The Heroes I-The Black Fire Lighthouse

Chapter III-The Teacher

THREE YEARS LATER…








He was practicing on a wooden figure, throwing streams of Rainbow Fire at it and then making them turn to a sparkling dust right before they hit. It was a great technique that Kyle picked up in his training, but it had its flaws. He was only using simple Fire of Color attacks; this move wouldn’t work against someone stronger, someone he thinks he may have met before. The more he trained with the technique, though, the better he got at it. It had got to the point where the only way he could get better at it was to improve in Fire of Color himself because no one else in the village could hold a challenge to him. Shelby's eldest brother had been appointed mayor a year ago and Layle was appointed to advisor shortly after. Layle had fully recovered from his injuries by now, not a scar on him. The rebuilding of Kio was still going on, only finishing touches now. It would have been a lot faster, but they decided to add to a lot of houses to make them a bit a larger. They also added several training pits for Fire of Color scattered around the village to help improve the villagers’ skills. No one wanted them to get attacked again without being able to defend themselves.


He could hear someone walking up behind him and turned around, facing Shelby, his friend since childhood. She was looking a bit tanner than usual, spending more time at the Boulder Springs than she normally did and her slightly yellow eyes sparkled at Kyle in the sun, causing him to not be able to look into them. Her hair was long and smooth, stretching down to her mid-back. It was whipping away from her in the wind. She really was quite a beautiful girl, Kyle thought to himself. He tried looking into her eyes again and finally found the nerve to speak.


“What would you be doin’ so close to the forest for, Shelby?” he asked. “You know it can be pretty dangerous.”


“Kyle, you’ve been training too much,” she said to him with a grin. “Besides, it’s almost time for Mr. Killimore’s class; have you any idea where Garen is?”


“Probably deeper in the woods, training with Neotasha last I saw.”


“You let them train together? They’re going to kill each other, Kyle, they can’t stand one another.”


“Well, hey,” he said shrugging his shoulders, “at least it’s good training.”


Shelby hit him on the arm and pushed him towards the woods, “Go get them, Kyle, that wasn’t very funny.”


“It’ll be all right, I was only kidding,” he said starting to walk further into the woods, and then he looked back at Shelby and smiled. “Well aren’t you coming with?” He then stretched his arm out, retracting it a bit out of shyness, then giving it to Shelby to grab onto, his inside squirming when she grabbed hold, smiling up at him.


“Why of course,” she said, “but only if you can protect me.” She hugged onto his arm now, causing his stomach to do back flips.


“I-I can, it’s no problem.”


He led her into the woods where the light barely shined through the trees at them. They could see the wild life running the other way, sensing danger and as they reach the creek he stopped and looked down at the water. He was examining something closely, and then decided to move on, following the creek up stream and watching as the fish in the water began to grow larger and a bit more fierce looking. He stopped her when they heard an explosion go off just a few yards in front of them, beyond a thicket of trees. Kyle grabbed hold of Shelby’s hand again and crawled to the thicket quietly and came to the other end where there was a clearing and two men standing in it, fighting one another.


The one with the rough brown hair was his best friend, Garen. The other one looked quite different. Neotasha was tall and slender, towering over Garen with his narrow eyes watching his every move. His blonde hair was slicked back and his mouth curled up into a cruel smile, exposing his white teeth that mocked Garen’s attacks. Garen jumped forward with his sword and was knocked back by a wall of Silver Fire by Neotasha. And as Garen lied there trying to regain himself, glaring up at Neotasha, he let out a wave of Silver Fire and sent it towards Garen. But the Fire turned to a cloud of dust, falling harmlessly onto Garen, who looked over at the person who did it and found Kyle standing there, his arm stretched out, holding onto Shelby.


“Boy, am I glad you can do that,” he said with a smile, then got up and starting running towards Kyle, but was blocked off by a wall of Silver Fire.


“You’re not finished with your training yet,” Neotasha said and saw that his wall was getting lower, he looked over at Kyle. “What are you doing?”


“He’s done with his training for now, Neotasha; we have a meeting with Mr. Killimore. But if you really wanna train some more, fight me,” Kyle said, getting down in a fighting position.


"If you insist," and Neotasha did the same, snarling at Kyle. He leapt forward at Kyle and took a hard swing at him, but Kyle parried it and hit him in the chest, a ring of Rainbow Fire appearing where he hit, and sent Neotasha flying back.


“We’re done here,” Kyle said gently. “We have a class to get to.” And he turned on his heel, beckoning for Garen and Shelby to follow him out of the forest.


They walked their way across the village, looking at the people still trying to rebuild from the attack three years ago. For some reason Kyle couldn’t remember the attack that well and Garen had the same troubles, all the day seemed to be were flashes of random things, but one thing stood out in his memory; a flash of Purple Fire. They came up to a bridge that was about fifty feet above the rapids below that Garen and Shelby crossed, but Kyle stood their staring down at the rough water. He started to walk across it very slowly, his legs feeling weak and his stomach feeling as if it had dropped out of his body. Kyle never crossed this bridge, it was the highest one in Kio, so he always found a different way around. Finally he crossed it and Garen looked over at him with a sly grin on his face.


“Now, my understanding was that you were overcoming your fear of heights with your training,” he said in a bit of a higher voice. “It seems that it’s not going very well?”


“Shut up,” Kyle said shortly. “Mr. Killimore’s house is just ahead." And he walked a bit further up, seeing Mr. Killimore’s house, then stopping quickly holding up his hand to stop the other two.


There were three men walking out of his house, all dressed in black. The man in the front had crazy yellow eyes with a wild look in them, his ghostly white hair stood up a few inches as if he’d got struck by lightning. The second man had pure silver hair growing down to his shoulders and jet black eyes that looked deadly. And the last man to walk out had no color in his eyes at all, they were nothing but white, his hair was a wild black mess and his grin showed off razor sharp teeth that glistened in the sun.


Something about these men seemed familiar to Kyle. Then he felt a sudden pain in his head and he grabbed hold of it, keeling over in the pain. He saw flashes of the night of the attack going through his head. He could see the three men standing in front of them, telling them some sort of story, the other two disappeared, leaving the one with the crazy eyes, no, leaving Nerag there to wipe their memories clean with his Purple Fire. Kyle came to on the ground, Garen looking down at him and Shelby hovering over him, both with worried looks.


“Those were the three men that attacked us,” he looked over at Garen and before they could speak, he said, “that night. I saw a flash, those three were there telling us some sort of story. The one with the white hair; his name is Nerag; he’s the one that took our memories away. The other one with the long silver hair is Elyk and I think he uses Silver Fire. I don’t know the other ones name; I don’t think they mentioned it.”


“Well, it’s good that you remember that,” Shelby said, “but if that’s all, then it’s no use. We need to know that story. They’re gone now anyway, it’s time for our class.”


“It seems to me that some kids have been trying to listen in on conversations that they should not be listening to,” came a cruel voice from behind them, they all turned around and saw Nerag and Elyk standing behind them. “I guess it’s time to show them some manners.”


“There is no need,” came a rough, crackling voice from above them. They looked up and saw the leader of the group, floating down behind Nerag and Elyk. “They were not attempting to listen in on our conversation with the kind old Killimore; they wouldn’t have gotten any more information than we did anyway, the fool knows nothing. They just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, am I right?”


The three of them nodded nervously, not being able to speak. This guy spoke almost kindly to them, but there was something about his voice and his presence saying that he was extremely dangerous.


“Good,” he said. “Now, if I’m not mistaken, you three have a meeting with him? Why don’t you run along and learn what you need. You are much too weak and inexperienced to face even Nerag now. So go, before I change my mind.”


Kyle was the first to turn around and start walking toward Mr. Killimore’s house, Garen and Shelby followed right behind him, not looking back at the three men. Kyle put his head down, thinking about what these men were here for. If his memory was correct, than this isn’t the first time they’ve been here. The questions in his head grew more about these men and kept going until he was forced to stop by a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up he was face to face with Mr. Killimore.


Kyle could see every young bit of detail on his face. There was not a wrinkle to be seen, his teeth were perfectly straight and all gleaming, white. His eyes were a light shade of green and his slicked hair was a smooth, jet black. Mr. Killimore has been living in Kio as long as anyone could remember and everyone knew he was by far the oldest person in the village, but he looked as though he was barely past the age of twenty. One of the great abilities of Fire of Color; not aging and to be immortal if one so chooses. He was also a descendant of one of the two founders of Kio as Shelby was. Some people say that he was the one that actually placed the Tablets in Mount Killimore. But it couldn't be, he may be old, but not thousands of years old.


“You almost ran me down there, Kyle,” Mr. Killimore said with a soft voice.


“Sorry 'bout that, sir,” Kyle replied. “I was, er, just thinking.”


“Right,” he said looking at Kyle carefully. “Now let’s all step into my house so we can get started.”


The four of them walked in Mr. Killimore’s house, Garen, Kyle and Shelby sitting in the front row of desks that filled the living space. Garen looked around at the empty desks, a confused look on his face.


“Uh, Mr. Killimore,” he said looking up at him, “where are the rest of the students?”


“It’s a private lesson,” Mr. Killimore said sitting at the front of the room, “for only you three. You, Shelby, are the brightest one of my class. And you two are the most experience at Fire of Color in, not only my class, but the entire village.”


The three of them watched Mr. Killimore carefully as he stood up and started pacing back and forth, thinking of where to begin the lesson. They have never heard of any private teachings that he’s had with any students before and it interested them at what it would be. Mr. Killimore’s facial features seemed to have aged a bit, his eyes showing slight wrinkles around them and his jet, black hair showing streaks of grey.


“As you know,” he began, “our world revolves around the power that we know as Fire of Color. There aren’t that many of us out there anymore, but there are enough to keep this planet safe.” He walked up to them, holding out his arm and letting a ball of Black Fire light up on the palm of his hand. “There are seven different forms and each one has their own unique ability, although some of the abilities are unknown. We know that Black Fire has the ability to heal; it can be quite painful when your muscles have been torn or bones have been broken, but can be very useful in battle.


“Now for Green Fire,” he continued, “it’s been known to drive people mad. I don’t believe you’ve experienced the abilities of it, Garen; it’s for more powerful people. It has been said that you can see images of the future with this Fire, so far into the future that people don’t know what’s really here or there. Purple Fire you both have had a firsthand encounter with, having the ability to wipe the memories clean of whomever it is used against and that's not all. It can be truly frightening. It is a mind altering Fire, you can make people see things, hear things and control all the five sense with it. Put things in their head, make them forget their memories or even recover lost memories.” He looked over into Kyle’s eyes carefully. “But there is a major down fall to this Fire. If one has the right connection to those memories or has the right motivation, they will have their memories returned to them. Bronze has the ability to give the user flight and they can cause others to fly and Gold Fire is slightly unknown to us, for it is a rare Fire to have. However, it is said that the ones to possess Gold Fire are very pure of heart and are noble friends to have. It is also said that they ones with nature and can look through the eyes of the animals around them. Silver Fire is just as rare, but even more so mysterious. The ones who possess Silver Fire have been reported around strange and mysterious things that could not be explained, but I don’t have any word on what these things may be.”


Kyle’s attention had been distracted from Mr. Killimore’s lesson. He could see the three men again three years ago. He could hear the leader of them saying that they were too young and inexperienced to see the properties of Silver Fire. Kyle came back, his eyes wondering around trying to figure out what happened. No one else noticed that he had spaced out for a moment and Mr. Killimore was pausing, taking a drink of his tea that was sitting on his desk. He decided not to mention it.


Mr. Killimore put the tea back down on the table and continued his lesson about the Fires of Color. “Now, that only leaves one Fire left, it is the most powerful of them and the rarest to come across. It is mysterious in its own way, but we also know quite a bit about it. Rainbow Fire,” he looked over at Kyle when he said this “has the ability to use any other Fire's abilities, plus the unique characteristics of its own. The property to look into another’s mind to read their thoughts at the time they are thinking it. This Fire is also known to have the most people go to the wrong side,” he was looking deep into Kyle’s eyes now, studying them again carefully. “History tells us that the people who use Rainbow Fire like to have the feel of power in their hands and the ones who seek power never end up on the right side of the war.”


He walked down to them and motioned them to follow him out of the house. The breeze has blowing stronger outside than it was before, the lake was showing little white capped waves and the trees were tilting away, as if trying to escape the wind.


“We’re going to be taking a trip to Mount Killimore,” he said, looking up at the mountain. “That is the main reason for this visit. I told you about the properties of Fire of Color as a review because Mount Killimore is full of traps and mysteries revolving around this power.”


He continued to lead them through the village to the last building, the Healing Room, before they got to the mountain. As they got closer to the mountain, Kyle was seeing flashes of the three men again, more clearly now than before. The man telling the story of the sacred Fire of Color Lighthouses and how he planned to steal the Tablets to light them. The same men that they saw today, they were back to continue what they started three years ago and will do anything to get their hands on those Tablets. Before they entered the mountain, Kyle stopped them.


“They're here to steal the Tablets,” he said to them. “I remember everything from that night now. It was the three men that we saw today…”


He told the story to Shelby and Mr. Killimore, Garen started to remember that night as well, filling in parts that Kyle would miss.


“…so we have got to be careful in Mount Killimore when we go in,” Kyle concluded.


“I knew what they wanted,” Mr. Killimore said. “They came to me earlier today, just before you three arrived, and demanded I tell them how to enter. I told them I didn't know, which was a lie. Now let's get into this mountain, I plan to teach you all some of the Fire of Color's mysteries in there."


They continued to walk towards the mountain, coming to a stop when they reached the base of it looking at it in disbelief. There was no entrance to the mountain but, instead, stone steps that looked as though they reached the top of Mount Killimore thousands of feet above them, they couldn’t even see the top of the mountain or where the steps may have reached.


“It’s a good thing we’re starting class early,” Mr. Killimore said and began to walk up the stone steps.


“Are you joking?” Garen said in disbelief. “You actually expect us to climb these steps?”


“Yes, I do,” he said simply and continued to walk up the steps at a quick pace, not looking back down at the other three. They all just looked at each other, shrugged and started following him up the mountain.