The Order of the Elements 01 - Breaking Point

by Jess Bowen

  “What about the other things, the great power and the elixir. Are you going to help me with that?” he asked.

  “All in time. For now you must rest and learn to use your powers. The rest will be revealed at the proper time.”

  She still had not looked at him even once, but her voice sounded familiar and sad. Ethan was right—she had information he needed but was unwilling to share it. He tried to question her further, but for all the answers he got, he may as well have asked the bench he was sitting on. It appeared that she had told him everything she wanted him to know for the moment. The garden was starting to fade. He tried to stay. He didn’t want to leave; she needed to answer his questions. But the garden faded more and more until he drifted off into a deep sleep.

  It seemed like a short time had passed before Evan was beside him shaking him to wake up. Ethan jumped up and caught Evan’s jaw with his head. They both cringed in pain. That wasn’t the first time this had happened. The other day Evan had landed on the floor, rather painfully. At least today he remained standing. Ethan grabbed his head, and Evan fell back as he rubbed his jaw.

  “That’s it. I’m not waking you up anymore,” Evan complained as he popped his jaw a few times. “You can miss training for all I care. This is hazardous to my health.”

  Ethan laughed. His own mother had simply refused to come anywhere near him, preferring to wake him up by ringing a bell in his doorway. Evan was taking an even bigger risk because he kept interrupting Ethan’s search for the red and golden-haired girl with the musical laughter. Today’s search hadn’t lasted long, fifteen minutes tops, but he had to find her. It seemed every time he fell asleep, he had to start over in his mission to find her in the garden. Ethan knew that when he did, something would eventually fall into place.

  He sprang up from bed, ate breakfast, showered, and dressed quickly. Today was sure to be a much better day than the last. As he pulled on his shoes, Ethan put the woman and the garden out of his mind, deciding that it wasn’t important at the moment. Besides, it may have just been some weird dream he was having and therefore not important at all. He was already thinking about combat training and other things, but he couldn’t truthfully say that was the entire reason for him to be in a hurry to get out the door.

  Ethan’s stomach clenched anxiously as he walked out into the hall where the girls were already waiting. Lucy stood there, smiling timidly as always, and he couldn’t help but smile in return.

  15. Impossible

  Phoebe and Evan bounced anxiously behind Ethan. They had to be the most excited of anyone there. Everyone else looked worried or anxious. Ethan wasn’t sure if Phoebe was feeling Evan’s excitement or if she really was just as excited herself. He was looking forward to training, but he was also a little apprehensive. There was no way learning how to move like Dorian had at orientation was going to be easy. Evan wasn’t fazed when Ethan shared those thoughts.

  “Oh, don’t get all depressing. Don’t you like a challenge?” he replied as Phoebe nodded enthusiastically beside him.

  Every time the doors to the training arena opened, Evan and Phoebe paused in their bouncing to look at the doors expectantly, only to be disappointed by seeing another trainee enter. Jared and Cynthia were quiet and nervous. Lucy looked unconcerned. She was floating in her own little world. She didn’t even look around or move at all as the doors to the training arena snapped open and closed. Ethan couldn’t picture her participating in combat training. She was so small, so easily breakable, that he was scared to even think about her fighting someone. Yet the thought didn’t seem to bother her. Or if it did, she was very good at hiding it.

  Phoebe sighed exasperatedly. “What do you know, today we’re on time, early even, and they’re late!”

  Jared laughed. “I think they call that karma.”

  Phoebe wrinkled her nose and grimaced. “And what do they call you? Funny?”

  Evan snorted and Cynthia laughed. It wasn’t quite her normal, carefree laugh, but it seemed to loosen her up a little bit.

  Ethan had another thought, though. “Does that really exist here? You know, what goes around comes around?”

  “I don’t know for sure; you would think so, though,” Lucy answered thoughtfully. Ethan was surprised. He hadn’t thought she was paying attention to anyone. “It would be nice to think that Petrozan and Esmeralda will get what’s coming to them.”

  “They will. That’s what Ethan, Phoebe, and Dorian are here for,” Cynthia said confidently.

  “I wouldn’t be so sure yet,” Ethan replied. “We haven’t done anything more than anyone else here.”

  “You will,” Jared said. He too sounded confident.

  Ethan looked over at Phoebe, who was blushing at what they had said. But he was uncomfortable. He didn’t feel any better than anyone else here. In fact, it seemed most everyone else was much better than he was. All this faith everyone had in power he couldn’t even produce, that he didn’t even feel like he had, was making him uneasy. Again the feeling of inadequacy crept up on him. What if he truly was no better than anyone else here? Would that mean that everything these people were preparing to fight for, everything they believed in, would be lost forever because he didn’t measure up to their expectations? He felt the weight of a heavy burden on his shoulders. He had to do better. He had to try harder. Lucy squeezed his hand; Ethan hadn’t realized she had been holding it.

  “It’s going to be fine. You’re going to do great things,” she whispered.

  No matter how quiet she was, she never missed anything. He began wondering if she had a portion of Phoebe’s talent and maybe didn’t know it. She was almost too intuitive. Nobody else had heard what she’d said to him; her words of encouragement were just for him. It was amazing, though, how quietly they had to whisper to one another so no one else would hear. With his sensitive ears, if a whisper was more than a nearly silent breath, he could hear everything. Ethan was sure it was the same for everyone else there. Although, they were probably used to speaking quietly enough to avoid being overheard and didn’t even think about it.

  “Finally,” Evan breathed as the five elves from two days before walked in.

  They were closely followed by Dorian and another group of elves. Ethan guessed they were there to assist. He realized then that Sebastian was missing. He searched his memory and couldn’t recall seeing him during the past two days either. Ethan glanced back at Phoebe; she was also closely surveying those who were walking in.

  “Where do you think—” Ethan began.

  “Sebastian is?” she finished. “I dunno. He hasn’t been around at all. That seems kind of odd.”

  Jared focused on the group now. “He was that one guy, heavyset, short, greasy hair? Isn’t he usually attached to Dorian’s side?”

  Ethan nodded. “Was he always like that, before we arrived, I mean?”

  Cynthia joined in. “We never saw them up close, but I can’t remember seeing them apart either.”

  Evan looked unconcerned. “What does it matter? Is it really a big deal that he isn’t here? He sort of creeps me out.”

  Evan had a point. It shouldn’t be a big deal that Sebastian wasn’t there. So, why did Ethan feel alarmed? He shrugged it off as Dorian stood in front of the group to begin speaking.

  “I’m glad to see all of you here to train with myself and the elves. We will be splitting you up into six groups to begin your training. Now, I believe there are one hundred and twenty or so of you here, so that will be approximately twenty to a group.”

  Dorian started at the far side of the tiers, separating people as they stepped down to join the instructor they were sent to. Cassius sat on the opposite side of the room on the topmost tier, quietly observing. Dorian reached their group, and Ethan was sure he had been saving them to train himself. He was happy about that. Dorian was the best human fighter there was.

  Unfortunately, Kali and her friends were also going to be in their group. Dorian scowled as the last group he had separated stepped down a
nd he saw that he had overlooked her. Dorian wasn’t the only one dismayed by this; Ethan heard Cynthia groan audibly behind him. Phoebe said nothing, but as she stepped down from the tiers, her pleasant disposition from the morning vanished, and her back became rigid. Dorian led them over to the far side of the room where he was joined by his assistant.

  “This is Breanne; she will be assisting me. I want you all to split up into pairs, boy-girl pairs, if you will. Not only do you need to be comfortable with engaging one another in combat, but you also need to be comfortable fighting the opposite sex. When in battle, you will not find mercy, and you should be able to give none in return.”

  Phoebe already had a tight grip on Evan’s arm, her face showing a hint of excitement again. Jared took one look at Lucy and paired with Cynthia. Great. Ethan could not see himself trying to spar with Lucy at all. She was too tiny, too innocent, and he was afraid he was going to hurt her. But he wasn’t going to pair with someone he didn’t know, so he kept his hand in hers, showing that he would be staying there. She squeezed his hand appreciatively, or was she trying to assure him that she would be all right? Ethan mentally sighed. Could he look at her as an opponent? Could he see her as a threat?

  He glanced around at the group shuffling around with people trying to find the right partner. Dorian formed pairs where the trainees couldn’t do it themselves. Meanwhile, Ethan wondered if perhaps he should have gone with another partner. The rest of the girls there looked much sturdier than Lucy. Ethan’s eyes locked with Phoebe’s, and she gave him a look that clearly said “Quit whining and get over it.”

  He rolled his eyes. Was he ever going to have a private thought again? Phoebe shook her head slightly as she smiled wickedly. Ethan glared at her.

  Are you listening to me?

  Nod.

  I thought you were suppressing thoughts?

  Shoulder shrug.

  He sighed. Am I really acting that pathetic that you were forced to find out what my problem was?

  Raised eyebrow, smile, and a nod. Then she glanced down at Ethan’s hand in Lucy’s and raised an eyebrow again.

  What? It’s nothing!

  A shoulder shrug that indicated “If you say so.”

  Quit listening to me!

  She shook her head, chuckling.

  Oh, look, Dorian is showing Kali how to stand, his arms around her and everything!

  Phoebe’s head snapped in Dorian’s direction, and Ethan laughed this time. Dorian was putting the last two people into a pair, far away from Kali. Phoebe turned to glare at Ethan before turning away, showing that she wasn’t listening anymore. He laughed again. It might have raised her anxiety level, but at least it got her out of his head.

  “Private joke?” Lucy asked quietly.

  “Yes, Phoebe was being intrusive.”

  Lucy nodded, but didn’t ask further. Dorian returned to the front of the group.

  “Now, I would like everyone to introduce themselves before we begin our lesson.”

  There were several people there from First Order but also some from Second and Third. Dorian started at the front with the trembling boy from the day before. The boy didn’t look any better today. His name was Spencer; he was paired with a girl named Julia. The boy paired with Kali was named Aiden. The boys paired with Kara and Beth were named Orin and Daniel. There were three other pairs of girls and boys whose names were Angelina, James, Kiera, Justin, Lila, and Gram. After they had all introduced themselves, Dorian turned to Breanne to begin training.

  “We are going to start with the basics, well, because that’s a good place to start.” Everyone laughed, and Kali laughed a little too loudly to be entirely believable.

  “The first thing to learn is basic defensive position.” Dorian slipped into a crouch. “Stay compacted, keep your muscles tensed, your senses on alert, especially in the dark. If you keep lower to the ground, especially if you can’t see your attacker, it gives you better leverage for when you are engaged in combat. It’s easier to knock them off their feet, or make them unstable. Breanne, go ahead.”

  Breanne had been standing a little off to the side, but stepped up in front of Dorian when he asked for her. Ethan watched closely as she lowered slightly before she pounced on Dorian. He was crouched low enough that her stomach collided with his shoulder, and he lifted her up easily to shove her back to the mat and pin her. Ethan was sure that Breanne would have been able to fight him off, but this was a demonstration, not a battle.

  Dorian straightened up. “Now, I want the girls to take the stance I just did. I’m going to walk around and make sure you are all properly positioned.”

  Lucy let go of Ethan’s hand and stood in front of him. The other people in the group rearranged themselves to make room as Dorian started at the front of the group. Lucy crouched down in front of Ethan, just like Dorian had done, before settling on one of her knees to wait. Dorian and Breanne made their way quickly through the pairs. Until Dorian got to Kali.

  Ethan could see him hesitate, hoping that Breanne would beat him there, but she was spacing Kiera’s feet, and Kali looked at Dorian expectantly, crouching completely wrong, of course. Phoebe rested on her knees as she glared angrily.

  “I don’t understand how I’m supposed to stand,” Kali said.

  Dorian’s jaw clenched, even more tightly than it normally did, as he positioned her feet and rearranged her until she was close to the right position. She kept shifting out of position in one way or another so Dorian had to keep moving her arm or pulling her up or curving her back. Phoebe was crouched again, and looked like she was about to attack. Ethan could distinctly hear thunder outside. He looked down. Surprisingly, Lucy was tensed as well.

  Finally, Dorian mumbled something about “That’s good enough” before giving up on Kali and walking away. Kali smiled at Phoebe, rubbing it in; then thunder cracked ominously outside, but Kali just rolled her eyes.

  Dorian returned to the front of the group. “Now, I want each of the boys to attack the girls the same way Breanne did to me.” Ethan looked at Lucy. Dorian was joking, right? “I know this is the hardest part, the first time you have to attack a girl. That’s why I do it first; better get used to it. Whoever you are with right now is your partner until our first tournament, and neither of you will learn anything if you hold back.”

  Every one of the boys looked nervously down at their partner. Doesn’t Dorian realize that Lucy is too fragile for this? Ethan thought. Just then Ethan saw someone lunge out of the corner of his eye. Evan, of course. Phoebe was fast. She braced for the impact and pushed him back to the mat. She smiled as she stood and offered her hand to help him up.

  “Good job, Evan and Phoebe. Now the rest of you, get a move on; we don’t have all day. Nobody is going to get their feelings hurt.”

  Ethan looked back down at Lucy. She was smiling, looking blissfully unconcerned about the fact that he had just been told to attack her. He could see other people finally in motion around him as Dorian and Breanne moved through the pairs again. He wondered if closing his eyes might help, so he took a deep breath and shut them. He lunged. Lucy was braced and she forced him back hard enough that he was winded as he lay on the mat. She was tougher than she looked. He opened his eyes. She was leaning over him, smiling with her hand outstretched. He took her hand, and she helped him back to his feet.

  “That was really good,” Ethan commented, feeling like an idiot for thinking she was breakable.

  “You seem surprised,” she said. She looked over at Jared, who was rubbing his ribs as Cynthia apologized.

  Ethan’s cheeks felt warm. “Well, I just, umm, well, you didn’t seem, I just didn’t want to…”

  She smiled. “It’s okay; I understand. I’m not as breakable as I look.”

  Seriously, she has to be a mind reader, he was convinced. With the first test over, the rest of the morning passed quickly. Each defensive maneuver, each offensive attack, was demonstrated by Dorian and Breanne. Then they moved through the pairs to watch and correct
mistakes. Every time, Kali got something wrong. Intentionally, of course. Breanne dealt with her most of the time, and those times the errors were corrected easily, but every time Dorian had to help her, she took much longer to understand the technique.

  Kali’s antics slowed down progress, but even with all the murderous glares Phoebe constantly threw at her, she and Evan were doing extremely well. Jared and Cynthia were doing all right, but were still nervous. Lucy was much better and stronger than Ethan had thought, and keeping up with her kept him on his toes.

  By the time lunch came around, Ethan’s stomach was growling impatiently. “It’s nearly time for your lunch hour, and when you come back, we will challenge each of you to small battles to see how you do against the unexpected with the basic knowledge you have. The second half of the afternoon will be spent in physical training.” There was an outbreak of groaning at this. Dorian held up his hands. “I know, I know, but combat requires strength and endurance, which comes from physical training.”

  Ethan wasn’t looking forward to doing physical training, but since combat was something he was actually doing well at, he was more willing to giving it all he had. A half hour later, they were dismissed to go eat. Lunch passed quickly and almost silently as everyone concentrated on what they had just learned in order to be ready for their upcoming match.

  They all hurried back to the training arena after lunch. Dorian and Breanne directed them to a section of the tiers and pulled one person forward at a time to spar with. Kiera, Kara, Justin, and Beth took their turns. Each of the girls managed to hold their defensive positions and push Dorian back, but were brought down to the mat only seconds later as Dorian jumped up quickly, causing them to lose their balance, and kicked their feet out from under them.

  Justin did a little better. He held his own for a minute or two until Dorian locked his arms and brought him down. Ethan knew that if Dorian had been performing anywhere near his potential, nobody would have been standing after the first time he lunged at them, but he was bringing it down to beginner level.