12 Months

Chapter 2

I slowly walk into the wooden building in front of me. Miyako is gone.

Inside, leaning with one hand against the table in the centre of the vast room is a man probably in his early twenties. He's got a pair of glasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, and wears a vest that reminds me of Marty McFly. Around his neck is a necklace like Miyako's, but with eight circles. His head has a mop of dark brown hair sitting on top of it, the same colour as mine used to be before I dyed it red. He raises his eyebrows when he sees me, then quickly recovers. That was odd. He studies me through his glasses.

"I thought it was just a joke." He mumbles quietly to himself. That makes two of us, if he’s talking about the same thing that I was earlier. "How? Why? You can't be serious. I am going to kill her.”

Does he mean me?

"Who are you?" I ask, deciding not to tell him I heard what he said. "Where am I? What is this place?"

He pouts. "Not even a hello, Little Aria?” He knows me? How? I’ve never seen him before in my life. Who is he?

"Sorry. Hi. How do you know my name?" I move closer, cautiously.

He gives me a friendly smile. "My name is By. Miyako told me you were in that school just before she rescued you. She was watching you from the bushes. It sounds a bit creepy, but it isn’t that bad. It saved your life. I'm in charge of this place, since the others are little young ones. You're in Elemental Training Grounds. No toxic gasses getting in here."

"I thought the gasses just took memories.”

"In twelve months the toxic ones will be released. I found out via hacking into old Banks's computer. He wants to rule what's left of the human race, then rule their kids as the earth is repopulated."

"Well, aren't you going to stop him?"

"We. You're one of us now. What's your specialty?" He walks closer, until I'm looking up at him, and I can hear his heavy breathing. I glance down for a second. His hands are shaking, and he avoids my eyes. Why is he nervous? I take a small step back, so we’re not so close. He notices, and his face falls for a second. Why? I stare at him for a bit, before realising he asked me a question.

"What's that?” I reply.

"Didn't Miyako explain anything?"

"She said you'd want to.” I counter. He nods.

"She got that right. I love the newbies.” He isn’t very convincing. Miyako obviously ditched me or something. “Anyway, your specialty is the first element you've used. It's generally your strongest element. For each of the five elements, we have a house. There's earth, water, fire, air, and snow. Everybody with the same specialty as each other stays in a designated house."

"I shot a vine out of my hand."

He smiles proudly. He doesn’t seem so nervous now, or maybe he’s masked it a bit better. "Earth it is. You'll need the earth mark. It's like a tattoo. Miyako's got the water mark."