The Life I Gained From Dying

Chapter 4 - The Shape of Water

"Please pardon my disturbance, but Elder Aira you've been requested to return to the courtyard of the six." Kenzo announced as he appeared on a path behind us.

"Requested by whom?" Elder Aira questioned.

"Elder Mildred."

Sigh. "This is where I'll leave you for today Kaden." She said as Mai helped her to her feet. "Mai remember what I asked of you when we were coming here."

"Yes Elder Aira, I'll try my best."

"Some things just won't change I guess." Aira replied hanging her head. "Take care of them sister."

"Of course I will." Treya replied with a grin.

Aira walked over to Kenzo and whispered something to him before they both walked down the path together.

"Tell me young man, are you familiar with the seven deadly sins?"

"You mean pride, lust, envy and so on right?" Kaden replied.

"Good so you are familiar with them. To return to your home world you are going to have to confront these sins head on, in a very literal sense.

"You mean the gates Elder Treya?" Mai asked.

"Yes baby. In this world the seven sins each have a corresponding gateway somewhere in the four great lands. Here in the land of water you can find the gates of greed and pride. The land of fire is home to the gate of gluttony. In the land of air you will find the gates of sloth and lust. Then lastly the gate of wrath can be found in the land of stone."

"Finally? What about the gate of envy?" Kaden asked.

"That's the only one that nobody knows for sure where it is. However it is said that once completing a gate you will be pointed in the direction of the next closest gate. So if you complete the first six you will eventually be pointed towards the gate of envy."

"That means he's going to have to travel all of the lands sometime soon." Mai pointed out.

"Could I hire an escort or something, because me going out there alone is just gonna get me killed. Again."

"That's further down the line young man. For now we're going to help you get prepared for the journey ahead of you. You were asleep when I said this but you are capable of using water essence."

"So I can move water and do the stuff you were doing earlier Maira?" Kaden asked enthusiastically.

"Don't call me that, but yes you're right." She responded.

"Not only that, but we also found traces of all four of the elemental essences flowing inside of you."

"For real? So I'm like 'The Avatar'?" Kaden asked with a large smile on his face.

"I do not know what that is." Treya replied.

"That's alright. How often does something like this happen?"

"It's really unheard of." Mai responded. "There has been cases of a child being born from parents from two different great lands, and that child goes on to inherit both essences of his mother and father. However even that is rare. Something like this is like I said, unheard of."

"If you would like young man, we came to the conclusion that we should train you to use water essence for a period of time that you would like, before you leave for your journey."

"I would appreciate that, but is it really possible for me to use this essence stuff."

"That's the reason we came out here." Treya replied.