18- Training

"No, No, No, No way Micheal said shaking his head, My little girl is not joining the academy, its too dangerous."

"Why, because she's a girl" Anna said narrowing her eyes at her husband. Her aura started to appear again. Micheal was at a loss for words, "no well, ugh... "She's too young" he finally blurted out.

Releasing her aura Anna pulled a pamphlet out from the desk, "not anymore" she said, "the academy has started a new training program for children to join the academy at age 14."

Taking the pamphlet Micheal frowned. He looked it over then handed it to Jason as he looked to Anna. Carina's only 13, she's not old enough for this program." Anna smiled, I am sure two Master ranked Elementalists can pull some strings" she said.

Jason and Micheal just stared at her as she got up and walked over to them. "She will be so thrilled" Anna said as she kissed them both on the forehead and left the room.

After she left Micheal folded his arms, "how does she even find out about these types of things" he said pouting. "This is probably how" Jason said pointing to a line on the pamphlet while handing it to Micheal.

Micheal took the pamphlet and read the name out loud, "Headmaster Patrick Kellman oh god, he said slapping his forehead." Jason laughed loudly, "brother in-laws, another reason I never married."

Kaius was sitting cross legged on a boulder in the training area with his eyes closed as the little black fox layed in his lap. He was currently circulating the fire element around him.

"Let's play a game brother" Carina said running up to him. "I'm training," he said not bothering to open his eyes. "Ohhh come on the girl whined, "you can train while you play. Focusing on two things at once will help your training," she said.

Kaius cocked his head to the side, "she has a point" he thought. He opened his eyes and stood up, leaving the little black fox on the boulder. "What do you want to play, "he asked.

"Chess" Carina said with a smile on her face. Kaius frowned and started to sit back down "your no match for me, it won't be fun" he said.

Carina had a devilish grin on her face. "Normally, I would have to agree with you, but playing while having to maintain an aura is another story. Today is the day I beat you brother" she said while putting her hands on her waist in a super hero pose.

"Doubt it, but fine" Kaius said, "but lets play out here." Carina agreed and the two set up the table and chairs.

Carina pulled out a chess board and two boxes. "You'll play with these pieces" she said handing a box to Kaius. Opening the box Kaius discovered 16 clear chess pieces.

"What kind of chess is this" Kaius asked. Pulling out a piece and inspecting it. "This is Elemental chess" Carina answered. "Normally the pieces would already contain elements, but filling them up can be part of your training."

She began placing her own chess pieces on the board and Kaius saw that each one had an element swirling inside of it.

Holding the chest piece in his hand, Kaius forced the fire element into it. A red swirl started to appear in the chest piece, Kaius continued pushing the fire element into it-

BOOM

The chess piece in Kaius's hand exploded. "What are you doing idiot," Carina shouted. "Thats one piece less for you now, controlling the amount of Elemental energy you put into each piece is part of the training."

Kaius frowned then tried again. This time he picked up a pawn, the first piece he destroyed was his queen and he couldn't afford to lose another valuable piece before the game even started.

This time Kaius succeeded and the piece didn't explode, but as he placed it on the table the piece shattered. "What happened now" he yelled in shock.

"Your breaking my game that's what" Carina said shaking her head. "You have to put the right amount of Elemental energy in it, the piece became brittle because you put too much."

This time Kaius was careful and only put a little bit of fire element into another pawn before placing it on the table. This time the piece didn't shatter. "Good job" Carina said "now hurry up with the rest i'm getting old waiting for you."

Kaius filled up the rest of the pieces with fire energy and set them on the board. The swirls of energy in his pieces were visibly weaker than the ones in Carina's but Kaius didn't care.

Carinas side of the board consisted of all the colors of the elements. Her king was green and her queen was purple, they were the only two pieces of these colors on the board.

"Lets begin, i'll go first" she said moving a blue pawn forward two spaces. On Kaius's turn he placed one of his red pawns one space forward. Carina then placed another blue pawn two spaces forward next to her other pawn.

On Kaius's next turn he moved another of his fire pawns two spaces so that when Carina captured it he could then capture her piece. When Kaius let his hand off of the pawn the swirl inside disappeared turning the pawn clear again.

"What happened to my pawn" Kaius shouted pointing at his now clear piece.

Carina shook her head "just like in life everything takes energy. That pitiful amount of fire energy was only enough to move two spaces" Carina said. "You'll have to waste a turn filling it back up before you can move that piece again."

Kaius narrowed his eyes, "your turn" he said angrily.

Carina smiled and moved her piece forward knocking down Kaius's clear piece and removed it from the board. "Your turn" she said still smiling.

Kaius moved his other red pawn to capture one of Carina's blue pawns but Carina's piece wouldn't move. "What am I doing wrong now" he asked.

Carina laughed "I told you, every thing costs energy. Think of that pawn with his baby fire as an apprentice ranked Elementalist going up against a Master water Elementalist. There's no way that guy would win. Normally the two fire and water elements would equal out but thats only if their energy was equal."

Kaius's eyes went wide, looking at his side of the board he realized he'd made a big mistake. All his pieces had baby fire swirls in them as opposed to Carina's who looked like there was a tiny galaxy inside them.

It was a clean sweep and Kaius lost terribly. Before they started their next game Kaius thought about some things. Thinking on Carina's words he realized he needed to stabilize the element in each piece and also consider the element types when filling them up.

They played again and Kaius wasted four of his pawns before he figured out how to stabilize the fire energy inside each piece. Needless to say he still lost as he had only fire pieces and Carina's water pieces destroyed them, she barely used any of her strong pieces.

By the third game Kaius began filling the pieces with different elements but this brought another issue. While still maintaining his fire aura he found it difficult to fill the pieces with different elements and it resulted in weak pieces once again.

Kaius could easily fill these pieces if he changed his aura, but per the agreement with his parents he had to maintain his fire aura for a full day.

By the 15th game Kaius was able to fill up and stabilize the pieces with different elements. Finally winning a game.

Clapping Carina congratulated him "good job brother, only took you 15 games to win 1" she said laughing. "Well lets call it a night we've been out here all day" she said as she rose from her seat and began putting the pieces away.

Kaius got up and began to help, but Carina stopped him. "You have to clear the pieces of the elements inside first" she said.

Kaius picked up a piece and tried to absorb the element inside. It was like trying to suck a drink out of a sealed bottle. Kaius couldn't do it and as he pulled harder the piece exploded.

"How many pieces do you owe me now" Carina asked snatching one of his pieces. Immediately the element inside dispersed into the air and the piece turned clear again.

"How did you do that" Kaius asked with wide eyes.

Carina just looked at him weird "what are you talking about" she responded.

"How did you absorb the element inside the piece. It felt like a sealed container, I couldn't pull anything out and when I pulled too hard it exploded."

Carina looked at him confused "you know i'm not an Elementalist I can't absorb the energy inside. That's why I play with already stabilized pieces."

Kaius was even more confused. Seeing his confused face Carina jus shook her head and began picking up all the pieces which turned clear as soon as she touched them.

Seeing her do this with ease kaius asked to try again. Carina narrowed her eyes and slowly handed him a piece. "You will buy me another set" she said as she released the piece from her grasp.

Kaius carefully focused on the elements inside but couldn't feel them, they felt cut off from him. Being very careful he pushed inward like when he was filling the pieces. Finally he felt a connection and was able absorb the elements inside.

Satisfied, he absorbed the elements in the rest of the pieces. He put them away and handed the case to Carina. "You still owe me a set" she said. As she took the case and headed back towards the house.

Thinking about how many pieces he broke and how sturdy the material was Kaius shivered. Running after Carina he yelled, "how much do those pieces cost, can we count them as an early birthday gift."

On the roof of the house stood Micheal and Jason who had been observing the whole time. "Impressive" Micheal said "only took him 15 games to master the skill, his control of the elements is amazing."

Jason nodded "I am not surprised, he truly is a little monster. What i'm curious about is how Carina dispersed those elements. It was as if the elements ran away from her touch."