Elementals

It was June. Rosalie, Tyler, and May had been getting magic lessons from Samuel Carter every 1-2 weeks, and their power had become quite strong. May could make twisters of sizes anywhere from that of a tennis ball to an 18-wheeler truck and control their growth, strength, and direction with ease. Tyler could make strong tremors in the ground, as well as shatter or create anything from small pebbles to large boulders in the blink of an eye. Rosalie’s orbs still had a strong impact, and her force fields would take shapes of shields or large bubbles of protection, yet she was still having trouble with making them invisible, opaque, or having them move around. She also couldn’t change the direction of an orb once it had left her hand.

Today was a new day, though, and since Jane had gotten a summer job, Rosalie was walking alone to the park to meet Tyler, May, and Samuel for training. Between her house and the park was a lot of small roads with houses spread far out from one another and woods in the middle. This went on for about two miles before reaching a small gas station, then more woods, followed by the park. Rosalie was about halfway there at this point. She had just passed a house with a yard covered in trees, right next to more trees. Behind these trees was a large field that spanned on for over a miles before reaching more woods.

The Sun was beating down on Rosalie’s neck, making her uncomfortably hot. Luckily, she had sun screen, but she had forgotten to bring along a bottle of water this time. As a result, she was parched. Yet, she trudged on. As she walked, her shirt became damp with sweat. She continuously wiped her face to keep her eyes clear of it, which was beginning to seem impossible.

“Hey, kid,” called a voice from behind her. Rosalie whipped around, startled, and saw a boy holding out a bottle of water to her. She looked down at it, then back at him. He was black hair and golden eyes, looking to be around the age of a high school senior or college freshman and appearing to be about 5’10” and thin. He was wearing a black band T-shirt and maroon, ripped jeans with combat boots and a spiked cuff bracelet. “I don’t take food or drink from strangers,” Rosalie said kindly. “The plastic seal on the cap isn’t even broken. There’s no way I could have tampered with this,” he explained.

Rosalie sighed, knowing she would soon become dehydrated if she didn’t take it. “Alright,” she said reluctantly as she took the bottle of water, “Thank you.” The boy nodded. “No problem,” he smiled, “You all alone, kid?” “Stop calling me kid, and that’s none of your business.” The boy sighed. “Look, I just don’t want a little girl getting hurt,” he explained, “Do you want me to walk you?” Rosalie blushed, realizing she was being needlessly defensive. “I’m fine, but thank you,” she said kindly. “Okay, be careful,” the boy said as he waved, turning around and heading into the woods. Rosalie tried to watch the boy, but lost sight of him the minute he stepped into the trees.

Rosalie continued on, now with water, until she finally reached the park, where Tyler and Samuel were waiting on her. May was late, like usual. “Hey, what took so long?” Tyler asked, getting up from the bench he and Samuel were on and walking over to meet Rosalie. “Oh, I just got tired and a little dehydrated,” she explained. Tyler noticed the bottle half-filled with water in her hand. “Where’d that come from, if you were dehydrated?” he asked, confused. “Oh, a boy stopped me and gave it to me.”

Samuel’s head jerked up, and he stared at Rosalie with an unreadable face. “What boy? What did he look like?” he asked, showing slight signs of panic. “Oh, um, he had black hair and golden eyes,” Rosalie explained, “His face was slim and with a strong jawline. He was dressed like an emo teen and looked a few years older than me. He was tall and thin. Pretty handsome, and he just sort of showed up, gave me water, then left.” “Where did he go?” Samuel asked, his voice urgent and his eyes the most serious Rosalie had seen them. “He went into the woods. I couldn’t see him after that,” she answered.

“Hey, what’s up?” May yelled as she ran over to the park, oblivious to the intensity of the scene she had just walked in on. Samuel’s face had a look of panic. “This is much sooner than I had expected,” Samuel said, ignoring May, “Today, you all unlock your full power as Elementals. Come with me. Quickly, now.”

Samuel began walking to the trail at a quick pace. Rosalie, Tyler, and a very confused May nearly had to jog to keep up. May had to cross the pipe on her own this time, seeing as they had to hurry so they wouldn’t lose track of their instructor. She nearly fell, but didn’t. Samuel and the Elementals reached the training area at a record time, none of them getting any explanation as to why they had to hurry and what was so important, until they finally stopped for breath, along with Samuel, in their usual clearing.

“Alright, is everyone here?” Samuel asked, looking around and metally doing a head count. “Surprisingly,” Tyler replied, “What’s with the rush?” Samuel sighed, removing his glasses, and wiping the sweat off his brow before replacing them. “I know the boy you are talking about,” Samuel explained, “He goes by the name Marshall. He has a quarter angel blood and when he was a kid a demon tried to possess him. He couldn’t completely take over his mind, but came close. He still holds just a small bit of compassion towards specific people, but there’s no telling what he might do to others. He’s… He’s a part of the evil that you all will have to face.”

Rosalie froze. That boy… I’m going to have to fight him? He seemed so nice, she thought. She shivered with the surreal realization that she just came face to face with - and accepted water from - an evil that may threaten the world without even noticing it. Wait, why did he track me down? Did he know I was an Elemental? Does he now?

Rosalie’s mind began to race and she grew a bit frightened. “This is why we must proceed with phase two of your training,” Samuel continued, pulling Rosalie from her thoughts. Rosalie shook her head, clearing her mind and focusing on the training. Samuel pulled a small, purple bottle from his coat pocket. Rosalie wondered why he was wearing a coat in the summer (the same tan trench coat he always wore) but discarded the thought as something that wasn’t very important at the moment.

“Each of you, take a sip of this,” Samuel instructed, handing Tyler the bottle. Tyler opened it and sniffed it, then did as they were told and took a gulp. He didn’t show signs of it being foul tasting, and passed onto Rosalie. Rosalie took the bottle, didn’t smell it, but eyes the liquid inside. It was a violet-red color. She drank a sip of it, noticing that it tasted like herbal tea, then handed it to May.

May made a face of disgust as she took the bottle, not caring whether or not this was insulting. She made a big deal out of pinching her nose and squinting her eyes shut as she let a small amount fall into her mouth. She closed the bottle and handed it to Samuel, who rolled his eyes at the behavior, knowing it was not that bad.

“What was that for?” Tyler asked. Samuel pulled a white candle from his pocket, along with a lighter, and lit the wick. “Oh, it keeps you insides from melting,” he answered casually. “WHAT?!” Tyler yelled. Samuel placed his hand over the flame, just high enough that he would not get burnt. “Tsefinam!” he shouted. The flame turned black, then dark brown, then silver, then pink, before it flashed a blindingly bright light.

Rosalie, Tyler, and May were hit by the light like a shockwave. They squnited their eyes shut to protect them from the light. They all felt very warm from the energy radiating from the light. Within a moment, though, it was gone. The three of them slowly opened their eyes, and were stunned by what they saw.

May’s blonde hair was now a metallic gold color. Her eyes were silver and resembled smoke. Tyler’s hair had turned deep brown like dirt, and his eyes were a red-brown color like clay. Rosalie’s hair was as red as blood. Her eyes were a bubblegum pink. The three of them looked to Samuel, speechless and confused, only to see him smiling and content.

“MY HAIR!” May screeched. Samuel gave her a kind smile, then looked from to to Rosalie, and finally to Tyler, taking in their new appearances. “I can explain,” he said, trying to keep them from panicking like May, “That was a spell that lets your powers fully take to your bodies and transform them from those of humans to those of magic-weilders. Human bodies were never meant to hold magic, which prevented your powers from being as strong as they could. However, the spell can put stress on your internal organs, so I had you all drink a simple herbal potion to prevent any injury. You won’t glow anymore, seeing as that was the power surrounding you, but now it lies under your skin where it cannot be seen. Now that you power has completely taken to your bodies, it can manifest into material objects, A.K.A. weapons, which you will need to fight powerful enemies.”

Samuel looked to Tyler and motioned for him to come forward, which he did. “Tyler, close your eyes,” he instructed. Tyler did this as well. “Now, visualize your magic. See how it moves, the shape it takes, if it’s solid or soft, and what color it is.” Tyler did this as well, imagining an orange energy that flowed though him like blood through veins. Once he could clearly see this in his head, he nodded. “Alright, focus that energy to one or both of your hands, whichever feels right, and feel it taking shape as matter, an extension of itself in the form of a material object.”

Tyler did this. He tried to focus the orange energy to his hands, but it only took to his right. He imagined it filling his hand, taking a solid shape. He clenched his fist, feeling a hard, metallic object in it. He felt it with his fingers, running them along the edges until he realized there was a small, curved metall piece sticking away from the rest that moved a bit. He pulled the lever, and a loud bang sounded, making him jump and his eyes shoot open in alarm.

Tyler looked at the object in his hand, seeing a small pistol, gray and metallinc with tan grips that fit into his hand like it was a glove. There was a small hole in the dirt below him, where a bullet had seemingly hit. Tyler heard clapping, and looked up to see Samuel clapping slowly and smiling. When Tyler drew his attention away from the gun, it vanished, just as quickly as it had appeared.

“That was impressive, and done much quicker than I had anticipated,” Samuel congratulated. “Thanks,” Tyler said, staing down at his hands and trying to comprehend what had just happened. Samuel then went to May, having her follow the same instructions as Tyler. She stood there for almost ten minutes with her eyes closed and her hands in fists, but nothing happened. “Your lessons are just too hard,” she complained. I did it pretty easy, Tyler wanted to say, but he bit his tongue and kept it to himself.

After May had given up summoning a weapon, it was Rosalie’s turn. She had already been trying to picture her power, and it worked. She could easily see a dark red light pulsing and glowing within her mind. Now, she moved onto trying to make the power take a physical form. It took a moment, and took a lot of concentration, but she managed to feel some sort of handle materialize in her hand.

Rosalie looked to see what sort of object she was holding, and saw a long, double-edge katana with a pink handle. She lifted it and looked at the blade, seeing that it was razor sharp. She then turned it in her hands a few times, getting a feel for it. It was rather lightweight and easy to balance and maneuver. Rosalie had never used a katana before, but as she handled this sword, she decided she would definitely learn.

“MY HAIR!” sounded a loud, girl’s voice. A young, teenage girl on the walking trail near her favorite park heard this coming from the other side of a creek as she passed a pipe that stretched across it. Weird, the girl thought as she shrugged it off and continued walking. She passed the two mile marker and the trail’s west entrance, but continued.

“Hey!” shouted another girl’s voice from behind her. She turned to face the girl, recognizing her immediately. It was Alexandra, her bully from school. “It’s been a while,” Alexandra remarked as she walked closer, “What’s with the emo hair?” Confused, the girl grabbed a strand of her hair, looking at it to see what Alexandra was talking about.

The girl’s jaw dropped. Her hair had become pitch black with neon green tips on the bottom. It wasn’t like that when she left her home that morning. She wondered how that happened, but kept her attention on Alexandra.

“So, how did you like our little prank?” Alexandra asked. “I could have died!” The girl shouted. She was getting angry. She could practically feel her blood boiling. Every single part of her hated this girl and everything about her.

“Yeah, that’s the only thing that could have made it better,” Alexandra replied, flipping her hair. The girl grew angrier. She clenched her fists. Her hands were tingling and shaking. “SHUT UP!” the girl screamed.

The girl threw her hands out in front of her absentmindedly. Green sparks shot from her palms and hit Alexandra. Alexandra opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. She fell to the ground, twitching and writhing on the gravel until the electricity went away.