The Elementals | Book 1. The Cliffs of Immensi

Chapter 3

Concord desperately threw a slab of earth up in front of him. He shot down into the ground a few meters.

Concord saw the fast-moving football slam into the wall and stop just before he got buried in the ground. Then he heard the second ball slam into the wall on the other side. He gave a sigh of relief. He had only seen the ball in front of him coming, so he had thrown up the wall so that it would give him time to get into the ground in case there was a second ball coming that he hadn't seen. He heard the other boys laughing.

"Concord? More like 'Coward'."

Concord's bright green eyes lowered. You needed to stand strong. Show them that you're not a coward. Why would you escape?

But he stayed calm as he put one hand to the earth wall directly in front of him. You can show them your strength next time.

Concord sighed. That's what you say every time. Then he stared straight ahead, unblinkingly, with his eyes never wavering from their point, and stamped on the ground lightly. At the same time, he made a small beckoning gesture upwards. Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet shot up, taking him with it.

As Concord arrived back at the surface, he lowered the earth wall that he had created. Though a more accurate description would have been "dropped", for the earth wall had simply fallen back into its place with a crash.

I suppose I still need to work on that a little more. Concord grimaced.

The bell rang for the start of class.

Seventy meters. Seventy meters from here to the Small Hall, where the classes are.

Concord looked towards the Small Hall and shook his head. There were boys at the edge of the field, taunting Concord, and slowly inching towards the small hall to show that even if Concord ran as fast as he could, he wouldn't beat them to the small hall.

Just run. Run as fast as you can. You can make it.

But Concord knew if he started to run, they would speed up.

Just do what you normally do. Just focus on getting to class on time. You can easily make it.

"They never learn, do they?" Concord sighed. He put his left foot forward and bent slightly. The other boys laughed, but he didn't hear them. His focus was razor-sharp, and nothing could break it. The green eyes stared forward once more, unblinkingly and unwaveringly. Concord flicked his wrists forward and immediately he shot off across the field. Concord moved across the field, almost faster than the eye could follow, the ground propelling him forward. A cloud of dust formed behind him as he went.

Concord made it to the small hall in thirty-five seconds.

Well, I definitely beat those boys to the Small Hall. Oh, no. Not again.

Concord couldn't slow down fast enough. The Small Hall was right in front of him. The people next to the door of the small opened it just in time before Concord slammed straight into it.

Concord shot into the room at full speed, just before the teacher announced that the class was going to start. There was a rope in the middle of the room, strung between two of the walls in the room. Concord sighed.

Every time he came shooting into the room, there was a rope there, for his classmates and teachers knew about his tendency to do so, and always prepared a rope to stop Concord. Concord did not enjoy stopping in this fashion.

Concord hit the rope. He flew up a meter and a half into the air, did a somersault, and attempted to make the ground into a marshmallow, so that he might land softly. But it was to no avail. As much as he tried, it was not something he was skilled at yet, so, as a result, he often failed at succeeding.