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

Chapter 12: Anger Provoked

Seth

"But you never answered the question of why exactly I passed out," Seth countered. Rylee moved to the center of the tent and Seth followed attentively. Rylee sat down and gestured for Seth to follow suit next to her. Instead he sat on the floor facing her.

  "The move you did out there takes some very advanced concentration techniques. Most agents are never able to control the element they are born with to the degree you just showed by accident." Seth found himself sitting forward intently studying Rylee's expression. This was something he was interested in. When it came to talking about his powers he was always excited. He didn't exactly know why but studying and testing the limits of his abilities gave him great joy.

  "How do you mean?" he asked.

  "What you just did was more than rotate air around your hand. You also compressed the air into a cone. Which not only increased it's destructive power, but also increased how fast it drains your Creo,"

  The had been following what she was saying up until this point. "My what now?"

  "Creo otherwise known as creation energy but a lot of people just call it Creo." Rylee glared at him like he had just told a bad joke. But after awhile her faced changed to a look of utter surprise.

   "Seriously, I'm going to smack Stratos upside the head when next I see him. He was supposed to be training you!" She stated vehemently.

   "Well in his defense we have been rather busy trying not to die and fighting off invasions since I came to the Academy almost two years ago."

Rylee shook her head, "That's not an excuse. His job was to make sure you were trained properly." He shifted uncomfortably where he was sitting. It was quickly becoming clear that he didn't know as much as he thought he did regarding his abilities.

  "So this Fey," He began urgently trying to change the subject away from his poor training. "What exactly is it? what does it have to do with our abilities?" Rylee took a deep breath and Seth could tell from how here eyes glazed over, and how she seemed to lose interest that she was about to explain something she had explained many times before.

   "Fey is the innate energy that the Lord instilled in us. I gives us the ability to control the elements through faith. I told you we grow stronger or weaker based on our faith in God and i meant it Our capacity to hold and use Fey becomes weaker or stronger based on our closeness and Faith in God." Seth chose to stay quiet, to try and absorb the knowledge she had just given him.

   "Is there any way for me to check how much Fey I possess?" he asked. The sharp look she gave made him shift uncomfortably.

  "Why are you asking dumb questions? Of course there is a way to check. However, you'll have to wait till we get back to the academy because what we need is there. However once you are aware of this energy you can look for it. And once you get strong enough you'll be able to tell how much others have at just a glance if they are weaker than you." Rylee stopped and at once he heard it. There was a lot of noise outside. He strained his ears and just managed to make out the sound of steel striking steel. He was on his feet in an instant.

   "Are we under attack!?" He exclaimed. He summoned his armor around him and made for the entrance. He threw open the tent flap and paused. The camp seemed peaceful. Everyone was still going about their business. He looked beside him and Rylee too was scanning the perimeter. Then like lightning it hit him.

   "The scouts," He exclaimed. Before he could rush off however Rylee's thin but muscular arm nearly close lined him.

   "Seth this is what I'm talking about. Stop rushing off half cocked. You need to learn to assess the situation." Seth turned away but could still feel her eyes on him. She was right and he knew it. But that didn't mean he wanted to admit it.

   "What about you are you just going to sit here and wait for people to die!" He fired back. Rylee's face contorted in to a grimace of anger.

   "What do you take our comrades for? Every single one of them is extremely capable of taking care of themselves, some even more so than you. You may have a lot of power but you don't know how to use most of it. And you haven't even earned that power unlike everyone here!" Her stinging words while quite possibly true, were not something he could stomach. He felt heat rising in the pit of his stomach and anger burned in his heart.

   "Okay so if I don't deserve this power that's fine but then you don't deserve to use it either. you can carry this operation on with out me and my power!" With that he turned to storm away. But in his path stood Rylee's second in command Charles. His large frame towered over Seth as he glared down his rather long nose at him. He stepped toward Seth a aura of menace leaking from his body towards Seth. However he didn't move he refused to let the big guy intimidate him.

   "You aren't going anywhere," Charles said his deep voice rumbling. Normally Seth would've been afraid at the thought of tangling with this guy. But at the moment he was much too angry.

   "And how do you plan on stopping me?" Seth asked the threat drawing a gasp from someone behind him.

Rylee

   The situation was getting out of hand. She knew how Seth was which is why she wanted to avoid a direct confrontation with him like this. They were supposed to try to get him to learn how to control his impulses but in a moment of frustration she had given in to one of hers. Now Seth who was one of the most powerful agents the Academy had ever seen was about to fight her second, a man who had probably the most stubborn personality of anyone she had ever met.

  Seth stepped forward in front of her and the wind picked up blowing wildly around the area. The ground also began rumbling as individual stones lifted up in the air and vibrated with power. Light condensed on Charles hands as a spiked ball and chain appeared in it. Light also condensed on Seth's hands forming a sword of light. Rylee hadn't seen Seth act like this before he was usually so good tempered. It was only when he was extremely pushed that he showed any anger at all. The earth shifted at Charles feet knocking him off balance and causing him to fall.

   "That's enough Seth!" Rylee shouted stepping forward to put her hand on Seth's shoulder.

   "No one here is your enemy so why would you attack a fellow agent!" Seth shrugged off her hand and turned to face her. Their was conflict in his face as he let the rocks fall back to the ground. There was clearly an internal struggle with his anger there. But when he looked into her eyes she could swear she saw his gaze soften.

  "I'm going to go calm down," Was all he said as he pushed passed her and walked off into the forest.