The Four Powers

Training

Adrian woke up in a cold sweat, the voices of his parents echoed in his mind. He slowly scanned the room around him then pushed off from his bed. The cold stone floor felt even colder in the morning, the alarm chimed as he stumbled over to it to turn it off.

"Get up! Everyone, get up! Training is today and I don't want a single soul late," yelled a voice from bellow as doors opened outside of his room. Adrian slowly got dressed then left to meet the other children outside in the yard.

"I'm going to call role, when called I want you to step up and take a belt," said a man, motioning to leather belts spread across a table.

"Jacob Aaron," he called, a small boy with dirty blond hair stepped up and grabbed a belt, then settled back in with his group of friends.

"Bella Aline," he said, as a girl seemed to appear out of nowhere and take a belt. One by one children stepped up and took a belt.

"Adrian Calvin," he said. Adrian stepped forward and looked around at the other kids.

"What? Are you wanted them to clap for you? Get moving," said the man in a dangerous tone, checking off Adrian's name. He walked to the table and picked up a smooth belt with a small cut on the side of it. Adrian turned around and walked back to the group of kids, it wasn't long until all of the kids were called, but one belt remained. The man set the clipboard down and grabbed the belt.

"This is your toolbelt, every thief in Napis knows what goes where and how it's done. I want everyone to put their belt on, if you have any trouble, raise your hand," he said as he scanned the crowd slowly. Adrian looked down at the two latches on the belt, slowly he put it through the straps on his pants. The man circled the group of kids and watched for any hands, when none went up he returned to his post beside the table.

"Alright, now, who knows what these belts are used for?"
Immediately four hands went up, slowly Adrian raised his hand.
"Adrian," he said, "tell us what they're for."

"Oh, uh, they hold your weapons, and sometimes stolen items."

"What kind of weapons?"

"Poison dipped knives and other bottles of poison."

"A good mind! Nothing your parents would be ashamed of. You must have learned much from your mother before her passing," he said.

"Oh I did, sir" said Adrian, smiling a little.

"Well then, who knows what kind of poison is most used," asked the man, this time only two hands went up.
"Yes, Nix?"

"The poison that is mainly used is Uislade poison," said Nix, a boy with brown hair and dark brown eyes, He smirked as girls turned to peek at who answered.

"Good, and now, I want everyone to make a line. And—" he said as he pointed to the roof of their small building, "I want everyone to climb! No cheating or you will be forced to climb again with a weight on. Everyone ready?" He yelled as children quickly started to line up and measure the quickest way to climb.

"Go!" He yelled, kids sprinted off towards the wall, others stayed behind and watched the madness of it all. Adrian moved around the crowd to a corner and looked up, slowly he searched for a foothold and pushed off from the ground. He grasped for another stone before finding one just big enough to pull himself up a few more inches. He slowly made his way above the crowd and towards the roof. Suddenly an alarm sounded, everyone looked around in confusion. Yells and screams echoed from near the entrance to the underground facility. The man who had been teaching them sprinted off towards the screams. Everyone looked around with fear, girls started to cry and actually, a few boys did, too.

"Dedix!" Someone screamed as shadows began to force their ways through the facility. Children ran from the scene, Adrian panicked to get down, he founded a foothold but let go of the stone that supported him to quickly. He fell back and slammed down on to the hard ground below him. Everything turned into a blur while colorful lights danced in front of his eyes. He grasped for something or someone, anything to help him. He felt a foot and heard a man yelling.

"Get up, you have to get up, kid!" He yelled as he dragged Adrian to his feet and ran with Adrian limping beside him. His heart felt like it was throbbing in his brain, his stomach felt like it could crawl out of his mouth at any moment. The footsteps, screaming, and yelling stopped. Adrian could hear nothing, then as his vision faded, he swore he could hear his mother. Her laugh, her voice, her comforting lies saying everything will be ok before she was ripped from his world.