The Project

I Own You

I sigh and step over to the wind pedestal, fire will have to wait. I want to learn more about the element I have yet to come in contact with. I step past the piller of wind and enter the room it corrosponds with, gasping at what I see.

It has to be a simulation..

The inside of the room looks like I've stepped into a pastural setting, calm with fields and little farmhouses scattered about on hills. Suddenly I'm yanked by the arm as the instructor pulls me out of the doorway I was standing idle in.

"Never enter a room without a headset, understand soldier?"

"Why?"

"Because I cannot come in there with you and if the simulation gets out of control I need to know if you need it shut down. Now heres your headset."

Handing me a little black earpiece he stalks off to the row of computers.

Gee, who spit on his combat boots?

I clip it into my ear and step back inside to the same scene as before. The peace is interupted by my trainers voice in my ear, crackly and with intermittent static distorting a few words here and there.

"Are you ready?"

"I guess so."

"Here it comes"

As I'm wondering what he means the sky seems to split open, birthing the largest cyclone I have ever seen. The farmhouses are demolished almost instantly, and its coming closer by the second.

What am I supposed to do?

"Grab the tail of it."

"What?"

"You heard me. You control it, you grab the base and stop it."

Thats it, I've been kidnapped by crazy people.

It's just a simulation right? It can't actually hurt me.

I take off at a light jog, my hair in its ponytail whipping behind me as the wind picks up, stinging my eyes and forcing tears out. As I gain on it debree starts falling all around me, forcing me to dart back and forth to avoid being crushed. I vault a fence and in my haste to get to the twister I don't see the rock coming till it's too late.

　

Well its not real, it can't hurt me

Suddenly I'm laying on the ground with a stinging in my shoulder where the rock made contact.

What the hell?

"You can be hurt in these sims. They are powered with electric sensors that know when they make contact with you, therefore they can create the same feeling that rock would have had when it hit you."

"Yeah well thanks for that warning!" I snap.

The silence on his end indicates he doesn't appreciate my attitude, but I don't give a damn. Electric shocks are not my cup of tea, and I don't intend to have another. Taking off at a sprint this time I try to make up the time I lost laying on the ground. The objects are larger now, sides of buildings as well as furniture and farm equipment are raining down all around me, making me put all my energy into my dodging ability. I skid to a stop as a tractor flips down and almost crushes me, forcing me to skirt around it. I'm getting closer to it now, I'm only ten feet away and by some miracle I'm not being pulled off the ground.

"Excellent. Now, I want you to...."

My earpiece flies out of my ear and is consumed by the tornado, shutting off all communication.

"Don't stop it!" I scream, honestly not knowing if he can hear me or not.

The tornado seems frozen, not moving foward or towards me. I approach it cautiously, extending my hand. The power of it sends me stumbling to the side.

How am I supposed to grab it when I can't even come near it?

I do the only thing I can think to do. I reach my hand toward it and shut my eyes, concentrating on the wind and it alone. I think about controlling it, and then I feel it. Without breaking concentration I open my eyes, and see that there are tendrils of the cyclone extending to me, encircling my hand. I feel my strength draining but I keep going, simply focusing on being one with the wind. In a battle of wills, I never thought I'd be fighting the very air itself. It starts to whistle and shriek, as I force it into submission.

I....own...you.

The twister buckles suddenly, and before I know it it is swirling around me, ripping the hairband from my hair as I let it take me. I open my eyes and see I am inside it, I am it. I move my arm to the right and it moves with me, mimicking my every move. Throwing my head back, I breathe in deeply, and it pours into me, vanishing as quickly as it came. Then I sink to my knees, drained of all energy.

　

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-Cades POV-

Silence. That's all there is. Jameson and I just stand there in shock.

She just consumed a God damn tornado.

She falls to her knees, sitting on the ground. I have never seen anything like that in all the years I have been in the project. Typically first day of element training is just trying to touch your element, making contact with it. Not becoming it like it was second nature.

Someones jealous!

My mind sings at me, making me want to tear my hair out. I was almost killed by my lighting the first day! And all I did was touch it!

Thats because she's better than you.

It can't be. I am the only lighting bender, she will never be better than me.

It's only a matter of time.

I turn and pace away from the moniter we had been watching her on, as Jameson her instructor says the words on my mind.

"Incredible."

Yes, she is.