Lightning Struck

Burning Cold

That night after Billie had explained what happened, he had a dream again when he fell asleep. He was up in the clouds again, with Zen.

"Hello," Zen greeted him, "I see you've had a busy day today."

Billie gave her a look before replying, "You think. Death tried to kill me twice and he tried to kill Tré too." He started to run his hand worriedly through his hair. "It was all luck that we didn't die."

"Not all of it, some of it was your skill," Zen said, "You are a quick learner. Today we can move onto ice."

"Okay," he said uncertainly.

Zen whispered something in another language and he found that they were back where they had been when he had learned how to do stuff with water, only this time it was colder. He shivered and rubbed his hands together. The only sounds were that of his own breathing, the rushing of the water, and the occasional strong, frigid breeze.

"It should be easy to do it now since it's cold here," Zen told him. She turned towards him and said, "This requires you to move slowly. First, you want to draw the water towards you a bit so you can get a firm hold on it. Then you want to you just need to take a step forward and stretch your arms out with one hand over the other pointing towards the water you wish to freeze," Zen demonstrated as she explained it. "Do you think you can do it?"

Billie nodded. It seemed easy enough. He reached out to grab some water and held it as he took a step forward and placed one hand over the other, pushing them towards the water. Only some of the water froze and Billie immediately felt even colder afterwards. He dropped his arms and then rubbed them, trying to get warmer.

"You need complete concentration," Zen said.

Billie rolled his eyes. Zen was starting to piss him off. I mean, here she was telling him that he had to completely concentrate when it was freezing. His breath made a cloud as he sighed, reminding himself that she had saved his life.

"Okay," he mumbled.

He tried again, trying to ignore the cold. This time he only froze a thin layer of it.

"Don't ignore the cold, work with it," Zen reprimanded him.

He couldn't help but give her a little glare. The effects of the day had made him grumpy, especially since it had taken him half an hour or possibly even more to scrub the sharpie off his face. He tried again, angrily pushing outwards. This time a burst of fire came out and shot wildly into the stream where it was dowsed.

Billie suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion overcome him and he sank down to his knees. He felt a burning sensation, wash over his body and then he passed out...