"The Beginning Chapter 3" by Scott dean mattocks

 Chapter 3. Power and a Teacher

She walked up and all of the anger disappeared. There was nothing left, I had created magic, I had done something that I had so longed to do. When I looked at her, she was smiling, so this was normal.

“The first thing we taught all of our children is control, the others had problem with this, and that allowed them to grow. You latched on to the concept and distanced yourself from it, never giving the emotion a chance to bring the power. You I think will have almost no problem dealing with the power, no matter that it is extremely late in coming. We have until the next month to get you ready, that is the start of the new school year. You will be there for up to four years, and with that you will know what you must about the world of the gifted.

She took me out of the school system with a call, and that made the next part of the journey easier. She told me the first part was to see where my abilities lie, where on the star did my strongest power lie. The top three were called ,my ability, and they would guide what I learned to do. They were shaped by my personality and the person, and this made them unique to everyone. The first thing that she showed me the eight star, the top was occupied with fire, the bottom water, the left earth, the right wind, body was in the top left, mind in the bottom right, life in the top right, and death in the bottom left. These are what made up all of the powers that the gifted could wield. The power was mostly heritable, but it could skip generations.

I was also taught basic things like the levels of power in the society. Power was a major factor, if you had more, you did what you wanted. The council was the most well know and ruled over all others. The next were the individual heads of the clans. And then the councils that make up them. And it just goes into smaller forms, with the dark and earth clans having the most power. The water and the wind the least. It was because the dark had the arts of war, which is not true, just the others will not take part in a war in full force. The last war took place in the civil war, and that was just because the council was in America, the time before that it was the great Prussian war. The very last thing to actually get learned was my power.

That was hard going because she did not know what my ability was, and my power was still hard to read, even after showing itself. She thought it would be fire was the main, but I could barely light a candle after the first week. Wind I was hopeless at, and the strength of my body was not all that great, just a little above normal for a human my size. Darkness was the second strongest, and that was only because of her. Life I was as bad as wind, and water was about tied with fire. Earth was never allowed to be tested because mother would not believe that I had earth in my body. She claimed that it was impossible for me to be related to a god that would wield earth. I did not argue and continued to work on what she made me do.

By the end of the month, I was able to consciously control the magic to one degree or another. The power that others felt was small, and most thought that it was a sham with her giving me some of her power to hold, like a gem. I did not understand it, but I tried to explain it to them, but they never listened. It was only when one of the people in a brown robe talked to me that I realized where my power really lie.

“Hey, child do you control your emotion, try to stay in neutral and have no strong emotions. I even will bet that when you have friends that they mean a lot to you, right?” She was talking to me and have no idea what it meant.

“What of it Sherace? I know what you are doing and that will not work.” Mother had heard the question and sounded pissed.

“You have three children, admit that only one of them will share your gift for the dark. One is water and if I am even close then he will be one of the earth.”

“I will not accept that.”

I felt a draft and then Sherace replied, “And why is being of the earth bad, I am a little weaker then you, but without Night neither of us would win.” That was a threat if ever I heard one.

The room started to darken as the shadows stretched themselves toward mother, and the walls seemed to vibrate with the will to come together. She was right in one thing, if they did fight it was going to be messy and no one would be the winner.

“Mother what is the harm if I see if she is right, it may be my ability is earth, and I would hate to squander the power that I could have because you do not want it to be true.” I hoped she did not turn on me, I had no chance against her for real.

“Fine do what you want, if it is you true ability I would hate for it to be my fault that it did not fauster. If it is not, then I do not want to hear anything more out of you questioning me, got that Johnny.” She stalked away and I felt sorry for the person that felt her wrath.

“OK lets go out side and see what you can do” and she led the way out front. When we got there, she made me touch the ground and try to sense anything. I poured myself into it, and I felt a, resonance, that was the only word to describe it. When I looked up she smiled, and then I felt the power that was in her. It was the steadfastness of the earth, the knowledge that she was in control. It was strong, almost as strong as mother, but not there. The fact that she was close told that she was very strong. Mother was one of the strongest and with the artifact she might have been the strongest. “You are lucky, the control is the first step, and that explains why the power was so late. You had control from a very early age I think, and so you have it now. Earth may feed on the emotion as much as fire, and may be used in a rage, or a bout of sadness, but the true strength comes in complete calm. Now look inside your self and find the power that made the fire. When you have that push that into the ground and tell me what you notice then.” I did as I was told, and felt the earth, a small part of it anyway. I felt the plants, the minerals, and even the bonds between the earth.

When I told her this,she stated “It is in these bonds that we are able to shape the earth. I am told that you took chemistry right?' when I nodded she continued, “The bonds in the earth are no different from the bonds on chemicals, some are stronger and these go to the gems and stone. The weaker bonds go into the dirt and sand. We can make the strongest marble into sand by breaking almost all of the bonds. We can make sand into stone the opposite way. And anything in between. That is the main thing that we of the earth do, more advance things take this idea and expand. We will start on this tomorrow, and be ready, your power will grow fast once it is being stretched and used.” With that she left and I headed back inside, mother was there and she looked up when I entered.

“So were you able to do what she said?” She was hoping that I would say no but I could not.

“I was able to sense the bonds in the earth, and she said that we will start training in the morning so that I can do the basic things, like move and shape the earth.”

She nodded, “OK well then I will continue with your education of the dark, and all of the things that you will need to know if you face one of them.

About a third of the way through the month, we got a very odd costumer. She was as big as a large cow, and she was wearing a very very bright pink dress with matching purse and shoes. It was on of the most obnoxious colors. She got worse when she came up to the counter and demanded that I give her the book on magic, and the real history not this fake crap. History of magic, there was no true history. When I told her that, she looked at me, and said she wanted to see the manager.

I got my mother again asked what the women wanted. When she said she wanted a true history of magic, not the fake, mother looked at her and stated, “I am sorry but that cannot be sold to you, if you would please leave I will not have you thrown out.” mother was never like this with the costumers.

“You would throw me out because I want a book, I thought you could get any book that was requested. I would like the history of magic. What is the problem.”

“I have the right to deny service to anyone, and I do not want to deal with you, please leave.” Her voice was tight and that meant that she was loosing her temper.

The other women had light flash around her that blinded me and mother threw up a shield between her and us. When she dropped it, a women with golden skin and black hair the color of mother's was before us. She also dropped the extra weight, so she was as skinny as mother. Her eyes were the color of gray, a very dark gray. “Will you still deny me the service of the book I require?”

“Yes, although you must tell me how you were able to do that, you could never make an illusion before, Bridgett. All you could do is cause pain. How far did you get with that now.”

“So high and mighty, never able to do what is needed to get the power. Pain is a great motivator for most people, and the new talents came with the power.”

“How in the hell did you do that, before you were never even close to my power, and now it is to close to tell.” Mother was shocked and that was hard to believe. “And what happened to the two that always followed you. They were completely in love with in you.”

“They were holding me back, and now they will help me bloom into something that is greater then you.” she started laughing, and it was a sound that was sickening. Her eyes fell on me and she asked, “So this is the child of the great one, he does not feel so strong. Maybe I should destroy him, and that will let the world know how weak you really are.” I felt an itching in my shoulder blades and it got worse when Mother was drawing on her magic. She grabbed my shoulder and I felt her draw on the little power I had in my body. I saw the other women look and then frown, she was not getting the results that she expected.

“I told you that the power is not everything, you are not able to even touch us with the one thing that was yours and was one of your greatest thing. You cannot cause any pain here, and you want to know why, because the very weak boy is more then he seems. Now I believe that it is my turn, and I will make this hurt for Jared and Michel.” In her hand a blade appeared, it was not one of reality, just one made out of the darkness of the world. A smile appeared on her lips as a hand clutched Bridgett and kept her from running, or even moving.

“Mother, don't hurt her!” I did not like the that she could kill with such ease.

“Why, she will not thank you for this, and it will come back to haunt you. Her power is causing pain in the mind. With the added power of the other two, I believe she gained their power, and the talents for illusion, but I will allow you to make the choice.” She was amused that I did not want her to kill the woman. Amused!

“I cannot allow you to end her life, and I do not expect anything from her, I don’t like the idea of killing. I will not be like the members of the councils, who think they have the right of life and death.” I was as serious about this as I could be. There was no need to kill her.

“She not only killed the others who followed her, but she took the spark that allowed them to work magic, so she took all of their power, that in and of itself usually requires a death. You will understand the true meaning of it” She turned to the other women, and tighten the holding until Bridgett started to turn a dark purple in the face. Mother decided that was enough and then carried her into a dark corner of the store. From there, I felt the tingling in my shoulders grow as the shadow turned into a corridor leading somewhere else. She waved her hand and Bridget went flying through the darkness into the new place. I did not even ask where she was sent. “Dear child, aren't you supposed to be learning right now?

I sighed and agreed, because I was supposed to be with Sherace. I decided that it was time leave and go get a little farther in my studies. Sherace lived a little over a mile away from the shop, in a little brown house with a flourishing garden. She was able to grow the yellow roses all year long, and it made them pop. It took a little over twenty minutes to get there, and when I knocked, a child opened the door. Sherace was the mother of twins, one girl and one boy. The boy was the one that open the door, and I said hello to him. He took after his mom and was able to move and shape earth easily. For eight, he was right on line for the same lessons I got. We took them together, which always made me feel like I was an idiot.

“Tom mother wants us now, not later, Hello johnny, I am glade to see that the affair at your house did not stop you from joining us.” Shelly called over her brothers shoulders. She was a little smaller then Tom but was the more imposing. She had the talent for knowing things that were happening, and it was not always in her control. That was the worst part of that, and the reason that it was not that well accepted. All magic was under conscious control, and hers really was not.

“I know that Shelly, she did call both of us, come on Johnny she may not be as bad as Darkness but she is still plenty scary.” And with that Tom moved and allowed me to enter the house. We followed the corridor to a room that they used for the meditation. It was larger then ours, but that was to be expected. Sherace was there already, in a dress of blue with a white apron around her. It appears that she was just cooking a meal.

“Sit children, and be quiet please. Meditation will not be taking place, I will be teaching you accepted terms and some theory so that you do not go into the school blind. AS you know the Gift is the ability to work magic, for lack of another word. Our ability is know as the top three of the eight point star, again as you know. Your Talents are the things you can do with the abilities and the gift. The main one is healing, and the second most know one would be a type of weather control. Some of the Talents have to do with what the three are, some have to do with your nature, and some are just what you are predisposed to in the bloodline. The sight in Shelly comes because from the bloodline. You will learn your Talents as you move farther in your studies. These are the main thing that you need to know going in. Now lets go practice a little.” She was straight to the point on every talk, and then practice. Usally between the two me mediated to gather the power inside and then steadying it.

Her back yard was a lot bigger then anything we could own, she lived on a corner lot. “OK, raise a bolder the size of a small dog. Hold it, then shape it into said dog.” I closed my eyes, breathed slowly, and gathered the power into my middle. From there I let it sink into the ground, and gripped the earth in the correct size. Cutting the bonds between my piece and the ground, I slowly raised it. Once out, I the started moving it around to get the shape that I wanted. I was going for a weiner dog, with the correct legs. It was as I finished shaping I thought that I should harden it, making it stay that way when I was done working with it.

I hardened every bond between it, and then used heat and pressure to bind and seal the outer coat. When I opened my eyes the dog looked like it had been made from rough stone, not dirt. The shape and detail could still be made out. Tom looked like a Irish wolfhound, but it was still brown and form the look, if he took the power form it, it would crumble. Shelly's was even worse, trying to create a terrier, all it was was a brown mess. Before I was able to see what Sherace thought, the world wavered and I felt like falling.

She caught me before I could, but even my knees felt like they had no strength in them. Creating the stone dog out of the earth seem to taker more energy then I had expected. “You need to be careful, even jobs that feel right and easy while working with them can exhaust you to the point of death. You need to know your limit well, and not experiment, especially with combining the magic right now. Understand the earth first, and you will learn the rest.” She was using a kind hard voice, that while she sympathized, she would not allow it to happen again.

They were fine, having done what they were required. When Sherace called for us to pull and circle 3 balls, I tried to collect and use the power, but it was impossible. The power was elusive, and when I did get it together, I could not draw it to be used. After three minutes of trying, she stopped me and sent me home for the day, as their was nothing more that I could do. I had reached the maxim, and even trying to do anything else could do real damage to me.

When I got home, I was so sleepy, that mother sent me to bed without any questions or comments. I awoke to the sound of knocking at my door. I looked at the clock at it read 7:30pm. I had gotten all of about three hours sleep, and it felt like I had not gotten a single restful one. I called groggily, “What!?” The knocking stopped, and in stepped the last person I thought to see. A women that made my life a living hell with her gift was standing in the door way. She was the spitting image of mother, except she was shorter, and her eyes were not the pools of darkness mother had. She was my oldest sister, and she had moved as soon as she was able.

“Hey little man, think you are a big man now that you have power?” She smiled to take the sting out of the words. Now that she was out of the house, we got on a little better.

“Now why would I think that, it is not like I am strong or anything crazy like that.” I got out of the bed, and when she motioned for me to follow, I did so grudgingly. I was still tired from the effort. She led me into the store front, where it was empty save a table sitting in the middle of the room. Everyone was sitting at their place, with mother at the head. She was the leader of this family, and everyone knew it. Mother waved to the open chair opposite her, and that was my clue to sit.

Once I had taken the seat, she spoke, “We are here gathered to test our latest member. We shall see what relative they shall pay homage to, and the extent of the growth of their power. For this, we need everyone to agree, are they.” She waited a second while they nodded, all three of them. Father Kory, the one that got me, and Lucy, she was a blond haired blue eyed princess. Lucy was the spitting image of my fathers mother. Not a lot of people believed that she was the daughter of darkness. The only clue came in her high, she was a tall girl.

“Then I will continue, this table has been in the family Hades used, with a little blood, it can tell some of the future, some of the past, and some of the present that will affect you greatly. It will also tell the rest of us how much power you will obtain during your life time.” She spread her hands and I felt her release her power into the table, but it was not just hers. The others added theirs to the mass that was growing above the table. When it was large enough, the power was spread on the table top int the correct patterns. The table split in the middle, producing a small hole in the center. “Add your blood to the blood of the ones before you. They are the ones that are powering this, we are merely activating and channeling the flow. You will get the most of the energy, as that will lead to your visions, we will only be getting a backlash, and that tells the power. When you are ready.” She left it open because it was not hard to figure out what she wanted.

I looked around the table and spotted a small knife on the table. It was a single edged blade sitting it a hilt that was designed with bears surrounding it. I took it and braced it over my hand, thinking which I should do. When I looked at mother, she just watched me with no facial expression at all. I scanned the rest of their faces and it was the same for all of them. I took a deep breath and slit my fore finger. Blood welled up quickly, and I held the cut over the hole. It only stung, but did not hurt that much. As the blood dropped and disappeared into the darkness, the power in the air built.

Sight and sound vanished as visions took control. I was in a place of open marble, with columns holding up the roof that was thirty feet high. Three men were gathered around a fire with two women watching. Avery heated conversation was taking place, one where energy was being given in amounts that almost drowned out everything else. I crept closer and their voices began to make sense. As I got closer I saw them more clearly. They all had beards, but one was bald, the other two had gray hair. The one one the left wore a blue robe/toga while the right wore a white one. They were of the same size, about 5'6. The one that was bald was saying that, “We need to take precautions, we are waning. It is time we stopped deceiving ourselves.” The one wearing the white yelled, “NO, I WILL NOT ACCEPT THIS. WE ARE THE GODS!!!!!” One of the women, a dark haired one with an owl scoffed, “THIS war is killing us. We have already lost contact with the others, and know that five of the others have died. Artemis is dead! Accept the facts.” At that point Someone rolled themselves into the room. He was a larger man with a hammer on his back. “These are the best that I can do, it took everything I had. They are the best that I could create. The these five artifacts will help each of you in a way that your power works. Night, Day, Light, Zephyr , and Spirit. I will still be wielding Gaea, Atlas has Core, and Apollo has Ember. Not a weapon but a formidable item.”

The world swam, and my house reappeared. I saw my mother taking but I could not make heads or tails of it. While me head was still spinning, the world shook and changed. I was outside in a thunder storm around me were simple building, Eight people were standing in a circle, one raised on a small podium. In the middle of the group was a man in shackles, no cloths save his under cloth. Lightening flashed next to him, and he was kneeling with his back erect. I could not mover closer, but from the look, I was betting a trial. Form the way it was going, it seemed that he was going to be found guilty, and that did not scare him. The one on the podium swept his cloak away from his body to show his hands, an the ring on his index finger seemed to catch the reflection of a passing lightening bolt perfectly. The winded died and the night was silent when I head, “That which was healed can be taken away. For your crime we sentence you to death, I vocant tue vite in me!!” the wind picked up and took any other words, but the effect what very visible. The man in the center started to bleed, and dry out. It was only a matter of seconds before he was dead, and the ring glowed with a light that could be seen for miles. The one on the stage laughed and celebrated, and then this would shook like the time before.

I was back home for once more, and this time I heard mothers voice enter my ears, “Only one more, remember, this is for the future that will come to pass.” And with that I lost sight again. I was standing outside of another circle, this one made of different color cloaks. There were eight in this circle as well, but they were all standing on equal ground. The one in brown started it, and the others follow suit, Around them a structure started to be build. It was one that resembled that of the temple that I saw in the first vision. It grew with such speed, that the amount of power that they poured into it must have tremendous. That had to be members of the council to do such a feat. When it was finished, they started to take off their hoods. The first one was in the white, and as the hand raised to grab the edge of the hood, I saw the ring that had glowed. Before I could see that face clearly, I was yanked back to the real world. It felt like I was getting squeezed through a small tube.

I was shaking and sweating horribly. None of the others had moved, and they were all around the table like nothing had happened. I shook my head to clear out the pictures of what had just happened. Even as the moments passes, the clarity and vividness dimmed to that of a pale memory. When I asked about this, I was told that it was normal, it keeps the person from brooding on what is seen. After that I was bullied off to bed, and I was in no condition to fight mothers urgings.