The next morning, both Alex and Luna were outside training together with Lucia. The magic teacher wore a bright smile on her face while the two kids looked at her and then at each other. The reason that Samuel was missing from their morning training was due to overworking last night.

Samuel had come home late at night after working through a difficult situation at his office, where a scandal between a couple had occurred. Due to that reason, he was really tired and fell asleep almost immediately without eating dinner. Even in the morning, he woke up to eat breakfast and went back to sleep because he did not have the energy to train Luna.

Seeing the sorry state that he was in, Lucia cheerfully offered her help to train Luna on that day. Sarah was unsure to simply accept her offer considering that Lucia was a magic teacher and had no idea about using energy. However, Lucia was undithered and

“Leave it to me!” She had said confidently and thumped her chest with her fist, only to end up coughing from the impact.

So, there they were, standing outside together under the watchful gaze of the rising sun. Luna was looking at the magic teacher with an unsure expression on her face, which stated her feeling of uncertainty of Lucia training her. After all, the magic teacher knew nothing specific about energy control and as her title literally means that she teaches magic.

Seeing Luna looking uncertain, Lucia smiled and said, “It’s okay, Luna. Energy isn’t rocket science. It’s what we use in magic, but the raw form that you control. It shouldn’t be too different from magic control.”

“I suppose so,” replied Luna uncertainly.

Alex watched their exchange and thought, “I don’t know about how close the theories go together, miss. Still, let’s see what she can do about teaching Luna alongside me. If she really knows what she’s doing, then is my chance to learn a little about energy control. I may not be able to use it, but knowledge on it’s uses and functionality goes a long way in being valuable.”

“Okay!” His teacher said in a business like voice. “Alex! Today, I’m going to start training you to control your output!”

“Already?” He asked, looking surprised by her announcement.

She nodded and replied, “I think it’s high time you learnt to control your output since you’ve shown that you’re able to use the basic spells.” Then she turned to Luna and said, “Same with you, Luna. I take it Samuel went through this with you in one of your previous training sessions?”

Luna hesitated at her question before nodding in assent and saying, “Yes. He did.”

“Good!” Lucia said excitedly and clapped her hands together. “With this, the two of you are going to have a great start! I can feel it!” Then she thought to herself, “This way, they will work together and will have the chance to be on closer terms than before. I hope it works!”

While she was thinking happily to herself, Alex raised an eyebrow as he saw the happiness his teacher was experiencing and thought, “Yes. I’m feeling it too, but it’s worry that I’m feeling, miss. I’m worried about you.”

He clearly remembered their first encounter with one another in the kitchen when she was impressing Sarah with her magic spells to gather energy in midair. However, when he came into the kitchen, she lost control of the energy and caused it to explode in her face. Alex could not help but chuckle as he remembered her covered from head to toe in black smoke from the explosion.

“Maybe it’s not so bad?” He thought wryly, chuckling to himself once more.

“Okay. So,” began Lucia, addressing her student, “conjure a fire spell for me please.”

“Yes,” he replied, and held his hand out in front of him. “O spirits of fire, come together and ignite your might in my hand.”

In an instant, the breeze blew a little faster around them before a fire started just above where his hand was at. He smiled happily at the success, which he did each time because of the great relief he felt from knowing that he was not powerless. Beside him, Luna watched intently as Lucia and her student progressed with their lesson.

“Alright. Try increasing the output,” his teacher instructed him after being satisfied with it.

“S-Sorry?” He asked her, looking confused. “Increase the output? How do I do that?”

“Push it forward,” said Lucia, doing a pushing movement with her hand. “Just focus on your hand and try imagining that you’re making it bigger or something. That usually works.”

Alex looked uncertinly at her before looking back down at his hand with the fire in it. He was sceptical about her method, but he decided to try it out for better measure. So, he closed his eyes and focused all of his mind on the fire that was shimmering just above his palm. While he was focusing, Lucia watched excitedly to see a good result while Luna watched him nervously.

The seconds turned into minutes with no change to the flames flickering above his palm. He opened his eyes, wondering how big the flames had become only to become disappointed at there being no change to it. With a sad face, he looked up at her and indicated at the flames that did not increase in size as they should have.

“Okay. Um…” his teacher said slowly, thinking quickly on what to do next. “That usually worked for me. Why didn’t it work for him?” With no clear answer, she decided on a different course of action and told him, “Alex. Close your hand and watch me. I’ll demonstrate how to do it.”

So, he closed his hand and caused the fire to go out before focusing his attention on his teacher. She smiled at the two kids with their eyes focused on her and held her hand out before using the same spell that Alex used to ignite the flames that hovered above her palm.

“Watch close,” she said in a cool voice, and the kids nodded without speaking, their eyes fixed solely on that fire.

Lucia also looked down at the fire and began focusing her mind, wishing for the flames to increase in size. As she did, the flames slowly increases bit by bit until the flickering flame became a blazing flame that hovered above her hand.

“What?!” Alex exclaimed, shocked by what just happened, staring, at the flames in disbelief.

Luna did not say anything, but her mouth fell open from the shock of seeing the flames increase so much in size.

“See what I did to the flames?” She asked them, pleased to see their reaction. “I was feeling the magic in my head and wished for the flames to increase in size. So, the spirits obliged and channelled my magic to supply the flames and make it bigger.”

“It’s that simple?” Alex asked, looking quite amazed.

“It is,” replied his teacher with a smile and a nod of her head.

“Heh, and here I was thinking it’s very complicated,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and smiling confidently. “It’s actually easy.”

“Oh? You sound confident,” his teacher replied, looking shrewdly at him. “Show us your confidence, Alex.”

“I will!” He replied bravely.

“You can do it, Alex!” Luna said supportively from his side, and he turned and smiled at her.

“Thanks, Luna!” He replied, feeling happy from her being supportive of him.

Thus, he held his hand out like before and chanted the same spell that he used earlier to ignite the flames that hovered above his palm. Then, with the flickering flames remaining there in a stable state, he closed his eyes and began focusing his mind on wishing for the flames to increase. He was hoping really hard that the flames would increase because of how much he boasted in front of Luna and did not like to face her from the shame of failing at it.

“Oh!” The voices of Lucia and Luna coincided with one another as they both exclaimed.

He was surprised by hearing them exclaim, and so he slowly opened his eyes to peer into his hand. To his surprise, the flickering flames grew to a large size and looked the size of a bonfire. He stared at it for a moment in surprise and amazement before smiling happily at his success.

“Yes…! I did it!” Alex thought happily, watching the flames burning furiously while hovering above his palm.

“Congratulations, Alex!” Luna said brightly, grinning happily to see him succeed.

“Nice going, Alex!” Lucia complimented him happily and gave him a thumbs up gesture.

He turned to them and smiled as he replied, “Thanks, miss. Thank you, Luna.” Then he looked at the flames and asked his teacher, “These flames are bigger than yours, miss?”

“They sure are,” she agreed with him with a nod of her head, “because you obviously put out a little too much.”

“Too much, huh?” He asked, looking back at the flames while blinking in surprise. “I just wished for the flames to grow in size, and then it became this big.”

“That’s the thing,” his teacher said with a light chuckle. Then she looked curiously at him and asked, “Did you perhaps hope with all your might that it grows stronger?”

To that, he became surprised and automatically replied, “Yes! How did you know?”

“Figures,” she said simply, making a gesture of obvious with her hands. “You see, wishing for it to grow is one thing, but putting all of your hope into it further increases the output. So, I’m not surprised that the flames grew this large. Anyway, close your hand before someone loses their eye from the heat.”

“Oh. Right!” He said, realising the problem and closing his hand, instantly snuffing out the large flames. Then he felt something was odd and asked her, “Miss, I tried doing the same previously but it didn’t work. How come it worked now?”

At his question, she seemed to be think about what her response should be before responding with a question of her own.

“Earlier when you tried, were you perhaps a little disbelieving that it might work? Like, you didn’t really believe it would work but still attempted it because you had to?”

Alex felt amazed by his teacher at how knowing her questions were, and he said, “Yes. That’s how I was feeling when I did it the first time around. Was that the cause?”

She nodded and smiled as she said, “Yes. You have to believe in yourself first in order to achieve what you’re aiming for, because everything runs with hope and belief. Even we angels live our lives believing in ourselves, in our surroundings, and the great entity that gave us our life. Same with this, believe in what you’re doing, and you’ll surely succeed.”

Alex nodded silently, accepting her comment as the appropriate lecture he deserved for not believing in her method. Luna saw him looking sad and came to his rescue by speaking to Lucia on his part.

“Maybe he thought he might fail since it was his first time?” She asked hopefully.

“You have a point, Luna,” admitted the magic teacher with a smile, “and I also agree that it’s really difficult to succeed the first time. However, the follow up matters the most. Never give in, never give up. Keep moving forward, believing in what you’re doing is right, and one day, you’ll finally achieve that what you’re trying to aim for.”

She looked at her student and said gently, “I’m sorry if my words hurt you, Alex. I didn’t meant them to, but I wanted you to understand that hope and belief are a major factor in using magic. The Spirits of Life are able to hear our thoughts and sense our desires and will help us based on how strongly we were feeling. So, naturally you’d fail when you never really had any hope in what you did. That’s why, keep believing in your actions. Even under the greatest pressure, never lose sight of what you’re trying to do, and one day, you will definitely succeed.”

He looked up at his teacher when she said those words and felt a strange feeling for her. It was not love that she had indicated he was feeling for Luna, but it was certainly something special that he associated with her. For a moment, he searched his mind trying to find the right word, before finding it, which was respect.

Initially, he thought she was a little silly due to their first meeting and the overexcitement she seems to be always filled with, but that was slowly changing. His opinion of her had been improving day by day as she showed great expertise in the study on magic, and helped him enthusiastically to understand anything that he was stuck on. Now, hearing her give such a passionate lecture about not giving up made him wanting to respect her a lot.

She looked at them and smiled as he said, “Okay. I think I’ve got the basics down to you two. Luna, it’s your turn to do it.” When she saw the young girl become startled, she waved her hand while saying, “Relax. It’ll be fine. Here. I’ll let him help you out.” Then she turned to Alex and asked softly, “Will you do that for me, Alex?”

Alex did not react at first as he simply stared at her in wonderment. Then, when Luna nudged him from the side, he recovered and nodded vigorously with a cheerful smile on his face.

“I’ll do my best to help her, miss,” he replied confidently, to which she grinned and gave him a double thumbs up gesture with both of her hands.

Alex and Luna converged together so that he could give his advice to Luna on how to control her output. While they were discussing it together in quiet voices, Lucia smiled at them before turning around, her back towards them, to hide the wide grin that formed on her face. She was bursting with excitement at the prospect of bringing those two childhood friends together in such a manner that they did not suspect of her true intentions.

“His fire grew that strong more probably because he didn’t want to fail in front of Luna,” she thought by chuckling to herself, “but if I had pointed that out, he might’ve become flustered. No. Making their interaction feel strange isn’t how they’ll get together. They’ll get together on their own if I can give them ample amount of opportunities to interact with each other. Like now, where Luna’s listening intently to Alex because she likes him and has trust in him that is greater than the amount she has in me.”

Then she shrugged her shoulders and thought, “Well, I and Luna didn’t really spend that much time together for the little girl to understand me a little bit better, nor put her full faith in me. Alex, on the other hand, is a different matter altogether. She trusts Sam because he raised her, but she would never refuse anything that Alex tells her because of how deep her love for him is. That, and their interaction, will be the building stones towards their love becoming successful.”

She remained thinking like that with her back facing them when she suddenly heard her student calling out to her.

“Miss! Miss! Please come quickly! Luna’s doing it!”

“Really?” Lucia asked, feeling impressed and turning around to face them again. “That’s great… ah?!”

As she uttered the word ‘great,’ it grew long and changed into an exclamation of the word ‘ah.’ She had every right to be shocked because what she saw inside made her heart beat faster. Luna was holding out her hand with a large energy ball gathered there, and it hovered above the palm of her hand. However, what shocked her was how dangerously the energy ball was pulsating.

While she stared at the ball with wide eyes, Luna asked her nervously, “How is it, miss?”

“Um… Uh…” Lucia stuttered, her brain seeming to freeze from the shock.

While Luna looked apprehensively at Alex, he looked at his teacher with a puzzled look on his face and asked, “What’s the matter, miss? Is it not good?”

“Um…!” Lucia said, finally coming out of her reverie to focus on the problem at hand. “Um… It’s great!” Just as Luna’s and Alex’s faces lightened up, she went on to say, “Now, why don’t you release it, Luna? Release it now please.”

“Release it?” Luna asked, looking puzzled and turned to her childhood friend for clarification.

“You know…!” Lucia said, struggling for the right word due to her mind falling into shambles. “Disable it! I mean, cancel it! Yes! Cancel it!”

“Cancel it?” Luna asked back, looking thoroughly bewildered, and tilted her head cutely in confusion. “How do you do that, miss?”

As her response made Lucia’s eyes widen in shock, the energy ball suddenly emitted a light that startled them.

The magic teacher knew instantly what was about to happen as she exclaimed, “Oh no! It’s gone critical!” She immediately began hurrying over to the little girl while shouting to her student, “Get away, Alex!”

Alex was alarmed by her sudden reaction and shout, and seemed to freeze in what he should do. Still, he did what he was told and ran to the side as his teacher dashed towards Luna with a grim expression on her face. Luna stood there, looking scared as she too realised something bad was going to happen with her pulsating energy ball that seemed ready to explode at any second.

At that moment, Lucia reached her and shouted, “Suppression,” before placing her hand around the energy ball. Instantly, her hands and the energy ball was surrounded by a glowing light before it started to shrink in size. As the two young kids watched in shock, she put all the effort she had into suppressing the size of the ball until she completely covered it in Luna’s palm with her hands.

“Phew!” She said finally, feeling relieved at successfully suppressing it. “Successfully‒!”

Suddenly, a flash of light occurred from between her hands, causing her to cut off in mid sentence and widen her eyes in shock before muttering, “Oh god.”

An explosion occurred where they stood, causing strong winds to blow everywhere and buffet Alex where he stood. As he covered his face and braced himself against the wind, smoke drifted everywhere from the explosion and completely covered the view with its presence. The ground also shook from the force of the explosion, alarming Sarah and making her run outside to witness the event in shock.

“What happened?!” She exclaimed, looking wildly at the drifting smoke.

As the smoke slowly drifted away and the neighbours peered out of their windows at the sudden noise, both Lucia and Luna came into view. The two girls were covered from head to toe in smoke that made made them look like grayed out statues. Luna began coughing smoke out of her mouth and wiped her face clear of the smoke while making a whimpering sounds from the pain felt from her hand.

Lucia, on the other hand, wore a resigned look on her face as if accepting this was her fate. She was used to silly things happening around her from time to time, and she felt this was one of them. However, she was confused how this had come to happen when she had been there the entire time.

While Alex and Sarah rushed over to them, she turned to Luna and asked, “Luna, have you never had any lessons in putting out your energy?”

Luna looked up at her and hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and saying, “Sorry, miss. I lied to you. Father never actually taught me about controlling my output, but he did say he’ll teach me that next week.”

Her response made the magic teacher close her eyes and ask, “Then… why…?”

She was asking why Luna had rushed the lesson, to which the young girl pondered briefly before replying feebly, “Well… Alex was getting to do it so soon, so… I also wanted to do it too.”

At that statement, Lucia simply nodded her head in acceptance and did not say anything more before Alex and Sarah arrived to check on their conditions. The magic teacher did not listen to them because she was thinking about how silly Luna had behaved and feeling exasperated at herself for not realising this sooner.

“Of course she’d jump the steps and do what her beloved is doing so that she can impress him,” she thought about the reason behind the whole incident sardonically. “Really, love is so beautiful and yet so dangerous at the same time,” before letting out a sigh in resignation.

On that day, Lucia had learned a painful lesson to be careful around Luna when she was teaching the young girl because she may become reckless and do something rash to impress the childhood friend she was deeply in love with.