Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Derek

Hank and Jasper look on, shocked, as Gwen stands and leaves the arena. They aren’t as accustomed to how she acts when she’s mad. I have a bit of a chuckle while I watch them try and figure it out and they both turn to look at me.

“What’s so funny?” says Jasper. “We needed her to stay so we could keep planning!”

“What’s funny is your expression. You look completely thrown by her.”

“We are,” says Hank.

“I’m not,” pipes in Anya, I forgot she was here for a moment. “You had people attack her to sate your own curiosity without any thought as to how that may affect her or how the person you had attack her might act. I think you’ve destroyed any chance of her trusting you and I think that’s why she wanted to leave.”

I always forget how perceptive Anya is, she figures people out so quickly.

“It can’t be that,” says Hank. “She seems fond of you and she seems to trust Derek too and, no offense Anya, but you were just swinging a katana at her.”

“That’s not how Gwen works. She wouldn’t have trusted Anya at all, but I think talking to her made Gwen feel more comfortable. You guys, on the other hand, are expecting her to trust you with her life and are planning her life out for her and you abused that trust by having her attacked. Anya is right,” I say, turning to her. “Gwen won’t forgive that easily.”

“So how do we get her back on track?” asks Hank.

That is actually a fantastic question.

“I’m not sure, but I think Anya is going to play a big role,” I say, standing up and motioning for Anya to come with me.

“How can I help?” Anya asks, genuinely wanting to know what she can do for Gwen.

“We catch up to her. Leaving Gwen to brood could be dangerous for the whole refuge,” I wink, letting her know that I’m exaggerating, though I’m not entirely sure that I am, and we walk out of the arena.

Leaving Garrett, Jasper and Hank to chat, Anya and I hurry after Gwen and catch up to her as she gets to the food court.

“You took your time,” she says. I’m a bit wary of her tone but she’s calmed down a lot since she left so I think we’re going to be fine.

“Just thought you might want some company on your day off,” I say. “There are plenty of places you haven’t seen yet.”

I look to Anya, hoping that she will have a few ideas but she looks at her watch and turns to us in alarm.

“Oh guys, I’m so sorry! I’ve got to run. I’m running a training session at ten and that’s in twenty minutes,” she turns as if to run down the corridor and turns back almost as fast. “Actually, Gwen, do you want to come along? Maybe work off some of that extra frustration and get an idea about what training can be like? You can partner with Derek?”

She looks expectantly at me and for a moment and I hesitate, but she has a good point. It would be good for Gwen to get in on some training and I certainly won’t mind sparring with her.

“Yeah, I don’t have a problem with that. It’s been a while since I joined in on a training session anyway. What do you say Gwen?”

She looks a bit surprised for a moment but it becomes pretty clear that she’s not going to back down from this challenge.

“Sure, why not?” she shrugs. “I was meant to train today anyway.”

I knew it.

“It’s settled then,” I say, turning to Anya. “Lead the way.”

“Okay, let’s hurry though. If I’m late I’ll never hear the end of it.”

She turns, half running, back down the hallway to the arenas we just got away from. Gwen is radiating tension as we get closer to the arena we were just in, but relaxes a little when we pass it and keep going.

“So,” says Gwen to get my attention. “Um, what have I just gotten myself into?”

“Scared are we?” I say, hoping to diffuse some of the tension.

“Not scared, just on edge. Following you into an arena didn’t exactly turn out too well the first time.”

“You have nothing to worry about,” I say, wanting to reassure her. I think I’ve lost far more of her trust than I banked on.

“I’ve heard that before,” she counters. Crap.

“Don’t worry Gwen,” cuts in Anya. “This is a scheduled training exercise and I’m running it. There won’t be any surprises and if you like you can just watch for a while and join in later. You’ll be paired with Derek anyway, you won’t need to even talk to anyone else if you don’t want to.”

“Ok,” is all she says as Anya stops walking and tells us that we’re there.

Anya opens the massive door and we follow her over the threshold. Gwen stops just inside the doorway to take everything in. Weapons from all over the world and from various centuries line the walls. Everything from swords and battle axes, nun chucks and throwing stars to hand guns and rifles. There are hundreds of weapons in this room alone.

“You still with me,” I ask, speaking to Gwen’s mind. At the same time I take a moment to skim her thoughts. I thought she was in shock but, as usual, I was wrong about her. She’s looking at everything and thinks it’s all pretty amazing.

“Yeah, I’m here and I’m fine,” she says as she walks over to a wall covered with swords. She runs her hand down the blade of a medieval great sword. It has a large emerald set into the pommel and silver patterns across the hilt. It’s a beautiful piece.

“These are all quite beautiful,” she says, mirroring my thoughts. She begins to move across the wall and comes to an abrupt stop when she notices that everyone else in the room is silent and watching her.

The whole group is being about as subtle as a brick to the face.

“Why is everyone staring at me?”

“We’re waiting to see which weapon you choose,” explains Anya.

This will be interesting.

“What do you mean?”

“We choose a weapon during our first training session and that becomes our primary weapon. We use our magic to guide us because our enhanced skill is technically a power, just one that we all have,” says Gabriel, a guy I’ve trained with a lot over the years who has a pleasant Spanish accent.

“Oh,” she turns to me. “What weapon do you use?”

“We train with all of these weapons, but my primary weapons are knives.”

“Primary weapon, what does that mean?”

“We combine weapons with the elements and the elements help us choose which weapon is most compatible with our affinities. Kind of like which elements we use best.”

“It’s not something you have to worry about right now Gwen. Jasper should really be the one to help you with all that. Right now I just want to show you the basics of training.”

Anya turns to her group and automatically everyone pairs up.

“Okay, today I want you in three training groups. Group one will be working on hand-to-hand combat, group two will be using their weapon of choice and group three will be affinity training. I want it to be kept clean. Fight honourably and let’s keep injuries to a minimum okay? Our healers were annoyed with us the other day. I’m talking to you Megan!” She singles out a girl who looks to be about twenty-five and has a wicked gleam in her eye. She has a deceitful air about her, not to be trusted.

“Do I get the newbie?” she says to Anya with a cocky smirk on her face.

“Her name is Gwen and no you don’t get to be partnered with her. A, Because she’s already partnered with Derek and B Because, quite simply Megan, Gwen would wipe the floor with you,” counters Anya with a small smile on her face. The rest of the group laughs as a scowl settles on Megan’s features. I catch Gwen’s look of surprise at Anya’s words but she hides it quickly. Megan looks as though she is about to retaliate but she seems to decides against it.

“Okay then,” I say, turning to Gwen. “Let’s get our own space in here and get started.”

We go to the other end of the arena where there are only two pairs sparring. They are quite a bit away from us though, so we won’t be bothered by anyone. Time to have some fun!

“So,” I say, probably with very ill-concealed amusement on my face. “What would you like to work on first?”

“This isn’t really my area of expertise, so you can choose.”

“Well weapons are out because Anya is right, Jasper should be the one to help you choose. I would suggest a little magic but you can do some pretty powerful things, there are a lot of people in here and accidents do happen. So,” I smirk. “I guess that just leaves hand-to-hand.”

“You look happy about that.”

“It should prove to be quite entertaining, don’t you think?”

The sound of metal striking metal rings in my ears and the heat from fire users begins to fill the room as the other partners begin sparring. Gwen looks around, fascinated by what’s happening. I let her watch. It’s always fun to watch as someone experiences all of this for the first time.

Her face lights up as Megan conjures a small cyclone to pick up her opponent and throw them across the room. He retaliates by flicking his wrist and sending a tidal wave right back at Megan, knocking her off her feet and trapping her within the wave. The fight immediately takes a nasty turn when Megan (who clearly likes to have the upper hand at all times) freezes the water, shatters it and conjures wind to propel the shards towards her opponent. The whole arena comes to a stand-still as we all realise that the shards will strike his chest and face, he will be severely injured. That’s if he isn’t killed. I see a shadow pass through my peripheral vision and suddenly Gwen is running forward and placing herself between the shards and the guy. I think his name is Oliver. I run too, the shards are now aimed squarely at Gwen. She lifts her hand, palm out, and the air shifts slightly. The ice hits a spot just in front of her and comes to a complete stop, suspended in the air. Her eyes heat, just a fraction, and the water melts and falls unceremoniously to floor where it evaporates with a small sizzling sound. Her eyes clear and she looks surprised. I check her thoughts; she doesn’t know how she managed to move so quickly. She doesn’t understand yet that both her speed and strength have been drastically upgraded since she got her powers.

“What the hell was that?!” The silence and shock at Gwen’s actions is broken by Megan’s shrill voice.

“You don’t interrupt a fight you nosy prat!”

“Hey!” interrupts Anya. “You should be thankful that she did! You could have killed Oliver! You sent shards of ice flying towards his head, Megan. What were you thinking?”

It never fails to surprise me that no matter how mad Anya gets, she never swears. You can only tell when she’s mad by the fact that she raises her voice.

“Guys, I don’t mean to interrupt but can we discuss this later?”

I turn to Gwen who is lowering a very pale looking Oliver to the floor. There is a piece of ice sticking out of his chest, watery droplets of blood splashing to the floor as the shard melts.

“It got past me, I don’t know how. Oliver I’m so sorry I thought I blocked it all.”

“Don’t worry Gwen,” he replies. “If it wasn’t for you these would be sticking out of my face so tha-“

“Oh, stop being so damn dramatic! You’ll heal!” yells Megan.

“It’s a magical wound though,” Gwen says quietly before snapping into a more serious mode. “Derek, give me your hoodie,” she commands.

I do as she says and watch her fold it while I think over her magical wound comment. We all know what this means. Oliver is in serious trouble, magical wounds can be tricky and that ice looks like it’s pretty deeply embedded in his chest.

“Don’t you guys have paramedics or something? He needs help and you’re just standing around watching him bleed!” Gwen looks furious as she tears open Oliver’s shirt and wraps my hoodie around the base of the ice shard in an attempt to stem the blood flow.

“I’ve already sent for a healer, they should be here soon,” says Anya. She looks furious too, but not with us. She keeps glaring at Megan with an intensity that could reduce her to a pile of smouldering ashes.

“Gwen, please get this ice out of my chest. It hurts like a bitch.”

Oliver’s voice is weak and he fades more as we watch him. He is on the ground, his head cradled in Gwen’s lap. She has her hands on his chest, still trying to stop the bleeding.

“Um, I really don’t think I should do that. It would bleed a lot more and I could make it so much worse,” Gwen replies, looking at me for help. I kneel down beside them and get a better look at the wounds.

“Howma lookin,” slurs Oliver.

“Just fine Oliver, I just need to-“

“She won’t be here for ages!” yells a voice from the doorway. Turning I see Amanda, a girl I trained for a while, come stomping through the doors.

“How long is ‘ages’?” I ask. “He’s pretty badly hurt.”

“There was an accident during a fire session. There’s a whole group of people covered in burns.”

“So when are they getting here!?” yells Gwen.

“They’re finding someone. It could take about half an hour.”

“Shit!” I hear Gwen exclaim and turn to see that Oliver is unconscious. I put my hand on his wrist making sure he still has a pulse. Gwen did the same thing and it’s then that I notice that her hand is beginning to shine with a soft white glow. It is a light I recognise. Gwen has noticed too and there is a brief moment of confusion before something clicks in her mind and she acts. She places her hands on either side of the ice and her hands begin to glow brighter. The glow touches her eyes as the ice begins to melt. I hear gasps around me as others in the room realise what’s happening. Oliver’s blood begins to flow in the opposite direction, returning to his body and, as the light grows brighter, the wound in his chest begins to close. Colour is returning to Oliver’s face and his eyelids flutter open. All too soon the glow fades and the shock on Gwen’s face is almost funny.

“That was amazing,” says Anya.

“Did you just heal me?” asks Oliver. “How did you do that?”

“That is a fantastic question,” we all turn around to find Margaret, the facilities lead healer, and Jasper gawking at Gwen.