“Ring, ring! Ring, ring!” screamed the bell. “Run along you putrid children!” chided Mrs. Brown, the math teacher. All the adolescents ran inside because no one wanted to be at the mercy of the math instructor, it seemed as though she were a figment of evil. “All class today we will be learning…” Jonathan Smith’s mind went blank when he heard those terrible words escape through Mrs. Brown’s mouth. Jonathan or Jack, as he preferred, never did very well in school; it was as if there was a desire to stop hearing his teacher as though her every word was torture to him. “Well Jonathan?” said his teacher as if mocking him, “What is the equivalent of 3/4, could it be 0.75 or could it be 6/8?” Jack stammered “Umm, neither one ma’am.” the class erupted with laughter, “Incorrect. What is wrong with you? Don’t you know how to solve fraction equivalents, detention for the rest of the week for childish insolence. Have a good day class.”; and just like that the teacher was the hero and he was the enemy, again.   
      “Cheer up Jack.” Said his friend Owen, “It’s not like Mrs. Brown hates you, oh wait she does.” “Shut it Owen. You know I’ve been having a rough year with Mrs. Brown.” Defended Jack, “Yeah, I was just teasing you.” explained Owen, “Well do it less often and with a less sensitive subject.”; “Ring, ring! Ring, ring!” repeated the bell. Jonathan stepped toward the class in disgust; Mr. Wallace was the meanest, grumpiest, craziest teacher he had. It wasn’t just hate between them, it was loathing. “Hello class, today will be nonstop work to help start your 10 page essay on how tornadoes form, what damage they cause, and how they function. Begin!” sneered Mr. Wallace, the science teacher “And also I expect you to turn it in 1 week from next Monday, it must be neat, detailed, and very informative. And by the way, no doodling on the pages, this is 6th grade not 3rd!”, so Jack took a seat at 1 of the 20 student computers and began to research on tornadoes, but his mind took another path and he began daydreaming of how he would one day duel Mr. Wallace and set the world free from the havoc he would cause making kids write tornado reports, (and he wasn’t half-wrong). 
      Suddenly, Jack felt a hand on his shoulder and he jerked awake to find a monstrous, gnarly hand on him, “Help!” pleaded Jack, “Mr. Wallace is out to get me!”  “Silence, fool! You stand in the presence of Fall Equinox, or the Earth Lord. I am here to capture you no less, and take your power strong one. You will bow down to me now!” screeched the Earth Lord. Jack saw that the Earth Lord was a man wearing bark like armor and he had an earth-like aura emanating from his eye openings, his face was covered by a gruesome mask covered in small weeds and he was about 9ft tall; an uncommon height for a human. Something bright flashed and his language arts teacher Mrs. Jackson appeared and whipped out a staff shaped like a tree branch with what appeared to be a sphere carved from a golden-orange metal on its tip, the sphere quickly lit up and released a blast of light in the form of a phoenix toward the Earth Lord. The Earth Lord stumbled back and roared magnificently teleporting away leaving behind the smell of flaming grass. Then Jack passed out.
      “Wake up gifted one. Fatigue and exhaustion are for later you must wake up and escape from this evil prison. Wake up!” and Jack awoke startled by his surroundings. His school was aflame with fiery vines and combusting streams of mud darting out of the ground every few feet, “What happened Mrs. Jackson? Is this a dream?” questioned Jack “No Jonathan, this is reality. Summer Solstice or the Fire Lord has succeeded in converting the Earth Lord to the side of darkness; sadly 2 elements are against us already. We must make sure that darkness doesn’t convince the elements water or air but lucky for us they are on our side, for now.” explained Mrs. Jackson “And by the way don’t call me Mrs. Jackson, call me Angelina.” Jack was now very confused, first he had been at school having a normal day and then in his 2nd hour a monster or as he knew him, the Earth Lord had attacked him and then his language arts teacher Mrs. Jackson, now known as Angelina, saved his supposedly valuable life; but now was not the time for reflection on the past, it was time to run away from… a tree? “Mrs. Jackson, I mean Angelina why is that harmless tree over there glowing with darkness?” asked Jack “Jonathan, that tree is actually an earth spirit being controlled by the Dark Lord. You should never approach an object that glows like that tree, it is a figment of evil. You know how when your teachers become angry or frustrated they glow, that is because they are being controlled by the Dark Lord; he is planning to take all the elements and use them to destroy the Universe and then re-create it in his chaotic image. It is your job to make sure that it never happens.” commanded Angelina, “And by the way, get your rest.” And when Angelina said those words they both teleported to a room, and Angelina once again used her staff to lift Jack on the bed.
      Jack woke up and found Angelina by his bedside with a worried expression on her face. “Get up. We must start training if you will have a chance of defeating the Dark Lord. Right now many countries are under his influence.” said with Angelina with a depressed tone as if she hadn’t gotten much sleep over the past night, “But Angelina, what about my parents? They are probably worried sick right now and what of the school, it is destroyed and the authorities are probably thinking a lunatic is on the loose at the moment. And at the same time the world is shattering without anyone noticing.” pleaded Jack, “Child, your parents are here at the moment, just in another room. And in case you were wondering where you are, we are at the grand and magnificent Merlin’s Academy for Gifted Individual’s Cooperation or also known as M.A.G.I.C. and at the moment you are in the hospital room; and if you are paying attention you may see it only has 5 beds because the hospital room has many purposes including the use of a dormitory. You are 1 of the 5 students here; it is because each student is trained in the art of 1 the 5 magic elements: fire, air, earth, water, and darkness. You, along with the rest of the children will be tested to see which element fits you most. See you in the arena.” And with a poof Angelina disappeared. Jack walked to the door, opened it and found 2 stairwells; he decided to go upstairs because there is a bigger probability that a monster is being held captive downstairs and not upstairs according to movies. At the end of the stairwell there was a door, Jack opened it and when he went through it he was in a huge bowl-like room that was like the Roman Coliseum.  
      “Welcome, my friend. Are you ready for the tests? All you must do is tell us what element you prefer and why; then if your reason is fair and true we will take your it into account, but if not we will choose for you what element you receive, and mark my words Merlin doesn’t make mistakes without reason.” boomed a middle aged man with a mask who looked vaguely familiar; Jack thought about fire, it seemed the best choice but fire just wasn’t him, he was not a hot-head who liked to show off but he wasn’t exactly a calm smart-alec so cross water off the list, neither was he a person with an inner connection with the sky so air wasn’t it either neither was darkness he wasn’t exactly evil and malicious so he must be earth, yes earth was him he was stubborn like a boulder and he had a rock head because he was doing bad in school, also he had a strong muscular build like a mountain. No wonder the Earth Lord was going to abduct him, he had the ability to control earth like him; “Sir, I choose earth because I feel a connection to the earth and also I don’t have much brains so of course water is my natural enemy, thoughts don’t flow through me too well sir.” chose Jack “You are obviously wrong, Merlin will choose for you. And there he is now” explained the man and he disappeared in a flash of lightning; something was rather odd about him how he disappears when Merlin appears. “Hello my friend you are completely sadly incorrect, you are obviously water. You were seeing things the way everyone sees them, you must have thought of the elements as attributes of your personalities and you are close to the truth but you have proven not to know yourself too well. I have watched you in school and you feel idiotic because all the teachers but Mrs. Jackson or Angeline were hard on you, you are concealing your true intelligence because you are blinded by what other people see you as and not what you really are. You are calm but in a way you never expected, you are smart but not book-smart, you are a strategist. All the greatest strategists were of the water element or were water weavers. Try to harness your power now.” told Merlin; so Jack took his arm and thrust it out “No, no! Less aggressive, calm and flowing arms.” Instructed Merlin, Jack moved his hand slowly through the air with his hand shaped like a basketball player’s hand when he shoots a basket. And suddenly a miniature tsunami shot off across the air toward Merlin only to be countered and sent back with a whoosh! “Well done. Your father will be teaching you some more advanced moves tomorrow that take more effort. Now get back to your room, the other students are awaiting you.”
      Jack went down the stairwell and back to the dormitory; “So you’re the new guy, you’re supposedly a water weaver. I’m Jade and I turned out to be an earth weaver, I guess it fits my name as a mineral.” Jade seemed cool but tough at the same time not letting anyone best him in muscular appearance, Jack had to agree with Merlin he was a lot more earth weaver type than him. A girl approached him and said “I’m Raven and I happen to be a dark weaver. Just don’t get in my way and we’ll get along just fine.” Raven was your average pretty punk girl who could beat the living daylights out of a street fighter and his gang. A tall teenager with spiky black hair came toward him as well “Hey, I’m Blaze and I’m the boss here in the dormitory. And in case you didn’t figure it out by my appearance I’m a fire weaver.” and to prove himself Blaze sparked a small flame in his palm “I learned that today by the way.” bragged Blaze. A particular 4th and final roommate went over to Jack slowly, Jack knew she was an air weaver because that was the last element left “Hi my name is Tracy or Trace for short. You already know I’m an air weaver by reason.”; Tracy was dressed in a sky blue shirt and a skirt made of denim she had a nice soothing expression as if nothing bad happens as an optimist would, she was the complete opposite of Raven personality-wise. “Well I’m Jack and I am a water weaver. So I hope that clears some things up.” said Jack cheerfully with a sarcastic expression; then Jack took a nap.
      “Boom! Boom! Boom!” then the dormitory wall crashed open and a 9ft tall man with fiery red armor and a long, sharp, flaming sword carried in each hand; he bellowed “Where is Merlin? I am Summer Solstice or the Fire Lord I have come to destroy him and abduct his maiden, Angeline!”; Jack wove his hand across the air and splashed the Fire Lord with a jet of ice cold water, then Blaze created a flame in his hand and blasted toward the same foe but the Fire Lord dismissed both attacks and chucked golf ball sized fireballs at Blaze and Jack and to top off his attack the Fire Lord laughed in a cold cruel way. Raven created a dark orb and it shot across the room hitting the Fire Lord powerfully, Tracy spun once, thrust out her hand, and a big gust of wind blew the Fire Lord into one of the beds. Jade didn’t want to miss out on the fun so he shot both his hands up making a boulder then Jade commanded the boulder toward the Fire Lord infuriating him. “Enough!” screamed the Fire Lord sending huge columns of flame toward each teen, and the Fire Lord darted down the stairwell leaving a trail of flaming floor behind him.
      “Guys we have to save Merlin and Angeline.” pleaded Tracy “Teamwork is powerful, let’s use it to our advantage.”; so everyone followed the flaming floor down the stairwell and entered a room that looked like a wizard’s lair, but Jack supposed that Merlin was a wizard. “I’ve come to get you Merlin, once and for all!” sneered the Fire Lord; Merlin raised a wall of diamond, thrust it toward the Fire Lord, and jumped to the side avoiding the Fire Lord’s powerful fire blast, then Merlin created a wave of water as tall as the Fire Lord and it shot away hitting the Fire Lord with a powerful unexpected water surprise. But the Fire Lord had enough, he created 3 flaming boulders and blasted them toward Merlin as an act of vengeance; slowly Merlin fell and passed away in a ghost like form. “NOOOOOOOOO! Merlin! Come on guys we have to avenge Merlin’s death on the Fire Lord!” commanded Jack, so the group went to strike the Fire Lord with their strongest attack but the Fire Lord was replaced by a glowing half-melted magma knight. Luckily for them their attacks combined were too much for the magma knight so it simply disintegrated as if finishing its melting progress.
      Then a brown orb appeared with the Earth Lord’s face ‘in’ it; “Hello my friends I have captured Angeline and the only way to get her back is to give all your puny powers up to the Dark Lord by 3 days from now. He will need them to complete the master plan.” the Earth Lord was very content. Then Raven blasted the evil orb out of existence with a purple fireball “I don’t want to keep a reminder of Merlin’s death around especially in bad times like these. Well let’s train if we are going to be strong enough to fare in the Earth Realm, I’ve been there and it isn’t pretty.” explained Raven; so Jack went up the stairwell into the arena to train and he saw his mom and dad. “Mom! Dad! It’s me Jack, I’m glad you’re not freaked out right now.” shouted Jack “Hello son, we’ve been waiting ‘till the time you could come here and train. Sadly Merlin is dead at these terrible times of crisis, I will help you train because I am a water weaver as well as you are. Come and I can teach you at least 5 water moves in 2 days because you and your friend’s must have enough time to reach the Earth temple in the horrible Earth Realm. Your first move will be the ice wall, the simplest where you create a wall of ice; all you must do is concentrate to emanate a wall of ice.” instructed Jack’s dad; Jack did as told and created a wall of very thick strong frozen water or ice. “Another move is the water jet; to do that move you must concentrate on a nice flow of water that can be sped or slowed.” explained Jack’s dad; Jack concentrated again and a flow of water appeared on the ground, “This move was intended to give the water weaver a source of his element.” lectured Jack’s father “You may come back tomorrow to learn the moves water heal, water whip, and water wave.” After his father’s teachings Jack ate at the food court, went to the dormitory, and fell in a deep sleep.
      When Jack woke up, his day passed by very quickly because he wasn’t paying attention to the time and because he was excited yet worried about his destined battle with the Earth Lord. Breakfast passed in a flash as he engulfed his omelet and gulped down his orange juice. He learned water heal and healed his father’s purpose cut; then Jack had a lunch of tuna fish between 2 slabs of bread. After lunch Jack had no difficulty learning water whip (although he hit himself 3 times on accident) but his water wave move needed practice; his water wave kept on falling apart, but after improving his concentration all his waves resided fiercely in a controlled manner. Then Jack had a delightful dinner of lasagna; after dinner Jack walked to the dormitory and rested so he would be ready tomorrow. 
      After he woke up, Jack led Jade, Blaze, Tracy, and Raven into the arena to seek directions from his wise parents. “Hey mom, how do we get to the Earth Realm?” asked Jack “Merlin had a magic portal in his lab; it will take you past the Earth Realm (“Thank goodness.” said Raven) to the Earth temple. Once you are at its walls you are all on your own. Remember your abilities and resist any temptation the Earth Lord may want to give you to take your powers.” ordered Jack’s mom. Jack and his crew went to the dormitory to pack. Jack saw a potion labeled acid so he thought that might come in handy in the earth temple, Jack also found a bronze sword lying under his bed, Jack supposed that came too. He also discovered a water bottle (don’t forget to fill it with water). Everyone was ready for the battle at the Earth Temple so they filled their bags and headed downstairs; they entered the laboratory and entered the oval shaped portal.
      Jack felt like his atoms were being ripped apart and exploding and re-joining until they arrived at the Earth Temple. The temple looked like a pyramid on the inside, almost completely covered in spider webs, hieroglyphs, and statues depicting the Earth Lord. They looked around and found a door, but it was locked with a huge keyhole; luckily Raven created a key out of darkness and fit it through the door. Then they entered another room with 10 ugly giants waiting for them; then the door closed and the keyhole blocked itself. So Jack shot a powerful water wave and 2 giants disintegrated, Blaze lit his fist on fire and punched 3 giants, Jade made a puddle of quicksand where 1 giant used to stand, Tracy created a sphere of high velocity air and 2 giants got launched through the temple walls, and Raven got attacked but she made a dark shield and destroyed the 2 giants with purple fire; with all the giants dead the door re-opened itself and a new door appeared. 
      Jack led the adolescents through the new path and found himself in the room where the Earth Lord’s form laid. Then the Earth Lord looked upward and raised his hands, a rain of boulders followed; “You all have special gifts. Give them to me and I will reward you graciously. The Dark Lord will spare you in his new Universe; you shall be able to rule a small part of it along with endless riches. All you must do is say ‘I blank give up my powers to the Dark Lord’.” sneered the Earth Lord. And sadly, Jade came up to him and said “Do I really get endless riches? And will I get my parents back?” the Earth Lord replied “Yes. Everything and much more.” so Jade bows to the Earth Lord and cries proudly “I Jade give up my powers to the Dark…” “Whoosh!” Jack wouldn’t let his friend give himself to the Dark Lord, so Jack had used water wave to halt the ritual and stun the Earth Lord. “Grrrr! Now you really asked for it!” roared the Earth Lord and with a wave of his hand a huge chunk of land launched itself at Jack.  Jack created an ice wall and screamed “Everyone attack the Earth Lord!”; then everyone used their best skills and a huge sphere of light began engulfing the Earth Lord but it shot outwards in its attempt to trap the Earth Lord. Then the Earth Lord raised 10 giants out of the ground, but that attempt ended the same way as the first giant encounter. Jack came up with a plan and spread the word through his team; everyone used their elements to create a huge chain to trap the Earth Lord. The chain began revolving around the Earth Lord ferociously, and continued until the Earth Lord was no more. 
      A huge ball of light appeared and Angeline came from it. “Thank you for saving me but we should go because the temple is falling apart!” requested Angeline; and she was right because colossal stones were hailing over them and columns were falling leaving the roof without support. Almost everyone jumped in the ball of light and they escaped from the horrid scene. “Wait, where’s Jade?” asked Angeline “He stayed because he didn’t resist the Earth Lord, he will probably attempt to resurrect him.” explained Raven. And Angeline exclaimed “The Dark Lord has been thwarted for the moment. You will be called to M.A.G.I.C. when needed here.”
      
      

 The Thief of Elements: The Earth Lord, 6-8,			p. 1