Winds of Change: Rising Storm

Chapter 8

Sweat dropped off Tempest's brow as she ran faster and faster on a treadmill. They had brought her out of her cell and taken her to a room full of exercise equipment, assumedly in the morning. The same boy who had put the black bracelet on her had come into the room and explained what they wanted her to do. Tempest didn't completely understand it all, but they needed her to do the test, otherwise there would be consequences.

Duh. She thought to herself as she sucked in more air.

"Alright, that's enough." the boy, Prodigy, said as he walked over and stopped the machine. She got off the treadmill and panted, wiping her brow. "Here." He said, handing her a bottle of water. Tempest glanced at it, debating with herself about whether she should take it or not.

"It's just water." He pointed out. "If you don't take it, these tests are going to be a lot harder for you."

Taking the bottle, she asked, "Why do you need tests?"

"Classified." Eyes rolling, Tempest quickly opened the bottle. She took a drink of the cool water, then screwed the top back on. Her breath slowly went back to a normal pace while she mentally prepared herself for whatever was next. It wasn't that she wanted to let them have their way, but she didn't have much of a choice.

Prodigy walked in front of her, holding up a needle so she could see. "I'm going to need some blood."

She flinched as she looked at the needle, but still held out her arm. "Is there anything you can tell me? Something that isn't classified. If I'm going to die, I'd like to know why."

Prodigy smirked, injecting the needle into her arm. "You're not going to die."

Tempest held her breath as he pulled the needle out. She felt a little light headed, but otherwise was fine. "I thought that was all you guys did."

He gently wrapped a bandage around her arm, answering while he tied it. "If we wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead. Besides that, you're too valuable."

"Hmph." She exclaimed. "I already said I don't have any wind powers. What more can I say to make you guys understand that?"

He shook his head, his black ponytail flapping back and forth. "The machine you've been running on has an elemental reactor inside of it. The scans have all come up high. And if that doesn't assure you, we matched it with scans from the previous master of wind." He set the needle down on a table and turned around, looking her dead in the eyes. "What more can I say to make you understand that?"

"Haha," She said, trying to mask her unbelief with sarcasm. "Fine. Now what do I do?" Prodigy grinned and jerked his thumb in the direction of the table. She stood up, walking over to the table, surprised to see a chess board on it.

"Your mental state is in question," he explained. "So we're going to test it. Do you play chess?"

She glared at him. "My mental state is just fine thank you. And yes, I can play chess. But I hate it."

"Well, nonetheless you still have to do it." He pulled out two collapsible chairs and set each up. Tempest sat down, facing the black pieces of the board. When she was younger, maybe thirteen? She had worked for a man who loved chess. He had forced her to play hours and hours of it with him, knowing how much she disliked it.

Prodigy raised an eyebrow at her choice of pieces, but said nothing. He moved the farthest pawn to the right forward two spaces. Recognizing the strategy he was using, she quickly blocked his pawn.

"Is this really necessary?" She asked as he moved the next pawn up one space.

"Yes." He replied, watching her move a knight. "If your brain can't function, then all our efforts will be void."