Burned Out [Completed]

Storytime Part One

We dragged Jin into one of the empty classrooms. He glared at us, but didn't struggle or call us traitors or anything worse. I guess he was curious about whatever bombshell Professor Rayner was about to drop.

We all sat in a semicircle of desks, facing Wynn's dad expectantly. Assana had given us some of her unused water. I didn't realize how thirsty I had been until I finally took a sip of water.

"Thanks for the Assana ex machina," I said to the water elemental. "I don't know what we would have done if you didn't show up."

"I couldn't let you guys get hurt," she said.

It's funny, but I was pretty sure she glanced at Martin when she said that.

We turned our attention to Professor Rayner. "You already know what happened up until Professor Ridgely left, but there's more to the story. Assana, your mother left several months after your powers were awakened, do you know why?"

"Another research expedition, right?"

"Yes. But did you know she came back?"

Assana's face went slack. "What do you mean? Where is she?"

Rayner got a sad look on his face. "She went back to the tombs we found all those years ago to search for more information about the Osagai. What she found was the origin stories of the elemental gods. When she came back, she came straight to me and told me.

"In the very beginning, there were two beings that were always locked in eternal battle. Their names were Argi and Itzal, they represented light and dark, respectively. They were known as Denbora, or time gods. In the tablets Professor Saunders found, they were often depicted as massive serpents.

"They constantly tried to eradicate each other, neither winning any major ground over the other until Argi made a mistake. I'm not sure what that mistake was, but Itzal came very close to destroying the light.

"In order to survive, Argi split itself into four very different beings. These beings together formed the universe as we know it."

"Wait," I said, holding up my hands. "Are you talking about the Big Bang?"

Professor Rayner chuckled. "Assana's mother and I think so, yes."

I glanced at Mart, but he seemed as lost as I was.

"You all know these beings, of course," he continued. "Their names are Haize, Sute, Korrontea, and Lurrera. With its dying breath, Argi created the very gods you all owe your powers to. Itzal changed to combat these new gods. It stole the energy from the life that the four elements created, becoming something else.

"The Osagai called him Heriotza. Death. This was his big mistake. Heriotza thought the change made him stronger, but he became dependant on the life he absorbed. Stealing life limited his power. Heriotza was no longer strong enough to defeat the new generation of light bearers and became trapped, used to maintain a balance between life and death.

"Nothing would have changed, but then humans came along. The elemental gods developed a strong liking to people, shaping themselves to walk among one small culture, the Osagai. Their name means 'element worshippers.' They gave us mortals gifts and knowledge of the world. They even went so far as to impart a fraction of their immense power to a select few warriors.

"This gave Heriotza an opening. Humans are mortal, obviously. We are powerful in our own way. We are extremely loyal, but we can change and be changed with relative ease. In other words, we are corruptible.

"Heriotza began to whisper in the ears of the gods' champions, trying to convince them that the gods were the evil ones, that they were only using humans. It was only a matter of time before one of them buckled under Heriotza's influence. It was the fire elemental that turned."

Everyone looked at me.

"Hey," I protested. "Why are you all looking at me? As much as I hate to admit it, any one of you could overpower me even if I did go to the dark side, which I won't."

Jin let out a sarcastic laugh and the others looked away, clearly embarrassed.

"Anyway," Professor Rayner resumed his historical narrative, "the rogue elemental betrayed his own people, slaughtering many before the others were finally able to subdue him. Heriotza had driven the man insane. Afraid and disgusted by the devious minds of the humans, the gods withdrew from humanity. They stopped interfering with the Osagai and eventually they died out."

All of us were silent, even Jin. At this point, I took the introduction of the death god with relative ease, but the thought that he could whisper in your ear until you went mad and killed your friends and family was unnerving.

"There's more, isn't there?" Assana asked.

Rayner nodded. Then he looked at all of us elementals individually, like he was considering our sanity.

"I don't know why the gods chose you four to inherit the title of champion, but they have, and Heriotza might be after you all now. When your mother told me all of this, Assana, I wasn't sure what to say.

"Then she told me what else she found: a trapping spell. A ritual that could banish a mortal to the realm of a god. What's worse was that she didn't find it in the tomb. She found it in the Council's private collection."

My stomach turned itself into knots. I had a very unpleasant thought concerning my father.

Professor Rayner saw my face and smiled sadly. "I see you and Professor Saunders came to the same conclusion. She thought the Council used the spell to get rid of your father. Professor Saunders approached Professor Rho about her findings."

I saw Jin tense out of the corner of my eye.

"He told her she should go to the Council and confront them. He went with her, but it was all just a trick. He and the Council have been corrupted all along. Heriotza is using them."

"No." Jin said from his corner. "No, that's not true. You're lying."

"My poor child," Professor Rayner sighed, "what could I possibly gain by lying to you?"

Jin shook his head, refusing to accept what Wynn's father said. I felt sorry for him, but I didn't say anything.

"What happened to my mom?" Assana asked in a small voice.

"I can't say for sure, but I never saw her again. Professor Rho didn't know that she had talked to me, she must have had her suspicions about him."

Assana made a strangled noise and Martin put his arm around her shoulders for comfort.

"And my dad?" I asked.

Professor Rayner shrugged helplessly. "As far as I can tell, Professor Saunders was right."

My eyes stung. I rubbed them before any tears could drop. My father had been betrayed by his best friend, Professor Rho, Jin's father.

I looked at Jin. He no longer looked angry. He just looked sad and confused. He looked from Assana to me with something like guilt.

"My father couldn't have..." Jin said quietly. "He's not a bad person. He's not."

Assana was rubbing her eyes, too. She held out her hand and Jin's bindings splashed to the floor. "You've heard the truth, Jin. What will you do?"

"I...I'll help you." He looked us all in the eye. "If my dad has been...corrupted, I don't want anything to do with him anymore. I'm sorry."

Wynn looked at him. "It's okay, Jin."

I stared at Assana and Wynn. Sure Jin had an evil father, but were they forgetting the part where he literally tried to kill me? I took a deep breath. Whatever. If they could forgive him, I would go along with it.

Martin looked like he wasn't ready to swallow Jin's sob story either. We locked eyes and a silent promise passed between us: Don't trust him.

"So what's next?" I said.

"Yes, what's next indeed?"

We all jumped and turned towards the new voice.

Professor Jin Rho was standing in the doorway with Nick grinning just behind him.