The Heroes of The Elemental Academies Book 3 The Tides of War

Chapter 11: A Matter of Faith

  Seth

The tents went up quickly. Agents moved through the temporary camp to tend to the wounded. But Seth and Rylee sat in a small tent on the ground as Seth hadn't fully recovered yet and they weren't bringing in any furniture for a temporary camp. They sat facing each other, Seth just stared at Rylee waiting for the scolding he was definitely about to get. The tension was so palpable that he swore he could cut it with Sonfang.
   " Do you know why you were suddenly weak?" Rylee asked. He blinked at the question. This was not the line of questioning he had expected. Trouble began brewing in his mind as he tried to figure out what Rylee was trying to say. She sighed as she fiddled with the leather straps of her armor.
   "It's a yes or no question Seth. Stop over analyzing it." He looked at Rylee trying to gauge her mood by studying her facial features. A trick he had learned to use with his mother to get out of trouble.
    "No," he finally replied after some thought.
   "I've never had that happen before," he stated already feeling lost. She shook her head,
  " And this is why we started requiring new agents to go through at least a year of the academy before field work. As expected you still know next to nothing about how our abilities work."
"Well Stratos has been teaching me. He told me that are abilities are faith based, our closeness with God dictates how powerful we can become and how strong our elemental powers are," Seth told her. He couldn't deny the heat building up in his cheeks.
"That's part of it but it's more than that," Rylee replied standing up. She reached out her hand. Seth looked at stared at her hand.
   "What's the matter?" She asked. He looked up at her unsure of how she was going to respond.
   " You're not going to scold me for taking on such a creature alone?" All Seth managed to see was a blur and a sting across his cheek.
Pop! "Ow! What the hell!" He shouted in surprise as he turned his head fearing another attack.
"We'll just leave it at that," she replied coolly.
"And don't mention that place here." He stood up after accepting her hand and they quickly exited the tent. He noticed a lot of things staring out at the bustling agents.
"What do you see here Seth," Rylee asked. He looked over at her and noticed look on her face. He turned to look back out at the camp.
He considered his answer thinking about the people he had seen so far. There had already been nearly ten fatalities in the ambush alone but despite that everywhere he looked were determined faces.

"Warriors." Rylee nodded as if to say this was an acceptable answer before she leaned against the wooden post propping up the entrance. Seth shuffled his feet as he also relaxed. He studied the purposeful movements of the agents in front of him.

"Do you want to know what I see," She asked. He didn't think it was really a question but he nodded anyway.

"I see men and women, teenagers, people young and old, afraid. Scared that they will never make it back from a war not of their making. This fight we fight, it takes something from all of us." Seth immediately thought of Joseph and he caught himself looking away and avoiding her eyes.

"This isn't simply mere dedication that keeps us in this fight. It is total faith in our God." She took a deep breath before continuing.

"In the normal world people ridicule us for believing in something that we can neither see nor touch. They tell us there can be no God. For if their was why would there be tragedy. They don't understand that they are living in a world already conquered by The Enemy. We over here fight not because of just the desire to protect but also the desire to serve." She must have seen the conflict in his face because she turned to face him.

"It's a hard concept to understand that's why many can't accept or understand who or what we are. Faith is the ability to believe and fully trust the unseen, the untouchable or intangible. We fight knowing those we lose are in their place with God. They are safe and happy. It is us who now carry on the burden of the fight." She paused and looked at him her eyes searching his for understanding. He gave her a little nod to let her know she hadn't lost him. But inside he was feeling turmoil. How did one just leave their lives in the hands of someone they couldn't even hug.

"I'll be honest... I don't know if I can do that. I have my own ideas and plans for the future and while they are not necessarily plans per say. I can definitely say I don't or didn't plan on being dragged into what is essentially servitude" Seth looked away ready for the rant that was he was sure was coming. It never came, instead he realized she had gotten real quiet like she was trying to digest what he said. The silence between them stretched for awhile before she nodded slowly.

"That's okay. One decides when they serve him. He asks obedience which isn't always easy but it's almost always for our good." Rylee pause and Seth could feel her gaze on him. "After all we were given our free will."

Seth stood up and turned around walking briskly back into the tent. He let his feet carry him away before knew why he was doing it. It was an unpleasant thought to him. Servitude. But, was it really Servitude? If one got to choose.

"What does this have to do with me increasing my strength and understanding?' He asked glancing back at her.

"Our abilities are based off faith. How strong and how much of our granted elements we can control rely on our understanding and practice of faith. So I wanted you to think about it for from here on out. Are you ready to put your faith and trust fully in the Lord?"