It was dark. Well, what did he expect? He was closing his eyes.
But this was a different kind of dark. You know the lights you see when you close your eyes? The ones that dance around and provide you with a light show even when it is pitch black around you. The more Flint focused on the barrier, the clearer the lights seem to get. Before long, they stopped moving. Each light fixed in space upon a backdrop of eternal darkness. Decorating his senses just as the stars decorate the night sky. It was nothing short of beautiful.
Flint found himself wandering through the darkness, unsure of where he was. Darkness stretched on forever all around him, with the coloured lights scattered amongst the darkness. Wherever he looked, the darkness and lights stretched on. It was as though he was floating at the centre of the universe.
He was still marvelling at the beauty of the coloured lights when he felt something. A sort of force tugging on him. Flint resisted at first, but when the tugging (and his curiosity) got stronger, he let the force overwhelm him. He did not feel as though he was actually moving, but the lights streaking past him told him that he was.
He saw it a fraction of a second before a blast of freezing cold hit him. There was a huge block of ice, just floating there in the middle of the darkness. When the force stopped pulling, Flint was close enough to touch the ice, which was bigger than any tree or building he had ever seen in his life. The force brought him towards the ice so quickly, he didn’t even register the possibility of a collision with the enormous block of ice.
What was he supposed to do? He tried moving around the ice, but soon realised it was a futile attempt. He couldn’t even see where the block of ice ended.
Flint shivered.
He looked into the ice and realised immediately that this was no ordinary ice. It was completely clear, just like it was made of glass. He could see straight into it, though he still could not make out where the ice ended. Somewhere at the centre of the ice however, which looked like it was miles away, there was a glint of white.
Flint squinted to make out what it was, but something else caught his attention instead. Beyond the glint, on the other side of the ice, he saw something move. He focused, trying to figure out what it was.
When he saw what it was, he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was a silhouette of a person. Another person, here in this vast darkness. That couldn’t be right. Flint moved as quickly as he could to try to get around the ice to where he could see the person, but no matter how fast he moved, the outline of the person remained fixed straight through the ice, as though it was moving around the ice as the same pace Flint was.
Frustrated, Flint moved straight towards the ice and rammed straight into it. A force so strong rippled through him, he felt himself being thrown backwards at least 20 feet.
Oh, it hurt alright, but that didn’t matter to Flint. What mattered was that the force that threw him backwards was familiar. It was the exact same force that prevented him from channeling magic through his body earlier. It was the force that stopped the energy from the fire dead in its tracks. Flint realised that this block of ice was the magical barrier that Professor Kalyani talked about. This was the barrier he had to break through. Flint was in his own mind.
He didn’t know what to do next. There was obviously no way he was going to break through this barrier on his own. Professor Kalyani was not kidding when she said we needed help with this.
Before Flint could withdraw from his mind, he saw a red light in the darkness growing bigger and brighter. At the same time, the white glint in the middle of the ice started glowing. Before long, Flint realised that the red light was the flame from the candle sitting right in front of him on his table.
Flint knew what he had to do.
He started drawing the energy from the candle. Flint absorbed every heat wave, every light photon, not letting any useful energy escape. He felt the energy grow inside of him, until the flame from the candle flickered out.
Flint was ready.
He concentrated all of the energy and focused it to the glowing object in the middle of the ice. Flint gathered all the energy he could muster, and he released it.
The energy was released in the form of a ball of fire, the size of which was huge, but still minute compared to the ice. When the fireball came into contact with the ice, the barrier stood no chance at all. A huge explosion followed, which washed the darkness with a light that blinded Flint.
He was lost again, but this time only light flooded his vision. He saw nothing else.
“Flint! FLINT!” Gracey’s voice pierced through the abyss.
Flint felt extremely weak, but he managed to open his eyes. He was on the floor. The whole classroom was ablaze. The other students were scattering to the exit. Gracey and Professor Kalyani was standing above where Flint lay. Water was streaming from Professor Kalyani’s palms. Gracey was shouting something he could not hear.
Flint tried standing up, but the energy needed was too much. The last thing he remembered was a few blurry figures converging on where he lay.
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