Remarkable Turnout

When Titan entered the fire furnace, she closed her eyes waiting for an excruciating pain to follow but nothing happened. She then slightly, opened her eye and was marvelled by how beautiful it was. Indeed, fire is the most beautiful gift of nature; the flame, the colour, the life it brought forth, everything... Every single aspect of fire was breathtaking to her at that moment. Though she didn't understand why she felt this way, she was already completely lost in this mesmeric world of flame.

She stayed for so long in the orange furnace admiring the beauty it brought forth. How many illusions had she experienced in just a day? She wondered. Somehow she was happy she came here.

She stared at the orange flame and played with the fire. Although fire is rumoured to be very dangerous, when properly controlled, it becomes the safest fun gift of nature.

The fire formed images of orange-coloured bunnies running in the wild, wolves howling, lions hunting and even a beautiful orange coloured waterfall. Apparently, this illusion was the best she had experienced or something she thought...

She then walked further; clearly delighted and astonished by the scene. As she took a step further, she noticed that the colour changed and the flame brought forth a blue colour. She thought it was nice because of the colour and wanted to retreat but realized that it wasn't cold at all. Ever since she was a child, she realized that her body hated cold. If she was exposed to cold even in the slightest, she would fall ill for weeks but fire..., the fire was her best friend. Because of this, she had a flair for the colour blue. In fact, she never wore the colour blue because of her phobia. She even nicknamed the colour, 'blue disease'.

She walked quickly in order to leave this blue disease but unfortunately, it took longer than expected. But in the end, she got to a different colour which was the purple flame. She admired it a lot. Even though it looked like blue mixed with red, it was still better than plane blue. "Ugh..."

Images formed just like the orange flame and then she went further to the black flame.

In this flame, the images that were displayed were in white totally contrasting the black background and the pictures were of people that were unknown to her. She saw a man holding a girl in his hands as tears rolled down his eyes. The man seemed to be controlling his emotions which were suffocating but couldn't. Although he said nothing, she could read his expression and knew exactly how he felt.

Titan didn't notice it but silent tears began to roll down her eyes as she stared at the scene before her. The man stared at the girl's face which had turned pale and at that moment, he wailed like a wounded lion who was deeply hurting.

Suddenly, a force pulled her back and drew her out of the furnace. When she was out, she stared at the furnace then at the people around her confusingly. Did she pass the test? Did she even take the test? Was all that just an illusion? did she really step into that furnace?

As she was contemplating whether or not she was daydreaming, Zian quickly walked up to her.

"Ah!... This small creature is the best. How did you do that? You totally surprised everyone here!" Zian was practically hopping like a kangaroo on a chase.

Titan was a little taken aback. 'What did she mean by that? Wasn't I daydreaming?' Immediately Titan thought of that, she almost had a heart attack. She shot Zian a panicked look with her expression clearly depicting...' what! You guys really let me walk into a real fire? This life is really cruel. What if I had died?'

Zian didn't know whether to laugh or cry in this situation. 'This little guy is really melodramatic.'

The headmaster cleared her throat and spoke with a straight face.

"Uhum! You did well."

She then turned to Zian.

"Show him to his room."

Zian was stunned for a second before happily nodding. Just as Titan was about to leave, the headmaster leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"It would be wise if you maintain this identity of your in order to prevent unwanted attention. This is an order from above. I believe you're used to staying as a male."

Titan raised her brow and wanted to say something so the master passed her a paper and ink. She then wrote. NOT WITH SO MANY GIRLS AROUND.

The master raise her brow then her lips curled upwards. 'Impressive'

That particular someone at the corner only came back to her senses when she saw what Titan had written then scoffed. 'What did he mean by not with so many girls around? Is he scared he'll get beaten?' That particular person wanted to know who exactly this young boy was and how he possessed so much power that looked like that of Akira.

With that, Titan left for her room. All the teachers that were once complaining about Titan were now quiet. Even though they still had their resentments and objections, they couldn't voice out their complaints and left with their heads down after all some of them didn't even make it past the blue flame so this was indeed a pitiful scenario for them but an amazing one for the strange boy.

Back in the room, Zian kept praising Titan, speaking of how no student had ever reached the blue flame and how even some teachers failed miserably on their first attempt. She just kept talking and talking little did she know that the person with whom she was speaking wasn't even listening at all.

Titan couldn't bring herself to stop thinking about what she saw in the flame. Was that thing she saw in the black flame an illusion? Or did it really happen to someone? Why did that scene affect her so much? For all she knows, she is not an emotional person and even at a very young age, she followed her father to the settlement court where judgments were passed. And even when a terrible judgment is being passed, she never felt anything towards the person found guilty. In fact, one would think she instigated punishments. It even got to a point where the few ministers who got to see her once in a while referred to her as the punisher. So why? Why did this scene cause her so much pain? Why did she feel as though her heart was broken into more than a million pieces without repair? But then again, all of that might just be an illusion.

Considering it might just be an illusion, she shrugged the thought away. Although it was still pathetic that the only thing that ever made her cry was a mare illusion. No one must hear of this! Immediately, she focused on what was important, "Her new beginning."

Zian noticed that Titan wasn't paying attention to what she had been saying so she nudged the small cute boy and wore a warm welcoming smile on her face drawing Titan's attention.

"You look distant... Umm... You must be tired. I'll let you rest then. After all, tomorrow is a new beginning for you. Best of luck!" With that, Zian left the cute little boy to sleep.

Although Titan was tired, she couldn't sleep and it didn't take long before a knock came from the door. After a few knocks, two grown adults walked in; One, she recognized well while the other was a new face to her.

She stood from her bed and bowed politely at the both of them. The headmaster received her greeting and so did the other person although she didn't look quite welcoming at all.

"Titan, this woman is going to be your new master. Her name is master Amaya. Although you'd have other teachers, she would be like your personal guide. She'll watch over you just like a mother even though it might not be that effective, I'm sure she'll give it her all.

"Furthermore, you'll not participate on the field till, after four years of intense practice, you must be prepared before venturing into the wild to prevent any unwarranted misfortune. All that you need to know would be explained to you by master Amaya here. Don't worry you're in safe hands."

With that, she left. Amaya stared at the little boy in front of her and passed a paper to him. In it contained everything Titan would be doing for the next four years before venturing into the wild.

Master Amaya didn't wait for a second before leaving the room. Although Titan was slightly moved then, she realized she was still a girl dressed as a boy and this master probably resented boys. Unknowing to her it was something different...

After the teacher left the room, she leaned by the door and wondered. 'What is happening here? Why do I feel... Why does his presence affect me just like Akira?...'