Elementals

Tyler and Rosalie were hanging out at a fast food place, having lunch, and Tyler was telling her about the other Elementals he learned of. “So, there are three more Elementals and they’re all boys?” Rosalie asked. “Yeah, that’s why Leo was so happy to learn about you and May,” Tyler explained, “He said there were two other boys beside him. One, I think, is named Jack. He controls ice and doesn’t talk. He said the other was named Nathaniel, and he controls plants. The three of them are from different places in the world, but Samuel brought them all here, since this is where he believes our challenges will arise.

“The coolest part is that we’re all around the same age! You, me, and May will all be high school Freshmen next year. Leo and Nathaniel will be Sophomores. Jane and Jack will be Juniors, and Samuel will be our principal! We’ll be a band of teenage heroes with magical powers, all in a high school together, for at least two years! How cool is that?”

Rosalie laughed. “Yeah, that is pretty neat,” she giggled, “I’ve gotta admit, this magic stuff didn’t seem real - and it still doesn’t, - but it’s pretty awesome! I mean, I thought it was weird at first, but I guess we kind of are like superheroes!”

“Superheroes? Your powers shouldn’t be taken so lightly,” said a voice coming from behind Tyler and Rosalie. They turned and looked to see none other than Samuel Carter. Tyler jumped, nearly falling out of his seat. Rosalie grabbed him by the wrist and helped him back up. “Thanks,” he said, “Samuel, what are you doing here?”

Samuel gave Tyler a slightly agitated glance, hidden with a smile. “Well, Leo can’t seem to stop talking about you, and is dead set on finally having his friends and yours meet each other. So, I’m here to bring you and Rosalie to the training sight,” he explained, “Are you interested?”

“Of course I am! I’ve been wanting to meet the others,” Tyler exclaimed. “So, it’s three boys, right?” Rosalie asked. Samuel nodded. “So, May, Jane, and myself are the only girls?” Samuel nodded again. “Wait,” Tyler interrupted, “Jane’s an Elementals?!” “Oh, yeah, that’s what I wanted to tell you,” Rosalie laughed, “I sort of kept forgetting during all the chaos.”

Samuel looked around at the few others in the small restaurant. “Both of you, keep your voices down,” he instructed. Tyler and Rosalie seemed to remember they were in a public place, then apologized and quieted down. “I have already gotten May, so we won’t have to wait on her,” Samuel continued, “Jane will be meeting us at the park. I already called her.”

Rosalie and Tyler were finished with their food, so they threw their trash away and went with Samuel. He led them out to the parking lot, where his car was parked. “Right this way,” he directed, walking towards an old, white, rusty car. Then, the car’s back lights kicked on. “Oh, as soon as this person back out,” he said, signalling for Tyler and Rosalie to stop and wait.

The white car pulled out of it’s parking space, and drove away, leaving a shiny, red convertible in the space beside it. “Here we go,” Samuel said as he unlocked the car and got into the driver’s seat. May was in the backseat, behind the driver’s seat, playing games on her phone. She looked up and smiled at Tyler as he sat next to her. Rosalie hopped into the passenger seat to avoid crowding the back.

“This car is awesome!” Tyler exclaimed. Samuel smiled as he drove. “Thank you,” he replied, “I got it during my days in law enforcement. I do believe I’ve managed to keep it in rather good shape.” “That’s so cool! My father was a detective,” Rosalie chimed in, “Did you… Did you maybe know him? His name was Sen McCart.” Sen sighed. “No, I’m sorry,” he answered, “I never worked with someone by that name.”

Rosalie nodded and hang her head down. She hated thinking about her father, but she also wanted to know as much about him as possible. All she had ever been told about him was his career. She had never even seen a picture of him, or been told why he left. She remained silent for the rest of the car ride, only shaking those mixed up thoughts from her head when they arrived at the park.

Jane was on the swings, talking to Leo. Jack was on a balance beam. Nathaniel was standing with his back to the side of the slide, hands in pockets, looking like he was trying a bit too hard to be edgy.

Rosalie hopped out of the car and ran over to Jane. “Hey,” she said as she approached. Jane waved, smiling, and Leo’s eyes lit up. “You’re Rosalie, right? Tyler said your hair was red,” he said excitedly. “Yeah, I am,” Rosalie laughed.

Leo nearly bounced on his feet jumping up and down with excitement. “Good! I have something for you,” he said, pulling a small box out of his blue windbreaker. He happily held the box out to Rosalie, who took it graciously, having not expected any sort of gift.

Rosalie thanked Leo, then opened the box. Confusion filled her as inside the small, black box was a rosary. She lifted it out of its box and held the cross-shaped pendant, turning it in her hand. “It’s pretty, but… I’m not Catholic,” she carefully explained.

Leo kept on smiling. “That doesn’t matter,” he replied, “It’s Rosalie’s rosary. It rhymes!” Nathaniel clapped his hand to his forehead in disappointment. “If you ever make a pun like that again, I will kill you,” he said blankly, staring Leo in the eyes, looking as serious as ever. Leo simply shrugged it off.

Rosalie looked the rosary over, thinking about the fact that demons exist and she may have to face them, and slipped it over her head. She tucked the pendant into her shirt and smiled kindly. “Thank you,” she said, fighting back giggles. “No problem,” Leo smiled, extending his hand for Rosalie to shake, “I’m Leo. I control water. What’s your element?” “Light,” Rosalie answered plainly.

Samuel clapped his hands, gaining the Elementals’ attention as he gathered them into the center of the playground. “Alright,” he gestured to each of the teenagers in turn, “This is May, Rosalie, and Tyler. They are high school Freshmen. Next are Nathaniel and Leo, who are Sophomores. Finally, we have Jane and Jack. They are Juniors. Next year, hopefully, the final Elementals, three more by my predicaments, will join our ranks and we will all be together as a team. I’m not entirely sure when the challenges you all are bound to face will arise, but I suspect it will be while you all are still young.”

“So, we’ll be high schoolers battling demons? That’ll work, just study at six and fighting for our lives at eight, but get in bed by ten so we can wake up and go to school in the morning,” Nathaniel said sarcastically. Tyler, Rosalie, and Leo snickered a bit while Jane and Jack smiled. May wasn’t paying attention, and demanded he repeat the joke, despite the moment for it having passed. “This isn’t the time for jokes; it’s time to train,” Samuel interrupted.

Samuel led the others down the usual walking trail. Most passers by simply assumed he was a chaperone, which happened to be their official story, in case anyone asked. Once out of earshot of normal people, Samuel began to explain the agenda for that day. “Alright, after an incident where Tyler showed up during one of Leo, Nate, and Jack’s training sessions, I’ve realized it was time you all were formally introduced. Until now, you have been trained in groups of three in order to grow as a team. There will be many times when you all with have to split into groups during missions. The groups you have been trained in will serve as these groups, at least for now. Jane has been trained one-on-one due to the lack of Elementals and that there are no other members of her group yet. Once we get all of the Elementals together, the groups may be changed, but this is how it is for now.

“Since you all have done well in your small groups, and school will be starting soon, it’s time to begin training you all as a whole. Here is where the Elementals become a team.” While the rest took a moment to process the information, Jane spoke up. “So, what are we doing today?” she asked as they approached the pipe.

Samuel smiled, crossing the creek and heading down the small path, followed by the others. “I’m glad you asked,” he passed the usual training area, continuing past it, “Today, we will be holding a simple evaluation of your power and strength levels.” He stopped walking and stood still in the middle of the woods, then turned to Nathaniel. “Nathaniel, you remember how you keep asking for a real death match?” he asked, that same, calm smile on his face.

“Y-yeah…” Nathaniel answered, confused. Tyler and eo exchanged looks of concern as they all began to get a bad feeling. Something’s wrong, Rosalie thought. Samuel took off his reflective glasses, folding them and placing them in the pocket of his trench coat, the whole time keeping his eyes closed. “Good,” he said. He then opened his eyes with a sinister smile, revealing that his entire eyes were a pitch black color from pupil, to iris, to the whites of his eyes, “because… this is it.”

In one swift movement, Samuel had pulled a revolver from his coat, aiming it at Nathaniel. He tilted his head, smiling, and panic filled Nathaniel’s eyes. Then, as though it were the simplest thing ever, he pulled the trigger.

Everyone froze in shock as the sound of gunfire sounded once… twice… three times. No one had to say it. With eyes shut tight, scared to look, they knew: Nathaniel had been shot, maybe even dead. Samuel had been possessed. Either that, or he just lost his mind.

However, after a few seconds passed, Rosalie looked up to see three bullets spinning in the air, frozen, as though being stuck in an invisible wall. Nathaniel was just as frozen as they were, watching, still somewhat expecting death, having not yet processed that it wasn’t coming yet. Tyler stood a few feet away from Nathaniel, squinting with gritted teeth and trying to focus. His right hand was out with his palm facing the bullets, shaking under the stress of trying to stop small objects moving faster than the speed of sound.

After a moment, Tyler dropped his arm and the bullets fell to the ground. He was breathing heavily, looking like he was about to faint. Leo ran over to him. Tyler collapsed, being caught by Leo as he hit the ground, sliding on his knees, and ignoring all pain in order to help Tyler.

“What was that?!” Leo screamed at Samuel, who merely laughed. He turned the gun towards Leo, giving the same sinister smirk. He went to pull the trigger again, but a vine wrapped around his arm and yanked it down, causing the bullet to hit the dirt. The trigger on the gun then froze, making it a useless weapon.

“Guys! He’s gone nuts! So something!” May screamed, panicking and hiding behind a tree. The ambidextrous Samuel drew a butterfly knife from his pocket and flipped it open with his left hand, then cut through the vine to free his other arm. “Is that all you’ve got?” he asked.

Nathaniel ran forward, another plant sprouting under his feet, launching him into the air. Nathaniel jumped from it, drawing his sword while in the air, and coming down straight on top of Samuel, who took a single step to the left, causing Nathaniel to hit the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, but before he could form any words, something cold and sharp shot past his face, leaving a small cut.

Samuel whirled around, seeing Jack standing there, a bow in his hand. He pulled the string back, and an arrow of ice appeared, ready to fire. Jack released the string and the arrow launched forward, straight at Samuel. Samuel moved his head slightly, and it went just passed his ear, missing him entirely.

“You’re going to have to try better than that,” Samuel laughed as he slowly began walking forward. Jack shot more arrows, standing his ground as Samuel approached him. Every time another arrow was fired, Samuel would respond by changing his posture or position ever so slightly, causing them to just barely miss him. He didn’t even lose any speed until he had reached Jack, swinging the knife at him.

A shockwave hit Samuel, throwing him back before the knife could so much as touch Jack. The shockwave was followed by an array of orbs, glowing red and varying in size. Samuel wasn’t give time to get back to his feet, but instead moved to avoid the orbs while staying on the ground. While he was distracted, Rosalie moved towards him, being sure not to let up with the attacks.

In a quick roll, Samuel was up again. He would move to the left or right and dodge Rosalie’s attacks with ease. That is, until she used both hand and made two at once. One missed Samuel, and the other hit him square in the chest, throwing him backwards a bit. The power of the orbs was becoming weak, however, as Rosalie grew tired. The one that hit wasn’t even enough to knock Samuel down.

Samuel fiddled with something in his pocket, then tossed a small, black, spherical object in Rosalie’s direction. It beeped a few times, then released a large cloud of thick smoke. Rosalie couldn’t see through the smoke, and she coughed and gagged on it, trying desperately for oxygen.

A few arrows hit the ground at Samuel’s feet, coating the area around them in ice and freezing Samuel to the ground. A blast of flames shot at Samuel. He couldn’t move. The fire approached quickly. He was trapped.

Samuel turned the best he could, grabbing his coat by the edges and holding it up as a shield. The fire hit him, head to foot, leaving the coat singed and the ice melted. Samuel dropped the coat, moving forward with the knife at the ready, aiming for Jane. A jet of water shot forward and knocked the knife from Samuel’s hand.

Samuel froze for a moment, then saw something terrifying out of the corner of his eye. Jack ripped the medical mask from his face. Samuel’s eyes widened. “Freeze!” Jack yelled. Samuel threw himself to the ground, out of the line of fire. There was a large blur of white. When it cleared, a large portion of the surrounding woods, expanding out and looking like a bazooka had hit, was completely frozen over. No one who was hit by that could have survived.

Samuel rubbed his head, slowly beginning to get up again. He was stopped by the point of a sword being pressed to his chest. Nathaniel stood over him, smirking. Samuel looked around, trying to find a way out. He was cornered. He smiled. “Well done,” he said calmly, “This looks like a good place to stop.”

Nathaniel along with the others exchanged looks of confusion. Samuel nudged Nathaniel’s sword aside and stood up, patting the dirt from his coat. He pulled a small wipe from his pocket and cleaned his hands before removing black contact lenses from his eyes. He then put on his glasses as May came back and rejoined the rest of the group.

“So, that was all just a test?” Tyler asked, having regained the energy to stand and move freely. Samuel nodded. “Indeed, it was,” he answered. Never before in his life had Samuel been given such evil glared by so many teenagers who wanted to kill him.