Chapter 18 - Lizbeth

We have been called for an assembly, needless to say, everyone is on edge day after day all in all between all classes of the advanced placement course we only have about forty of us left. But enough about that, my combat ability dwarfs that of what it was when I came here, and so has everyone else. My Mom and Uncle have quite literally pounded lessons into me and left me battered and bruised. Rowan trained with me the other day and overall, she says I am a monster befitting my nickname.

Oh, speaking of Rowan, I have gone with them on a few dates, and we mostly go to Bits and Bots, because it's in our price range and the food there is actually to die for. Apparently, Papa Chops the guy who runs it, tells us to call him that because his name is too complicated for most people, and his facial hair solves that problem; well, he is from Mangora. That's primarily what he cooks there are Mangoran dishes, they are full of spices and flavors I have never even thought existed, and he serves the best drinks to pair with his meals. Rowan says we are getting spoiled on the food, and I do have to agree with them, the time we have been spending together is amazing but we both have to focus on things for training more than enough for anyone. But now it's off to the meeting.

Leaves 15

The tension is vibrating through the air around everyone, as we all walk through the garden that leads to the Arena where our time was spent the first couple of seasons here. Rowan's fingers lock with mine and I find myself struggling not to breathe. Speaking of friends, Gronaan and Sheila are here walking with us, as well as Aven. They all look like their training has been exhausting the couple of times I have seen them strolling through the halls of the tower back to my room.

Our feet as the group of forty are almost in sync crunching down the stone trail to the base of the arena. The breaths of everyone are silent listening only to the crunching of stone and leaves on the ground as we proceed. At the head of the group, I see Elaxan his normally cavalier attitude muted, his movements sharp as the warrior he has become. I hope I don't have to fight him again; my back still hurts from the last time we fought. His whips of water are fine now and could rip the bark from a tree without thinking.

All of us continue our stroll in peace and quiet until a call through the air fills my ears, and everyone else too because we froze in unison. "Welcome back to where it began and where it will end for you all," The voice is light and playful in the air, I have gotten used to the telepathic almost messages sent through the air by the bound. It continues, "Please move with a little more purpose, we know you haven't been summoned in mass like this since beginning your days of training in the halls of the arena." Our robes a patchwork or tattered and torn messes, we have been put through a trial of fire for lack of better terms. So. It makes sense.

Our feet all in unison break into a walk and before I knew it Rowan was dragging me through the garden, their hair is now cropped short, and their silver eyes were filled with red flakes and absolute joy. "Come on slow poke," they say to me over their shoulder.

Rowan

I start pulling Liz by the hand, our fingers interlocked I call back to her over my shoulder, "Come on slowpoke!" The fire that lights up in Liz's golden eyes starts to carry me away to the edge of glee, and my feet begin to press down harder as the group of us break into a sprint neck and neck, not to be outdone I press flames to my heals and launch the two of us into the air; Machina and Artemis chasing close behind us in my vision. The chosen air takes to the sky with us, and we all reach the arena pretty much in sync. Lizbeth's laugh fills my ears and mind as we land, her voice follows the trail of laughter, "You got a little bit competitive now, didn't you?" My face alight with a blush from her joke, I reply, "Well you would have done it too if I gave you a chance, but your earth dashing probably would have ripped my arm off." As I finish my sentence, I stick my tongue out at her in a flirty and joking gesture.

"Hey, that's just mean, and I would have had Aven fix it," Liz comes back again, her wink to me making me giggle from my chest. This has been a wonderful adventure, with a wonderful girl so far, I wonder how many more things will happen. Aven strolls up behind Liz and says, "You two are going to be the death of me, and no I am not putting your arm back on if Liz rips it off, you probably deserved it." The three of us break out into an uproar and continue walking into the tunnel that leads to the field of the arena. Normally, a wall of stone separates the tunnel from the world, but on special occasions, they open it up for people to have a direct line and not have to climb a million steps or fly through the arena itself.

As we enter the tunnel an uproar of people fills the tunnel with cheers and laughter, all of us did not jump out of our skin. The people standing in the tunnel, stood cheering and applauding us as we pass under the marble archway. Once my eyes were able to adjust, they were all in instructors' robes, but the face was too familiar, they were with us when we were chosen. This is our peers, our classmates, and the people who helped us get to where we are today. My movement is halted by my arm not being able to move. I try to pull forward and continue my walk through the tunnel, but a vice grip has my hand, Liz's hand. I see her eyes harden and the rest of the group behind us stop, causing beautiful chaos amongst the rest of the advanced class.

She bowed at the hips, a smile forced onto her face, "Thank you for this," her voice strong and freezing the applause amidst the tunnel. The advanced class begins to follow suit, and I find myself following the role we were set forth by Lizbeth. "Thank you for this, and everything I call out in the calamite of sound and appreciation. A bone-chilling noise followed ours, all of the elementals, some 400 in the tunnel in sync let out an explosion of sound, greeting and thanking one another, as their bound did before them. I look to Aven and see his face growing harder than I had seen it before, he stood, and in the cacophony of noise, he smiled and dashed for the field.

Aven

Blasts of sound drown out the wind in my ears as I push forward into the arena. The afternoon sun was high in the sky blinding me for a few seconds as my eyes adjusted. Blurs of movement and forms shoot by me, and the calls of the elements and the bound from within the tunnel stop as the last form pass me. On the field blood-stained sand and tables covered in elaborate cloth bundles clashed, the instructors stood around as they met us. The outfits they wore hid any and all traits from the people viewing them, all except their height and a rough estimate of weight.

The group of fresh full of excitement turned into a blast of nervous expressions and failed body language. The instructors, I wish they would have given us their names, I heard from Liz her mom and uncle are two earth trainers but still no names, just those titles. These people have helped me form a bond with water so great I cannot imagine a happier bond to have. A bond of a boy from the desert, there lost in a small world not understanding the scope of his journey, now to a bound of water, someone surrounded by the ever-precious element, more than he has ever seen in one place at any point of his life. I look down at Vado and pulling my bound to me mentally, I say to him, "Thank you. "

His appreciation of the gesture always comes in pretty much one way, Pictures of water pouring over curves and subtle lines, the forms standing out to me as people, all of them bathing and immersing themselves in water completely nude. At least the little pervert doesn't have that effect on me more often, my blush fills my cheeks and I send him a death glare but cannot keep up the façade it's gotten funny now, more so than infuriating. I also get why he is showing me it; it makes him happy to see people covering themselves in water to cleanse and be surrounded by water.

My focus on Vado is broken as the voice that had called to us outside the arena continued, "Welcome to the place it all started for you, and we are pleased to say it will soon come to an end for you all as well." The tension building in the crowd grew rapidly, as I felt beads of sweat forming on my face. The air is cool, that just doesn't make any sense. Looking around the group I spot Lizbeth and Rowan standing shoulder to shoulder, not too far off to their right side Gronaan with not a care in the world holds hands with Sheila the look on his face makes my stress ease a bit. "If that idiot isn't worried about what is happening why should I."

Gronaan

Life is great, I have a beautiful girl at my side, and can't wait to spend more time with her. We have been walking around everywhere together, and even flew her with me a couple of quick times. We went to a little pub Rowan recommended and enjoyed some amazing food with one another. The mead they had was surprisingly good, but both of us agreed on nothing like the stuff back home. We enjoyed our night out last night and learned that the pub was originally named Bites and Bottles, I like that name better, it's a bit more direct. Sheila's hand began crushing mine, the fear on her face evident as I realize we arrived, and I may have missed something.

A message on the wind spoke, "No words can express my joy as I announce the results and graduates amongst these cycle advanced students. The forty of you have proven their capability of each specialty, congratulations all of you" A cheer erupted from every throat around me, Sheila's included, they must have held some sort of ceremony. And the crushing feeling in my hand vanished and moved to my neck, as her powerful airs gripped around my chest crushing me. A smile couldn't be kept on my face, her arms felt nice. "Wait we graduated?!"

Sheila steps back from me tears brimming in her eyes and a puzzled look on her face, "Wait you weren't paying attention to what was being said?" I feel my face light up with her question, "Umm."

"You were daydreaming about something again weren't you," she said a look of absolute horror spreading across her face. I turn to look to the sky above the arena, Maybe I can just ignore my way out of this. The voice of the wind relays another message to us, and my eyes shoot to the instructors, "Now come grab your specialist robes, they are yours after all." The instructor's robes shifted from the tight black garments to flowing robes of incredible make, Colors of individual elements blazing around the sleeves. crimson for fire, white for sky blue for air, deep blue the color of the ocean for water, and viridian for the earth.

The robe's hoods are drawn back revealing a wide array of races, and complexions. One face stood out to me from the group, The woman who showed up behind us the day Rowan and I snuck to the roof, seeing earth and water's training for the first time. Sheila saw me gawking at the woman but came to the same conclusion I had with Rowan. Our eyes in sync with one another poured over to Liz and back to the gorgeous woman on the field. Sheila's eyes trained on me, and I could feel the gaze burning its way into the side of my face. "Is that Liz's, her . . ." Sheila's voice trailed off to barely a whisper.

"Aye, her mom, Lizbeth told me that her mom and uncle are here to train her, and all of the advanced class. She told me they used to pull their punches, but the training was equally as frustrating as it is here, and a lot rougher," I reply to the curious girl at my side, and continue, "the demon with emerald eyes, that's her uncle, from her dad's side I'm guessing. Her eyes didn't change a smidge of color after the choosing so she must be half-demon too." Sheila chuckles a bit as she starts to drab me with the group moving for the robes at the table. Demons aren't too common here in Valorous but are everywhere in Fillidesh if I remember correctly from what I was taught as a boy.

Demons aren't bad people, nor are they monsters, well Liz and her family must be the exception. I'm just kidding, they are called demons, because from the moment they draw their first breath magic binds itself to them, if they are meant to have it. It changes the color of their eyes, and it is permanent, there isn't a way to change the magical fate of a demon, and afterlife their souls are said to be returned in the form of magic, never to be reborn as a mortal body, only the elements.

A twinge of pain and sorrow forms in my brow for Liz, this was her fate for the world, and nothing could have changed a moment of it for her, and I don't even know if she knows. I figure she will find out in due time if the girl hasn't put two and two together yet. As the group around me reaches out to accept the robes from the table, I notice they must be some form of magical gear, there aren't any names on them and all of the bundles look about the same as they lay on the tables, the silver and grey embroidered sleeves free of all colors like the instructor's robes.

My hands shoot out uncontrollably like a miner to a gem in front of his eyes, The embroidery dance off my robes and clasp around my wrists, in an instant the robes on my body were destroyed and replaced with the fine garbs that were before me, and everyone around must have come to the same conclusion as shocked gasps and squeals erupt from the line. The bland look on all of the instructors burst into laughter and I hear one of the instructors of air say, "That joke never gets old!" Well, at least I was wearing undergarments.

Liz's mom of all people stepped to the front of the group of cackling instructors, wiping her tears of laughter from her eyes. "Now, enjoy your ever-changing cloth, it will appear as you want it when you want it, just add a little magic to the sleeve, and it will shift. They are quite expensive so please take diligent care of them. I have one following announcement," she says leaving a short pause for everyone to shift their attention to her, "The course may have ended but you are still to train and not get rusty, we will still be at your disposal for assistance in the training." With the completion of her sentence, the sky above filled with the crackles and booms of thunder of an incumbent storm filling the sky, but the sky remained clear as it had been for a ten-day, and a beam of lightning filled the air and froze. The stray beams stopped inches from everything around us. The power harnessed at the moment was enough to send a chill through my spine. A man along with a beast almost as he was stepped from the portal of lightning, his fall to the ground graceful beams of energy lancing off of him in every direction. The initial beam of lightning breaks free and the crack of noise and light as his feet hit the ground caused me to duck behind the tables that had held out new gear.

Standing I took the measure of the man, he is tall about 6 feet tall, and holds himself with grace, his hair pulled back in a loosely fit bun, and a scar runs across his face from cheek-to-cheek pink and smooth; the scar is old. He wore nothing more than a loose tunic of blood red and the robes we currently donned tied around his waist by its arms and rolled up to not touch the ground. The man's bound is something I have seen once before the night of the choosing, a grey-blue Lion, veins of power running along its body, the brilliant blue of lightning pulsing back through it. This man is the Viceroy, the one called The Tempest, the strongest bond in the nation, and by far of any nation, Vincent Mercer.

"Thanks for having me," he said nonchalantly to the instructors behind him. A few of them bowed out of formality, but the more experienced of the group and the more familiar rolled their eyes, wow. He turns back to us, the colors in my vision from the scene that had just unfolded in front of me beginning to fade. The viceroy spoke to us as if we were his friends, or even yet family, "Now this cycle I have a surprise for you, you shall all participate in the Tournament of Times, I don't know why the old people before me called it that but I am sure they had good reason to name it that way, and I am sure you will hear all about it as you build-up to the event, good luck and have fun before then." With his final words, another bolt carried him away in the blink of an eye. I heard Liz speak as the crowd of us was left speechless, "Why does Vince keep popping in and who the hell is he, how did he ride the lightning?" She just, no, no, I am sure I didn't her just call the viceroy Vince like she has known him her whole life. "Lizbeth," I say to her, her eyes shift over to me, as everyone who heard her stared at her in disbelief, "How in the hell do you not know who the Viceroy of the Council is!"