Transmutation: The Garden of Golden Statues

There's Nothing Better Than Beating the Tar Out of Each Other for Breakfast

It was an early morning on the 15th of September. On this day, the first elimination round of the 33rd League of Elementals would take place. Hundreds upon thousands of youths and adults signed up for the opportunity of taking part in the most prestigious event of the Kingdom of Shiho, celebrated every five years. Glory. Fame. Unimaginable riches. Whoever prevailed over the rest would no longer have worries in their lives and their names would be engraved permanently in the annals of the Kingdom's history.

Reaching the finals would be no easy task. As the name of the tournament suggested, every single one of the participants were elementals, humans adept in using a specific element for different given situations. Any element or matter could, theoretically, be the element of a specific person: fire, water, earth and air were the four main elements, although there were others like light, shadow, plant, lightning, ice or metal. Likewise, elements that resulted from the combination of other two existed; such is the case of magma, an element derived from the union between fire and earth. There were even documented cases of elementals specializing in hair, bubblegum and proteins.

The Azure Dragon Forest was the place chosen for this first elimination round to take place. The area was one of the many forests in the Seiryu region, in the eastern quadrant of Shiho, known for being its agricultural backbone; therefore, it was no surprise that most of its inhabitants are plant and wood elementals. Opposite to this region, the industrialized region of Byakko, found in the western quadrant, was known for its high numbers of elementals adept in metal and virus techniques. The two remaining regions, Genbu and Suzaku, were respectively located in the northern and southern quadrants, and polar opposites regarding their weather: while Genbu is a cold and mountainous region, Suzaku was famous for its temperatures exceeding thirty degrees Celsius and its crystalline beaches.

A 17-year-old Espika Blumenthal was one of the thousands of plant elementals taking part in this first round. Luckily, the group she was sorted into opened the eliminatory rounds in the region she was born in, specifically a forest several kilometers away from the region's capital, where she lived: Cherry Blossom City. Since she was recognized as one of the strongest elementals of her school, she was offered the chance of signing in as a participant in the kingdom-wide tournament instead of going to school for her final year of compulsory education.

Sitting on a stump, Espika observed her future rivals. It was fascinating the way clothes and certain physical traits helped predict the element of a few contestants guided by sight alone. Espika's lime-colored eyes and her dark green hair put in a half ponytail indicated her affinity to plants, and so did her height, of five-foot-seven. Adding to her looks were clothes that seemed made of grass, including a mid-thigh skirt and a cropped short-sleeve shirt. Other additional garments included shorts beneath her skirt and boots that reached her knees.

"Is something the matter?"

Resting her head in her right hand, Espika glanced sideways towards Finster, her brother. Finster's black wavy hair, black irises and pale complexion were clear indicators that he was a shadow elemental. His choice of clothing matched the dark nature of his element, judging by his signature black hoodie, which included a symbol in an ancient language whose meaning was unknown to Espika, but was reasonably sure it meant something he would define in his own words as something "super totally ironic." As expected, both his jeans and sneakers were likewise black.

"No, nothing's wrong. I'm just feeling sleepy. I was so excited last night that I wasn't able to sleep," she answered lazily, staring at Finster inquisitively. "I don't know how you can be so calm, though."

"I'm not calm at all, I've just got a good poker face, that's all," Finster replied and stuck his tongue out. Contrary to the stereotype of someone who wields darkness as a weapon, Finster had a jolly and joking demeanor, to the point of irking several classmates of his without his knowledge. His facial expressions, rife with expression and drama, were his secret weapon to add that extra 'something' to his interactions with other people. "We have to find our two totems, but we gotta think of something beforehand, right?" After asking, he tilted his head sideways, in an apparent attempt at imitating a puppy.