Magic!
I don’t like casting spells outside of the Kingdom. The magic is so slow out here, like I’m running through syrup, and it smells/tastes weak, too. More than one Virginian mage has gotten into a lot of trouble by trying to pull in magic that just wasn’t there, or tough enough to be pulled, so I had to be quick and gentle in absorbing the local the energy… I’m sorry. This makes more sense to mages. Try to imagine that I was pulling a tablecloth off of a table without disturbing the dishes and glasses, only the tablecloth was really tissue paper. You can still do it without everything ripping, but you need to do it right.
I got it right. Mostly. Well enough that the difference didn’t matter. It’s actually no big deal when your nose bleeds. Anything can cause a nosebleed, right? You only really have to worry when it’s your ears or eyes. The important thing was, I had the power I needed by the time I jumped through the ring of fire. So obviously it was time to start using it.
I started out by taking over the flames, fueling them from some of my own gathered power, and the magic still remaining in the area. That wouldn’t last forever, either, but I didn’t need forever. I steadied that spell in one hand while pulling together a cloud spell with the other. It sounds harder than it is; most simple magics can be done one-handed, and we train ourselves to use both, from an early age.