Chapter One; Part Two

Sanda's P.O.V.

I began to wake up as sunlight shined over my eyes. I groaned and looked over at the window, seeing the sun was up. I guess I was so freaked out the day before that I didn't realize it was night before. I wish I could've pinched myself to see if everything that happened was all a dream or not, but I was still in the same room as the last night, and I'd never had a dream that was so clear I could remember every detail before. I remembered my position on the bed the before I had fallen asleep and got a little confused. "Weird... I guess Akari moved me." I said, not knowing there was anyone else there yet. I sat up and ruffled my hair, feeling the same light static. "Yep, absolutely none of that was a dream..."

I sighed and got out of bed, going towards the bathroom but I stopped myself. I was thinking of freshening up a little, but any kind of water that touched me would shock me. "Man, I can't even take a shower..." I groaned, shaking my head. Showers always helped me relax and calmed my mind; let me think. I decided to step out of my room. "Maybe taking a walk will help me calm my mind. Besides, I'll probably need to get familiar with the place." So I did just that. I walked around the building, familiarizing myself with its layout.

I was able to memorize everything after seeing it just once. I didn't go into any rooms where the doors were already closed. Even if they were cracked, I still didn't check. I didn't want any clichés where I walk in on a girl in the middle of changing her clothes. From the size of the place, I guessed there was a lot more than just me and Akari there. The building was like a tiny mansion. There was a giant kitchen, like a kitchen you'd see at a professional restaurant, a lounge area that was bigger than my living room and kitchen combined, a gaming room with the latest consoles and various board games and a couple pool tables, a small library, and even a little bar in the dining room large enough to host a party. "Just where the heck am I anyway..?" I muttered to myself as I exited the dining hall.

"My home. At least the only one left." Akari said the instant I walked out, only a couple feet away.

I jumped as I suddenly heard and saw her. "S-Stop doing that! Jesus..." I sighed.

She smiled and giggled softly. "Sorry about that, I was just checking something. Anyways, how are you feeling now?" Her smile faded and she wore a slightly worried expression.

I gave her the best smile I could muster. "As good as a person who just destroyed a whole town and killed a couple hundred people a day ago could be I guess..."

She frowned. "I understand... But it's not like I can have you moping around forever. If you would, please follow me." She turned and walked down the hall. I followed willingly, figuring she was taking me somewhere to explain everything. My mind wandered as we walked. I seemed to be so full of energy when I had only woken up less than thirty minutes ago. It was odd because I was never a morning person by any means whatsoever.

I didn't really know what to think about what was going on, who that woman was, or what had happened the day before. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. "How did I survive something like that anyway..? Are there other survivors like me..? What exactly are the unnatural disasters anyways?" As all these questions ran through my mind, my train of thought was suddenly cut off when I heard my name being called.

"Sanda, are you paying attention?" Akari waved her hand in my face.

I jumped a little bit. "S-Sorry, just a little lost in thought..."

She giggled. "It's fine, I can understand why, but all your questions are about to be answered. Now, would you care to introduce yourself or would you prefer everyone keep staring at you?"

"Huh?" I looked forward to see five other people sitting around a table that Akari and I were standing a few feet in front of. I couldn't help but notice their features and the shapes of their irises. Reddish-orange hair that looked like fire and flame shaped irises, wavy blue hair and water droplet shaped irises, spiky brown hair and mountain shaped irises, really short, light green hair and tornado shaped irises, and shoulder-length, deep green hair and leaf shaped irises. Every one of these people sitting before me had oddly shaped irises just like Akari and I did. I just stood there, slightly dumbfounded.

"Well?" The blue haired woman spoke up, impatience in her voice.

"S-Sorry! I-I'm Sanda Aito!" I bowed, shouting like a complete idiot. I always got nervous around even one person I didn't know, so you can guess what a group would do.

The blue haired woman's eyes widened as she heard my name. I looked at her, confused, but before I had time to wonder what was wrong, Akari spoke. "Alright everyone, introduce yourselves as well, left to right."

They nodded. Red hair was up first, and as I got a closer look at him I could make out his somewhat muscular build and he was rather tall, a little bit taller than I was. "The name's Agni Aagneya and I'm 21 years old." Akari stared at Agni and he looked back at her. "What?"

"Go on with the last part. I think he's smart enough to realize what's going on." She replied.

He sighed and I noticed a little steam come out of his mouth. "I'm the Fire Elementia."

"Huh..? What did he just say..?" My thoughts were once again cut off, but this time, by the blue haired woman.

"My name is Jinny. Jinny Ashani." She glanced at me after saying her last name and I realized why she was surprised when she heard my name. My first name and her last name both relate to thunder, just as her first name and my last name relate to water. Our eyes locked for a second and I quickly averted my eyes, which would quickly be a big mistake as my eyes immediately landed on her slender and curvy figure. "I'm 25 and I'm the Water Elementia." She said with a light growl in her voice.

I quickly averted my eyes completely, my thoughts immediately changing back to "Elementia?", but yet again, before I could ask anything, someone else spoke up. "My name is Daichi Doi. I'm 22 years old and I'm earth. Pleasure to meet you kid." Said the brown haired man, giving off a very mature and level headed vibe. He was even more muscular, toned, and taller than Agni. I could only imagine how many girls those two were getting.

"My turn my turn!" Said the light green haired girl energetically, raising her hand. She looked around my age. "I'm Kazane Agnishika! I'm 17 years old and I carry the awesome power of wind!" She gestured with her arms. She was as energetic as Daichi, but clearly not as mature. She was way too energetic for me. Just being around people like that made me uncomfortable, not to mention she was a bit short for girls her age, though still slender.

"Last but not least..." The deep green haired girl spoke up. "I'm Hanako, Hanako Ai." She gave me a sweet smile. "I'm also 22 years old and I hold the nature element. It's a pleasure." I couldn't help but blush faintly at the sound of her soft and caring tone combined with her smile that shined as bright as the sun. She was also rather curvy herself, and she was taller than Kazane, but shorter than Jinny, her figure perfectly balanced between the two as well.

I quickly averted my eyes so she didn't think I was staring, and spoke up myself. "I-I guess I should also mention that I'm 19 years old...and I guess..." I rubbed the back of my neck, afraid to be wrong and embarrass myself. "I'm...the lightning...elemental...thing..?" I said with obvious confusion in my voice.

"Correct, I knew you'd catch on." I looked at Akari as I heard her speak and she gave me a smile. "I'm sure you're very, very confused right now, but I promise I'll explain everything to you. Just...take a seat and try to remain as calm as you can." I nodded hesitantly at her words and took an empty seat, away from the others so I could look at them all. I took a deep breath and focused on Akari. "Alright, I suppose I can begin. As you guessed, you are now an Elementia, but you're probably wondering what that means exactly, correct?"

I gave her a nod, listening closely. I could guess what it meant, but there was no way it could be what I was thinking. "This isn't some anime or fantasy book, this is real life..." That's what I had thought at the time.

"Essentially what it means is that you have control over lightning. You can pretty much do whatever you please with it; make it appear out of thin air, cover your body in it, make lightning strike the ground from the sky, and so on."

I stared at her, dumbfounded yet again. "Y-You're joking right..?" I chuckled nervously, but each and every one of them proceeded to show me that this was no joke. Akari opened up the palm of her hand and a tiny ball of light formed. Agni clenched his fist and flames encased it. Jinny simply snapped her fingers and several tiny balls of water formed around her. Daichi's chair suddenly rose up, a tiny pillar of earth rising up from underneath of it. Kazane spread her arms out and a ball of wind surrounded her as she grinned. Lastly Hanako simply pulled up her sleeve and a couple vines grew out of her skin and wrapped around her arm. I stared at them all in disbelief. "So what's happening to me isn't just simple after-effects of that storm..? W-Well, it is, but they're permanent..?"

"Eventually, you'll be able to do this too." Akari gave me a smile. "But we don't want to test it right now. If you have trouble controlling it someone could get hurt and you could destroy part of the property."

"R-Right..." In any other kind of situation I'd be ecstatic to have these abilities. It's any geek's dream to end up in this kind of situation. But it's because of this elemental crap that my entire family was supposedly dead and my home was destroyed. The thought of that made me frown.

"What's wrong?" Akari asked.

"It's nothing... It's just so bizzare... Normally I'd be going crazy, in a good way, but...I lost my family because of this power... I lost...everything..." I looked down at my lap and bit my lip, fighting back tears. "Now I'm an even bigger disappointment..."

"Yes... I understand." Akari muttered.

"We all understand your pain dude." Agni frowned.

"You understand?" I chuckled. "You...understand, huh?" In that moment, I had forgotten all the other unnatural disasters that had happened before. I just snapped. "You don't understand a thing! I lost the friends I could've had, my family, my home... How could you ever understand how that feels?!" I shouted, glaring at them all.

Suddenly, Jinny shot up, slamming her palms on the table. I looked at her, still not in my right mind. "What, you've got something to say..?" I continued to glare.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do." She fazed through the table and was in front of me in less than a second, grabbing the collar of my shirt. "You really think you're the only one here who had to suffer through that you brat?!" Her eyes were filled with rage, but I could also see a hint of sadness in her eyes, my eyes going wide. "We all lost everything you little bastard! We all lost our family and friends, as well as those most dear to us! Agni lost his little sister! Daichi lost his entire dojo as well as all of his students! Kazane lost her best friend who she was in love with! Hanako lost her father who was the only family she had left! And I..." Tears began welling up in her eyes and my heart sank. "I lost my husband!" Tears fell from her eyes. "We all killed our loved ones, so don't go feeling special you piece of-"

Akari placed her hand on Jinny's shoulder and she looked back with a tearful glare. "That's enough, I think he understands." Akari tilted her head towards me, which made Jinny look back at me. Her eyes widened a little when our eyes met once more.

I hadn't realized it, but tears were spilling from my eyes as well. I finally noticed when my cheeks got shocked. "O-Ow..!" I flinched and fell back as Jinny let go of me, quickly wiping my eyes. "I-I'm sorry... I just..." I tried to apologize, but Jinny left before I could say anything else. I felt like a total asshole. I can't believe I let my emotions get to me so badly in front of a bunch of strangers. I sighed heavily, looking down at the ground.

"Whelp, that was intense." Kazane giggled awkwardly. I rubbed my arm, sweating a bit at how tense the air was.

"Well, I guess Jinny explained the next part of my explanation pretty well. We all faced similar things that related to our elements that caused the destruction of everything we knew and loved." Akari said.

"The unnatural disasters..." I muttered.

"Hm?" She raised an eyebrow. "Unnatural disasters?"

"Yeah, that's what I called them since there was nothing 'natural' about them."

"unnatural disasters... Catchy, I like that." Hanako smiled.

"I guess that's what we'll be calling the Elementia awakenings from now on." Akari smiled, but her gaze suddenly turned serious. "The unnatural disasters could happen again wherever we are if we ever lose control of our elements. That's not even the full extent of what we could do with our powers. Worst case scenario: total element breakdown. If we ever lose ourselves completely, our element will go out of control, and not only possibly destroy us from the inside, but possibly cause enough damage to make big changes on a global scale."

"S-Seriously..?" Just the thought made me shiver.

"Would you like to be an example?" Agni said while glaring at me slightly. I'm guessing he was pissed off because of the way I spoke like Jinny was. His glare made me tremble even more, not to mention the steam coming off his body.

"I told you that was enough didn't I? Calm down Agni." Akari said sternly. Agni scoffed and he stopped steaming. I sighed with a bit of relief, though I honestly thought I deserved a punch in the face or two.

"Anyway...like I said, there are several ways to lose control of your element. One is letting your emotions get the better of you, such as intense rage, sadness, or even entering crazed state. This won't be nearly as much of a threat once you've actually gone through the training the others have. The second is...well that's pretty much the only way I know of. I know you probably didn't notice but Jinny was fazing between solid and liquid because of her intense anger."

She was right, I didn't notice that at all, but what I did notice is how she said "The others". "Something's weird. How come you haven't mentioned yourself at all? You never even gave a proper introduction, just told me your name." I questioned her.

"Now now, I was just about to get to that part." She giggled. "You're perceptive when you calm down though. You'll be a great ally to have on our side."

"A great ally on their side..? What is that supposed to mean?" I thought to myself.

"You see, as I told you before, my name is Akari Amaterasu. Although I'm well over a century old now and I'm the Light Elementia."

I stared at her, confused. "I could've sworn you just said over a century, but you don't look a day over-"

"19, I know. I was 19 when my unnatural disaster happened, over one hundred years ago." She said, cutting me off.

"Huh?!" I was so shocked I couldn't help but yell. A few of the others started giggling and snickering, even Agni chuckled quietly. I could feel the heat from my cheeks as they reddened from my embarrassment, a couple sparks zapping off of them as well.

Akari giggled. "It's alright, everyone reacted the same way. The truth is, I've been at war with darkness ever since then. Literally."

I looked up at her slowly. "What do you mean by that..?"

Akari frowned, her gaze serious. "We're at war with other Elementia. They call themselves the Dark Elementia, their leader, Atiyama Cerne, being the Darkness Elementia himself, and my century long enemy. We're evenly matched in power, skill, and elemental energy. So, no matter how much we fought, it always ended in a draw. After about a century of this, the first other Elementia appeared."

"So you're saying...we're at war...and what exactly is at stake in this war..?" I asked.

Akari released her element a bit, trying to keep me calm. "Until either I or Atiyama die, the war won't end."

As she said that, the image of a dark figure flashed through my mind, a young man no older than me. I held my head and groaned a bit, also seeing a figure beside him. The young man had black hair, darker than any black I'd ever seen, and his eyes were darker and more dead than anything I'd ever seen before. His skin was as pale as a corpse's, yet he had the body of an athlete, just like me, and he was just as tall. Just looking at him sent chills throughout my whole body. The only thing I noticed about the person standing beside him was their eyes, a minty green color and constantly glowing. I couldn't guess what their element was, but I knew that the one I could see was Atiyama, the Darkness Elementia Akari spoke of.

I fell to my knees and clenched my head in pain. Akari quickly rushed to my side and pressed her palm against my forehead, warding off the dark vision with her light. I looked up at her and saw the worried expression on her face. My entire face turned beat red however, sparking and steaming and I quickly fell back. Her face was so close that a little push would've made our lips touch. A few of the other Elementia were laughing and Akari, though stunned for a second, also giggled softly. "Sorry about that. You're certainly jumpy, but that's expected considering you're the Lightning Elementia."

"That's elementist..." I said in response, which got a laugh out of Kazane, the others laughing a bit as well.

"I guess you're right about that." She smiled sweetly. Her smile could kill demons I swear. "At least you're calm. Please do not worry, I'll do everything in my power to make sure none of you die, even if I have to give up my life. Although he won't attack here for a while, considering he must also have a new member to train."

I wondered if that other guy I saw in that weird image was the new member she was talking about. I had a bad feeling about whoever that person may be. "So...I'm going to have to go through this training as well..?"

"Of course. If they were to attack then we'd be at a disadvantage with you unable to control your element." Akari answered.

"Are you going to train me?"

"No, I just don't have the time. I need to be ready for attacks at all times because I am the only one who can fight Atiyama. Only light can hurt darkness and vice versa." She sighed.

"Then who will be training me..?" I mumbled, anxiety welling up inside me.

"Well normally I'd have our newest member do it, but..."

"No, I'll still do it." I heard Jinny's voice from the hall and looked over, seeing her leaning on the wall. "I'll teach him everything he needs to know, as well as some manners. I'll knock every little bit into him..." She then punched her palm. I felt my very bones shake from how terrified I was.

"Oh dear..." Akari giggled nervously.

"She's gonna kill him..." Agni muttered.

"Good luck new guy!" Kazane shouted happily.

Their comments only made me tremble more at the thought of what she would do to me, making Jinny smirk. "Training starts after breakfast, sparky." She walked over to me and flicked my forehead.