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Excerpt for Trial by Earth.
Ellis Lathmore has kept it together for far too long. This time, when he cracks, everyone will pay the price. Read Ellis’ story in Trial by Earth.
TRIAL BY EARTH
"Guardian, Guardian come quick!"
I turned at the sound of a frantic voice, matching it to the young boy who came careening down the hallway towards me. The uniform he wore marked him as a general applicant student of the Twilight Academy with the broad cream-colored ribbons and burgundy piping along the edge of the standard black. The delicate scrolls shaved on the sides of his head denoted him as Urukou, one of the six fighting races of the Juhl galaxy.
"Please!" He came to a stop, hunching forward to brace his hands on his knees. Thin shoulders quivered as he ducked his head, drawing in a fresh breath. His gaze skittered over my uniform, relaxing somewhat when he saw my name badge above the stitched ranks of Guardian. “You have to help!” he gasped out.
"Easy now," I reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder, pulling on my earthen element to calm his panic. "Take deep breaths." I looked to the name stitched in silver on the patch over his left shoulder. “What’s the matter, Liam?”
He pressed his lips together, shaking his head as if he'd like to speak, but the words had not settled in his head as yet.
I poured a little more of my element into him, urging the soft glow of steady energy to ground him in the moment. It was one of the perks of being an earth elemental, the ability to transmute the same quiet, steady calmness that the solid ground beneath our feet reacted to. It was also one of the more subtle things to do with my gift. Most other uses of it tended to be rather large-scale and destructive, rather than complimentary.
In spite of his current state, I reached out with my gift in the mental network that always surrounded me, attempting to sense whether there was any immediate danger following him. There wasn’t a clear result, which was good and bad, but didn’t really help. Good, because it meant that it wasn’t too serious, bad, because it meant it wasn’t serious—yet.
"They're fighting," Liam gasped out, at last. "You've got to stop them,” his hands curled around the hem of his overtunic. “They'll kill him or he’ll hurt them. Please, you have to hurry!"
"Fighting? Who?" I started forward as he began to pull my sleeve, guiding me back down where he'd come. "Where? Kill who?"
"Terrance!" Liam tugged on my arm, his face scrunched up and red, just like his eyes. "Please, Guardian!"
"Ellis." I corrected, breaking into a trot. It would be helpful to know the whole situation before charging to the scene, especially since our beloved Twilight Training Academy was built to handle the elementally gifted students it housed and fighting unsupervised in the halls led to hefty reprimands. From the panic in Liam’s voice, it sounded like more than a mere tussle between disgruntled students, and I was not looking forward to breaking it up.
Perhaps if I was a few seconds late, someone else could shoulder the headache, but the odd feeling of dread made itself known in the pit of my stomach. I only knew of one particular Terrance on this Academy and he knew better than to get into fights when I was off-duty. "Terrance who?” I asked.
“Terrance McGowen,” Liam shivered. “You know, the metal kid?”
My steps quickened a fraction more. “Yes. I do. He should know better,” I muttered. An Urukou like Liam, Terrance’s Twilight rank was significantly higher in their tribal hierarchy and the shortest explanation was the difference in skill level. From the three slashed lines along Liam’s scalp, he was capable of basic defense and little more. Terrance was trained in three styles of martial arts, two of them lethal and one of the not. He’d promised me that he wouldn’t fight without reason.
I had sponsored and mentored the hotheaded teen until he’d taken his official test as a Twilight Knight. I’d also gone with him when he’d returned to his family clan to have the myriad of swirling scrolls carved into his pale, white-blond hair, proof of his lethal combat style.
The Oaths we swore as Twilight forbid killing, except in self-defense, unless there were extenuating circumstances and even so, those usually came back to the point of self-defense. Terrance’s deadly skill would be a great field asset, as long as he knew to temper it.
I’d warned him to stay out of trouble until he’d completed the eight knight standards required for his advancement to the Titan ranks. He had. Now he was currently working his way through the pretests that would qualify him to take the five standards required for the Shirron ranking.
The Twilight were known as a respected paramilitary force, dedicated and independent from all ties to governments, churches and various monarchies. As a neutral powerhouse, we provided an objective third-party in various situations when requested and usually the first on the scene to help after natural disasters.
“Who is he fighting?"
"I-it was an accident, really—he didn't mean it. They just jumped on him and he didn’t have a chance—they'll hurt him!" Liam gave an excited quiver as if he were itching to break into a run—again. “They’re right around the corner, they’re knights, please-!”
Knights against Terrance? More like he’ll hurt them. I thought, darkly. I was no stranger to the practice of feeling like my element was a sleeping giant inside of me, just waiting to be unleashed in its true, monstrous form. Terrance’s element had nearly overwhelmed him when it first appeared. I knew just how dangerous he could be if he was thinking with his temper instead of his head.
A flash of worry stabbed through me and I caught Liam by the shoulders, pulling him to a stop as two approaching Guardians rounded the corner.
"Whoa—hey!" Gavin Nullith, Rock-elemental extraordinaire stumbled and bellowed to a stop, his flinty grey eyes narrowing into uneven points. "Oi, watch where you're going runt.” He scowled at Liam, before he registered that Liam was currently held out of reach—by me.
"Gavin!" His ever-present best friend and not-quite-his-conscience, Nathan Holwell, threw him a disapproving look in reprimand. “You can’t keep calling the general students, runts and-”
“Fight between a Titan and two Knights,” I snapped out. “Follow me!” I released Liam and gave him a push forward.
He stumbled forward and grabbed my sleeve. "Just hurry. You have to help him. They're using their powers, I can’t stop them."
"Powers?" Gavin exchanged a look with Nathan. “A fight?”
Nathan's scowl deepened. "Who and where?” he demanded.
Gavin cocked his head to the side, using his elemental gift to zero in on vibrations to determine the location of the fight. "Four corridors down,” he scowled. “Close to general student zones. Move it!”
“I’ll go ahead,” Nathan said. “I’ll use a Light Cast, hurry!” He went from dull grimness to a shimmering white glow, his light element blazing to life before he blinked out existence.
I envied him the ease of teleportation, because the rest of us would be running on our own steam, Gavin’s element being rock and mine being the rather irritating master element of Earth. I fell into a jog beside Liam once more.
“He won’t be able to stop them,” Liam huffed. “Hurry!”
"We’re hurrying,” Gavin muttered. “And I can find it now, go find a Training master, kid. If it's bad enough you thought they'd kill him, we'll need someone to pull Nathan off of them. Grab whoever you can, tell them Gavin Nullith sent you." He caught Liam by the shoulder, stopping him and directing him in the opposite hallway.
I watched him scamper off, waiting until I knew he was safely around the corner, before I bolted after Gavin. It was a good tactic to keep Liam out of harm’s way, so we could utilize our elements without worrying about a general student on the scene. Compared to Gavin’s efficient handling, I felt like a gangly, clumsy beast tramping along to keep up, even when his rock element should have put him on equal footing with me.
The feeling was not a good one and I tried to focus
on something else to keep my temper on an even keel. Lately, it seemed like everything was too loud, too frustrating and too irritating. I had the very worst thought that perhaps, if I was not careful, the tremendous amount of elemental energy inside of me, would erupt in a display both destructive and terrifying—without any warning at all—and destroy everything and everyone around me. It was because of that particular train of thought, that I had been on my way to the meditation halls, before lunch, a routine I’d formed for nearly five months now.
Now that I thought of it, I’d been too wrapped up in myself to pay much attention to him lately. Even though I was no longer formally his sponsor, I couldn’t help looking out for him—just like everyone else in the Academy. Shoving my own concerns aside, I made myself focus. I could meditate the confusion away—later.
We rounded the corner to the sounds of angry shouts and yells, in addition to a searing bolt of fire that flew directly over my head, a little too close for comfort. For a moment, it felt as the floor had fallen out from under me. My left leg buckled and I slid down and to the corner, slapping the wall to catch myself from the sudden movement.
"Left and right!" Gavin shouted, rolling to the right and ducking just before another bolt of fire seared the wall overhead. "Get your head in gear, Lathmore!"
I didn’t have a chance to glare at him, because a bolt