Altering the Elements

Chapter 4

Cyrus stared up at the hovering figure in his room. The figure had a golden glow that illuminated throughout his small room. Rubbing his forearm where the mark of the wavering tree was, he tried to muster words out of his mouth, but he couldn't.

He had never seen such a thing before, other than the tall dark cloaked figure from the previous night. Who, and what are you? He thought, looking down at the mark that felt as though it had been cut open moments ago. "My name is Dare, and your probably wondering what is going on here, so I will explain." He floated over to the window and looked out of it. Cyrus cleared his throat, hoping that he could ask questions. Cyrus managed to get words out of his mouth. "M-my name is-" Dare cut him off, "You are Cyrus Garcia, a teen who lives in Golden Oak, the lovely town everyone claims it to be." He turned to Cyrus and frowned.

"What do you mean, this place is lovely," he said standing up, not quite coming face to face with Dare's hovering body. "I bet you nobody has told you this, but I was abducted by a strange group of what seems like cultists, and trapped inside of that mark on your forearm," Cyrus couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What? Do you remember anything from then?" Dare floated over to the desk and sat on it, "Bits and pieces are coming back slowly." Cyrus frowned, "Tell me what you remember, from as close to the start as possible."

"I was about to go to sleep, when I heard footsteps outside of my door. Naturally I thought it was my mother, so I crawled in my bed. I heard the door open very slowly. I sat up and saw a group of people, whose faces I can't recall. One of them waved his hand and I felt as though my mouth was glued shut," he frowned, "Like I had eaten something very thick in consistency, making it feel as though I couldn't scream or do anything.

After that it was hazy. Something was over my head, so I couldn't see, then I could see. I was in a clearing, tied up like I was in a straight jacket. After that I don't remember anything." He said finally. "Wow, I am so sorry that happened," Cyrus said horrified, knowing that there were cultists out there who could do this to someone.

"Don't worry about it Cyrus," Dare said with a reasurring look. Then Cyrus heard something behind him. He heard footsteps. "Cyrus?" His mother yelled, turning the doorknob and walking in was holding clothing. "Oh mom hi, what are those?" He said nervously, standing up and standing in front of the desk Dare had been sitting on. "These are clothes that might be too small for you, so I want you try them on." Cyrus took the clothes from his mother, "Okay, I will try them on," he said walking towards the door, hoping she would go and leave.

Door closed, Cyrus turned back around to the desk, expecting Dare to be there, but he wasn't. "Where did you go?" Cyrus said quietly aloud, wondering where he had gone. He saw a large waver in the mark on his arm, he knew what was going to happen, so he sat down on his bed and braced himself against the wall. Feeling the same tearing feeling in his arm, but not as painful, a glowing figure came out, and hovered in mid-air. "Hey!" He said cheerfully, smiling at Cyrus with not only his mouth, but with his eyes.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," he said questionably, "How did I run through the fence at the restaurant, I like turned into a kind of mist and floated through it." Dare looked at Cyrus with a sharp intake of breath, "I don't quite know how to say it, but I learned something when I was trapped in the mark, I learned that I was a Rojas, more specifically a Ro. The Rojas is a group of magic bearers who have magic abilities, but cannot use then unless they are linked with another Rojas. You are a Jas, and I am a Ro. Jas, are the human end of the scale, and the Ro, are the phantom end of the scale," he sat on the bed next to Cyrus and continued to explain, "Without one, there cannot be another, they balance each other out. If the human dies, the phantom and the mark leave until they are sent to another human, which can be a while." Cyrus nodded, "That makes sense actually, why your name is Dare" Dare smirked. Simultaneously, the both said, "To give; without one there cannot be another," they both finished.

The next day Cyrus sat in his first class of the day, the one which he hated the most, History. He absolutely despised it, not just the class itself, but the people, and the teacher in it. Mr Naronson was the teacher, and a rude, cold hearted man. Cyrus tried his hardest not to get in trouble in his class, or else he would never get out of it. In this class, Cyrus never raised his hand, and he found that he often asked Dare for help. One time in particular, Mr Naronson asked Cyrus a question he of course did not have the answer to. He asked Dare the answer in his mind and Dare told him the answer. Mr Naronson was quite surprised to see Cyrus doing something right in his class.

Today in particular was not a good day for Cyrus.

Mr Naronson sat behind his desk, correcting papers, occasionally looking up from his work to see if everyone was working on work, and excusing people as they came and asked to use the restroom. Cyrus stood up from his desk and walked up to Mr Naronson's desk. He waited patiently for a few minutes, before knocking on his desk. Mr Naronson looked up at Cyrus from his work.

"Can I help you?" Mr Naronson sneered at Cyrus with a glint in his dull hazel eyes. Cyrus tried not to get angry and simply replied, "May I please use the restroom?" Mr Naronson looked back down at his work and said, "You may not, now go sit back down and finish the work I assigned you." Cyrus slapped down on Mr Naronson's desk. "Mr Naronson, we all get that you don't like me, and I sense a discriminative feeling of yours towards me, and you are treating me very unfairly."

Mr Naronson took his glasses off and stood up. "Life is unfair Garcia, and if you have a problem with the way I run my classroom you can leave." Cyrus walked back over to his desk, put all of his things in his book bag, walked to the door, and opened it. "Good thing it's almost the end of the year, after this we won't be seeing each other much more," he said finally, slamming the door behind him.

Cyrus sat on his bed, venting to Dare about all of his school problems, even though Dare already knew about his problems at school. Dare, in return would tell him how to solve his problems. After Dare telling him to not let Mr Naronson get to him so much, Cyrus asked Dare something very off topic, "Dare, how do we use our powers?" Cyrus could tell that this question had caught Dare off guard.

"Cyrus, we can't even try to attempt to conjure magic, chances are, it probably won't work, and even if it does it could put us, and others in danger. Also, do you really think I would help you cast spells on Mr Naronson?" Dare laughed. Cyrus frowned, "Your right, that was foolish of me to think that." He switched his light off and pulled his covers over him, and sighed. Goodnight Dare, he thought to himself, and Dare disappeared into the mark on Cyruses forearm.

Cyrus was sleeping soundly when he was woken abruptly by his door opening. He sat up and was staring into the face of a older man with a robe on. "Cyrus come with m-" Cyrus interrupted the man and screamed, "MOM!" The man shook his head in disappointment, "Sorry Cyrus," the man flicked his wrist, and Cyrus fell back into his bed, asleep as though he had never woken up.