Vanishing Into The Elements

I saw distant galaxies, stars, and planetary systems. Reaching out my hand, I touched and left a mark in the universe. Do I dare touch a star? Or do I dare to disturb the universe by leaving a mark in space, a place seemingly so far away from home. I didn’t dare, and looked forwards, seeing a light at the end of a seemingly long tunnel.

As it grew closer, I started to squint my eyes. Behind me I assumed was Sam, a person I trusted, but complete opposite elements. The black, galaxy-like tunnel was fading into light, a new place that I was going to be unfamiliar with. The light approached and I soon was engulfed in the light.

Landing on a weird material, I shook my head. Extending my hands outwards, I was crushed by Sam. Groaning, I pushed her off of me, my lower arms hurting like nothing else I’ve ever felt. Sam started to groan and rolled off the the material we landed on. It looked like a bed, but felt like hay.

“Ugh. Where am I?” I groaned, looking around the room. No one was anywhere to be seen.

“Heather?” Sam called out, and I groaned.

“Yes?” I called out.

“Where are we?”

“I think the realm that the sheriff was talking about. Next time, avoid landing on me.”

“Wait, I landed on you?”

“Yeah. I can’t feel my lower arms, but can move my fingers.”

“Why did I have to break your arm.” Sam cursed herself.

“It’s not terrible. It’s probably just sprained.”

“Hopefully.”

I slowly got up from the hay-bed, and looked for Sam. She was still laying on the ground, looking up towards the wooden ceiling. When she noticed me, I grabbed her hand and pulled her up. The pain in my arms stopped hurting, but started to swell. Sam noticed and glared at me. Shrugging, I looked at it too.

People began to fill the room, with elders in front and new people in back. They stared at me and Sam, slowly getting closer with each passing minute. The seniors looked aged, but they were wiser than us for the moment. When I looked at them, they wore different colors, symbolizing different elements. The sad part was that I saw no darkness, unless they were being disguised as a different color.

“Speak, newcomers. What is your element?” The man center of the group spoke.

“I am Samantha Leaftorch, Light.” Sam spoke, seeing a cheer in the crowd.

People from her element came forwards, lifted her in the air like a hero. Next to me, a vortex opened, and I saw three familiar faces. Jack, Karina, and Bill were here, but I was certain that they had to be here before us. Everyone shifted their gaze to them, and soon back to me. I wasn’t really ready, but was I ever?

“Heather Moon, Darkness.” I spoke finally.

There were no cheers or claps from the crowd. It was in a deadlock and everyone stared at me. They didn’t seem scared, happy, or worried. They seemed confused, as if I wasn’t supposed to exist. Why do people look at me, a mistake, a rift in the universe, a tear in time.

“A real element, Heather Moon.” The man spoke.

“I am not lying. My element is darkness, according to the test I took.”

“Hm. You stay there. Speak, newcomers. What’s your element?”

“I’m Jack Lifesaver. Life.”

A small amount of cheers rang through the crowd, although it seemed that it was the Nature group was excited. It seemed like there was Life element people alive, but he went to the nature people anyways. Karina stepped forwards and stood quietly as the rustling and chit-chat slowed down and became quiet.

“Karina Leafthorn. Terra.” Karina spoke shortly after the quietness came.

A huge cheer rang through the crowd, and plenty of people wearing brown came forwards. It seemed like they didn’t need another one, since they were like the hugest one from what I could see. The quiet never seemed to come, but mainly they were the most talkative groups so far.

“Bill Soundwave. Air.” Bill spoke over the talkative group.

A group not quite as big as Terra came forwards and led Bill to his new group members. Everyone’s gaze shifted to me as I stood still, not one person making a muscle to move. I saw everyone’s eyes, and they kinda matched their element. Emerald for life or Nature, and light brown for Terra.

“Now, what did you say your name was?” The man spoke.

“Heather Moon.” I replied, not trying to be scared.

“And your element was?”

“Darkness.”

“Darkness, you say. We haven’t had a darkness elemental in a long time, since the Great Elemental War of 1755. This may not be good.”

“What do you mean? Am I some sort of threat?”

“Some ways, yes. Some ways, no. There are probably more Darkness elementals out there that are unaccounted for.”

I nodded as the man motioned me to come to him, which I did. As he walked through the crowd, people parted and we walked through. Dirty looks and ugly faces came from the others besides the friends I knew. Vortexes opened and closed in the distance with experienced sorcerers coming to an fro.

The man lead me to a door and opened it. Inside looked like a typical office with neat paperwork and books lining a bookshelf. Grey walls with white wall moldings were contrasting the brown hardwood floor. He entered it and motioned me in, and I closed the door as I did.

“So, Heather Moon, if you’re really a darkness elemental, show me. Don’t worry about this room. It’ll repair the instant I want it to.” He spoke, looking around the room

“I really can’t control it. I can’t conjure it, but I can only do it in imminent danger is around.” I replied, not trying to sound mean.

“Hm. We can test your powers later. As for now, we need to find someone to mentor you. Maybe the Light element will help, but I doubt it. No, you need to travel to the Capital city of Maehara, which is named after the first sorcerer, Kitsune Maehara. You need to go there to train and come back once you’ve gained everything to ensure your survival.”

“Is there a quick way to get there?” I asked after a moment of silence.

“The vortexes won’t be able to take you there, so you’ll need to travel by foot with an elemental from every element. They need to be experienced, meaning they have training. I’ll call them down.”

He spoke, but I heard nothing. A spell maybe, but it didn’t have any casting that I knew. Soon, the door opened and lots of elementals poured in. Soon, I was worried about how much space there was going to be left. Luckily, there wasn’t many of each element, so now I had to choose.

“Choose your companion from each element to help you with your journey to the capital.”

“Uh. 1st on this side of the room.” I pointed my hand to the left.

The people on the left came forwards and stood to the left of me. Everyone else left the room, and I was now stuck with them. Turning around, I saw him writing out names. This made me curious about his name. Sitting down, I looked towards him.

“Hey, what is your name, since you asked me mine.” I asked, and the sorcerers gasped.

“Well, since you are new and won’t be here for the newcomer’s ceremony, I guess I will tell you here. My name is Jacob Balancekeeper. I am the only one so far that isn’t a Supreme Ruler that was taught all of the elements, including darkness. But that was from the Supreme Ruler named Carter Gatekeeper.” He replied, studying my reaction.

“Oh. Why am I supposed to go to the center city if you could teach me it?”

“Because I am not allowed to. My last name was changed in order to show I could control all the elements.”

I nodded and slowly stood up from the chair. My new companions moved so I could get out. I didn’t think there was something so important about me, so different. All of them held a book, and I had none. Not that I needed one, but why were they holding them? More specifically as to do I need one?

I opened the door and stood in shock. How long was the trip going to be? A bell rang and quite a bit of sorcerers flowed out of rooms, wearing their elements garments. Shuffling of feet stopped me from leaving the room, and see a muddled amount of color. Turning around, I saw the sorcerers I had chosen sigh.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking at the few near me.

“Remember the good old days when we were walking these halls, Rob?” The girl sorcerer in the green garment spoke

“Yeah. I remember.” responded the man in the red vest.

“I can’t keep track of names, so tell me all of yours.” I spoke after a minute of silence among us.

“Well, mine’s Kaitlyn, a Nature and Life elemental. The man in the red vest is Robert, a pyromancer. The girl in the darker blue is Panama, a water elemental. And next to her in the glassy blue robe is Amber, an ice elemental. The man turned away from you is Joe, a Light elemental. Also, the ones next to him are Angel, a Terra elemental, Jennifer, a air elemental, and Jason, a lightning elemental.” Kaitlyn spoke, extending out her hand.

Shaking it, I spoke, “I’m Heather Moon, darkness.”

“Wait, darkness? Is that why Joe is turned away from you?”

“That or I am an unexperienced sack of potatoes.”

Kaitlyn laughed and spoke after calming down, “I think the passing period for lunch is over. Now it’s just the stragglers. Come on, we need to pack. Let me grab a note from Jacob so we can enough food to get to the capital and possibly back. I don’t think you have a room, right?”

“I don’t, and besides, I don’t think there is one for my element.”

Kaitlyn turned around and went through the the crowd of sorcerers, and only to return with the same path. Inspecting the note she had, I couldn’t read it. Looking at her, I gave a confused look. When she noticed, she started to point to a word.

“Well, the whole note says ‘2 sacks of food’, least to say that we are going to have plenty of food. Hopefully, as long there are no injuries or fatalities.” She translated, looking at me.

“Oh. I definitely need to learn this weird language.” I responded, breathing heavier than normal.

“Are you ok? Also, your body already understands part of it, because where else would you get your numbers from? The 8 here is a respectable and also is referred as infinite.”

“Oh. I feel fine.”

Falling to the ground, I clutched my stomach. My eyes squinted as I tried to subtle the pain. Everywhere suddenly hurt, and I screamed. Not telling who was yelling, I opened my eyes to see Kaitlyn on the floor, hurt in the same area. Spells were flying across the room in order to get the one who attacked me.

Of course this would happen, it’s just my luck. Blood stained my hands as I took a look to see how bad it was. I couldn’t tell if I was attacked, or the car crash earlier hurt me internally. Reaching the blood stained hand out to Kaitlyn, she weakly took hold of it.

“Don’t. Give. Up.” She spoke between breaths, and it seemed like it was only us in the room, and that Jacob left without us knowing. Could he be our attacker?

“No, don’t you dare leave. Stay awake.” I spoke, seeing black coming from behind me, making a shield around us.

Sure, it took energy, but not the type that I needed to survive. Tightening my grasp on Kaitlyn, I looked in her eyes. She wasn’t dead, but it was probably from me that she wasn’t dying. Taking my energy, I didn’t mind as long as she was alive.

Yelling from the outside of the shield made me worried. Opening a gap, I saw that it was Panama and Amber, and they were extending their hands outwards towards us. Lowering my shield, they came in and checking on our well being. I never stopped holding Kaitlyn’s hand, fearing that she would die.

“Ok, we need to get them to the Healing Pool of Insanity. It’s the only place now.” Amber spoke, checking out on Kaitlyn.

“Agreed, but this place we can’t enter without an official. It will take too much time to get one.” Panama reasoned, looking Amber square in the eye.

“Fine. To the Healer’s Den, I suppose.”

Panama started to carry me, with Amber not too far behind. Me and Kaitlyn’s hand never left each others. Groaning, I didn’t feel good at all, but I knew it without even knowing what was wrong with me.