The Awakened

"Alright, Shu. It's about time for our weekly sparring sessions, no?" Yuki said passively as they were walking away from the entrance of the alley.

Ever since Shu and Yuki were little, they would have weekly spars to help them grow stronger. They both knew that they wanted to be part of the Corps from a young age, and decided that they would do that to constantly improve. 

"Yes. I think so. But this time, no holding back from either of us."

"Deal. I'll race you to the training grounds."

They took off toward the training grounds. It was close, but Yuki just barely won the race. When they caught their breath, they took their stances and started fighting.

Aiko stands up from her desk abruptly, startling Ryu slightly. "I'll be right back," she tells him as she leaves the room.

She pulls out a piece of paper and a pen and writes a simple message, telling Yuki and Shu to meet her and Ryu in her office as soon as possible. She walks quickly down the halls to the aviary. Aiko makes her way in and gives Yuki's crow the message. It's wings flap powerfully as it flies away, disturbing the slight buildup of dirt on the windowsill caused by the earth manipulators' training below. She watches for a moment as the crow flies around, looking for Yuki. Aiko then strolls back to her office, where Ryu was waiting.

"We are going to have to teach them about being awakened," Aiko says to Ryu.

"Do you want me to explain it, or you?"

"I'll let you do it since you're their mentor." 

Shu and Yuki walk in the door to see Aiko sitting at her desk, and Ryu standing off to the side of the room.

"Okay, you two," Ryu says to them. "Time for a lesson. Awakening refers to a phenomenon that causes one to become stronger. The Awakened can use the elements to enhance their attacks even further, or simply use it as a tool. You saw Aiko using her light abilities to simply make an orb of light to make us able to see in the corridor. Yuki also managed to use some sort of ability, which was kind of like a much smaller scale awakening. I'll come back to that later. When one uses their abilities, their eyes will gain color and likely glow. If one is powerful enough, their eyes will keep their color even if their abilities are inactive, but not glow, like how Aiko's eyes are always blue. Yuki, your eyes appear to glow blue as well. My eyes glow green as you'll see some time in the near future when I train you. Yuki, I'm sure that you have a fire ability since you could create a small flame before your awakening, so you can receive direct training in that aspect from me. As for Shu, I am not sure if I can train you in the use of abilities because you haven't awakened yet." Ryu looks slightly regretful at having to say that last sentence.

"Hey, uhh. About that. During our sparring session just before we received the summon, something kinda happened." Shu recalls hesitantly.

"When I went to punch him during the sparring session, my hand kind of caught fire. And by caught fire, I mean there was a huge blaze of it." Yuki looks uncomfortable just thinking of it.

"Don't worry though! Everybody's fine! My robes probably wouldn't be if I hadn't specifically made sure to get ones that wouldn't catch on fire. Anyway, I kinda made a massive wall of water somehow, which put out the fire. I'm assuming that probably means I have an affinity to water. It's kinda funny, actually. Water is a pretty big cause of suffocation, or not being able to breathe, which is one of my biggest "fears." Fear is a bit of an arbitrary word for it, but it's the only way I can explain it." Shu looked like he was strongly pondering what other term could best describe it.

"One, no. I will not be able to train you well apparently. My affinities are fire, air, and lightning. I might be able to teach you how to use fire and air and see if you can utilize that to become more proficient in water, so we'll do that for now, and if we find somebody who can use water, then you can train with that person. Two, good job. You've figured out in a matter of minutes what it took researchers hundreds of years to figure out. From what we've seen, our affinities come from either our fears, or from something related to them, such as a counter. Yuki hates darkness, and she can use fire, which can be used to light up the dark. You have water, which as you said, is very closely tied to your fear. I have fire, air, and lightning. This one is kinda complex, yet really straightforward. I am, or at least was, "scared" of thunderstorms. As Shu said, it's not quite fear. I would describe it more as being unnerved than being fearful. On the other hand, I am terrifies of heights, which I assume is the main reason I can use air. Three, your training starts now. We can't have any more major accidents happen now, can we?"

Aiko cuts in after Ryu finishes talking. "I, uhh… I can help you, Shu. I'm also able to use water. I'm not all that good at it, but I know the basics. I awakened water only a few months ago, but I should at least be able to give you some help. Will you have me as your teacher?"

"Of course," Shu accepts without hesitation. "Anything helps. Plus, once I get caught up to you, we can start learning together. Plus, you being inexperienced at using water will make it so you don't have to hold back when we do practice sparring. It'll be great. Well. What are we waiting for? Let's go!"