A new feeling

Lara could barely catch her breath, the new plants she had now known for months seemed to be shining as bright as the sun around her. The doe that had left hoof marks in the dirt that seemed to shimmer slightly. And the more Lara looked, the more trails she could see one fainter than the other.

Many of them were different, some trails seemed to be made of packs others by lone animals, some where hoofs and some where paws. The larger paw marks that werent critters seemed to give of a slightly uncomfortable feeling. They where saying to stay away and not follow them.

After taking in her new surroundings for a long time, Lara felt her body going limp. The scorching fire in her chest that had threatened to set the forest on fire had died down, she felt cold. All her muscles fell apart at once as she slumped down onto the ground.

Sitting there, she had to force herself to stay awake. Everything she had felt had been magic, she rested for a long time until she felt her chest slowly heating up again. When a comfortable heat had warmed her up she realised where it was coming from. Her heart was beating faster and faster.

The heat that was reappearing in her heart was gathering from everywhere. The light in the plants she was seeing was seeping into her. She felt it endlessly flowing around her and settling in her heartbeats. Lara tried to calm her heart and the flow of light and fire in the air in a panic.

She felt the forest around her being drained and it scared her. How could this energy leave the plants and come rushing at her. Would she explode if too much entered her? She remembered the feeling she had after meeting the beast.

The fire that was growing hotter in her chest did not hurt but she knew that it was not a normal temperature. It felt hotter than boiling water, hotter than a stove top or baking oven. Lara had never been in a blacksmiths forge, but she had the thought that this is what it must feel like.

When her feelings had almost ran away from her, in her panic trying to stop or slow her hearts fire, she realised her hands were glowing white. Her wish to cool down her heart and give the energy back to the forest had made the heat travel from her chest out to her arms. The fires burning in her hands were dissipating the energy being drawn in.

She could feel the heat on her skin as her raw magic was released into the air. To her relief, the heat on her skin did not burn or hurt, but in the same way that her heart was hot it felt comfortable. She wondered if maybe this heat wouldn't harm her.

As she thought about it she tried to stop her hands from burning. As a result, the heat started growing in her heart once more. But her heart was not beating as fast as before. Maybe her heart racing was just from panicking and not the energy trying to kill her.

She felt the energy in her heart accumulating, but it only rested there quietly. She could expel it from her hands if she wanted too. Lara tried to release her magic again, she tried releasing it slowly and carefully. Her hands turned into white torches again.

It took a long time, she had met the doe in the morning but it had already turned into early evening before Lara could keep her magic from pouring out at the same rate it was drawn in. But after struggling though midday without resting she managed to keep a small flame on each hand.

She felt it was fine that the remaining light from the plants was being kept in her heart. She thought to herself that she would treasure it. After resolutely deciding to live with it she continued to reduce the flames on her hands until she could put her hands on the ground without the leaves burning.

The feeling in her chest and the thought that she should expel it at will gave Lara a feeling of confidence. When she turned her gaze to the larger paw trails of light she had noticed earlier she did not feel as uncomfortable as before. She thought that if she practiced she could defwnd herself somehow.

Lara made a plan to train her control over her magic until she could use it as she wished. She knew by the way it resided in her that this energy was her own. Lara somehow knew if she practiced more she could do more than set leaves on fire or not.

As the evening turned into night, Lara gathered up a bed of leaves and slept on the ground for the first time since she arrived in the forest. By the time she laid down to rest all the plants in an area as large as a road circle*1 had stopped glowing. They had all wilted, they hadn't died, but they seemed nothing special anymore.

---Note

*1 one lane roundabout 180 ft or 55m diameter.

I want to try to give generic everyday measurement explanations to keep the emperial/metric system out of it. Please tell me if this works for you! :)