Time slowly ticked away as Raien lay upon the training room floor, eyes red, from tears, contemplating everything that had happened in the past few days. I’m a murderer. Was the thought that most often ran through her mind. I’m going to be a prisoner here until the day I die or they inevitably kill me. She knew that wasn’t true, as much as she hated to admit it the voice from the circlet was right, her will to live was too much. I’m a coward, too afraid to kill myself. I held a knife right in my hand and all I did was what I was told, I’m so pathetic. No! Raien screamed to herself. No I have to survive and get out of this place, my life is my own and no one else’s. Suicide would really be the coward’s way out, the last ditch efforts of someone who has completely and utterly given up.

At that moment Raien made up her mind, she would go along with what was demanded of her, but as soon as she saw an opening she was going to take it, and if she failed and they had her killed at least it would have been on her terms.

Still unable to move Raien took one more cleansing breath and said, “I’m ready to take the test.”

“Very good Raien,” said the voice so quickly it was as if it never left. “This final test will be very easy, in fact it is like something you’re quite used to.” Raien could feel the numbness leave her body and slowly stood for the first time in what felt like days. Raien felt the room begin to shift once more and targets, just like the ones from the first test sprouted from the walls.

“I want you to break the targets, but I don’t want you to use any elements this time for now I want you to focus on darkness.”

Darkness? thought Raien. Fire, Water, Wind these all came to her as second nature, but darkness, it made sense that it too could be manifested and wielded like the other elements, so she did what just came naturally. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Darkness, darkness, darkness, she thought as she channeled energy into her left hand, only to be disappointed when she opened her eyes a crack and saw a fireball forming in her palm. She then closed her eyes once more. I need to concentrate, darkness. I have plenty experience with that, the orphanage, the kids at school, the cells that have been my home for the past four days. My foreseeable future, all I know is darkness. She then opened her eyes to see that the fireball in her palm was now burning with a flame as black as the moonless sky. I did it! Raien then tossed the ball of darkness like it was any other magic she had used.

“Excellent!” cheered the voice. “Very good, now try harnessing the power of light.”

That makes sense, thought Raien. You can’t have darkness without the light. She then turned her attention to her empty right hand, her left still churning with the dark flame. Light, light, light, she thought to herself. I don’t know any light. All my life has been pre-designed for me, run by others and never by me. She quickly saw her right hand beginning to form a dark flame just like her left. No, if I think like that I’m never going to get out of here. Having the strength to stand up for myself, the shine in that Elven boy’s eyes, freedom. That is my light! Suddenly the black flames that were forming on her right hand shifted and became a glow of pure light. Raien knew what to do and she formed the light into a ball and tossed it at another target.

“Spectacular!” exclaimed Kayleen in the other room.

“What does this mean my lady?” asked the subordinate as she watched Kayleen take off the circlet.

“It means she can use white magic as well as black,” said Kayleen ecstatically. And it proves she can’t possibly be the new Black if she can use white magic as well.

“Shall I have her return to her cell then if this means the final test is a success?”

“No, not just yet,” said Kayleen reaching for the circlet. “I have one last test I want to run. “

“Raien, you have done very well today, but I have just one last test I want to run,” explained the voice. Suddenly all the targets receded back into the walls they came out of and one huge target, as round as a carriage wheel descended from the ceiling. It seemed to be a whole hundred yards away from her. “I want to see just how much magical force you can put behind a single attack, go ahead, use whatever magic you want, just don’t hold anything back.”

Will she ever be satisfied? Thought Raien. She wants me to hold nothing back, I’ll show her the biggest blast she’s ever seen. Raien then stretched out her arms, wide open, as far they could go. Dark energy still churned in her left hand, just as light energy pulsated in her right. She began to draw in ever and ever much energy and the dark and light glows soon formed into perfect spheres. As more energy poured into the spheres they began to grow exponentially. The orbs centered on a point in the middle of her palm and soon they enveloped her hands and began making their way past her wrists. The spheres did nothing to Raien, they neither burned nor damaged her in anyway. She was in complete control. She began the sweat as the balls crept closer to her elbows, her knees also began to buckle, but is wasn’t due to the spheres or dark and light energy, they had no weight or heat, it was from the shear amount of energy she was drawing into herself. Finally as the spheres engulfed her forearms she thrust her left arm above her head and forced the ball to the top of her hand, balanced it on her palm and heaved it towards the target, instantaneously she did the same with her right hand and all she could do was watch as the two balls of energy rocketed their way towards the target. The dark sphere hit first and it completely engulfed the target in dark flames, and before the flames could consume their fuel the ball of light energy hit the target and erupted in a tremendous explosion.

As the dust settled Raien peered towards the wall, and saw something she hadn’t seen in days. Sunlight. The explosion had broken right through the wall, all the way though ten feet of now shattered concrete and twisted metal to a six foot wide ray of sunshine. Her prison was open and freedom was a mere stroll away.

“Very good Raien! That was the largest amount of channeled magical energy we have ever recorded!” Raien thought it was weird that the voice hadn’t mentioned the wall. She can’t see me? she thought. She must be able to only track my use of magic and can’t see the hole at all. She didn’t hesitate to think it over any more. Raien suddenly burst into a run, wind formed around Raien as she ran. More speed, I need to go faster, it has to work this time! She was almost free. She could smell the real fresh, free air and flowers.

“Raien, what are you doing?” the voice had come back. “You aren’t authorized to use magic without my command.” Raien heard the voice, but ignored it. She continued towards freedom, the wind at her back propelling her through the shocks she knew would come. The pain radiated though out her entire body, but she was drawing ever closer, she could smell the fresh air, see the real grass and trees. Freedom was but a moment away, but a moment was all her captors needed. Simultaneously the pain intensified and was joined by the numbing, and as she fell to the ground Raien could sense her ability to draw in magic was being closed off, and then it all became too much for her and she collapsed, mere inches from escape.

The haziness began fade from Raien’s vision, she felt as if a spider had woven its web inside her head. All of her senses where deadened, but Raien knew she had to be in the cell again. Time passed and her senses began to return, she could hear faint sounds form outside the door.

“She the broke the wall in the meadow room during today’s assessment.” Diminished senses or not, after the experiences of the past few days Raien knew the voice to belong to Kayleen. The sound of her voice would probably be ingrained in Raien’s mind until the day she died.

“I see Kayleen. And how exactly did she do that? Those walls are built from highly reinforced concrete.” Raien began to recognize this voice as well. It belonged to the King.

“I know,” said Kayleen. Raien heard a constant clicking noise. She must be pacing. “She can use more than Black magic after all, she was able to manifest both light and dark energy.”

“So she can use White magic as well then?”

“Yes.”

“Then how did the wall break?”

“Well my liege, I’m sure you’re aware that white magic is the class that contains the healing arts, but at its basest level White magic is a balance of life and death, light and dark.” Kayleen then held out her hands both of her index fingers pointing up in the air. A ball of light balanced on one, and a black flame on the other. “When someone manifests dark and light energy in their purest form they are highly reactive to each other.” She then sent the two balls of energy into the air far down the empty hallway and pressed them together. Raien heard a snapping sound accompanied a bright flash of light that lit up her entire cell.

“So you’re saying she’s learned to amass enough light and dark energy to blast a hole through a ten foot wall of steel reinforced cement?”

“No,” said Kayleen, her pacing becoming more fevered. “I’ve only trained her for two days, and that was just to assess what forms she could use. I haven’t even begun building her magical stamina, she’s always been this powerful.”

“Than who knows how powerful she‘d become if she was actually trained?”

“Yes sire, the self taught tend to be more powerful then those who need to be shown the way, but we’ve never dealt with a subject this powerful.” Kayleen could see the face of her King begin to tense.

“But don’t you worry,” she continued. “I’ll break her. However, as long as she’s not sealed she is a threat to our very well being as well as our kingdom’s dream.”

“She is sealed, isn’t she Kayleen?” asked the king. Raien’s vision had cleared completely now. She looked down at her hands, they were sealed again, and now a chain ran from the links connecting the seals together to an anchor point build into the floor of the cell.

“She won’t be able to escape sire.”

“Good,” said the king as he let out a deep sigh. “She’s sealed, that’s a tremendous relief. Someday she’ll become our greatest weapon, but if she gets free?” asked the King. “You’ll be able to defeat her, won’t you Kayleen?”

Kayleen sighed deeply and began to pace again, quicker then ever. “No Sire, not alone, not in our current conditions. If she ever learns to harness and focus all of her potential energy I don’t think anyone could stop her, not even herself.”

Kayleen’s words gave Raien a nice sense of self assurance. She’s afraid of me.

“I see,” said King Shean. “Then there’s little more we can do on that matter. Going onto further business did we ever find that sprite child that went missing in the water field?”

“No sire we never did.”

“Hmm, no matter, it seemed to have no useful powers anyway, it probably drowned, no loss to our purpose.”

“I agree.”

“All we need is this girl now, I can almost feel the North Country within my grasp.”

Raien listened as they slowly walked down the hall. She left out a sigh and hunched down to take a rest. She felt her head get heavy and felt she would fall sleep at any moment.

“Are they talking about me again?” Raien nearly leapt out of her skin with surprise. Where’d the voice come from? I’m not wearing a circlet now.

“I was right,” said the voice. “You are pretty.” Raien scanned the room as best as she could, finally she looked up and perched on the top of her head was the boy from earlier that day.

“Who-who are you?” asked a shocked Raien.

“Me! My name’s Kilee,” said the child as he jumped off Raien’s head. He couldn’t be more than two and a half feet tall. “You must he Raien, right?”

“Ye-yes, my name is Raien,” she responded, more confused than ever. “This isn’t another test is it?”

“Ha ha, no silly,” giggled Kilee. “I’m a friend, those jerks think they know so much, my powers are so useful.” Kilee began to dance around and soon he disappeared.

“That’s nice,” sighed Raien. His powers are little more than simple tricks.

“Yeah I know, but I got more!” said a now visible Kilee. “Watch this!” He then turned his back to Raien and flourished his right arm. It looked like to Raien like he was reaching into his coat pocket, but soon Raien saw Kilee’s hand appear right through his body.

“Impressive,” said Raien, not too entirely amused. “But what does this have anything to do with me?”

“Oh that’s the best part!” exclaimed Kilee, grabbing Raien’s arms. “I can lend my powers to another magic user.” Kilee suddenly disappeared again, Raien along with him, and to her amazement she saw the seals fall through her transparent hands. The seals were gone. There was no circlet in sight. She was free, truly free now.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Raien.

“Big brother sent me, I’m here to free you. My big brother is a hero,” rambled Kilee going a mile a minute. “He’s forming a resistance group to fight against King Shean. He’s a biggest jerkface of them all, that King. He wants to hurt you and use you as a tool just to get his own selfish way.” Raien thought this new person was quite odd. He talked about political affairs like an adult, yet called people such childish names.

“Who’s your big brother?” asked Raien.

“Oh, you’ll meet him, come with me.” Kilee held out his little hand. “You can trust me.” Raien forced a smiled and hesitantly took his hand. They soon disappeared with a blinding flash.