Episode Nine: Thalira's Flame

Spiritfyt, Season One: Spiritual Connection

The next morning found us standing once again inside the Gravity Chamber, only this time the running track had been deactivated. In the center of the massive chamber sat a single elevated combat platform surrounded by rows of seating for recruits and instructors. The square ring glowed with blue energy along its edges, creating a visible boundary that hummed softly throughout the room.

Sergeant Viera paced around the platform with her holotab tucked beneath one arm. "Your previous training exposed what was inside of you. Today, we're going to see what happens when someone else applies pressure." Her gaze swept across the recruits. "On the bright side, there will be one fight at a time, so you'll each be getting a decent break at multiple points of the day. Everyone will watch and learn while four recruits fight in the ring. The rest of you will be studying their mistakes."

Several recruits groaned.

"Good," Viera replied. "That means you're already uncomfortable."

With a swipe of her holotab, holographic diagrams appeared overhead showing sleek combat suits layered with Spirit-Weave fibers.

"These Combat Reinforcement Suits prevent direct spiritual manifestation. That means no energy blasts, no abilities, and no shortcuts. Instead, the suits convert your internal energy into physical strength, speed, and durability. The more energy your spirit produces, the stronger the amplification becomes."

The holograms disappeared.

Viera stepped onto the edge of the ring and tapped one of the glowing boundaries with her boot. "Many people think boundaries exist to limit them. They're wrong."

The room grew quiet.

"Boundaries protect your focus." She looked around the chamber. "A person without spiritual boundaries becomes distracted by every opinion, every temptation, every emotion, and every fear that crosses their path. Before long, they lose sight of the Lord completely." Her foot rested on the glowing edge of the ring. "These boundaries serve the same purpose. Stay inside them, focus on what is in front of you, and learn to control yourself before trying to control anyone else." Then she smiled. "And for the sake of entertainment, try not to get launched outside of them."

Several recruits immediately looked nervous, but Thalira looked excited.

I was curious to find out what that meant. 

Not long after, the recruits were divided and sent toward the locker rooms. Each of us was handed a folded Combat Reinforcement Suit before being dismissed to change. They didn't have to bother with sizes, because the suits were made to mold into the trainees' shapes and fit like a second skin. It made me wonder if this was what the Spirit Warrior uniforms would be like. 

The locker room buzzed with nervous conversation as recruits inspected their equipment. The suit itself was sleek and black, woven with silver Spirit-Weave fibers that ran along the arms, legs, and torso. After changing, I stepped away from my locker and immediately spotted Thalira.

The suit fit her perfectly, accentuating her strong, curvy frame while still looking practical enough for combat. She stood in front of a mirror tying her long locs into a ponytail, her expression calm and confident. But beneath that confidence was something else. Determination. It looked like she had spent her entire life waiting for someone to challenge her and had finally found the opportunity.

"You look ready to fight the entire academy," I said.

Thalira smirked at my reflection in the mirror. "I might."

I laughed and stepped beside her. For a moment, the two of us simply stared at our reflections. We may have been two girls from completely different backgrounds, but we were also future Spirit Warriors trying to figure out where we belonged.

Thalira bumped her shoulder against mine. "We're going to do great."

I smiled. "We're going to do our best."

Her smirk widened. "Same thing."

For some reason, I wasn't sure they were.

Still, as we stood there side by side in front of the mirror while recruits hurried around us, I found myself believing we could get through whatever came next.

"Let's show them what we can do," Thalira said as she headed out of the locker room. 

"Deal." I watched myself for a moment longer, not completely ready for the fight to come, but as I said, I would do my best. Even if fighting against other humans was where I was weakest. 

I could fight things on a spiritual level, but physical? There was something about it that just made my stomach turn. But this was nothing more than a new challenge to defeat, and nothing would get in my way of becoming a Spirit Warrior. Not even me. 

I would become Spiritfyt if it was the last thing I did. 

When we returned to the Gravity Chamber, the recruits filled the seats surrounding the combat platform while the instructors gathered along the outer edge of the ring. The atmosphere felt completely different from yesterday. There was no running, no pacing ourselves, and no pretending we weren't nervous. Someone was about to get thrown out of that ring, and all of us knew it.

Sergeant Viera stepped onto the platform.

"Before any of you start panicking, understand that this is not a combat course." A few recruits visibly relaxed. "Yet."

The recruits immediately tensed again.

Viera smiled. "This is a trial. We know most of you have little to no formal combat training. We're not evaluating your fighting techniques. We're evaluating how you naturally perform under pressure and how well you use your spirit energy through physical movement." She began pacing the ring. "Combat will be part of many future trials. You will fight during training, evaluations, and even during missions one day, so you might as well get used to it now."

With a swipe of her holotab, the rules appeared above the platform.

Viera continued. "The objective is simple. Knock your opponents out of the ring."

The hologram shifted to show recruits rotating in and out.

"Four recruits enter. If someone is knocked out, another recruit immediately replaces them. The rotation continues throughout the day and will only stop for breaks and lunch."

Several recruits exchanged nervous looks.

Viera's grin widened. "And for those of you who are competitive, there will be a winner."

That immediately got everyone's attention.

"The recruit who spends the most total time inside the ring by the end of the day will be declared today's champion."

Now the room was fully invested.

Some recruits looked excited, while others looked terrified.

Thalira looked like Christmas had arrived early. Nox only slightly tensed and Lyte had taken a deep breath. All I could do was tighten my fists over my knees as I listed. 

Viera glanced down at her holotab. "Let's begin."

The room quieted.

"The first four recruits are..."

My heart sank. Please not me.

"Lyte Navarion, Silas Vance, Ezra Hale, and Luna Ashford."

Lyte sighed, something about his figure appearing threatening and stronger than usual. "Wonderful."

Moments later, Lyte stood tall and stepped forward toward the ring while the rest of us watched from our seats.

The first match of the day was about to begin.

The moment the four recruits stepped into the ring, the energy barriers on the floor brightened around the platform.

"Begin," Viera said. 

The other three recruits immediately looked toward Lyte.

I groaned. "Oh, come on."

Apparently, they had all reached the same conclusion to get rid of Lyte first.

Silas rushed him from the front while Ezra and Luna moved to either side. Lyte didn't even raise his fists. He simply shifted his footing and took a slow breath.

When the first punch came, Lyte leaned backward, and when the second came, he stepped aside. The third came from behind, but he was quick and turned, redirecting the strike with his forearm.

The gold tattoos beneath his suit flared brightly upon contact.

BOOM.

A pulse of force exploded from the block, and the recruit stumbled backward as if Lyte had punched a wall.

The chamber erupted with surprised murmurs.

"What was that?" someone shouted.

Lyte wasn't fighting aggressively. No, he wasn't even attacking. He was flowing.

Years spent surviving in the wilderness had given him instincts most recruits simply didn't possess. Every movement looked effortless, and every dodge happened at the last possible second.

"He moves like water," Nox observed.

I shook my head. "No. More like air."

The harder people attacked him, the easier he seemed to move around them.

When Silas charged again, Lyte pivoted, his tattoos flashing through the fabric. He sent a powerful palm strike against Silas' shoulder.

BOOM.

Silas slid across the platform and tumbled over the edge of the ring.

"Out." Viera said, then she called out another name to enter. 

The crowd cheered before a new recruit immediately sprinted into the ring to replace him.

Then another, and another.

The strange thing was that Lyte never appeared angry. He actually apologized twice after launching people from the platform, and one recruit actually thanked him.

Another got knocked out immediately afterward.

The longer the match continued, the brighter his tattoos became. Every time he blocked, golden pulses flashed through the Spirit-Weave suit, creating ripples of force that pushed opponents backward. It was funny because I could tell that he wasn't trying to overpower anyone. He simply made attacking him a terrible idea.

Eventually, nearly half an hour had passed, and Lyte remained standing.

Several recruits have already been eliminated.

Then Viera called another name. "Nox."

The chamber immediately grew louder, Nox already having a reputation as a powerful recruit. 

Nox removed his glasses and calmly stepped into the ring.

Nox and Lyte smiled at one another, the other two opponents seemingly invisible. 

"Oh no," I muttered.

The two calmest people in our cohort had somehow become the most intimidating.

The fight lasted less than thirty seconds.

Unlike everyone else, Nox didn't attack recklessly. He studied, adapted, and waited.

The moment Lyte redirected another strike, Nox moved with him instead of against him.

One step, two steps, a turn, and a shift of balance.

Suddenly Lyte found himself near the edge of the ring, and his eyes widened.

Nox placed both palms against his chest, his energy both gentle and powerful as he forced Lyte back.

THOOM.

Lyte slid backward on his feet and finally crossed the boundary.

The crowd exploded.

Lyte's boots skidded across the floor outside the ring before he caught himself and remained standing.

For a moment, both of them stared at one another, and then Lyte laughed.

The moment the match resumed, Nox exploded forward.

Unlike Lyte, who flowed around attacks, Nox moved with sharp precision. Every step was calculated, and there was no wasted motion. No hesitation. When one recruit swung, Nox ducked beneath it. Another rushed from behind, and he pivoted, sending a palm strike against the recruit's chest.

THOOM.

The recruit stumbled backward and fell over the boundary.

"Out." Viera said before calling another name. 

Just like with Lyte, another entered, then another, and another.

The strange thing was that Nox never appeared stronger than anyone, but he was definitely faster. His mind just seemed to process the battlefield before everyone else. While other recruits were still deciding what to do, Nox had already moved.

The crowd slowly grew quieter. For a while they were all impressed, but then they started getting concerned. By the time ten minutes had passed, Nox had surpassed Lyte's elimination count, and every time a recruit entered, they lasted a few moments before finding themselves launched off of the platform.

Eventually, even Viera raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."

The problem was that Nox was beginning to slow down. I could tell that he was growing tired by the way that he was breathing, and his movements lost a small amount of sharpness.

The spiritual weights around his wrists and ankles certainly weren't helping.

Then Viera called another name. "Veris Callovis."

A grin immediately spread across my face. "Oh, this should be good."

The thirteen-year-old stepped into the ring with his usual calm expression. Unlike the others, Veris wasn't intimidated. He actually looked excited. 

When the match began, Veris moved like a predator. He was quick, patient, and explosive. The two circled one another while the rest of the chamber watched in complete silence.

One strike.

Blocked.

Another.

Dodged.

A third.

Countered.

The exchanges happened so quickly that several recruits couldn't even follow them, then Veris suddenly accelerated, and when Nox's eyes widened, the crowd rose to its feet.

Veris stepped forward and pulled back his fist, the finishing blow on its way.

Then something unexpected happened.

Nox stepped backward, crossing the boundary.

Veris froze. Dumbfounded.  "So... I won?" he asked.

Nox shrugged. "Technically."

The recruits immediately began protesting.

"You stepped out!"

"Why would you do that?"

"That doesn't count!"

Nox looked genuinely confused by their reactions. "It counts."

Viera crossed her arms. "Explain."

Nox pointed toward the scoreboard overhead. "The objective isn't defeating opponents."

The recruits grew quiet.

"It's accumulating time, and I have more rounds to come. The only person ahead of me is Lyte," Nox explained. “And I’ll be sure to catch up to him soon. We do have all day you know.”

Several mouths dropped open.

Nox continued. "I've already spent a long while in the ring. Fighting Veris while exhausted would only increase my chances of being eliminated later."

Veris stared at him. "You surrendered?"

Nox chuckled. "I made a strategic decision."

The room erupted into arguments, and Veris looked offended.

Nox looked perfectly content as he went to sit down.  

Viera glanced down at her holotab. "Thunder Halo."

My stomach immediately dropped, but I stood tall and stepped into the ring.

"Begin!" Viera yelled, her eyes directly on me. 

The fight started surprisingly well. Years of training had put me in excellent shape, and my quick footwork allowed me to dodge, duck, and evade attack after attack. The problem came whenever it was time to strike back, because every opening made me hesitate. Memories of Sanctora, the violence, and the people who had hurt me resurfaced every time I tried to throw a punch. I could take a beating, but hurting someone else felt much harder.

That hesitation quickly became obvious. A punch slammed into my shoulder, another struck my ribs, and before long I was focused entirely on surviving. Then Veris was knocked from the ring, and a new recruit entered. The three of them took one look at me, exchanged glances, and immediately decided I was the weakest target. For a while, I managed to stay standing through pure endurance, dodging and weaving while the crowd cheered every narrow escape.

Then one distracted me from the front while another moved behind me. Before I could react, a third recruit charged and slammed directly into my side. BOOM. Pain exploded through my body as I was launched across the platform and crashed hard against the floor. The chamber spun around me while I heard Thalira shouting and Lyte rising from his seat. All I could think was one thing: That really hurt.

~SPIRITFYT~

By the time I returned from Medical, my rib had already been repaired. The academy's technology was incredible, but my pride still hurt more than the injury. As I slipped back into the Gravity Chamber, the recruits were on their feet, shouting and cheering loud enough to shake the room.

I didn't need to ask who was fighting.

It was obviously Thalira.

The moment I found my seat, I saw her in the center of the ring trading blows with three other recruits. Sweat soaked her Combat Reinforcement Suit, and several fresh bruises marked her cheeks, yet she refused to back down. One recruit rushed her from the front while another circled to her side. Thalira ducked beneath a punch and drove her shoulder into her opponent's chest. The impact sent him stumbling backward, but before she could capitalize, another recruit landed a strike against her ribs.

The crowd winced when Thalira staggered, but she punched him right back.

The fight had become a brutal exchange of endurance. Unlike Lyte's graceful defense or Nox's calculated precision, Thalira fought with heart. Every hit she took seemed to fuel the next attack, and every time she was knocked down, she rose faster than before, but there was no elegance to it. She didn't even have a strategy. Just pure determination.

Yet I could see something deeper happening.

There were moments when uncertainty crossed her face and moments when she hesitated. There were even times when it looked like she wanted to stop.

I knew that look.

It was the same look she wore whenever she questioned whether she belonged there. But every time doubt surfaced, she pushed through it, and every time fear appeared, she took another step forward.

Five minutes had passed, and no one had been eliminated yet.

The recruits surrounding her were strong, and together they slowly began forcing her toward the edge of the ring. A strike landed against her shoulder. Another connected with her side. Then a third recruit charged forward and slammed both palms into her chest.

BOOM!

When Thalira slid backward, the crowd leaned forward.

The glowing boundary was coming up on her heel, and when she dug her boots into the platform, she still continued sliding. 

I she didn't find a way to stop soon, she'd be out.

For the first time all match, genuine panic appeared in her eyes. "No..." she whispered.

Then something inside her snapped, and hot pink flames erupted beneath her heels.

The chamber fell silent.

The flames burned across the floor as her slide came to an abrupt stop inches from the boundary. Gasps echoed throughout the arena, and even the sergeants had frozen.

That wasn't supposed to happen. The Combat Reinforcement Suits were specifically designed to suppress direct manifestations of spiritual energy.

Yet there it was.

Spiritual flames of determination. 

Pink flames flickered beneath her feet and danced around her palms as she stared down at herself in disbelief. The recruits surrounding her exchanged nervous glances, and one of them gulped loud enough for us to hear. A moment passed before they charged. 

That was a mistake.

Thalira slowly lifted her head, the uncertainty gone, leaving her with pure determination. When the recruit threw his punch, she stepped forward to meet him, and the flames exploded.

A wave of hot pink fire erupted from her body like a volcano finally breaking through the surface. When energy surged from every direction and the platform shook, the barriers surrounding the ring pulsed violently. Several recruits were forced backward by the pressure alone.

The crowd rose to its feet.

For a brief moment, Thalira stood at the center of the ring surrounded by swirling pink flames that flowed from her arms, shoulders, and legs like a living storm. She looked unstoppable and massively powerful. 

Alarms suddenly blared throughout the chamber, and red warning lights flashed overhead.

"STOP THE MATCH!" Viera shouted.

The barriers immediately surged with energy, and the ring deactivated, shutting down Thalira's flames. Next, silence swept across the Gravity Chamber.

Thalira stood frozen in the center of the platform, breathing heavily while dozens of recruits stared at her. Even the instructors seemed unsure of what they had just witnessed.

I mean, it had only been five minutes. That was an even shorter time than I had managed, and yet, her fight was a combat trial that no one would ever forget. And as I looked at my friend's stunned expression, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had just witnessed the first glimpse of the warrior she was destined to become.

The rest of the day didn't go much better for me though.

Every time my name was called, I climbed back into the ring determined to do better than before, and every time, I told myself that it would be the match where I finally committed and stopped hesitating, but I failed every round. 

I could dodge, I could weave, And I could survive, but the moment an opportunity appeared, my body locked up. I could go so far as pulling my fist back to send a punch, but then I’d stop. 

The memories always came first. I'd remember the times that I had bullied someone, and then I’d remember being the one who was bullied. Either way, now I couldn’t imagine hurting another person, so I held back. It just didn’t make sense to me. I could fight demons, but other humans? That wasn’t as easy. I could take the pain, but giving it was another story.

I knew the recruits in the ring weren't helpless, and I knew that this was just training, yet some part of me still couldn't separate fighting from blatant violence, and by the fourth match, everyone had noticed. By the fifth match, they were exploiting it.

One recruit actually laughed after I dodged three attacks in a row without throwing one back.

"She's not going to hit you!" someone laughed. 

The others immediately became more aggressive, and the match ended with me being pushed out of the ring. Again.

When I returned to my seat, Viera was already rubbing her forehead.

That wasn't a good sign.

Three matches later, and things had only gotten worse. 

"Thunder," Viera said in a surprisingly calm voice. 

I stood.

"Sit down," she commanded.

I blinked. "What?"

"I want you to stay seated for the rest of the training. Just watch for now," she said without turning to look at me. "You are officially removed from the rotation until further notice."

My heart sank, and I felt myself beginning to panic. "Sergeant, I can explain."

Viera shook her hair. "No."

"Sergeant—"

"No."

I pointed toward the ring. "I was getting better."

"You spent an entire match apologizing while people were trying to throw you out."

"That was one time," I explained, my eyes growing hot. I hated the feeling of being left out of something, especially when it was about my performance. It made me feel useless and unworthy, the very thoughts about myself that I had worked to overcome. Having it made blatantly clear when I was finally in the academy hurt more than I thought it would, and I felt like I had been hit on a wound that hadn't fully healed. 

"It was four times, and the rest of your matches only consisted of you dodging out of the way. You may have quick reflexes, and you’re fast on your feet, but you’re useless if you don’t find a way to attack.” Sergeant Viera corrected. She sighed. "So, just sit, watch, and learn. If I see one more opportunity pass because you're having an existential crisis, I'm assigning you to mop duty."

I sat down immediately, sinking in my seat as the matches continued without me.

For a while I sulked, but then I watched. And honestly? The fights were incredible.

Nox returned to the ring first. The spiritual weights still clung around his wrists and ankles, yet he moved with the same precision as before. Every step was calculated, and every movement intentional. Recruits attacked him from multiple directions and somehow ended up eliminating themselves. Then Lyte entered, and the atmosphere changed immediately. The gold tattoos beneath his suit pulsed brighter than before, and every block created visible shockwaves.

When the two finally faced one another, the chamber erupted.

Nox moved first, and Lyte countered. Nox adapted, and Lyte redirected. Neither gained an advantage, and they looked less like recruits and more like experienced warriors testing one another.

Finally, Thalira entered and the chamber somehow became even louder. After her earlier manifestation, everyone wanted to see what would happen every time she fought.

Including me.

The moment she stepped into the ring, she looked directly at Nox and Lyte, then smiled. 

"She's crazy," I whispered.

"You got that right," someone said from beside me. 

I nearly jumped out of my seat. It was the headmaster, and I couldn't help but stare as I wondered how long he had been sitting there. The Headmaster ignored me and turned his attention toward the ring.

For a while we watched in silence.

Thalira charged first, Nox sidestepped, and Lyte intercepted. I barely paid any mind to the fourth opponent. It almost looked as if they were ignoring him as they immediately began exchanging attacks.

The Headmaster chuckled. "Interesting."

My eyebrows furrowed. "What?"

"You're a fighter who’s afraid to fight."

I was confused. "I wasn’t fighting."

The Headmaster nodded. "Not physically."

I groaned. He was doing that wise mentor thing again.

The Headmaster leaned back. "Tell me, Thunder. What's your greatest strength?"

I shrugged, not really wanting to think. "My legs."

"No."

"My stubbornness?"

He nodded with a chuckle. "Close."

I frowned in slight annoyance.

The Headmaster folded his hands over his somewhat round stomach. "When I was younger, I knew I was strong. I could fight, I could lead, and I could overcome obstacles." His gaze remained fixed on the ring. "But I had no idea what my strengths were."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

He inhaled a deep breath. "I understood that God had given me a gift. Something that made me strong. I just didn't understand what it was or how to use it, and for a while, that made me useless when it came time to execute anything outside of survival."

The sounds of combat echoed through the chamber.

"Even now, I can see that we’re a lot alike in that way. You’ve survived something traumatic, and you lived in it for a long, long while.” The Headmaster gave me a meaningful look, an understanding smile at his lips. “It’s what made you who you are today, and believe it or not, that time spent suffering was what built your strength.” 

I sat quietly, unsure of where this was going. 

The Headmaster pointed toward the ring. "Nox understands balance."

I nodded.

He continued. "Lyte understands service."

I nodded again.

"Thalira is beginning to understand determination," he said with a smile. 

The three collided again, and a shockwave rippled through the platform.

Then he pointed toward me. "And you understand endurance."

I stared at him. "It doesn't feel like it."

The Headmaster tilted his head. "That's because you're mistaking your struggle for weakness. The Israelites made the same mistake. Remember learning about their time in the wilderness?" he asked. "God delivered them from Egypt, but they spent years wandering because they kept looking back. They were free, yet they still thought like slaves."

I looked toward the ring. Toward my friends.

"They weren't weak," the Headmaster continued. "They simply couldn't see what God had already done in them. Every obstacle made them question themselves, and every hardship made them forget how far they had come."

The words hit harder than any punch I'd taken all day, because that was exactly what I was going through.  The problem wasn't that I couldn't fight. The problem was that every time I stepped into the ring, I stopped being Thunder and became the girl from Sanctora. The person I used to be.

I was so focused on the pain of my past that I couldn't see the person God was shaping me into, and just like the Israelites, I kept looking backward when I should have been moving forward. I wasn’t the girl from Sanctora anymore, so there was nothing to feel guilty about when it came to fighting the other recruits. It was just training. I didn’t have malicious thoughts behind my punches. Just a determination to learn the skill of fighting. I just had to commit with my punches and follow through.

The Headmaster stood. "You're stronger than you think, Thunder. You have the gift of endurance, and that endurance built strength. Next time you're in there, use that, and once you get the hang of it, keep using it. Before you know it, you’ll be stronger than you could ever imagine."

I looked up at the Headmaster, feeling recharged and reignited with the determination to fight. 

When I turned back toward the ring, Thalira had somehow forced both Nox and Lyte backward at the same time.

The crowd exploded.

"LOOK AT HER!" I pointed excitedly, only when I turned back, the Headmaster was gone. I sighed with a thankful smile, his words still processing, but understood.

~SPIRITFYT~

The final matches passed in a blur, and for the first time all day, I wasn't focused on myself. I was focused on my friends, and by the time training ended, I felt strangely energized.

That turned out to be a problem.

After dismissal, several recruits were assigned equipment duty, and unfortunately, I was one of them. Apparently almost getting launched out of the ring all day didn't excuse me from chores.

I was helping move a set of energy regulators from the ring back into storage when something strange happened. After gathering a handful of them from beneath the edges of the ring, I started thinking about what the Headmaster said to me and couldn’t help but get excited about my next chance in the ring. The thought gave me chills, but the good kind, like I knew that I could succeed.

When I picked up what I gathered and held them against my chest, they began to hum. I frowned, watching in confusion as the devices began to glow in my arms.

"...Uh." A bead of sweat formed at my temple. 

Suddenly, the regulator began vibrating and sparks jumped from its surface. In surprise, I dropped them back onto the ring and stumbled backwards. Several regulators had begun lighting up simultaneously.

Several recruits looked over.

"Thunder?" One girl said.

"I don't think that's supposed to happen." Another said.

The small machines whined, the automated system speaking. "Overload, overload. Alert.

High spiritual energy overload."

"Oh." The realization hit me. My new and inspired energy was pouring out into the regulators at an unnatural rate, and they appeared to be ready to blow. "RUN."

Everyone scattered from around the ring just before the regulators exploded, only not all of us avoided the blast. I was the last to get away.

BOOOOOOM. When a cloud of white smoke filled the air, alarms immediately began blaring, and the sergeants sprinted toward the scene but slid to a stop just outside the smoke. It wasn’t long before the overhead fans came on and it began to clear.

When I reappeared, wobbling and covered in soot, I imagined that my hair was standing straight up, and I thought my eyebrows were probably gone. My face had to look like I had personally challenged a lightning strike and lost, because the room fell silent before everyone burst into laughter. 

I pointed accusingly. "I hope you know you’re laughing at the works of pure power!"

That somehow made everyone laugh harder, including my friends, and I couldn't help but smile. As the recruits doubled over, the sergeants exchanged glances, then they turned their curious stares over to me, and for the first time, I realized something…

Maybe I wasn't the only one trying to figure out my gifts.

Maybe the academy was too.

"But one thing I do: forget what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal..." — Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)

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