Chapter 6 - Lizbeth

It has been weeks since the callings, and we are in basic courses learning our new strengths and the power blessed onto us by the elements. We have sat through classes and trained in the fields. We don't have many more interactions than that. The instructors in charge of us say that we are still a little unstable to be let run free with emotions. Emotions can increase the potency and connection of the elements; the spirits are just as their forms show them wild animals that are domesticated toward the bound; so we them hold dear. The meals while delicious are served to us in our quarters. I miss conversations with my family and my friend Rowan, I wonder if they remember me. I still haven't seen my mom or my uncle, and when I ask the instructors about the two of them, they all have the same face, the fear I have when I think about being late to training with him.

Artemis is a puzzle to me, he is such a ham, he likes belly rubs and loves bending the earth on runs, at the same time the power he imbues me with pushes well beyond what I ask for from time to time. The instructors say I just have a potent bond with him and that the spirit likes to show off a bit too much. All in all, I am just ready for some freedom, I am getting a little couped up here in this room, and the only things I can really talk to is the spirit on my lap as I write this, and this book.

I have so many questions and they don't all have answers for me. I should start getting ready for training today, it's going to be a rough one combat basics.

Petals 22

With my completing my writing for the day I place my book to the side, "Thank you dear friend for letting me vent my problems today." I touch the leather cover and smile. Maybe I am going crazy I haven't had more than a little human interaction other than the few words shared in secret during trainings and the questions to my instructors. "Maybe soon we will be able to walk around this maze of a building, and be people once again," I hear myself think aloud, my voice full of a little too much sarcasm. Clothing hanging in the corner, mock me as a close the distance to them. The classroom robes all a deep grey green, would look absolutely wonderful in the garbage pile, because during those days all we do is sit in classes and learn about what the elements, all of them, are capable of and learn the laws until we can repeat them verbatim in our sleep backwards and blindfolded upside down while being eaten by sharks one hair at a time.

"First law – Never lie to an element. Number 2 – Never maliciously take a life with or without the aid of an element. Number three – do all that you can, to protect those without power to protect themselves, " I cut myself off as I reach the rack of clothes, and grab the brown rags that are my original training clothes, and set them down to reach over to the pale outfit that came in three parts, one a blouse free of anything but a small embroidered spot over the heart square, the symbol of earth, the fabric heavy, much too heavy to be filled with anything but steel but flexible as silk. A small undershirt made of a light smooth material, maybe cotton, so the rougher blouse doesn't rub at the skin. Finally, the pants which are made of the same material of the blouse. I slide the pants over my legs and the soft lined inside of the pants, the same material that the undershirt was made of tickles my skin.

Most of the time I wear just my undergarments or a robe while in my room. No one is looking in the room ten floors above the earth and whose curtains obscure the outside world from my vision. That is until a soft breeze finds its way into my room, and the light of day or the softness of night finds itself into my room. I slide the undershirt onto my body and a smile touches my lips, "Combat training . . . hmm I wonder what we will be doing." My voice trailed by a small chuckle which sets Artemis into chirping and skittering across the floor to my feet. His little eyes a deep viridian, like the glow from his coat when I am channeling his power. "Thanks buddy you are just so cute sometimes," I say to him, his approval filling my mind in flashes of smiles.

The elements don't commune with us except in our dreams sometimes, I was expecting to hear the voice that is Artemis. With the voice from the calling absent, we get flashes of images in our mind, that display their thoughts, sights, we smell what they can when they want us to, and taste what they can as well. More importantly, pain is shared through the connection; that is automatic, and the instructors show us the connection in our first lesson. The small needle pricks the elementals paws, feet, talons, or hooves and a light fire beneath our feet. They said the needle is formed of pure elemental energy, and the elements are the only thing that can truly hurt the other elementals. Which brings me to law four: Never attack an elemental unless there is no other way.

I slide the heavy shirt over my back and arms, its weight has slowly become a small comfort to me and use the small rope and button on front to secure it.

Law five and this is the last one Respect life and the Elements.

I look around my room. The gray blue marble walls surround me, the floor a polished white marble and a green rug in the center of the room, and a black square embroidered into the material. The bed is simple with a wooden frame and white sheets and more comfortable than it has any right to be. It's like laying on a cloud. A desk with a small writing chair sits in the far corner a few feet from the large window, which is always open, but no rain seems to make it in. Overall, the room is much to look at with no decorations other than the rug, desk, and my journal. I tie my hair back with a small piece of black ribbon Rowan gave to me before we departed the Transitor.

"Come on, Arti," I call down to the hare sitting on the stone floor yawning, he jumped up and darted to the door. I felt myself walking down the hallway before I started paying attention to everything around me, I had been walking this hallway the past few weeks, and now without thought, my body just takes me to where I need to be when I need to be there. Thoughts of the tree by my old house and just listening to the ocean crash against the cliff my house was on filled me with a longing to go home.

Before I knew it, I stood in front of the doors that lead to the large arena, not the arena where the seeking occurs but floors and floors above. We were underground that night, so far below the surface. I remember the walk up the stairs to where my new room sits in my calves weeks later. How many stairs did it actually take to make it up to the tenth floor? Now to make it to the arena, I walk down a hallway two flights of stairs, which strangely I never see anyone walking around anymore. Most of them just use their elements to pass around the building much more quickly. I guess they just didn't care about having no one to talk to and interact as much as I did, besides the walk and freedom from my room felt nice.

I push the heavy doors open and it leads to a terrace that overlooks the arena. The terrace was full of the Seamstresses from the choosing, all wearing the same attire I have on. Sheila, a dwarf I had met on the Transitor, stood around several other dwarves all looking down to the training field loud crashing sounds filled the air and I rushed over to the group to see someone flipping around the battlefield.

Graceful is an understatement, the three seamstresses launching massive stones at the figure, fully clad in gear that hid all features to possibly identify them. The black flowing cloak making the movements and twists over and around the stones coming at them feel like the person was more water than solid. The earth shifted below their feet and launched them into more twists and spins every time their feet hit the ground. The movement's felt familiar, and I knew several of the steps in the footwork. It was actual combat the figure was dodging while the seamstresses launched larger and larger boulders at them.

With the blink of an eye, the figure took the offensive, a wooden training scimitar appeared in their hand and the earth erupted from below their feet pushing them in a direct path instantly to the closest seamstress. Stones did not follow the path of the figure, their movements were just too quick to catch, the figure had closed the gap of about forty feet in less than a second and slashed the first across the stomach.

I blinked and the second fell from the gasp of the crowd around me I could tell. When my eyes opened the furthest from the starting point was back pedaling from the figure, they had shifted their focus to tracking them down. Stones erupted from around the third seamstress attacking, and he pulled them to his body forming solid stone armor. The figure not missing a step rushed him slashing down on the stone with their free hand like raking claws. The armor and the stones turned to sand revealing the man's robe and chest beneath.

Before he could register what had happened and with an absolutely minimal effort, the figure slammed the tip of the scimitar into his chest and the crusted stone helm with a reverse strike to his head. The man, for all his effort, attempted to maintain his footing, but the figure pressed him with their free hand once more, not like an attack, but simply pushed him over. With that the combat that had lasted no longer than 2 minutes was over.

The figure left the arena and several instructors in their black robes came to the field and picked up each student, smiles on the instructors' faces showed me that they had set the students up for the beating they received intentionally. "Was she of air or earth I couldn't tell, her movements were to fluid," I heard someone say. The words snapping me out of my dead-set concentration, could that have been my mom. The movements were all too familiar, but I had never seen her work the earth like that. Another point is that she hadn't come see me if it was her, and how would she have known, we weren't allowed to reach out to our families nor they us during the time of the calling to today. Anyways I need to focus on what is coming today, there is no telling what will come of it if I don't focus. Basic combat training starts.

Our instructor, a tall man, his hair well-kept and swept off to one side, and his eyes sharp and solid as the blue gray stone of the building. He glanced over us as he entered the terrace from the door I had entered from. His elemental followed behind him. (It is so cute, and no we are not allowed to pet it). I had never seen a beast quite like it before, he called it a pangolin; it looked like a dragon with hard stone scales covering its entire body and a long slender face, a deep green, gray color showed itself from under its scales. He spoke to the group his voice loud enough to grab everyone's attention, "Did everyone enjoy the spectacle this is one of the advance class' groups just tried to do. The instructors in that class believe in tough love, and you will get to meet them in a few months at least." The class of people just cheered and then went silent, the realization that we would have to face the monster that was the figure in the black gear set in over us.

"Well, that is the advance combat's class. There are other classes you students will have to go through, however those students got a little cocky with the instructor and challenged her to a trial by combat. She tried to tell them they weren't ready, and now you see why we stress the importance of patience," He continued walking forward and a smile found its way onto his face, "Well who's ready to step into the ring? they should be cleared out by now." I cheered with everyone, finally something to get rid of some of this stress. My instructor stepped up to the edge of the terrace and simply jumped off a small piece of stone formed under his feet and gently floated him down to the arena.

We followed suit, which was one of the first things we learned. All of us ecstatically leaped from the edge and formed small plates of earth beneath our feet. The elementals standing alongside us, feeling our will and imagination, create the stones that gently gliding to the ground.

Pulling the power from the earth that form the elementals is different, the power can shape anything we want it to do, well within limit. There is mental feedback when moving too much energy with one or the other, but together earth and the spirits we are only limited by what our mind can handle. My mom several times showing me my sword techniques, had mentioned someone of the earth can almost see the changes of the earth around her, things as simple as a squirrel dropping an acorn from a tree to the movements of armies, and that we have to refine our minds to take in the information as we as using it to shape the earth around us. So quite often during my training at home, my uncle would blindfold me and move earth and have me point to where the stone was raised or set.

The elementals can also create the element required from seemingly nothing, it does tax them; however, they have a source of never-ending power if they choose to. Artemis likes to show off during trainings. His power never seems to run out, and several times when the instructors tried to show us mental feedback from the elementals, I never hit the point where I needed to slowdown the movement of the earth. When pulling power from solely of the earth without using my bond with Artemis more than just the bridge to it, I was hit with a wall of power and when pushing past it I found that the earth makes Artemis seem insignificant in comparison.

My stone platform met the ground with a crunch so severe I thought about checking to see if there was anyone under it, but there wasn't any screaming. I need to focus more when I am shaping the earth. I followed the group of people and filled in the gap of the circle around the instructor, waiting for our lesson to start. He looked around at us, there was 160 of us chosen by earth, me being the last one of us to be chosen, I was actually the last person chosen at all. The final numbers for the night we were told are as follows: 160 of earth, 160 of water, 150 of air, and 75 of fire, that is out of the 2500 people that showed up to the calling, 545 chosen, from what I remember more than half fled after the first death, that still makes it nearly 700 people who had died that night, I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if the amount of people I had heard came the year before, nearly 10,000.

The instructor spoke clearly, "Today we will be learning the basics of combat with the element. Some people will be better suited for different forms of combat, and we understand that, for some moving a mountain is easier than a pebble, and for others shaping the earth. Today we are going to find which of you will be suited for each task." With his final words the ground around all of us split into groups, foot deep trenches separated the circle into five groups, he continued," Now everyone in each group I have made turn and there will be a combat instructor, they will go over the basics with each group."

As I turn to instructor in charge of my group, I notice that his spirit isn't with, and a smile rested on his face. He is cute in that boyish kind of way with ashy blond hair and freckles across his face, but his eyes were the real oddity. They were completely black, and I don't mean just the area around his pupil, the entirety of his eyes are black. I could sense his vision shifting over all of us, but there was no sign of change in the black pits. As he spoke the earth beneath my feet trembled at the shear will he was emitting, "Today you will be learning one of five basics to combat, and I will be teaching the control of the earth without the element's assistance. You are all of the earth, chosen to command it, you should all be able to use you connection solely."

He began shifting his weight onto his right leg, and it looked as if the earth was glued to his foot and he pressed it back to the earth; the subsequent rumble and groan of the earth pushed into us all, but no one dared fall. I began to take notice as people drew in their breath and began picturing what they wanted the earth to do around them. I did the same, the picture in my head began to form, a spike about 2 feet long in front of me pointed outward, I had seen my uncle do the same with pillars and had always wondered what he had to do to make it happen.

The image flared to life in my mind, and a wall of spikes surrounding me erupted from the earth, the feedback making me go a little blurry, and just the amount of power from the feedback I felt caused me to sway suddenly. The earth's power, the strength of the spirit of the planet filled me, and I had to catch my breath or risk falling, the spikes grew to about three feet around me, as instantaneous as a blink of an eye.

I had only meant to make one spike, but all is the same. The elements can be a little fickle when you aren't perfect in your thoughts. I looked around at the people in my group and notice that my spikes were a bit too close for the people to my sides, there was about 4 feet between every person, and I am just glad I didn't take a life accidentally. We have been here doing this a few weeks and the earth won't choose to harm one of us, but accidents happen a few people have already been sent to the infirmary.

A burst of laughter erupted into the air, and I realized that Sheila was the closest person to my right. "Well way to try to take out the competition," she said a smile bursting onto her face, "But all's well that ends well." I found myself smiling a bit and looking at the line of people in my group most people had smaller creations and a few elaborate pillars in front of them pulling from the earth itself, and the effort it takes to do simple things is hard.

Sheila bows her head to me, and I return the gesture with a smile. She begins to mumble something under her breath and a fortress, I am not kidding, a castle's walls part us. I look to the top of the narrow tower and see her laughing hysterically, "that was a bit larger than I had hoped for."

"A bit of a showoff, a ten-foot-tall castle," I find myself calling back to her. Then, stars erupting from my vision, and the sound of an explosion the size of the arena filled my ears. The earth begins to rush toward the stars and my face, and I hear the sounds of maybe birds, or is it people around me. The stars begin to fill the night sky that is my vision, and I hear the crunching sounds of feet dash towards me. Then nothing.