“And of our children?” this question came from Greta Dalgornik near the back of the crowd.
“Any of our own children that are over the age of eight have begun basic training to be able to defend themselves and control their powers,” Robert answered as he and Adelaide joined the rest of the leadership. “The ones that are at least sixteen are already training for combat. We will offer the same training for any and all of you, as well as your children. This war will affect us all, no one will be exempt from it.”
“So you’re training your own children to fight at your side when this begins?”
“I am. My eldest two along with James and Katie’s eldest two are already combat training. Guinevére only just begun training for combat but RJ, Zak, and Addí have been training for a few years now along with Galen and Vera Richards’s son Shane.”
“Would any of you send them into this war when it starts?”
“The thought of their future is why this began, so yes, Greta, I would send my children into combat but I know that all of us would be there with them. My son wants to fight for Ilysia,” Adelaide remarked before any of the other leaders could answer.
Silence quickly invaded the room. While they had not been speaking for long, every word held such a deep meaning on their purpose and future it was hard for any of them to know what to say next. The leaders at the front expected many of the questions that had been asked of them. The concern for their children, allies, and the information about the Empress having forces in Corinthia was precisely what the group of five had anticipated to happen. While this was only the beginning, it was necessary and obvious to the resistance leadership that it was going to take hours of answering many questions to help the others begin to understand what was truly happening. This is what brought them all together in the first place and fighting to free their homeland from the Empress was the purpose that they still knew existed for them now.
The next day, Robert and James stood outside of the training area shaking their heads. They were working on training Zak, Addí, and RJ for combat. It was a type of training that they focused more on using offense and more assertive defensive tactics. They were doing well when dependent on weapons but both of them knew that this would take a lot of work with their powers. Addí was focusing on tactics with just her fire power to perfect her attacks with it. James had her focusing on it not just because it was the element he could control but due to her fear of using that power since she accidentally hurt Zak with it as a child. RJ was currently standing in between the two siblings as they argued because of how Zak used his water power to not only block his sister’s attack but completely soak her.
“You could have put out that fire without soaking me!” Addí yelled. “You have better control than that!”
Zak was trying to control his laughter. He had thought it would be funny to prank his sister in the middle of training. The only problem with this was that James knew this was the reason behind Addí standing in front of her brother screaming at him in her completely soaked training leathers. He was going to have to have a long talk with Zak about making jokes now. Until recently the occasional shenanigan was never an issue but things would have to be much more serious from now on since they were truly preparing for war. This was beyond basic combat training, it was military training for a coming war and unfortunately for the three young adults they would have to learn this far sooner than they would have ever anticipated.
“Enough!” James shouted. “Both of you! We can no longer afford to take time in training for such antics. We are truly training for war now.”
The three of them all looked at the two adults in front of them with shared expressions of shock. The change was going to be just as sudden for them as it had been for the others.
“Dad, are you serious?” Zak asked, concern filling his voice.
“More than I’d like to be,” James answered.
“I’m not ready for this, Dad,” Addí spoke aloud, voice slightly quivering in fear.
“Yes you are, Addí Jade! You’ve come so far with controlling your abilities and you can do this.”
“I still struggle with fire!”
“You can do this.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Now step back with Robert, boys. I’m going to help her see that she can control her abilities with fire. She just has to stop being so scared.”
Both RJ and Zak walked back to where Robert stood outside of the training area as James led Addí into the center of it. He directed her to stand there while he lined up a bucket, a pile of wood, and a stack of empty boxes. Addí fought the urge to pace as James came back to join her. She was nervous and everyone could see it. This was the one power she feared. She had hurt someone once, someone she loves. She was afraid she would do that again.
“Addí Jade, you cannot be afraid. Your fear is what is keeping you from controlling it,” James stated in a firm but calm manner as he stood next to her. “You have to breathe and focus, but most importantly, you have to get rid of the fear that you will hurt someone. One day this could save your life or that of someone you love.”
Addí looked over at him in silence. She was not sure what to say to him. She was afraid. He was right about that. She had hurt Zak when they were kids by accident. It was not something she wanted to relive. Fire was the only element she was unable to grasp any control over and she knew well that she had to learn how to do this. She could not let any anxiety prevent her from being able to learn to control it. This was the same gift her dad had. If anyone could teach her how to do this, it was him and she trusted him with her life.
“I trust you, Dad,” Addí said. “If anyone can teach me how to use this and not hurt anyone I care about, it’s you.”
James smiled at her before responding, “Now I need you to listen carefully and relax. We have to start with basic control before we can do anything more advanced.”
“Can I change first? I’m wet!”
“If you get some basic control with what I’m about to teach you then you can be done with training for the day.”
Addí looked at him with a raised eyebrow. She was uncomfortable with her hair wet and heavy as well as being in wet training leathers. She was going to make her brother pay for this part for sure. She wanted to laugh and call her father’s bluff because he never let them just get out of training. Perhaps things truly were changing as he had told them and he did not want them to lose what sense of normalcy they had left.
James stood close to his daughter as he prepared to talk her through sparking her fire power. He knew she could do this and that the only thing holding her back was fear. She was the only one in nearly a millennia to be born with the gift to manipulate all five elements. He would not let her struggle, knowing just how special she truly was.
“Breathe deep and try to clear your mind. I just want you to focus on my voice,” he instructed in a soft voice as Addí took in a deep breath “The first thing you need to do is visualize the fire in your mind. See it clearly as something you can control because it is yours to control. Tell yourself this.”
Addí stood still as she listening to her dad’s instructions. She took deep breaths as she began to clear her mind. Slowly she started to see the image of the fire in her mind. She took a deeper breath as she told her mind that she controlled this and no one else. This was her power. She controlled the fire; it did not control her. Those were the words she kept telling herself as she watched the ball of flames form inside her mind.
“See that fire come to life in the bucket over there, Addí Jade,” James spoke quietly to her. “You can do this. Bring it from your mind and make it real.”
She took another deep breath and concentrated as she saw that bundle of flames start to spark in the bucket her dad had set out. One spark was all she needed to make it grow. She watched and felt the power flow through her veins as she willed it to grow into a small glow.
“Good!” James exclaimed. “Very good! Now build it, make it
bigger but do not lose control over it. This is your fire.”
His words spurned her to accelerate the fire she created until the blaze was visible over the top of the bucket. She would hold it to that size. She could do this. It was her fire. She moved her concentration to the pile of wood and held her gaze on it for less than a moment when she had sparked a new fire. The wood crackled and popped as it burned before them. She had cleared her mind as if no one else was there but her dad. She was going to do this and not be held back any longer. If a war was truly about to begin then she would be ready to fight. She wanted to live in Ilysia where she knew they all belonged.
“Now try creating the fire in your hand and throwing it to the boxes,” her dad coached.
She held her left hand out before her. Holding it steady she concentrated on the palm of it as a tiny spark began to form into a small ball of fire. She watched as it spun above the center of her palm as she willed it to grow larger. Once it reached the size of her palm she threw it in the direction of the boxes, using her telekinetic gift to direct it to land right in the center of them and engulf the cardboard in flames. She let out a heavy breath as all three fires she had created continued to burn but remain contained. Relief filled her as she realized exactly what she had done. She had used her ability with fire and hurt no one. She had held control. The next step would be doing it while practicing offensive and defensive techniques. But, she had made progress by willing it to life and maintaining the ability to keep it bound to where she directed it to be.
“I did it!” she squealed aloud in celebration.
“Yes you did! I’m so proud!” James exclaimed as he pulled her into a tight hug.
Addí began to jump up and down before doing a silly dance that caused all of them to erupt into laughter. She was proud of herself that she let herself learn basic control over her fire power. Now she was no longer going to have to fear it and could embrace it.
“Way to go, little sis!” Zak shouted from behind her.
Addí smiled as she turned to face her brother but her eyes caught RJ first. His smiled reached all the way to his steel colored gaze and she found herself momentarily lost as she returned the smile he was giving her. It had been days since her birthday and neither of them had managed to admit how they truly felt to the other. The entire world disappeared when she found herself lost in his eyes and it made her wonder if hers had the same effect on him.
“I did make a deal that if Addí Jade managed to control her fire power with my help that you could be done with training for the day,” her dad’s voice spoke, tearing her attention away from RJ.
“You actually meant it?” Zak asked.
“Of course I did, but tomorrow is Sunday so I expect you all down here after breakfast.”
Zak groaned aloud causing Addí to laugh. He loved getting out of training more than anyone.
“And if any of you hear from Shane, please remind him he’s missing his training,” James continued. “Now get out of here, get dry, and have some fun. I don’t want a coming war to cause any of you to not know what that is anymore.”
“Thanks, Dad!” Addí exclaimed as she ran to the stairs in search of a shower and dry clothes.
“Can we get out of tomorrow too?” Zak asked with a smirk.
“No, son. You have to train but go have fun for the rest of today,” James answered quickly.
“Alright. Come on, RJ, let’s go.”
“Thank you, James. See you later, Dad!” RJ said in response as he and Zak walked to the stairs to go change and have the rest of the day to just have a little fun.
Robert walked over with the fire extinguisher to put out Addí’s fires. James let out a slight laugh as he handed it to him. He raised an eyebrow at his friend wondering what exactly he was finding funny now that the three teenagers were no longer around.
“What’s so funny?” Robert asked as James snuffed out the fires Addí had made.
“My daughter and your son,” James quickly responded.
Robert shook his head as he joined his friend’s laughter. They had all been watching Addí and RJ dance around each other for months obviously falling in love to everyone but the two of them.
“I don’t think they realized we noticed that,” Robert remarked.
“RJ couldn’t speak once she turned around and she seemed to lose the ability to herself,” James added.
“They’re going to drive us all crazy before we finally get one of them to admit to the other one how they feel.”
“Were Katie and I like this?”
“In the beginning, yes. I don’t know where my son gets it from because I was not shy to tell Adelaide how I felt.”
“She wasn’t shy to tell you the same thing, if I recall.”
“No she wasn’t, but you and Katie drove us both nearly to the point of insanity.”
The two friends found themselves filled with amusement over the reminiscing of old times and how it compared to their two children that had seemingly fallen in love with each other.
“We’re going to have to give them more of a shove than Adelaide gave you and Katie,” Robert stated knowingly.
“I know we are. They’re both considered adults now. Katie told me that she told Addí on her birthday that she needed to say something to RJ. Zak has talked to RJ. We’re at the point where they need the push,” James replied confidently.
“You’re going to encourage this despite what we know is coming, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am! Now more than ever. My wise wife has said that in times like these love is something important to have and hold onto.”
“It’s that Elven blood in her that makes her that way.”
“Yes it is, but I’ve also learned a little bit about Zak and Addí’s real parents from John. It isn’t much but it makes me want to encourage anyone to love when they find it.”
Robert looked at his friend curiously. John Daesyn had always been very mysterious when it came to the two children James and Katie had adopted as their own. He had delivered the mysterious, unsigned letters from their mother but never gave any hints as to her identity. It had been clear from the beginning that he knew exactly who the biological parents were very well.
“We’ve always known that he’s known exactly who they are. That’s one thing he hasn’t been able to hide,” Robert stated. “What did he tell you?”
“Only that they were very much in love and it was practically forbidden,” James explained.
“He only said that?”
“He called it complicated, saying that it wasn’t her family or people that would have felt that way but his.”
“Does he know where his children are?”
“He never said anything to indicate that. I can’t press him anymore and you know that. He only said that he knew his son and never saw his daughter.”
“Do you think any of our other connections could help us find out anything more?”
“Katie’s uncle is the best connection we have outside of John and his network of spies.”
“Would Jíma help you and Katie with this?”
“I don’t know but I’m going to have Katie ask. Now why don’t you get home to Adelaide and the girls. I’m sure RJ is staying here. I’d like to spend time with my wife and little girls.”
Robert smiled at his friend. James was obviously stressed. Things were changing and it could become even more rapid than any of them could predict. His best friend was trying to take the weight of two worlds onto himself and Robert was not going to allow that to happen. They would lead this together as they had always planned.
“And we just leave those three to their own devices?” Robert questioned.
“We have to let them be young for as long as we can,” James answered with a smile.
“Then I’ll see you in the morning. Do you want me to bring Guinevére?”
“She could watch and learn some more basics. It would be useful for her to start learning now.”
“And it will
show the others a good example that the leaders are willing to train their own children to fight in this war.”
“Exactly.”
“Until tomorrow, my friend.”
“Thank you, Robert, for not letting me completely lose my head.”
“You’re my best friend, James. It’s my job.”
James let out a laugh as Robert walked towards the stairs. He was even more grateful that he had been friends with a man like Robert for most of his life. He had someone else to depend on besides his beloved wife that would not let him drown himself in plans to fight against the darkness that was plaguing their homeland. He knew that he had best do as he told Robert he would. He was going to spend the evening with Katie, Anní, and Camí as a family. It was something he needed just as much as he was sure they did.
Zak had been playing cards with RJ for nearly an hour when he decided that he had enough of his best friend’s moping. Outside of training, RJ was only focused on one thing and that was Addí. While both he and his friend were mastering their abilities with their gifts well and focusing on weapons training, Addí was different. She held abilities with all elements and had not mastered them all. Therefore much of her training was working with her with different elements so she could start to master them all. His sister had always struggled with using her fire power. It got out of hand one time when they were children and seemed to scar her for life. Zak knew it had been an accident and had quickly forgiven her. The problem was that she would not forgive herself. Perhaps now that with their dad’s guidance that she had shown control over the gift, she would finally do so. Zak could only hope for that to happen.
He sat his hand down, once again the winner. RJ was not even trying it seemed. Then again, his friend had been out of it ever since he and Addí locked eyes at the end of training. Zak was getting beyond frustrated with the two of them and their inability to speak to each other about their feelings. He wanted his best friend back to normal and he had the feeling that it would not happen until his sister and best friend finally discussed their feelings for each other.
A Darkness Awakens Page 6