197 Power for the powerless girl

Claire right now was practicing by herself while Leona was still discussing the details of the battle that was about to come with the visitors she received earlier.

The girl didn't really pay too much mind to them, she wanted to keep focused on her mission of mastering her magic in order to be prepared for when they finally decided to attempt to rescue the people kidnapped by Mia.

"Come on... Work this time!!" she mumbled.

The kid young apprentice was trying to copy the spells Leona tried to teach her called magic cloak, an ability that allows you to either send or receive power from your allies.

It seemed that this was Leona's favorite spell. Apparently her affinity was somehow related to teamwork and leadership, 'bonding' is what she would call it. Most of her spells were meant to be used with large groups of people.

Claire felt that this would never be her affinity, she hated being surrounded by crowds. She had no problems talking with others when it was one on one, but any more than that and she would start to have a bit of trouble.

She assumed that this was the reason she couldn't get the hang of Leona's spell, her affinity was probably something more devoted to individualism.

Claire also tried to understand more about affinities from observing other mages in the hopes she would get a clue on how to properly find out what hers was.

Her art teacher, miss Evlin, had an affinity with 'transformation' so all her spells were based around the concept of changing something into something else. From what Claire heard, Evlin had this affinity because she had to go through drastic changes in her personality in order to survive and adapt to this new world she was thrown into.

"Need some help?" asked a female voice coming from behind her. Claire turned around and saw a beautiful woman with long red hair standing with her arms crossed gazing at her.

From what Claire remembered, this woman was named Ashley, just like Ellie's mom, and she was the leader of a guild that had come here to assist them with the battle with Mia.

"Ah... Hello..." Claire said trying to greet her.

"Hi, seems like you are having trouble with your affinity?" Ashly assumed.

"You know about affinities?"

"A little bit... My sister used to have trouble with hers when she started to learn magic, so we would often spend time trying to study it in order to find out how to properly use it..." Ashley explained, "are you perhaps feeling stuck?"

"A bit, yes..." Claire admitted, feeling a little embarrassed with how easy it was to see that she was struggling, "can you tell me how to figure out what my affinity is?"

"My history...?"

"Yeah... At first, you might think affinities are just related to your personality... But they are also affected by your desires, your goals, your struggles... They are a representation of who you are in the form of magic... To find out your affinity, you need to understand who you are."

"Who I am..." Claire repeated.

This made Claire start to think that affinities are not only related to what you feel but also to what you're going through.

She also tried to analyze Xadi's affinity. Most of his spells are meant to keep people away from him. Things like covering himself with electricity, create giant walls of ice, powerful gusts of wind that can push people or help him fly away. Claire began to think that his affinity was probably something like 'distance', spells that help him fulfill his desire to avoid interacting with others.

Claire honestly thought that this would be an affinity that could fit her very well, but deep inside, she knew that she didn't really want to stay away from people that much. After all, she loved spending time with her mother, Ellie, her teacher, Evlin, and her mentor, Leona.

Distance was probably not Claire's affinity.

She then tried to think about who she was, what she wanted, what she was going through. What was her history?

She was a girl that people always seemed to find problems with. Just because her mother was a doctor, others assumed she should be some kind of prodigy, and when they realized she was just a normal girl they would look at her with disappointment. No matter where she went, someone always looked at her with a look that said 'why are you still here?' or 'why can't you just do better?' in their faces.

While she thought about that, her magic shield that acted as her made staff began to glow with orange light.

Next, she tried to think about what she wanted. She wanted people that had a problem with her to just leave her alone and wished she could just interact with the people that she truly cared about and that truly cared about her. She wished she had a way to keep the people she hated from the people she loved.

The orange light then began to grow stronger.

"I think I'm almost there..." she whispered.

"Keep it going, dive deep into your true self! Show the world who you are!" Ashley suggested.

Finally, she started to think about what she was going through. Her mother was gone, taken by an army of spirits under the rule of a crazy immortal child. Her best friend was bullied by this same crazy child and ended up looking sadder than ever, and now Claire had the chance to get payback for all that if only she could get the hang of this magic thing.

The light on her shield was bursting with power.

Claire then started to think about that word, 'power'. That is what she wanted, that is what she needed.

Her whole life she felt she had no power to do anything.

No power to shut the mouths of those who insulted her, power to make them stay away from her, power to keep those she liked safe. She wanted power to fight, power to protect, power to show the world who she was.

"I think I know what my affinity is!!!" Claire shouted.

"Then prove it!!" Ashley replied.

Her arm that was holding the shield began to shake, and while feeling like something was about to happen, Claire just aimed at some boulder nearby and released the magic energy all at once.

The energy was channeled through her shield and began to take the shape of a massive ball of fire, which then began to disperse itself followed by immediately re-appearing on top of the boulder.

Claire tried to focus to keep her magic under control and whispered but one word, "Explode!!"

And as if obeying her command, the large rock was completely blown to bits by a powerful combustion of blazing magic energy gathered in its core.

The sound of the explosion was enough to alert all those who were still inside the temple, who immediately hurried up to see what happened, only to find themselves with their mouths wide open at the sight of a massive crater next to Claire and Ashley.

The girl was just kneeling on the ground, both from being tired after using so much magic and after being shaken by the force of her own spell.

Ashley, however, just kept staring with her crossed arms while looking proudly at the young child who just destroyed part of the terrain with her exploding spell.

Leona hurried next to Claire and began to check if she was ok while trying to form words, "Claire!!??? What happened?? Who did this?? Did you do this?? How did you do this?? Are you hurt??"

"I'm fine, I'm fine... Sorry, Leona, I think I just got a bit carried away..." Claire explained.

Leona just kept staring at the gigantic pile of smoke rising towards the sky and the amount of destruction in front of her, "a bit...?"

"Yeah... Just a bit..." Claire answered while giggling.

She finally began to sense her strength returning after feeling drained and spotted Joseph just staring at the large crater she created.

She walked by his side with her hands behind her back and leaned forward to whisper into his ear.

"Good luck toping that!"

Joseph just glared at her and rushed towards Xadi who was also mesmerized with her display of power.

"Xadi-sensei!! Let's go back to training!! Now!!" Joseph shouted while placing Xadi on top of his head and rushing out to practice with him.

Xadi didn't seem to be in any mood to teach at that moment but he could tell Jospeh would not take 'no' for an answer.

Ashley noticed her assistant, Gustav walking towards her with a look of dread in his face.

"What did you do...?" he asked, knowing full well that this somehow was her doing.

"Just making sure the next generation is in good hands!" Ashley replied while winking at him like a little kid.

Gustav stared at the pile of destruction Claire created and began to wonder what Ashley's definition of being in good hands even was. 

"I think you spent too much time hanging out with Evlin..." he whispered. 

"Is that so?" she asked while giggling.