"So how was the trip?" The first thing the old master asked about was the voyage.
In front of the doorstep, Henry stood while watching Master Elias grab a few strawberry candies and throw them into his mouth one by one. He watched as the old man reeled back in satisfaction and fulfilment—chewing the candies inside his mouth before ultimately swallowing them.
Henry didn't bother to make a comment about the last part, everyone has their own ways of doing certain things and his extremely eccentric master definitely falls at the top of that category.
Instead, he answered the question, "It was going fine, until the part where I embraced the ocean for an entire night."
"Embrace the Ocean or the Princess of the Ocean hmm?" The old man gave him a knowing look. Henry bashfully looked away instead of answering.
Thankfully, the old man shifted the topic, "Anyways, I assume you earned a great amount of experience from the journey, though from my perspective, hitting both the future Queen of Arendelle and Atlantis is not enough for someone like you."
"And how are you supposed to know that?" Henry asked with a smirk and crossed arms. He already knows the answer to it of course, he just wants to hear it straight from the old master's mouth.
"Oh trust me. I do." The old master scoffed, throwing yet another batch of candies into his mouth until the small bowl became empty.
Henry frowned and finally commented regarding it, "What's with you and candies today? I never took you for someone with a sweet tooth."
Master Elias waved his hand in dismissal as he chewed, "…Consider it a side effect of attempting to peek at the future."
'Sounds like something that comes out of a Disney fairy tale. Oh right, I'm living in it.'
Henry grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it, "So aside from the tower, what else does the future have in store for me?"
Only for the old man to wave his finger at him, "No spoilers for you young man. Either relieve it yourself or die trying."
"Sound ominous." Henry grinned, "I like it."
"Which one? The part where you're in trudging the path of the unknown or bagging the princesses, hmm?"
"…The former, of course. Do you really think I'm that depraved?" Henry scoffed in disgust. Everything he's done until now was within his boundaries. Whether he accidentally makes a princess fall for him, he really can't blame himself.
Is it his fault that he's charming? Both in name and appeal?
The old man didn't say anything in reply to it—changing the topic instead. "I assume you met an old friend of mine, Pabbie."
Henry didn't bother to pursue the topic either, nodding his head in return, "He's a great man. Taught me a very useful magic that is definitely not pre-planned for something that will happen to me in the future, unlike someone who taught me two very specific spells that somehow became my life saviour." Master Elias stared straight ahead, appearing not to care about Henry's suspicious looks breathing down on his old saggy neck.
"I don't know what you're talking about. But I do agree with you that Pabbie is a great figure, perhaps one of the greatest living creature that graced this world, consider yourself lucky for taking you in as his student, you're the first, to what I know."
Henry couldn't agree more with that.
"…So, is that why you invited me in here? To discuss what happened to me which we both know that you already know."
"Not really, I sensed the power of the flames within you. You're nearing the stage of Absolute Manipulation of Fire Magic. You just need a little push. Follow me, this could be over in a jiffy." Without saying anything more, Master Elias's cape bellowed as he turned and sauntered towards the familiar teleportation circle etched on the floor.
Behind, Henry immediately followed. He's been idle in his magic training these past few days, mostly because he found no need to shift his entire focus on it for now, especially since he's finally back home.
Though of course, he wouldn't refuse a free power-up from his teacher.
———
"You lied to me." Henry deadpanned at his master in front of him.
Instead of the tower, they're standing at the mouth of a very active volcano, spewing little lava here and there. Despite mastering the art of flames, Henry could still feel the searing heat licking his skin—though not hot enough to hurt him but annoy him, yes.
Master Elias simply shrugged his shoulders in return, "I didn't say it would be easy and besides, aren't you excited to see a volcano this close? I assume it's your first time, right?"
"…Right…" Henry curtly replied, his eyes lowering down on the sea of lava below him. If it had been him before the magic thingy, his legs might've turned jelly out of fear.
"So what's the connection between the lava and mastering Fire magic?" He asked.
"The lava and the volcano are part of nature, harness the strength of the volcano, gain its acknowledgement and only then you'll pass for the second and final stage."
Hearing those words, Henry glared at the sack of old bones, "There's another stage after this?! I thought you said this'll be over in a jiffy!"
"I said this COULD be over in a jiffy. So it just depends on your performance. Weren't you bragging about how talented you are and whatnot? Now's the time for that to truly shine!" Then the old man looked at his own wrist, as if the existence of a wrist watch existed, "Oh look at the time! Gotta go, I'll be back in a few hours or so!"
Before Henry could react, the old master vanished followed by the sound of loud cracking of air, leaving him alone with the volcano.
Henry closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself down, "One day I swear…" When he opened his eyes again, only the orange-coloured sea of lava stared back at him.
"Make the volcano acknowledge me. He acts as if the volcano itself is alive or something." Then a certain realization flashed within his mind before changing his tone, "Well, knowing this world, a volcano being a living creature is most likely than not."
Blurp! Blurp!
Seeing the lava produce small bubbles that sound like it promises a hell lot of pain, Henry couldn't help but get curious whether producing and manipulating lava is possible through magic.
"It could be a combination of Water, Earth, and Fire magic—taking the liquid property of Water magic and then combining it with the Goop property of Earth, and then the heat property from Flame magic…" Unbeknownst to Henry, he unknowingly found himself crouching with his finger on the chin, citing mumbles about magic theories and speculations.
"I wonder how I'll get the acknowledgement. That old sack of bones barely spared me any details for this…" Henry's lips thinned, not hesitating to hurl insults at his master. He's a hundred percent sure that the old man is watching him right now.
For the next five minutes, Henry paced around the place, sometimes finding an interesting piece of rock before losing interest. During that time, Henry didn't stay idle of course—he felt like he was close to understanding what the acknowledgement actually meant.
"I can feel a residual magic being constantly produced by the volcano. Unlike the fire magic, this one feels similar but thicker, potent, and something like that." He murmured to himself with his eyes closed.
Filled with curiosity, he raised his hand forward and cast a basic fireball spell and lo and behold, even without trying too much and spending energy, the flames turned instantly blue, even borderline reaching a higher stage—Violet Flames.
Henry might not be an expert in flames but he's definitely sure that he was close to producing something that is hotter than blue flames.
If that wasn't enough as a shock, he barely felt a dent in his stamina when doing so.
"Is this what he meant by acknowledgement? Just reaching the hottest flame?" Henry's brows furrowed, confused at what he was supposed to do.
"Let's see. To make someone or in my case, something, to acknowledge you, I need to make them proud or at least, please them…"
For a while, Henry stayed still, staring at the flowing lava below him. At first, nothing was happening but the longer he stared, the more he seemed to realize something.
"Is it just me or am I starting to see some shapes down there. The lava is making some odd shapes…" This realization made his eyes go wide.
"Shapes…What makes Lava different from Flames is not only that it's hotter. But because Lava leans more to be shaped and is more prone to being shaped. Unlike flames, Lava has viscosity, it's partially solid so it's easier to manipulate its shape compared to flames…"
Henry slapped his forehead and laughed, "I'm such an idiot! The answer has been literally in front of me since earlier. I'm doing this to achieve absolute mastery of the flames, and to manipulate something in its absolute is to learn how to shape it to my liking…"
Amidst the cracklings and bursting of lava bubbles, a deep and almost manic laugh resonated across the barren land.
———
"It's almost an hour. He should've figured out everything by now." Back in his study, Master Elias stared at the sun outside the window, determining the time based on the sun's angle and location.
A basic knowledge for magical masters like him.
Grabbing a few more candies and popping them in his mouth, he approached the teleportation circle and vanished.
When he reappeared, he was a few miles away from the volcano, currently surrounded by dead trees.
This is the place where he scribed the teleportation rune.
His gaze snapped at the tip of the volcano and what he saw made his eyes go wide.
There at the mouth of the volcano, a towering figure made of blue flames stood—its height almost reaching 50 feet, a three-pronged crown on its head, and eyes glowing in deep blue flames. If a common man were to see this, they would swear in their entire generation's name that they're witnessing the descent of God himself.
At least that's what it's supposed to be if it weren't for the said towering figure hurling massive fireballs that could devastate entire towns in a single strike while clapping after.
"BUWAHAHAHA! Look up at me mortals! I am the God of the Flames and I am here to receive your offerings!" A maniacal laugh came out from the head of the flaming figure, his voice dripping with arrogance and playfulness. Though the content of his words might mislead other people into thinking that Henry is truly a god descending from the heavens.
"Look at this kid, getting drunk in his own power for the first time…" Master Elias chuckled to himself—just as he was about to feel relieved that his student was able to achieve an absolute mastery over the fire magic, a certain memory flashed inside his mind, a deep and old traumatic memory that he long sought to bury and never to remember again.
"DO YOU FEEL PROUD OF ME NOW, MASTER!? TELL ME HOW PROUD YOU ARE OF ME! I WANT TO HEAR IT AGAIN!"
"…stop it this instant! Don't let yourself get lost in power! There is nothing worth being proud of in seeing you turn into this!"
Master Elias released a deep sigh, filled with regret and melancholy. When he opened his eyes again, it was already devoid of the earlier excitement for Henry's achievement.
Without an ounce of movement, he disappeared from his place, reappearing in front of the towering giant of flames in a matter of seconds. Inside the giant's head, Henry saw the old man and before he could respond, Master Elias suddenly stretched his bone-like arm, the five rings on his fingers glittering under the exposure of light.
Henry felt a massive force pulling him out of the flame giant. He couldn't even react or control himself before being successfully pulled out and finding the collar of his shirt grasped by his master.
Behind him, without the source of its creation, the massive giant of flames slowly crumbled into pieces before eventually turning into mere wisps that vanished right after.
"Master…Elias?" There was a confused tone in Henry's voice when he asked.
Master Elias simply gave off a playful smile and said, "You barely resisted my gravitational pull on you, Henry. Do you seriously call yourself talented?" Even though the tone of his voice was full of mockery, Henry couldn't help but feel like it contained a hint of hidden pain and suffering.
In response to this, Henry replied with a warm smile, "I don't know. You tell me, master."