The Messenger of Death

Chapter 31: flames

15 minutes later

Alex had just finished taking his bath. He wore the same clothes that Camron had given him last night, with his combat boots. He sat down at the edge of the mattress.

['Lex, will I need anything in particular for today's lesson?']

['No Alex. Although I'm not sure of how exactly I'm supposed to teach you, we would try to find out from different perspectives.']

['What do you mean by not being sure? Don't you know exactly how you manipulated space when you were battling those bandits?']

['I know how I did it. I just don't know to interpret it.'] Lex assured.

['What does that even mean?'] The more Lex said the more Alex got buried in confusion.

['I think what Lex is trying to say is that he knows how to do it but he doesn't know how to explain its process. Like how a human knows how to breathe, but doesn't know how the diaphragm contracts and pulls downward while the muscles between the ribs contracts and pull upward.'] Xander explained.

['So using the elemental abilities is like breathing to you guys too?']

['Yes, something like that.'] Xander replied.

"Should I be surprised or just. I should have known that I wouldn't have it easy." Alex faced palmed and sighed.

['I'm sorry Alex. You must be disappointed with me right now.'] Lex said timidly.

'He reverted into his shy corner.'

['No need to apologize, I was the one that had too many expectations. I'm still satisfied that you offered to teach me. Unlike some others.']

['Hahaha, you can take your disappointment out on us if it makes you happy. I'm satisfied with you just not having things easy.'] Al jubilated.

Alex was about to insult Al but he was interrupted by a voice from outside.

"Sir. May I come in? I'm back with your breakfast." The maid announced.

"Come in."

-Creak!

The maid pushed in a Stainless steel serving trolley.

"You can leave that over there. I will serve myself."

"Alright. I will return later to clean the room." She gave a short bow and proceeded to the door.

['You should say thank you Alex.'] Lex suggested.

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['Why should I do that?']

['Little words like that can sometimes make people feel good about their selves.']

['Oh, okay. I guess.']

['And ask for her name. it is common courtesy after all'] Al added.

['Since did you know what courtesy is?']

Alex asked but nonetheless, he chooses to do as his alters asked of him.

"Tha-thank you." He found it a bit weird to say.

The maid stopped in her tracks. She turned and flashed a toothy smile at Alex.

"You're welcome, sir. It's my pleasure."

"What's your name?"

['Not so direct you fool!! You've got to go in smoothly. Argh, my image. The damage has already been done.] Al scolded.

The maid was caught unprepared. Her smile got wider and her face started to turn pink. She giggled and said.

"My name is Beatrice. A lot of people call me Bee though." She fuddled with her hair and placed it behind her ear.

"Can I call you Alex?"

['Smooth ehh.'] Alex mocked Al.

['It's just luck. Don't let it tickle your balls. Hmph.']

"You can call me what you want. Just not with all the formalities."

"Okay. I'll be leaving now. See you later Alex." She said softly. Humming as she skipped away.

Alex approached the trolley. He went for the tea first.

-Sip!

"A very strong flavor. I like this Huh?" He raised the cup and brought it closer to his eyes.

"I can see steam coming out from the tea. Why can't I feel its temperature?"

['Poor fool. Flames can hardly burn you, essentially things that are hot can hardly do any harm to you. Do you think hot tea is going to feel hot to you? Go drink some magma if you want to feel some heat.']

['It would probably kill you to talk to me nicely.'] Alex took another sip from his tea.

['If you were a pretty girl then I would gladly speak to you nicely.'] Al said smugly.

"Never doubted it," Alex replied nonchalantly. He ignored Al's ranting and focused on his breakfast.

****************************

Alex stepped out of his room. Wondering what location to use for practice.

['I didn't think of this before but where are we going to hold the lesson?']

['An open space would do.'] Lex said.

"Hmmm."

He folded his arms in front of him as he thought of a suitable location.

['The pond area it is then.']

Standing at a distance not too far from the pond, Alex surveyed his surroundings.

['Camron said that I might be watched. If we are being watched now then the watchdog must be very skilled, for me not to notice him.']

['Not only skilled but also stronger than us. I am sure that we are being watched at the moment.] Xander confirmed.

['Will it be okay if he watched me practice?'] Alex asked.

['I don't see anything wrong in him watching. We are not doing anything wrong. It's just practice.'] Lex said.

"Alright." He stopped surveying his surroundings.

['How do we start Lex?']

['I'm not sure. I would like to suggest that we; me and you, enter a co-consciousness state. That way you might be able to get a better feel of spatial abilities. But I know that you would be against that. You don't trust me that much yet.']

['If you know my answer then why did you still say it? Let's think of something else.']

['Okay. Let us start by bringing out the spear.']

-Swoop.

The silver spear appeared.

"Now what?"

['Honestly. I don't know.']

"Lord," Alex grunted as he face palmed himself hard.

"My skin might just peel off because of how much I've been hitting my face."

['Let us calm down and think clearly... To me, when I was in control, the space around me was like a door. A door that could open up anywhere I wanted it to, within a certain radius. So let's treat this empty space as a door. When you want to open a door, what do you do?']

"You twist the doorknob or you bend its handle."

['Then do the same here. Before you can open a door, you have to find the door first; in our case the door is the space around us, we know where the door is.']

"But I can't feel or see the door," Alex stated the obvious.

['The ability to feel the door is within you. All you have to do is to tap into it, then find the door. Once you can find the door the next thing to do is to find its handle. And after that, all you have to do is to open it.']

"You make it sound so easy." Alex rolled his eyes in annoyance

['You should be able to feel it the same way you perceive QI. Just try to feel it.']

He exhaled.

"Alright."

He sat down on the moist grass and kept his spear beside him. Alex closed his eyes and tried to feel the space. Even though he didn't know how he was supposed to do that.

Alex sat there for over an hour, trying his best; but to no avail, he felt nothing. He started getting angry.

"Why can't I feel anything!!" He said furiously.

['Hahahaha. Ignorant rabbit. I'm so happy that you can't feel it. You just have to rely on us.'] Al jubilated at Alex's failure.

Al speaking just infuriated and agitated Alex the more. He grabbed his spear and shot off the ground.

"This is a waste of time." In anger, Alex waved his spear.

-Whoosh!

A horizontal line of fire emerged from the tip of the spear. The fire traveled down towards the pond and made contact with the water.

-Shhhh!!!

A sizzling sound filled his ears. The flame from his spear evaporated the water upon contact. The foggy sight of steam now filled the vicinity.

"What the hell? Did I just do that?" Alex was stunned by what just took place.

"Hahaha. How ironic. How do you feel now Al?"

['That was definitely a fluke. A flipping fluke.'] Al exclaimed.

"Fluke or not I did it without even trying, what if I try to. Looks like I wouldn't need you, at all." He said with a smirk. To Al, Alex sounded evil at the moment...

"Hahaha." Alex couldn't stop laughing at his triumph. He started to feel better now. The anger and annoyance from not being able to use his spatial abilities subsided.

"Alex!! Alex!!"

"And the retard is here." Alex lamented as he heard Camron call for him.

"I'm over here. Why are you looking for me?" He said sternly.

"I guessed that you'll be here and then I made my way over here. I heard a loud sizzling sound and why is there fog here?"

"I made the fog." He pushed his chest out and boasted.

Camron doubted it at first until he looked at the tip of Alex Spear. The tip was red like it was just taken out of the furnace.