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## Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

copyright©2020 by Adiele favour.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher,except as permitted by U. S copyright law.

E-book ISBN: 9780463389768

The Staff of Rena

Book one

Adiele favour

CHAPTER 1

My name is jayden peter. I have pretty much lived a normal life until I was expelled. I was kidnapped by. You'll get to know later. I am quite envious of you seeing that I`ll probably never have a normal teenage life again. Well I was a student of xanders academy fancy name I guess, any way like you have already guessed it's a private school.

Am an elemental born to control nature and stuff, anyway back to the story. I always thought I was always being followed.

Well almost everyday I could sense someone watching me. Though only through the wind and I couldn't explain it but it was a feeling I frequently started getting. I became paranoid most of the time wishing my mom would tell me what was wrong with me but every hospital in New York said I was okay, it might be because of stress.

I MEET MY STALKER

SOMEWHERE IN NEWYORK

Unknown1 : we are ready master send us

Unknown 2: not yet let the boy train I will want some entertainment

Unknown1 : as you wish master

You would think getting kidnapped by supernatural's would be cool but it wasn't. I'll tell you how it came to that in a sec.

Introduction

I feel like am missing some parts of my story. That's right I am supposed to tell you what my life was like before the monsters. So...

I woke up with a start sweating and panting. I can still remember what I dreamt about.

In my dream my school was on fire teachers were trying to get the students out of the fire safely. I think I should point out the fact that I have no control over my actions, back to my dream. Its going well but like you can guess the fire got hotter and then unexpectedly teacher caught on fire pretty cool right? Except he is not immune to the fire suddenly my hand stretches out towards the flailing teacher on fire and he is encased in ice. What am going to say now Is going to sound weird but I kinda saw and felt the energy leave me and the next part is going to shock you. I saw someone dart away from me while others were staring in awe and as inquisitive as I am I chased after the person, who takes various turns towards the fire rather than away. I kinda find some comfort in that cause it's not everyday you see two humans running towards a fire. The person stops bows to a fire without noticing me and shockingly starts talking to the flame, I make out a faint outline of a person as the fire not in the fire . I did the only sensible thing I gasped , the person turns out to be Sonia my from seventh grade crush and I did something sensible again I said `huh' she turns notices me then sprints towards to fire for a minute am to stunned to do anything. I don't get over my shock before I am yanked out from the dream and then I wake up panting

Sonia pretty much left the school after eleventh grade due to the fact that most of her classmates kept calling her a freak. Rumor has it that there has always been a fire accident

Whenever she gets angry. So they all started calling her a freak when maddie greenwood went to dig for dirt on the most popular eleventh grader ,a twelve year old girl sonia.

Everyone knew maddie was jealous of the fact that to three of the most handsome guys in our class were going to ask Sonia out, anyway am about to introduce you into my new life were I get beaten a lot of times

CHAPTER 2

I didn't ask to be an elemental.

So if you are reading this because you think you might be one. Go to a hospital cause if you're going to try out your imaginary powers and they don't work you'll need a psychiatrist.

Anyway being an elemental is dangerous. It never really ever has a happy ending scary. Most of the time your powers help other times, it gets your family or loved ones in trouble or gets them killed in gut twisting ways.

If your think its just another fantasy story by all means read but if for one second you think this is real call your best friend and tell him/her to film you . I do wish I was in your position reading this book with a milkshake on my table or a burger.

Sadly life has other plans. My story is one of love,blah,blah,blah and some of those of those other things. I am kinda related to the five elemental gods but not in the way you think. You see my dad is the only son of Erebus and Pele. The first to have a mortal as a son and my mum is the grand daughter of enlil and nerthus. Did I forget she is actually Poseidon's daughter . Naturally the gods have a lot of enemies and it's only a matter of time before they sense you, and they'll come for you.

My name is Jayden Peters.

I'm seventeen years old. Until a few months ago, I was a student at Xander Academy, a private school for rich kids in New York.

Most Xander field trips were like torture why?, it's because like the good private school students we take school trips to showcase our school's elegance. It's so boring.

But Mr. Trevor, our history teacher, was onboard this bus, so I had hopes.

Mr. Trevor was this young ,well built guy with a mean face with scars. He had wavy black hair and a cool beard. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of dummy armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't bore me to near-death.

I hoped the journey would be cool. I hoped that for once I would get a normal field trip. I could not have jinxed it any betters.

See, bad things happen to me on field trips. Like at my seventh-grade school, when we went to sky dive , I only pranked a few students and got suspended. I had this accident with a kitanna. I wasn't aiming for the his wrist, but of course I got expelled anyway. Before that, at my fourth-grade school, the time before that... Well, you get the idea.

This trip, I was determined to be good.

All the way into the city, I put up with maddie, the head of the popular girls clique, bullying my friend, Liam, taunting him mercilessly.

It was always easy to get under Liam's skin. He was well built but he lacked a lot of self confidence. He cried when he got bullied.

He was on a scholarship in a mean rich kids school.. He walked funny, like a drug dealer always looking over his shoulder.

Anyway, maddie greenwood was at the top of her game taunting against Liam who was about to cry, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The principal had "put me in my place" by informing me that an outright expulsion would occur if any pranking happened, or any thing that taints the re[p of his perfect school on this trip.

`I'm going to pulverize her,' I murmured.

Liam tried to calm me down. `It's okay. I like attention from pretty girls.' He winced at another maddie's taunting towards him.

`That's it.' I started to get up, but Liam pulled me back to my seat.

`You're on probation,' he reminded me. `You know who'll get expelled if anything happens.'

Looking back on it, I wish I'd pulverized Madison right then and there. Expulsion would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.

Mr Trevor led the gallery tour.

He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-abstract painting.

Mrs. Lydia was our vice principle from Quebec who always wore a black skinny jeans. even though she was forty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a bulldozer into your house right into your bedroom. She had come to Xander halfway through the year, when our last vice principle mysteriously disappeared .

From her first day, Mrs Lydia loved Madison and figured I was a threat to her rep. She would point her bony finger at me and say, `Now, Mr. peters,' in a mischievous way, and I knew I was going to get some stick not literally.

It was a boring tour , I kinda just day dreamed during the whole thing. maddie approached liam with her lunch which I guess she'd gotten tired of and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Liam's lap.

`Oops.' She grinned at me with her perfect teeth.

I tried to stay act indifferent. liam had calmed me down a couple of times but I was way past trying to calm down. I felt the rush of the wind, the firmness of the concrete pavement.

I could've sworn I was at least two feet away from her , but the next thing I knew, maddie was butt down on the pavement screaming, `Jayden shoved me !'

Mrs. Lydia materialized next to us.

Some of the kids were murmuring: `Did you feel-' `- the wind -'

`- like it shoved her -'

The light breeze turned into a miniature cyclone. Kids screamed and ran towards the building. The hurricane snaked towards them snatching backpacks, phones and jotters, Liam almost tripped at the steps of the door but I caught him. ``Thanks bro'' Liam yelled.

Mrs. Lydia and Mr. Trevor held the doors open for students. The ground shook. laughter so evil was what I heard every time the winds rushed passed my ears , and a voice saying

`hello , nephew,' the voice said. `come visit!' it was so terrifying that I just passed out

CHAPTER 3

I woke up at the infirmary bandaged at my right arm and little traces of blood on the bandage arm. In front of me was the nurse who said. `The principal wants to see you and your friend Liam is at the door'. I stood up to meet him at the door. At the other side was a very worried looking Liam. `Do you think they are going to pin it on you'. `nah'.

Nervously I approached the principal's office. "come in" I opened the door "Mr. peter welcome" I called you to tell you that you've been expelled'. To say I was shocked was an understatement. Standing beside the principle was Mrs. Lydia with a smirk on her face and I just knew she was the one who called the shot. `the letter of expulsion has been sent to your father, I am sure he will be here soon'. Like clockwork my dad walked into the room and I noticed three things Mrs. Lydia gave my dad her winning smile ,my dad was frowning , he was facing my direction. All he could tell me was `Jay go to the car.' After a few minutes he came out of the school building walking towards the car and I could see his disappointment. He started driving home' hey jay I have a place to take you for schooling I worked there am sure they'll let you stay for a while. `whatever' ` hey young man, show some excitement. During the ride Jayden noticed he looked buff and muscular he normally had flat stomach and lean arm, he was more gangly than muscular. Did he fall into a coma or his mind was playing tricks on him. He told his dad to take him to the hospital my dad asked `why' and I told him about the transformation of my body. His lips began to twitch and his eyes twinkle like he knew some thing I didn't. they arrived at the hospital my dad waited at the car while I went into the building. He told the doctor about his observation. "I want to take some X-rays just the same. Depending on what we find, maybe even a CT scan. Might be something going on that we can't see with the naked eye."

Maybe the doctor was on to something. What if he was hallucinating? Shock did funny things. Maybe he really had been hit and his mind wasn't working right. Maybe he only thought he was in better shape than he used to be.

"Hey, Doc, can I ask you a question?"

The doctor looked up from his clipboard and nodded.

"Would you say that I was overweight? You looked at my stomach. Do you think I have a gut?"

"I don't think you should be worrying about that right now." "Just tell me, please."

The doctor squinted at Jayden and frowned.

"Mr. peters, I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but I have to ask if either of you were drinking or using illegal drugs today."

"I'm just thinking that if I stressed myself ...well maybe what I think I'm seeing isn't real."

The doctor raised his eyebrows expectantly.

"As of yesterday," Jayden said, sheepishly, "I remember having a gangly body."

Even as he said it, Jayden knew he had divulged too much information.

Now the doctor would be curious.

"If that's what you remember, there's a chance you might have a concussion. I want to get you to X-ray right away."

"Maybe I didn't have a flat stomach and lean build yesterday," Jayden stammered. "I can't remember. What I meant to ask was, can stress do something like burn someone's fat off or something like that?"

"If it could, everybody would be trying to wear themselves out."

If you really feel that you're overweight, I have someone you should speak with after we get things cleared up here."

The rest of the doctor's words entered Jayden's ears as muffled sounds, unconnected and meaningless. The doctor had just confirmed that he wasn't hallucinating or delirious. This wasn't a dream. Somehow, his body had been physically altered, improved, and there was no logical explanation. Once again, there was only one thing left for him to consider, and that was the illogical and the absurd—that his thoughts or his panic had unleashed a hidden power from within him that had very real consequences. And that the mysterious hurricane at the trip had been involved .

The doctor's hand on his shoulder snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Stay here and I'll have a nurse take you down to radiology," the doctor said, scribbling on a slip of paper. "It should only take about half an hour. I'll see you when you get back."

The doctor left the room, and within minutes, Jayden's nurse entered. She asked how he felt, unlocked his wheelchair with a stomp of her foot, and rolled him away.

When they arrived at the radiology department, the nurse checked him in. Soon a peppy technician with short sandy brown hair called his name and wheeled him back to be X-rayed. She asked him if he felt well enough to stand. Jayden assured her that he was fine, and then she asked him to take his shirt off. For the first time in his life, he did so without embarrassment. He thought he caught her glancing at his abdomen muscles. After she snapped the required shots, she smiled and told him that he looked familiar but that she couldn't place where she had seen him before. He tried to offer a few places where they might have met, but he could only come up with the name of his local grocery store. Shaking her head, she told him to get dressed and to sit back down in the wheelchair. As she pushed him into the waiting room, she said that she would see him later and told him that his films would be ready in a few minutes.

His mind bounced between concern for Liam and the additional guilt of wanting to see the friendly technician again.

About twenty-five minutes later, a husky male intern called Jayden's name and handed him an oversized manila envelope stuffed with large sheets of black film.

Jayden wondered where the female technician had gone as the nurse pushed him back to the emergency room. Entering through the automatic glass doors he was engulfed again by the swarm of frenetic activity. The doctor spotted him and directed the nurse to deposit him in a dimly lit side office with a light board mounted on the wall. The nurse left them and closed the door behind her. The jumble of noise hushed to a murmur.

The doctor opened the envelope and slapped the pieces of film up on the light board as if dealing floppy, oversized cards. He hummed as he looked over a printed report from the radiologist. He leaned closer to the translucent black squares and nodded his head a few times.

"No concussion," the doctor said, looking back and forth between two of the X-rays. The doctor moved his face closer to one of the soft white images and furrowed his eyebrows.

"How's your throat feel?"

"A little hoarse from all the talking , but that's all." The doctor cleared his throat.

"Does something look wrong?"

"Just some blurring probably. You may have moved a little when they took the film, but I don't see a reason to run another series right now. Make sure you come back if you feel anything strange in the next few days." I walked out of the hospital to the car then my dad drove us home.

.

After the ride at home Jayden's father was looking depressed. So Jayden asked him what's up.

"hey dad what's going on"

"Jayden there's no way I can say this gently but you where adopted" dad says.

And after fourteen years of living with this man I finally noticed why we looked so different. I thought it was because I inherited my mums trait, but that was guess work because I have never seen her.

I am so confused. I run outside my house enter my dads prius and start to drive

CHAPTER 4

EIGHTY FEET below the ground-level. Their hideout, Sonia slouched in her sleek black chair, clicking her boot heel against the hard plastic floor like a jittery second hand on a watch. At the other end of the worktable, Ryan and Janet sat oblivious to the noise. Their chins were tucked close to their chests, heads bowed as if immersed in prayer. On the table in front of each of them was a fist-sized flame glowed and pulsed with veins of crimson and blues. The light from the flames painted their faces with flickering swatches of color. A drop of sweat fell from the back of Ryan's left ear onto his warm neck.

Sonia yawned and stretched her arms above her head. This was going to take forever. Despite their stillness, she knew that Ryan and Janet were straining mentally to create flames.

For blessed humans, they were adept at creating the flames, but...well, they were still only part-elemental. They couldn't control the flames without the burning themselves for now. She was blessed with all of the perks of a full-blood. Her training allowed her to create two fire balls simultaneously, and her superior skills allowed her to control the flames.

Without the advantages of being a full elemental, ryan and Janet had no hope of creating better flames than the one she herself could create.

That, however, was an argument that Sonia was not going to win with her tribe leader, the great neflim, who also happened to be her uncle . After a fire elemental had died last month experimenting with a newly discovered elemental tactics, her father decreed that a different approach be used—one that a human could easily grasp and more safely conjure. Neflim believed that if blessed humans were using the flames, one of them had to discover their own method no matter how difficult the task may be. With an impatient huff, she swiveled in her chair and looked up at the torches at the wall that produced enormous pulsing flames that lined

the wall behind her.

Ryan's flames whizzed across two dummies hanging from the ceiling. Their energy along with the flames flickered past.

Her stomach suddenly twitched, filling her with a rising sense of nausea. She stopped tapping her foot as an invisible force rolled through her like concentric circles on the surface of a pond. Ryan and Janet were still training , either too focused on their work or unable to register the disturbance. The feeling was gone as quickly as it had appeared, leaving in its wake a vague aftertaste of unrest.

Reconstructing the languages of the part-elementals was hazardous work. Since part-elementals had no patterns, or consistency, there was no way of knowing exactly what a new combination of names would conjure without speaking them out loud and hoping for the best. That was why they conducted all testing of new words below ground in what was essentially a plastic bunker encased in solid stone.

Sonia was bothered because she had sensed an unknown disruption of power as if she had been walking unprotected on the street. Whatever it was must have been stronger than anything she had experienced before, especially this far away from other elementals..

The moment Neflim had been waiting for all his life had finally arrived. Despite his excitement, his voice was steady and controlled as always. Sonia, Janet, and Ryan were to stay in the testing lab, and Neflim would call them once it was safe to come to the surface. Before she could argue, her father ended the call.

Ryan and Janet looked at her with questioning stares.

A film of perspiration covered her skin. She knew what her father was talking about—the only thing it could be. The surge of magic she had felt had nothing to do with Ryan or his prowess. It was something both more exciting and terrifying. She had to get out of the building before he activated the security measures.

Without saying anything to Ryan and Janet, Sonia sped out of the room and ran down the hall. She hurried to the elevator doors and slapped the up button.

She tapped the wall impatiently as she waited for the elevator doors to open. Her father had recited to her the quest for the staff of Rena.

There and then she decided that she must apply to go for the test. She'd lost on her first three tries but after that she had become the reigning champion for two years straight even for this year. They decided to hold the birth of the phoenix clan competition annually, to decide the fire elementalist who would represent them. Depending on which year the quest is the clan decided to always have a champion, and as the champion she has the right to apply for the quest.

CHAPTER 5

Normally, he hated being around drunks. Their true personalities were unleashed by the alcohol and almost always were better kept suppressed by sobriety. Tonight was different. Losing his self in a throng of mindless people would help get his mind off of the expulsion, the freak event and give him time to think.

He slipped his prius keys into his pocket, walked over to the pub and went inside. The steaming hot room was packed with sweaty bodies preventing him from seeing the floor. His skull pulsed in time with the blaring music while the premier league game played on in silence on the oversized flat screen television.

He shoved his way through the crowd to the bar, trying to avoid getting splashed with beer from the tilting cups of the screaming sports fans. As he arrived, two women abandoned their chairs and he quickly sat down.

The bartender tapped on the top of the bar and asked what he wanted to drink. He shouted for a whisky but doubted that the man behind the bar could hear him. A minute later and the bartender placed a shot of whisky in front of him. He paid for it, took a whiff of the walnut colored liquid, and drank it in one gulp. He couldn't breath at first, but the initial shock to his system diminished as the trail of fire spread down his throat and warmed his stomach. He breathed deeply and tasted the first hint of the numbness he was looking for—no dead man talking in his ear , no hurricane, no police, and no father —just him and some time to figure things out where no one could find him.

He could not explain his restored eyesight, his rippled abdomen, his fixed teeth, his full head of hair, or what had happened to his mind. It made no sense, but his body had been reshaped physically by some force or power that was beyond his understanding . To him it felt like the hurricane was feeding of him.

he had not only been affected by it, he had made it happen by his own force of will, and he had no idea how he had done so.

He ordered another shot and looked up at his new thin-faced reflection in the mirror behind the bar. He did not feel his normal urge to contort his face into that of a stranger. Despite being upset about how his father had reacted to him when she came out of the office, he liked the person he saw in the mirror. For some reason, he thought he was looking at his real face for the first time.

The bartender set down his third shot. Jayden reached for the small glass, blinked his eyes hard, and shook his head. The alcohol was already making it hard to focus. It probably wasn't the best timing, but he decided that there was only one way to see if his powers were real.

He closed his eyes and tried to call on the energy he had tapped earlier. He concentrated as hard as he could and thought that he felt the beginning of the familiar tingle that signaled the onset of his power. He chased the sensation, trying to catch it—to harness it.

Then it was gone.

He sipped his whiskey, then drooped his head, feeling worn and suddenly tired. He didn't want to give up his place at the bar, but he had to go to the bathroom. He stood up and steadied himself with one hand placed on the edge of the bar. The floor felt like it was made of sponge as he tried to focus on weaving through the dense maze of people without running into anyone.

Once inside the men's room, the noise of the crowd muffled to a low drone. Jayden squinted against the buzzing fluorescent lights. He gently swayed back and forth as he waited for a large man reading the newspaper displayed in the glass frame in front of the urinal to finish. The man walked away and didn't flush. He brushed Jayden's shoulder as he left and muttered something unintelligible. Jayden sauntered up to the urinal. After relieving himself, he went to the sink and rubbed the grainy pink liquid soap into his hands.

He looked up at his new reflection in the men's room mirror. Despite his exhaustion, he looked and felt younger—better than he ever had. He laughed and then smiled.

The smile looked more foreign on his face than any of his physical

changes, but he liked it. He threw away the paper towel he used to dry his hands and paused at the door, preparing to re-enter the drone of humanity on the other side. Usually, the clatter of so many people was like a discordant grating. Tonight, he couldn't wait to dive into the herd.

He straightened himself and pushed open the men's room door. The crowd's noise surrounded him as he collided with a woman who had just come out of the ladies room.

She raised her face to look up at him. She was stunning, with short, dirty blonde highlighted hair, a soft, but distinct jaw and full lips. He struggled through an apology, and the woman laughed—a gentle, warm chuckle. At first he was entranced, but then he feared that she was laughing at him, probably thinking he was trying to pick her up.

He turned to walk away, but the woman touched his shoulder. "I didn't mean to laugh, but you weren't who I was expecting."

He was so startled that he barely wondered whom she had been expecting. "I thought I scared you," he said.

"How could a girl be scared of a nice guy like you? God knows we could use more of them around. I don't mean to be forward, but would you let me buy you a drink? Just one to help you get your buzz back. You seem to have lost it because of me."

She dipped her head just enough for her hair to fall in front of her left eye like an animal peeking out from its hiding place. She had probably practiced that move in the mirror countless times to get it just right, but he didn't care. A beautiful woman wanted to buy him a drink, and after the night he'd had, he wasn't about to refuse. It was time to try out his new looks. He followed closely behind her as she walked to the bar. This was just what he needed to put all thoughts of school and whatever was going on with him out of his mind.

To his surprise, the two seats were still open at the bar. He sat sideways on his barstool, propping his elbow up on the bar, as he stared into her light brown eyes. Four drinks later, he hadn't moved and was telling her all about his life. She kept buying him drinks, and he kept talking.

"I used to think my life was normal" Jayden hesitated.

"You thought your childhood was normal?" she asked . He looked down into his empty whisky glass.

"My father told me I was adopted just an hour ago." She nodded, leaned forward, and touched his arm.

"I'm sorry about your father...or your adoptive father, I mean. I wish there was some way I could help take your mind off of things."

She brushed her arm against his fingers . Despite a lifetime of being turned down, he was convincing himself that he had a chance with her. He was drunk, but she looked like she was having a good time, really enjoying being with him.

The cold winter air swept through the bar. Jayden shivered and turned toward its source. His vision blurred, and he almost slid off his barstool. The people in the crowd were stretched like they were in a fun house mirror. He felt sick in his stomach. Through the chaos, he could just discern the fuzzy image of an old man with long gray hair standing in front of him. He heard far away words in the blonde woman's voice—something about getting to see the penguin?. Was the old man her father? Black static crackled at the edges of his field of vision. He should have known it was too good to be real. He was about to get leveled for the second time that night, this time by an angry husband.

Someone grabbed hold of his arm and forced him to stand up. Jayden winced, waiting for the first blow, but it never came. He looked up trying to figure out what was going on. His stomach tightened, and his throat burned as he vomited. An invisible hand pulled at him. Now he was outside, cold. The wind stung his face, slapping him with near-frozen droplets of water. The pain felt good. At least he could still feel something. He shivered, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The side of his face slid against the cool soft leather of a car seat. His insides vibrated as an engine roared to life. He thought he was going to be sick again. His blurry world spun around one last

time before he surrendered to the warm safety of unconsciousness and fell asleep.

#

CHAPTER 6

JAYDEN tried to get up from the sticky leather of the couch on which he was sprawled. He tried to sit up but fell back into the sofa, unable to keep his balance. His stomach pitched as he rolled onto his side and willed himself not to vomit. He was still hung over and needed more sleep, but first he had to figure out where he was.

The room looked like a greenhouse with antique stained wood furniture and smelled of dirt and grass and living things. It with Wide wooden floor planks ran the length of the room and ended at a set of tall double doors. A mahogany desk stood in front of a large circular window that was crisscrossed with bands of oak interlaced across the glass. The full range of greens and browns from the plants scattered throughout the room reminded Jayden of a forest more than an office.

He struggled to his feet and steadied himself against the wall. He took a deep breath and absently touched his stomach. He was still thin—that part wasn't a dream. He remembered the school, his father, the hospital, and the woman at the bar. He had talked to her for what seemed like several hours, but couldn't remember her name.

Jayden rubbed his forehead as he made his way around the huge desk and over to the window. He looked through his own dark reflection into the night and saw that he was several stories above ground. In the distance, the perfect clusters of trees and the familiar high-rise office buildings still aglow with fluorescent lights told him that he was somewhere in brooklyn, close to where he lived.

Jayden turned as the room's heavy wooden doors creaked open. A thin old man with long gray hair in wore a well tailored suit . The beautiful blonde from the bar followed behind the old man. She was as physically perfect as he remembered but her face showed none of the warmth from earlier or any hint of recognition. He should have known that a woman with her looks wouldn't have been interested in him.

The old man stopped on the other side of the desk that Jayden stood behind.

"I am honored to meet you at last," the old man said with a wistful smile.

His voice was deep and rich with a full timbre and his words echoed despite their softness.

"I thank Poseidon that you awoke so close to our home. My name is Neflim, and I believe you already know my daughter, Sonia."

The woman suddenly seemed familiar yet distant, but he was certain that this was just another of her performances.

"Why am I here? And where the hell is here?"

"Forgive me," Neflim said. "You are on the top floor of The Primodial's building in Brooklyn Corner. Simply put, you are here because our futures depend on you."

Jayden paused, unsure of how to respond.

"I have to be getting home before my dad starts worrying and calls the cops."

"There is no one waiting for you at home," the old man said. "You are in no danger here, nor is there a need to worry."

"I'll call the cops myself if I have to," he said as he reached into his empty pocket for his phone.

"You don't need that anymore," Neflim said. "Besides, I must insist that you hear me out before doing anything rash. "

Jayden leaned against the back wall, crossing his arms in front of him in what he hoped was a defiant, powerful stance.

"Okay. What do I have to do with your future?"

"Not just my future—the future of your body, or at least this incarnation of it."

Jayden hung his head and let out a long sigh.

Sonia walked over to a wet bar in the corner of the office, and poured a glass of orange juice. She offered it to him across the desk.

"This will help with your hangover...and the aftereffects of the sedative," she said with a smile.

He waved the drink away. He was dehydrated, but not stupid enough to accept anything to drink from her again.

"You drugged and kidnapped me," he said, moving out from behind the desk. "I'm going to walk out of here and catch a taxi home, and neither of you is going to try to stop me."

Neflim frowned, his eyes turning the color of ice.

"You cannot leave. You are completely unaware of the events and of the danger unfolding around you. You are safe in this building for the moment, but not for long. What happened to you earlier is only the beginning of how your life has changed."

Jayden got up and moved toward the door.

"You're both crazy, and you're making my head ache more than it already does. Now I see where nutcase girl gets it from..."

Neflim made a slight wave of his hand and muttered something that sounded like leaves scuttling about. A gust of wind slammed into Jayden's chest, sending him across the room and pinning him down into the leather sofa.

Jayden's heart rate doubled and his arms went cold. The windows and doors were closed, and the air in the room was still, as if nothing had happened. He broke out in a thin sheen of sweat as he struggled to put what had just happened to him into a logical context. Finding none, he ran for the door.

Once again, Neflim waved his hand, and Jayden was slammed back into the couch by a gust of wind. He looked up at Neflim and Sonia. The sound of his labored breathing filled the room .

He didn't trust the two people standing in front of him, and he wasn't going to be held against his will because of a couple gusts of wind. He was confused, and his conscious mind tenaciously refused to accept that the supernatural or something similar to it existed. At the same time, he knew what he had experienced earlier was also real. He willed himself to search for that well of power he had tapped in the alley, but he found only fog. His temples throbbed from the effort, but nothing happened—he was defenseless. Liam walked into the room with Mr. Trevor behind him.

Neflim's face settled into an scowl. Liam tried to talk but Sonia pulled him away to talk to him

"Please don't try that again," Neflim said. "A considerable amount of time has been spent restoring the energy you threw away this yesterday. Please try not to waste it again so uselessly."

"I don't know how, but the only thing I did was save my friends!"

"from a hurricane that you started"neflim said

Then he and Sonia started to discuss something

I observed Sonia and noticed that she was at most eighteen due to her face. Well I stopped checking her out and I tried to attack her while she was distracted at least I could take care of the old man next. As I made my way towards them, I threw a punch towards Sonia she easily sidestepped and hit me on my head hard, with her elbow and that was the last thing I noticed before I passed out.

In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit. Grey mist creatures churned all around me, whispering insecurities into my ear I started to have negative emotions building in my mind all the hate and anger where trying to pool out of my mind like something or someone was trying to feed out of it.

They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me forward, but I tried and failed to walk away from the very edge of the cliff.

There was only darkness under the pit making me confused trying to cause chaos in my mind

The black hole was so wide and, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to suck from the abyss, something ancient.

Another pengaer, an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. so much power locked but perhaps you will be able to bring peace or chaos.

The voice felt ancient - cold and heavy. It snaked around me like lightening.

They have lied to you, boy, it said. You might be a pengaer but you hold power equivalent to most gods . I will let you mature you might prove to be useful to me.

Someone was shaking me.

My eyes opened, and it was night. `Well,' Sonia said, `the newbie lives.'

I was trembling from the dream. I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest. `How long was I asleep?'

`Long enough for me to cook dinner.' Sonia tossed me a bagel. `And Liam went to the academy. Look, he found a spot for you.'

My eyes had trouble focusing so I passed out again

I was in bed at the infirmary . My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.

I heard a knocking sound at the door. `Come in.'

Liam walked inside, looking worried. `Mr trevor wants to see you.' `Why?'

`He wants to elimin... I mean, I'd better let him tell you.'

Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble. I was surprised to find myself in the hallway of a school and they must have moved me from my position to the academy. I wonder what Mr. Trevor is doing in this place.

Liam led me to Mr. Trevor's office he rapped at the door. We heard a muffled "come in" we walked into the building.

"welcome Jayden, have a sit "says Mr. Trevor "you too Liam"

I asked him a couple of questions and he answered them. Don't stress it am definitely not going to list them all for you but I'll tell you his answer to your question.

"what are you"

"both me and Liam are elementals, even your ex classmate Sonia but she was transferred to this school because of those comments".

Mr. Trevor replies. "to further elaborate on the topic I will tell you more on it now.

" Man has dominated this land for centuries. Centuries earlier the weaker class "HUMANS" had found their means of survival. It was one which was considered as inconsistent, always facing changes every few years

But the only constant was their reliance on the resources of the land. It was known that the land consists of seven core elements : fire, water, earth, wind ,lightning ,nature and light.

Centuries ago man came across elemental deities; beings with unbelievable control over one element. Each deity to an element . They were in a sense rulers of their elements. Due to the abuse man had put the entire land to the elemental deities sought to destroy man

It ended up in a devastating war which lasted for decades without end. Although for some unknown reason the elemental deities surrendered to the weaker species forming a truce. which ended up in the elemental deities giving some of their powers to anyone who called it a home. saying

" we bestow part of our power to you and your descendants but this power will not be given to you without a price"

The people were confused some out greed others out of ignorance all accepted the power. Ridaiz was the name of the most powerful clan second to the elemental deities. There were five recorded clans four were officially for one element. Wielders were separated into four different clans, one for a particular element. Ridaiz was a different case entirely it was the only clan able to boast of a dual wielding elementalist or an elementalist wielding multiple elements maybe all. Ridiaz was prosperous due to his people and their powers almost unrivalled in strength but in a few years some elementalist started to misbehave mostly females due to fact tha common quarrels like the wearing the same type of apparel between two females one an elementalist the other a human female it always ended with the human utterly destroyed either by being incinerated, drowned, or crushed by boulders.

The elemental gods decided to reduce the number of female elementalist by eighty percent. The There is rarely any powerful female elemental last one was died twelve years ago, that's about it". Mr. Trevor says

We talk at length about other topics until he bids me a good day telling me

"Jayden you will be summoned to the director's office later please do well to come early.

CHAPTER 7

For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the director's office . Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon and pele gods who weren't supposed to have a mortal kid, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive. The other gods had probably been debating the best way to execute me for existing, and now Mr trevor was ready to deliver their decision.

The sky looked like storm was brewing. A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Liam if we needed an umbrella. `yep,' he said. `It rains here too.

I realized he was right.

But this storm... this one was huge.

At the football pitch, the kids from phoenix room were playing a morning game against the kids from the kraken's room. Poseidon's twins were walking around in the beach, making the water glow . Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.

Liam and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Erebus sat at the uno table in his leather vest, sports bandanna ,black denim jeans, leather boots, just as he had on my first day. Trevor sat across the table. They were playing against invisible opponents - two sets of cards hovering in the air.

`Well, well,' Erebus said without looking up. I waited

` come sit,' Erebus said.

Trevor feigned interest in his Uno cards. Liam cowered by the railing, his hair having a burst of flames and extinguishing it self.

"If I had my way,' Erebus said, `I would cause you to suffer in my realm Erebus and before you ask yes I named it after myself."

"Liam how do mortals say it, for copyright".

"Erebus "- Trevor warned.

"Oh, all right," Erebus relented. "Jayden Peters. if value your life do what Trevor feels you must do." He really sounded like a no nonsense man plus he only came to give me a handful of words.

He snapped his fingers.

The his shadow seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a holograph, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of death lingering behind.

Trevor smiled at me. `Sit, Jayden, please and Liam.' We did.

Trevor laid his cards on the table `Tell me, Jayden,' he said. `What did you make of Erebus?'

Just hearing the name made me shudder.

`he looks cool,' I said. `If you hadn't defended me, I'd be dead.'

`You'll meet worse gods, Jayden. Far worse, before you're done.' `Done... with what?'

`Your assignment, of course. Will you consider it?'

I glanced at Liam, who was playing with flames at the tip of his fingers . `Um, sir,' I said, `you haven't told me what it is yet.'

Trevor grimaced. `Well, you have to pass the introductory test then the mission approvals test.'

Your father and the gods are having their worst quarrel in decades. They are fighting over someone valuable. To be precise: you'

I laughed nervously. ` me?'

`Do not take this lightly,' Trevor warned. `I'm talking about the fact that Erebus was right you should be dead. Some gods think that you have too much power and you should be dealt with. Your father Poseidon is defending you but enlil believe you should be in a coffin'

`Oh.'

`Enlil's proposal has been backed up by many gods,' Trevor said, getting worked up now. `They have set up tests for you, from which all other gods will make their decision. The first weapon made by the Ogres for the war against labum, the staff that made the winning side in world war two'

` to find it would be your first quest you are allowed to choose two friends and the school will also provide three additional students for your cause.' My mouth fell open.

`At least' - Trevor held up a hand - `that's what we can do. During last council of the gods, Poseidon discovered the loss of Rena the staff from his palace museum with a note saying.

"If you ever want to get your staff back send five worthy champions to battle me at once.

You only have three chances unless you are scared." `Poseidon could have actually retrieved his staff himself but due to his pride Poseidon sent five of his sons , they never came back. Enlil took it as a challenge and tried to prove himself he sent the very best of his sons but they did not return'.

Afterwards, Enlil realized they all had to work together to beat the thief who was serphraim a disowned son of Pele and enlil. He only wants attention but has always been ignored he, he took the opportunity

To get the attention of all the gods. The staff contains little power over water but enough to rival their power of a minor river god". "We are hosting a tournament to decide which three elemental will join you one for earth one for water and one for air". "what about the fire tribe?" I asked Trevor.

" well they have their own underground tournament, so they'll send their champion to whenever I request for one"

" can't I just take Liam"

"no, but Liam can have a contest with the champion if he or she consent's. Winner gets the spot"

I finished my conversation with Mr. Henry and approach the training ground.

As I stand there, knowing that it's no longer possible to return to my normal life, I can't help but feel a bit excited about this whole thing. Maybe I really am completely out of my mind. I would have expected to feel at least a little bit scared about all of this. But instead of that, I get this constant tingling sensation that won't go away. The feeling that I am closer to my freedom than ever before in my life. All of the terrible dangers that await me seem distant to me, and all I can really think about now is that at the end of the quest, when I win this, I will finally be allowed to live.

There's an explosion maybe a few hundred feet from my location. The fights have already begun. And one of them is much closer to me than I would have hoped. There's no way I can get in a fight with any of the elementals at this point. I need to avoid combat for as long as possible if I am to survive until the end.

I head in the opposite direction from where I've heard the explosion. As I am heading towards the end of the training area, I start hearing voices. There are two elementals talking in a clearing a few feet away from me. I hide behind a tree and take a quick glance towards the clearing.

It seems the two elementals have just finished fighting. One of them has the appearance of a thug. He is wearing a simple stained white shirt,

Ripped pants and a belt full of throwing knives. His untrimmed black hair. Just by seeing the confidence in his eyes, I can clearly tell he is the victor of the skirmish. The other elemental is wearing heavy armor, but his shield lies on the ground besides him and he is barely holding his sword anymore.

Taking a closer look at the elemental in armor, I notice his smaller stature, his skin is dark, he is likely not more than fifteen years old and he has a scar on his jaw.

Hell, if all those earth elementals that joined this tournament are as weak as you, I'm going to win this by sundown!"

He starts laughing but he stops suddenly.

"Wait, who's there?" he says, as he turns towards me.

I quickly pull my head back behind the tree, and press my back against it, trying to breathe as silently as possible.

"I know you're there, coward. Show yourself, or I'll have one of my knives find you!"

I keep my breathing as silent as possible and don't say anything. He must be bluffing. He never got the chance to see me. He'll give up once he sees there's no answer.

"Have it your way, then," the thug says, as I hear him throw a dagger towards me. The dagger whooshes past my head and before I get the chance to react, it turns in midair and flies right into my left shoulder, pinning it against the tree. I let out a muffled groan of pain, as I reach to pull the knife out.

"You're not going to get that knife out so easily," the thug says. "My knives have a life of their own, and they only listen to me. Now that I know where you are, I'm going to..."

The thug suddenly interrupts himself in the middle of his sentence, and then he does not say anything for about five seconds. When he finally decides to speak again, his voice is changed, sounding a lot less confident than before.

"So you're the elemental, eh?" the thug says, while trying to hide the slight trembling in his voice. "Trying to get me to lower my guard by acting like an idiot? Trying to lull me into a false sense of security? Is that your plan? Well it ain't gonna work on me. Cause I'm too smart for that, you hear me?!"

His sudden change of attitude towards me is not completely unexpected. The existence of two direct sources of godly power in me is one of the main reasons why I've dared to dream that I might have a chance to finish this quest.

what is more interesting about my power is that you can't differentiate them from normal humans. Normally, you can sense the magic flowing from every being. You don't need to be a elemental to do it. By sensing their magical aura, you can tell how strong elementals are are before engaging them in a fight. It follows a hierarchy of

Green

Blue

Yellow

Orange. orange being the lowest and green being the highest.

After a long pause, the earth elemental says, finally:

". I'm going to be out of your hair just as soon as I finish this wimp here."

"You do that and you'll regret it," I say without thinking.

My last sentence seems to have taken him aback.

"What, are you kidding me?" the thug says. "You're going to defend this disgrace?"

"If I have to," I say. "Do I have to?"

The elemental once again falls silent. He doesn't seem to want to push his luck any further. After a while, I hear him put his daggers back into his belt and then spit on the ground.

"I'll remember this" the thug says. "Don't think I won't. You'll rue the day you messed with the captain. And the same goes for you, darkness freak in armor. I'll be seeing the both of you again, soon."

After he finishes his speech, he turns away in disgust and he heads into the woods on the opposite side of the clearing. The pocket knife from my shoulder pulls itself out on its own and hurries to catch up with its master.

Once I can no longer see "the captain", I let out a big sigh. That was close.

That was really close. I can still feel my heart beating rapidly in my chest.

You do that and you'll regret it? What was I even thinking? Was I trying to get myself killed?.

As I try to calm myself down, the elemental in armor sheathes his sword, picks up his shield from the ground and starts walking towards me.

. "I, Kevin , vow this day that I will offer you my protection from this moment, and until the end of your quest. Tell me, brave soul, what is your name?"

His speech took me by surprise.

"It's, uhh... It's Jayden," I say. "My name is Jayden." "Wait, your name's Jayden?" Kevin says.

"Why was that guy bullying you"

"Oh, that..." Kevin says.

He is sounding embarrassed.

"You see, Jayden," Kevin continues, "I am from the clan of shadows, but that doesn't mean that am here to kill anyone. It turns out one of those stories of our clan killing other elementals got out..."

"one of those stories?" I ask him. "The one that feran killed all his team mates except one ? But isn't that story from like seven years ago?" "It is..." Kevin says. "But it's not like we can erase from every one's mind... I can defend from elemental attacks just fine. It's normal weapons that I have a problem with. This is why I wear armor. This is why I use a shield. I first started using them because I couldn't concentrate on my element very well, but soon, I started tailoring my element around them, and my very fighting style. I found a master that would teach me to achieve my elemental form. Then, after every fight, I'd just use my element to heal my

wounds. Like so..."

He demonstrates it by raising his hands in the air and turning into a shadow the shadow takes away some of the shadows on the floor. I notice patches of the shadows missing then by absorbing more shadows it solidifies into a humanoid figure . Human shape turning into Kevin without his wounds.

"The captains knives had a life of their own," Kevin which takes a says , "and there were many of them attacking me simultaneously and I didn't want to fight him because I might have killed him in foreign territory. If I had wanted to fight him, defeating him would have been child's play.."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I say. "Shouldn't you be at least a bit worried about revealing your fears to someone you just met?"

"Hey, you just saved my life!" Kevin says. "So you can't be that bad, right?"

"Pardon me for interrupting," I hear a woman's voice coming from behind the trees. "But would you by any chance be Kevin, the champion of the clan of shadows?"

Both Kevin and I turn around at the same time. We see a slim, tall figure standing behind us, with long black hair, fair skin, and a very serious look on her face. She is wearing leather pants, a long sleeved white blouse, and a green, hooded cloak. She appears to be seventeen years of age.

But that's not all there is to this woman. I can also sense a strong magical aura all around her. A blue aura that couldn't possibly be coming from a regular human. Could she be... a demon?

My heart starts beating rapidly again. That night from two years ago is coming back to me. I can see it vividly, and I can still hear the laughter. That evil, hearty laughter. Will it never stop haunting me?

I breathe in deeply, and try to calm down. This woman can't be a demon.

The feeling I'm getting now is too different from the one I got back then.

Does that mean she's an elemental? No, that would be impossible. And yet...

"Jayden," whispers Kevin. "Don't be afraid. I can exorcise her."

I realize Kevin must have also sensed the magic coming from the woman and concluded that she's been possessed by a demon. Demons are parasitic spirits that need to inhabit bodies in order to survive. They usually spend a few weeks inside a body in a dormant state before taking over. During this phase, the host may develop magical powers. Once a demon is in full control of the body, they say she has awakened. The only way you can save the original host once she's been possessed by a demon is to use white magic to purify her before the demon has fully awakened, which basically means killing the demon without harming the host.

However, the exorcism operates on the assumption that a most women cannot have elemental powers of her own. They call it exorcism, but all the method does in fact is to completely eradicate the aura that gives off the strong magical vibe, with the purpose of also eliminating the demon along with it. On the other hand, if the aura does not actually belong to a demon, but to the woman herself, the purification would be nothing short of a death sentence.

"hey chill!" I blurt out. "This girl isn't a demon."

"So what, you're suggesting she's an elemental, then?" Kevin says. "Jayden most women can't be elementals. There hasn't been a single recorded case of a woman

Elemental since the great war except for a few fire and air female elemental's and that is in rare cases . I doubt any of the could have this kind of aura that rivals mine. Every time a woman's developed magical powers, it's been because of a demon . Every single time."

"Don't you think I know that?" I say. "But this one is different. If you try to exorcise her, you may well end up killing her!"

"How can you be so sure?" Kevin asks me.

"Because I've met a demon before," I say. "Up close. Have you met a demon before, Kevin?"

"...No," he admits.

"You just said you trusted me enough to tell me your fear," I tell him. "I'm asking you to trust me on this too. Can you trust me on this, Kevin?"

Kevin gives me one long look, and then he sighs deeply.

"Alright," he says. "We'll do it your way. But I'm keeping an eye on her. I swear, Jayden, if it turns out you're only saying all of this because of her looks, I'm going to—"

"Would you guys mind telling me what you've been whispering about for the past minute?" the woman asks us.

"We were talking about your looks, actually," I tell her.

The woman is looking straight at me. It's hard to tell if she's upset or simply unfazed by my comment, but at least she appears to believe me. She decides to ignore me completely and addresses Kevin instead.

"You didn't answer my question," she tells him. "I was asking if you were Kevin."

"I am, indeed," Kevin says. "What business would you have with me?" "I... require an escort," the woman says. "I am not certain if I can survive

My clans tournament by myself. And I've heard of all your deeds of shame and all your legends, so I thought that maybe..."

"Say no more!" Kevin says. "I will grant you my protection for the duration of your quest. From what you say, I would surmise that you're not actually trying to win the tournament?"

"No... I'm not," the woman says. "I am looking for... a friend. And I have reasons to believe that she's somewhere on this continent. But I don't have any specific leads just yet. For now, I just need to stay alive."

"Then you can join us!" Kevin says. "We were just about to get out of here! We're way too out in the open right now."

"Us?" the woman asks. "You're planning to travel alongside this pengaer? You can't trust him!"

"Hey, I'm right here!" I tell her. "What do you have against me, anyway?" "Don't give me that act, pengaer," the woman says. "I've heard of what your kind can do. Aqua life has no value to you. Tell me, what did the

Naiads of triton ever do to deserve such a terrible fate?" "Whoa, whoa!" Kevin says. "Let's all calm down!" He turns to the woman.

"calm down," he says, "I share your concern, but this pengaer saved my hide. If you're seeking for protection, then the two of you have to get along. I'm not accepting any arguments."

The woman pauses to consider Kevin's words.

"Very well," she says. "If that's the way it going to be, then I am forced to comply. But know that I'll be constantly watching my back. I am not as easily convinced as you,son of darkness."

" cool!" Kevin says. "Now that we've got that settled, let's be off! A tournament awaits!"

"hold up," I call out to the woman, as she turns to leave. "You still haven't told us your name."

The woman turns towards me and gives me a pondering look. After careful consideration, she decides to answer.

"It's Reyna," she says. "My name is Reyna."

With those last words, the three of us leave the clearing and head into the forest, in the hopes of finding some place away from the ongoing battles that are being waged across the land.

CHAPTER 8

As we march through the forest, I hear a few loud beeps coming from my left pocket.

"Jayden, what's that sound?" Kevin asks. "I know that sound. Don't tell me you brought a warning bracelet with you all the way here. Are you planning to protect us with that, Jayden?"

A warning bracelet. That's what most people call these devices nowadays. But very few people know what they really do, and how they actually work. Mr Trevor has led me to believe that these devices harness their aggressive energy from the elemental residue's all around them. The more aggressive energy they harness, the more the intensity of the beeping increases they become. Since elementals are usually spread far apart from one another and they don't really have any reason to fight one another, the use of such a bracelet are mostly unimportant. It's is also used to as training wheels for learning elementals to tell them when they are about to be attacked

But imagine the amount of aggressive energy it can obtain when

Most young powerful elementals are constantly fighting each other.

"Jayden," Kevin says, as he sees me fiddling with the bracelet, "don't you think there are more important things to do right now than playing around with that band?"

"This isn't a band ," I answer him as I put the bracelet back into my pocket. "And I think you should pay more attention to where you're going instead of lecturing me, because I see we just ran out of forest."

"Quiet, the two of you!" Reyna says. "We've got company."

She's right. Looking all around us, I see there are fallen trees everywhere in this area, and there are quite a few dead bodies lying around. It seems there's been a battle here, or maybe several. The victors were in the middle of looting the bodies when they noticed us.

There are three of them in total. One of them is considerably well-built for a elemental. He has a black beard covering his face, he seems to be in his early twenties he's wearing heavy armor and he is holding a broad sword in his hands. The other two are a bit skinnier and younger and are wearing vests instead, but they're holding no weapons. The bearded elemental with the broad sword shouts to Kevin:

"Quite the team you've assembled there, son of Erebus. A healer, a demon and an ordinary human. It's like you're trying to lose this quest !"

Reyna was visibly affected by the demon comment. Her eyes twitched and her look went subconsciously towards the ground.

"Mind your tongue, fool," I reply to him. "Who are you calling an ordinary human? Have you not heard of pengaers?"

"Hah!" the bearded elemental says. "Pengaers are legends and nothing more! I don't know what you were trying to achieve by joining this tournament, boy, but soon it won't matter anymore."

"Why?" Kevin asks the bearded elemental. "Why have you done this?" He gestures towards the lifeless bodies lying all around us.

"Nobody told us that we should start killing each other!" Kevin continues. "They told us there are no rules until they give us our first round. We don't even know if there was going to be combat involved! Why did you have to kill all of these people?"

"Because there are no rules," answers the elemental with the battleaxe. "No rules means we can do whatever we want. And what we want is to eliminate

as much of the competition as possible before the main event starts!" He grins.

"My brothers and I were a little worried at first!" he continues. "We were afraid we might not be ready for the big leagues."

He then raises his hands and takes a victorious stance.

"But here we are from the water clan!" the bearded elemental says, grinning.

He pauses for a few seconds, as he lowers his hands.

"But enough talk!" the bearded elemental says. "I think we all know what's coming next!"

His grin then widens, as he looks straight at me.

"First rule of combat," he continues.

Suddenly, one of the two younger elementals that were standing next to the elemental with the broad sword vanishes and appears right behind me, with a dagger in his hand.

"Always kill the weakest enemies first," the bearded elemental continues. Shortly after the young elemental appears behind me, I see a vision of him

slashing his dagger towards my neck. Was that... a premonition?

Sure enough, the young elemental now slashes his dagger in the exact same way he did in my vision. Knowing where the hit's coming from, I manage to dodge it at the very last second. Right after I dodge, the elemental kicks me hard in the chest, knocking me flat on my back.

"Jayden!" Kevin screams, as he rushes between me and my attacker, blocking the next strike with his shield.

"Hah!" the bearded elemental says. "You left the woman undefended! Classic mistake."

Right after he's done talking, his second son makes a dozen ice swords appear out of thin air, floating in front of him, and he sends them all flying towards Reyna. Just as the swords reach her, Reyna's left arm gets covered in a large, thick block of ice, sculpted in the form of a shield. She puts it in front of her, and all of the swords get stuck into it.

"Left the woman undefended?" Reyna asks. "So which is it, then? Woman?... Or demon?"

She lowers her left arm to reveal her face, as she looks straight at the elemental with the black beard. Her eyes are brimming with fury.

"dude I will so crush you!" she shouts, as the whole forest falls. silent from the sound of her voice

The elemental with the broad sword seems to have temporarily lost his cool, an he's looking a bit terrified. And he should be. Reyna's killing intent is so strong, that it almost seems palpable.

"I see weak elementals and sword throwers," she shouts. "And you call yourselves elementals? Come. I'll show you real power!"

As she talks, the air all around us seems to be getting colder. So this is what it feels like to be in a tournament alongside the most powerful elementals in the world.

The bearded elemental seems to have shaken off his fear from earlier, and he's now looking directly at Reyna.

"Your tricks won't save you" he says. "I don't care if you're a demon or not. None of you are going to leave this place alive!"

He then rushes towards Kevin, with his broad sword ready to strike.

As he approaches, I realize that if I don't do something quick, Kevin will be forced to fight both the older and the younger elemental by himself while also defending me, and he won't have the luxury of using elemental form since they require him to be calm and relaxed in order to perform it.

However, if I try to handle the younger elemental myself, I might just get in Kevin's way. It's better to leave things to him, for now, and try to follow his lead as much as possible .

Reyna seems to have gotten the sword throwing elemental's undivided attention. He is constantly sending swords her way from every direction, as she creates walls of ice to block his attacks. We're lucky. With Kevin's weakness against weapons and my lack of magical talents, that elemental would probably have been the hardest for us to fight.

As the bearded elemental reaches us, his broad sword clashes loudly with Kevin's sword.

"I see you've merged with your elemental form ,but you can only keep your enhanced strength with concentration ," the bearded elemental says. "But how long can you last against a battle-hardened warrior such as myself?"

He roars, and he presses his broad sword harder against Kevin's sword. The younger elemental tries to have another go at me with his ice dagger, but Kevin intercepts his strike with his shield.

"How long do you plan on defending this untrained pengaer?" the bearded elemental says. "You can't protect him and fight the both of us at the same time! Abandon the boy, and maybe you'll stand a chance!"

"Never!" Kevin shouts, as he slashes towards the bearded elemental and his

"Reyna, help!" I yell, while Kevin is still trying to keep the two attackers at bay.

Reyna doesn't show any sign of having heard me, and she continues to defend herself from the swords flying at her.

"Reyna!" I shout again. "They're killing him!"

As I finish shouting, Reyna briefly looks in my direction, and she extends her right arm towards the water wielding elemental, with her palm facing him. A cone of ice comes slowly out of her palm, with its sharp end aimed towards the elemental's head.

Everything that followed happened almost in an instant. She sent the cone of ice flying straight into the young elemental's heart, killing him instantly. The older elemental's shock of seeing his brother die in front of him provided enough of an opening for Daren to stab his heart. As the sword throwing elemental was still recovering from what he'd just seen happen, Reyna quickly created a sword made of ice out of thin air, and she sent it flying straight at him, impaling him through the neck and killing him on the spot.

It was a gruesome show, but at this point, all I care about is that I somehow managed to make it out of that alive.

We had a silent walk back to the academy.

CHAPTER 10

So after dinner I went to crash in my roommate who I just met earlier on, cue drum roll please. It was Kevin. Luckily we were all giving each other the silent treatment. I passed out once I hit the bed. I started to dream.

It is nice to meet you my grand child, she said with an amused voice which echoed far down in the palace .so much power depends on you, maybe will be able to bring peace or raze the world in fire. She said fire as if the flames itself pleased her. Just like you would say the name of a lover.

To retrieve the staff you have to go to Auckland Island and defeat serphraim, boy, it said. You might be a pengaer but you hold power equivalent to most gods so you might have the ability to accomplish what others have fail. Do tell your headmaster to cancel the tournament. We the gods have decided to choose our representatives as we wish. I will let you know that the journey to master all of your elements will be filled with many failures. Good bye child, till we meet I was yanked out of the summoning.

I waited for the sun to rise before trying to approach Henry

I walked towards Mr. henrys' office to narrate the ordeal.

`Well?' Henry asked me.

I slumped into a chair at the table. `She said I would retrieve the staff.' Liam sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of his burger. `That's great!' `What else did the goddess say?' Henry pressed. `This is important.'

My ears were still tingling from the ancient voice. `She... she said I would go to Auckland island and face serphraim a god who had turned.'

`I knew it,' Liam said.

Henry didn't look satisfied. ` Anything else?' I didn't want to tell him.

What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.

And the last line I will let you know that the journey to master all of your element6s will be filled with many failu8res. .

He studied my face. `Very well, Jayden. But know this the truth is not always clear until events come to pass.'

I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.

`Okay,' I said, anxious The fireplace . a small ball of fire came out from the furnace and started to expand then I notice that it took on the shape of a woman that solidified into sonia.

Sonia became visible.

`I've been training a long time for a this quest ,' she said. `I am not a fan of untrained elementals, but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up.'

`If you do say so yourself,' I said. `I suppose you are supposed to have a plan, sonia?' Her cheeks coloured. `Do you want my help or not?'

`That'll work.'

to change topics. `So where do I go? Who's this god serphraim?'

one of the chosen's spoke and I noticed that it was Kevin and he looked at me with a passive face

the other was Reyna from our last encounter

and the next was

`Sonia,' Henry said, `I have archery class at soon. Would you take Jayden from here?' `Yes, sir.'

`you guys should discuss strategy, you leave in one hour,' Henry told me, gesturing towards the doorway. `Make it count.'

I think it's time that I introduce you to my teammate's.

The fire elementalist:

Name: Sonia tate. Age: sixteen. Gender: female. Aura: blue

The shadow elementalist:

Name: Kevin foden. Age: fifteen. Gender: male. Aura: blue

The air elementalist:

Name : sarah reed. Age: sixteen. Gender: female. Aura: yellow

The water elementalist:

Name: reyna kane. Age: seventeen. Gender: female. Aura: blue

Then earth elementalist;

Name: Joshua smith.

We start talking about how we are going to have the chance to survive, before we notice an hour has gone by. Then mr trevor walked in with a weird looking man, we greet. The man answers all of our greetings then he starts to shake us by the hand saying " on behalf of all the clans I must tell you how proud we are for you young children accepting this quest". He is about to give a handshake to Kevin until he looks at Kevin's face and drooped his hand looking at Kevin with disgust clear in his eyes. Mr trevor uses his voice to break the tension in the room. "this is lord gurun from the earth clan. He is one of the few elementals that can teleport any where".

He continues. "he was part of the last set for this quest and the only survivor. He said they were killed by the shadow elemental of their group. He took a vow of silence after narrating the story. Well hope you're ready cause you are going now. We packed our belongings and master gurun told us told hold hands, at first it seemed like nothing was happening . then we started to sink into the ground before I could scream I found myself in a forest with the other guys who were all snubbing me except Kevin. Gurun left soon without uttering a word.

As we started walking into the forest, Kevin starts telling me stories about his travels around the world, and about the adventures he's had. He tells me of the fire elementals that live in the far east of the Northern Continent. He tells me how he's cured the feared sanca plague of the northern Continent by himself, and how he defeated the shadow lord of the north.

Listening to him tell me all these stories made me realize why I defended him instinctively from Captain yesterday. Even though I never really thought about it before, I guess I always had good instincts. He's like all of those heroes from the tales I used to read when I was a kid, and he's a living example of what I've always aspired to become.

"I've been in a lot of places over the years, Jayden," Kevin says. "But everywhere I go, it's always the same. When people die it make's me feel pain in my heart. What about you, Jayden? What did you feel when you saw all those dead people?"

"I felt sorry for them," I say. "But I guess I came here prepared for the worst. I knew I'd be seeing a lot of death along my way. So I've decided to not let it affect me."

"Then you are stronger than I am, Jayden," Kevin says.

He then pauses for a few seconds to gaze into the distance before he continues.

"You know," Kevin says, "when I heard about this tournament, my first thought was that finally, after a lifetime of good deeds, after a lifetime of

trying to make a difference, someone was sending me a sign. I've tried all of my life to save the world from its misery, but no matter how hard I tried, my efforts were never enough. But with the help of the staff... Maybe, just maybe I might have a chance."

Kevin looks at me, and he notices that I'm a little worried.

"Don't worry, Jayden!" he says. "I promise that I'll help you get out of here. Even if it puts me at a disadvantage in the tournament. I won't rest until I've repaid you for saving my life."

"I, uh... Thanks." I say.

After yet another pause, Kevin decides to change the subject.

"So, how's it going with Reyna, then?" he asks me. "Are you making any progress with her?"

"She still hasn't given in to my charms," I tell him, jokingly.

Kevin laughs.

"No worries, take your time," he says. "We have all the time in the world!"

Slowly, Kevin's smile fades away from his face and he adopts a more serious tone.

"Listen," he says. "I know your heart is in the right place, but you know as well as I do that women simply can't be born as elementals most especially, powerful ones. It's not in their blood. I don't know why she appears different from a normal female elemental to you, and I don't know why the the demon inside her hasn't awakened yet, but it's only a matter of time. One day she will turn into a demon, and I want you to be prepared when the time comes."

Kevin takes a device of his own out of his pocket and hands it to me. It appears to be a walkie-talkie. These devices are mostly used by soldiers, when they need to transmit information to each other over short distances, without having to shout to one another.

"I want you to carry this with you at all times," Kevin says. "If you're ever in danger, just tap this three times, and I'll come over to help as fast as I can."

"Just promise me something," I tell him.

"Of course!" Kevin says.

"Promise me that you won't try to exorcise her until you see her transform into a demon," I say.

Kevin sighs.

"You're asking a lot of me, Jayden," Kevin says. "I think you should know how hard it will be to stop her once she turns into a demon. But, since you're into her I'll hold on a bit."

He pauses.

"Come on, we should get going," Kevin says. "It's time we wake up Reyna and sarah so they can take second watch."

We wake up Reyna and sarah. They go outside to guard the entrance, as Kevin and I go to sleep.

CHAPTER 11

I wake up to Reyna's voice several hours later. She is whispering and making sure that Kevin can't hear us.

"Wake up, pengaer," she says. "It's time for you to pay your debt."

It takes me a few moments to realize she's referring to the discussion we had yesterday about her saving my life.

"And just how exactly do you want me to pay this debt?" I ask her.

"All you have to do is train with me," Reyna says. "It won't take you more than an hour . Do that, and you can consider your debt paid."

She's being serious. This must be more important to her than she lets on. "Why are you asking this of me and not Kevin?" I tell her. "He's the

experienced elemental around here, not me!"

"Because unlike him," Reyna says, "you appear to be a liability in battles. You don't see many pengaer these days that don't know how to use any element. Plus, I have something I want to ask you in private. So come, before we wake up Kevin."

We exit the cave and head for the trees. The moon is still pretty high up in the sky. It can't have been more than two or three hours since I went to sleep.

As we walk in awkward silence for a few minutes, I figure I might as well try to start a conversation. We arrived at a river

"So, what am I supposed to do?" I ask Reyna.

She gives me a pondering look, probably trying to decide how much of moron I am to disclose to me.

"The river will server you better ," she says. "I learn't the basics of the element this way but I have also trained to gather moisture from the air. It is more common for water elementals to use this method rather than having to run to a water source when any fight breaks out."

"so, what should I do ?" I say. "Didn't you just say that I can't use your element?"

" All you have to do is will a portion of the water to form into a sphere" Reyna says, "but don't think you'll get on your first try. Concentrate on the currents of the river. Try to form bond the water with your mind."

"And I'm guessing this method is going to be grueling," I say.

She doesn't make any comment, but her silence is enough to confirm my hypothesis.

Me trying to use a sixth sense was very stressful. I mean I could feel the water just like you would feel the water when you dipped your hand into it, but I was standing a few feet away from it. `bonding' with it was harder than I taught. But I reached out to the water commanding it to give me some of it to wield, but the water seemed content where it was.

"You're trying to command it, aren't you? Reyna says startling me.

"Yep" I say." That's a common mistake. You are not supposed to control the water, you are supposed to bond with lt. like when you get a new dog it may be aggressive towards you but you can calm it down make it feel like you are partners. I am about to try what is the most unbelievable approach I have ever heard.

So I concentrate on the water feeding the water my pain anger at being forced to do this. I finally manage to raise a small sphere of water but drop it due to the exhaustion that soon washes overt me.

"Congratulation! You achieved this on your first day, I can't begin to imagine what you would be like after full training." Reyna says looking awe struck. " so how do you manage to do this without the exhaustion.?

Reyna decides to completely change the subject, instead.

She stops in front of me, and she looks me straight in the eye.

"There's something that's been bugging me ever since we met yesterday," she says. "When you and Kevin first saw me, you started whispering between yourselves for about a minute. You said you were talking about my looks and I was willing to take your word for it at first, but then a whole day had passed and none of you made a single comment about me being a demon. Even after that bearded fool of a elemental spelled it out for you when we were battling. It's painfully obvious to me now that what you were in fact discussing that first time we met was whether I was a demon or not, and as a result of this conversation you've decided that there was no need to purify me."

She pauses a bit, before she continues.

"The question is why?" Reyna asks. "I decided to seek Kevin's help because I fooled myself into thinking someone as kind hearted as him would not sentence me to death. But now that I have cleared my head and thought about it, I realize how much I've put myself at risk by showing myself to him. Why did Kevin decide I wasn't a demon when all the evidence pointed to the contrary?"

"Kevin said he'd met a demon before," I lie to her. "He said he could tell you were different somehow, and that he was going to keep an eye on you, for the time being."

"I see," Reyna says with relief in her voice. "That's all I wanted to ask. Let's keep going, then."

"Wait, why ask me all of this?" I say. "Why not ask Kevin directly? "Because Kevin is the one that knows white magic, not you," Reyna says.

"He is the one who would normally want to purify a demon. I didn't want to give him any ideas, in case the thought never occurred to him."

"And why would you believe that I'm telling the truth?" I say.

"Because you're not a very good liar," Reyna says. "Your face gives you away."

Is that so?...

"Well, in that case, I also have a question for you," I say. "You may not be a demon, but you can't be a elemental either. Women can't be born as elementals. So, what are you, then?"

"Who says I was born a elemental?" Reyna says.

My mind goes blank for a second, while I try to make sure that I understood what she said correctly.

"Hold on," I say. "Do you mean to tell me that you were born as a normal human, and that you later became a elemental?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying," Reyna says.

"How ?" I ask her, in perhaps too loud of a voice. "Did you get blessed by Poseidon? I must know!"

I realize too late that I had let the excitement get the better of me. Reyna is looking at me with an expression that shows both bewilderment and a sudden understanding.

"By the gods," she says. "You were telling the truth, weren't you? You really are new to this, and you came here in the hopes of getting the staff . Listen to me, I have no idea what could motivate you enough to go on this suicidal quest, but the only things that you'll find at the end of your journey will be agony and despair. Quit now, and you might still make it out of this alive."

"You speak to me of agony and despair," I say, "but you chose to become a elemental. Surely you must understand how I feel about this?"

"I do not," Reyna says. "Because becoming a elemental was never my intention. And I have no intention of continuing this conversation, either.

"This is where I wanted to bring you," Reyna says. "Please, tell me what you can find out by studying the magic in this place..."

As I concentrate on the nature of the magic around me, I start sensing strong traces of elemental magic.

"It seems there's been at least one elementalist battling here," I tell her.

"Yes, but can you tell which element the caster was using?" Reyna says.

I try to focus even further.

"It's uh... I'm not sure how to describe it," I say. "It doesn't seem to be any of the four traditional elements. If I were to put it into words, I'd say it would be... electric, in nature."

Reyna's face slowly lights up when she hears my words. This is the first time I've seen her smile, even if only slightly, ever since we've first met.

"Thank you, penga— Jayden..." she says. "You've really been a great help!"

Her reaction took me by surprise.

"Wow," I say. "This is the first time I see this side of you. I didn't know you could actually be... nice."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Reyna says.

"I just meant to say that you're usually a lot more—"

Before I get to finish my sentence, a dart comes out of nowhere and hits Reyna in her left shoulder, making her drop to one knee.

"I'm alright..." Reyna says, although she's clearly lying.

She is breathing heavily and seems to be struggling to keep her consciousness .

I can hear a man laugh from behind the trees. His voice is high pitched, and could be easily mistaken for that of a woman, if you weren't paying attention.

"As expected of a chosen elemental," the man shouts. "Even an expensive tranquilizer dart such as this is not enough to bring you down. But you are barely standing. The outcome of this battle is clear. Surrender now, and we'll show you mercy. We'll grant you and your elemental companion a quick and painless death."

Yet another enemy who doesn't believe I'm a pengaer. I'm starting to doubt that this bluff was a good idea after all.

"Is this a joke?" Reyna says, trying to be menacing, but barely managing to articulate her words. "I can sense that there are at least a hundred of you hiding behind the trees all around us. And yet none of you are elementals. Do you seriously think you can win against elementals by outnumbering them?"

"Elementals are no gods," the man says. "They bleed just like the rest of us. If they bleed, they can be killed. And so can you."

After he finishes his phrase, he blows a very loud horn which drowns out all other sounds in the woods, and suddenly a rain of crossbow bolts comes flying towards us from every direction. Reyna quickly makes an ice dome around us to block their shots.

"Jayden," she says. "You need to listen to me closely, because I can't hold this dome for much longer. I need you to go back to our camp as fast as you can and call the others. There's no way we can win this fight otherwise."

As she speaks, one of Reyna's eyes is twitching, and there is sweat dripping all over her face.

"You can't be serious!" I say. "You'll never survive for that long. You're barely even keeping yourself awake."

"I'll manage," Reyna says. "I've been in far worse situations and made it out alive. Plus, even if I get injured, Kevin can heal me when the fight is over and also erect a shield the others will grant us reinforcement. Now hurry up, time is not on our side."

I stand there paralyzed, unsure of what to do for a few seconds. It does not take me long, however, to realize that there is only one path for me to take, if I want us both to make it out of here alive. "Give me an ice dagger," I tell Reyna.

"What?..." she asks me.

"You heard me," I say. "Make an ice dagger for me. I'll deal with them myself."

"You're insane," Reyna says. "What are you planning to do? Talk them all to death? Do you even know how to fight?"

"Either you give me that dagger, or I'm going in barehanded," I say. "The choice is yours."

Once Reyna understands that I'm not going to change my mind, she reluctantly forges an ice dagger with her magic and then she hands it to me. When I grab it, I realize that the hilt is also made out of ice, but its shape makes it easy enough for me to hold on to, and this is not the time and place

to whine about how weird it feels in my hand.

"Perfect," I say. "Now open up the dome. And make sure you keep it closed until I'm done. Just stay on the defensive for as long as you can. Don't take any stupid risks."

"Are you sure about this?" Reyna says.

"As sure as I can be, given the circumstances," I say. "Do it."

She creates an exit just wide enough for me to fit through, as I step out and make a run for the forest.

When I reach the woods, I notice a man behind a tree, reloading his pistol with a silencer on it. His back is turned to me, and he didn't hear me coming yet. I stealthily approach him, and when I'm close enough, I put my dagger to his neck and slit his throat right open. He attempts to scream, but all he can manage is a weak gurgle, as he drowns in his own blood.

This is the first time I've killed a man. It was... easier than I thought it would be. I was afraid I'd hesitate at the very last moment, but the thought never crossed my mind. My hands just instinctively moved the way they should have, and there were no awkward movements. This is a relief. I'll likely have to kill a lot more people before this tournament is over. It's good to know it isn't going to affect me.

The weak gurgle that the man let out before he died seems to have been enough to attract a fair bit of unwanted attention. Five of the men that were shooting Reyna are now rushing towards me, to see what happened. It will only be a matter of seconds before they see me. I need to act fast.

I quickly look around to see what my options are. I notice that the pistol of the man I killed has a silencer , and it had seven bullets . If I aim my shots right, I might be able to take them all out.

I grab the pistol from the ground, and I jump right in front of the five men, aiming for the one in the middle. I shoot him directly in the head, and before he even drops to the ground, I shoot one of his comrades as well, this time in his neck. As the two of them fall to the ground, lifeless, I hide behind a tree, while three bullets fly right past me.

Three shots. I've only got three shots left.

I jump out from behind the tree, and I try to aim for the ones that are still alive, but there's no one in sight. I realize that they must have hidden themselves as well. As I try to figure out where they're hiding, one of them quickly pops out from behind a tree and shoots for my chest. Luckily, I saw

him before he took the shot, so I had the time to get out of his bullet's way.

I shoot my attacker right through the heart, before he gets the chance to hide back behind his tree. I then spot one of the two other men, just as he jumps out to attack me. This time, my crossbow bolt hits my attacker in the stomach, but the shot takes him out, regardless.

The last man standing is visible, behind one of the trees. I'm not willing to wait for him to attack me first, so I take the shot. Unfortunately, my aim was not good enough, and the bullet flew past his head, without harming him in any way.

That was it. That was my last shot.

Given that I don't have the time to reload, I decide to rush towards my target, with the ice dagger in my right hand. The man is surprised by my speed, and he doesn't get the chance to take aim properly. When I get close enough, I stab him in the neck, drenching my hand in his blood, and killing him on the spot.

That was the last of them. I'm done here. It's time to move on.

I take the liberty of swiping the ammunition of the first guy I took out, and then I go on my way, without looking back.

What I need to decide now is how I'm planning to take care of all these trained soldiers and mercenaries. I take a glance towards Reyna. Her dome is still standing, but it's taking a lot of damage. All of the soldiers seem to be focused on her at this point, and they're not giving her any chance to retaliate.

This means that I could try to take them all out by very quickly moving from one to the other, while they're distracted. Judging by the speed that I managed to pull off earlier, when I rushed towards that last soldier, I think that I might just be able to take them all out this way. However, taking out every single one of the men attacking us would take too much time, and I don't know if Reyna can last much longer.

I have a better idea. If I make my way towards the leader of these soldier's, instead of trying to fight every single one of them, I could try to capture him, and then to force his troops to surrender. This should definitely help me end the fight faster.

I start heading deeper into the forest, in order to avoid being detected, and I follow the general direction of where I first heard their leader talk. I doubt he had the reason to move from his original position, since he probably believes that he's already won this fight.

I run through the forest,

This way, I manage to avoid any further fight until I reach their leader's location.

I see that he only has a handful of guards surrounding him... I suppose that he was not expecting an ambush.

I take my time to silently neutralize all of the enemy's forces that are within hearing range of their leader, and then I quickly take out his personal guards, before they get the time to react. Their leader just realized what happened and is now looking for reinforcements ..

"What are you doing here?" he asks. "How did you get here? Guards! Guards !"

"Nobody's coming to help you," I tell him. "All of the soldiers in hearing range of you have been taken care of. It's just you and me."

"No!" he shouts. "Don't come closer. Stay back!"

I grab him by the camouflage, to make sure that I have his undivided attention. "Listen to me," I say. "I don't care what country you're from, or how you." he was practically shaking in his pants. He probably got to his position through bribery. Unless he is only a strategist, it would help in explaining his lean build for a soldier. A leader of men for that matter.

"got so many men to follow you here, but you are my hostage now. If you don't tell all of your troops to step out of the forest, drop their weapons and surrender, I am going to murder you right here and now, and then I'll do the same to all of your guards. "

"No, wait! I can't!"

We are under orders from lord serphraim. Realization dawned on me but know was not the time to interrogate . I had to do something to help Reyna.

"Of course you can. That horn you're holding in your hand also doubles as a magical voice magnifier, does it not? Now hurry up. I think my trigger finger may be slipping."

The leader reluctantly puts the voice magnifier to his mouth, and he calls out to his troops.

"Attention, all men!" he says. "This is the commande4r of division thirty-two speaking. I have just been captured by the enemy. I repeat, I have just been captured by the enemy. You are all to step out of the forest, throw down your weapons and surrender!"

The forest falls silent, as the soldier's relentless attacks towards Reyna suddenly come to a halt. They are confused, that much I can tell.

"Didn't you hear me?!" commande4r of division thirty-two speaking. "As your commander, I command you to come out of that forest and drop your weapons! Now!"

After a small delay, the first couple of soldier start stepping out of the shadows, followed by a wave of a few dozen more men. Eventually they all step out of the forest and throw their weapons at Reyna's feet, declaring their surrender.tey are all dressed in camouflage

"There, I did what you asked!" the commander says. "Now will you let me go?" "And why would I do that?" I say. "The way I remember it, all you

offered us if we surrendered was a quick and painless death."

"No!" he yells in his cracking voice as he's starting to cry. "Please! I only wanted to increase my rank in my lord's army by winning killing some of the champions ! I'm sorry I attacked you! Please, don't kill me! I have a lot of food! Here, you can take it. You can take it all! Just spare me my life. Please!"

He throws a bag of food on the ground and then he throws himself at my feet. This is quite a lot of food. The team could easily live most of the time in this jungle with filled stomachs.

After considering his offer for a few moments, I eventually decide to spare him. With the way he's acting, I doubt he'll ever muster up the courage to attack us again.

"Very well," I say. "I'll take your money in exchange for your life. Now get out of my sight. I never want to see you again."

"Y-Y-You'll never see me again!" the commander says. "I promise!"

He then scrambles to his feet and runs away as fast as he can, without looking back. I watch him go until I make sure that he's gone for good, then I grab the bag of coins and head towards Reyna. As I approach the battlefield, I

I am shocked to see that all of the men that came out of the forest to surrender have since been summarily executed.

"Reyna, what did you do?" I ask her.

"I killed them," Reyna says.

"But did you have to kill every single one of them?" I say.

"Yes, I did," Reyna says.

She sighs.

"Listen, Jayden," Reyna says. "I know you might not be used to this, but you have to understand. We're not in a situation where we could realistically hold such a large number of soldiers. If we had tied them up and left them here, then they would just have died of hunger or been killed by someone else. If we'd simply let them go, then they were sure to come after us for revenge at a later date. There was no other way. "

"I... suppose you're right." I tell her, hesitantly. "I guess we're done here, then. Let's go back to our camp."

"I'll be honest," Reyna says, as we make our way back to camp. "I didn't really expect you to pull it off."

"Yeah," I say. "Neither did I."

"I owe you one, Jayden," Reyna says. "I won't forget this debt."

We spent the rest of our trip back in silence, but I didn't really find it awkward anymore. After all we've been through this morning, a bit of quiet is more than welcome.

CHAPTER 12

The team was waiting for us in front of our cave. The moment we get in hearing range of them , they starts to rant about how we shouldn't have gone off on our own, and about how we should stick together at all times.

Reyna simply waves them off and goes inside the cave to get a bit more sleep, after telling him that this morning's events have tired her out. When josh asks me what she meant, I tell him all about the commander and his `army', and how they ambushed us.

"You were lucky that you managed to get out of there alive," Kevin says to me. "Why did we even bother to have a strategy meeting yesterday if we were all going to ignore it afterwards anyway?"

After he cools off a bit, then two of us resume our guard duty, posting ourselves in front of the cave's entrance.

As we stand guard, we start discussing about the quest , and its downs as we've seen it thus far.

"I just can't understand it," Kevin tells me. "What are the gods thinking? They're letting people without any trace of elemental powers get caught in crossfire, and they don't even bother to enforce a rule that prohibits norms d from being here. It's like they don't even care about all the lives that are at stake!"

"I don't think they do," I tell Kevin. "Do you remember what they made us agree to before joining the quest ? our lives were forfeit as soon as we agreed to do this. They probably only care for the staff "

"But even so," Kevin says, "if their goal is to get their hands on a powerful staff, why have they still not given us as route to it ? Wouldn't it be in their best interest to get this quest finished as quickly as possible?"

"Maybe they want us to suffer some more ," I say. "Maybe they're they'll try to get a message to us before sunset."

"I really hope you're right, Jayden," Kevin says. "I just can't bring myself

to believe that they're doing this intentionally..."

Before we get to continue our conversation, we sense someone approaching our location. Sarah's barrier spell must have worn off.

"Keep your guard up, Jayden!" Kevin says.

As this person approaches, we can sense his magical aura more clearly. His magical aura is just as weak as that of the from before. Is this a survivor from our last battle, looking to avenge his fallen comrades?

When he gets within visual range, we discover that he is rather young for a warrior, and he isn't wearing any protective gear. He seems to be somewhere in his late teens, but no older than eighteen, and he's wearing shorts and a tank top, not much different from clothes one would normally change into before going to the beach. The fact that he's walking with his hands in his pockets is not really helping his case either. He looks like he just got out of bed to go swim, and definitely not like a participant in a deadly elemental quest. However, he can't be one of the locals either, since we haven't seen any settlement. Just the josh, Sonia and Sarah come out of the tent. Josh spots the boy

"Good morrow, lad!" josh shouts after the boy. "Lovely day for a walk, isn't it? If you are lost, we'd be more than happy to give you directions!"

With josh, it's hard to tell when he's being sarcastic or sincere, since there are no hints in his look or his tone of voice, and as I've known him so far he'd be capable of either of those things in this situation. Our young visitor doesn't seem to have taken offense at josh's remark, and he smiles politely with his eyes still closed.

"There's no need," the boy answers. "I was looking for some old pengaer cousin of mine when I sensed him here , so I just had to stop by and say hello. There are so few of us nowadays that it would be a shame to not at least greet each other in passing! My name is serphraim. Pleased to meet you!"

My whole body freezes for a second. An actual god? Here? No... No. I should calm down.

Seeing that I don't say anything, Kevin replies in my stead.

"Don't mind him!" Kevin says. "Jayden's shy. I'm sure he's also trilled to meet you. My name's Kevin, the others are josh, soniaand sarah,he points to a person while mentioning their name. Reyna is not available right now."

"Oh?" Serphraim says. "Then you must be the healer in armor I've been

hearing so much about! And it seems that you also have a fifth member in your party. Another female elementalist , no less. I did not know any of them were still alive."

"I'm going to stop you right there, Serphraim," Kevin interrupts. "I don't think it's necessary to carry on with this charade anymore. You and I both know that Jayden is an pengaer and not a god."

"What, you told them the truth?" Serphraim asks me. "I honestly did not think that you managed to make it this far without bluffing. I must admit I'm impressed!"

"This god bluff isn't going to get you very far, you know," Kevin continues. "Especially since you're carefree. Who ever heard of a carefree god?"

"Hmm?" Serphraim asks. "What makes you think I'm carefree?"

"You've been keeping your posture relaxed," Kevin says.

"Oh, this!" Serphraim says. "I actually get in to a mood now and then. I just feel life is too short to be wasted.

"Aren't you a little young to be thinking that way?" Sonia says. "Or is this some kind of phase you're going through in order to get your parents to notice you?"

Serphraim smiles.

"You of all people should know better, Kevin," he says. "Surely, you must have seen injustice throughout your travels. The anguish. The agony. You've seen them all, over and over. Tell me, Kevin... You've spent a lifetime trying to right the wrongs others have made. Do you feel like your clan has become a better clan because of it?"

"Just because there is a lot of evil left in my clan doesn't mean there's no good worth fighting for," Kevin says. "As long as I don't give up, I will find

a way."

Serphraim's smile widens, but his posture remains the same.

"Oh?" he says. "So you're an idealist, then. But tell me, hero, what happens when your pure ideals clash power?"

Suddenly, Kevin falls flat on his chest, and I can tell he's being pressed against the ground by a very powerful force.

"What happens when you meet a force so great that it simply squashes you against the ground, as if you were an insect?"

The force pushing Kevin against the ground intensifies so much that it makes a large Kevin shaped hole in the hard rock soil beneath him. Kevin can no longer hold back the pain, and he starts screaming in agony.

I realize my hands have gone cold and my whole body is shaking. I need to pull myself back together. If I screw this up, we'll all get slaughtered.

"Let him go!" I tell Serphraim, trying to sound as confident as possible.

"You want to save your friend, Jayden?" Serphraim says. "Then how about we make it an even trade? Two lives' for his. I promise I'll leave your friend alone if you give two lives' for his. What do you say?"

A cold shiver passes throughout my whole body as the god's words reach my ears. He is not joking. If I accept his trade now, he will kill them without hesitation. But if I don't accept it, Kevin is going to die....

"How about another trade?" I ask Serphraim.

"Silence!" josh shouts.

He then rushes towards the god and slashes fiercely at his neck. Serphraim dodges effortlessly, and josh's quickly goes for a second strike, this time meant to cut him in half. Serphraim steps casually to the side, making it look like child's play. After a few more wasted strikes on josh's part, just when it looks as though he might have caught the god on the wrong foot, Serphraim simply puts his bare hand in front of his face, and he stops the full blow of the sword with only his middle finger.

"No..." josh says, as if he couldn't believe his eyes.

"I am tired of this," Serphraim says, as he makes a gesture with his other hand.

In less than a second, josh drops to the ground like a log.

"No!" I shout.

"I only put him to sleep," the pengaer says. "He'll wake up in a few minutes."

Just then Reyna comes out of her tent. Seeing josh on the floor and Kevin being crushed. She enters her battle stance serphraim just looked in her direction and smiled..

Reyna begins the battle by sending a ice daggers towards the god. Just as they reach Serphraim, they all stop in mid-air in front of him. Serphraim smirks, and he points towards Reyna. All of the daggers unconditionally obey their new master, and they head towards Reyna at breathtaking speed. She manages to parry them in the nick of time with his own flying knives, but she looks dumbstruck . He turns to leave.

"Oh, and don't worry about looking for your friends," Serphraim says. "I'm sure you'll be meeting them soon enough. "

Then I looked behind me and noticed that Sonia and Sarah are missing, josh is gone too. "how can we get them back." I say. "it's been a while since the gods have sent anyone for the staff. So I expect a challenge as it is their last chance". serphraim says "seeing as you are weak I'll see to it that you face my objectives. It will be one month before we battle for the staff, and of course your friends. Do well to stay alive. He releases Kevin who has already passed out from the pain.

He smiles again, and then he heads towards the woods.

"Kevin, can you hear me?" I say. "Wake up!"

There's no answer. Just what kind of power does this guy have ? I'm pretty sure that Kevin has some really strong shield protecting him at all times. Standard sleep spells should be no more than a moderate inconvenience for him.

While I try to wake Kevin up, I suddenly hear a very familiar voice coming from the direction in which Serphraim disappeared.

"Pengaer!" the voice shouts.

That's Captain's voice. No doubt about it. I'd recognize that hoarse voice and that thuggish accent anywhere.

I turn around towards where the voice came from, but there are only trees. Why would Captain shout for me before even getting the chance to get a clear shot of my face?

Then it hits me. He never got to see my face. I was hiding behind a tree the whole time. I rush towards the woods to confirm my suspicions. I hide behind one of the trees and take a peek.

Just as I thought, Captain has mistaken Serphraim for me, and he's looking for revenge. He's managed to assemble a team in the short time we were apart, and they all have the pengaer surrounded. The sad part is that Dave looks like a well-bred gentleman compared to his new colleagues. Some of them look and smell like they haven't washed for months. I guess birds of a feather really do flock together.

"I've been looking for you, pengaer," Dave says. "I've been tracking your footsteps since yesterday. I told you we'd meet again. No one can run or hide from Captain."

"I'm afraid you are mistaken, my good man," Serphraim says, smiling. "I am quite sure I've never seen you before in my life."

"Aye," Captain says. "I am sure of that too. You'd have needed to open your eyes in order to see me."

All of Captain's men suddenly burst into laughter at the same time. They're laughing loudly and vulgarly, probably in an attempt to intimidate their victim, just like a group of bullies. Serphraim's expression does not change, and he continues to smile pleasantly.

" I am bored, so I have no time for petty games." Serphraim says

He waves his hand and the captain and his crew were all decapitated. Their head were rolling on the floor. He faced my hiding spot.

"Did you enjoy the show, Jayden?" he asks me. His smile is gone from his face.

"Anyway you have one month to stay alive. Your first objective is to kill my dragon". Serphraim says

" How am I supposed to kill a dragon. I bet your dragon is going to be little anyway" I replied

"You have no sense of fear" serphraim says

As he finishes his sentence, I start feeling something pressing against my throat. It feels like an invisible rope is tied around my neck, and it is slowly lifting me above the ground. It's not just my imagination. I really am being lifted higher and higher above the ground. It's getting a lot harder to breathe as the invisible noose gets tighter around my neck. I try to take the noose off with my hands, but there's nothing there. If this goes on much longer, I'm

Seriously going to die.

Once I get several feet above the ground, the invisible noose suddenly disappears, and I fall on the rocky soil, dropping to my knees. I could hear a loud crack as I hit the ground. I'm pretty sure that the fall broke both my ankles. The pain of it is excruciating.

"Now that I have your attention," the pengaer continues, "I want you to understand something. If you try to insult me like that again, broken ankles are going to be the least of your worries. Are we clear?"

"Yes," I say.

"My dragon will find you, so be vigilant. Do not fail me, Jayden."

With these last words, the pengaer turns his back to me and then head's deeper into the woods.

We have a problem

To be continued

AFTERWORD

I would like to thank you my reader for reading my first book. I promise that the next phase of the book will have more pizzazz to it. The road has been lonely but with you supporting me

I am confident I can deliver better to you. Peace.
