The examiner room was pretty plain. A table in the center occupied by the middle-aged man, a plant, a jug of water and a glass on the table. It didn't seem like anything special until I sat downz and the man spoke.
"Just relax, child. I won't hurt you." The kind examiner smiled down at me.
With a tentative smile at the stranger, I relaxed a little in the chair as my eye drifted back to the shimmering glass of water in front of me. The color in the glass flowed in waves, the elements making their appearance one by one. It would turn a pale red, fade to yellow, darken to green, move on to blue and finally, white, making the glass look translucent before starting all over again.
It was finally the day of the test. The test which determined which element I belonged to. It was a mystery to me as I didn't have any parents and Mich told me that he found me in the woods. Now as far as I know that is a very shitty version of the birds and the bees or he's telling the truth. I do believe it may be the latter because I don't resemble him one bit.
He sported light brown hair with grey eyes and his collarbone is graced with the mark of a small halo, defining him as a Light elemental. A few inches taller than me, not like I'll ever admit that, and a small nose slightly turned up at the end which makes him look much younger than 43. My friends back in the human realm called him a DILF sometimes.
I, on the other hand, had almost platinum blonde hair and sharp hazel eyes. My high cheekbones have always been my best feature and I am yet to find out which element I could be. My body type could be described as petite but that was back when I did gymnastics, I've gained weight since then. I have more of a plain figure now. Somewhere in between - not curvy, not skinny.
I've lived with him in the human world for the past sixteen years of my life and we moved here because I'd come of age which meant it was time for me to start showing my qualities and learn about them. The Elementals have been around for centuries. The science behind this is very easy to understand. During evolution, humans took a path and we took another. We developed the ability to control five elements - earth, air, water, fire and light.
Elementals and humans didn't get along well. Their jealousy and lust for our powers made them hunt us down and dwindle our numbers as they believed that we may cause their extinction. It took a lot of hard work and a lot of losses before one certain elemental figured out how to create another dimension.
A pocket of space and time in constant motion on earth to avoid detection with various ways to enter it, if you know how to open the pathway. Of course, it branched out over millennia. From one place to everywhere and often, Elementalists made connections in very high places and all around the world. We could identify each other through certain signs.
But becoming an Elemental, it started from here.
From this simple test which would tell me what I would be. What I would be striving for the next two years. What I would gain mastery over.
"Okay, since you seem comfortable enough, let's start." He gave me another kindly smile. I looked up at him and carefully avoided the glass, it was hypnotizing. "You hold your hands around the glass like this." He placed it on either side of the glass, hovering it within an inch of its surface. "And then you concentrate. This part is a little hard and it will take you some time before you can pull it off. When that happens, concentrate on your hands and..."
He trailed off and as I watched the color of the glass slowly turn translucent. The water almost seemed to be glowing from within. My eyes widened and I leaned forward to observe it.
"How does this happen?" I asked softly, enthralled by the scientific possibilities and explanations.
His voice had a hint of smugness in it. He was clearly enjoying the attention. "The glass is imbued with each element and as you've noticed, it constantly changes color. When you channel your energy into it, the element you belong to resonates with the one in the glass and it emerges and stays till you hold it."
"Can it ever be two elements at once?"
"Yes. Two elements in one person have been recorded but usually compatible elements. Earth and Water. Fire and Air. Water and Light. But it just shows the one element you have a majority of. Over the next couple of years, the other elements may emerge or show a hint through training."
He relaxed his concentration on ending the speech. The colors began to shift once more as he withdrew his hands. "Now, place your hands around the glass, don't touch it, and just take your time. Relax, clear your mind."
I rolled my shoulders and placed my hands around it, excitement bubbled in my belly but I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Concentrate. I can do this. Mich has been teaching me yoga for years.
Inhale... Exhale... Inhale... Exhale... And clear your mind.
I could feel my body relax and my breathing fall into a pattern till I realised that the feeling in my belly wasn't excitement, it was urgency. Something was begging to be released and it knew the time had come.
But I didn't know how to reach it.
My mind was as clear as clear could be. Yet it was farther away than the human realm at the moment. My brow furrowed in impatience.
"Keep concentrating." Came the examiner's voice. "Think of it like a well and try to draw water from it. Or like a stream, channel the flow of the stream to you."
A stream. A stream.
A stream sounds good.
I took another deep breath and lowered my heart rate further before imagining a glowing stream in my head. It started with a trickle and I felt the urgency in my belly spread to other parts of my body.
"Good! Good! Now your hands. To your hands."
My eye twitched irritatedly as his voice intruded upon my concentration almost making me revert back to square one. But I revived the flow again and thought of it surrounding my hands. The feeling ebbed away from the rest of my body and strengthened in my hands.
"Stretch it between your hands. Like a rubber band."
I'd been expecting further instructions. The flow was getting thicker. More was good. It would happen faster. A rubber band. I heard him intake a sharp breath as I let it loose and euphoria filled me.
That's when the glass exploded.
There was a loud crack as a warning before glass started flying everywhere. I cried out in surprise and raised my hands to protect my face just in time. But surprisingly enough, nothing hit me. I slowly opened my eyes. My heart rate had gone from calm and collected to the speed of a rabbit during a humping session and I saw the elderly examiner holding a hand out towards me as the air shimmered and twisted in front of me. Glass shards were glinting dangerously in the air. The space around them seemed almost warped, as if they were stuck in something... which they were.
Once again, my curiosity came into play and I stretched my hand out. It came in contact with something soft, yet hard at the same time. Malleable, yet unbending. But light seemed to be bending around it and my surroundings looked a little dull. Suddenly, the shield in front of me dropped as well as his hand and the lights in the room flickered before brightening up again. I looked around with wide eyes. The glass clinked softly as it finally hit the ground. So this was the power of a Light elemental.
"Cool." I whispered, my eyes drifting back to him in anticipation of more new tricks..
But he was staring at the ground in annoyance. I looked down as well to see the floor littered with broken pieces of glass. The color in them was frozen between the pale red and blue. Some pieces were completely red or blue and some were half of each. It made for an interesting combination. The wave motion of the colors had stopped, unsurprisingly.
"Well, I never." My examiner sighed. I looked up to see him rubbing his face as he stood up. "This has happened before but usually with glasses that have been used a lot or have some kind of defect. We'll have to go old-school." I watched him as he got up and walked over to a small table on the side adorned with a vase of yellow flowers, a jug of water and a glass.
"This method takes some time so I guess we'll be here for a while." He picked up the jug and half-turned to me. "My name is Terry. Terry Goldson. And you are?"
"Fiera." I replied.
There was an expectant silence before he frowned and turned all the way to face me. "Don't you have a last name?"
I shrugged. "Not that I know of."
The frown turned deeper. "Which elements are your parents?" He gestured to the shards of glass with the jug, the water sloshed. "Water or fire?"
"That's what I was hoping to find out. I don't know who my parents are."
Immediately, surprise and pity passed through his face. Something I was accustomed to. He looked down before turning away. "I apologize. When was it?"
"My guardian, Mich found me abandoned in the forest. He didn't know my age but jotted that date down as my first birthday and I turned sixteen on 11th March." I shrugged. "That's when we moved back here from the human realm."
Quietly filling up the glass, he lifted it to check the level, pour some water back in the jug, check again and fill again. I think he was stalling. He turned around after keeping the jug down and brought the exactly half full glass over to me.
"Well, this method is a little tougher." He seemed to want to move on from this uncomfortable topic. I was used to it. "Do the same thing, except use more power because this is plain glass. Your power has to penetrate the water inside and it will react accordingly."
"How does it react for each element?" I asked out of curiosity.
"For air, bubbles appear in the water. Water - the level rises. Fire - the water heats up. Earth is a little tricky because I need a leaf." He looked around the bare room before walking towards the door and out of the room. I remembered that there were a few potted plants right outside the door and he came back within a few seconds with a handful of leaves. They were scattered on the table and that's when I noticed they looked a little dead. And few of them were dry.
"Earth - will revive the leaves to an extent. And... what am I missing?"
"Light." I provided helpfully.
He nodded. "Right. Light. The water will glow. I need to dim the room for the that. He glanced at the tube light in the corner and I realised it's intensity was decreasing.
My jaw dropped open. "That's so cool. Mich is a Light elemental too and he does that!" I paused and collected my jaw. "What did you do earlier?"
The proud look disappeared from his eyes and confusion took over. "What did I do earlier?"
"The forcefield, barrier kind of thing." I leaned forward eagerly. "That was cool."
He chuckled at my language before speaking. "A shield. It was made of the light. I can bend it to suit my needs or to a certain shape if I require. Haven't you seen this before?"
I shook my head. "Mich tried to avoid it. He wanted to keep most of it new for me. All of this is literally a whole new world for me." Go ahead, Aladdin, sing to your heart's content.
"Hmm." He rubbed his chin before shaking his head. "Let's hurry and get this over with. We've ready taken too much time and there are more kids."
I put my hands around the glass without any prompting and kept my eyes open. I wanted to see this.
The air around my hand started to shimmer and glow. My fingers were still pulsing from earlier and euphoria filled me once more. I could feel my face involuntarily stretch into a grin before the water started reacting.