by Jae Vogel
“I figure it gives you and Emily enough time to start planning,” he told her. “We can make it a double wedding.”
Lilly held on to him and didn’t know what to say. Although she’d known Dion the entire school year, she hadn’t been close with him until this week. What would her parents’ say? And did she care?
At that very moment her joy was so intense she failed to notice the swarm of flies, which appeared out of nowhere.
The flies buzzed all around them, but failed to land on any one of them. Soon, the cloud of flies was so intense it was hard to see and the noise they made drowned out any sound over five feet away. They were still alone in this part of the parking lot and didn’t have to worry about anyone else. The cloud of flies pulled back and formed a shape next to them as it condescended into a human form. They stood and watched as the manikin made of flies slowly transformed into a human.
It was Officer Karanzen. He was still in his uniform.
“You don’t have to worry about me anymore, Dion,” he told them. “Your uncle no longer needs my services. He’s decided to replace me with some fool named Matt, who’s an elemental himself. I guess he thinks it will save him money. He even got rid of my staff and replaced them with that crew with red hair.”
“You may not believe me, Officer Karanzen,” Dion said, “but I am sorry to hear this. When did you get the word?”
“About fifteen minutes ago. Right before those bumpkins tried to take you out in the parking lot. When I found out they were in charge, I left the office.”
“And now they work for no one,” Dion said. “Something my uncle has done made them very angry. You really don’t want to get a creature made of fire mad at you. Even if you have the power of the fifth element.”
“That corporate kid Matt is one of them too. Not from the fire elements, but from the abyss, the realm of the aether. He’s a sphinx in human form, I found out. I think he used to guard a pharaoh’s tomb until you uncle found him and made a good offer.”
“Something else I will have to consider. So where do you plan on going next, officer?”
“I’m not sure right now. Because of my condition, as I like to call it, I can go just about anywhere I please. I want to get out of this place as soon as I can. Too many bad memories.”
“I can understand how that would happen. It doesn’t have many good ones for me either.” Dion looked at Lilly. “Well, a few, but not too many.”
Lilly beamed back at him.
“You take care, kid. And watch out for your uncle. The man is terrified of you, but he won’t admit it.”
Karanzen began to melt into a diffuse form that turned into the cloud of flies a few seconds later. They stood and watched as the cloud broke down into its individual parts and swarmed across the parking lot. In a few minutes, it was over the field, which surrounded the mall, and then it vanished.
“What do you think will happen to him?” Lilly asked Dion.
“I really don’t know. But I do know one thing.”
“What’s that?” Sean said.
“I need to get to the Hades restaurant and chili parlor. Right away.”
Chapter 13
By the time they were back into the mall, the crowd watching the engagement between the security guards and Dion was gone. Once the security guard fire elementals vanished, so did the onlookers from the concourse. People would go home and talk about some kind of “altercation” in the parking lot, but it would die down in a few months. No one really had the time to worry about such things.
They walked through the entrance door to the mall and continued in the direction of the chili parlor.
Even without the map, Dion could find the Hades restaurant where the best chili in Ohio was served, as the advertisements proclaimed. The smell of cumin filled the air as they approached it and the scent of cooked red beans mixed with the brown meat scent in the air. As usual, there was already a line formed outside the place.
The exterior of the restaurant was designed to resemble a small cantina far south of the Rio Grand. Michael Hades claimed he’d passed such a place on his way north when he fled from the vengeful army of Don Gordo after he’d memorized the sacred recipe. On some nights when the place was slow, he would elaborate on the story and tell people in the restaurant a most amazing tale.
In the elaborate version of the story, Hades had two horses shot out from under him by the guapos who vowed to bring him back to the Padron’s justice and restore his family honor. Under the light of the full moon, he’d crawled across the barren lands outside a remote town near Savona where he happened on the lone cantina. Once inside he was forced to use his charms and impress a mere kitchen maid who worked there. She hid him in the basement for the night until the gunmen from Don Gordo had passed by and no longer searched for him. From there he returned to Ohio and soon had the restaurant up and running, he paid coyotes at the border tenfold the money they usually received to smuggle people across the Rio Grande to bring her to El Norte. He celebrated her arrival with a huge wedding where peace was declared between the various factions in her town. Even Don Gordo was so impressed he called off his guapos.
If you lingered around the restaurant long enough, after Hades left for the day, the help might tell you their version of the story. They would tell you how he found the cantina design in a comic book and used it as the front piece for his restaurant. His lovely senora wife was from Albuquerque and her family had lived there six generations. Far from being a lowly kitchen maid, her father owned the largest grocery store in town and she’d attended private schools until leaving for college. Mr. Hades was forced to promise his future father in law many grandchildren before he would even consider the marriage. They had three children who worked in the family restaurant, two more at home and another one on the way.
Michael Hades was out arranging the menu display when Dion walked up to him with his friends. The other three hung back as they knew this was a private affair between him and Hades.
“Hello, Mr. Hades,” he announced himself to the restaurant owner. “I’m Dion. I’ve been trying to reach you all day.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Dion,” Hades spoke to him. “So is it true your uncle had you create this entire mall at night by levitating blocks of stone from the big quarry in Scipio?”
“If I could do that, Mr. Hades,” Dion said, “I wouldn’t need to come and see you about obtaining full authority for the power of the fourth element.”
“I see. So where do you come from?” He placed both hands on his hips and tried to look the part of an elemental grandmaster, although it was difficult as he wore a white apron and a chef’s hat.
“California, sir. My parents were abducted by my uncle who owns this mall and are held prisoner inside the clock tower. Only I can rescue them.”
“Why is it only you who can rescue them?”
“I will have all four elemental powers should you decide to grant the last one to me. I have possessed the ability to manipulate all four elements since I was a young child, but nothing I ever did had much power. Until I met the other elemental grandmasters, I could only make small things do casual manipulations. Now I have full authority over the first three elements and I will have the fourth with your approval.”
“And with these four elemental powers you will be able to free your parents?”
“No, sir. I need the fifth element to free them. I can only gain the fifth elemental power by entering the clock tower where they are held. But to do that I need all four elemental powers.”
“I see. And where is this fifth elemental grandmaster you hope to find? In the clock tower I assume?”
“No one knows. It is so rare anyone masters the fifth element that few people even know there is a fifth element grandmaster. My uncle gained the power of the fifth element when he by-passed the other four. All he knows is the fifth element. If there is a fifth element grandmaster, he or she will have power over the aether and the abyss. I will have to find him or her in
side that clock tower before I can locate my parents.”
“But what if he or she isn’t in the clock tower?”
“Where else would that person be?” Dion asked him. “My uncle lured the other four elemental grandmasters to this mall so he could trap me. He must have the fifth one concealed inside the tower too. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the fifth elemental master trapped in it too.”
“Well and good, Master Dion,” Michael Hades said. “But we must attend to these matters in private. It’s not a good idea to talk about them in front of the uninitiated.”
“I agree, sir. Give me a few minutes to talk to my friends.”
Dion walked over to the other three. “This should only take an hour,” he told them. “Just wait out here, my uncle won’t dare to try anything while I’m inside with the Fire Grandmaster.”
Lilly put her arms around him and gave Dion a big hug. “You come back to me safe!” she whispered to him.
“Don’t worry. I will.”
Dion walked back and vanished inside the restaurant with Hades. Lilly stood and watched him go. When he was inside the restaurant, she turned to Emily. “He wants to marry me,” she said.
“What? That’s wonderful! We can make it a double wedding.”
“That was Dion’s idea too,” she told her, tears streaming from her eyes.
Dion followed the restaurant owner through his chili parlor as they headed for the back office to complete the interview. He stopped at a young man about Dion’s age and spoke a few words in Spanish to him.
They continued on down the restaurant.
“That was my oldest boy,” he explained to Dion. “I told him to leave us alone for an hour as I have some important business to attend. He favors his mother in temperament, but I think someday he’ll be a good fire manipulator someday. It takes time, as you well know. But right now, I have him to the point where he can summon some lesser fire elementals and they’ll roast an entire slab of lamb in the kitchen. Saves a fortune on gas bills.”
Hades opened the door in front of them and allowed Dion to enter his office in front of him. He turned on the light and allowed Dion a chance to see what was inside the office while he locked the door from the inside.
“Take the seat in front of the others,” he instructed Dion. Dion walked over to the single chair situated in the middle of the room and seated himself.
In front of him were the other elemental grandmasters. He’d met each one over the past few days and obtained the full elemental powers from each one. Today he hoped to obtain the fourth one.
“Welcome, Dion,” the pharmacist said to him who gave him his first elemental power, that of earth. “We’ve waited for you today. None of us worried you wouldn’t make it this far, we’ve been very impressed by your performance. But we need to see a final demonstration of your new abilities before we can allow Mr. Hades to give you the full fire elemental power.”
“There is a reason the final elemental power we can bestow on you is fire,” the hobby storeowner announced. “It is the most dangerous of the four. We cannot allow you to have this ability unless we are certain you will use it to establish balance in this reality. We cannot give the ability to set the world on fire to the wrong person.”
Dion sat in the chair and nodded.
“In order to allow Mr. Hades to give you this ability,” the woman who owned the pool supply shop told him, “you must show us what you can do with the talents bestowed on you so far.”
“Note that there are four basins in front of you,” Michael Hades told him. “The first has earth in it, the second has water, and the third is empty as you have plenty of air in the room to work with. The fourth and final one we will tell you about if you satisfy us with the first three. We want to see what you can do with the first three basins, before we proceed.”
“I understand,” Dion said. “Give me some time and I will do what I can.”
Dion sat in the office before the four grandmasters and closed his eyes. This was the final test of sorts. He needed to prove his good intentions before they would allow him the fourth power. Sitting here in front of them in this small restaurant office was not quite as glamorous as the storybooks would have it, but he’d come far to obtain this fourth ability. His parents were dependent on him and he needed to get them out of the tower.
Dion concentrated hard. There came a grinding sound from the first tray and as cloud of dust began to rise from it. Soon, the dust condensed into the figure of an animal. The animal was visible as a bull, the same one that Dion kept running into, since he contacted the same earth spirits that were originally trapped in the bull to animate it. They created a bull made out of clay, which, due to the small amount of dirt, was life size, but hardly weighed anything. The bull walked out of the tray looked around the office, bowed to the grandmasters, turned to Dion, bowed to him, and then returned to the tray. Once it reached the tray, it returned to its form as a cloud of dust and descended into it. There were no dust particles anywhere in the office after it settled into the tray.
“Very nice,” The pool storeowner said to him. “Now let’s see what you can do with the tray of water.”
Once more, Dion closed his eyes and concentrated. All he could think about was the water Naiads and how innocent they seemed. Of all the elementals he’d encountered in his time at the mall, they had been the easiest to work with. The Naiad sisters were so sweet, it made you wonder why humanity had to come in existence and ruin everything. They weren’t as innocent as they seemed; no sentient being could be clueless and survive in the reality that was Earth. He worried that the chess club would have more than it could handle adjusting them to the ways of the world. But to see the Naiads in their human form choose one boy after another was something he could be proud of all his life.
As Dion thought about the innocent water nymphs, one of them suddenly appeared on the edge of the tray. The water stirred and from it raised a beautiful young woman covered by her long hair. She looked around as she surfaced from the tray and laughed. It didn’t make sense; there was very little water it the tray, but it was all the elemental needed to bring itself forth. Dion recognized the form of Cynae who turned to him and giggled. She blew him a kiss and vanished beneath the still water in the tray.
“Now that was something else,” the hobby storeowner said to him. “I heard about those girls. I can’t believe they live over in the creek now.”
Dion wanted to tell him that they wouldn’t be there much longer, but it was time to work his abilities on the final tray for which he had full elemental abilities. He closed his eyes and concentrated once more. There were a few sylphs in the room, they were always about if you knew where to find them. They were very easy to work and Dion had a few of them start up right away. They liked to help him whenever there was an opportunity.
A breeze began to move around the room. Soon it turned into a light wind. Dion was able to get the sylphs to stop the air currents at this point because he didn’t want a hurricane unleashed in the restaurant office. The wind slowly died down and then it was calm again. There was no need to do anything elaborate with the sylphs as they could be counted on to make the air move. To create a humanoid sylph would be a waste of talent and energy and his judges would not look favorably on it.
“Pretty good wind, son,” Michael Hades noted. He still wore his apron and chef’s hat. The wind had not blown it off his head. “Now if you will excuse us, please step outside the room we need to talk about a few things.”
Dion stepped up from his chair, went to the door, unlocked it and let himself out into the dining area. He shut the door behind him. Now would be the time to render an opinion. All he had to do was stand there and wait.
Very few people were in this part of the restaurant. Hade’s staff must’ve been informed to keep it free and away from interference.
Dion stood in silence and waited. There was nothing else he could do. He hoped his demonstration of his ability and his performance would make the
grandmasters look favorably on his quest. But he wouldn’t know until they made up their minds.
He waited for a good fifteen minutes until the door opened and the face of the pharmacy owner peered out at him. “You can come back in, Dion.”
Dion stepped back into the room and locked the door behind him. The pharmacist was back in her chair and he realized they wanted him to sit back in the one where he’d sat before. Dion walked back over to his chair and seated himself.
“We have carefully considered your actions this week,” Michael Hades began. “There were some concerns about the flooding of the parking lot. We were also worried about the casual use of an earth elemental in the plastic bull in front of so many people, but the situation did warrant the use. Therefore, we have decided to award you the full abilities of the fire elemental. Stand up, Master Dion!”
Dion stood up in his chair as the others did the same.
Michael Hades walked over and took him by the hand. “Do you swear by the Master of Time not to use this ability for personal gain or to accept monetary payment for the gift which is about to be granted you?”
“I do,” Dion replied.
“Do you swear to use your skills to provide aid and comfort to those who need it?”
“I do.”
“Do you swear to use your talents to fight evil in all its forms?”
“I do.”
“Then make the fire in the final tray dance.”
Dion closed his eyes and brought out the smallest fire elemental he could find inside the last tray. It was metal, so there was on danger of it burning through to the floor. He noted the tray was placed on top of a stone platform. The wood burst into flame and Dion made certain there would be as little smoke as possible from the burning wood. He allowed the flame creature on top of it to dance all over the burning wood, which he kept at a temperature so hot it was reduced to ash in seconds. A few minutes later, the flame was gone and the small fire elemental with it.