Valedictory
The Council Chambers, The Academy, Elementōrum Patriam
“I came from a long line of elementalists,” Eilene started. “A proud line. There’s no record of the last time anyone in my family gave birth to an Un or a Rogue.”
Scott made his way over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. He retrieved two glasses from the cupboard and poured their drinks.
“Coming from a prestigious line puts a lot of pressure on parents and children. I think. It’s expected we will all turn out to be elementalists. When I showed no signs of it, everything went downhill.” She took the glass. “My parents labeled me as an Un before any tests came out—they don’t do tests. Everyone ends up an elementalist. There’s no question. The problem is, I showed zero signs of it. I didn’t reach any peak of powers until my teenager years. My parents, in turn, abandoned me. We continued to live in the same house and eat the same meals, but I didn’t know them.”
Scott watched her move to the small counter with shelving and seating at the raised bar area. She took a small book off the shelf.
“I like to read in here, so I hid a copy of my favorite book.” She held it out to him. He took it gently and ran his fingers across the worn cover. “I spent a lot of time in my room. I turned to books to try and help fill the void my parents left behind.
“One day, I read A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and it resonated with me. It’s the story of a country at war with itself and how, despite the war, two people found a glimmer of love and hope. Sydney fascinated me, and the book changed my entire outlook on life.” Eilene sipped her drink. “Somewhere along the way, I changed from an ignored child to a vulnerable one. I tried to spend more time with my family. Since I still didn’t show signs of being an elementalist, I couldn’t make any connections with my immediate family. Then came the connections to my extended family. My uncle took advantage of me.”
Scott stepped up beside her and put his hand over hers.
“I tried to tell my parents what happened, that he—” she couldn’t quite form the words. Scott squeezed her hand to say he understood. “But they didn’t believe me. They shrugged me off, and my uncle convinced me I deserved it for failing to be born as an elementalist.” Eilene bit her lower lip and tried to hold in her tears. “He kept coming after me, but one day things started to go too far, and I tried to run. Except, I couldn’t. He caught me and raped me. When I returned home, with my clothes tattered and torn, my mother yelled at me for an hour. I tried to explain what happened, but she called me ungrateful and nearly threw me out of the house altogether.”
She pushed a hand through her hair. Scott moved his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in tight against his chest.
“I wanted to prove myself as an elementalist. I thought if I could become one, they would believe me about everything else—I hoped I would magically have their support overnight.” Her tears fell hot and thick against her cheeks. “My uncle came after me again. He broke the lock and entered our house when my parents were away. I managed to escape out the window, but he chased me. That day, in my fear, I awoke my powers as a Water elementalist. When he pulled me to the ground, everything welled up, and I blasted him with boiling hot water. He couldn’t move—third-degree burns—and I left him there in the street. I don’t know who found him or what my family thought, but I came to the Academy and ended up here.”
“That book is why Dwayne calls you ‘Dickens’,” Scott murmured against her hair.
“He is the first person I ever told,” Eilene paused, lost in her thoughts, “I already mentioned Sydney Carton. He is the epitome of unconditional love. When I met him in the story, I realized I wanted my own Sydney Carton—but when I found him, fate knew it wouldn’t be this way. You see, Sydney Carton loves this woman, Lucie Manette, except she is in love with a man named Charles Darnay. It’s the French Revolution, and everything is in turmoil. After Lucie marries Charles, Madame Defarge turns Charles in for some false charges. Sadly, after some court battles and more charges, Darnay is sentenced to death for crimes his ancestors committed.
“Sydney is not okay with seeing Lucie upset over losing her husband, and he knows she will never love him back the way he wants. He switches places with Charles in the prison. He sacrifices himself to the guillotine. The book ends with Sydney happy with his choice and walking to the gallows. I decided then I would love Sydney back if he ever came into my life.”
“Dwayne,” Scott said.
“Yes.” She let out a slow breath. “The problem is, I didn’t realize there are multiple kinds of true love you can show a person. Dickens portrayed Sydney’s love as more romance centered, but self-sacrificing platonic love is also completely valid. I spent so long convincing myself Sydney Carton is the right man to spend your life with, but I completely ignored the love between Lucie and Charles.”
Scott stayed silent as he mulled over the story. “Are you content with living a story which is already written and finished?”
“What?”
“The story you told me about. It’s already done. Charles Dickens told his story hundreds of years ago. Are you content with reliving the same story or are you going to write your own?” He dropped his arm and moved away.
“I am not.” She gripped his forearms with her nails. “I don’t want to live the same story over again.”
“Then that’s what you need to do.” He gave her a half-smile, and she sat stunned on the chair at the uncharacteristic gesture.
She let go of his arms. “The people who wronged me in the past helped make me who I am today. I’m not condoning any of their actions, but without the fear of feeling trapped, I don’t know if I ever would’ve awoken my elementalist powers. I want to keep moving forward. I want to prove we are meant to be here in this world. If it comes to a war against Tyr Slattery, then I’m ready and willing to be out there on the front lines, proving my worth.”
Scott took the empty glass from her and walked over to the sink. A familiar set of arms not belonging to him wrapped around his waist, and he nearly dropped the glasses.
“Thank you, Scott.” Eilene took a deep breath as she hugged him; she recognized the tones of the cologne she picked out at the mall for him. One of his hands wrapped around hers and held her in place. She didn’t know how long they stood there.
Scott let go of her hand and finished washing the dishes while she put the book back in its designated spot. She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before she left. He dried his hands and retrieved the book from the shelf and settled into one of the bar stools for a few hours of reading. He wanted to see the story through for himself.
November 5, 2317
Bacon Level, Randolph County, Alabama, United States of America
“We were lucky to find this one—I wish we got the one in Jackson,” Tyr growled as he worked on the model sword. He hoped it would be the last one he made, but every iteration of the weapon didn’t touch the little girl. He convinced himself this one would.
“This one, you know for sure, is a Death elementalist,” Mason pointed out from the kitchen table. He sat next to Ryan and pored over pages of papers and handwritten notes. “You merely have to find their limitations.”
“You are right, as you often are lately.” Tyr grinned. He held out the sword again. The research they accessed only mentioned extreme conditions affecting the elementalists, but as humans, they didn’t have a good way of testing an extreme condition without their subject present. The child proved resistant to heat and cold in the locked room of the small house they broke into.
They had no idea when the owners might return, and every little noise made them jump. They couldn’t use any lights at night because they feared it would alert the neighbors.
“I wish I could figure out elementalist limitations.” Tyr frowned in frustration and bent forward. “Secretive bastards. I’m going to test this one.”
Ryan followed Tyr into the other room to see him swing the sword futilely through the girl’s stomach. Tyr let out a low and annoyed sigh as he inspected the edges of the weapon. They had a limited supply of items they could use based on their surroundings. The child gazed at Ryan sadly as she sat on the bed, completely motionless—devoid of life. She no longer flinched as the weapons swung her way.
Mason appeared with a milkshake and held out the glass to her. She took it wearily and pushed the straw into her mouth. She vomited any solid foods she ate.
“We don’t want to kill you. I promise we’ll find a way to help you,” he whispered. “Drink up, for now.”
Tyr walked into one of the other rooms and closed the door. The lock clicked.
“Didn’t he want a cure?” Mason whispered into Ryan’s ear.
“Yes,” Ryan breathed out slowly and closed the door to the kitchen. “However, he thinks he’ll need to kill the Council to get anywhere near the elementalists.”
“He’s not exactly wrong, is he?” Mason fetched a wet washcloth from the bathroom and pressed it against the child’s face.
“Yeah, but he tried to convince us both that our children are serving on the Council then he turns around and wants to kill them.” Ryan leaned against the dresser.
“That’s how he’s got us trapped.” Mason used the comb in his back pocket to tend to the little hair the girl had left; he arranged it to hide the bald patches.
“I was supposed to help with a cure for the mutation.”
“I doubt that’ll happen anytime soon. His goals have changed.” Mason stood. He put his hand on the handle of the door. “Our focus should be to do what we can for this child, to save her. The FBI is on our tail. It won’t be long before they catch up to us, despite Tyr’s thievery and tricks. If Tyr plans on raising his army, he has to do it soon.”
Ryan swallowed around a lump in his throat.
December 7, 2317
The Council Chambers, The Academy, Elementōrum Patriam
“Luana!” Series ran haggardly through the halls. “We have trouble!”
Luana met her in the hallway with the others crowded around them. Series held out her phone, the screen open to a news page.
WORLD LEADERS DENOUNCE ELEMENTALISTS—ANTI-ELEMENTALIST GROUPS DECLARE WAR UNDER LEADER TYR SLATTERY
“What?!” Luana grabbed the phone and pressed it against the wall where the article blew up into a larger format for them all to read.
Anti-elementalist rhetoric is at an all-time high in many countries around the world. While there are certain cities declared as safe-havens, or harbors, there are the same number of cities mandating genetic testing to remain an elementalist-free zone. Most recently, an American man, Tyr Slattery, kidnapped a supposed elementalist child from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The United States original issued a warrant for his arrest in accordance with the agreements made with Elementōrum Patriam.
However, the U.S. has temporarily removed this sanction in light of a video published online by Slattery where he demonstrated a weapon designed for use against the elementalists. Tyr is currently the face of the online movement calling for action against those carrying the elementalist mutation.
In the video, Slattery explains how he developed a weapon to combat the elementalists after they took his daughter from him. The incident, as previously reported, occurred in Arizona and was the result of the five-year-old setting fire to their house and killing her nanny. The elementalists retrieved her according to their agreements with the American government and followed every legal procedure.
Slattery believes his daughter should still be in his care and plans to take the elementalists head-on in a battle for who is stronger—the elementalists or the humans. In his message, he proposes their complete eradication and practice of eugenics to keep the race from appearing again.
On the other hand, Slattery confirms he kidnapped the child from Hattiesburg to experiment on. In the video, he cuts the child, who he claims is a Death elementalist, with a flamethrower style blade, resembling the weapons the elementalists developed.
Some of the comments on the online video condemned Slattery for attempting to wipe out a race of people and human trial testing, while others celebrated his courage to stand up against what might be considered a higher power. Most radical online forums do not condemn his actions in kidnapping the child since the forums are generally anti-elementalist.
Many governments, including the American government, are taking Slattery’s lead. They are pledging allegiance to his movement and have since withdrawn existing contracts with Elementōrum Patriam at risk of engaging in direct war.
Slattery’s full video is linked below.
“Do we dare?” Dwayne reached toward the play button on the video.
“It’s the only way we’ll know.” Luana clenched her jaw. “Either way, we have void contracts and will need to make a decision for the betterment of our country.”
“Then we ought to have all the facts,” Hans agreed.
Dwayne pressed the play button, and the video took three seconds to load. No one breathed. It felt like an hour had passed.
“How long must we remain oppressed? How long will we allow the world to remain under the control of a singular small country which chooses to live above us in the sky as if they are gods? I ask as a parent: how can they consider themselves to be more equipped to handle and raise our children? If the elementalists hold these powers, why don’t they seek to assist humanity? Instead, they refuse to help us. Every year, more of us continue to die from diseases they eradicated among their own people. Why do they hide these secrets from us? Are we not deserving enough?
“We are burdened with debts to them as if they are great saviors of the world—when all they do is take our children from us. We are enslaved by a people with numbers smaller than ours. This is the beginning of our greater collapse. We have only contributed to our oppression by refusing to speak up—we humiliated ourselves, destroyed our honor, and denied everything which we held dearest to us. We stand as a trampled society under the foot of the elementalists. They look down on us with smirks on their faces.
“They know we live in fear of them—as witnessed in the Hattiesburg mall by the destruction they left in their wake. I faced them and won. Today, I sit before you with a message. The day will come when they claim we are no longer meeting our quota, no longer meeting our share of the work in populating their country. They will push us for more—they will take more from us. How long can we remain silent while they push us to the brink of despair as we hope for a better future?
“We are bound by the voice of our government. Many countries worldwide scream and cry all day long they are governed by the people, but the people do not have a voice! Those who sign the accords with the elementalists are the government. They cosigned away our children and told us it would be better this way. I have a better solution. Had we never had the elementalists, we would not be sitting in our inaction. No, we would be with our families around a table experiencing the trials of life as they come without fear of a mutation ruining our dreams and expectations.
“If we practiced caution and good sense, we would not be where we are today. There are cities around the world which ban elementalists for fear of the destruction they will reign upon us. We could have avoided this altogether by refusing to reproduce elementalists. Of course, what I’m suggesting is not easy for those who decide to follow love over common sense. If we had not reproduced with, or allowed the elementalists to reproduce, our lives would be quiet. Most likely, we would still be on Pangea—a happy continent where we are one with our fellow man instead of separated by a grand design of those who oppress us.
“Freedom comes through revolution. We can ask who is responsible for our misfortune and inquire as to who is profiting from our collapse—an eternal evolution into the elementalists. If they continue to be born, we will remain under their rule, terrified of the unnatural power they wield. Throughout time, the elementalists have not grown poorer and weaker as we convinced ourselves. Instead, they grow stronger and richer with every child born into the world. The day will come when they outnumber us and wipe us from the earth in their conquest for power.
“Do you think these people would be capable of ending a revolution if the world united against them? Even with the accords broken, we outnumber them. We have the chance to seize the moment when we take back our world. We take back our children. We take back our rights. We take back our choice. This stream of opposition we create as we carve out a new path in the mountains of the world’s struggle shows our recognition of how the system manipulates us. We can take this system down by bonding together. If the masses come into action, the leaders of the elementalists will recognize the facts and come to their end by bowing down to the superior, more populous race.
“Their lies about separating for the betterment of humans will no longer persist. Let me show you why I can say this with such confidence.” Tyr stood, and the camera followed him. “I have here a child who is a Death elementalist. I can confirm this through several methods. This is a regular knife. When I try to hurt her with the knife, her body reacts and doesn’t allow her to take any injury.” He showed them how her wrist turned to smoke for only a moment, the same as Ethan’s.
“She’s like me,” he whispered. “There’s more than just me.”
“She isn’t injured, but I am developing a weapon which will. It’s a way we can take down all the types of elementalists, should they be mass manufactured.” Tyr held a different type of hollow tubular weapon in front of him. The tube’s edge sharpened to a point, like a knife. Along the sides, the weapon had holes in the silver-colored metal. He pressed a button on the hilt, and bright blue flames burst from every orifice. “When it is perfected, it will touch even these abominations.”
“I can say, there is no doubt in my mind people will be roused to victory when they see the truth. The elementalists can be killed by the likes of us. Perhaps some remain apathetic, but I know this seed of hope will ferment in their hearts. Passion for the right is driven through distress, and since they unjustly took my daughter from me, I have lived in the deepest wells of distress. This is the faith you can cling to. This is your opportunity to do something right and change the course of our world as we know it. My movement going forward will create the torrential tsunami waves needed to maintain reform. Do not fail in the hours of confusion as the elementalists hope to win back your loyalty with their false promises.” He held the weapon in front of him in a tight grip and the camera focused on it instead. “This is your future. You know where you can pledge your allegiance to. Put your faith in me and help to build the foundation of the new world where you will only find calmness settled into your heart.
“With these words, I announce my official declaration of war against the elementalists. Countries who wish to find a better future; join me and denounce our oppressors.”
The video ended, and the website brought up automatic recommendations for other videos they could view next. They didn’t move.
“The war Series foresaw. It’s this one. A war threatening to end our race entirely.” Luana took a shaky breath. “What is our first move?”
The Council barely broke for dinner amid their harried planning session. When they couldn’t ignore the growling of their stomachs any longer, they sent their orders as one set to the kitchens. The plates arrived, and they set them in the middle, allowing everyone to pull their orders closer to them as they worked. Luana had army schematics pulled up on one wall, and she moved them around to represent the dissociated countries alongside those still allied through their unbroken contracts.
On another wall, Series and Scarlet worked with Hans and Ethan to write an appropriate response letter for the declaration.
Eilene worked close to Scott and Dwayne on securing plans to shut down Elementōrum Patriam if needed. She leaned over to whisper in Scott’s ear, and he nearly jumped back in surprise from the sharp breath against his cheek.
“Before I forget, happy birthday.” She smiled and pressed something into his palm.
His fingers wrapped around the object and her hand before she pulled away and reached for something to write on. Dwayne didn’t appear to notice the exchange, and Scott lifted his hand. Between his fingers rested a small pin with a depiction of the wind element embossed into the metal. He didn’t wear pins, but it came from her. He removed the backing and lifted it to the collared edge of his leather jacket then pressed the pin through the fabric before he reattached the back and returned to work.
A smile rested on Eilene’s lips as she wrote a few notes onto her computer screen. In a brave move, Scott reached forward and stole a few of her fries from the plate. Her gray eyes pierced him with curiosity. He replied by pushing the bowl of ice cream closer to her.
“Do you think we’ll need to make a nationwide call for volunteers to join the army?” Scott asked as Eilene helped herself to the sweet dessert.
“That’s not a bad idea.” Dwayne made a note of it. “I’ll add it as a section in our plans for combatting the humans and their numbers.”
“On that note, we need to let our troops know to mobilize as soon as we release the command if possible.” Eilene brought her thumb away from the bowl and licked off a bit of chocolate. “Do you want me to work on the announcement? It’d probably be ideal to release it before morning.”
“If you would, Eilene,” Luana pitched in. “Your decision is for the best.”
“Give me twenty minutes tops to have a draft.”
Lakeland, Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, United States of America
“You want to kidnap another child?” Mason nearly dropped the plate in his hands.
“The woman in Jackson, I’m sure she is one of the lost elements. We were lucky to find a Death elementalist shortly after her escape, but we haven’t tested this weapon against the other. I’m sure it’ll be fine against the seven elements since the other children are injured by normally devised weapons. I watched this new child—he had the same habits as the waitress. If we can’t rid the world of all the elements, it does nothing for our cause.” Tyr paced the length of the living room.
Ryan looked over at Mason. They still had the Death elementalist with them. Another child would make it harder to get them out of the hostage situation.
“I think it would be best if we develop corrections after seeing the weapon act in war against them,” Ryan tried to placate. “We are trying to primarily work toward a cure—not destruction.”
“No, it’ll be too late then. If we go up against them without being fully prepared, we could be killed on the battlefield. Where would the fight for justice be, then?”
“You’ve made your point.” Mason crossed his arms. “We’ll agree—but you need to promise to keep both children alive and to return them to their families.”
“What?” Tyr snapped like a vicious dog.
“You know what it’s like to have your child ripped away from you. These children are not old enough to make their own decisions—they don’t know what their people have done. They deserve to be returned to their home.” Mason’s voice remained calm and quiet.
“Where is the Council’s consideration when they take our children away?” Tears gathered in the corner of Tyr’s eyes. His breathing picked up pace, and he choked. “How can you say any of our children were old enough to make their own decisions about joining those elementalists?” he spat the last word. “Perhaps your children were old enough to think for themselves, but my daughter was five. Much closer to the typical age when they discover and take our children from us.”
Mason’s and Ryan’s lips thinned. Mason bit his tongue to bite back the retort he wanted to say. Tyr’s daughter was the only one with the true power of an elementalist. The Council had no reason to kill her like they did for their children.
“Do you honestly think they deserve to be returned to their families just to be torn away again?” Tyr asked. “We have to eradicate them as a steppingstone for their whole race.”
“You promised a cure not genocide,” Mason said.
“Fine—but let it be on your heads if one of them grows up to revive the mutation.”
Ryan sighed. “They won’t if you put your focus back on the cure. You can’t kill your own daughter, Tyr.”
Tyr didn’t appear to hear him.
December 8, 2317
The Council Chambers, The Academy, Elementōrum Patriam
Ethan pulled the robe over his head. The Council spent a full twenty-four hours without sleep as they formulated their plans to move forward. In their tiredness, Series reached a moment of clarity and experienced another waking vision, telling them how to proceed. They would have to go before their people for the first time as a unit, ready for their judgement, and beg for their help.
Luana was convinced Ethan would need to be the one to face Tyr Slattery on the battlefield. She claimed, with the Council’s backing, he would be able to train to become immune to the weapon he wielded, but Ethan had his own doubts about the plan. He simply felt too exhausted to argue. He wanted to finish their task for the day then sleep, but he didn’t know when their next chance to rest would be.
In the meantime, they waited in the entrance hall for everyone to assemble and finish their measly breakfasts. Scott already had his robe on, but the hood rested on his shoulders as he watched Eilene. She inhaled a glass bottle of apple juice, but Ethan had a feeling she didn’t register anything past the sugary taste. Dwayne laughed at something Scarlet said, but Ethan’s brain refused to process the words—he couldn’t say if they conversed in English, in the first place.
“I don’t think this is cranberry juice,” Eilene said. She held up the bottle for scrutiny, but her eyes kept drifting shut, and she couldn’t comprehend the label. Dwayne gently took his apple juice back from her and replaced her drink with the correct one. As he took a sip from the half-empty bottle, he noticed Scott look away forcefully.
“These are kind of itchy.” Ethan scratched at the robe just under his chest and tried to adjust the fabric.
“You’ll get used to it,” Series said.
Luana watched a small screen near the door. One of the squares shone bright red while the other eleven glowed green. They had to wait for an all-clear signal from the twelve feeds before they could leave the safety of the Council chambers. “As a reminder, the speech Scarlet and I prepared will be delivered to the entire world, not just to our people. We are hosting a live video feed, and I’m sure many are already tuned in. There are many speculating we will bow out of the war, but that would mean admitting we shouldn’t be alive either. I’m sure there will be an uproar among all peoples. I want our people to trust us—which means we need to trust them. We need to be a part of them.”
“We understand.” Hans placed a hand on her shoulder.
The last light turned green. They lifted their hoods and donned the black face plates. The door opened to the brightly lit corridor. Eilene straightened but drifted several times along the hall. Dwayne put a hand on her shoulder and passed her a sour candy to help wake her up. She made a grunt of acknowledgement and quickly slid the candy into her mouth through the mask. With everyone gathered outside for the press conference, they didn’t run the risk of someone seeing them, but they still wanted to take precautions.
At the front doors of the Academy, two security guards waited for them. The Council stopped per protocol, and the personnel used a walkie on their wrist to talk to those outside. It took a few minutes before security cleared them and opened the doors. They bowed in respect as the Council passed. Their people outside bowed in a similar manner.
A translator for Elementalist Sign Language waited on their podium. They gave a short non-verbal greeting before turning to the waiting crowd. One camera remained focused on them, so the translator would be broadcast through the entire feed. They didn’t move as they waited for one of the Council members to speak. The eight took their place on the stand before Luana broke away and stepped up to the main microphone.
“As the Council, we come before you today to address the accusations and war cries sounded against our people. Since the announcement, we found ourselves stuck in a dizzying loop of pressure. With our discovery of lost elementalist history, there are many changes coming to our country and to the Council. As you see, we now number eight and hold out hope for us to be nine again. While this is happy news, the threat to our wellbeing is not.” Her words echoed and weighed heavily on the people’s hearts. Muttering passed through the crowd below them. Luana certainly caught their attention. “A human dared to threaten our existence as a people. They garnered the support of many countries we once considered allies in their protection. They called for the practice of eugenics to eradicate our race permanently, seeking to erase us from the history of the world. Their plan is to destroy everything we have built since being driven out of their lands thousands of years ago with the first Council. Vasha tore apart of the world and gave us our freedom in the sky. We cannot let her sacrifice die in vain.
“We naïvely believed we would be safe from the humans. However, we continue to live in fear and separate ourselves from them, but this is a futile solution. We will no longer bow to the will of humans. Yes, for years we refused to use our abilities to assist humans, which may cause some resentment, but let us not forget we helped the human race for centuries before they turned on us. Humans persecuted and killed our people for our powers. Thousands of years may have passed, but we are in the same place, fighting the same war.
“We no longer wish to remain subjugated to the human population. For years we painfully tore children away from families to keep them from injuring or killing their parents and siblings while still unable to control their abilities. This is an agreement we made between all the countries of the world. We do not want to kill humans. We want to protect your race, but you denied us from helping you. Now, you come to us claiming we have not offered while you drove us off your lands.
“We come before our people with a plea. The world is revolting against us. They doubt our strength. They plan to kill us—they plan to kill our children before they have a chance to live a life which they have a right to live. We are not to blame for our abilities or our differences. As the Council, we strive to protect you and make a country where we are accepted for who we are. Instead, it provided a target which the world can hit easier than ever.
“As part of the Council, we needed to keep our identities hidden. We did not want the power to influence our decisions when it came to family members we ceaselessly love or friends who we deeply care about. We see it as one of our duties to disappear from the lives of those we care about to better protect them, but in doing so, it hurt them. So today, as part of our plea to ask for your support, we made the decision to trust you. We are prepared to do what is right, even if it costs us our own lives. For you to trust us, there cannot be any secrets between us. We lived in hiding for countless centuries. This will be no more. Our shrouded identities will no longer exist. We hope this will gain your trust. We wish for you to join our fight against those set to destroy us.”
The Council reached up and removed the face plates from their masks and threw the material onto the ground in front of them. They pushed the hoods down and gasps and murmurs passed through the crowd as they recognized the Council members who they believed to be dead. They pulled the robes free from the rest of their body, and the red fabric joined the masks on the ground.
Luana ran her fingers through her messy hair and smiled. “I thought it would be more upsetting to reveal ourselves when we lived hidden for so long, but there is something freeing in this action. It makes me feel closer to all of you. My name is Luana Ford, from Tennessee in America. I am the representative of Fire on the Council.” She snapped her fingers and the robes burst into flames. They had new ones without the fire-retardant material, commissioned overnight for Luana to put on a show. “I’ve acted as a part of this Council since twenty-two-ninety-nine. I would like to take a moment to introduce you to my friends and fellow Council members.”
She stepped away from the microphone and the others lined up to take their turn.
“Hans Aliyev, the representative of Earth. I joined the Council in twenty-three-oh-six. I am from the Russia sector in City of Vasha.”
“Scott Everton, I am a Wind elementalist from South Carolina in America. I joined the Council in twenty-three-ten.”
“Lí Scarlet, a Storm elementalist. I joined the Council the same year, only a couple of weeks after Scott. I am from Jingzhou, People’s Republic of China.”
“Dwayne Tebogo. I am from Botswana, and I control Life. I joined the Council a year after Scott and Scarlet.”
“Eilene Vos from the Netherlands sector in City of Barren. I hail from a long line of elementalists, and I am the Water representative. I joined the Council a year after Dwayne.”
“Series Pahona, I am part of the Hopi Nation in Arizona and New Mexico, United States,” she said, “I joined the Council the same year as Eilene. I am a Fortune elementalist.”
“Ethan Silverspoon—I feel a little guilty for admitting I am also American. We aren’t terribly diverse, apparently. I’ve lived all over, so I can’t say I really come from anywhere specifically. I joined the Council a year ago after it was discovered I am a Death elementalist.”
Luana took control of the microphone again. “We are on the lookout for the return of the ninth element among our people. We want to be a Council of nine who can govern you with your faith in us. While we ourselves may not be terribly diverse, we do see the importance of our people coming from a global sphere. Our own country, the great Elementōrum Patriam, is full of the diverse cultures of the world and none are turned away. If we allow the humans to come against us, we will lose the unity we have with one another.
“The humans asked for war with us, and it is a war they will receive. We cannot back down when they want to take away everything we hold dear. As the call comes asking for you to serve our country, I hope you can accept. Our sense of nationalism, of globalism, is unparalleled by any other in the world. We understand what it is like to be the oppressed, to be the one staring down the barrel of a gun waiting for others to see us as more than a mutation.
“We are stronger together.” Luana stepped away from the microphone. The crowd below broke into raucous applause and cheering.
They would take questions from the waiting audience, but the most important part had come to an end—but really, they knew it would only be the beginning.