Prologue

In this world there are three great lands: Uryaen, Saeyune, and Aeon Toris. These lands are inhabited by humans and the mysterious and dangerous creatures known as Elementals.

There is an old legend that before humans tamed these Elementals that the three lands were once one greater land. Though few know of this legend, and even fewer believe in it.

There is another legend far more known and accepted; that the Elementals had a large hand in crafting and shaping these lands. There is more evidence to prove this is correct than there is to counter it, being that the lands have such an unusual geography.

Other animals and species inhabit these lands and even the water depths all around them, but they are uninteresting as they seem to hold no magical properties within them, like humans and the Elementals. Every human has magic within them but none of them know where it comes from, they just accept it as a mystery of life.

Elementals have magic within them as well, in fact they are such a strange and diverse species some theorize that elementals are beings of pure magic, given life and thought by something unknown. Some renowned magicians have studied the dangerous Elementals in their own habitat and took note that these creatures did not appear to eat like humans or the other species of this world. Most appeared to rest, though very, very little at a time, but magicians often wondered if they don’t eat, where does their energy come from?

Finally there is one last legend about the Elementals, this one is told more of a fairytale to children before bed to help them sleep and dream. This legend states: that a long time ago this world was inhabited by only human kind and the lesser species. Neither of which had magical powers within them.

But then from an unknown place came the magnificent but highly dangerous Elementals. And with them came magic, a power so great it changed the very lands and people around it.

Noah sat in his desk listening intently to the teacher and everything she was saying. Today the orphans learned more about the elementals and more important to Noah, the pillar of Elements sport. The pillar of elements is the most popular sport in this world where powerful magicians, who have captured wild elementals, then summon them to battle in an arena or coliseum.

In fact the sport was so popular it became mandatory for the orphanage to teach the children about it, even if it was only a small amount. Which in fact it was a small amount; a full day worth of class to teach the students about the tournament held yearly by the grand guild Ragnarock.

Facts such as: every city in the world has at least an official arena from Ragnarock and every capitol has arenas and a Coliseum. And victories in the arena and coliseum awarded you points which you would need a set amount to be eligible for Ragnarock’s annual grand tournament. Entry into arena or coliseum battles also costs money but the rewards for winning are often a few times more than the fee of entry.

And that was all that Noah and the other orphans were taught. But for Noah that was all he needed, a dream, a goal and knowledge of a better life for him out of the orphanage. And since that day Noah has dreamed of entering Ragnarock’s tournament, capturing wild Elementals to use in the battles, and to forge a better life for himself after the orphanage.

Noah knew what happened to orphans after they left here, nothing, absolutely nothing. They became nobodies got a decent job to sustain themselves and would spend the rest of their lives in this town. And though Noah was only eight years old at the time he had seen several other boys and girls he knew grow too old for the orphanage and do exactly that. He talked to them from time to time and they told him the same thing, which they were content with the life they had now and had no real ambition to go much further in life, or travel the world or anything really.

There was nothing really wrong with that either, they were set up with stable jobs and if they worked hard over time they would get a better job but that life wasn’t for Noah. There was something restless inside of him that would always compel him to seek excitement, to do more than most. And so his journey to become a powerful magician and a great Elemental tamer began.

In the summer that Noah was eight he started going around the town looking for any odd job he could find to earn some crystals. He found numerous jobs that were all just cleaning up around a shop outside like sweeping the area or cleaning out the gutters, but Noah worked hard and earned his small income. A day’s worth of work was usually worth a single yellow crystal for Noah.

Yellow crystals were the most common of currency and had the least value, then there was orange, red, purple and finally white, the rarest type of crystal which was worth 100 yellow ones. The average commoner lived off around 1200 crystals a year so for Noah earning a single yellow one a day was very low but he didn’t complain work was work and so was income.

After each day of work when Noah was paid he would hide his crystals in a removable floorboard piece underneath his bed when everyone else was asleep or gone. It wasn’t a substantial amount of space under the floorboard but the crystals were small, about the size of his pinky, and fit easily down there. Soon enough Noah bought himself a small bag to carry the crystals in and he put them in that bag so he didn’t lose them under the floor board space.

After a couple years when Noah was ten his bag for crystals was full and he exchanged all the yellow ones he had been saving up those two years for 3 white crystals 1 purple and 1 red. Since then Noah would trade in every 30 yellow crystals for 1 red so he could save room in his bag.

Now all the other kids at the orphanage from time to time would find odd jobs like Noah so they could later buy themselves something sweet but Noah spent not a single crystal he earned, he was saving up for something that the other kids knew not of.

Noah was saving his money to become a magicians apprentice so he could learn more about magic, specifically combat magic and anything he would need to tame Elementals and enter the tournament held by Ragnarock. And in Noah’s small town of Rasoras there was only one known Magician who was a competitor in the Pillar of elements, an older man named Bran.

Shortly after Noah learned about the pillar of elements in school Noah looked around the town for a competitive magician until he learned about Bran. Bran lived on the edge of town in small secluded shack. Noah visited Bran for the first time in late spring and asked him if he would teach Noah the skills to tame Elementals and become a competitor in the pillar of elements sport.

Bran only starred at Noah for a long moment of silence, his green eyes slowly going over the small boy, he would scratch the dark beard growing from his face and chin now and again until eventually he asked Noah if he had money to afford apprenticeship; regretfully Noah did not but Bran didn’t slam the door in his face he only told Noah that it’s a fool hardy life anyways with much higher risk than reward. But Noah was resolved and promised Bran he would come back with a fortune enough to take him on as an apprentice.

True to his word Noah began slowly saving up a very small fortune until the day he turned 13 and the orphan head master could no longer support him, he was old enough to apprentice at many places around town and everyone knew how hard a worker Noah was. He could probably even become an engineer if he used some of the money he’d been saving to study that field of magic but Noah was only interested in competing in the pillar of elements and so he left the orphanage to head straight to Bran’s secluded little shack.

Bran hadn’t seen Noah since he was eight but he recognized the young man, his brown straight hair and light blue eyes. He came to Bran with a small crystal sack filled only with white and purple crystals there was at least a thousand worth of crystals in the small sack maybe more, and Noah had been saving up for 5 years to amass that small fortune.

Bran kneeled down so him and Noah were eye level and starred hard into the young man’s eyes and asked with a commanding tone, “Now you tell me the truth boy as I will only ask this one time. Are you sure that you wish to go through with this? Even if you turn out to be the strongest magician in the world or are the most talented one when you’re out there hunting those Elementals down on your own if you lose your nerve or hesitate even the slightest it could cost you your life.”

Noah took in a deep breath and said with absolution, “I will do whatever it takes, I can handle it.”

Bran stood back to his full height which was average for a man but he was still taller than Noah and Bran wasn’t fat but he wasn’t scrawny either, the older man seemed to keep himself in some sort of good shape. He stepped aside and offered for Noah to go into his home and begin his apprenticeship.

Inside the shack was a small kitchen by the only window looking outside in the opposite direction of the town, there was only one door in or out, and the room was almost entirely empty outside the kitchen except a desk with some paper, books a quill and a few bottles of ink and of course a solid wooden chair.

The floor was solid rock even in the kitchen, Noah began to wonder what kind of person would live like this until Bran shut the door and a large rectangular area of the ground quietly shifted and pushed down into a set of stairs leading into a tunnel that was alight with torches on the walls.

Bran led Noah down into the narrow tunnel as the two walked in a straight path. “You see Noah, the shack in town is mostly a cover, I seldom spend any time there at all it’s just nice once and a while to hear the voices of others, you spent too long alone you can start losing yourself, so remember that as your first lessen you may be a loner like me, I can see it in you, but don’t exclude yourself from the world all together.”

The tunnel ended after about a mile and came up into a much larger and nicer home, the ground was also made of rock and so were the walls but it was cleaner than the shack and had more in it. There was hallways leading to rooms, one with a bed and a window looking out towards the town, another room with a couple desks and several more books, quills and bottles of ink, another empty room, smaller, with another bed and window looking out towards the town.

The last two hallways led to a much larger and well stocked kitchen than the one in the shack and then a room with a ditch that had several buckets and a stream of running water in the ditch. Bran explained to Noah that rivers could travel for miles underground and were easy to find if you know how to search for them. So he built his main home over this area of running water so he could have fresh water whenever he needed and it was convenient if he needed to use the bathroom at any given time, because the water was always running it made for a simple sewage system.

After Noah got his feel of the house Bran walked him down, not too far from the house, to a small pit he dug out with more rushing water, it was far enough from the house to bathe in private but close enough to still see. Summer or not the rushing water was always going to be cold.

Bran gave Noah the rest of the day and night to settle into things until the crack of dawn the next morning he would begin his lessons. Noah slept in the spare room Bran kept and he slept easy. Dawn came and the light of the morning sun shined into Noah’s window onto his face waking him up around the same time as Bran.

Noah had no trouble waking up as he was used to an early schedule at the orphanage. Bran cooked them some breakfast which was a simple porridge and wheat bread. The porridge Noah found was very filling and he couldn’t finish off his entire bowl. Bran told him that the porridge was also mixed with vitamins that would help him grow stronger and recover faster. The meal was mostly flavorless though, and all they drank with it was water. Bran kept no, fruits dry or otherwise, in his home as he got all the nourishment he needed by blending oat, wheat, and the vitamins in the porridge and then having a slice of whatever bread he fancied that week, this week was wheat.

After breakfast Noah was tasked with cleaning up the dishes while Bran set up his first couple of lessons for the day. Noah went to the room that had the stream of running water in the ditch and began scrubbing out the bowls when one of them slipped and was swept down the current. Noah shouted and panicked the bowl was gone for good when he saw a stone grate of vertical and horizontal overlapping lines that allow the water to pass through but stopped the bowl or anything else large enough in it. Noah grabbed the bowl that was being pushed against the rock grate and sighed in relief.

When he finished washing the dishes he set them on the kitchen window seal and opened the window to get them to dry faster. Noah dried his hands and waited for Bran in the study room with the desks and all the books where he instructed him to go after he finished washing dishes.

Bran came to the study shortly and sat Noah down at a desk and then took some parchment and a quill drew out the symbols for elements, such as a lightning bolt for lightning or a leaf to represent nature. And as he did he told Noah, “You see Noah there are nine types of elemental magic which we as magicians learn to manipulate and control to our will. Now every magician can control, to some degree, every element but most are specialized in only one element.

It’s not too uncommon to be specialized in more than one element either but first you need to find which element suits your strengths best. And we will find out what your natural strength with the elements is later, but for right now it’s time to study the nine elements.

The elements we can control and manipulate are as follows: lightning, shadow, stone, gravity, wind, fire, nature, water, and light. Now each element is weaker against one type and stronger against another so pay close attention.”

Bran finished his drawings of the elemental representations and now pointed to them as he spoke. Lightning is weak against gravity but strong against water. Water is strong against fire, fire is strong against nature, nature beats rock, rock beats wind, wind beats light, light beats shadow, and shadow beats gravity. Do you see the pattern?”

Noah kept his eyes on the drawings of the elements symbols and said, “I think so, each element has a corresponding one that it’s either weak against or strong against like a cycle.”

Bran smiled and said, “Very good boy,” Then he took the paper and hid it behind his back and waited a minute before asking Noah what the nine elements were and what was their strengths and weaknesses.

It took Noah a couple minutes but he was able to get them all and correctly name what element was strong against one and weak against another. “Not bad,” Bran said. “But this stuff is taught to six year olds by their parents. I suppose being an orphan you were limited in your teachings though huh?”

Noah’s expression grew sad and he looked down at his desk away from Bran. Like every orphan he thought about his parents. He thought about whom they might have been and why they gave him up. He hadn’t given them much thought since he was nine though until Bran brought the subject up again.

Bran realized just then what he’d done and quickly got back on track. “Well then,” he said. “You will learn everything you need to know and more in good time for right now let’s move onto the second part of today’s lessons.” Then he took Noah outside where there was this five foot rock cylinder stood jutting out of the ground unnaturally.

“You see Noah anyone can learn to control the elements it’s not so difficult and with practice you can learn to do great things on your own without a tutor. But if you want to compete in the pillar of elements battles, sponsored by Ragnarock, you need more than just knowledge of how to control elements, or the Elementals.

You need stamina and a strong body. Every day we’re going to work on a different part of your body and get you into great shape before you start learning magic. And everyday we’re going to start with a healthy jog. Just out there a little into the distance about half a mile is another cylinder formation just like this, you and I are going to jog to it. Remember because I am taller than you I will cover more ground so don’t pick up your pace trying to keep up with me, you just trail behind me some feet and that’s the pace I want you to keep until you reach that other cylinder got it?”

“Yes sir.” Noah said and the two started jogging.

By the time Noah had reached the other cylinder he was out of breath completely.

At the other rock cylinder sat two stones shaped in perfect squares, one of them about the size of Noah’s head, the other about three times as big. There was also a long round bar of rock jutting out from the cylinder.

Bran told Noah to take the smaller rock, which had handles for him to grab onto easier, and then lift it above his head, lower it to touch his head then lift it again and repeat this process ten times before putting the stone back down. Bran first made sure Noah was lifting and putting the stone down in a proper stance, so he didn’t injure himself, before he picked up the larger stone and lifted it alongside Noah.

When Noah finished his reps with the stone Bran had him grab onto the bar with his palms facing him and start pulling himself up and down ten times as well. There was a bar on the opposite side where Bran joined Noah in this exorcise as well, except Bran did twice as many as Noah. Then after a moment to rest it was back to lifting rocks. And they repeated this a few more times before Bran sent Noah back to the house exhausted.

Bran stayed back and watched until Noah was out of sight, and then he used his magic to levitated the heavy rocks and push the cylinder down into the ground at the same time. Bran than walked a hundred paces forward set the stones down and brought up a new cylinder exactly as identical as the old one but this time 100 paces further out, Noah wouldn’t realize it but every day he would jog exactly 100 paces further until he could jog as far as Bran did every day. He would push Noah just a little bit further everyday to get him stronger, just like his master did for him all those years ago, for a student who thinks they are the best will seek no longer to become better.

Back at the house Bran met with Noah and took him to the bathing hole. He extended the path of the water out more by using his magic to dig into the ground and push it out further, than he erected a wall in the middle of the running water to give each other some privacy while they cleaned themselves up for they were both hot and covered with sweat.

After they finished cleaning they toweled off and Bran for the first time realized Noah only had the one pair of clothes so Noah was forced to keep the towel on while Bran ran back to the town and grabbed him some more clothes his size. He got him some spring and fall clothes and would return to the store in winter to get him some winter clothes.

Now that Noah was dressed in clean clothes Bran took Noah back to the study and tested him again on the elements strengths and weaknesses; Noah got a total of four strength and weaknesses wrong. Bran didn’t scold him though only said he will eventually remember it all and he would test him randomly until he was sure he did. Then the two ate lunch, which Noah was starving and managed to finish off his entire bowl of porridge this time.

Noah washed the dishes and now both their dirty clothes before the next lesson. For his next lesson Noah was shown a map of the three continents as his master pointed out what areas and regions certain types of elementals could only be found at and explained to him how sometimes Elementals could be found in other areas more habitual to other Elementals. Like Mountains, they would naturally have an abundance of rock Elementals but there might also be several dark Elementals within the caverns or sometimes dark areas of the mountains or there would be wind Elementals roaming around near the summit.

Soon night was upon them and they had one final meal, but afterwards Noah was too exhausted to wash dishes so Bran let him go rest which he fell asleep right away. Bran set things up for Noah’s lesson tomorrow before he too went to sleep.

Lucas continued through the thunder plains with the other guild members. There were four of them but he didn’t bother learning their names, they were in the bottom division of Ragnarock and he didn’t care who they were. In fact the only reason they were there was to guard him while he constructed numerous pillars around the lightning plains.

He always hated the Lightning plains, the place creeped him out and for good reason. There was a constant hymn of power in the air and a charge of electricity all around that made his hair stand on edge. But what scarred him the most, though he wouldn’t fully admit it, is that whenever guild members from Ragnarock come to the lightning plains to construct pillars they never return.

Some have scouted the area and though the place is teeming with Elementals and some are incredibly strong it’s only when they come to construct pillars do they never return. That’s why Lucas was accompanied by the other members today. They might not be in a higher division but they were strong, you had to be to get into Ragnarock.

After Lucas constructed the Pillar he waited around until it started glowing a soft blue light that meant it was doing its job. “Good” he said, “They’re all working let’s get out of here now.”

Lucas turned around to see the bodies of the other guild members lying down on the ground dead. Before them stood a humanoid creature with a body made of pure plasma energy, colored with shades of blue and white that moved around it at random in no obvious pattern. He knew what sort of Elemental this was it was an Ethereal, a lightning one. But Ethereal’s shouldn’t be this strong; still this one had been able to silently kill off four members of the most powerful guild without a single sound and in such a fashion that Lucas was un-alerted to its presence at all.

Lucas began to gather in energy to prepare a spell against the Elemental when a blast of raw energy shot forth so fast he didn’t even see it, and pierce through his chest and shatter the pillar behind him. He collapsed to the ground and drifted off into the silent embrace of death.