The Element - Reborn - Book 1

Prologue
            Sophia was walking home from her dreary job, whistling because she just got a raise.  She kept dropping change because she loved the look on kid’s faces when they find a coin on the sidewalk. When she got home, she put on some apple cider for herself over her home furnace. She reclined on her sofa, sipping from a glass of water, when she heard the doorbell ring. She left it alone, because her home was a target for door-to-door salesmen. She reclined on her couch again, enjoying the silence in the small house. But then, faint but not doubt she heard it. It was the trill of an extinct bird that only her and her old friends knew about it. They called it the twinklecaller, because it sounded like a star falling from the night sky, and she knew exactly how that sounded by experience. She sprang off the sofa and ran for the door. When she threw it open, two old faces greeted her. “Azula!  Alex! Please come in!” she cried.

“Hello, Sophia, it’s been awhile. Oh, is that apple cider I smell?” Alex asks.
“Yes, yes it is!  Alex, would you like some? How about you Azula?
“No thanks Sophia, could I just have a glass of water.
 That’s right, you don’t like hot drinks. Azula, I’ll get you some water, don’t worry.
“Thank you, Sophia,” they both said at once. A few minutes later, Sophia was whistling to herself in the kitchen, while in the dining room, Alex and Azula were urgently talking in low voices.
“All right, an apple cider for Alex, and a glass of water for Azula,” Sophia called cheerfully, setting down the glasses with the air of a waitress.. They both took one, Alex politely sipping at his glass, while Azula threw her water in the air, then in midair she froze it into a form of an ice dragon complete with scaly wings and a full set of miniscule teeth.
 “Show-off, I thought that we agreed that you wouldn’t show off like that, Azula,” Alex muttered.
“Oh, I’m sorry Alex, I didn’t realize I should not keep using my powers now,”
Alex rolled his eyes and gulped down the rest of the cider, while Azula looked at him as if looks could kill.
“What do you mean, you should keep using your powers now?” Sophia asked confused at the strange looks on her friends’ faces. Azula went on with her thought as soon as Alex was done without even acknowledging that Sophia had talked.
“Anyway, Sophia, we’re not just here for a visit. There is a reason we are here. It’s because,” Azula stopped, scared to finish the sentence. Alex jumped in with a quiet voice and finished it for her.  
“Heat, you’re not going to believe this, but the Element is back.”

Chapter One
The Rememberance
“Yes, Sophia, we are sure that she’s back. We saw a fireball in that meadow she used to love to practice in, and then there was a chunk of earth, then a mixture of water and clouds swirling in a tornado to put out the chunk of earth. Remember, that was her basic exercise when she was here before,” Alex reminded her.
“Not very basic to us, of course, but…” Azula started, but she trailed off when she saw the scared look on Sophia’s face.
 “But, if she’s back, then that means… ” she stopped, horrified at the thought in her mind. “No,” she whispered.
Alex sadly understood the pained look in Sophia’s eyes.
“Yes, Sophia, it’s true. The Darkness is also back. That’s why we came here as quickly as we could. We need to go the Kiara’s hideout. The Element will explain in more detail,” Sophia perked up at the thought of meeting her mentor again, but Azula thought otherwise.
 “But it’s too late now. I know we may be intruding, but can we rest here tonight, then go tomorrow?” Azula asked. Sophia stood there in shock, and Azula had to get up and shake her a bit before she could respond with a simple, “Yes.”
            After the night had been slept away, the trio hopped in Sophia’s car and drove 500 miles to that meadow Kiara loved. Sure enough, she was there, going through her exercises like it was nothing. Her ‘basic’ fire exercise had nearly made Sophia pass out the first time she tried it. A few years ago, Alex, Azula, Sophia, and another girl named Skylar, who  unfortunately died in the first battle against the Darkness, struck down by his daughter Shadow, were all Kiara’s apprentices before. Each of them had learned each of Kiara’s powers, Azula learned water, Alex, who had been named Rock at the time, learned earth, Sophia, then named Heat, learned fire, and Skylar learned the air power.
            At the sight of Kiara doing her exercises, something gave in Sophia’s heart. She jumped out of the driver seat and ran down the hill leading to the meadow. Forgetting about dignity and adulthood, she squealed like a 7 year-old girl, “Kiara! You’re back!” she cried. Kiara jumped at the sound of her voice, dropping her ball of water she was molding with her bare hands as easily as if it were clay. Sophia turned back to the hill, seeing that Alex and Azula were making their way down the hill. Kiara cleared her throat, and Sophia turned back to her teacher.
“I’m assuming that the other two told you about my returning,” Kiara said. She tried looking cheerful, but as always, she couldn’t fool anyone. Her eyes gave her away. They looked sorrowful, like she was weighed down by a million troubles. Her eyes could explain every single feeling that she was going through, because they weren’t just one color. Depending on her mood, and the power she was teaching, they could be burning with the heat of the sun, or they could be as deep as the ocean. Right now, they were as cloudy as a winter sky, threatening a storm. Sophia tried to ignore that and talk to her anyway.
“Listen, we know why you’re back, and we want to help you defeat the Darkness,” Kiara smiled with those deep, multi-colored eyes that, when they were younger, Alex had fallen in love with. He had asked her to be with him forever, and she had said,
“Young Rock, I have too large a duty to the world to be burdened with love,” It was true. When Kiara was two years old, her mother, drunk, decided to leave her in the woods. Instead of dying with hunger, the earth swallowed her for a whole month and taught her to survive. When she was found again, it was because a flood swept her away and taught her his ways. Then she was discovered in a fire, and then a tornado whisked her away. After those experiences she couldn’t get adopted in the orphanage where she had been hastily placed. She practiced every day on the roof, because even then she knew she had been chosen for something big. The only thing that kept her from running away completely was her normal brother, Seth. Then it happened. When she was thirteen, he stopped visiting her. Completely disappeared from the face of the earth. Kiara couldn’t deal with anything without her brother, so she ran away a week after and continued to train. Almost 5 years later after that last day at the orphanage, she saved the world with the help of her apprentices she had found one day, spying on her, fascinated with her moves and power. Yet now she was skeptical.  “Heat, I can’t train you again. I must begin anew. Remember your scar. This will be more dangerous than before, and that could happen again, only fatal,” Sophia rubbed her arm where the old battle wound was. She had been hit by the Darkness’s blade of Mist, an almost fatal blade named after his younger daughter Mist. It was only her mentor Kiara’s blast of fire that had kept her alive that day. She didn’t want to have to be saved by Kiara again, so she wanted to train more. She refused to be turned down.
“Please, Kiara, we already know the moves. We’re just a little rusty. Teach us again, and you’ll have a team, just like old days. Please?” Kiara broke down.
 “Well, I suppose it would save time, if you remember enough. Can each of you remember the basic exercise beginning pose?” Kiara tested. Kiara had made up all of these moves and poses herself for maximum power. Alex and Azula went into their positions; Alex’s position was squatting, feeling the ground, fingering it as if it was a dead pet, and he was saying good-bye. Azula’s was her hands like a tent, and then faced out against her stomach. Sophia followed, her position being chin up, two fingers together, braced like a karate artist. Kiara did the sky pose, facing with her face to the sky, arms high, as if she was praising. She flashed back to this same day, 5 years ago, when Kiara was demonstrating and Skylar was the one who did that pose. Sophia’s heart melted with sorrow in remembrance of Skylar. Then they started training.





Chapter 2
Training
            Sophia had forgotten how hard this was.
Training is fun, no doubt, but it’s tiring. Morning, noon, and night, sometimes they needed to get up in the middle of the night to train, because they are facing the Darkness as an enemy, and he would be anywhere. Azula, Alex, and Sophia were so out of shape that Sophia fainted on a similar, yet harder version of an exercise, something that she could do when she was 14, and Alex and Azula couldn’t lift their arms after the first day. Kiara, however, was fit as ever, doing the hardest exercises like she was lifting a feather. “I have kept up training since my disappearance,” was all she’d say. Sophia and Azula would catch Alex staring at her with disbelief, not being able to comprehend how she did it. During a yoga lesson to relax their aching muscles, Kiara started floating without realizing it “Show-off,” Alex had muttered. Alex’s personality before the first training lesson 5 years ago told him that nobody could be better in training, and after being trained as the most stubborn form of Earth, it was worse than ever. But Kiara hadn’t even raised an eyebrow. Her concentration was so deep that she could stay completely still, not a single twitch. She stayed like that long after the others had stopped, going their separate ways to nurse their wounds from practice battles. Sophia had gotten a good deep scratch from Azula, who had fashioned a blade of solid and sharp ice from the nearby pond and sliced her across the arm. But Alex had paid Azula back, because he could search the ground for precious metals, and somehow he had found a steel sword, somewhat dull but able to inflict a pretty serious injury. Her arm was in worse shape than Sophia’s right now, but probably not for long. I heard her scheming to get Alex back, because of all things that Kiara can do,, healing was not taught to her. Because of this, Azula had to go through some pretty serious treatments by Kiara to heal enough that Azula could stand doing anything will her arm. Sophia crawled into her bedroll, tired enough to sleep for a whole month. She heard Kiara moving around the fire, tending kindly to the flames. After a little while of laying in her makeshift bed, Sophia opened her eyes a tad and saw her mentor lying on her back, floating about 2 feet in the air. Somehow that calmed her mind that had become frantic because of her fire training, and she could finally close her eyes and sleep.
Sophia opened her eyes, but she wasn’t near Kiara’s fire. She was in a dark place, and her shoulder was burning with the pain she remembered from so long ago. She knew what this was. It was a mourning dream, and it was for Skylar. 
Sophia waited for the dreadful moment, but all she saw from her position on the ground was Alex and Azula fighting back to back against The Darkness’s minions called Twilights. The transparent pools of black were floating around, trying to get into one of their heads to control them. Then it happened. 
She saw the flash of light from Skylar’s most powerful attack. Sunlight flooded the dark place, and the Twilights disintegrated for the time, so we had a clear view of her. The only Dark things in the place were Shadow and Mist, the Darkness’s daughters. Shadow’s weapons of choice were two short blades called her Midnight knives, and Mist liked using her Mist Scarf, which caused a deep fog to come over the place when she used it. Shadow was skipping around in various shadows caused by Skylar’s attack. Around and around the room, she was definitely trying to get to the person who was causing their father’s minions to disappear. Sophia watched helplessly as Shadow skipped through her shadow, and bounced into Alex’s. Shadow got to Skylar quickly, and without hesitation plunged both her knives into Skylar’s back. The light faded as her life was seeping into the dreaded Midnight knives. The place became dark, and Skylar’s life was gone. 
When Shadow was done, she removed the blades from Skylar and cleaned them on the sleeve of her short dress, as if she had just skinned a messy animal. Sophia found herself screaming and shooting random fire into the air. Her wound felt freshly cut and her grief for Skylar was heavier than ever. Sophia bolted upright in her bed. 
Azula was bent over her, looking worried. Alex was still sleeping like a rock, and Kiara was feeling Sophia’s wrist, apparently checking her pulse. Kiara stood up. “Azula, please help me get Sophia on her feet. She needs to be calmed down,” Azula reluctantly took her hand and pulled her up with Kiara’s help, and Sophia rose shakily on her feet. “Follow me, Sophia. Let’s go to the field,” Kiara created a soft swirling cloud for her to lie on until they got there. Though it would have been a soft and comfortable ride, Sophia refused immediately. Understanding, Kiara made a platform for her instead out of soft earth and springy grass. Nodding faintly, Sophia gratefully laid down again, but she didn’t close her eyes for fear of another dream. The pain from her arm was fading now, but she still wanted Kiara to know about it.”Kiara?” Sophia ventured cautiously. Kiara’s eyes always gave away her emotions, but now they were clouded, hiding any feelings going through her head. “Kiara?” Sophia repeated, raising her voice. “Your heart and mind are one. You should know this. But when fire takes over, you can become out of control,” Kiara said. It didn’t sound like she had been listening at all to Sophia. “Kiara?” Sophia asked yet again. This time Kiara turned around. Her eyes were a deep sea green. She looked at peace, like the sea at rest. “The time has come for you to learn what I do when I have these dreams. I created this technique myself, as with much of the other training things, because my powers always conflict with each other. Especially fire. Fire feels that all other powers are weak, and fire should rule over all. You don’t realize it, but you must release these feelings before they overcome your own thoughts,” Sophia watched, amazed, and Kiara sat down, in a comfortable position, and breathed. She imagined steam coming out of her open mouth. Sophia shut her eyes tight, and opened them again. Wait, Kiara was breathing steam. It was coming out a bit thicker now, visible to her without straining her eyes. After a few minutes, Kiara surfaced from her trance and Sophia stared at her like she was from some foreign planet. Kiara smiled. “That look is exactly the same to the one you wore when you first saw me,” Sophia quickly wiped the look off her face and asked, “How… What… Can you…” she searched for the right words. As usual Kiara came to her rescue. “How to do this, that’s up to you. What it is? Well, I’m releasing all the angry fiery thoughts that keep me from functioning as the other elements. If you didn’t release this energy, you will have horrible thoughts, stop being able to function, and have dreams like the one you did, but more frequent, and more deadly. If you didn’t learn some kind of technique, it could kill you, or someone you love” Sophia stepped back, shocked. Kiara fell to the ground, her head in her hands. She seemed to be crying, mumbling a name that Sophia couldn’t catch. Feeling bad for her mentor, she stepped forward. Kiara reached up and and grabbed her hand. She raised her head. “Once these dreams start, you can’t go back. You can’t ignore it any longer. You HAVE to learn this technique!” Kiara looked a little crazy, her eyes storming like tornado clouds. Sophia tried to tug away from her again, but Kiara pulled her down. She closed her eyes, and took a deep, shaky breath. When she opened her eyes, they were gray clouds, but they had stopped swirling. Sophia tried to break the strange silence. “So, how do you do this?” Kiara started talking, her voice fast and stuttering. “The first thing to do, the key to this, is breathing calmly,” Kiara took a deep breath and her breathing slowed. “Then, when you have a slow and steady heartbeat, you take every thought of any dream, or fiery thought you have, and imagine it surfacing in your brain, and as it does, you imagine it coming out of your mouth and nose. You let go of it. You can’t think about it when you’re letting it go, or it will be called back and even harder to get rid of the second time. Go on, try it,” Kiara urged, breathing slowly and steady now. She seemed to regain her sense. Sophia closed her eyes, and thought of the dream she had. It surfaced quickly, and she felt a slight shudder of horror at it. She pushed it away on out her nose. It flew out, and Sophia opened her eyes, ecstatic about what she had done. Then she gasped, because she didn’t breath a small breath of water vapor like Kiara, she had breathed a cloud of smoke. She could feel the dream in it, struggling to get back in. She concentrated hard on pushing it away, flying through the clouds, gone forever, and kept her mouth shut. She only opened it when she heard Kiara say, “Good job,”

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