In a town, near the Eastern Ridges of Kylma, a flattened dome shaped carrier, skidded through the snow, sliding across the white descending landscape. The blizzard blew strong, but its driver did not find it a hindrance, as the ice split across the glass window panes and turned to water at the end of its sleds, allowing the vehicle to move without friction against the wind.
They had come way past the city and were almost at the edge of the frosted boreal taiga forests. In the middle of the spike white forest, a house stood still, like a black dot on clean white paper, unaffected by the heavy blizzard raging around.
'He stays here?' The driver asked his rider, his face slightly turning backwards towards his employer.
Lajos nodded. He sighed, it has been years since he has made these runs.
'You sure? He could have found a house right in the middle of the city.'
'He is young.' Lajos replied and with an afterthought added, 'and a recluse. He prefers the loneliness of the ice forest.'
Lajos heard his driver scoff. 'Did he say that himself?'
He sighed. 'Yes.'
'How old is he?'
'Almost twenty and seven years.'
'Isn't that a bit too young to be a recluse?'
Lajos shook his head. 'Well, some people get tired of humanity very fast.'
The carrier slowed down and stopped a few yards away from the house. The blizzard blew wildly behind them, as they crossed into the periphery of the house, it grew shockingly still. Perhaps a Silver Cadin weather shield, Lajos concluded.
He got out of the domed Ice carrier sled and waited outside of it, standing still, until a young man, walked out of the house, a few logs in his shoulder. He seemed to notice Lajos's presence and turned towards where he was standing. Almost instinctively, his shoulders slumped but still motioned Lajos to come inside the house, leaving the door open as walked inside.
Lajos strudded towards the man's house, stepping over the stairs to the porch and then, to the main door. Inside, he found that it was mostly baren. There were two chairs made of heavy fur and wood, sat next to the fireplace.
'I have not had much company for quite some time.'
Lajos nodded at Pacifico standing against the empty counter on the opposite side of the room.
'Could you please increase the heat in this place?'
Pacifico walked towards the fireplace and picked up a few logs from the small pile next to it. He threw them into the fire pit the logs and then stood up, placing his hands around a small square base above the fireplace, infringed with Cadin symbol for fire. He placed his finger on it and moved about the circle. Within a few seconds, the fire blazed up, bring a warm light into the room.
'What brings you here, General Lajos?' He asked, as Lajos removed his fur coat.
'I have asked you so many times, not add the prefix.' He said calmly. 'I need your help, Pacifico.' Lajos replied. 'I feel as if things are moving about for a second time. And this time, we may need to start with a check on the Academe.'
Pacifico looked at Lajos, his expression a mixture of bored and confused. 'What is happening to the Academe?'
'Aaliyah has sent in a new recruit.' He answered. 'I need you there, to watch this recruit.'
Pacifico frowned. 'Why?'
'She is the daughter of Kiara.' Lajos answered. 'And as you know -,'
'Kiara went missing almost seven years ago.' Pacifico cut him. 'Right after her prosecution for disobeying orders.'
'I can't blame her really.' Lajos answered. 'It was her child.'
'How are you sure it is Kiara's child?'
'Not one hundred percent sure.' Lajos answered. 'But based on the information I have received, I have more than fifty percent faith that it is someone of consequence to Aaliyah.'
Pacifico pursed his lips. 'I wont question your deduction skills. You were right the last time also.'
He turned and leaned forward, opening the bottom shelf. He picked out a bottle with some clear liquid. 'Cold Ale?' He asked.
'Perhaps, another time.' Lajos answered. 'I have errands to complete.'
Pacifico nodded. He picked up a glass from the top shelf and poured himself a drink from the bottle. 'What about Kiara?'
'Not with her daughter.' Lajos answered. 'Which is probably safer, knowing that if she steps foot inside anywhere in Golden Hills, she would be punished.'
'Well, people sent out to retrieve the children were vapourised.' Pacifico replied, circling the drink in his glass. 'They did not want to loose a good soldier.'
'A mother and a father is asked to stop looking for their child. You think they care about what happened to the previous casualities?'
Pacifico pursed his lips. 'I wouldn't know. But they were successful in finding the child I guess.'
'Yes, they were apparently.' Lajos answered. 'But the demanding question is, then why did the child get sent back?'
There was a momentary silence as both of them left each other to track their own thoughts.
'So that's why you want me in the Academe.' Pacifico spoke first, pointing this out a few moments later. 'You want to understand Aaliyah's motives.'
Lajos shrugged and sat down on the chair. He was a bit taken with how much his body easily sunk into it. 'What are these filled with?'
'Feathers and cotton.' Pacifico was scratching his chin, as if he were trying derive something. 'How did they get admission in the first place? Wasn't the entrance test a while ago?'
Lajos sighed disappointedly at the thought. 'Well, that's how I am going to get you to be a teacher there as well.' He replied, sarcastically. 'Through bribery.'
***
Nyla stood along with the others on the cavea, waiting for her turn to be called to the ground. The combat sessions had begun over the past week and so far, her opponents were something she could handle. Today, however, she had been called for a different session. It was not her usual group of trainees. She assumed that it was probably because within each classification itself, they have a grading system.
The ground was flat and the clay was smooth all over. There were pits, bordered circular where Nyla watched as the Udongs picked up huge boulders of earth and through it on one another. Earth never moved on it owns. As for the ambers who were watching over these matches, they moved with an ease that was not easily perceptible to the Udongs. Some of them would punch at the oncoming rocks that flew outside of bordered combat grounds with such swiftness and strength that Nyla wondered how dangerous they would be if they ever were taken into actual combat.
Soon enough, Nyla's name was called by one the instructors. She walked over to one of the sparring court and stood opposite to a tall and burly student, who was flexing his muscles. The black unitard similar to hers, covered his arms and his bare footed legs. Nyla observed as he cemented his legs onto the ground.
'Chyd, you will be attacking first.'
The woman raised her left arm in Chyd's direction as he readied himself. Chyd turned around and faced Nyla, his arms up to his chest.
'Now!'
Chyd punched with his left arm first, causing Nyla to notice the unsteadiness in his arms. She immediately dodged the rock coming her way, with a quick skid to the right. From the corner of her eyes, she could see him raising the next boulder. As the boulder hurled itself towards her, she jumped straight up and landed on it, causing the boulder to be smash into the ground.
The instructor raised her other hand, signalling Chyd to stop, prompting Nyla to become ready for attacking. She then raised her hands at Nyla and dropped, immediately allowing Nyla to raise four slates off the earth and sending it towards her opponent. Chyd immediately covered himself with an armour of rocks, but Nyla had already anticipated that and had made sure the slates were sharp enough to cut through his armour at his ankles. She then pushed another block aiming at his feet, causing him to stumble across and fall face front.
The instructor raised her hand again, marking the end of individual attacks. 'Alright, once I give the go ahead, it would be a freelance combat.' She announced. 'Which means in the next five minutes, you can go at each other. No serious injuries.' She added sternly as she raised her flag again. The moment her hand floored, Chyd attacked.
Nyla tried to control her breathing as she dodged each block of earth hurled at her. As each one shot towards her, she would strike them, causing them to break into smaller stubbles, but others she would either jump over, or dodge over to the side, with a shiftness that even some of the Neroes found it hard to keep up.
But her opponent was strong, and his boulders where large. To Nyla the sheer intensity with which he sent the huge boulders sent only signified how strong he is and how weak she was.
As another block came flying at her, Nyla jumped and twisted herself in the air, kicking it and breaking it into pieces. She then brought out another big mould but as she tried to push it towards her opponent, it would not budge. Nyla stood at a distance and tried to lift it off ground but it was tiring for her and soon enough her opponent was rushing towards her with a bigger boulder right above him. Nyla narrowed her eyes and charged back at him.
The moment right before he raised his boulder to hit her, Nyla skidded between his legs and pulled at the earth underneath his feet along with her, causing his opponent to lose his balance and fall face first. The boulder tumbled away onto the boundary.
The instructor raised her right arm, denoting Nyla as the winner.
Nyla let out sigh of relief. She hadn't wanted the sparring to go too long either and her hands had been shaking too much. She shook her hand trudged towards the stairs, pressing her hands against her biceps.
Finding an empty tier, Nyla laid herself against it and watched as boulders and bullets of earth flew across the grounds. Slates were her specialty then, she thought and smiled to herself proudly. She had been in her mind that was only after Chyd had walked up to her that she noticed him next to her.
'Hey, good fight.' He said as he sat down.
Nyla nodded back.
'You seem like a good fighter. You were quite quick.' He commented again. 'I was starting to struggle to keep up with you.'
Nyla scoffed inwardly. She knew an Udong's weakness is speed and being as weak as she was, she knew that she had to rely on other things other than brute strength to compete against others. 'You are strong, you were able to pick up a large than usual amount size of boulders.'
He nodded. 'Yes, but I like to be quicker.' He swished his hands as he made a sound with his mouth. 'You know like the Kazes.'
Nyla frowned with a smile. 'You cannot faster than a Kaze naturally, they literally have the winds propelling them.'
'Well anyone can dream. ' He replied. He paused and then turned to face her. 'By the way, have you formed a team yet?'
Nyla lightly shook her head.
'Well that's good.' He replied. Seeing Nyla raise her eyebrows questioningly, he chuckled. 'Allow me to complete. We are planning a get-together, to form alliances.' He replied.
'Why do you want to plan a get-together for that?' She asked cautiously.
'Not all of us got in because we were great.' He answered, with a tinge of jealousy coating his spoken word. 'Some of us required some help.'
'Why would you need me for that?'
'Well, you are a good fighter.' He replied. 'And we want you to be there in one of the alliances we form.'
'Alright, but what is the purpose of this alliance?'
'Get into the IDC as fast as possible of course.' He answered. 'Strategically.'
'And there is no qualification or requirement to be present there?'
Chyd shook his head with a chuckle. 'Hey, I have given you the qualification. You won against me.'
Nyla looked away from him towards the ground. She bit her lip, her mind deep in thoughts. 'I will think about it.'
'Great. Hopefully, I will see you there.' .
Nyla then got up. 'Well, I got to get going, don't want to miss lunch.' She replied and walked down the stairs. She turned to look back at where Chyd was and he waved at her. After reluctantly smiling at him, she exited the arena.
***
Evenings near the habitations of the Academe, were peaceful, albeit, bit more depressing than the sunsets in Golden Hills. Being located in a quite a remote area, with only a few villages nearby, the sounds completely quite down as the sun sets. Within, it was lively, the dinner bells would be heard loudly, and the lights would lit up like it was a cottage tavern that opened up for business. Near the Academic Block, the lights would simply come up, as the bustling in the student residence area over the bridge would echo into the river.
Tara had taken her dinner quite early as Zalana had told her to be ready within one or two hours after the sun sets. She sat on the steps in the Menorah arena, the Pit of Fire, waiting for Zalana to show up. She wasn't expecting her to.
Tara sighed. Earlier in the day, she had been here attending her first lesson in the control of the element of fire. To her happy surprise and relief, there were many others like her many others who were just beginners trying to understand the intrinsic nature of the element of fire. Most of them did use their element but never in combat.
'All of you have been selected to be in the Academe, is because, we were able to make out that your Uyir is more than thirty-three, when the recruitment tests were conducted.' announced Haisen.
Tara had quickly learned that the instructors in the Academe were all Amber elementals, which meant that they were all about able to manipulate multiple elements. But the gaining of an element is through a specific ritual, one that involves dark methods and hence, every Amber elemental is registered.
Haisen was in his late thirties wearing the same shades of amber coloured robes as almost all the other instructor, with a long tunic hung over the trousers and a belt of cloth giving it structure and form. His eyes shifted from a bright glowing yellow to a lazy green, each time he blinked. This was another thing she had learned, the eyes is the window to the soul was quite literal in the world of Rahas. 'The element of fire just needs a breathe and it immediately eats everything in its path. So even if the Na'ars are able to access the element of fire more easily, the power needs to be controlled.'
There were some reluctant nods throughout the crowd.
'Now I want everyone to line up in to six columns so I can observe you better.' Haisen ordered. Everyone rushed into forming the lines and soon enough it was an organized rows and columns of six. 'Focus on the energy that is originating from the pit of your stomach.'
Tara was standing in the front of one column. She tried to focus on the energy originating from the pit of her stomach but she couldn't feel anything. She closed her eyes to eliminate the distraction of vision and tried to focus on the energy.
'Now, move your dominant leg forward, balance yourself do not put the weight on your dominant, leg.' He instructed.
Tara had done as she was told. She wobbled a bit but caught herself from falling down. There was a sensation of filling up.
'Now with all your energy,' The instructor started. 'Punch the fire out.'
Tara looked up at the evening sky as stars shone a bit brightly. Whatever 'fire' had come out was not exactly impressive. Haisen had simply looked at her and walked away to the next person.
When Zalana walked in, her lips moving in a rushed manner as if she was speaking to someone of some urgent matter. In Rahas, there was an intricate ornamental headpiece shaped concentric circles and spiralling hoops, that represented winds, for communicating with one another over long distances. It looked like Zalana was talking to the hologram of a masculine figure as it appeared at the same length as her eyes.
Zalana paused at the other end of the Menorah arena, talking rapidly with the person on the other side of the device. Tara not wanting intrude on what clearly seemed like a private conversation, lifted her hands and waved. Zalana saw her and turned off off the hologram. She smiled and signalled her to come to the ground.
Zalana asked, once Tara came jogging next to her. 'How was your day?'
'First class in elemental training.' Tara answered. 'Not the greatest nor the worst first class I have had.'
'Why so?'
'My fire was not produced strong enough.' Tara replied. 'The instructor just simply looked at me and walked away.'
Zalana nodded, looking like she was introspecting. 'Maybe you are just producing it instinctively. Let's see what you know.'
Tara sighed disappointedly. 'I don't know anything.'
'What do you mean anything you don't know anything?' Zalana looked at her with her eyebrows raised questioningly.
'I don't know how I am doing this. My brain is just controlling and helping me instinctively.'
'Maybe you just need practice.' Zalana replied with a slight shrug.
'Well, I don't know.' Tara answered back. 'Can we begin from the beginning?'
'Alright.' Zalana replied. 'What do you want to know?'
'How are we producing this power?' Tara asked. 'Why I am able to create fire and you water?'
'That's genetical.' She answered. 'But if you are talking about the genetic origination, I don't have an answer. At least, the general consensus is that spirits are the reason we have powers.'
'Alright.' Tara said with pursed lips. 'What are spirits, then?'
Zalana gave her a small smile. 'They are like the life force you see in everything.'
'By everything you mean-'
'Inanimate and animate objects. Everything living being has a specific unique life force and based on your genetic disposition and personality, you will also manifest one. Actually you already have, cause it's a puberty thing.'
'Okay alright.' Tara answered. 'How do I know what's mine?'
'Well, you don't.' Zalana replied. ' A mana reader will read your Uyir, if he is proficient enough. And don't ask what a mana-reader is, you would have seen one during test.'
'But they can always tell the spririt?
Zalana shook her head. 'They cant. It's a skill. You need to keep learning. Like what we have to, at least start.'
'Alright.' Tara replied. 'Lets start.'
Zalana sighed. 'Since you don't know much, I am guessing even this is confusing to you.'
'You guessed right.' Tara replied, sarcastically.
'Alright.' Zalana replied curtly. 'Maybe, first close your eyes and try to feel the energy around you.'
Tara closed her eyes and felt the heat. In the Menorah arena, the practice sessions and the combat session of Na'ars have left the heat signatures off the whole place. 'I can feel heat.'
'Heat is an after effect of something emitting energy. Your element is the closest form to pure energy, so try to focus on the source of the heat.'
Tara opened her eyes. 'How do you know all of this?'
'There is a reason why I am in Savant Class.' Zalana replied. 'Now, stop interrupting and focus.'
Tara closed her eyes again. She focused on the heat, trying to feel the source of it. As tried to follow the path of the heat signatures, felt the vibrations as it bounced of the cooler winds.
'Feel it around your hands.'
Tara turned her focus towards her hands. It was a bit difficult and it took her a few moments, but she felt the heat bounce around her hands. They were a source of energy. There was a source of heat which was able to feel and she lightly moved her hand towards it.
She felt her hands move to the heavier signatures of energy. Flames enveloped immediately around her arms, engulfing the air suddenly. She looked at Zalana in realization. 'The heat points to energy.'
Zalana nodded. 'I had known that it would be heat for a Na'ar. For a water elemental, what we concentrate is on the flow. I just extradicted to thinking that it might be heat, that you need to find the path towards.'
'But how do I turn this off?'
'Like letting go with your hand, you move towards the lesser heat pathways.'
Tara closed her eyes again. She could feel the heat signatures and moved her path towards the lesser heated ones. She felt the heat die down around her arms and then she opened her eyes.
Beaming she looked towards Zalana with a wide smile as wide as her jawline. 'I can control Fire.'