes, threatening to make her blink, but she pressed on. I'm not that weak.

"Feel something in your head?"

Mika nodded.

"Now, your sphere's direction depends on where you're looking at. You look up, it goes up. You look down, it goes down. Try moving it up and down slowly."

Mika nodded again and looked up. The sphere rocketed to the ceiling.

"I said slow-"

Boom!

Debris and droplets of water rained down into the shed, at which they jumped away. A gaping hole rested on the ceiling, its edge charred and smoking.

"Try again," Katrina spoke, stern as a math teacher. "Remember, slowly."

"Okay." After performing the sphere conjuring and bonding steps again, Mika slowly looked up and guided the sphere to the ceiling. Her eyes didn't hurt, but the excessive tears blurred her vision and began rolling down her cheeks.

She blinked.

The sphere plummeted. Mika scrutinized the orb, hoping to bond with it again, but it returned to her hand as wisps of smoke.