And to Darkness You Shall Return.

Tabitha - Chapter 7: Trust

Tabitha sat at a table, eating her dinner, which was barbecue. As much as Tabitha loved food, she wasn't very fond of meat. Then the doors to the hall opened once more, and a single figure walked in. A familiar boy by the name of...

"Leo!" she called, waving at him. He nodded in her direction, but other than that he made no other acknowledgement of her.

She watched him go up to the bar and get his food. Then when he looked around and didn't seem to know where to sit, she saw him heave a sigh and walk over to her.

When he sat down across from her, she smiled at him.

"What? You didn't want to sit by me?" she said playfully. But before Leo could say anything, another person sat right next to her. A tall, muscular, dark skinned boy.

Tabithas cheeks immediately turned red. She had completely forgotten about him.

"Hello Tabitha" said Javion.

Tabitha looked away from him "H-Hey Javion. I th-thought that you were making preparations for the tournament." she said.

"Yes well, we've finished earlier than expected, so I thought I'd come see you." Javion placed his hand on top of hers.

But then, from across the table, Leo coughed into his sleeve.

Javion looked at him "Oh, hey, I know you, you're the new recruit I saw in Lumino's room."

Leo nodded at him and said "Yeah, name's Leo, and you're Javion right?" it was Javion's turn to nod back.

He then turned his attention back to Tabitha. "Anyways, I have something for you" he started to say and he reached into his pocket and brought out a stone

"It took some effort, but I finally found it." and he gave it to her.

Tabitha stared at the stone like it was a pure gold nugget. No, it couldn't be... Then she tapped into the stone using her elemental powers, and the stone responded. The feeling was beyond common thought, and it is not easily explained.

It was called a map stone, a magic item which an Earth Mage could use to see for miles around. It wasn't exactly sight, but it was like how bats could sense where everything was by using echolocation, you just know where everything is but you can't see it.

The only exception to this was a magic aura. You could sense what element a nearby mage used based on the "feeling" that their footprints left, but it also gave off a bit of color. Like in that specific area, you might see a hint of their elements color.

Tabitha had wanted one sense her 14th birthday, but no one celebrated birthdays, so she never bothered to ask, and yet here was Javion, giving her one.

She put the map stone in her jacket pocket and wrapped her arms around him for a hug, or at least tried to. "Thank you so much! I can't believe you got this for me!"

He wrapped one arm around her "It was no big deal" he shrugged "I'd get anything for you."

Tabitha pulled back, a huge grin on her face.

"Umm... you know Tabitha" Javion began "I found a nice cliffside by the side of Ghost Mountain, maybe you'd like to... come with me sometime? I hear the sunsets there are breathtaking."

Sounds like fun! she thought. Then her brain caught up with the situation. Wait... is he asking me out on a date!? Where did that come from? What do I say? He's my leader! I can't just- But as she was thinking of what to say as her response, a bright flash came from the gates, and there stood Lumino.

"All Elemental Warriors, report to the council meeting room!" his voice boomed, magically magnified.

"What is it?" asked a tall mage in white and blue robes.

The words from Lumino that followed caused both shock and confusion. "Grelf has returned."

Some looked at each other, not knowing where he had been or what he was doing. But almost every mage in red robes, the fire mages, around the hall stood up and began demanding to know where he had been, and why his return had caused the need for a council meeting.

Lumino eventually got everyone back under control, and one by one, all of the Elemental Warriors, including Javion, stood and walked out with Lumino.

It took some time for everyone to go back to eating and talking, but Tabitha had taken out the Map Stone that she had been given and used it to see where they had been going.

Sure enough, she felt the footsteps of a group of people walking towards a structure right where the war room was. She could sense the auras of the mages, Luminos appeared as a bright light and seemed the strongest.

But in the clump of the mages, she felt one that seemed weaker, a tiny flickering spot of red, like a dying flame.

But then she noticed something even stranger, she felt a presence of another mage, very close by, but unlike the rest in the hall, this one had a different element. She felt darkness there, a shadow that gave off a cold and unnerving sensation. But when she looked up, it was just Leo.

Huh, weird. Then she put the stone back in her pocket. She then looked up again to find Leo looking at her.

"What?" Tabitha asked, not liking the look he was giving her.

"Mind telling me who your boyfriend was there?"

Tabitha blushed "He's not my boyfriend!" she protested "Ugh, that's Javion, he's our Elemental Warrior of the Earth Mages. He's actually the youngest Elemental Warrior we have, if you haven't noticed."

"A what now?"

Tabitha rolled her eyes "What, are you telling me that you don't know what those are?"

Leo shook his head, "No, I just got here, remember?"

"Oh, right" Tabitha said "well, you'll learn about that when you get your history lesson." she saw Leo roll his eyes again and groan."

"Don't worry, it's usually quick, they just give you the basics. Who did they give you as a mentor anyways?"

"Yemero."

Tabitha coughed, almost choking on her food "Y-Yemero? Th-The shadow man?"

"Well, technically, shadow person. Why is that bad?" Leo asked.

"N-No, it's just that, the shadow people are only assigned to dark or Shadow Mages, and we don't have any of those, because they all serve the Shadow Swordsman." answered Tabitha.

She finished her dinner and then excused herself "We'll talk about this later, but for now, just be careful of what Yemero tells you ok?"

But as she stood up to leave, Leo asked "Wait, why were you up in the mountain with Grelf instead of Javion?"

Tabitha smiled "Because a bond is always stronger between two elements than one, I know it sounds weird, but you'll learn more on that later, and also because I didn't want to go with him, just like I didn't want to go out on a date with him. I gotta keep my options open, ya know?" Tabitha smiled, running her finger under Leo's chin and walking away.

She laughed as she glanced over her shoulder to look at Leo, who looked like a cow that had been hit between the eyes with a shovel. It was fun to be flirtatious every now and again.

That boy is something else, she started to think, he seems like a pretty cool guy, even if he is a little odd, I mean, he hasn't tried anything funny so far.

But as she thought more about him, a nasty suspicion built in the back of her mind. But... can I really trust him? I mean, he did try to kill us when we first met, and he IS a shadow mage...

But she dismissed the thought. But he didn't even know who we were at the time, and if Lumino trusts him, then so do I.

Then, she looked over and in the distance, right outside the infirmary, there was an explosion of pure flame, no smoke, just fire. Tabitha knew what that meant, and she ran towards it.