When The Records Broke ~ Book #1

Hallow's Shallow

~ You'll eventually get deep, one way or another. ~

I stared at the familiar ceiling, the same one I had been staring at for the past... I don't know.

How long has it been!?

My so-called scenery resembles a cave, except the walls are made of lava, which could be determined by the ever reemerging bright red-orange cracks appearing against the hardened brownish-black volcanic rock, like waves.

If waves become sickening after a while, that is. I've never thought in my 140 years of life that I would ever become sick of my own domain.

Stalactites hang for dear life from the same ceiling I stare at, dripping.

Slowly.

Steadily.

Tiringly.

Slow.

I jolted up from my bed and flung my arms to the side, purposely knocking down everything on my bed dresser. My feet feel like they burst open. My teeth want to tear something apart. I feel like the equivalent of a rancid beast trapped in a glass container, wanting to release hell, but only being able to watch hell releasing itself like Carbon monoxide.

My ears want to fall off right now.

Clutching my head, I laid back down just as a Carbon dioxide Amagnus ran in. Yes, I adore Carbon, literally.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Please, Delaney, not now."

I could feel her scanning our surroundings. "Come on!" She picked up something that I knocked off of my dresser. "You have got to stop knocking things off of your dresser! What do you even do in here?"

"Please, I just want to leave now. I swear I'm well-rested."

"Oh really? Then try making that stalactite on the ceiling fall to the ground." Delaney pointed to a large stalactite that's been on the ceiling for at least a few weeks. "You're not allowed to physically take it off though, you'll have to command the lava to come off. Go on. I'll wait."

I rolled my eyes at the black cloud slouching in front of me.

"Fine."

I stood up and straightened my left hand, making sure all of my fingers were pressing against each other. Extending my arm, I straightened my posture, becoming stiff and rigid - like a ruler. Doing the same thing with my right arm, I glared at the only other Amagnus in the cave.

Delaney came back at me with a questioning glance. She then went back to what she was doing, which just so happened to be nail filing.

"Seriously?" I shouted, losing whatever concentration I had and dropping my arms to my side. "You cut your nails yesterday!"

"You were taking forever. Seriously, did you expect a camera to zoom up on the tips of your fingers and take a really epic shot of you? No! That's not going to happen!"

"Please, I'm out of practice."

"You didn't even do anything. All you did was t-pose."

I sighed profusely. "Just give me a tenth of a year! Actually, why am I even asking you? I'm the one in charge here. I could just-"

"Look, I'M YOUR DOCTOR WITH A TEARIY TEACHING DEGREE, AND I ORDER YOU TO NOT GO OUT YET!"

I sat back down in defeat. "Wait," the gears in my head were turning, "did you mention a Teariy teaching degree? I recall you saying something about some of the next generation of supermentals moving to Tierra-"

"All of them are moving there, actually."

"In that case, wouldn't that mean that the-"

"May I please talk?" Delaney interjected, looking irritated.

"Okay."

"I've been keeping close tabs on one family of Eminzinites, and apparently the kids are going to the school I've been hired to!"

"Eminzinites? Of course the female supermental is an Eminzinite! What job do you have there?"

"They're expecting another batch of elementals in their upcoming school year, with separate classrooms for different grade levels, and if any supermentals are to come, they'll get a teacher for just them. The 5 of us have yet to decide whose class is whose."

I leaned in, our faces almost too close for comfort.

"In that case, get the class with just the female supermental in it, and keep your eye on her for me please. I'll deal with her once I'm ready, but I'll need your help. Got it?"

"It's not easy, but I'll try."

"And you are using your Aqua-Green Amulet, right?"

"It's in need of cleaning, but yes."

"Good."

I got up and walked to the only source of light in the room: a tank full of blue, fluorescent water.

"Good luck defeating me, Elementally."