A golden start

Erinara

I couldn’t believe how amazingly everything had played out. This outcome overcame my wildest expectations. I had allowed myself the hope that Jin and I might share this feeling, but the tiny glimmer of doubt in the back of mind had kept chipping away at me.
That is, until just a few moments ago.
By embracing Jin with a kiss, every last speck of doubt faded away, instead replaced by a deep sense of affection between us, as well as a new connection binding us together.
It was as if we had found something divine between us.
Just that one simple interaction we shared carried a powerful confirmation of the emotions we had been quietly carrying.
I briefly tried to pinpoint when my feelings for Jin had appeared for the first time. Looking at it retroactively, I came to the conclusion that I had had a sense of interest in him from the start, which then gradually turned into affection and love the more we interacted.
But at what point that jump happened exactly eluded me.
That train of thought was quickly dismissed, however.
What mattered much more was the here and now after all.

For the third time, a sense of warmth arose within me.
Like a tiny fire growing inside of myself from a spark, tender waves of heat calmly washed away the normal coldness of my body.
It felt like a hidden piece of myself had finally conjoined with me, something that had always been there but had never been in reach.
Starting fleeting and weak, it had appeared during the conversation with Jin leading up to this point. The sensation quickly grew more powerful as our talk progressed. An intensifying heat spread throughout my body, as if it was carried by my blood. I felt calmed, soothed even, as it progressed. It was as if at long last, a cold, harsh winter had dissipated from within myself.
Two distinct differences separated this instance of warmth from the last two times.
For one, the heat felt much more intense, although never uncomfortable, and it lasted much longer, building up over much more than just a few seconds. Not only that, it even went to the extent of physically removing the frigid feeling that usually encased me.
More importantly however, Jin appeared to have noticed that change too:
“Erinara, I think something might be going on with your magic, is everything alright?”, he asked me with a tone of uncertainty.

I reluctantly forced myself to slightly pull my face away from Jin’s, the feeling of the kiss we shared still dancing on my lips. I slowly opened my eyes, looking directly into his. Instantly, I felt the desire to bridge the physical distance between us again.
I wanted to open my mouth to state that yes, I felt much more than just alright.
Only moments before I did, however, I noticed something unusual.
My hair was delicately flowing through the air around me, gently following its own rhythm.
I retracted my hand from the back of Jin’s head, wanting to run it through my magically floating hair.
If the hair alone wasn’t enough of a reason, the next oddity I spotted must have been what had probably alarmed Jin.

My body was emitting a soft, warm glow. Moving my hand closer to my eyes to inspect it, I observed the molten gold radiance with surprise. Reddish orange streaks mixed with the golden coloration at seemingly random points, beginning from nowhere and slowly returning to the golden color with a gradient.
Finally, I noticed the last difference. In between of my slim, parallel, dark blue markings, a third one had appeared. This line, equally as thin as the blue ones surrounding it, glowed in the same molten gold as the light being created by my body. Just like my omen markings, this third marking ran across the entire surface of my upper arm, consistently staying parallel to my omen trait.
It felt… natural. Like this was how everything was supposed to be, like the final puzzle piece had clicked into place.
“Say, do I have something on my face?”, I asked.
Jin’s eyes had been attentively looking all over my face as I was investigating the golden shine.
“There’s a golden streak in between of your omen markings”, Jin began, “Did something happen? Are you alright?”, he asked again, this time with a slight tint of worry in his voice.

“I feel better than I ever have before. Thank you, Jin”, I smiled at him with my whole soul.
The statement regarding my entire soul would apparently have been untrue until a moment ago, if my theory was correct.
I pulled Jin into a hug, relishing our newfound connection.

“Can you tell me what’s happening to you then?”, Jin asked, holding on to the hug tightly.
I nestled my head in his shoulder, taking a moment to consider what I thought to have discerned.
“I’m not entirely certain myself”, I began, “but it would appear that I was an omen not only in physical appearance.”
I briefly tried conjuring shadowy tendrils from my right hand. Just like every other time before, they stretched out and obeyed my every command. Their bodies were painted in a shadowy black color with deep blue streaks.
Then, dismissing the shadows, I tried to focus the light emanating from myself to gather in my palm. Wafts of molten gold gathered around my hand, carrying a sense of security and soft alleviation with them.

Breaking the short silence, Jin then asked:
“What do you mean?”
I closed my eyes, basking in Jin’s embrace.
“My innate magic seems to have also been affected by being an omen”, I explained, not fully certain of my reasoning myself, “What you are seeing around you is my second, uhm, no, I guess it’s my first innate magic type. I still have full control over my shadow magic too.”
“Isn’t that an amazing discovery? From what I remember, you told me that every person only has one innate magic type, right? Then you would be the first warlock to have two of them”, Jin said excitedly.
“Certainly. And believe me, on any other day, the discovery of having a second magic type would be taking the forefront of my thoughts for a very long time. But today in particular, it doesn’t hold a candle to what I had already gained.”
I briefly tugged on his back with my arms, exerting a soft pressure.
Then I pulled my head back a bit to be face to face with Jin.

He was looking back at me with a soft facial expression and a glimmer in his eyes that sent butterflies through my stomach.
“Hey now, that’s not fair”, I said, followed by a small chuckle, having turned my head down slightly.
“What isn’t fai…”, Jin began, but he was interrupted by me all but lunging forward, brushing a kiss against his lips. My hands found their way to his upper back and neck.
Even though I initiated the action, my heart beat louder because of it, sending a drumbeat through my chest.
His face donned a surprised expression for a moment, before he too relinquished himself to the tenderness our lips shared, moving his hands to my lower back and the back of my head respectively.

For all I cared, and I was sure he felt the same, this moment could last indefinitely.