The Electromancer

For the first time in thirteen years, Emma celebrated her birthday. She felt indebted to Haoran because he had been nothing but kind to her. He didn't only celebrate her birthday, but he also gave a thoughtful gift in the form of her parents' portrait. With her parents' sketch, they'd be able to find Emma's parents more easily.

"Thank you, Haoran. I'll always treasure this day," she emotionally said, finishing their dinner.

Haoran only nodded and smiled, "This is nothing. I'm glad you liked it."

They then walked while holding hands to the elevator of the Eiffel Tower and exited on the ground floor. It's already 9:30 PM, but the sky was still bright, and the sun was slowly setting in the west.

"The weather is beautiful today," Haoran said, still looking up at the sky. "Do you want to walk back to the hotel?"

The girl just shrugged.

"It's okay, why not. But, I won't hold your hand," Emma said, breaking free from Haoran's grasp. "What if someone sees us?"

The guy sighed and shook his head. "Emma, ​​is it that embarrassing to be seen walking with me? A class A student walking around with a class F student?"

"That's not what I meant." Emma hurriedly shook her head. "Maybe you don't know this, but a friend of mine likes you a lot. If word gets out that you and I have a close relationship, Mary will be upset with me."

"Why do you care about other people's opinions? I thought you weren't like that. From the first time I saw you, that's what you've shown me. So, why did you change now?" Haoran asked, staring intensely at Emma.

She was put into silence by his words. It's true that she used to be alone and didn't want to make friends. But over the past few months, Nadya and Mary had treated her with kindness, and they accepted Emma as part of them. Because of them, Emma didn't feel like a reject unlike back in the orphanage.

For so many years, she had lived a lonesome life and didn't rely on anyone. Only recently did she finally have some friends, and she liked having them since they were kind to her.

"If Mary and Nadya wouldn't want to be friends with you anymore, you still have me. There's also Dinh, David, Eric, and Alex," Haoran said.

Emma looked at him with disappointed eyes. "I don't have many friends, Haoran! Why do you have to make me choose?"

After saying that, she stepped away from him with long strides. Haoran realized his mistake and chased after her.

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry. It's just that I feel bad for having to hide the friendship between us to others. But if that's what you want, fine, I'll accept it." Haoran forced a smile as he walked alongside Emma with his hands in his pockets.

As someone older than her, ​​Haoran knew he should be the mature one between them. He then realized that for a reclusive girl, like Emma, who didn't have many friends, the thought of losing a friend would be a huge blow to her emotionally.

Haoran though had never cared about such things before because he had four close friends since childhood. No matter what happened to him, he would always have the fantastic four. But Emma's case was different, so she was being careful of losing someone dear to her.

They then walked side by side across the River Seine to their hotel while chatting about the things they had experienced in Paris.

"By the way, did you know what really happened last night?" Haoran asked out of the blue.

Emma shook her head. "No, like I told you, I sleepwalked. I've forgotten about a lot of things and can't remember what actually happened. Didn't you say there were rumors about terrorist attacks?"

"Yes, but that rumor is false. Basically, yesterday, the large power station that supplied electricity to the whole city of Paris and its surroundings became damaged. It's very strange though because they said the power relay station was struck by lightning, so a lot of things were burnt. Something like this has never happened before. Not to mention the weather last night was fine, you know. It wasn't cloudy or raining," Haoran explained. "So, this led to various conspiracy theories and one of them were certain parties who would intentionally damage the power station."

"People would intentionally damage the power station? You mean, like people who can control lightning and then struck the power station with a lightning strike to damage it?" Emma laughed at her own words. "Very funny..."

"No, no, that's not what I meant. They lied about the lightning strike. After all, how could there be a lightning strike when yesterday's weather was fine? There were no rain, no wind, so people believed it was a terrorist attack or maybe some bad guys behind the incident at the power station. Still, the government made a fake cover story, so the people won't panic. But the damage is quite severe, you know. They needed a long time to fix it, more than six hours, I think."

Emma recalled when she woke up on top of the Eiffel Tower and realized her surroundings were engulfed in complete darkness because of the blackout. In her heart, she felt the incident was the result of her actions, even though she wasn't sure exactly how it had happened.

But now, after she had heard from Haoran that lightning had struck the power station, Emma felt that she could control lightning. Subconsciously, she turned to her right hand and saw some glittering spots on her palm which were then followed by a slight tingling sensation.

"Wait a minute," Haoran said suddenly. He knelt and began tying his shoelaces that were slightly detached.

Seeing Haoran was busy with his shoes, the curious Emma quickly raised her right hand toward the sky and focused on creating lightning. She wanted to try if she could indeed control lightning.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed over them, and one second later, the sky roared with thunder!

Haoran, who had just finished tying his shoelaces and was about to rise, almost fell in shock.

"Jeez, Emma, did you see that? That lightning is weird. The weather is clear, so why is there a sudden lightning and thunder?" exclaimed Haoran, standing up and watching the sky in surprise.

Emma, ​​who was just as shocked as Haoran, hurriedly put her hand back in her bag. Somehow, something inside her had thought she could control lightning. She was instinctively driven to try her abilities when Haoran was distracted by his shoelaces.

A few seconds later, after the lightning struck for the second time—a glimpse of memories flashed before Emma.

Arreya Stardust was raising both hands and exerting all her mind to bring rain. Kaoshin Stardust, who was standing behind her while carrying little Emma, smiled faintly at his wife's efforts.

"Look, Emma, do you see the arid land? Soon, the land will experience rain after years of drought," the man whispered into little Emma's ear. "After your mother finishes her work, I'll reward the people of this area with lots of different crops, which will give them enough food."

Little Emma smiled and nodded. She snuggled on her father's head lovingly as she watched her mom focusing. Five minutes later, rumbling came from a distance and a group of dark and thick clouds marched above their heads, and lightnings flashed.

Heavy rain then fell and soaked the lands in West Africa that had been experiencing drought for four years. Arreya turned to her husband with a satisfied smile.

"Now it's your turn, General Stardust," Arreya said in her melodious voice.

Kaoshin raised one hand, and suddenly, some taro plants with big leaves grew from the ground and immediately protected the three of them from the rain.

Kaoshin handed little Emma to Arreya before standing under the rain and raised both his hands in a solemn gesture. His eyes closed as he focused on growing the plants on this dry land. When he opened his eyes, his right hand scattered the seeds dozens of kilometers away.

Slowly, various plants began to grow around them and Emma was mesmerized by what was happening. Not even two hours later, the desert area they had stepped on had become a lush green valley filled with plants.

"Emma, are you all right?"—Haoran's voice interrupted Emma's thoughts—"Were you shocked by the sound of thunder?"

It took a few seconds for Emma to become aware of her surroundings.

She had almost shed tears once more because another flash of memory about her parents came again. She now knew that her mother could control lightning and her father could control plants. And she's now convinced she inherited her mother's abilities. The key to her identity must lie with their identities too. Was there anyone else like them in this world?

She then remembered that when she flew for the first time, she also got a flash of memory about her mother flying, and today when she used her power to create lightning, she got another flash of memory about her parents using their powers too.

Did this mean every time she used her powers, she'd be able to get more memories about them? That must be the case!

Emma couldn't wait to get back to the hotel to secretly try her powers again. She really wanted to see more of her parents.

"I'm fine... I was just a little surprised... Let's hurry back to the hotel." She then pulled Haoran's hand to walk faster.

The young man didn't protest at all. Because this time, it's Emma who took the initiative to hold his hand. Who was he to say no?

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GLOSSARY:

Electromancer

They are basically addicted to electricity. Their magic almost demands it as they constantly use electricity in their magic. This discipline's element is extremely hard to control but when they do, it can have devastating results. It is said the followers of this art are sometimes so fanatical that they go into lightning storms just to get hit with a bolt of lightning.

Herbomancer

These people have a particular love for plants. These people are, more often than not, botanists and experts on plants and their very nature. Typically good-willed and at peace with themselves, Herbomancers use their magic to better plant life or even use plants to attack. But there are a few that use plants for more mischievous reasons and can use certain herbs and plants for very potent poisons and antidotes.

Telemancer

These are a particularly gifted bunch, they have an intimate understanding with the mind. Their magic is a hard one to practice or even cast as it always has the potential of failing. Telemancers are profoundly efficient in the magic that involves influencing the mind, psychic magic if you will. They can erase memories, change personalities, or even reduce someone to the state that they were when they were an infant. Of course, this is temporary for if someone forgot something, all they need is to see that thing again to remember it. Although, some of the more permanent effects tend to be what the Telemancer would plant in a given target's mind.

(Arreya Stardust seems to be both an Electromancer and a Telemancer, and Kaoshin is an obvious Herbomancer)