All I Need ✔️

Chapter 67

"Safania, that is not fair. I never wanted to leave you. You have no idea how hard I searched for you, how many places I looked..." My mom's voice cracked slightly as she spoke, revealing her pain. "It tore me apart that I couldn't find you after the war. Don't you ever say that I abandoned you."

"I'm sorry," I said, calming myself. "That wasn't fair. It was a low blow, and I'm sorry. Just please, stop criticizing my relationship with Cassius. You don't know him."

My mother sighed. After a long pause, she finally looked at me. "Okay," she said reluctantly, giving me a hug. "Let's agree to disagree for now, okay?"

I wasn't thrilled with agreeing to disagree about whether my fiancé was evil, but it was at least a start. I nodded.

"Come on, we have to get you back to the fire pit," she told me.

"Why?" I asked.

"The elders are going to read your marks so we know your abilities."

"The marks actually mean something?" I asked, surprised.

"They do, if you know how to read them. Our powers come from the sun, and they take the form of elemental control. There are five elements, four physical – air, earth, fire, and water – and one non-physical – aether. The marks on your back show which element you belong to. We also have different abilities within those elements. Women who control water might be able control lakes, but they can also learn to create ice or cause rain. Others with control over earth can smash boulders, but they can also make things grow or heal living beings. But we have to know what your element is before we can train you. A little anti-climactic maybe, since you've had your marks for a while and probably know what your abilities are. We would normally do this as soon as the marks first appear."

By this point we were back at the gathering. Some of the women looked up at me as I arrived.

The elderly woman from earlier in the tent, Riko, stood up, and the group immediately fell silent. "Tonight, we welcome a new member to our group. Safania, please come join me."

I looked at my mom, who gave me a quick nod, and then proceeded to walk up to the woman.

"Hello again Safania," she said warmly.

I smiled nervously.

"You have nothing to be worried about dear," she told me. "Come with me."

She led me inside a tent where four other elderly women were waiting. "This is Agnes," Riko said, gesturing to a woman in the corner. "She is an air elementalist, and as far as we know is the only one to have mastered flight."

"Iris," Riko said, pointing to another, "she is an aether elementalist and has the rare talent of reality manipulation."

"What does that mean?" I asked. I saw Iris smile, and in a single blink I found myself in a jungle. A leopard spotted me and began to move towards me. I went to run, only to find myself back in the tent again.

"What...where was I?" I asked, catching my breath from the scare.

"You were here the whole time," Iris explained. "I just made it feel and look like you were somewhere else. Sorry to play a trick on you – sometimes it's easier to show than tell."

"I was never in any danger?" I asked, disbelievingly.

Riko shook her head. "No. But even though the images can't actually hurt you, you can end up hurting yourself trying to react. That's what makes reality manipulation so dangerous."

Iris smiled sweetly.

"So you can make people see whatever you want them to?" I asked.

"And feel whatever I want them to," she replied. "I've been training Maria, another girl here a little younger than you. I think you may have met her earlier. She and I are the only ones at the camp able to sense and manipulate emotions."