The Masters: RE: The New Cast (The Crisis in Time Series Book 1)

by Matthew Weldon

“Use Water Form. All you do is release water energy, then quickly suppress it around your body. I know you can do it.” It said.

  “Who are you?” I asked it.

  The voice continued, “Never mind that right now, just do it if you want to save your yourself and your friends.”

  I did what it told me to. I released all my water energy. Everyone around me stopped. The force of the release made the wind around me blow around, violently. I saw blue aura rage around me. I then tried and suppress it, but failed.

  “Come on Tana, you can do it. Quickly!” Spex yelled while continuing to watch.

  Asha was about to send the giant fireball down on Vlayru.

  “Screw this. She needs more time,” Spex said.

  He disappeared into his aura and ducked behind a tree. He saw where Asha was and put his hand up in her direction. He slowed down time in a small area around Asha.

  Spex whispered, “This is your chance, Tana.”

  Tana quickly lowered her body and released more energy and tried again. The wind around her picked up again and blue water-like aura surrounded her. It then wrapped around her body and transformed her into Water Form. Her whole body was water and her eyes glowed yellow. She blasted water the woman, stopping her charge. Vlayru then fainted. Kaido got up slowly, his body was beaten and was bleeding. He wasn’t wearing his armor. The woman got back up and sent a wave of fire hurling toward us. Tana stopped it with Water Blast. She then jumped forward through the explosion, charged up a massive Water Blast again with both hands, and shot it towards her. Asha couldn’t defend against it since she was knock off balance from the blast, and hit her hard enough to send her flying into the air. Asha’s body returned to normal. Tana jumped into the air, touched her, and got Master Fire’s orb. After that, Tana’s body returned to normal and she began to fall. Kaido started sprinting toward her and caught her, followed by Kaido sliding on the ground on his knees.

  Tana opened her eyes, smiled, and said, “Thank you.”

  They looked over at Asha, who was dying.

  She looked back at them and said, “I should have listened to the other rebel leaders when said to not get revenge, but I couldn’t help it. He was my mentor. I couldn’t let it go.”

  Kaido asked her, “What are you guys after?”

  She explained, “Well, we were brought together to take down the nation’s leaders and the cast, but I feel like there is more...”

  Asha died, her eye left open, looking up. Tana then closed her eye.

  ‘I guess that is it then,’ Spex said to himself and disappeared, back to his house.

  Spex thought on what just happened, “Originally, it was a mercenary who attacked them at that time if my memory is correct. He was trying to gather all the master orbs I believe.”

  Spex tried to think harder, but he couldn’t remember. Almost like the memory was fading away.

  “I better get back to watching,” he said, pulling up the hologram at the point after he left.

  I awoke the next morning in my sleeping bag. I sat up to find Kaido making breakfast over a campfire and Vlayru slowing opening his eyes. He was mostly bandaged up. I had bandages around my left leg and arm.

  “Thank you so much, Kaido,” I said to Kaido, smiling.

  “No problem,” He replied.

  “I thought you were a goner after getting hit like that. I mean Vlayru and I can handle it cause of our training, but you…,” I told him.

  “Yeah, I can handle pain. It was part of my training as well. Maybe one day, I’ll get an element power eventually,” Kaido replied.

  “Eventually,” I repeated.

  Just then, Vlaykre appeared out of purple aura. Kaido jumped and nearly broke the eggs he was about to cook. Kaido looked away to calmed himself.

  He looked at Vlaykre and asked him, “Can you please stop doing that?”

  “Can’t make any promises,” Vlaykre responded, smirking.

  He examined us and asked, “Whoa, guys, what happened?”

  “We fought another member of the rebellion. She had Master Fire’s orb,” I explained.

  Vlayru added, “Yeah, she said something about an element form, then her whole body turned into flames.”

  Vlaykre then explained, “Fire Form. She must have been very skilled. Or she had help from Master Fire. Learning the elemental forms is a tough business. It takes a long time to get it right, then just as long to master it. Unless, you have the Masters, who created it, to help you.”

  Kaido asked, “Tana, is that how you used Water Form?”

  Vlaykre looked a little surprised and asked me, “You did, Tana?”

  I nodded my head, “Yeah, I had help. From a voice,” I answered.

  “I see, well anyways, here’s your sword, Tana,” Vlaykre said to me.

  Vlaykre held out his hand and a sword appeared. It looked beautiful. the blade has a black finish in the middle and silver edge, like the blade on the ‘Good Cast’s’ sword. The guard was reshaped and had a detailed design, the grip was redone with leather wraps and had a key chain at the end.

  “Thank you so much, Vlaykre,” I gratefully told him.

  “No problem. Glad you like it. It was re-forged in my Gravity Forge. I did the same for the ‘Good Cast’s’ when his sword messed up. He kept doing all this patchwork to it rather than actually fixing it. So I did him a favor. weapons forged in the Gravity Forge won’t break, so don’t worry about that while in a fight. Anyways though, where are you off to?” he asked.

  Vlayru replied, “Actually we were on our way to see how you guys were doing in the Central Union.”

  “Well, I can take you there directly, if you guys are ready,” He asked us.

  I looked at the others and they both nodded their heads.

  “Sure, that would be great. Can we eat first, though? I’m pretty hungry,” I said.

  “Same here,” Vlayru added, “but, I might need help eating.”

  “Don’t be a baby, Vlayru, I know you can feed yourself in your condition,” I said to Vlayru, in an irritated voice.

  “It was worth a try,” Vlayru admitted, chuckling.

  We all laughed and Kaido served up breakfast. We gathered our things after we ate and then we gathered around to Vlaykre.

  “I think it’s about time you found out anyway,” He said as we transported through purple aura to a dark and gloomy world, in the middle of a desilt plain.

  “This is the Abeyance Realm. The souls of people come here after they die. It is then decided whether they go to the Heaven Realm or Hell Realm. I am king here, by birthright.” He explained to us, “Time works differently here. A day here is like an hour in the living realm. So, we can get from where we were to exactly where the others are in seconds.”

  “So, you have a throne and subjects?” Vlayru asked him.

  “Yes, I have a throne. Subjects, not really. Other than The Reaper, who is the one you see when you die. He is the one that decides where you go.”

  Vlaykre pointed off in the distance. we looked and saw a person with a large black robe holding a scythe with a black and brown handle. It was hard to make out much detail from being so far away. There was a line of what appeared to be souls waiting to speak with the Reaper.

  Kaido then asked, “Where is your throne?”

  Vlaykre stop and pointed to a castle off in the distance.

  “Wow,” Kaido said in amazement.

  “Well, we should be going,” Vlaykre said, as we transported into a room.

  I looked around to find my Mother, Ryuu, Ayla, and some man I never met before. They were all was sitting in the living room part of the suite they were staying in. My mother and Alya’s faces lit up when they saw us.

  “Mother!” I said, excited to see her, and ran to her.

  “Katana! How are you sweetie?” she asked me as I hugged her.

  Alya gave Vlayru a hug as well. Ryuu then approached him.

  “Hey, son. How is the journey going? Are you getting stronger? I’m just kidding, I se
nse that you have,” He said to Vlayru.

  Vlayru replied in an irritated voice, “Hey, Dad.”

  “Wow, Tana! I sense that you have four orbs now! Good job,” My mother said to me.

  “Yeah, it’s something. Who is this?” I asked my mother, looking at the man I’ve never met before.

  “This is Regan. He another old friend of ours. He’s Master Steel.” My mother told me.

  Regan walked closer to us.

  He spoke, “Hi Katana, it’s nice to finally meet you. You look a lot like your mother.”

  “Thank you,” I Replied, smiling.

  He smirked and asked, “So, you’re on the same pilgrimage we were on with ‘Good Cast’, huh?”

  “Yes, I am. And it’s good to meet you too,” I replied to him.

  My Mother looked at Kaido and asked me, “Dear, who is that?”

  “Oh, everyone this is Kaido. He agreed to help out on the pilgrimage.” I responded.

  Kaido raised his hand a wave, “Yo.”

  Regan started examining Kaido.

  “Well, the meeting is about to begin,” Vlaykre said.

  Vlayru then asked, “The leaders agreed to meet?”

  Ryuu replied, “Yes. You kids can come too, now that you are here.”

  We all left for the meeting. Wasn’t too far away from the hotel. It was being held at a government building. We walked in, down a hallway, and into a meeting chamber. The door was guarded on both sides. The leaders were already waiting for us. I saw Queen Aida and wave at her with a smile. She gave a nodded with a smile back. We took our seats and the meeting began. A lot of good points were made, but a final decision on a unification was not decided yet.

  After the meeting, we went back to the hotel. Vlaykre, Ryuu, and Vlayru went around the corner. I went to a safe distance, kneeled, and listened in on their conversation.

  “Vlayru. I sense that you haven’t balance your light and darkness yet. Vlaykre and I want to continue our training from where we left off and train you to get you all the way up to using Phoenix Form.”

  After a long pause, Vlayru answered back, “So, now you want to actually care about me? No. I have my own training to do.”

  Vlayru then stormed off and went outside, he seemed very upset and angry.

  “Ease dropping?” the same voice from yesterday said.

  I turned around to find a man in blue aura kneeling with me. he was dressed in the very old style of armor, had a beard, and long wavy hair. He was also kind of see through, like when Master Lightning came to see me.

  “Who are you?!” I asked him while trying to be as quiet I could.

  “I’m Master Water. It is time for you start getting used to using element forms. I could train you if you want,” Water asked me.

  I thought for a moment.

  “Yes, please train me,” I decided.

  He is the Master of Water. This was the best opportunity to get stronger. I spent the day in form training with Master Water. It was extremely exhausting due to the amount of energy you exert. Master Water told me that you use can use the same technique with the other elemental powers to get the other element forms. So, if I mastered Water Form, I pretty much have mastered the other forms, to an extent.

  Chapter 10 – The Other Side

  I woke up the next day after training. Vlayru, Kaido, and I got our own hotel room from the adults. Kaido and Vlayru were already up and had already left. I went to eatery area near the lobby. My Mother was already down there and had just finished preparing breakfast for us. I sat at the table along with my Mother Regan and Kaido. I wanted to get to know Regan more, I asked him some questions.

  I asked him, “So, why don’t your eyes have pupils?”

  “I was born blind, but I can still see using my metal powers, but sadly, everything looks metallic,” He explained. “It’s better than nothing though,” Regan explained to us.

  I then complimented him, “I think it’s pretty awesome.”

  Regan nodded with a smirk. Kaido was quiet and kept giving Regan looks. It seemed like Regan noticed, but didn’t say anything about it.

  My Mother then spoke, “Katana, how about I train you to use Master Fire? I used to have that orb back in the day, after all.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  She answered, “Yup. It was before I realized I had my own fire powers.”

  Regan added, “You should go, Tana. She also trained for a long time perfecting her own powers. She did it with another friend of ours that was part of our group. You’ll learn a thing or two from her, as well as Master Fire.”

  “Another friend, huh?” Kaido said.

  Regan responded, “His name is Ryder. I’m sure, one day you’ll meet him.”

  “I hope I do,” I replied, “Where is he now?”

  “He has a very important job elsewhere, so he’s not able to join us in our cause. He would be here otherwise though. Let’s get going,” My Mother explained in response.

  My mother and I left the hotel after getting some training gear on. we made our way outside the city into the Scorchis Plains, so we were away from the civilians. She told me that she had discovered that fire users can control the magma and lava from the earth. They can even call on it from where ever they are from the ground, as long as they were skilled enough. She called it Erupting Lava Attack. It took a few hours, but I started to get the hang of it.

  My mother had an errand that she had to do, though she didn’t tell me what it was. Before she left, she made a phone call and said not to worry about the lava, that it’ll get taken care of. I wondered what she meant, but she already took off before I could ask. I made my way back to the hotel to relax. On the way, I saw a helicopter fly by towards the field where I was training. I entered the room and it was empty. Kaido and Regan were still out training from what it looked like.

  The next day, I went out to Thera Forest, southeast of the city to train more, this time with wind powers. I got to a clearing that was some ways into the forest. Master Wind appeared near me, just like the way Master Water appeared. He showed me the proper way of use wind powers. Apparently, I was using them the wrong way by using the wrong stances. I started thinking about the others. Vlayru must be training very hard if he has been gone this long. Also, I haven’t seen Regan or Kaido since yesterday. I wondered if they were okay.

  ‘I hope they are training hard,’ I thought to myself.

  Suddenly, I felt darkness lurking nearby. I turned and saw shadow dwellers looming nearby. They ran towards me and I ran my hand across in front of me and released Gust Blast, a technique that creates a gust of wind, to push them back. I jumped up and slashed at one of the shadow dwellers. I spun around and fired a fire blast at two others. I landed on my feet followed by a few shadow dwellers hit the ground and the ones I hit dissipated into shadow. Out of nowhere, two shadow dwellers, that look a little bigger and had blades on the sides of their arms ambushed me from behind. I couldn’t react in time to defend against their attacks.

  A sword flew from a direction I couldn’t see and landed between the two shadow dwellers, sending them flying to either side away from the sword and started disintegrating into darkness. Following that, a woman jumped down from the trees and landed near the sword in a crouched position. She grabbed the sword, and as two more evolved looking shadow dwellers came sprinting towards her, she slashed at them hitting them both. They disintegrated before hitting the ground. The rest of the shadow dwellers retreated into portals and the portals disappeared.

  The woman stood up and turned to me. she looked about my age. Maybe a little older. She was wearing something similar to a military garb, but I can tell she made some changes of her own accord.

  “Who are you?” I asked her, curiously.

  She smirked, “My name is Iridia. You must be Katana. Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot that you prefer Tana.”

  I raised my eyebrow in confusion. “…and how do you know me? Have we met before?”

  “No, we’ve never met.” She answ
ered, chuckling, “You are kind of mentioned in the news, although the media doesn’t know your name yet. also, I was briefed on you. I’m part of a secret organization called the E.T.B., short for Elite Trooper Brigade. we protect the public from knowing about the elementals, like you. I’m an elemental like you, so no worries. Normally, I would help with clean up here, but I’m on a special mission right now. I’ll call this one in and let the others take care of this one.”

  I scratched my head, trying to process everything she said.

  She saw the look on my face, smiled, and said “Oh, I’m sorry, I tend to talk a lot. What I’m trying to do is find an amulet. One can be used to summon someone from one realm to another. You haven’t heard of anything like that, have you?”

  I thought for a moment, then answered, “No, I never have.”

  She then said, “Well that’s okay. Magical items like that are usually kept in secret areas and told through myths and folk tales.”

  “So, you are part of a group called the E.T.B.?” I asked her.

  “Yes, I am. Yesterday we cleaned up the lava you left laying out in the middle of nowhere. Also, we are trying to make sure the Dark Rebellion doesn’t give too much info on elementals. The public isn’t ready for us yet, but I hope you can change that. If anyone can it’s the cast.” She replied

  She looked down at a digital watch on her wrist, “Oh, look at the time I have to go. Maybe we can meet back up later when we both have free time.”

  “Uhh, yeah sure, that sounds good,” I said, still a little boggled by her.

  She turned around, started running, and said, “See ya’ later!”

  I thought to myself as I watched her disappeared into the woods, ‘She seems really confident in herself. I wonder if I should be more like her.’

  I turned my head and saw black figure disappear into the woods soon after seeing it. ‘That’s was weird’

  The next day, my mother was still gone on her errand. So, I decided to hang out in the room and relax. I was lounging in my bed, while still in my sleepwear when Master Water appeared by the bed.

  “So, are you done with training? In my opinion, you’re not.” He said.