INSIGNIAS: THE LUX SIGNIFER ACADEMY

The Elemental teacher looked around the room. She had ten small items on the table. Some of them were suspended in the air. Behind her, projected on the whiteboard, was a picture of white, black, and bluish smokes. The class had long been finished learning about most of the basic elementals. Today, the teacher intended to show them those elementals that are rare. She suddenly went out of the room. After she left the classroom, Nate put his head on her desk then closed his eyes. It had been two weeks since the day they infiltrated the Mortemian hideout. It had been two weeks since the day Storm left them. He was the person in the hoody and the person who disappeared with dark smoke. It devastated Hanne and she didn’t go to school for a week. It triggered the memories of their parents’ death. She started having nightmares like when she was a kid. He was thankful for Tessa, Lei, and Aria for comforting her every day when he couldn’t. She tried so hard to cover her sadness but Nate couldn’t do anything to ease the pain.

It wasn’t just Hanne. Nate felt the rush of emotions when the truth was revealed. He was sad, angry, and frustrated. Sad because someone he trusted deceived him. Angry because Storm hurt his sister. Frustrated because he let himself believe everything Storm told him. Nate was supposed to protect his sister but he was the one who let Storm in and be close to them. . It seemed that meeting Aria wasn’t in his plan but he immediately found out about her. She must had a lot of questions in mind about her father’s involvement with the Mortemians. But Nate believed that her father saved her by showing her the maze.

I considered him a brother... Now, he felt miserable that he was the one to bring the spy in the Academy and their team. Skhy and the others tried their best to comfort Hanne and Nate but the damage was done.

“How could you?” he muttered. The person in his left asked him what he was talking about. He shook his head without answering. When he heard the door opening, he quickly collected himself. The fight isn’t done yet.

The teacher entered with a man. He was wearing the Academy pin on his suit so he must have been a teacher.

“I’m Mr. Darius Grandspire, an Elemental teacher in the Tempus Locus department,” he said with a smile. He looked like he was in his early 30s. Nate was too self-absorbed with his feelings that he didn’t want to listen to the things he said after.

“Are you listening?” Nate was looking out of the glass window beside him.

“Nate!” He quickly turned in front when he heard his teacher call him. She looked furious but when she turned to the younger teacher, she smiled.

“He isn’t like this all the time. He’s the smartest in his year,” she explained. Nate muttered a soft ‘I’m sorry.’ Mr. Grandspire smiled at him. He walked toward the table.

“You already know everything about the basic elementals. Mostly through experience,” he started. “Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Metal, and Nature.” He looked around. When his eyes met Nate, he smiled once again. Does he know me?

“Ice. As you know, at first it’s a sub-element of Water. But it became an entirely different because of its abilities.” He grabbed an ice cube from the table. Suddenly spirals grew from the cube until they created a small tree made of ice. He explained that there is very few Ice maker in the country. In the Academy, there was only a handful so their division is located in the Tempus Locus building.

“Those who are really strong can make something that won’t be destroyed by any elementals,” he added, “even after the maker dies.” Nate’s classmates were amazed. I wonder if the teacher has that ability…

“Alright. Let’s move on,” he said then grabbed the floating cloud. Nate already knew that it produces lightning. “Storm.” Nate was startled by the name. He collected himself when he realized that the teacher was only referring to the name of the elemental.

“Also rare but not as rare as Ice,” Mr. Grandspire said. “The thing about Storm is its ability to store energy. Even if the user’s body lacks the energy, his elemental can use its maximum potential.” The cloud floating in his hand turned grey and struck three lightning. Nate remembered Hunter’s fight with Ellie in the tournament. Hunter planned it all along to exhaust Ellie and her elemental’s energy because he strikes. Both his body and elemental are strong.

“Wow. I really like how he explains,” his classmate who sat beside him said. “It’s simple and understandable compared to how our teacher explains things.” Nate nodded in agreement.

“Now for the two rarest elementals here,” Mr. Grandspire said. He scooped the dark smoke with one of his hands. His hand didn’t go through it but the smoke jumped on in hand. He lifted his hand, showing his palm. A small area above the palm started shifting. The whiteboard twisted then the rock on the table materialized on his palm. Several ‘wow’ were heard. Nate knew Aurora has that ability.

“It’s the oldest elemental but the rarest,” the young teacher explained then put the rock on the table. “Depending on the user, the range and distance of objects he can teleport vary.”

“How about a person?” someone shouted. Mr. Grandspire smiled.

“The user can. He can also teleport other people.” If Aurora can do that, why didn’t she use it to go inside the Mortemian lair?

“A particular sub-elemental can hinder the user to use teleportation of people as well as particular objects protected by it,” he added as if he heard Nate’s thoughts. Mist?

“Now, if you hear the words Dark and Darkness, what is the first thing that comes into your mind?” he asked as he looked at the dark smoke on his hand. Nate’s classmates began saying words like ‘scary,’ ‘fear,’ ‘black,’ ‘no light,’ ‘sadness,’ ‘evil,’ and ‘immoral.’

“Deception,” Nate said when everyone stopped talking. Mr. Grandspire turned to his direction. Nate could feel his classmates’ stares too.

“Deception,” Mr. Grandspire repeated with a smile. It isn’t something to smile about… He turned to the rest of the class.

“All the words you uttered can be associated with darkness.” He turned again to Nate. “And the elemental is usually used to deceive people, to manipulate them through their senses. Mist is a sub-elemental but not every Darkness user has that ability. Only the ones that are strong enough or born with it.” Like Storm. Nate couldn’t fathom the evil thoughts that Storm had in mind while he was with them. This is better, right? He could have killed us there and there. He shook the thought away. It didn’t change the fact that he betrayed the team particularly Hanne. Then he realized another fact. He was never on our side… He clenched his fists.

“So the users are evil!” someone exclaimed. Mr. Grandspire chuckled.

“Why? They can also use it to save people,” he replied. Students began whispering their opinions to their friends. Nate, on the other hand, remained silent. He was too self-absorbed with his thoughts.

“What do you think, Mr…”

“Ashworth,” the class teacher completed for him.

“Mr. Ashworth,” the young teacher repeated. “Do you think those that use Darkness are evil?” Nate stared at him intensely before answering.

“Other elemental users also use theirs to deceive, hurt, and kill… sir,” he responded. This was an honest response. His anger toward Storm and the Mortemians were great but it doesn’t change the fact that all types of people can be greedy and selfish.

“You’re too nice, Mr. Ashworth,” Mr. Grandspire said with a smile. Nate didn’t return it. Then the bell rang, ending their class. Everyone started gathering their things and leaving the room. He had a 30-minutes break so he planned to have lunch with Hanne. It’s a good thing that they’re in the same department. When he was about to leave the room, he noticed Mr. Grandspire watching him. He didn’t think anything about it. Wait, so what’s his elemental?

“Hanne!” he called when he neared the table where she was sitting. Hanne looked up and gave him a small smile. There were dark circles around her eyes. He put his tray of foods down then sat next to her.

“Are you sure you’re fine to go back to class?” he asked. His question made her smile bigger.

“You’ve been asking that for a week now,” she said. “Stop worrying.” He sighed.

“Like that’s possible,” he muttered. Hanne started telling him about what she learned in her earlier class.

“The fight started because of some selfish people in both legions,” she explained. “After years of conflict, the new generation of Concordians wanted peace but the Mortemians were still vengeful.” Nate nodded in understanding. He learned it in History.

“Our parents know that fighting with them is dangerous,” she said after minutes of silence. Nate turned to her. She looked at him seriously. “But the next fights are for everyone’s future.”

“What are you talking about, Hanne?” he asked, confused.

“I understand why we need to fight,” she replied. Before he could say anything, the bell rang, ending their lunch break. Hanne immediately stood up and left. What is she saying?

“Hey.” He looked up and saw one of his classmates in the next class.

“Hey.” Nate stood up to throw his garbage.

“History class is suspended,” his classmate informed him. Nate quickly checked his phone for live Academy updates and found all his classes suspended. His classmate patted him then left. He felt a vibration in his bag so he fished his private phone.

He arrived in the underground arena after 30 minutes. The place brought so many memories. He talked toward Skhy who was sitting on a squared stone. His classes were all cancelled. Tessa and Hunter were also free and returned to the dormitory. The rest of their friends still had classes.

“Hey,” Nate greeted. Skhy smiled.

“How is she?” Skhy asked.

“The same,” Nate replied. “Today, she said that she understands that we have to fight.”

“What?” Nate sat on the stairs.

“Yeah. I think she wants…”

“Revenge,” Skhy completed his statement. Is that it? Skhy started munching on a sandwich.

“Did you visit it?” Nate asked. Skhy grabbed his tumbler then drank from it.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Tessa and Lei must have been concerned.” Nate took his own tumbler in his bag to drink.

“They gave me the strength to visit it. I’ll tell them about it later,” Skhy said. “I don’t want to anyone worry about me.” Nate chuckled.

“Don’t try to carry everything on your own,” Nate advised. “You’ll explode, you know.” Skhy chuckled.

“Tessa’s insignia appeared,” Skhy said after a minute of silence. “I told her before she went back.” Nate nodded. He was glad that Skhy’s efforts are paying off.

“I found out that Ellie is related to Tessa,” he added.

“Wow, he was right,” Nate said. The story of Tessa’s father was still a mystery. Was he a non-magic user who used forbidden magic? Or he hid that truth about being a magic user too? Nate scoffed. Knowing the truth is frustrating.

“And…Storm’s insignia vanished on the paper.” Nate expected him to say that. He sighed, frustrated all over again.

“I’m sorry that I brought him with-”

“Stop.” Skhy cut him off. He punched Nate’s shoulder lightly.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said. But Nate couldn’t look at his friend.

“You did everything to protect your sister,” Skhy added. “It wasn’t your fault that he…deceived everyone.” Nate nodded. He knew this but he couldn’t stop feeling guilty. Skhy stood up then turned to him. Nate looked up.

“The reason why I asked you to come isn’t just about Storm,” he said. Nate frowned. More bad news?

“I’m having visions.”

“What?”

“Technically, it started months ago but I didn’t know it’s a vision,” Skhy explained. “Until yesterday.”

“Are you sure? What kind of vision?” Nate asked.

“We have to start training the seven.” Nate looked at him weirdly. They knew this fact a long time ago. But there was one question that no one had an answer. Is he talking about that?

“It’s going to happen soon, isn’t it?” Skhy nodded. “Tell me what you saw.”