Dreams at the Tips of Her Fingers

Asaya didn’t know whether to believe it or not when the achievements started raining down on her, gold and silver sparkles dotting her cheeks before shimmering back into oblivion. She’d never thought this moment would come. All her life, she’d dreamed of making her mark, of leaving an impression on those around her, and now that was finally happening. At last, her story was beginning. She was stunned, but a buzz of pride was beginning to swell up in her gut, her muscles clenching as her fists balled up tight in Elkan’s robe. It felt like she hadn’t even had to lift a finger, and yet it still meant so much.

Though, considering even she found it kind of unbelievable, it made sense that no one else would understand what had just happened, either. Spike looked utterly dumbfounded, his jaw slack open as he stared at her, ruby red eyes blown out wide. “Hey… how did that happen?” he muttered, stuck frozen in his stance as a nervous hand gestured towards her. “How? Asaya? How did you…”

Except, he didn’t have much time to ogle as Asaya turned towards him, unable to rip the smile from her face as Valentine brought herself in between them, red eyes nodding respectfully towards the people she’d been evaluating with a swift movement. “All of you did well, but not all of you have passed. Keep in mind that just because you don’t make it into Soul Star Academy gifted program, doesn’t mean the end of the world, as you can still make it into the regular courses, as well as there being plenty of other good school you could apply to,” Valentine explained politely, arms tense at her sides as she finished her statement, which was something she was most likely required to say each time.

“By the end of the week, all of you will have received your letter with the details of your grade, and whether or not you are accepted. If you passed, there will be a time and date as well as other details for when you are to meet with me in the future for your orientation. With this, you are free to go,” she finished smoothly, Spike still gawking at the two wildcards, barely able to follow Valentine’s clear dismissal as some of the other kids began dragging him away.

Asaya was about to follow them, almost certain she’d accomplished all she needed for the day, when a soft, firm hand the color of dark chocolate landed on her shoulder, prompting her to turn back around as she met Valentine’s professional smile, and Elkan didn’t miss the underlining urgency in the older elf’s expression. “Miss Asaya,” she smiled, retracting her hand back to her side once she got her attention, Asaya beginning to feel a little nervous with the spotlight back on her.

It’d been years since she’d been noticed like this, and she’d nearly forgotten how it felt. But Valentine’s eyes were intense, and as she faced Asaya, she sounded almost awkward, like she was uncertain about how to go about what she’d just witnessed. “Hm, if I’m honest, I’m not too sure how to say this. In the dungeon, you weren’t all that impressive, and those accomplishments clearly weren’t achieved by you in the obvious sense,” she noted, Elkan smiling silently to the side as Asaya’s mind felt like it was short-circuiting. “So this has left me wondering… what exactly is your power?”

“Oh…” she mumbled, a sense of pristine calm washing over her at this new prospect. She’d gained Valentine’s attention, for the first time in her life. She’d gained the attention of the recruiter for Soul Star Academy. And yet, for some reason, she still didn’t feel quite ready to comply. Because this had her thinking…

Why should she tell anyone what her power was if she didn’t have to? The whole world had declared she was worthless and a waste of space because she didn’t have any magic right away, so now that she’d gained it, why should she give it to them? Why should she let them rate her worth based on things they didn’t even need to know about?

These thoughts rang clear in her head, and so she faced Valentine with dignity, eyes confident and certain in her choice. “I’d like to keep the details of my power a secret from society. I’m comfortable telling you, but not here.”

“Hm, alright. That can be done,” Valentine agreed, and for a moment, Asaya was surprised she was so determined to know. “Do you have time now to come with me to a spot we can talk in private? I don’t have an agency in this area, but I know a few places where we can get some secrecy,” she accommodated, and Asaya dumbly agreed to the meeting in awe.

It’d been so long since anyone had seen promise in her, and she wasn’t sure if it was the right decision to keep it all a secret. In all honesty, it didn’t feel like her at all. It didn’t feel like something she would do. Asaya had always thrived on other people’s attention, over people confirming and telling her that she was special… so this was an infinitely different approach. But it just came down to the fact that she no longer trusted outside praise. It had conditions, twisted expectations, and limits that couldn’t be seen. But one way or another, she was moving forward, and she let Valentine guide her down the evening roads in silence.

They’d been inside the dungeon for nearly six weeks, near the exact spot of a month and a half, and Asaya had never had a great sense of time to begin with, so she hadn’t the slightest clue what time it would be once she got out. But it seemed to be dusk, with vibrant reds and orange lighting up the sky beneath smoky dark clouds, the shops growing in size the deeper they got into town.

Asaya had barely looked at it on her way to the dungeon, too busy avoiding stares and whispers, but now that she let herself take everything in, it filled her with a sense of nostalgia to see how little had changed. Four years holed up in your home, and yet when you stepped out, it felt like life had been waiting for you. It hadn’t stopped moving, and there were differences, but there was always consistency that felt like they were giving you a helping hand. For instance, the flower shop on the corner still had its sign decorated with pink clay Asaya had put there herself when she was only eight years old. Her father had lifted her up on his shoulders and gladly let her prettily vandalize the sign right in the middle of the day, and the shopkeeper had told her he absolutely loved it. And… it was still there.

A little farther down, the nearby school she used to go to was still standing and looked identical in size and shape, and some of the outside walls were still covered in small, multicolored handprints from when she’d taken a bunch of paint with Nemara and tackled the exterior. She was surprised no one had ever painted over it, but she figured it had something to do with Nemara having gotten into Soul Star Academy. If it had been anyone else, or if it had just been Asaya’s chaotic fingerprints decorating it, they probably would’ve taken it down.

Thinking about that dull thought, Asaya wondered if it was okay to get her hopes up with this whole interview that was ensuing. Valentine led her to a tavern, Elkan following quietly behind as he let her take the lead in all the talking as she broke down her power in one rushed tangent. She tried her best to sound confident, but even after all the achievements she’d gotten that day, it felt like her pride had left her.

Here she was, back and facing a woman who had seen no worth in her only a few hours ago. An elf who was on the pinnacle of greatness, and who hadn’t seen anything special in her the first time she’d stopped by, all those years ago.

Asaya talked about how she created Elkan in her book, how she’d designed him to be strong and to dominate the field. She talked with slumped shoulders as she sat uncomfortably in the wooden booth, Valentine watching her while patiently listening, and Asaya was too busy looking down to see the immersed look in her eyes. She was too busy trying to remember everything Elkan had explained to her before, desperately trying to rephrase things in a way that made sense.

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“Ah, but I don’t know if it’s all that impressive, because it’s not like I’m the one doing any fighting. I might’ve created him, and I designed his powers to be even stronger than this, actually… but uh, he can only access as much of his power as the amount of mana I have… so I’m actually holding him back, probably,” she muttered, her grip on her own hand nearly painful as her knuckles turned white. “But that’s all, I think. I’m still kind of new to this power, because I went into the dungeon only a few days after awakening it, but I’m pretty sure that sums it up,” she finished, Valentine observing her carefully with her face propped up on her hand, elbow placed on the table as she examined Asaya’s attitude.

The older elf felt like she needed to think this through carefully. In her eyes, it was clear she’d just accidentally come across a loaded goldmine, even more so than what she’d originally thought about Elkan. It was clear now how she’d missed things, because it seemed that even Asaya was painfully oblivious to the grand amounts of massive potential her own magic had. And that made Valentine feel a bit upset, because the child she’d met a few years back had been full of limitless ideas and creativity.

If that child had awakened this power right then, Valentine had no doubt that she would already be crafting what she wanted to create next. But instead, Asaya seemed to be stuck in stasis. She’d lost the ability to imagine herself as being capable of anything, and was only now beginning to recover it. And not to mention, the power of creation… Valentine wouldn’t have thought it possible. All of the things Asaya could create, the powers she could influence, the over-powered beings she could summon out of her own imagination… it was an extremely dangerous ability, and one that couldn’t go unchecked. Valentine would try her best to keep it a secret from most per Asaya’s request, but there was no way she could keep this kind of magic disclosed from her superiors. But still, first things first…

“Asaya,” she called, watching the woman’s eyes shoot up to meet her, her back straightening the moment she was addressed.

“Ah! And Elkan is actually in his three hundreds, he lied to you!” she blurted impulsively, not able to hide that fact any longer as Elkan covered his mouth with a hand, turning to the side to hide any expression as Valentine blinked.

“Oh, hah… yes, I’d figured that,” she chuckled lightly, Asaya’s composure relaxing at the lighthearted sound. “I think he saw a good opportunity for you, and decided to take it. Is that right?” she asked the elf, who was still hiding behind his sleeve, but you could see the smile in his eyes as he gave a small nod.

“That’s right,” Elkan acknowledged, Asaya staring bizarrely at him at such a confession. “You’re the recruiter for Soul Star Academy, so I knew as long as I caught your attention, my lady would surely be put in your line of sight eventually as well. I’m afraid I was playing the long game.”

“That’s fascinating,” Valentine smiled politely, before turning back to Asaya with a more serious look. This young woman looked so insecure, so clueless, but that power she had was invaluable. It had limitless potential, limitless uses, limitless possibilities… and she needed to reign it in as soon as possible. She needed this girl to see how wonderful it truly was.

“Asaya, I don’t think you see just how amazing this power of yours is,” she addressed right away, watching the woman’s eyes meet hers with uncertainty welled up inside them. “You were always a bright girl. I know back when you were a child, you were always curious about everything around you. You were always exploring, and always trying to learn and test your capabilities. So Asaya, look at me,” Valentine directed, reaching out to place a hand in front of Asaya on the table, who was staring at her in disbelief.

“I want you to look at me, and hear what I say. I want you to look back, to remember what it was like to be that child you used to be. I understand life must not have been easy for you since then, but I want you to try and recall what it was like to see all of those possibilities. To see all of those ideas in the air, floating around you and ready to be grabbed by the tail. I want you to remember what it was like when you wrote your first book, when you created your first world, word for word. I want you to remember those feelings. Because as much as you may think so, you haven’t lost them,” Valentine told her, sincerity dripping through her every word as Asaya listened, processing with all she had.

“You have always had such a beautiful mind, and that is why the universe bestowed this power unto you. It read your soul, and saw that above all else, you are a creator. You are an innovator, a dreamer, and that power is rightfully yours. I want you to think about it, now that you have it... think about what you could possibly create with this power of yours. The possibilities are endless, aren’t they? So don’t you think you should start thinking about them, instead of limiting yourself to the mindset that your creations are the ones who deserve the credit? Because without your mana sustaining them, they would be nothing. They would be nothing but words on paper,” Valentine declared, Asaya’s face tensing as she continued her speech. “You are the one with the power, Asaya. You are the one with the talent, the one with the potential. And in the eyes of your creations, you might as well be their god. Do you see that?” she finished, her eye contact with Asaya so intense that neither of them felt like they could look away.

The power to create… Asaya didn’t think she’d thought of it quite that grandly. Maybe she should have, maybe she should have seen her own potential without someone lining it out for her so directly. But when she really thought about it, and really considered it, she could create… anything. Anything she wrote down in a book, anything she developed a world around, she could manifest into reality. The rules weren’t too strict, and she could bring out living beings as well as objects… a truly malleable power that could adapt to every situation, so long as she was carrying a book with what she needed inside it… if she let her imagination roam…

“I could create a character of mass destruction,” she blurted, eyes gleaming as she became more expressive, hands moving in front of her face with flair. “Anything they touch burns to ash! Poof! The ultimate offensive attacker! Or what about a guy who, when he plays the flute, puts everyone to sleep, just like in those legends! Those are the first things I think of off the top of my head,” she smiled, a somewhat innocent face to match such sinister ideas. “Do you think if I wrote a book that was more similar to a catalogue, I could pull out different objects like that? I could have an object for everything! Or does it really have to be in a story format…?”

“Well, only one way to find out. You should write a book like that and see,” Elkan prompted, Asaya grinning at him with her own excitement.

She was allowed to be happy about this, right? She was allowed to be proud. She was accomplishing things she’d only dreamed of, and she could accomplish much more. She just had to let her imagination roam, and that had always been her greatest strength, had it not?

However, she hadn’t realized how truly her dreams were right at the tips of her fingers until Valentine addressed her again, voice calm and tinged with a sense of pride as she did so. “Asaya, on behalf of the academy and guild I hail from, let me officially say this. I am inviting you to Soul Star Academy, and I will be giving you a guaranteed spot in the top, gifted class of your assigned age group. And, because I see so much potential in your power, you will be given your own dorm, and will have extra perks and rights that other students don’t have, as well as more opportunities and leniencies. Tell me, how does this sound to you?”

“Uh… how does it sound?” Asaya gawked, not able to believe she was getting asked such a question. Actually, no, take that back! Both questions surprised her! Was she really getting asked this? To join Soul Star Academy, the school she’d always dreamed of attending, the school her two long lost friends had been enrolled at for nearly two years now? Asaya couldn’t believe her ears. Her dreams really, really were at the tips of her fingers.

“I accept it, of course!” she announced loudly, unable to see the stares of passerby getting attracted by her dramatics. But she didn’t care, because right now, she was walking to the life she’d always wanted, just like Elkan had promised. And even though he might be an elf born from her fantasies, this impact was nothing but real.