(no subject)

[always_a_liar]

The sounds of Shelley cleaning up after dinner were easily heard out in the backyard where Elan sat in meditation. The evening was cold but his concentration allowed him to ignore it. The grass was damp with dew, slowly soaking through the knees of his pants. He had not done this since his bout of depression.

Imagine the flame

Even in the cool evening, his brow was dewed with sweat as he concentrated, remembering the incantatory exercises he learned when he was young.

Seize the flame

Still nothing, though there was a strange sense of a distant light as if through a dense fog or mist. He would continue trying.

Imagine the flame

A deep breath.

Seize the flame

A bead of sweat dripped down his face.

Master the flame

His teeth clenched.

Become the flame

A glimmer of light, a hint of fire, blossomed in his cupped hands. A river of burning ice and frozen fire poured through Elan, his breath shuddering, only a trickle but it was a gasp of air after being held under water.

Then it was gone.

Chuckling darkly, he suddenly felt the cold, rush in and his body shivered. It had been ecstasy to feel the Power, even such a tiny trickle again. The barrier was not impenetrable--there was progress being made.

A wicked smile on his face as soft peals of laughter filled the backyard.