The Pyromancer

"No matter what, we'll find your parents," Haoran said to soothe Emma. He patted the girl's shoulder and added with conviction. "We mustn't give up."

Emma looked at Haoran gratefully. For some reason, even though she had special powers, she still felt secure whenever Haoran was beside her.

"Do you want to go up again to the Eiffel Tower?" Haoran asked her. "You said you wanted to look for clues?"

"Yes, but not now. Let's wait until it's dark," said Emma.

Haoran narrowed his eyes and guessed Emma had something in mind but didn't want people to see it.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to eat dinner?" asked Haoran again.

Emma thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes. Where do you want to eat?"

Haoran smiled and pointed toward the Iron Lady. "Up there?"

"We're having just a regular dinner. Why eat in such a luxurious place? I don't have the money for an expensive meal."

Haoran ignored her, pulled her back to her feet and went to the Eiffel Tower. "My treat. It's just food."

Emma could do nothing but sigh. She knew how it wasn't an issue for Haoran to eat in a fancy restaurant such as the Eiffel Tower. Besides, she also liked the food there, and the atmosphere of the French restaurant was delightful.

Haoran and Emma were received by a waiter who recognized them from a few nights ago at Emma's birthday dinner. He warmly welcomed them and offered the best table available. The waiter still remembered how Haoran had left a very big tip, so he could guess the young man came from a well off family.

As both of them sat, relaxed, and watched the beautiful scenery, the timing was perfect to enjoy the sunset. For a few moments, they gazed into the horizon in awe. The waiter, who had been carrying the menu, understandingly let the two admire the view for a few minutes before clearing his throat to get their attention.

"Good evening, Mademoiselle, Monsieur," The waiter said kindly as he handed them the menu. He didn't offer the wine list like before because he remembered this young couple didn't drink wine. "Let me know when you are ready to make your order."

Emma and Haoran examined the menu for a few moments. After finding the dishes they would like to try, the two told the waiter what they want for dinner in fluent French.

"Madame Delaval must be proud of us for being able to order food in French," Emma said with a smile. "Your accent is perfect, by the way. Where did you learn French?"

Haoran shrugged his shoulders. "My family used to live in France when I was little. My father is also fluent in French. He attended the Sorbonne and met my mother there."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"In the past, my father wasn't as annoying as he is now. He only changed in the last few years."

Emma didn't continue to ask. She knew Haoran didn't like to talk about his family, especially his father and new wife.

A few minutes later, the appetizer arrived, and soon the dishes. They both ate peacefully.

Slowly, the sun set in the west, and the beautiful tinge of orange-gold sky was soon replaced with dark blue. Finally, night had arrived. The moon rose and moved higher in the sky. Then, one star after another began to appear. That evening, the sky looked gorgeous.

When they finished dinner, it was already 10 o'clock, and the sky was completely dark. Haoran paid for their food and, as usual, left a big tip and walked out of the restaurant with Emma. The two took the elevator going down and walked back to Champ De Mars.

"Soon, everything will be nice and quiet," Emma said to Haoran as the two of them watched the magnificent lighting of the Eiffel Tower.

Haoran simply nodded. He didn't know what Emma wanted to do, but for some reason, his chest was pounding. It was as if it knew and was anticipating something intense and exciting about to happen.

At 11 PM, the surrounding became quiet; there was no one around them. The lights of the Eiffel Tower were also off. Around them now was overcome by darkness.

"Haoran..." Emma turned to Haoran and smiled faintly. "Do you want to know how it feels to fly?"

"Eh... what?" Haoran widened his eyes and turned to Emma with a surprised expression. He didn't know whether Emma was joking or not. The girl's face looked serious, though. But... flying? This was impossible, right?

"I want to take you to the top of the Eiffel Tower," Emma said.

"Uhm... but we've been to the top this afternoon," said Haoran.

Emma shook her head. "Not that top. What I meant was the antenna tower. It's not open to the public."

Visitors could visit the top of the Eiffel Tower by stairs or elevator, but these floors were equipped with safety bars so no one could jump down or fall from there. Emma was referring to the place inaccessible to the public—where she was on the night of her birthday.

"Wait, are you serious?" Haoran asked in amazement. "You can fly?"

Emma smiled and held out her right hand toward Haoran. With hesitation, Haoran touched Emma's hand, and the girl immediately held it tightly.

"Trust me, it feels amazing," Emma whispered. "And since you're very kind to me, I want you to experience it too."

She swung her left hand, and, in a split second, a powerful wind swept the surrounding grass, it was so strong that it could knock down anyone within a 500-meter radius of the two.

Although there were no people around them, Emma wanted to create a powerful thrust of air and zoomed into the sky as quickly as possible. She didn't want to take any risks of being seen.

As soon as she swung her left hand, Emma stomped the ground, and they immediately shot toward the sky with her right hand still holding Haoran's. Haoran was about to scream, but Emma's left hand had covered his mouth, realizing he shouldn't make any noise and cause a commotion.

They flew very high, far higher than the Eiffel Tower, and slowly the City of Paris below them began to look smaller. They could see all the important buildings in Paris, the River Seine, and hundreds of thousands of lights from various buildings below them. The city lights looked so beautiful, like stars on the ground.

"Jeez, Emma..." Haoran finally spoke after being stunned for a while. "You should've told me you can fly."

Emma smiled and looked at Haoran with amusement.

"I can fly," she confirmed. "You forgot I can control the wind."

"Oh..." Haoran nodded. "That's true."

Haoran could feel the strong whirlwind beneath his feet, keeping him comfortably afloat. He was very amazed. For a moment, he felt like he was dreaming.

"I purposefully brought you here to test what powers I have. Also, no one should be able to see us here, Emma said to him. She released her grip from Haoran's and casually drifted in front of the young man. "What should I try?"

Haoran, still amazed because he was hovering in the air like a dream, tried to think for a few moments. He turned his gaze around the city and looked for inspiration.

"Hmm... usually, from the books I've read, people with magical power could control earth's elements such as earth, fire, water, and such... Maybe you can try one by one?" He shrugged. "You already know that you can control the wind. Try other elements."

Emma nodded in agreement. She closed her eyes and tried to think of creating a fire. She opened her eyes, and slowly, Emma raised her right hand and concentrated.

Wooshhh!

Suddenly, a light blue flame appeared from her palm. Haoran's eyes became so round, but a second later, he screamed in pain.

"Aaaaaahhh!!!" Haoran reflexively tried to move his body away because the fire in Emma's hand felt very hot on his skin.

Emma spontaneously put off the flame and approached Haoran, who was curling in pain. The young man's body felt very hot, and his skin was reddish with his sweat flowing profusely.

"I'm sorry, were you burned? I didn't mean to." Emma didn't feel the heat from the blue flame in her hand, but Haoran, who wasn't far from her, certainly felt it. Emma was apologetic to see Haoran in pain. She immediately hugged him and oozed comfortable cool air from her body. "Please forgive me..."

Haoran nodded while panting. Even though it was only for two seconds, the heat from the fire on Emma's hand was hotter than anything he had ever felt. Haoran tried to close his eyes and focus on the cool air from Emma's body. Soon, he became calm.

"Uhm... I'm fine. Sorry, I was just shocked. The heat was unbearable," Haoran said. He looked up and saw Emma looking so worried. "Didn't you feel the heat?"

Emma shook her head. "No."

"You created a blue flame. And blue is the third hottest according to the fire color spectrum," Haoran said. "Not only you can control fire, but you can also create such a hot flame."

"The fire color spectrum?" Emma frowned in surprise. "What's that?"

"Ah... weren't you the genius between us?" Haoran asked, smiling broadly. He was pleased to know something Emma didn't know for once. "ROYGBIV. It stands for the fire color spectrum. Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Indigo - Violet. Red is the coolest fire, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo. The violet flame is the hottest one."

Emma remembered her mother had five types of power. Arreya Stardust could control the mind, control the wind, control the lightning, and control water. Could she also control fire?

'I'm sure she could...' Emma thought. 'Who else did I inherit this power from?'