Elements

Procurement: Sylver

I watched Nerina creep away from my vision, her white-blonde hair contrasting against the dark green of the trees lining the dirt. I glazed sullenly across the open area of Achran. Tsara named our little camp Achran. It's kind of a joke. Achran means 'disturbed', or 'troubled' in the ancient human language of Hebrew. The name is a joke referring to how the humans believe we are simply the infected ones of our species. I didn't find that very funny.

I looked around, trying to find Sholeh. She was walking around, looking at everyone as if trying to find someone. Her eyes landed on my brother, Niyol, and her face lit up. I watched her walked, or rather run, her black hair flying in waves. Niyol opened his arms and Sholeh flew into the hug. How on Earth do they know each other? I walked over to them and Niyol on the shoulder.

He whipped around. "Oh, hey, Terah." He said.

I glared at him. "It's Sylver now." He shrugged. "I need to talk to Sholeh."

Niyol tipped his head. "Really? Why?" He smiled at me.

"It's about her training." I replied.

"Well, alright." He turned to Sholeh, his shoulder blocking my view to her.

He whispered something inaudible to me and she nodded.

Giving me a small smile, she walked towards me. "Come on." I ordered, turning on my heel and walking towards the woods.

"Any particular place we're going too?" She asked me.

I raised my eyebrows. "That's the most I've ever heard you say." She looked down, her face turning pink. So, I laughed at her. "I was just joking with you." I nudged her with my elbow. "Lighten up." She glanced at me and quickly looked back at the ground. I rolled my eyes and kept walking.

After a while, we finally reached a small, sandy opening in the forest surrounding Achran. "Alright, here we are." I said, crossing my arms.

She looked around. "What are we doing here?"

Instead of answering her, I grabbed her left wrist. Seeing that it was unmarked, I smiled. "I see you haven't reached Procurement." I said.

"Procurement?" Sholeh asked, confused.

"It's the final stage of an Elemental. You can tell they've reached Procurement by their wrist. The symbol for their element scars itself into their wrist." I explained.

"That sounds painful." Sholeh said, cringing.

"It's not." I showed her my wrist. The symbol for Metal was a straight line with a curve attaching the left side. At the bottom of the straight line were two straight and small lines cutting through the first line. In the curve, there was one small and straight line cutting through it.

She stared at it, amazed. "That's amazing. What's the Fire symbol?"

I smirked at her. "I could show you, easily." Quickly, I brought my leg up and kicked her head. Her skull made a muffled thud as her body crumbled to the ground. I crouched down beside her and whacked at her arm. She made no response.

"Perfect." I muttered to myself. I stood up and closed my eyes, concentrating. I thought about the metal deep in the earth. I felt a pull in my gut and opened my eyes to see the metal crawling out of the ground in a liquid form. It wrapped itself around Sholeh's wrists and ankles, keeping her tied to the ground. It hardened quickly. I sat down, ready to wait for Sholeh to wake up.

*****

When she woke, she immediately began to struggle. "Try all your want Sholeh. You can't break free." Suddenly, I smelled an awful stench. It was... Burning! She was burning through my metal! "Sholeh, stop it! I need you to answer a few questions."

Sholeh glared at me in response. "Never!" She yanked her wrists up and the hot, thin metal broke. She sat up, and pulled her feet towards her, the metal breaking easily. She glared up at me and said, "What the hell is wrong with you Sylver?"

I stared down at her, unsure how to answer. There isn't anything wrong with me. "I just wanted to show you Procurement..." I said quietly. Her gaze softened.

"Well, show me then." She replied. I smiled at her and picked up a small, sharpened stick. After moving closer to her, I grabbed her wrist and yanked it onto my lap.

"This is Procurement." I said. Then, I took the stick and slowly cut into her wrist, shaping the Fire symbol. Sholeh screamed in pain and tried to yank her arm away but I seemed to have a firm hold on her. Her blood spilled out of her arm, sliding slowly through her fingers and onto the ground. I threw her hand down and watched her shiver in pain on the ground.

"What were you doing with Niyol?" I demanded.

She shivered, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks. "We just talked..."

I pulled my leg back and kicked her in the side. "Liar!" I screamed.

"Sylver!" I heard a voice yell. I turned and saw Chetwyn, Kaze's mentor standing behind me. "What are you doing?"

Instead of answering, I turned the sharp stick in my hand and walked towards him, a pleasant smile plastered on my face.

This was going to be fun.