Abrupt Graduation

Evelyn was floating on her back in the large bath and staring at the intricate design of the ceiling beyond the fog from the steam. "I summoned fire," she kept thinking to herself. "Freaking flame, burning hot fire!" With a smile on her face, she just couldn't stop thinking about it to herself or believing it. "Freya is really turning out to be like my fairy god mother. Or I guess, Siren god mother." A moment passed and she whispered, "But still…"

Evelyn submerged her entire body underwater and screamed in her excitement. And then rose out as she felt the water get hot quickly, but not too hot it hurt her. She touched the water and focusing a little started to see it steam more and then began to boil as the water's temperature began to rise and then stopped what she was doing.

 "Turning the bath into a boiling pot are we?" Evelyn suddenly heard Freya say. "Boil for too long and there won't be enough water for either of us."

 Evelyn quickly dipped back into the water, so it was at neck level and said, "I did not hear you come in. How long have you been standing there?"

 "Long enough to consider if being boiled alive was worth joining you in the bath," Freya said. "And it's a tapestry. How would you have heard me come in?"

 Evelyn blushed and then said, "You said you were joining me?"

 "Of course," Freya smiled. She dropped her towel and made her way into the bath.

 Evelyn was staring at a tattoo on Freya's arm intensely as they sat in silence for a while. Freya was just leaning on the outer rim of the bath basking in the water. "To think about it now-"

 "Something wrong dear?" Freya said interrupting Evelyn's thought.

 "Um, yeah," Evelyn said. "I think this is the first time I've noticed you taking a bath. I apologize, I started thinking I was the cleanest one here."

 Freya began laughing and responded, "Oh no. No, you're okay. I understand your confusion. Yes, I do bathe like you. I bathe in the morning usually before I come to get you in the morning. For me it's a refreshing feeling first thing in the morning."

 "And for me a refreshing feeling to end the day," Evelyn said.

 They exchanged a short giggle between one another.

 I know there is something else on your mind," Freya then said. Evelyn's silence was enough for Freya to read her mind. "You're afraid."

 Evelyn's eyes connected with Freya's. They were glossy and the ultramarine color of her iris were glistening like the stars in the sky. A look that was pure and innocent.

 Freya sighed and then said, "I understand. You summoned fire and are wondering what's next and what happens when it's all over." Freya watches Evelyn nod. "You won't be alone." She says. "I can't tell you now why or how I know that, but you won't be alone. There are people who care about you out there. And you'll see that soon enough. I promise."

 Evelyn remained quiet and looked away from Freya until she said, "I'm going to turn in now," and made her way out of the bath and exited through the tapestry in her towel.

 Freya glanced toward the tapestry after Evelyn exited and said, "Son of an Orc. I really don't know how to tell her. I won't know myself until it's happened either. Couldn't there have been an instruction manual or something? We're both going to be in the dark."

 Evelyn woke up, warm in the blankets she had grabbed on so tightly the night before. She rolled over and saw stared out the window of her room to the sea outside. "The fish are so pretty. Happy little fishy. Swim, swim, swimming." She giggled a little as she was just thinking to herself. She saw a whale slowly swimming by, "And there it is. Monster food." She watched it for a good five minutes until she sat up and said, "Wait a minute. That thing is staying alive longer that it should have by now."

She gets out of bet and walks to the window and the dark figure of the monster is nowhere in sight of its shadow beyond the veil of the dome.

 Freya then strolled in through the door wearing an oversized shirt and short shorts, with a tray in hand. "I know I said we'll be having brunch this morning, but I thought resting a little more is good, so I decided to treat you and serve you myself."

 Evelyn quickly dived back under the covers in bed since she still decided not the wear pajamas. "Do you still not knock?"

 Freya sat on the edge of the bed and set the tray in Evelyn's lap. "Bon appétit." She says as she lifts the lid revealing all of Evelyn's favorite breakfast foods. Then walked over to the nearby chair with clothes on it and threw Evelyn a shirt.

 "I've been here so long that you clearly know what I love," Evelyn said with a half-smile as she sipped on the orange juice after her shirt was on. Before digging in she looks at Freya and says, "So what are we doing today?"

 Freya smiled as she grabbed the green apple and took a bite and said, "Straight to business?"

 Evelyn was watching Freya, "My- My- My apple." She began to continue eating, trying to pretend she didn't just see that. And answered, "Even after last night and all we've talked about since I've been down here, I've listened and understood." Evelyn said. "I admit I'm afraid like you guessed last night but I'm going to trust what you said."

Freya had a please expression and proud sense of Evelyn showing maturity. "Very well," She said standing up. "Then now, when you're done eating get dressed and meet me in the training room for the next regiment of your training. Now that you can summon fire, it's time for control." She placed the apple core from the apple she took from Evelyn and another apple next to it and she walked out of the room.

 Evelyn was staring at the apple core and the new apple on her tray. She looks back up at the door and says to herself, "She's wearing almost nothing. Where the hell was she hiding that?"

Back in the training room, Evelyn and Freya were back in their original training clothes and Freya began to instruct Evelyn on the next section of her training. "So, this next training step is to harness and control your flame." She spoke. "You will summon fire again and as you have it summon, do not move it, but to feel its essence of it through your whole body. We sirens invented it as a divine blessing. The siren of Skightlence, combat and sound, taught it to you humans after she was made mortal and renamed it 'Qi."

"Is it powerful?" Evelyn asked.

 "Very," she responds.

 "I think it's a secret taught to only special fighters then," Evelyn says.

 With a questionable expression on her face, Freya asks, "Why do you say that?"

 "When I wasn't working on the island, Fawn of the council pretended to be mommy to me. She taught me to read, and I would ask her for books all the time. I now think she was grooming me for something more because she always brought be books on things that were not stories. Mostly. I remember reading a book on fighting and combat. I read it like twice but Qi was not mentioned."

 Freya smiles, "Well, consider you being special then."

 Freya then stood with her legs slightly apart and bent down a little. Kept her back straight, held her hands apart from each other with palms facing one another. She summoned a ball of flame and focused her breathing and felt the essence of the flame throughout her whole body.

A mark Evelyn had assumed was just a tattoo, from seeing her in the bath the night before, on the upper part of her right arm began to glow red. It seemed like a flame-like tribal tattoo but the way it's reacting now was telling her it was no normal tattoo.

 Freya then opened her eyes and the iris color changed to a beautiful crimson red. She then put out the flame and the tattoo turned back to its dark crimson red color and her eyes turned back to their original color.

 She smiles over at Evelyn and says, "Unlike summoning fire was, this time I'm not lying when I say it's really easy."

 "Whatever you say," Evelyn says as takes the center of the arena and gets into the position Freya was in. Legs apart, slightly bent and keep her back straight she put her hands out with the palms facing each other and summons a fireball in between them. She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and begins to feel the essence of the fire within her. At first, she felt the fire travel into her fingertips and into her hands and up her arms. Once it reached her shoulders, she pushed it inward to her chest and breasts and then down her ribs to her stomach. She swirled the fire around to her lower back and went up the back to her neck. She then moved the flame to her face and trailed back down to her stomach where she then pushed it to her hips. From there it went to her rear and in the crack and come up from the over side. Now it was going down her legs to her knees, to her feet and to the tips of her toes. She then moved it up again and rested it on her heart. Now that she had moved the flame to every inch of her body she could feel as if she was engulfed in the flame completely.

 With her eyes still closed she heard Freya whisper, "That's fantastic Evelyn. Don't stop. Do it a few more times." And with those instructions, she did.

Evelyn finally opened her eyes and was surprised to see Freya facing her, but not in the usual training clothes. She was now wearing pitch black leather boots with gold plated armor over top of them, orange pants that weren't too baggy and not too tight. On her upper body she wore a dark red tank top with a gold armored breastplate under her charcoal black pirate-like jacket with gold accents along the brim of the cloak. From what Evelyn could see from the sleeves, she was also wearing gold arm guards too. But what stood out most was the flaming spear in her hands.

 "What's going on?" Evelyn finally asked after her careful observation. "Are you teaching me combat too?"

 With a sincere look that was nothing short of apologetic, Freya said, "I'm sorry. I have not been fully honest with you Evelyn. But it's time for you to go. Consider this lesson as your graduation."

 "What?" Evelyn said, shocked from the sudden situation unfolding. "What do you-"

 A loud crash was heard from somewhere in the temple.

 "WHAT WAS THAT?!" Evelyn shouted.

 "Shit," Freya said with a serious on her face in the direction of the sound. "That monster must have finally made it in and is now attacking the temple."

 "You said that thing was nothing to worry about!" Evelyn shouts at her.

 "It was," she replied. "But that's because the barrier was strong."

 "And now it's not?" Evelyn questioned.

 Freya prepared herself of what to say to Evelyn, "I told you I wanted to gift you my powers," She grabbed Evelyn right arm, and they watched as the mark on Freya's arm traveled down, onto Evelyn's skin and on her arm in the same spot and design as Freya had on her. "Teaching you to summon fire was a process of transferring my power to you. So, as I was, my magic of this place was dwindling down. The barrier being one of those things that's part of my magic power."

 "Then was it that thing?" Evelyn asked as they heard another crash that sounded like it was getting closer.

"Remember how I told you that I have sisters?" Freya said as another crash rumbled and she got in a fighting stance facing the direction the crashes are coming from. "This is in relation to Tsunova, The Water Siren, She controls a beast called a Lobalisk. Seen by almost no one but one of the deadliest beast in the sea. Apparently, the Siren's power awakened some time ago to launch a direct strike on me. How they found me, I do not know. The only reason she would go looking for me would depend on her upbringing. If she was born in a country controlled by the Orcs, I told you about. It's the only reason why she's targeting me. The only problem is that I don't sense her. Only the beast."

Another crash bellowed, getting louder. "What should I do?" Evelyn cried out. "Should I help?"

 "No," Freya said with a straight face. "You are done, and my powers will be transferred to you entirely," She said.

 The wall caved wave and a giant snake like monster slithered into an upright stance. It had a pale blue underbelly and a dark green shell. The shell was like a lobster. The scales lifted on the side of it's body and the monster extruded four arms from underneath. The eyes of the monster were bright yellow.

 "This is the Lobalisk," Freya says in her stance anticipating an attack. "Deadlier than a Basilisk, though its eyes have no power to kill you. But they can entice fear so deadly it'll paralyze you. Evelyn, step away, slowly."

 Evelyn slowly did so as she kept her eyes on the monster and was thinking, "What in the hell! That thing is huge! What's with those arms? They're bulging like that thing has been lifting weights. That's the thing that's been circling the temple all this time?"

Freya sensed Evelyn had hidden behind one of the alcoves in the stands and then she started to surround her spear in flames as well as a fire like aura around her body. "Come at me you slimy little shit."

 The beast let out a scream and spit a pink venom at Freya. Freya took her spear and spun it around so fast and took the venom head on and batted it to the side like swatting a fly. She then leaped at the beast with her spear aimed straight at its chest. She wasn't quick enough to be caught in between to of the beast hands to slam her in a clap. But she was too quick to turn her spear horizontal for the ends to pierce the hands spilling out the monster's silver blood and wail in pain.

 Freya dropped back down to the ground and backed up a safe distance abandoning her spear pierced in the monster. Two of the monster's hands are now immobilized and stuck together thanks to her spear. She then summons from fire a bow. And when she pulls the sting back a flaming arrow materializes. The aims for the monster's shoulders and pieces them perfectly as they slump to the monster's side. The beast screams again as it turns from side to side with the pierced arms flopping around like dead weight.

 "She's so awesome," Evelyn thought as she was watching the fight.

At that point the monster tailed came from Freya's side that she was able to dodge but was just a tactic by the beast as it was able attempt to bite Freya but Freya was able to get away but not without getting cut on the beasts fangs. She fell to the ground and her arm was now bleeding.

 "Shit! It got me!" She grunted through her teeth. She looks at Evelyn and says to herself, "It's now or never." And threw a fireball at Evelyn. When it made contact, it seeped into her body instead of like how an attack would.

 "What just happened?" Evelyn said examining her body from the fireball thrown at her. A screen then appeared in front of her.

[Welcome to the Siren System]

[Awaiting on Admin to start the transfer]

"The what?" Evelyn thought to herself.

 Another crash sounded, and Evelyn looked at Freya who was now pinned down to the ground holding the monster's mouth from biting down on her. Though she also noticed a label above Freya that read 'Admin'.

 "What is going on?" Evelyn started to say to herself.

 "EVELYN!" Freya began yelling. "EVERYTHING WILL BE OKAY!" The monster finally successfully bit down taking one of Freya's arms. With the split second she had as the monster leaned back taking time to swallow the arm, Freya appeared in front of Evelyn and put her hand on her chest over her heart and yelled, "TRANSFER!" A bright light emitted from her hand into Evelyn and then Freya put her hand on the ground and said, "We will meet again," And then the ground started to break apart and erupted like a volcano.

 Before Evelyn lost consciousness in this moment, the screen read a new message.

[Admin has started the transfer]

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