Kindles of War

by Nicol Terra

  "Yup." She said.

  "And this communication device has planetary range because it transmits information via light and has become a staple in conquests, wars, battles and even talking to regular people for two thousand years!" Illevetar said.

  Rachel flushed white. "Your point?"

  Illevetar facepalmed once more. "You got to- How in the Eight Moons do you leave the most crucial device one might need in a battle in your Airsail, dozens of miles away!" She shouted.

  Rachel sunk away to the side. "Okay fine, I get it. I screwed up."

  Illevetar sighed and pulled out another one with her left hand, this one being jet black.

  “Just borrow this, for now, we might need it for the upcoming battle. God you are lucky I have a spare!” She said.

  "Got it. Where is Yas?" Rachel said, snatching it from Illevetar.

  "Outside." Illevetar sighed, her voice exasperated. Her patience to deal with Rachel was near gone.

  "Monastery Location?" She asked.

  "Check your maps." Illevetar wheezed, her eyes were sunken again.

  Rachel nodded with Illevetar popping the door open.

  “You leaving already?”Rachel asked.

  “Yeah. I am preparing evacuations and rationing food.” Illevetar said, her tone was vacant and she let out a couple yawns trying to finish that one sentence.

  “Aww, how sweet.” Rachel said with a coy tone, Illevetar just sighed and continued her walk away. Rachel smile frowned, she looked exhausted.

  Rachel walked outside with her clothes, her Holosphere in hand. She raised a brow as she saw Yas waiting.

  “I didn’t expect you to wait for me.” She said.

  Yas grimaced. “Me neither.”

  Rachel smirked for a second. “What is with the long face?”

  He sighed for a second. “Let's just say… evacuation is taking a while.”

  Rachel and Yas walked down together down the roads. The stone roads shape-shifting to solid brick, the red-lined streets, and the buildings blending together. The buildings were a solid red, all in equal size. The roads were strangely quiet, only the sound of thunder in the distance cracking the peaceful atmosphere. The two walked straight, taking a turn left, then right and then left again to an open city center. Unlike the hard roads making sharp angles into other sharp angles. The center had a single building, a large domed building over hundreds of meters high. The building was glossy, almost shiny even though the clouds crept in the distance. The building was stripped with eight colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white and black. These eight colors were striped with the same length and height, with red being closest at the base with a circular door. The building seemed out of place, almost foreign to the city itself and yet looked the most ‘new’.

  The inside was more grandiose. The room had a single white stone floor, and walls of hundreds of colors bouncing off each other to form a single pinnacle of light at the center. The building was coated with a fluid, yet silver metal. Rachel moved to touch the metal, its finish rubbing across her fingers and giving her a small shine. She felt a rush of heat fill inside her. This heat boiled from inside her as she felt her body grow off balance for a brief second.

  “Careful there,” Yas said a sly smirk slinked across his cheeks. “You are in an Aura Monastery, specifically one for awakening Aura.”

  She turned towards him; she felt various emotions cross her. She didn’t know how to feel or what to feel. She felt eight ‘colors’ inside her. She felt sick, and that she was ready to throw up at any moment. Then, she felt nothing. She grabbed her face and then her arms, she was normal again.

  “What was that?” She asked.

  “That was Aura. It’s most primal form, that is.” He said, weaving various colors across his body only to return to normal moments later.

  She raised a brow. “Which is?”

  “Energy. It is Energy of the Body. The outside is made of metal and wood, like most buildings. The inside, however, is energy.” He said.

  She raised a brow, her eyes turned to him. “What do you mean?”

  He shook his head. “Think of this room as an energy chamber."

  She felt her eyes wander around the room, inspecting it more. The silver metal was no longer silver, but instead, droplets of eight colors, flowing and converging with each other.

  She grimaced. “Okay, I get it now. Why are we here then?”

  "How much do you know about each of the three schools?" Yas asked.

  Rachel took a pause to gather her thoughts for a moment. "Well, all three control the 8 elements. The Basic Four Bend Reality, and the Natural Four Warp Reality. Crystals can use two elements and mine controls lightning." She said.

  Yas winced and then let out a coy smirk. "Oh really, that is it?"

  Rachel nodded. "I mean, I know how Bending, or Warping works. I also know my unique ability."

  "Well, how about I demonstrate this instead," Yas said. He took a few steps back as he swung around. "Try to hit me." He said

  Rachel nodded in compliance as she took a step back. She took a few steps back as well. Mookaite responded for the first time in a weak with a surge of lightning. Rachel bolted forward as Yas flashed Yellow. Swinging to the side, Rachel turned around as Yas grabbed her. Grabbed her, as in her form of Electricity. She struggled to get away, and the lightning around her faded as her body faded back to normal. This time, however, her crystal did not shatter as Yas pulled away. Rachel let out small noise in amazement.

  "Aura users by default can force a crystal user to become tangible again, and when the Elements bent or warped from Aura is used, they can shatter or crystals." He said.

  Rachel nodded as she sunk that in. "That is also why Red Aura shattered my crystal."

  Yas nodded. "Correct. Red Aura is just Energy Manipulation." Yas said as he rolled a ball of Red-energy from his right to his left. "But if I tried to turn this into flames, the element of Red Aura." He said, the ball turned into a plume of smoke and faded. Rachel jaw dripped below for a moment as she shook it off.

  "You can absorb magic, right?" Yas asked. Rachel nodded.

  "Right."She said.

  "Thinks about it like this. Aura users, either using elements or Red, they can interact with your crystal like a physical object." He said, as Yas grabbed at her necklace and held the crystal in hand. Caught off guard, Rachel winced only for Yas to this time push her away.

  "And break it." He said. “Crystals beat Magic, Magic beats Aura, Aura beats Crystals. Each of the three have a unique application, and it is your job to master them and understand the other two's unique applications. Crystals when used by someone who knows this can be a powerful tool."

  "So Aura can nullify my intangibility of any kind and interact with my crystal... but now that I know this." She started.

  "You can play around this." Yas smiled. "You are correct. Entirely correct."

  She nodded to herself. He rose from the floor. Rachel pulled her crystal from the water. What does unique properties does lightning have? What else can she do with her three abilities? She felt a sense of depth with her crystal she never felt before.

  Can you hear me? The sounds of my power?

  A voice echoed in her head, she smiled to herself. She then turned around to see Yas walking away.

  “Where are you going?” Rachel frowned.

  He turned to her. “Well, I am leaving to prepare for evacuation. I got three heroes; I also think you need to meet each other.” He winked. Rachel smiled widened.

  Rachel was alone in the room as she started to follow Yas out, but instead, she stopped. She looked around the room as she felt her crystal once more, rubbing the stone across her fingers.

  "Holosphere, send a message to Illevetar." She said.

  The Holosphere floated above. "Okay, what would you like to say?"

  "I am going to train today, we can talk later." She said.

  The Holosphere bleeped and flew back into Rachel's pocket.

  Rachel
closed her eyes, and for a brief moment, she felt her chakras momentarily. She, however, called upon Mookaite as she formed two gusts of wind around her hands. Rachel used that to float above and as she shot them outward. Caught off guard by her sudden power increase, she flew back and slammed into the wall behind her.

  "Not yet." She said, stumbling upward as she let out a small cough. "I need to practice this more. I will make sure, he never even gets a chance to touch me."

  She continued this once more, imagining an image of Xin inside her head. His cocky smile, his superior attitude. She threw herself forward with the gust of wind at half her power.

  Other Crystal Users might whine that their abilities can be nullified by Aura, but not Rachel.

  Instead, she chose to become faster, work on her defense and end the next fight in one strike.

  Erudite grumbled and tossed around her bed. She felt her body recharge but passively become more and more lazy as the day passed. Each day was more horrible than the last. She hasn't worked this hard since she was a child. She then heard a loud clank on her bed as she shot up. It was Tina, holding a six-pack of beer, stumbling from side to side as she carried the pack with both hands.

  Tina smirked with a snake-like grin. “Drinking night! Join us.” She said. Erudite groaned. If she knew that the training fatigue would kick in the day after drinking, she wouldn’t have offered to do it for both days to begin with.

  “Come on, I wanna sleep in.” She said, cuddling her blanket, her eyes closed shut.

  “Well, if that is how you wanna do it.” Tina whispered.

  She smiled, only to be doused with a cold splash of water that shot her up, knocking her head on the ceiling. As she held her head, she saw Eve and Robin laughing at her. Erudite felt the cold splashing water rush down her bed and her skin as she woke up in an instant, flying upward and trying to shake off the water from her body. She turned to see Eve and Robin, each with a wide, accepting smile and more beer in hand.

  “Get up, it's five.” Eve said.

  “Yeah, in the afternoon, who drinks at five?” Erudite asked.

  “We do,” Robin said.

  “At least dry me first.” Erudite asked.

  Eve shot a gust of wind at her, cleansing her of the water and drying in her in an instant.

  She cursed and grumbled, slipping on her blue shirt and a red skirt. Erudite ironed out her wrinkles with her fingers and sighed.

  “Well, let's go,” Erudite said sighing, turning to Tina who waited next to her patiently.

  They walked over to the north side of the training ground to Robins dorm. Unlike theirs that had six beds, Robin only had one and a makeshift couch of mattresses. There was stacks of beer, bottles of unopened vodka, joints rolled up and bottles of wine. There was only one table, and that table looked like it can collapse from weight at any second. She looked to see Tina, Rose, Robin, and Evelyn snatching a can of beer. Eve passed her a can, holding another with her free hand.

  “Cheers,” Robin said, raising his can up.

  “Cheers!” Everyone said.

  They all swallowed a can of bear whole, swigging it down with ease. Erudite didn’t drink that much except wine, and she hated the taste of beer. She moved to gag it up, only for Tina to smack her back.

  “What the fuck girl!” She said, a small blush marked on her face.

  “Hey, I am just getting you to swallow it down.” She said. Erudite and Tona stared at each other, smiling then bellowing out a laugh. Erudite felt her ribs shuffle inside as she turned to Tina as they both bumped eachothers fists.

  “Glad to have ya as a friend.” Erudite smiled.

  “Pretty sure if I wasn't friends with you, I wouldn't try half as hard as I do now,” Tina said.

  The two turned to Rose and Robin, drinking from a blue gallon that Erudite assumed was Vodka, Water and Flavoring.

  A few moments later, they stopped. Moments later, the two jolted out of the room as they retched in the toilet. Both Evelyn and Rose giggled, with Tina and Erudite joining in to form a circus of laughter.

  Erudite sighed, she felt like she was in companion with a bunch of idiots.

  “Pretty sure one of these days, that game is going to get him killed.” Erudite said.

  “How long have those two known each other for?” Tina asked.

  Evelyn shrugged.

  “Both Robin and Rose were repeaters, and they grew up together." Eve said.

  Rose growled from the background and then cleared her throat.

  “About six months. We clicked instantly.” Rose said.

  "Best of friends," Robin said.

  “Speaking of,” Erudite said injecting between the two. “I talked to Jay in private and looks like we are getting deployed in a week!”

  Eve spat her drink as she coughed violently.

  “Wait so the tests,” Evelyn asked

  “Are six days from now,” Erudite said. Rose came back from the bathroom.

  "What?" Rose squeaked.

  "The written test is six days from now," Erudite said.

  Rose grabbed her chest for a moment as her face turned hollow.

  “I think I am going to be sick again." Rose held her stomach.

  Rose and Robin stumbled back to their spots.

  “Sorry about that, we had a bet which one of us could drink out of Borgforce longest," Robin said.

  “Please don‘t die. I get we have higher alcohol tolerance than other races, but I don‘t wanna rewind your drunkenness.” Tina said.

  “Got it.” Rose and Robin said at once.

  Robin poured four shots next, with Tina, Rose, Robin, and Evelyn all slushing it down. Robin shivered as Eve rejected the shot, probably still traumatized from the incident. Erudite poured her own as knocked it back herself and then walked back in front of the four.

  “Well, let's start the games.”Robin said.

  “What games?” Erudite asked.

  Robin belched. “Well, we got cups for some beer pong, and then we got cards for whoever wants to join.”

  Tina raised her hand. “I am on Rose’s team!” She yelped.

  “Yeah, she is. You know how beer pong works, right?” Tina asked Erudite, who shook her head.

  “No.” She said.

  “Can you create a ball with something that isnt..well, solid and will mix well with beer?” Tina asked.

  Erudite pondered, creating a small ball of darkness with her right finger. He smiled.

  “Perfect. You are on mine and Eve’s team then.” Robin said.

  The six took off all the alcohol on the table, only leaving six empty red cups. Eve waved her hand, filling all the cups with water. Robin then created a ball of fire with his right hand, holding it and missing completely, hitting the table and burning a hole to it.

  “You sure that ball won't come back to hurt one of us?” Erudite questioning.

  Robin shrugged. “Hey, we don‘t have money for ping-pong balls.”

  “Yes, we do.” Eve said.

  “I don‘t wanna get any,” Robin admitted. Erudite let out a sigh.

  “You can try, water instead,” Evelyn suggested. Robin pondered and scoffed.

  “Ehh, I will do air.” He said.

  “Air magic everyone?” Evelyn asked

  Everyone nodded except Tina and Erudite, they needed to practice on their Light and Darkness. The more you practiced using just the elements, the better your bending or warping became. It was a simple fact, but it did a give her a reason to practice.

  Tina was next to shoot, creating a ball of light and shooting, missing the table entirely and dissipating in an instant.

  Erudite was next. She felt a quick wobble to the side, catching herself and throwing a ball of darkness at the last second, hitting one of the cups on the top and bouncing inside.

  Robin smacked her back, a cough coming out of her as she was caught off guard by the sudden token of appreciation.

  “Nice job!” Robin said

  “I can't breathe.” Erudite wheezed.


  “Don't worry about it, I am next, take a few seconds off,” Eve said.

  Evelyn was next to shoot with a ball of water, missing entirely and knocking two cups to the side.

  Eve was next, shooting it successfully and setting aside another cup.

  Evelyn sighed. “Tina, start making shots, or else we are going to have to drink shots!”

  “I am trying!” She groaned. “It is not my fault, the cups keep moving!”

  Erudite let out a loud snicker. Rose patted Tina on the head.

  “The cups aren‘t moving, you are just drunk.” Rose said.

  “I am?” She exclaimed

  Erudite lost it, her chest beating quickly as she wheezed.

  An hour passed, the last cup of the game. Tina sobered up and shot a ball of light at the cup, bouncing off.

  Erudite created a ball and shot it, making it inside the cup.

  Robin, Eve and Erudite started to cheer as Tina sighed. Evelyn evaporated three cups and shook her head.

  “Thanks, Tina, now we have to drink.” Evelyn grumbled.

  “Yeah, Tina,” Rose added.

  “Oh and Thanks Rose, you didn’t even get one.” Tina protested.

  Rose took a step back. “How could you!”

  “At least Tina got one fucking in.” Evelyn gritted.

  “Well, not my fault it was-” Rose started

  “Lemme guess, the cups were moving?” Evelyn said.

  Robin and Erudite giggled in the back, shaking their heads.

  “You guys are the best team ever.” He said. Erudite nodded, snickering.

  “I bet if it was just me against Tina, I would win.” Rose protested.

  “Fuck it, you’re on.” Tina accepted.

  “This is going to end well.” Robin shushed.

  Erudite nodded.

  Tina and Rose stood across from eachother as the others set up the beer pong again. Tina let out a small excited glee as she floated in the air.

  The four stepped aside to watch the two play their own game.

  “Well, who are you betting on?” Evelyn asked

  “Tina, obviously. Best in the class.” Eve said