Elemental Energy

PART 1: SETTLING IN

Raymond and Katie were in a beach house built by Master Owens and Master Wyngaf years ago. It was in a really good location and was nicely built and maintained.

Master Wyngaf had just informed them about his powers. Since this was the first time Raymond and Katie had seen powers different from the natural Elements, they needed to be explained that some people had different powers than normal. Such people were known as "Unique Elements". They were very rare, only 2% of all the population had that.

"It's so cool," Katie said. "Master Wyngaf, can you tell me what I am thinking about?"

"Why are you thinking about a 15 feet tall strawberry cake?" asked Master Wyngaf in confusion.

"Wow! That's perfect," said Katie.

"Really?" said Raymond. "I could have done that without any powers. Once he lives with us for a few hours, he will not need his powers to tell this."

"I'll warn you about this one," said Master Owens, placing his hand on Katie's head, "She takes an unimaginable amount of cake in her diet. Try to make her control it."

"Surely, Drake," said Master Wyngaf with a smile.

Raymond's face developed a question mark. He went ahead and asked,

"Wait. You're not going to stay here, Master Owens?"

"No, Raymond," said Master Owens. "Sadly, I have other work to attend to. I will come to train you every day though."

"However," said Master Wyngaf. "I'll be here so you have nothing to worry about."

"So —" Master Owens said, stepping back, "I'll leave now. Goodbye, Raymond, Katie."

"Goodbye!" said Raymond.

"See you soon! Bring me cakes!" said Katie.

Master Owens smiled. A wall of fire appeared, it was similar to when Raymond and Katie dived to this place with him. Master Owens disappeared from there. The room had no burn marks from that fire.

"Master Wyngaf, are there no phones on Elemental Earth?" asked Katie.

"There are," said Master Wyngaf, pointing at an old telephone in one corner of the living room, "but those are old telephones, nothing fancy like you people have. Maybe in the future, we will see those in the Capital City."

"That would be good," Katie said. Raymond nodded.

"Okay, now, let's go through some rules for living here," said Master Wyngaf. Raymond and Katie started to pay more attention.

Master Wyngaf continued, "You will not go outside without asking me. You will have to finish your daily training if you want dinner. You will help me keep this place clean. And your own rooms too."

"Acceptable," said Raymond.

"Just because you know nothing about this place, I'll teach you things, I'll also give you weekly allowances to spend judiciously. Not necessarily on cakes," said Master Wyngaf, looking at Katie who gestures shutting doors to her mind.

"You two can choose any rooms upstairs," Master Owens continued, "choose with your favourable view." Raymond and Katie were very happy regarding that. The view was really refreshing.

"Going out after 10 is totally forbidden," said Master Wyngaf, "Drinking is forbidden until you're 21. You can have friends but only during the day. You can date but you'll have to sleep in separate rooms — " Raymond and Katie stopped him immediately.

"No! It's not like that."

"We're just friends."

"I'm not talking about you two," said Master Wyngaf. "But you'll be living here longer than you have planned, so it's just a thing I informed you before time. Now, you can relax and rest for today, both of you had a very long day."

Indeed it was a very long day. Raymond found himself in hospital, he came to know about Elemental World and Elemental Powers, they went shopping where they were attacked, Master Owens saved them, they trained for hours in their Elemental Areas and then there was the dive which emptied their fuels. The day was so hot that they had one thing in mind which could help them. Raymond proceeded to ask, but Master Wyngaf pointed at his brain; and said,

"You should go and relax at the beach. But get back before the sun fully sets."

"Thanks," said Raymond. It was really good that he could read minds.

"That's the beach house life," Katie yelled with excitement.

Raymond and Katie went upstairs. There were 5 rooms. They open different rooms. Raymond selected the one with the view of the mountains. Katie chose the one with the view of the beach. They threw their bags on their beds and opened the window giving the view of beach and green lands and mountains far away.

The room was not very big but had a bed, a closet, a table, and a bathroom. They quickly stuffed their clothes into the closet and got down to the beach in their swimsuits.

They had fun swimming in the water. They dived into the water to enjoy. Racing and splashing water on each other. Soon, all their tired cells were filled with energy from the refreshment the seawater gave.

PART 2: TRAINING!

Raymond and Katie were sitting in the living room in sweatpants. Katie was still drying her hair. The sun had set, the darkness of the night was giving a new view to the sea. Master Owens was reading a newspaper. Raymond looked at a man's picture in front of him. The headlines read:

"Mr Largman hiding something from the media!"

"Who is he?" Raymond asked.

Master Owens looked at the picture towards him. "Oh. He's the President of Elemental Lands, Mr Timothy Largman."

"So it's like this even here, media after the popular people," Raymond said.

"What can we do?" said Master Wyngaf.

"There are no TVs here?" asked Katie.

"It's not like that," said Master Wyngaf, "TVs are invented and sold, but I don't have one here. I don't think I need it."

"But that's boring," said Katie.

It had been a very long day. Raymond thought he would get some nice sleep, but his nightmare woke him up. The same nightmare had bothered him last week, every night. He thought this week would be different, but it was not. He saw the same airplane going high up in the sky and burst into flames and fell down like a meteor.

He woke up. He looked through the window towards the beautiful view of the mountains in the moonlight. The view calmed him.

The next morning was great. The waves from the sea made a splashing sound when they hit the shore. Raymond and Katie finished their breakfast. After that, Katie washed the dishes and Raymond cleaned the floor with a mop. The door opened and Master Owens came in. Looking happy about his students' hard work, he sat on the couch and said,

"Good morning!"

"Good morning, Master," Raymond greeted back.

"I hope you slept well. Your training starts today," said Master Owens.

"I would love to use a few lightning bolts," Katie said with excitement.

"Not actually, Katie," Master Owens stopped her. "Your elemental training will start after you stabilize your Elemental Area. I'm talking about general training."

"What do you mean general?" asked Raymond.

They walked to the beach together. With the sun in front of their eyes, Raymond, Katie, and Master Owens stood at the shore. Raymond and Katie were in gym clothes. The wind was wild. Katie had tied her long straight hair.

"In every battle, you need to fight in two ways," Master Owens started explaining. "One is using Elemental Powers and other is using your body — means combat using skills like martial arts or using a weapon like a sword. This is because?

He paused expecting an answer from the other side. Katie made a face which clearly stated: How the heck I am supposed to know? Raymond answered,

"Because if we rely only on our Elemental Energy we will run out of it?"

"That's correct, Raymond," said Master Owens.

Katie took a hit at Raymond's arm and said, "Talk about you. I can go on for days."

"Only if you get a cake after hitting each of your opponents," said Raymond.

"You get my point," Katie said with a laugh.

"So," Master Owens snapped his fingers for attention, "your training schedule from today will consist of a 10-kilometre run, 100 push-ups, 50 pull-ups and 100 squats."

Right in front of Master Owens, Raymond's and Katie's jaw dropped. Such intense training from the start?

"What?" asked Katie, checking her ears.

"You're joking, right?" Raymond said.

"No, I am not, Raymond," said Master Owens. No smiles were coming, he was dead serious.

Katie started her drama. She massaged her ankle and said, "It's too sad. I fell from my bed yesterday while sleeping. My ankle is hurt, I'll start this schedule tomorrow. See you later, Ray."

Katie started to move back. Raymond quickly grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"You're not going anywhere, Katie," he said.

"Oh, come on, Ray, this is not the time to joke," said Katie.

"We can confirm you're lying by just asking Master Wyngaf," said Master Owens, "he will read your mind and if he says you're lying then your training will be doubled. Choose wisely."

Katie dramatically wiped the sweat off her face.

"It's too hot today. I better start and finish my training quickly," Katie started her running. Master Owens and Raymond laughed and then Raymond started as well.

Raymond and Katie ran until they were tired. Then they had to do push-ups. Raymond was struggling with them. He slowly did them and said out loud,

"67 — 68 —"

Katie was not doing the full version of push-ups. She went down and then rose up an inch to count them as one. She effortlessly counted out loud,

"95. 96. 97."

Master Owens came from behind and stood in front of her with the scariest face she had ever seen.

"Is this a pushup, Katie?" said Master Owens.

Katie paused and looked at him. She smiled weirdly and said, "I'll start again."

"Good." Master Owens walked away after that.

After finishing that, Raymond and Katie did pullups on a bar at the porch of the house. When everything was completed, Raymond and Katie were found lying like vegetables on two opposite couches in the living room.

"I don't think I can feel my legs any more," said Raymond.

"I was going to say that but I'm feeling the pain coming from them," said Katie.

The pain in every muscle of their bodies was making them stationary. Master Owens walked into the living from the kitchen. He was eating an apple.

"How are you doing?" he asked.

"If we were able to do something, we wouldn't be lying here," said Raymond.

Master Owens laughed. "That'll be the case for a few days."

"I'd be in heaven by then," said Katie.

"Jokes apart, I have something else to say," said Master Owens.

Raymond's eyes widened. He tried to get up but just shrieked in pain. Katie was hyped up, she rolled and fell on the floor.

"Please don't say that something is left out!" Raymond said.

"No. There is nothing more for now," Master Owens confirmed. "However, you must try focusing on your Elemental Area whenever you're free. With a few more days of hard work, you'll be able to take care of it."

PART 3: THE COMING THREAT

Far away from the Elemental Lands, across the sea, this nation was experiencing the peace of the sunset. The view of a town showed small houses and big ones, separated by a river in the middle. There was a huge castle in the middle of the bigger houses. Far away, mountains and valleys were seen. Almost all the land was barren, only some agricultural fields were seen.

Inside that castle, Jade was walking on a silent aisle. He seemed nearly forty, his dark blue cloak, with black flame patterns, waved as he moved. He walked to the centre of the hall and kneeled before a throne. A figure on the glowing throne was sitting calmly with a silver tiara on her head. She was the Ruler of this nation — Koyaku. She was also the youngest Ruler of this nation, she was now in her thirties. In Koyaku, she was known as Ruler Tilbeth.

"My liege, you summoned me?" said Jade.

"Rise, Jade, you don't have to do this," said Ruler Tilbeth.

Jade rose up and looked at Ruler Tilbeth.

"I have received the news about two more human beings arriving on Elemental Earth. I want you to bring them here." Ruler Tilbeth said directly.

"Is this mission official, my liege?" Jade asked.

"Yes," said Ruler Tilbeth. "Bring them here, alive. Avoid any major battles and attention if possible."

"Sure, my liege," Jade said. Jade bowed down and turned to leave.

"And listen," said Ruler Tilbeth to stop her.

"Yes?" Jade asked after turning.

"Take Rebecca with you," said Ruler Tilbeth, "This would be the perfect opportunity for her to show her training's outcome."

"My liege, she's just a kid," said Jade, making an excuse. He did not want to take his student to a mission where fights were inevitable.

"But she's old enough to join this mission," said Ruler Tilbeth.

"As you wish," said Jade as he knew he could not do anything against the statements given to him for a mission.

Jade left the hall through a gigantic door. Ruler Tilbeth smirked. It clearly seemed an evil smile.

END OF CHAPTER. TO BE CONTINUED.