Underestimated Affinities

by Matthew Scarcella

  “Well…” Melandria starts, seemingly not knowing what to say. “I suppose that Klaryk and I will leave Selvyn with you, Safeyya. He is your brother, after all. Also, seeing as how you verbally acknowledged that he had permission to leave Belarin this morning, there’s nothing else for us to do.” She walks in the direction Klaryk went earlier. “Please though, Selvyn, for your benefit and ours, next time make it easier on all of us and show that you have permission from a Council member or commander, like your sister.”

  I nod graciously toward her. “I will, Melandria.” I can’t help but tease her one last time today, “But thanks for being so generously slack with my bindings.” I stretch my wings and my arms once more.

  She sighs as she walks off to no doubt update her partner on what had just transpired.

  Safeyya grabs my wrist, still tender from being bound, and whispers, “We cannot talk here. Follow me.” I have no idea where she plans to talk because there aren’t too many isolated areas in our city. Still, she jumps up on to the window ledge, pulling me with her, and spreads her wings. She looks me over again. “You were bound fairly taut. Melandria did a good job on you.”

  “I’m alright,” I say. “She actually went pretty easy; she only tightened the bindings when we saw you approach.” Safeyya smirks at this remark. “I can fly just fine.” Taking this as a cue, she allows herself to fall gracefully into the open air before us, letting the wind currents collect under her wings before collapsing them, beginning her ascent back up. I follow suit and the two of us soar side by side, heading toward the city center. “Where do you plan to talk? The lake?”

  She shakes her head in response. She angles her body a bit more south, and I follow, and then we stay true. “Too public at this time of day. Some of the elders will be over there. We’re going to head west, toward the Militia.” She must sense my apprehension; she’s aware that I avoid the west at all costs except for during battle simulation training. “Relax, Selv, a few months ago I had a bunker constructed underground by Aislynn and two of the metal wielders trusted to secrecy by the Council. Aside from the three of them and myself, only Council members are aware of it. They, of course, will not be there right now. We can talk there safely, without being disturbed.”

  “Hmph. How come you included Aislynn on that project?” Even I can hear the betrayal in my voice. She never tells me anything.

  “The Council needed an earth and metal wielder to assist in constructing it,” implying that Aislynn wouldn’t have known about it either if her help wasn’t needed. “They, of course, had other Council assistants in mind, but all of them were away on missions to other cities. I suggested Aislynn help us so that it could get the job done quicker, and they agreed. There is also another bunker underneath the Council’s circle. But I’m sure you wouldn’t expect any less than that. After I brought up the initial idea to them, of course they wanted their own hideaway.”

  “Yes, I suppose that makes sense. I’m shocked no one thought about it until now.”

  “Well, you know, we did have the structural integrity of the city to worry about. They had to work slowly, and very delicately. That’s why they wanted someone that could manipulate earth and metal simultaneously.” She smiles at me as we begin to descend over the Militia compound. “You know Aislynn’s one of the best at doing that. One of only three Zicarna here capable anyway, so of course she is the best.”

  “I wish I was the best at something,” I say. We hear a group of teenagers whispering as we walk among rubble, kicking chunks of rock beneath our feet.

  “Look, it’s the reject,” one of them says.

  “He’s so weird,” another murmurs. “Why does he have two different color wings?”

  “Does it matter?” a third chimes in. “Neither of his affinities are offensive, so what good is he? He’ll never win in a fight.”

  I sigh dejectedly and look away from my sister.

  Safeyya turns around and chides them. “Don’t you kids have something better to do? Like, anything else? Get! Before I zap you with lightning!” The kids shout to each other and fly away.

  “Thanks,” I say. “But you don’t have to do that for me.”

  “Yes, I do. You’re my brother, and those kids need a real beating.”

  “I just wish they weren’t right. Sometimes I feel so useless.”

  “You’re not useless. You just need to train more.”

  “I don’t know about that…”

  Safeyya pretends she doesn’t hear me and instead motions toward one of the buildings that’s been nearly destroyed after years of battle simulations gone wrong. It’s rather dilapidated and has most certainly been struck with lightning and lava way more than any of the other buildings in the vicinity. I also notice some off-white scorch marks, which are the remnants of an ice ball. There’s a tree lodged through half the roof, and another overturned in front of the entrance. Well, what was the entrance.

  “Pretty good, right, Selv? Aislynn’s work as well. Why would there be anything important in a building that no one’s repaired over the years?”

  “I suppose,” I answer her. “But, Safy, don’t you think that hiding something in plain sight could also be a bit obvious to some?”

  “True,” she retorts. “But then again, there’s really nothing of interest here. The bunker is mostly used to hold meetings, that’s all.” She waves me over to the opening in the front of the building. “The one under the Council’s chamber is large enough to keep the Council somewhat safe, as well as a few more prominent members of society.” She shakes her head and continues mockingly, “You know how they all think.” She waves again. “After you.”

  “Why do we need to talk here?” I ask her.

  “We’ll be safe from anyone that wants to go snooping. I don’t want anything we talk about getting back to Council members.”

  “Don’t you trust them?”

  She cocks her head to the side. “It’s more complicated than a yes or no answer, but for now, I’ll say no. That’s why I keep close to them.”

  “Okay…” I cross over the threshold and stumble on an old tree root, but catch myself and continue walking. There’s not much to see. The ground level is larger than normal for buildings in this area, but a lot of it is covered by the top of the tree, which was implanted upside down. Now there are just a massive amount of leaves blocking my view. Safeyya walks past me and directly into the midst of the leaves.

  “Come along now,” she says. I follow her lead once more and we spend a moment dodging insects trying to make this their new home. She lifts up a massive branch and instructs me to go in front of her. There’s a trap door underneath it and suddenly I get déjà vu, flashing back to the lake earlier this morning. Odd.

  I pick up the door and it leans against a heavy branch, halting it from snapping back to its original position. She jumps in and tosses a few sparks of lightning at some candles to light the place up. I jump in after her, pulling the door shut behind me. “It’s pretty cozy down here,” I joke.

  “Hey,” she shrugs. “It gets the job done pretty well. At least it’s more private than the lakes and city center.”

  Even with the lighting, it’s dank and dark, and I don’t like it down here. It feels weird to be encased in metal like this. “Won’t metal wielders from other cities be able to detect these bunker structures anyway? How safe can they be?”

  She shrugs this off as well. “Eh, we should be fine. As far as the Council is aware, we have the highest concentration of metal wielders amongst all of the cities that we know of. In fact, a lot of those cities have very few Zicarna that specialize in metal affinity. I’m not that worried about it.”

  I change the subject. “Where did you get the idea for the trap door?”

  She reclines against the wall, allowing her wings to rest on the cool metal. “They’re pretty common throughout history. It also doesn’t take a genius to think one up. Why?”

  I sit across from her and extend my wings. “I just so happened
to see another one of them earlier this morning. Just seemed like an odd coincidence.”

  “Right.” She runs her fingers through her hair, pulling all of it in front of her. She begins twirling a few strands around, weaving her fingers through different segments. “Let’s get back to the original reason I brought you here. Why did you leave Belarin last night? I woke up around four o’clock this morning, and I know you were already gone at that point. Were you still in the city until the sun rose? Were you with someone?” She ties her hair into a knot and undoes it, then repeats the process. “Did you leave the city with anyone else? I can’t protect you if you do anything too stupid or dangerous. And where did you see a trap door?”

  I shake my head at her. “I didn’t go with anyone else. I was at the Forbidden Lake.”

  She sighs and pulls the knot out again. “Selvyn, you’re lucky that there’s only two guards there overnight… what were you doing? And you should be grateful that you didn’t run into any rogues! You could have been attacked!”

  I stammer, trying to find words. “S-sorry to say, but it kind of gets worse…”

  Her wings flicker against the wall, and she pulls a strand of hair out of her head. “I don’t see how it could, but go on.”

  “Well,” I say. I don’t want her to be upset with me, but I know that I need to be honest with her. I love Aethyr and Aislynn, but Safeyya and I sort of have an astonishing bond. “I went to visit Kryolen.” The strand of hair in her hand twitches to life and flashes a bright purple. She flicks the strand of hair at me and I’m zapped with a mild electric current. “Ouch! I suppose I deserved that.”

  “You’re damn right you deserved it. You deserve a lot more too. What in the universe were you doing in Kryolen? How did you even get there?” She pulls out another strand of illuminated hair and flicks it at me, this current slightly stronger than the last.

  I hold up my hands in surrender. “Hey, stop it! I promise I didn’t mean it. I just woke up underwater.”

  She has a third strand of hair in her hands. “How did you just happen to wake up underwater?” I fold my wings in over my chest to protect me as the third strand flies toward me. It stops short a centimeter from my face as she discharges the current it was holding. “Your wings… you flew in your sleep again?”

  “I’m sorry, Safy. But it must have been. At least it only happens a few times a year, and this is the first time I’ve left the city. The last thing I remember from last night is climbing into my hammock and the first thing I remember from this morning was waking up inside the Forbidden Lake.” She separates her hair into three parts and weaves them in and out, forming a braid, as I tell her about my bubble atmosphere and the doirenk. I fill her in on the ruins of the city. As I mention the mass of dead bodies, she shudders and her eyes tear up briefly. As soon as I bring up the metal box I found in the old Council members’ house, her head snaps up.

  “Even if it only happens a few times a year, you’re the only one it happens to; no one else flies in their sleep.” Her wings expand and she stands tall. “What was in the chest, Selvyn?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrug sullenly. “I couldn’t open it. I tried everything I could think of, but it wouldn’t budge. It was also too heavy to bring with me. I figure that a metal wielder would need to be there in person to open it.”

  “That’s very interesting.” Safeyya paces back and forth, thinking things over. “The Council here has a similar box, though I’m not sure what’s in it. It’s above my rank. From what I’ve heard, there are multiple things in it, all quite important. It’s… guarded. All day, every day. By multiple Zicarna.” She walks over to me and picks me up. She hugs me tight, which hasn’t happened often since she rose in ranks in the Militia. “This is great news, Selvyn. Maybe if we can find out what’s in the box sunken in Kryolen, we can guess what may be in ours.” She releases me from her grip and her dark brown eyes stare deep into my bright blue ones. “We can’t tell anyone about this if we don’t trust them completely. Do you think that you could take Aislynn and me with you in your atmosphere?”

  “I’m not sure, Safy. I honestly didn’t even know I could keep myself alive underwater for that long until this morning. I mean, it may be possible… but I’d need to hone the skill in training a lot more. And there’s really nowhere here in Belarin where I could do that. If anyone knew I could create an atmosphere underwater, and that got to the Council… I’d be in for it. I don’t want to be a tool at their disposal. Or worse.”

  She hugs me again. “It’s alright, Selv. Trust me. I will figure something out for you. For us. Besides, there is no rush. You don’t even have your second set of wings yet. Don’t worry about it for now, I’m just very intrigued. There must be secrets in there about all sorts of things. I mean, why else would the Councils spend so much time and energy protecting them?” That must have been rhetorical because she doesn’t stop speaking. “Hey, how did you manage to get away from the lake without detection? You had said that you were able to see enough under the water due to the sunrise, so there must have been at least six guards stationed there.”

  I chuckle as I tell her about my brilliant escape, utilizing the oscilar and the properties of the water.

  “Hmm. Ingenious, really. Despite breaking a number of laws, I’m actually quite proud of you.” She pats me on the back and walks me toward the bunker exit. “You’re really coming into your own; finding uses for your affinities no one knew existed before. Well, aside from Gran teaching you about the individualized atmosphere. But it sounds like you’ve really perfected it, especially if you can even keep one going when you’re asleep. I’m telling you, you need to train a lot more. Be diligent about it. You can definitely use your affinities for battle, but you need to figure it out on your own. There’s no recorded history of any exceptionally powerful wind or water wielder that won a war. Therefore, there are no documents that exist on how to wield your affinities to damage. That sucks, and I know that you think it’s too difficult for you, but like I’ve been telling you for the past fourteen years, I believe in you. We’ll figure this all out, Selvyn.”

  I smile as Safeyya walks behind me, both of us exiting the bunker. I — no, we, can figure it out. I have three siblings who are willing to help me train whenever I want. I just need to put in some more effort and stop avoiding battle simulations. Safeyya hugs me one more time as she tells me to stay out of trouble, then she heads deeper into the west. My wings tingle as I take off for home, thinking of all the possibilities the future holds.

  CHAPTER V

  TRAINING SURPRISE

  "Stop! I’m serious, you guys!” My pleas fall on deaf ears as my siblings continue their assault.

  I collapse my wings against my back and drop ten meters to avoid a fireball, but have to re-extend them almost immediately and twirl out of the way as a large tree limb soars through the air where my body just was. As soon as I think I’m safe, I feel a searing pain in my left foot as I’m struck by a bolt of lightning. I double over in pain and scream out again, “Come on! Give me a break.”

  Feigning sympathy, Safeyya calls it. “Alright, five minutes. Then we go again.” She nods to Aethyr and Aislynn, and they fly over to the nearest barracks to get themselves some refreshments at the fountain located there.

  I plead with her once more. “Why are you doing this to me? I’m exhausted. We’ve been training every day since I got back from Kryolen. It’s been three weeks already!”

  “I’ve instructed them not to go too easy on you,” she replies. “You’re not going to get any better if we don’t actually make it seem like we’re trying to attack you. Even now, you know, we’re barely using any effort. Although I must admit you’re pretty good at evading. You need to stop going on the defensive, Selvyn. I know that’s natural to you, but if that’s all you can do, then you’ll get killed in a real battle.”

  “But I don’t like fighting; I feel like I don’t belong here. I don’t need to battle anyone.”

  She rolls her
eyes. “Selvyn, you’re not going to have a choice when the time comes. And you’re not going to realize what to do if you don’t train. It may not even happen inside the city. What if you’re out gallivanting or on a scouting mission and you get ambushed by a group of rogues? What if no one’s there to protect you? You’ll be murdered. Do you want to die?” She slaps the back of my head.

  “Of course not. I’m just so tired. We’ve been doing this for hours.”

  “I’m well aware. I’ve been here the entire time. Get out of your comfort zone. We’re going to be going another round as soon as they get back... I hope you realize we’re doing this for a reason, Selv. All of us have other important things we could be doing right now. That we could have been doing for the past three weeks. It’s crucial for me, for us, for you, that you learn how to fight properly. You’ve been skating by in spars all these years. Everyone goes easy on you because you don’t have any ‘real’ attack affinities. Prove them wrong.”

  Aethyr brings back a glass of water for Safeyya, and Aislynn hands me one. I look at Safeyya, sighing. “I’m trying.”

  “Trying what, pray tell?” Aislynn asks. My oldest sister tosses her long blonde hair behind her, some of which separates in between her different colored wings. At twenty-nine years old, Aislynn has three sets of wings: a pair of dark green wings for wood; a pair of brown wings for earth; and her tertiary set are pewter for metal. Her pale rosy cheeks are at odds with her composure, which is even and unflustered. She’s barely exerted any energy so far. Her large brown eyes look upon us calmly.

  Aethyr, on the other hand, looks bewildered. At twenty-four, my brother has an affinity for two elements: fire, which is represented in his first set of bright scarlet wings; and secondarily lava, which are shown by his crimson wings. His bright green eyes manage to take on a dull quality when he’s confused; I don’t think he even heard me speak. He glances toward the sky, watching a bird flying across the horizon, and the sunlight creates a vivid sheen in his dark brown hair. He starts pacing calmly, stretching all of his many muscles in the process, bringing more blood and energy into them.