Elements volume 1 light.., p.9
Elements Volume 1 (Light Novel), page 9
Interesting—sacrificing accuracy to cover more space and ensure he hits his target. Ms. Wright took notice of the laser focus in Minisc’s eyes. It was reminiscent of the boy’s father within him.
Both barrages landed on the intended targets, the left a bullseye while the right hit the third ring. Minisc stopped to catch his breath. A small tingle built up in his left hand.
“Might have overdone that one,” he chuckled. The final target shot high into the sky like a rocket. It hung hundreds of feet in the air, looking like the size of a pea. Keeping his eyes glued as it rose, he saw a blinding light fall from the gods. Minisc squinted as he threw his right arm up to shield against the light.
“Lovely, I can’t even see the target, let alone try to hit it,” he muttered under his breath. I could use a barrage attack again, but hitting a target that far away before the blasts spread would be next to impossible. My best shot is one focused attack.
Inhaling, Minisc raised his left hand, upholding it firmly with his right. He squinted so vigorously that his eyes were almost shut. Only able to see a sliver of his target, he took a wild stab as to where he should aim.
Ms. Wright smirked in anticipation, knowing all too well that the last target caused more than a few of her students headaches. This drill was specifically designed to test not only speed and accuracy, but intellect. With the sun in the way, even the most veteran Elementalists would struggle to land a hit from this distance.
Minisc closed his eyes, calming himself. He channeled his energy and released a blast of light from his palm with a ferocious boom. Since he could not see the target as it soared into the sun, he listened intently, hoping to hear the faint echo of an explosion. But nothing ever came… until finally, he heard the high-pitched screech of his teacher’s whistle. Minisc whipped his head to his left, looking at Ms. Wright, who lowered the pipe back around her neck.
“Huh?” Minisc questioned.
“Forty-three seconds; your accuracy was a little spotty, but overall, not horrible.” Ms. Wright nodded.
Minisc stood stunned. The target that had once looked like the size of a pea fell glacially back down into focus, and as it slid back, Minisc noticed the outer rim lit up. On the far-right corner he could see a faint mark from his blast. He had grazed it by a paper-thin margin.
Minisc could not resist the urge to smile, realizing that he had received a compliment from his teacher. Not bad might as well have been amazing coming from the disciplinarian.
He turned back and filled the empty spot in line.
“Who’s next?”
The rest of the students each took their turn at the target course, with varying success.
“Jules, 1:15 seconds.”
“Ivan, 1:45.”
With each passing student, the sun started to dip in the afternoon sky. Only two students remained. Lily and Coro.
“Lily, you’re up next,” Ms. Wright called, readying her whistle again.
Hearing her name called, the brunette stepped out of the line. She looked so frail and innocent, it was hard to believe she could generate any sort of element, let alone fight with it. Not that such trivial things mattered to Minisc. He still stood in line, love filling his eyes as he watched the girl. Jules tried to nudge him but that resulted in nothing more than a failed attempt to bring his friend back to reality.
“Dude, what is with you?” he whispered.
No response.
With the stage all set, Ms. Wright blew her whistle, and the first four targets sprung to life. Lily stood stock-still. She seemed like she was concentrating hard, but with pitiful results. She flung her hand forward and a whimpering stream of water shot out. It failed to even come close to the first target. She turned around with an embarrassed expression.
“Umm, that’s sort of the best I can do.”
Everyone stared in awe, with murmurs starting to roll through the group.
“That’s it? Lily… how did you get accepted to EA if you can’t even use your element?” Ms. Wright asked, having never experienced a student with such meager abilities. There was no way she could have passed the entrance exam like that.
“I am rather good at being defensive, I just can’t fight very well.” Lily spread her arms apart, creating a wall of crystal blue water that acted as a shield. “See?”
“Who is this girl?” Ms. Wright murmured under her breath. “Umm, okay… well you can go back in line, I guess.”
I’m going to have to look into that girl. There’s no way she made it into this school with such trivial abilities.
Lily retook her place at the end of the line, trying to avoid any awkward stares directed at her.
“That was strange,” Jules whispered. He took one look at his friend, seeing Minisc still off in his own world.
“I guess last up will be Coro.”
The special exception student stepped forward, his scowl continually etched onto his face. Silence fell over the onlookers. Much like at a typical high school, word of the boy’s unique acceptance had spread like wildfire.
Finally, Minisc took his attention away from Lily and stared at Coro, trying to read his hollow expression. He could relate to the boy, the expectations of greatness thrust upon him. Being a special exception student could not be easy. Still, even with those similarities, that did not stop Minisc from being interested in the boy’s ability, much like everyone else.
Readying at the whistle, Coro crouched down. A brilliant icy blue glow cloaked his entire body.
“Did it just get colder?” Jules whispered, wrapping his arms around himself. A visible shiver ran up his arms at the noticeable drop in temperature.
The grass underneath Coro’s feet froze solid. Even Ms. Wright began shaking.
“This is going to be intense,” Minisc whispered.
“Start!”
Before the sound had a chance to fade, a tidal wave of ice darted toward all four targets. If you blinked, you would have missed the action. But you could not miss the aftermath. Glistening ice shimmered as the sun beat down across the newly made ice rink. All four targets were frozen solid.
“Unbelievable,” Minisc whispered.
“He’s so strong,” Jules gawked.
Next, the back three targets sprouted from the ground, ready to accept the fate of their predecessors. Making it look effortless, Coro arched his knees again, releasing a fifteen-foot tidal wave of ice toward its target. Leaving everyone to pick their jaws up off the frozen grass, Coro completed his test. Even Ms. Wright looked stunned. For the second time in minutes, she found herself seeing something like she had never seen before, and from an underage student no less.
How do I even grade that? The entire target is frozen.
The woman hesitated a second, deciding how to proceed. Most students learning to use their power barely had enough energy to hit all ten targets. Students like Minisc and a few others were a rare sight, showing a display of skill and wits at such a young age. However, Coro looked to be on a completely different level. He did not even appear out of breath. It was a surreal display of ability.
Having gained sufficient information from her little exercise, she called it a day. “That’s it for today. Go get changed; class dismissed.”
Chapter 5
Hate runs deep
THICK BLACK CLOUDS PAINTED THE MORNING SKY AS darkness stretched in all directions. Apple-sized blots of water continued to bounce off the blurry glass while students waited patiently for what had been deemed a big announcement by their teacher. It was just over a week into the school year, and Minisc was slowly trying to adjust to his new way of life. So far, the training portions of class had been basic and easy enough to grasp, but that would only be the beginning.
“What do you think this big announcement is about?” Jules asked his friend and desk neighbor. Minisc, however, answered in silence, paying no attention to his friend, off in his own world.
“Minisc?”
“Huh? Yeah, I’m sure it’s just some announcement about classes, nothing that big.”
Before Jules could make a rebuttal, the two were interrupted by a twist of the doorknob. Walking in with haste, Ms. Wright wasted no time using her patented deadpan stare to capture everyone’s attention. The students fell silent.
“Class, today I will be administering your second test,” Ms. Wright announced, taking her rightful place at the head of the classroom. She turned toward the doorway and said, “Come in.”
A group of five students walked into the classroom—two girls and three boys, all roughly the same age as Minisc. They stood in front of the podium, both girls on the outside and the boys in the middle. Four of them Minisc did not recognize, but the fifth one, standing in the middle, sent a chill up his spine. He had grown a few inches over the summer, and his hair was not in the pointy black style that it once had been, but instead long, with a minimal gap between hair and shoulder. The change in style had been drastic.
A soft nudge of his shoulder brought Minisc’s attention to his best friend.
“Is that Ignis?” Jules asked.
Minisc paused for a second, taking a second look at the boy in the middle.
“Yeah, that’s definitely him.”
Ignis had been the third boy accepted from Minisc’s past school. Luckily they had ended up in a different class, so both boys had been hopeful they’d seen the last of him, but they’d known that was unlikely. Ignis was far from someone to be trifled with. Mostly known for being a bully with a genuine mean streak, he held a particular animosity toward Minisc especially.
Feeling the fiery gaze of his former classmate, Minisc locked eyes with Ignis. Although Ignis had been a menace to the class and to Minisc in particular, Minisc held no hatred toward the bully. When he looked at Ignis, he could see what he believed to be sadness plaguing his eyes. That look of hate was nothing more than fear. Minisc knew that because when the two were young children, he and Ignis had been the best of friends.
****
Shadows grew long as dusk came closer to ending the day while squeaks of rusty steel chains bounced out through the vast open field.
Surrounded by gravel, two kids continued to swing at a modest pace. The playground was quaint, with a dull gray metal swing set fit for two right on the edge of the gravel pit. Off to the right was a rustic slide with patches of the interior looking like they would crumble under even the slightest pressure, and behind them were a small set of monkey bars. Once a bright, metallic red, now they were nothing more than a bronze orange and more of a hazard than a child’s plaything. The playground’s appearance, ravaged by age, would have kept most children away, but that did little to deter Minisc and Ignis from crowning it their favorite spot. Open grassy fields, the freedom to roam, and a working swing set. What more could two kids ask for?
Besides that, there was a winding cobblestone path that led through a small alley where a gambit of rickety houses resided. It was far from the nicest of areas, but they knew no better. To them, it was a paradise that provided serenity.
Both children’s parents were often working with the Elemental Council, spending many days debating laws and regulations for Elementalists. That meant the two kids would spend hours running around, enjoying the freedom of childhood.
One brisk afternoon, the pair were gleefully swinging away when Ignis leaped through the air at the apex of his swing, landing flawlessly with the crunch of gravel bellowing underneath his tiny white sneakers.
Minisc, much more cautious, stuck his feet firmly on the ground, halting his momentum gradually. Chains rattled as the boy sat on the uncomfortable plastic seat.
“Why’d you get off?” Minisc asked in confusion. He took a quick look around to see if his mother or father were coming, but saw neither.
“Hey Minisc, do you ever think about what our parents are doing in there?” Ignis asked, taking his finger and pointing at the posh building.
Minisc looked over with wide, innocent eyes.
“Nope.” He shrugged.
He had no interest in the building. The only thing he knew was that his parents went there often, and it meant that he got to go to the rusting playground he had become so fond of. Added to that, it gave him a friend in Ignis.
When it came to personality, Minisc and Ignis were polar opposites. Minisc had always been more timid and cautious, able to find fear in the smallest situations as a child. Never straying too far from the line of good, Minisc would never disobey his parents or act up. Ignis, on the other hand, was a known troublemaker and a reckless risk-taker with a talent for finding trouble.
However, the most significant difference between the two was a subject that Minisc differed on with most being an Elementalist—their interest in elemental abilities, or in his case, lack thereof. Ignis was a budding young star with a fire element to mirror the boy’s personality. He also came from a talented family of Elementalists. His mother and father were two of the most powerful original Elementalists in the city. At home, every chance Ignis got, he would practice his element with his father. For his age, he showed exceptional skill.
Minisc himself hailed from the legend of all legends but lacked much desire. He spent much of his time with his mother, who had no element. Although Minisc showed as much potential as Ignis, he just wanted to be a child. That meant no rigorous training or elemental lessons. Sure, he would do a couple with his father to spend time with the man, but he had no desire to work on it every day.
Ignoring his friend’s lack of interest, Ignis remained fixated on the building.
“When I grow up, I’m going to work with my daddy,” Ignis bragged, opening up his tiny palm to reveal a candle-like, red-and-yellow gradient flame. It swayed mesmerizingly back and forth in the calm wind.
“What are you going to be when you grow up?”
“Don’t know.” Minisc shrugged his shoulders again. He playfully flung his legs back and forth. “I want to help people like my mommy.” Minisc smiled, the innocence of the young child on full display.
“I’m going to beat up bad guys and kick butt.”
Ignis swung his fists back and forth like a boxer. Minisc laughed at the boy’s brashness.
“We can work together!” Minisc cheered, throwing his fist in the air.
****
Snapping out of his trance, Minisc managed to catch the tail end of his teacher’s words.
“You’ll be splitting into groups of two, and sparring with a group from one of the other first-year classes.”
Jules and Minisc met with the same ecstatic look in their eyes. They would undoubtedly be an unstoppable duo as a team.
“Your groups will be based on your scores in the target exam.”
Joy wiped itself off of the friends’ faces, their hopes dashed.
Ms. Wright pulled out a list. Going through it name by name, she paired off her students.
“Jules, you’ll be with Yuliana.”
The woman continued to run down her list until she finally came to a name and hesitated.
“Lily, I don’t have you with anyone since you demonstrated no fighting ability. So I guess you’ll have to sit out—”
“I’ll partner with her,” Minisc volunteered, taking everyone by surprise. Lily gracefully spun around in her seat, laying her sea-blue eyes on him. She greeted him with a friendly smile, painting a scarlet-red stroke across Minisc’s face.
“Are you okay with that, Lily?” Ms. Wright asked stoically.
“Sounds good to me.”
Minisc tried to shake off the embarrassment, averting his eyes back to the front of the room. He caught a glimpse of Ignis, whose expression had not changed since he’d entered the room.
“Now… due to a side bet gone wrong, Ms. Gann’s class has the honor of choosing which group they would like to spar with.” Her bitter contempt was obvious as she dictated the instructions.
At last, for the first time since arriving, Ignis cracked a sinister grin. It did not go unnoticed by Minisc, and he anticipated what was about to happen next.
“Let’s start with Ignis. Who would—”
“Minisc!” the boy shouted, aggressively pointing his finger at his chosen opponent.
Minisc gulped; he knew without a doubt Ignis would choose him if the chance arose. Any opportunity the feisty teen had to take out his frustration on Minisc, Ignis jumped at it.
To make things worse, Ignis was the last person he wanted to spar with.
The rest of the class went off without a hitch. Opponents were selected, and everyone began readily anticipating their post-lunch matches.
Sitting in the middle of the crowded cafeteria, Minisc held his head in his hands. A sense of gloom and doom floating over him.
“Come on, you trained with your father all summer; this will be a good test. Besides, don’t you want to get some payback? I mean, he was such a jerk to us.”
Jules spoke the truth. Minisc had often been the target of Ignis’s rage, but never once had he wanted revenge on the boy. He felt bad for his former friend. Minisc was one of the few people who had memories of Ignis before he’d changed. Unfortunately, words failed to connect with the troubled teen, and seeing eye-to-eye was out of the question.
Minisc picked his head up, displaying a melancholy look. “I don’t want revenge; I’d rather just not deal with it at all, frankly.”
Before he could drop his head back on the table, Minisc felt a light tap on his shoulder. Sluggishly turning in his seat, he was met with a flawlessly white smile.
“Hey, Minisc,” Lily chirped enthusiastically.
“Hello,” he mumbled back, hardly recognizing who he was talking to.
“I just wanted to thank you for volunteering to be my partner; it was really sweet of you.”
Doom and gloom for a brief moment were replaced by lovestruck beauty once again. Minisc feverishly tried to hide the change in his cheeks’ color.
“Why don’t you sit and have lunch with us?” Jules piped up, kicking back a nearby chair.
“I’d love to! I don’t think I’ve formally introduced myself. I’m Lily Martel.”
The brunette took a seat at the circular table before neatly placing her teal backpack in her lap. Stretching in to grab the contents in the bag, she revealed a series of fruits and vegetables before glancing at Minisc. She noticed the lack of food in front of him and his sad, unconvincing smile.
