Inferno : Elements Series Book One

Gwen

I take my bag from Hank as we reach the wall of the canyon, and stop. Derek and Hank look at one another and I begin to feel like I’m being left out of the conversation. At least until Hank looks at me and says;

“So, you don’t know how to get into the training refuge do you?”

“No. I assume there’s some sort of secret entrance or something?”

“Or something,” Hank smirks. “We use Earth magic to get in. This only looks like a solid slab of rock. In reality, it’s just sort of a very thick rock wall. We use our abilities to slide it open, that way only Elementals can get into it. We keep it guarded, just in case Recruiters figure out where we are, but it hasn’t happened yet. Why don’t you give it a go? Try and open it.”

I hesitate, I feel like I’m definitely missing out on something. I feel like I’m about to get pranked and I don’t like it one bit. I decide to see if what their telling me is true, see if there is actually an underground refuge behind this brick wall of theirs. I focus my mind on the rock and as I do I begin to see waving lines dance across my vision. After a moment I realise that they are vibrations. I’m seeing and feeling the vibration as it moves through the rock. Some lines are stronger, indicating larger movements, but some are small. I trace the smaller ones back to Hank and Derek, the actions of their breathing causing small ripples through both the air and the rock. I can see and trace every small disturbance.

“Derek, how am I seeing this?”

“What are you seeing?” He looks confused.

“I thought you might be pranking me so I decided to check it out and now I’m seeing vibrations and I can track them back to what caused them. I can see and feel you breathing.”

“Can you let us see?” asks Hank. He wants to look into my mind. I’m hesitant but I agree. I feel him and Derek enter my mind and I listen to theirs, trying to make sense of what their seeing. They are surprised, so apparently neither of them have seen this before.

“No, we haven’t seen anything like this before and, yes, we were pranking you. That wall is solid rock, you shouldn’t have been able to move it.”

“I know,” I say. “The entrance is in the river. You part the water and lower the rock in the centre to gain access to the facilities entry point. I already found it. I traced the vibrations of several people who walked through there.”

I’m not lying, it only took me a second to realise that they were trying to make me do something that they thought was impossible. The rock face was easy for me to see through.

“You certainly have some interesting talents,” says Hank. They are both out of my head now and talking to me out loud. Both are surprised that I didn’t fall for their trick, serves them right!

“I guess we should get you inside then,” says Derek. “Maybe you should do the honours.”

“Uh, I’m not really sure how. I’ve never tried using water before.”

“You’ve never used air before either but you just had both of us flying around the canyon. I don’t think you’ve tried using earth, but you just taught us a lesson about it,” he says. “Just give it a go, I’m sure you’ll breeze through it.”

He’s right, I haven’t used either of those elements before, but they came to me pretty easily today.

I step toward the river and bend down, running my fingers through the water. The water is cool and feels incredibly inviting, even though it isn’t hot at the base of the canyon anyway. I begin to feel a cool sensation running up my arm and when I look down I see that there is water moving up and curling around my arm in intricate patterns of swirls and almost floral looking fractal designs.

“Guys, is this normal?” Maybe this happens when Elementals touch water?

They bend to look at my arm and Hanks eyebrows shoot into his hairline.

“Uh, no, I’ve never seen that before either. It looks like the water is trying to Become a part of you.”

The water has stopped moving across my skin and I take my hand out, surprised to see that the water is still there, holding its shape.

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Is it hurting? Is it doing anything at all?”

I think for a second but it isn’t doing anything; in fact it feels natural.

“No, it feels good, sort of like it’s always been there.”

That’s the best way I can explain it. I brush the water against my shirt, seeing if it will wipe off, but it doesn’t, it is dry to touch but I can clearly see that it is still flowing in a continuous cycle throughout the pattern.

“The other elements didn’t do this. Is this a water thing?”

“No, it’s a ‘you’ thing,” says Derek. I have no idea what he means.

“What do you mean?” asks Hank, mirroring my thoughts.

“The elements seem to work differently for her. Instead of us training to use them, they seem to want to be used by her, like they are simply an extension of her body. I’ve been in her mind while she’s used them, they respond to the slightest change in her thoughts. They respond to her, she doesn’t manipulate them. It’s more like she is them. I’d say that the water she’s touched just, sort of, recognises her and wants to be closer to her. That pattern might never go away.”

Well, at least Hank seems to understand what Derek is on about.

“Gwen, how does it feel when you use the elements?”

I don’t hesitate to answer, I’ve finally figured it out.

“It feels natural, like it was always something I was able to do. And the energy that goes through me when I use them is just incredible. It’s like a rush of adrenalin and endorphins, but on steroids, making everything more vivid and real. It’s amazing.”

He just nods.

“That’s good to know, the more I know about how you use your abilities, the better I can plan for your training. You already posed quite a challenge Because your aura is so strong and the abilities you’ve already displayed are so unique, but, if I can understand how you use that strength then I can tailor a program to suit you perfectly and help you get everything under control.”

“Oh! That reminds me. She can control storms and lightning.” Says Derek.

“What? That’s impossible!” exclaims Hank, his head whipping around to stare at me so fast I think he must have given himself whip lash.

“That’s not a normal thing either?” I frown. Can they just give me one solid answer about all this craziness? Is that too much to ask? I’m beginning to feel like a freak among the supernatural.

“No, storms form through the combination of fire, water and air components and there’s never been an Elemental capable of commanding them to the same effect. Some can influence a storm once it’s occurred naturally, but no one can simply create a storm and influence how it works.”

“But, I killed eight Recruiters using lightning from a storm I created. Just before we came here.”

Hank looks positively baffled and I am instantly alert Because I’ve just confessed to killing eight Recruiters.

“I already told you,” says Derek. “You aren’t going to get into any trouble for what happened to the Recruiters behind your house. They were attacking you, for a start, and second of all they were Recruiters. The only thing you have to worry about has to be divulging every single detail to the Warriors that are staying here. They’ll be jealous that you got to have all the fun.”

“Maybe we should finish discussing this inside. It appears we have a lot of ground to cover and we still have to get Gwen settled into her new place.”

“My new place?” I ask. I get a new place, surely it’s just my own room; a small space with a spot to sleep and room to store my stuff.

“Yup, a nice one bedroom apartment for you to call your own while you’re here,” replies Hank, as though handing out apartments to people he’s just met is normal.

“Uh, sure, thank you. Would you still like me to try and open the door?” The watery bracelet is still circling my arms.

“Certainly, have at it,” Hank beams.

I walk to the edge of the river again and, using my new found abilities to track movement, I locate the entrance. The water moves aside with a small hand gesture, making a short path to the centre of the river and I step forward toward a small boulder indicating the entrance. If you don’t know how to find it or where you’re going then finding this one small landmark in this giant canyon would be impossible. Once I get to the boulder I place my hand, palm down on its cool surface and easily slide it aside, revealing a small stone staircase leading down into a brightly lit room. I’m too curious to ask permission, and I start down the steps, arriving in a large lobby. There is a small crowd waiting at the base of the stairs and I come to an abrupt halt, unsure as to what they want.

A woman steps forward and holds her hand out me. I take it as she introduces herself.

“My name is Erin, I’m one of the trainers here, I’m so glad you decided to come. We’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Oh, hi, I’m Gwen. I’m sorry, how do you know me?”

I look to Derek for help but it looks like he is just going to let me drown in the crowd.

“I’m sorry, it must be a shock. We didn’t mean to ambush you here. We saw what you did before you came in and, we have to admit, we are all a bit in awe of you. We’ve never seen anyone fly before. I’m a bit more anxious to meet you Because I’m one of the Air Element Trainers here at the academy. Seeing you fly like that, it was just breathtaking.”

“Okay, okay,” says Hank. My saviour! “Let’s not suffocate the poor girl within her first five minutes here. You’ll all get your chance to quiz her about what she can do. How about we just settle for introductions right now?”

And so they begin.

I meet Jasper, a Warrior who will be training me to fight; Jillian, a Guardian who will be helping with all the mind tricks like dream walking; Elijah, an earth instructor; Rhea, a water instructor who grabs my arm in shock at the pattern of water that’s still there; Erin, who just introduced herself as my air instructor; Hank, who just informed me that he will be my fire instructor; Garret, who can talk to animals and influence plants and will see if I’m capable of being trained in that field and, of course, Derek, who will be assisting with all of the above. It’s a long list, a lot of people and a lot of information. My mind is reeling by the end of it and I’m thankful when Derek leads me away from the group.

“I’m sorry about that. I’ve never seen them get so excited before; they should have been able to contain themselves. I bet it was a bit of shock to come down the stairs to that.”

“That’s an understatement. Why are they all so excited? Surely there are more important things going on here than me.”

A strange look crosses his face and when he speaks he sounds kind and sincere, not his usual tone at all.

“You are important, Gwen. You may not think so, but that’s only Because you don’t see yourself the way we do. The things you’ve been able to do have never been seen before. Some of them, like what you did with the lightning, have only ever been attempted but not even our strongest Warriors have been able to do it. You are doing these impossible things without any training, just going by instinct alone which leaves everyone incredibly excited about what you could be capable of with some training.”

I don’t respond, both of us just walk in silence for a while so I can process everything that’s happened in the last few hours. It’s been a long day. I realise that I have no idea where we’re going.

I ask Derek.

“To get food,” He replies. “I’m starving and I imagine you are too. There’s a food court here that offers a wide variety of food from Mexican to Italian, Chinese, Thai and even just plain old sandwiches.”

“It sounds like the shopping centre,” I say, stifling a yawn.

“Sort of. What are you in the mood for?”

I think over my options and decide that Thai is the best way to go. He leads me through a hallway to a door that says ‘Cafeteria’ and I’m hit by the amazing smell of all the different foods inside, making me realise just how hungry I am. I’m also hit by a wave of noise. There are dozens of people in here sitting around large tables, laughing and talking and having a good time, obviously friends. It makes me miss my own friends. We head to the Thai booth, grab some Chicken Pad Thai and walk over to an empty table where we are quickly joined by three girls and four guys who all sit down and stare at Derek and I.

“So, this is her,” sneers one of the girls. Talking to Derek and not acknowledging my existence at all.

“Don’t be rude Carrie,” says Derek. “Yes, this is Gwen. Gwen, this is Carrie and the rest of these guys are Judith, Marie, Grant, Matthew, Jarrod and Bryce. You’ll probably be training with them at some point while you’re here.”

“Uh, nice to meet you all,” I say, though it definitely isn’t. All three girls are looking at me like I’ve run over their cat and the boys look just as welcoming.

“So, I hear you’re supposed to be some sort of all powerful magical genius,” says Judith. She has flaming red hair, dark blue eyes and is missing one of her incisors.

“I don’t know about that. I’m just here to get a handle on whatever it is that I can do.”

“Well, I’m the best here when it comes to fire,” pipes in Jarrod. “And Marie here, my girlfriend is the best with water. So if you don’t do well, I’m sure watching us will be helpful for you.”

Fantastic, somehow word got out that I can apparently do really powerful stuff and it’s turned into a giant pissing contest between me and the other trainees. Well, I’ve never let anyone walk all over me before; I’m not going to start now.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine and if not, I’ll go to my Guardian here for advice first, since he’s already trained and probably a better source of information,” I say, gesturing towards Derek and watching Carries’ eyes narrow.

“You should really be thanking us for offering to help,” says Carrie. “The best in your training classes don’t usually offer such things.”

“For future reference, saying I can watch and learn isn’t you offering to help me. It’s you trying to solidify your place as number one and intimidate me at the same time. Just so you know; it isn’t working. So if that was the point of this conversation then maybe you should just run along and find someone else to annoy.” I lift my hand and wave it in a shooing motion and their eyes all widen. I forgot about the water that’s still flowing over my forearms.

“What is that?” says Carrie. “Some sort of bracelet made out of water? That must be taking away a lot of concentration to keep it there, right Marie?”

“Definitely, it’s a real waste of your energy to keep doing that just for fashion,” she says, but she’s looking at it with envy so I assume she’s never thought of doing it.

“I’m not doing it. I ran my hand through the river about half an hour ago and this happened. It hasn’t gone away yet.”

I’m exhausted, hungry and my mood is plummeting.

“Right, well, Gwen has to settle into her apartment so if you guys are done making fools of yourselves, I suppose we’ll go,” says Derek. It’s a good time to interrupt. They look like they might jump the table at me and I’m a little shocked at their hostility towards me. I’ve never even met them. Derek and I pick up our food and he leads me back to the lobby where we go through a side door and walk down a large hallway. Doors and hallways lead of in every direction and I wonder how I’ll find my way around without Derek.

“So, where are we going now? Is there another group of arrogant children you’d like to introduce me to or was that all I’ll have to deal with today?”

“I’m sorry about them. They shouldn’t have come up to you like that, it was ridiculous. You handled it well though, definitely came out on top. I’m glad you didn’t look through their minds though. Those guys were having some pretty detailed thoughts.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re powerful, attractive and female. That was enough to get their blood up.”

Oh, I guess it is a good thing I didn’t take a peek at their thoughts, I might have strangled them.

“As to where we’re going, I’m taking you to your apartment. You can finish eating there and get settled.” He stops outside of a large door that looks like it is made of hundreds of individual leaves, carved from various woods and layered on top of one another to create the door. Derek pulls a key from his pocket and hands it to me.

“Once you touch the key it will absorb into your skin, meaning you can never lose it, no one can ever steal it, and it ensures that you are the only person with access to your place. Just place it in the palm of your hand and it will do the rest.”

I do what he says and sure enough the key painlessly sinks into the skin of my right hand and disappears. I touch my hand to the door and it swings open; letting me into the most beautiful room I have ever seen. The room is built inside what looks like the inside of a giant yellow rose. The curtains on the windows look like thousands of petals, in dozens of colours, sewn together forming one flowing strip of colour. The table in the centre looks like it’s simply grown out of the floor and the couch and arm chairs in the living room are made of stacked leaves and flowers. The whole room is exquisite and smells simply divine. I see a door leading to another room, made like the front door, and open it. It is a bedroom; however, the floor is a small, crystal clear lake. The bed in the centre is a giant lily pad. Pathways made of smaller lily pads lead to the bed and off to another room that I soon discover to be a bathroom. A bath made out of a giant, fully opened lotus sits on the far left and a shower to the left, the walls of which are a huge pink tulip, the shower head hanging from the ceiling directly above the tulips opening.

“So, what do you think?”

“I don’t really have words Derek, this place is beautiful. Are all the rooms like this?”

“No, each room is slightly different to the last; although, I’ve never seen a room like this. They went to the extra effort with this one.”

“Who does it?”

“These rooms are only made up when someone is going to stay in them. I’d say Garret did this one up and decided to get a little creative,” he smiles. He seems to be in awe of the room a little bit too.

“I’ll be sure to thank him when I see him for training,” I say, and I mean it. My apartment is incredible and at the moment I can’t think of any reason I’d want to leave it. “What does your room look like?”

“I’ll show you sometime. It’s not as impressive as this but it looks like a volcano. There is even lava cascading down my bedroom wall.”

“I thought you said it wasn’t impressive?”

“Compared to most it really isn’t. Some are made from rock and look like all sorts of different caves, some are made of ice, some are underwater and some look like volcanoes. They’re all pretty amazing though.”

“I’ll say.”

I put my bag down on my giant lily pad bed and go back to the living room. I left my food on the table and I really badly want to eat it. I’m so hungry that I’ve started to feel sick.

“When does my training start?”

“Probably tomorrow; I’ll give you a tour, show you where everything is and then, if we’re done in time, I’ll take you to one of the general classes with the other trainees tomorrow afternoon. We’ll see how you handle the stuff that they can do and try and plan out your training from there.”

“What sort of stuff will I be expected to do tomorrow?”

“Nothing really, they might not even get you to do anything, they might just ask you to watch and listen for that session and begin getting you to participate the next day.”

“What are they expecting of me in general. Those guys back at the food court seem to think they know something about me. How do they know me at all? I only just got here.”

“They don’t know anything about you,” Derek replies. “The only thing they’ve heard is that you’re really strong and they have humungous egos, so they don’t like thinking that someone might be better than them. I have to admit, I’m looking forward to watching you kick their arses.”

He smiles but I’m not reassured. I’ve been here less than two hours and already I seem to have made a whole group of enemies. It’s not like I thought I could just rock up and everyone would love me, with my personality it was highly doubtful, but an entire group of people mad at me so quickly is a new record, even for me.

“Is there anything important that I should know before I head to these training sessions? I don’t want to be blindsided by some piece of general information that I should know, but don’t.”

He thinks for a moment before speaking.

“You aren’t going to age, your body won’t scar for anything less than an incredibly serious wound caused by Elemental magic and, essentially, you aren’t capable of dying unless someone kills you.”

I freeze, dropping my fork and almost knocking my plate of Pad Thai off the table. I really have to stop doing that.

“Don’t freak out, I should have told you sooner but there hasn’t really been a lot of time for me to drop that bomb shell on you.”

I can’t speak. Did he just say that I’m not going to die? I can’t be hurt and I’m not aging.

I feel him in my head but I make no effort to block him out, I can’t manage to speak just yet so hopefully my thoughts can do it for me.

“Gwen? Are you in there?”

“Yes, I’m here just, um, what did you say?”

“You heard what I said; I can see it in your thoughts. Yes, I said you won’t age. Physically you are going to stay twenty-one for the rest of your life. I know it’s weird, I was twenty-two when my powers activated.”

“Wait, hold on a second, how old are you?”

“Physically twenty-two, numerically I’m twenty-six.”

“Oh, that’s not so bad. I thought you were going say like three hundred and fifty or something.”

“Some of us are that old. Hank just turned one hundred and sixty-four but he hasn’t aged since he was thirty-six.”

“So, I’m going to look like this forever?”

“Well your hair still grows and your body can change as far as weight and muscle tone but, other than that, yes. You will look like that forever.”

Well, that’s not so bad. At least now I have a potential eternity to shed those few unwanted kilos and my boobs won’t ever sag, so I guess there’s a bonus in that too. I yawn and Derek takes that as his cue to leave.

“I’ll come by around ten in the morning to take you on a tour. You seem exhausted, so I’ll head out. You can explore your apartment and settle in and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, thanks Derek. I’ll see you then.”

He leaves me to my thoughts and my gorgeous apartment. Going into the room I find the closet hidden behind a curtain of leaves and petals at the end of another lily pad pathway. I put away my few items of clothing, place my books on a small shelf above my lily pad bed, put my sketch pad on a small lily pad next to my bed, take off my jeans and crawl under the covers wearing just my underwear and a tank top. The bed is incredibly comfortable, with a small layer of soft flowers making a fragrant and plush mattress for me to lie on. The blanket is made of more flower petals and feels like satin. It is surprisingly warm and I drift off into a peaceful sleep within minutes.