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"I'm seriously starting to doubt that he's even an elemental at all," laughed Derrick.
David's brow furrowed as he considered the possibility of Derrick's words.
"Wait, David," Myra hurried over, "look closer."
She pushed up the sleeve of Landon's jacket again, peering closely at his wrist. She suddenly recoiled, and let the sleeve drop.
"What's up with the jacket, dude? It's not that cold," commented Josh.
"Yeah," Derrick added.
"It's none of your business," snapped David, shooting the boys a warning glare.
"No, it's okay," Landon gave a wry smile, pushing his shirtsleeves up, "after all this is not for my benefit, it's for theirs."
Layne instinctively looked away. All the girls either winced or flinched. Josh went pale, and Derrick averted his eyes quickly.
"Dude, what happened to you?" asked Chris, aghast.
"That's what we've been trying to figure out," said Myra grimly.
She grabbed David by the hand and steered him closer to Landon.
"Do you see that?"
There was a brief silence as David studied his arm, looking carefully up and down, and then glancing over to Layne. His expression darkened, and he shook his head.
"Is his isorropia blocked or something? Can't get out?"
Myra studied Landon thoughtfully.
"Well, from what I can see, the air around him darkens a little bit when he tries, but somehow it just doesn't work. But it worked with Layne…"
"He didn't do that on purpose, we can deduce that much," argued David.
"But it was his isorropia," countered Myra.
"Layne, come over here," called David, waving her over.
"Kristen and Cam, you two as well," ordered Myra, after some thought.
The three made their way over to the teachers. Layne looked apprehensive, and Cam and Kristen looked curious.
"What…?" David trailed off, gesturing at the two Spirit elementals.
"One of them might be a seer," Myra hissed back, "isn't it about time to figure out what faction each of them belongs to?"
"Um, we're still here and we can hear you, you know?" said Massie.
"Uh, yeah. Just continue practicing controlling your isorropia," replied David distractedly.
"Cam, Kristen. Do you see anything connected to isorropia that's around Landon? Anything special?" asked Myra.
Kristen twitched slightly.
"I can see a dark energy behind his cuts. It's almost overflowing, but something is holding it back."
Myra and David sucked in a sharp breath simultaneously.
"Wild faction, Oracle, seer and premonitions," muttered David.
"Goddamn know-it-all," murmured Myra.
"Will someone please tell us what is going on?" asked Layne heatedly. The air around her began to shimmer, enveloping everything within a one-metre distance in a bright white light.
The atmosphere darkened suddenly. Layne's bright aura disappeared, replaced by a hazy darkness. Kristen swore softly and stepped back, bumping in to Cam and nearly knocking them both over.
"They're open," she whispered, "his cuts are open."
Myra took a hesitant step forward, stretching a hand into the blackness. The air around her brightened into a reddish colour, and she winced and pushed her hand in further. The darkness faded, leaving a gasping Myra and Landon standing face to face.
"That's…great," David pasted a fake smile onto his face to cover the worry, "now Landon, you can train with us in controlling your isorropia. Now, let's start with the basic attack and defence. We'll-"
Dylan nearly screamed in frustration.
"Someone tell us what's going on!"
Myra sent David a smug little smirk.
"Works everytime," she grinned.
When everyone was back in the main hall, David wheeled a large blackboard out and waited for them to settle down.
"So, as I've said before, there are seven Elemental Lands, which are…?"
"Earth, Water, Fire, Spirit, Wind and Light and Dark," cried Claire, "get on with it!"
David turned to the board, writing down the names of the Lands in bold as headings.
"Each Land is skilled in…?"
"Fire – massive strength, Water – healing poisons, Spirit – wisdom, Light – healing," said Chris.
David wrote each Land's strengths under the main headings, adding in the abilities for the Lands of Wind, Earth, and Darkness as he said them.
"Wind – sudden amounts of devastating damage, Earth – a solid defense, Darkness – unknown. And the Spirit Land also had clear vision and premonitions to detect isorropia."
"Just…get…on…with…it…" groaned Derrick.
Myra laughed.
"Okay. Be patient. And David, hurry up!"
"Each Land had three main factions – attack, defense, and wild. The attacking factions could do the most damage, the defense faction could defend or heal, and the wild faction had two different critical attacks for each Land. For Fire, the attacking faction was called the Flame, the defense was Ash, and the wild faction was Smoke. Their special abilities were the heatwave and isorropia absorption, which Myra just demonstrated outside."
He wrote the names down beneath the first heading of Fire, then carried on writing while explaining for the rest of the Lands.
"The Water had the Wave attack faction, Lake heal faction, and Rain wild faction. I'm from the Rain, and we have the ability to either drown or rain on our enemies. Now, the Earth had the Rock attack faction, Soil defend faction and the Sand wild faction – suffocation or a sandstorm. The Wind had the Gale attack faction, the Mist heal faction and the Cloud wild faction, and could have the ability to fly or widen and deepen wounds on the enemy. The Spirit had the Chance attack faction, the Guide defend faction, and the Oracle wild faction, which allows the use clear vision, premonitions, and an instinct to help with fights. The Light had the Solar attack faction, the Celestial heal faction, and the Lunar wild faction, which could shift gravities and the isorropia crossbow. Little is known about the Darkness, but it's believed that there is the Demon attack faction, the Fog defend faction and Shadow wild faction. An elemental from the attack faction excels at attacking, and may one day learn a skill from the wild faction. The same goes for the defense faction. However, those from the wild faction already had one specialised elemental skill and may one day master both."
"Wait. What do you mean by "had the skills"?" asked Layne suspiciously.
"I mean, that our abilities were much stronger in days gone by, and we're now struggling not to lose them," answered David.
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