Chapter Three
Jakko
The girl with the auburn hair summoned a fireball and threw it at the tree. The ground beneath the tree moved, and the fire flew past it and lit the grass on fire. The girl groaned with frustration.
The man smiled. He had thin, pale lips. A scar than ran from the corner of his mouth up the side of his face, and his messy black hair reached his shoulders.
“Aithan, here’s your chance!” he shouted. Another boy thrust his arms out, and a rock shot up from the ground and floated mid-air. He chucked it at the girl, who destroyed it with a streak of fire from her hand.
Another girl, whose black hair was pulled up into a ponytail, summoned three pillars of fire around her. The boy raised a wall of dirt in front of him, and the pillars of fire spun toward the wall. It crumbled, sending dust and stones flying everywhere.
“Excellent job, Siren,” the man said. He looked toward the tower, and a winged elemental was walking toward them. His smile disappeared.
Vale
Vale walked toward the elementals out in the field. She had never seen Elementals use their powers so nonchalantly. And out in the open!
There were two fire Elementals and an Earth Elemental. A man stood up on a hill, watching her. He approached her, holding his head high in a look of superiority.
“Vale, I presume?” he said.
“Yes,” she responded. Looking over his shoulder, she saw the others more closely. The boy was about her age and had long blonde hair. One girl had auburn hair, the other black, but they looked almost exactly alike. Sisters, she assumed.
“My name is Jakko. I train young Elementals for the rebellion,” he said. “You are my newest student. Welcome,”
Vale nodded.
“This is Aithan, an Earth elemental, and the Fire Twins, Haven and Siren, your fellow students.” Jakko said, motioning to the others. “Let us begin,” he motioned to a lone tree. “Attack the tree,” he said.
Vale held her hands out, and spun around. A big gust of air rushed past them and swirled around the tree. A whirlwind formed around the tree and lifted it out of the ground and into the sky. She released the air, and the tree, stripped of its leaves and branches, fell to the ground. Jakko’s face was unreadable.
“Whoa!” Aithan said, brushing his bangs from his eyes. “Let us train together! Let me fight her!”
“No son, she would kill you,”
“Aw come on, she couldn’t kill me. I’ve been training for over a year. She just got here.”
“Aithan, go run ten laps,” Aithan obeyed, mumbling something about how unfair Jakko was.
“Haven, Siren, go take a break. You’ve been working for a while,” they nodded, and headed toward the tower. Jakko turned to Vale.
“I’ve never seen anything like that. The power you exhibited usually takes weeks to learn. You did it in a matter of seconds.” Jakko said. Vale shrugged.
“But you still have much to learn.” Jakko said. “We shall start with something easy. Can you manipulate lightning?” Vale shook her head. She thought air was the only thing Air Elementals could control.
“Your ancestors had the ability to control all forms of weather, not just air. It seems you have inherited their ability. Come, let us try to focus that ability,” He motioned to the sky. “Create a cloud,” he said.
“What?” she’d never done anything like that.
“Create a cloud,” Jakko repeated. She nodded, unsure. She lifted her hand, and a small cloud materialized above them. She tightened her fist, struggling to hold it in place.
“I can’t hold it,” she said, letting it go. It disappeared.
“You are doing it all wrong,” Jakko said. “You must not control the Element, you have to be the Element,” Vale was not sure what he meant. “You cannot struggle to control them. Let the Elemental inside of you control you,” Vale still did not understand, but she decided to try. She closed her eyes, letting the power flow from her fingers and into the sky. The cloud formed above her.
“Now form a streak of lightning,” he said, whispering close to her ear.
“I don’t know how,” she said quietly.
“Clear your mind. Focus only on the lightning. Now let that thought flow from your mind and into the air around you.” He said. The air sizzled around them, and his hair stood on end. Lightning streaked across the sky and hit the trees, lighting them on fire.
“Now stop it,” he said. Vale tried to focus the power, but the lightning kept coming. She panicked, trying in vain to control it.
“I can’t!” she yelled. She opened her eyes, trust her hands in the air, but it started raining and the lightning was more abundant
“yes you can. Focus!” Jakko shouted above the thunder. Vale’s head started throbbing as the Elemental inside of her struggled to break free.
“Help me!” she said. Her body went limp as she faded into unconsciousness.
Jakko
He caught her as she fainted. The lightning in the sky slowly died away, but the rain did not let up. He carried her back to the tower.
