This chapter was sponsored by Mike the Bike!
Chapter 4
Zale rose from the wagon as fast as he could. Bandits were rare this close to the city but it still wasn’t unheard of. What was stopping the farmer however was far worse than bandits. A familiar fiery tempered noble, and an escort of guards barred the way. Zale had a bad feeling Sorana was looking to let off steam, and he was the easy target. The farmer Zale had hired for transport looked back and forth between the two teens. Zale knew he couldn’t drag the farmer into any fight, the farmer hadn't done anything to deserve offending the Jeskai's. As soon as Zale's feet hit the ground the farmer spurred his horse to move around Sorana and her guards; they made no movement to stop the farmer.
“I want to know what’s so special about you that the Spirit Hall would choose you over me?” Sorana said.
Zale just remained silent. He had learned over the years when to speak and when not to. In a situation like this no matter what he said it would just anger her more. Who was he compared to her? He was born to a farmer who could barely afford to survive the winter. She was the heir to the Jeskai family. If she was offended it was in her power to arrest his entire family for no better reason than they annoyed her. His only real hope was that she wouldn’t go too far in fear of offending the Spirit Hall. Zale's sponsorship was equivalent to the backing of the Emperor. Who were the Jeskai's compared to the Imerial family? In the Emperor's eyes the Jeskai family were like the queen ants ruling over their ant hill while he debated whether he would step on the entire colony or not.
Sorana stomped her foot in anger. “I challenge you to a duel. If I win you have to tell the Spirit Hall that you refuse their sponsorship.”
Zale did not want to duel Sorana. A duel wasn’t just any fight. The spirit gems embedded in each hand would activate recording the duel. The spirit gems would archive the fights so no accomplishments could be faked. Schools use the battle records to distribute rewards and rankings. Someone could soar into the heavens by beating the right person, or sink into the mud with a single defeat. In the world of Elemental Masters, someones dueling record was their reputation.
“I refuse. I gain nothing from this duel,” Zale replied.
Sorana was furious. Her hands trembled and Zale could see flames come to life on her palms. Her guards stepped back, afraid she was going to unleash her active ability. When the guards stepped back they revealed a girl with glasses standing awkwardly behind Sorana. Zale remembered her from the awakening ceremony. She had registered for the tournament which meant her abilities must have been superb. She had fallen though when walking up to see Delker. If she was always so clumsy than Zale was worried she may hurt herself in the tournament even if her abilities were top notch. The girl walked up shyly to Sorana and pulled on her sleeve.
“You shouldn’t fight. Our abilities are still weak…. Even at A rank,” she said.
Sorana shook the girls arm off her. “Melanie, I will show this boy what a true A rank ability is.”
Zale did not want to fight. Luckily the guards seemed to be normal people; their gems not awakening to abilities meant for combat. Otherwise they wouldn’t wear such clunky armor. It made sense, despite being from a ruling family there was no way the Jeskai family could afford to pay Elemental Masters to guard a little girl. From the looks in the guard’s eyes Zale wagered that if he ran, the guards wouldn’t make any move to pursue. The whole encounter was probably way above their pay grade.
The flames in Sorana’s hands intensified. A ball of liquid fire coalesced in-between her fingers. Her eyes were manic with excitement. Zale had never seen a fire active before. They were described as destruction incarnate in textbooks. In her hands was a ball of fire. She raised the ball of flame above her head and threw it at Zale.
Zale didn’t even have to move. In fact, the hardest part for everyone witnessing the display was holding in their laughter. As hot as the ball of fire was, it wasn’t very big. The size of a pebble. That was about as large as the “fireball” grew to. When she threw the flame pebble at Zale it barely traversed a meter before it dribbled onto the ground and snuffed out. If Zale were able to see Sorana’s ability stats they would look like this.
Active – Fireball
Level One
Create a fireball to throw.
Current size of fireball: Very small
[ Rank A ]
Passive – Flame Intensity
Level One
Flames generated are denser than normal.
[ Rank A ]
Sorana’s face was scarlet with embarrassment. In her entire life she had never had a single setback. She had always got what she wanted. She had always been the best of the best in Jeskai City. For someone else to be sponsored by the Spirit Hall was unacceptable. Especially when it was a no name peasant who lived on the outskirts of her family’s land.
Melanie was the first to speak. “Level one abilities are normally extremely weak. That’s why they give us a year to train before the school tournament.”
Sorana looked like she was going to explode in anger. She pointed her finger at Zale. “What’s your name?”
“Zale.”
He was careful not to give his last name. He didn't want any punishment dealt to his family.
“One year from now I will show everyone the Spirit Hall made a mistake in picking you. Train hard, otherwise you may not even be able to survive one strike.”
With her threat laid out she turned to her guard and marched back toward Jeskai City. Zale was speechless. He knew people would encounter adversaries when climbing the ranks. He just never thought he would get such a strange one so quickly. The worst part of the whole thing was that he had now lost his ride so he would have to walk the remaining ten miles’ home. He had just lost supper.
Little did anyone know, normally the ability Fireball at level one would create a flame the size of someone’s head and the user would have no problem throwing it many meters. The only reason Sorana’s appeared so small and could only be thrown a short distance was because of her passive Flame Intensity which made flames denser. If Zale wasn’t careful, in one year when her abilities were leveled and she was more accustomed to using them her threats would be anything but idle.