Peyton grumbled as he woke up. He sighed as once again; he was in the room offered by Titanium. He had a dream he was back home with his parents. Even going to school seemed better than being trapped in the castle.

He spent a few days to know a bit more about the layouts of the castle and who Steel was. He liked the guy, even if he had a weird sense of humor and a funny attitude that he showed sometimes. He grumbled as he stood up and dressed up. He had no idea where they got more of his clothes, "I am sure they stole it on Earth," he concluded. Unless they had some replica machine. It shouldn't surprise him if they had that.

With the portal that linked Perim and the Earth to the super advanced IA of the Codemasters and the big robot that guarded the portal. It was easy to be open-minded about anything weird that might await him.

The door opened and Steel came inside, "Hello Peyton! I hope you are ready. Because today's the day where we being showing you how to summon the power within you and prove my king's words!"

"Right," Peyton opted to not protest against his demand, but also about how humans couldn't do that. He was curious about their training. He never saw how creatures awoke their elemental powers. He knew they trained for it. He always thought it was mostly yo nurture it, but if Rothar could master new elements, then it might be possible.

Chapter 30: The training

After a quick breakfast, the boy and the Metalist went towards the training room.

"Where is Titanium?" the boy asked curiously.

"He is busy with paper works. He should pay us a visit when he's done with those reports," Steel said with a sudden serious tone in his voice.

Peyton guessed that it was something important. He noticed that when the mood suddenly shifted for the big metal guy, it was always because there was something serious going on, "Must be important reports. Like those bad Metalists who hates humans?"

"You guessed it. They know you are here. I'm not that surprise about it. We don't know everyone's true intention in the castle," Steel hit his chest and the sound echoed in the corridor, "Have no fear. I will protect you," he let out a reassuring smile.

They stopped in front of a large door, "And here we are Peyton. This is where we will begin training in tapping in the power of the light that is within you. It should work the same way as us, but light instead of darkness," he put his hand on the door and pushed it.

The door creaked lightly as it opened.

Peyton had some expectation for the place. He thought it would be something like a gym, but it was a small room surrounded by large blue walls and a few cushions on the middle. It looked more like a place to read books than to train. His expectation wasn't met. It was obliterated, "What is that dude?"

Steel saw his face. The face of the human was filled with disappointment. So much disappointment. He laughed loudly as he held his chest, "You should see your face!" he then tried to imitate it, but it was just a funny face. He twisted his mouth in a weird undulated line.

Peyton chuckled as he saw that ugly face, "Stop dude. It's just that this was nothing like I thought it would be."

"Meditation is very important. Your energy to summon this power comes from within you. You need to practice summoning," he showed his hand to one of the cushions, "I'll show you what I can. Our king is the best at explaining this stuff. I'm not that great," he scratched his neck nervously. He then put his fist in front of his mouth and coughed, "Anyway, please sit down. We need to begin with the boring stuff before we go to the fun one!"

Peyton sighed and sat down. At least, he would do something compared to before. He asked, "Done. What's next?"

"You need to put your hands together like that," he slapped his hands in front of his face. The palms and fingers of each hand were stuck together, "Then, you take a few deep breaths."

"Ooookay," the boy replied uncertainly. He did the same.

A smug appeared on the face of Steel, "I'll punch you in the stomach and see if you are focused now."

"What?" the boy just rolled away and covered his gut from any attack.

The Metalist snickered, "Got you. I wouldn't do that," he suddenly went serious, "I could kill you by accident if I tried," his smile returned, "You're safe with me. Anyway, you need to repeat what I interrupted."

"Why did you say that?"

"I was already bored. I was a bit behind when it came to awakening my power. I hate boredom."

That explained the boy why the creature wasn't a good teacher. Still, he had trouble focusing when he was bored too. He sat down, "I'll do it," he put his hands together and began to meditate. If the creature complained that this was boring, it might have some truth. Still, it wouldn't work. He was a human. He didn't have any power like that. It was something to do at least.

"You need to focus on the inside. You are distracting yourself. I can see you frowned a bit," Steel commented. He put his hand on the chest of the boy, "You need to focus on the center of your chest. This energy flow through the heart," he moved his hand away, "Remember to focus."

"On that thing in my heart?"

"Yes."

"Okay dude! Getting real focused here!" he squinted his eyes really hard. He grunted a bit as he tried to actually focused.

The large creature was uncertain if he should laugh loudly, or told him that this was not the way. He raised his finger, but not a single sound came out of his mouth. He sighed with a small smile and crossed his arms.

Expectedly, nothing happened.

"Guess I don't have it then."

"You sounded like you were trying too… you know," Steel didn't dare to finish that sentence. He went on, "And you didn't look focus at all. I… I don't really know how to explain it."

"Like a monk?"

"A… Monk?" the Metalist never heard of that term before.

Peyton guessed that explaining it would be pointless, "I'll try that," he repeated the process quietly. He doubted it would change anything. He sighed.

It was then that Titanium came into the room, "It won't come out in a single day. It takes a week before you can really feel anything easily," his massive size made the boy feel so small. The king was a giant among his people.

"A week dudes?"

"That's how long Steel took before he could awake it. He has poor attention from what I heard," the king commented. He sat down as he ignored the glance of his soldier, "I can see you don't believe that you can pull this off. I saw very few humans who could do it. It was those who tried to stand in my way when you tried to escape me."

The boy gave no answer. He knew those people were part of the cult and went to the danger. He remembered the story Titanium told him. He still wasn't sure he could believe the creature. He closed his eyes as he heard the clearer explanation.

"Keep your eyes close. You need to feel a pulse within you. The rhythm of your power flows like your blood. The source of power comes from your heart. Feel the heartbeat in your chest. Take a deep breath and focused on your heart. Feel the life flowing through you."

The boy kept his eyes closed and took deep slow breath. He had no idea what the creature meant by focusing on his heart. He just hoped he wouldn't put his hand on his chest like Steel. That had was way too big and it was weird to be touched by metal like that. He squinted his eyes once again as his thought wandered to his friends and his parents. He missed them so much. He just wanted to be home and be carefree once more. Here, he always thought he might be in danger of screwing something up and that it might be deadly. Currently, he was only okay being his usual self with Steel, who had a good sense of humor. That was despite being a bit of a creep.

"Focus Peyton," Titanium patiently told him.

The boy nodded as he began to do as he was told. He had no idea on what he should focus about, so he tried his best. He began to focus on his heart. Having no idea how it was possible, he just tried a bit like he was in a movie.

An hour passed and his legs were killing him. When he tried to open his eyes a bit, the king always saw it before he even partially opened them and forced them shut again. The two Metalist continued to guide him as he continued to meditate. They gave him a few tricks when he lost focus.

More time passed. After lunch break the meditation went on. The boy felt relaxed, despite being with the creature who kidnapped him. He spoke to him in a bit of a fatherly way. Firm, but kind and gentle.

He tried his best, but he felt nothing. He couldn't see anything with his eyes closed. For a while, he thought it was all for nothing. Nothing would come from that. Suddenly, there was a bit of light. He guessed he opened his eyes a bit. Still, he heard nothing from Titanium.

The light appeared and disappeared quickly. It came back and disappeared once again. The boy realised it appeared in pulse. It came and was gone. It repeated the process. The light made a small sound. It didn't come from what his eyes could see right now. It echoed from the center of his chest. He felt it now. Somehow, maybe by instinct, he just knew it was the power of the light the creatures spoke about. He felt the pulse flowing through his artery and veins. It was one of the strangest sensations of his life. He felt like he ended up in a dream right now. He opened his eyes as he wondered if the creatures felt that when they called upon their elemental powers. Maybe it was so normal and natural that they never noticed that strange sensation, "I… I felt it."

"Good. You need to be able to feel it without meditating. It's hard to fight if you just sit down and grumbled a hummm all the time Peyton," Steel said as he sat by the side of the boy and gently hit his side with his elbow.

Titanium had an unexpressive face as he witnessed that. He could see the two were getting a bit closer. The Metalist knew it the reason. He was the ruler and he was naturally extremely intimidating. Also, he kidnapped the boy. He didn't want to ruin their moment. He took a deep breath and concluded, "This should be enough for today. You can feel this power within you. I recognise your success," he let out a small smile, "Anyway, I won't bother you any longer," the king left the room.

Peyton gazed at the remaining Metalist, "Does he have something important and I made him late?"

"Surely!" Steel laughed for a few seconds. He put his hand on his hips, "He likes you, but he is also a busy king. The Metalists who has ill for your kind are still around. We made sure none of them could come in the castle. Anyway, I think it's about an important meeting with the council. He is still preparing for the return of our kind to the Cothica after all," he joyfully declared.

The boy nodded. He worried a bit at that perspective. It sounded like an invasion was on the way and he was the key to it. It was the M'arrillian's invasion all over again in the waiting.

AC: This is the end of this chapter.

Next: What's going on?

Kaz noticed that his best friend was busy in his mind since the day he visited the Guardian's of the Cothica and wanted to know what was going on.