Elementals: A New Dawn

Chapter 4: Nothing has changed

Everyone turned around, well aware of what song was on and who was playing music at such a time as this.

‘The Monster by Beyonce’

That was the song Zander was playing from his speakers as he lay down on the couch and began to hum the song while playing games. He seemed oblivious to the very palpable tension permeating the room.

Izora, who was closest to him, was the one who moved towards him and took his phone away.

“Hey. Gimme back my phone Z. I was adjusting my presets and soon I will start matchmaking.” He said with an annoyed pout, which would have been cute, had it been under different circumstances.

“what do you mean give you back your phone? Can’t you see everyone is taking time to digest what Oracle said? How can you even play games at a time like this?” she said sternly as she put her hands on her waist at akimbo.

“Well, that’s dumb. Why are they all taking time to digest it?” he asked with a puzzled look.

“I already told Oracle and I meant what I said. We have known from day 1 that this day would come, we have always known we would have to step up eventually. All our training has led us here. So why make a fuss out of the whole thing?” he asked?

“Eragon, you too?” he said with a disappointed frown as he looked at his rival in the orphanage.

“what is so different? We have 12 years to train. So what? They gave us new battle suits which increase their weight. How is that so different from the density shifting armor we use for our present training? Of course, the grade is higher, but we are doing the same thing.” He said and paused, waiting for the weight of his words to sink in.

“And hunting down demons? We have been going on purging missions since we were strong enough and trained enough to function as a cohesive unit. And need I remind you, a purging mission is a mission where guardians are sent to areas of dimensional disturbance to hunt down the demons which have slipped through and patch the rifts as best, we can, so what is so different?”

“Izora, you are one of the if not the greatest magic genius in existence. Eragon, you are a genius who uses Ether instead of mana without using any ether cultivation method, just your own intuition to create your own method. I would like to go on and name all the ways you all are the best of the best but I really want to play a game right about now. We are all distinguished members of the slumbering squads. We are leaders already in the eyes of all Asteria, albeit on a small scale, so us being elementals or gatekeepers is just a promotion. What is there to be afraid about?” He said, his voice rising in octaves as he started to sound more and more annoyed.

“Zain, bro, you too?” He asked and the one in question bowed down his head in self disappointment.

“Mael, even you?” he asked as he looked at another of his friends.

“what are you guys doing? Will being depressed or feeling unworthy change anything? Like I told Oracle, we have been training for this since we took our oath, so what is all this? You know what, y’all do whatever you wanna do, Ima go play a game right now. There’s training later.” He said, as he took his phone from Izora’s hands and headed off in the opposite direction.

The ones he had been scolding, all looked at their commander’s wide back as he left and bit by bit the ones despairing eyes lit up with hope, they still looked sad and said nothing. They did not notice however, the slight smile on Zander’s face as he walked away with his music.

A short while after Zander had left, the room fell back into the same deafening silence and it stayed that way till a loud popping sound was heard.

Turning toward the sound of the pop, Eragon, was seen to be cracking his hands with a creepy grin plastered on his face. Those present knew that grin was when he was about to go on his ridiculous training regimen and he would be sure to annoy everyone in the room with what he would.

They all looked at him with looks that said.

'not the right time dude!'

Noticing the piercing looks directed towards him, he cleared his throat and turned down the volume.

"Now that I have everyone's attention let me ask you this."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL SITTING AROUND BEING SOLEMN OR DETERMINED OR WHATEVER?”

“Did we not know that this day would eventually come? Did we not know that one day we would have to inherit the positions of our masters? Nothing has changed. We will become the best, become the strongest and fill their shoes. We will do it, because that is our will and because that is what we want. Or isn’t that what you all want?”

“Of course,” they all said.

"Since we were brought to Asteria by the guardians we have all known a day like this would come. Every day we trained, we studied, we fought. We took on missions, and we went up against literal life-eating monsters. This is the time all our lives have been leading to, so why hesitate?!"

As if his eyes had just been opened….

"Hahahaha…" Inferno, one of the others present laughed in an equally chaotic and chilling manner.

"Eragon is right. This is the time I've waited for all my life. If oracle thinks he can talk me into abandoning the best chance I can get, he's sorely mistaken. We have all lived in anticipation of this very moment.”

“ Ordinary guardians have to wait for millennia to inherit the mantles of leadership or even more responsibility. Others have the power, the mantle but they need a read of 5.0 D. S and above to act. We have the opportunity to protect earth, asteria and Zoriah all at once, do you really want to throw away that chance?"

“Now I know none of you thought of throwing it all away, but the uncertainty in your hearts has no place there. Our masters did not train us to be fearful and we have never been fearful before. We are strong, we will become stronger and become strong enough to fil our predecessors’ shoes.”

“We are all geniuses the likes of which haven’t been seen since the creation of the race of guardians. Overconfidence and arrogance are dangerous, but we are strong. That is just raw fact and so raise your head up high. We will work together, become stronger together and together, we will triumph!”

One by one, all the children's faces took a 360-degree turn, from looks of solemnity and despair to full blown defiance. So, what if they now had to fill very big shoes? What if they needed to work hard? As if they needed to be told to get stronger. Being strong was their way of life. They would not be called geniuses if they hadn’t been devoted to get stronger.

Eragon and Inferno’s tag team of psycho berserkers had infectious enthusiasm it seemed and suggesting a training simulation of a purging mission put the final nail in the coffin of doubt. Izora, resident magical genius- muttered the spell and the group was teleported to a completely different location. This was the actual orphanage.

The floating island, called the ‘orphanage’ which was home to the group of 15 children. This was the base they scouted out for themselves. They used it for training, learning and every other non-recreational activity. Some of them even lived here full time and they only went back to Zoriah when they were summoned. Their base was somewhat of a semi-Zoriah in terms of security, more so in terms of invisibility. Asides from the elementals and the oracle who knew the position of all their personal students at all time. It was cloaked to detection from magic and even technology.

The 15 children each took their positions for another episode of 'just another day in the orphanage'.

A normal day in the orphanage started out with morning training but today, Oracle’s announcement took everyone by storm and they skipped practice, so the purge simulation was going to substitute for that.

As Eragon and Inferno entered the simulation room, they were joined by Elena, Sylvanna, Ryder, Mythica, Artemis. The other members were busy training in other areas or doing research.

Just outside of the training simulation room, Zander stood on the gallery of the first flight of stairs and looked out at all his friends with a satisfied grin on his face. Zain approached him and nudged him on the arm in a friendly manner and spoke to him with amusement in his voice.

"It baffles me how you always manage to make everyone's spirits go on a high. Even though you're always bickering with Eragon, he also knows how to help you do your thing when the time is right.” He said as they leaned over the balcony.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Zander said with a light chuckle.

“You know you're the leader Oracle spoke about, right?" Zain asked in a more serious tone.

"Well, we have been together for a long time, dreaming of this day. All our lives led up to this moment, so I’ll gladly continue leading us. It pained me to see everyone so unsure you know. Mythica and Izora. Talk less of you buddy, and not forgetting my 'dear' friend Eragon"

The last line was clearly spoken with a tinge of sarcasm which was easily caught by Zain. They shared a good laugh.

There was a sort of sibling rivalry between Zander and Eragon, Eragon, would always question Zander’s decisions and would need ‘convincing’ to follow the instructions, and both of them were in fact fighting buddies, rivals and the ultimate tag team of mayhem and destruction on the battlefield.

Soon after some small talk, Zain left to check on the Zandroids.

Zandroids were perfectly artificially intelligent robots created by Zander, Zain and Tornado. They were used for defense of their base and also training. They were named by Zain after Zander to which he blatantly refused. That was their official name though, since Tornado was in charge of drawing up and signing the patent-he was so busy with his upcoming project that he was too bored to type the full name intended for the Zandroids that he just wrote ‘Zandroids’. They also eventually impressed even the elder 12 and thus were used as a standard defense system throughout Zoriah.

Zander stood with a smile on his face watching as his best friend walked down the stairs. As soon as Zain was gone, Zander heaved a heavy sigh. He thought to himself

'I encourage others and raise their spirit but Zeus knows I have no idea what I'm doing.'

"Everyone expects me to always know what I'm doing, but I'm still a newbie at this damnit!"

He said the last part aloud and sighed. Suddenly, a pair of warm hands wrapped around his neck and some soft lips puckered his cheeks with a peck. Izora who had arrived while Zander was deep in thought said with a voice which was a mixture of soft, warm, caring, comforting and mildly seductive spoke to his ears in a tune so low it was a whisper

"You mustn't always be strong Zander. You're allowed to be weak sometimes. You're allowed to doubt, you're allowed to be a kid. You're even allowed to break down into a million pieces, I'll put you back together no problem." She said with a light chuckle

Zander, hearing that voice chuckled in a low tone and turned around to hug his girlfriend, the resident witch and magician of the orphanage, Izora.

'I really don't know how she manages to always calm me down but she's right. I'm not alone and I never will be. Heck even if I wanted to Izora wouldn't let me do anything alone huh. I guess I'll just have to let go of my worries for now, a nap in her lap sounds nice Hehe'

he thought as a snap of her fingers had teleported them to her room where she sat on the bed put Zander's head and caressed it. Her control over spatial magic impressed him as always.

As soon as she was done speaking, she hummed his favorite song and coaxed him into a relaxing sleep. When she felt he was asleep, she spoke again in a low tone of voice, so as not to wake him up.

"You saved me, you helped me be a better person, you loved me so much it was toxic. You helped me and even gave me a name. this is nothing to you, you are strong enough to handle anything. I may not be as strong as you are, but I'm going to be your rock as many times as you need me to be. I'll pick you up as many times as you break down. I’ll be there for you, for as long as you need me to"

And as a momentary red glow lit her eyes, she said

"I know the burden you carry is heavy, I may not be able to help you, but no one is going to hurt you when you're weak and weary. I'm here for you Love. Always! And I'll help you however I can."

"CARMEN"

"Yes Izora", an AI type voice responded.

"Analyze all the 15 occupants in the orphanage and make a training and studying algorithm for the next 12 years. Have it ready for Zander soon as he is ready to continue our training. Extrapolate to include all the members of the slumbering squads. I have a feeling Zander, who commands all the squads will be asked to train them as well"

"I'm on it Izora"

Once again, in a familiar cyber space, complete darkness was illuminated and a floating humanoid wisp of blue light was present.

"Analysis for black void protocol training sequence commenced" CARMEN's voice was once again heard and she continued…

"Subject name: Tornado…."