The students entered through the numerous boulders that formed an enormous entrance leading to a very dark tunnel that seemed to run underground for a length that was totally impossible to estimate.
Devion stood still, watching as one person after another entered the cavern.
"There's no need to be afraid."
A young girl stood beside the strand, her long, fine white hair decorating her light gray eyes. Thyra. Thyra Coenburg. Her beauty was undeniable and Devion was absorbed for a moment by her clear eyes and porcelain skin.
Another student arrived and wrapped his arm around Thyra's shoulders. His blond hair was styled in a sort of organized mess, and his red eyes contrasted sharply with the light color of his hair. He was tall, very tall, much taller than Devion, even if he himself already considered himself far from being short.
"Oh hello there." Ezekiel straightened up and tilted his head forward, bringing Thyra with him in the process. "Dev-ion. Is that your name?"
"Let go of me, Ezekiel!" With a shake of her head, the girl detached herself from the blond. "Excuse him."
Devion still hadn't ruled and merely raised an eyebrow. So these were the third years Cristael had selected to join his team. How were they as extraordinary as Sol described them?
"Come on. We're moving." Caspian had said not far from them his right yellow eye glinting and giving him an even darker look than usual.
"No fun." Ezekiel retorted, swinging his head to one side as he turned to resume his walk.
Thyra pushed her hair back and offered a gentle smile to Devion, who replied, a little embarrassed. The boy's eyes wandered over the students who were a little further away from them and who, unlike them, were following each other in perfectly organized rows.
Nevertheless, something wasn't quite right. Amidst the crowd of students marching as a team, it was impossible to make out the silhouette of either of the two teachers accompanying them.
Devion frowned and felt Umbra stir at his feet. Claws out, she snarled as a dark atmosphere seemed to cover the entire landscape. They all entered the cavern entrance leading to Pinevale.
"Now the fun begins." Ezekiel enunciated with a sneer forming at the edge of his lips.
Devion didn't respond, and the students seemed to be more stressed.
Then Devion understood, but a voice interrupted him.
"Dear students!" Professor Kel announced in his unmistakably cheerful voice. It was impossible to distinguish where he was given the darkness of the area. Yet his voice resonated perfectly and Devion was quite certain that even students already further away could hear him. "We've decided to spice up this training camp a bit and get it started early. That's why your first mission will be to get out of this cave and meet us outside where we've set up camp. Professor Mendoz and I will be watching your every move."
A fine, icy breeze rushed through the underground passages and caressed the cheeks of the students. Everyone raised their heads in disorganized fashion, desperately trying to find where the professors were hiding.
"Take care of yourselves and don't forget that you can contact us in case of emergency. Good luck kids and may the gods of Thepra be with you. May your training bear fruit and make you the elite magicians of the three kingdoms."
Devion met Sol's gaze in the distance, who gave him a slight nod. Unlike the light breeze that had simply swept through the cavern's maze, a huge tornado decorated with a multitude of flakes invaded the entire space and separated all the students into teams.
The next second, when the tornado calmed down and it was possible to make out something again: Devion had broken his eye contact with Sol and his friend had disappeared, as had the other students who weren't the six who made up his team.
"I guess we'll have to carry on together." Maya articulated.
Two awful creaks were heard and strange ghost-like creatures, or rather disarticulated puppets of sorts, began to scan the area as they floated by. One was all white and the other all black, and each had a similar appearance, with long hair and fully black eyes. Both wore long, ragged white coats. These two amazing creatures were, so to speak, absolutely abominable.
"Pip. Nox. Go explore the area." Vlad commanded the two puppets floating beside him, and respectively the white puppet, Pip, and then the black puppet, Nox, disappeared in a burst of strangely dark-colored watery magic. "They're not going to eat you." The boy looked at Devion with a frightening smile on his lips as the latter glared at his two invocations.
"They don't scare me, they're just not very..."
"Aesthetic. They're very unattractive." Thyra enunciated, looking a little disgusted. "But! You've taken a good initiative." A little hesitantly, she placed her hand on Vlad's shoulder as he looked at her with disdain. "Allow me to add my contribution too."
Thyra held out her hand and a light appeared in the center of her belly, Devion guessed that her scar was probably there. A small ball of fire took shape in the center of her hand, and as she opened her fingers this ball of energy expanded again and again into a spear of fire, crossing the entire cavern in one blow and piercing a straight path.
A loud noise echoed through the cavern and Maya stared in amazement at the huge hole that had unfolded before their eyes thanks to the fire haste Thyra had summoned.
"Done." Thyra rubbed her hands together with a small air of pride. "At least now we can go straight and avoid detours."
"Look out!" Maya shouted from opposite Thyra's position.
Devion moved his head violently to catch a glimpse of what Maya had spotted. Behind Thyra and right next to Ezekiel, a golem had risen from the ground and was rushing towards the girl who had her back to him. Ezekiel leaned his head back and let out an annoyed gasp. Then he raised his head and smiled again.
"Boom." With one hand, he grabbed the golem's head, and as numerous vines came to embrace the creature to squeeze it with phenomenal force, the blond exploded the golem's head just by the force of his grip.
Okay, now I understand why Cristael put them with me, Devion thought inwardly.
Thyra thanked her comrade, then resumed her walk as if nothing had happened. Maya was absolutely flabbergasted by the show of strength that had just taken place before her eyes, and she told herself that with the presence of these two prodigies and Caspian, who hadn't even moved a finger yet, she wasn't afraid of much.
Looking to see if he was equally impressed, the girl scanned Devion out of the corner of her eye.
His reaction was nothing like hers.
Devion was smiling. He was smiling without really realizing it. Two strands of hair fell over his eyes and his green eyes shone just as brightly as his scar in the dim light of the cave. He was almost frightening. Maya stared at him, and it took her a good five minutes to realize that it was Devion facing her and not some kind of psycho.
"How did you do it? To summon vines? I don't know any power that does that." The dark-haired man asked Ezekiel, who was walking behind Thyra, who had caught up with Caspian.
"Do you believe everything they tell you at school?" Ezekiel stopped and took a few steps back before putting his arm around Devion's shoulders, crushing his neck a little. He definitely likes doing that, Devion thought.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you really think there are only three double elements?"
Devion stopped short and looked at the man standing next to him, whose face had revealed a mischievous sneer.
"You mean you can use another double element that isn't frostfire, blizzard or mist?"
"Yes. I can use the grass element, which combines water and earth."
Devion looked at him absolutely shocked and Maya did the same having trouble keeping up with all these novelties and the level gap there was between her and the other five students.
"But why aren't we told right away about the existence of more double elements?" Maya asked.
"To protect you." Caspian replied from further away where he was leading the march.
"Actually, it depends on the magician but it's quite possible to develop other double elements. The difference lies in the fact that the other double elements can't really appear naturally but it's possible to develop them by working on your affinity with magic and other elements" Thyra replied.
"Does that mean we could use... More than two elements?" Maya retorted seeing her curiosity growing as she went along.
"Factually, yes." Ezekiel replied, "However, to date no one has succeeded. Obviously, our bodies can't withstand more than two elements. But our dear friend here proves otherwise. Doesn't he?"
Devion snapped out of his thoughts. He wasn't sure whether it was realistic to consider void as an element in its own right, but more as a deviant of all the other elements. It was rather logical to speculate that void couldn't be combined with elements like water, earth, wind, water and ice.
But nothing could prove it.
"For my part,-" Thyra began, flames tangling around her body.
"Another golem! Behind you, Thyra."
"- I present to you the power of fire and wind, Flamestorm." Thyra finished, stooping slightly as if to greet a crowd. Fire and, this time, wind intertwined in a superb dance that transformed the flames into a breath of fire.
Other golems gradually emerged from the ground, materializing through the rock. The fateful fate of the previous one determined the future of the following ones to such an extent that they fainted one after the other. More fighting ensued, as the students who made up this team each took part in confronting the army of golems that were now attacking them.
"So, how come we're not warned that we can develop another double element, and more importantly, why don't all the teachers have two?" Maya asked as she had just been knocked to the ground face-first by a golem that Thyra had reduced to nothing with a flick of her hand.
"As Caspian said. We're warned from the second year and it's a pretty well-kept secret because the training to get a second element is very difficult and it can cause an overdose of magic." Another creature appeared in front of Thyra and was pierced by a stone spike materialized by Caspian's spell. "For teachers, as you know elements don't end in power but just more possibilities. Even with just one element they're always stronger and most make the choice to specialize in just one element so they can teach them to us better."
"They dedicate their lives to an element." Ezekiel was surrounded by several huge roots coming out of the ground one after the other tearing the helpless golems' bodies in half. "Boring."
Caspian watched them debate from afar, it was rarer for him to take part in close-range combat in the sense that he simply rarely needed to. Besides, he wasn't the least bit interested in their conversation. He too had chosen to remain focused on the earth element, a mono element, which he wanted to master to the highest level.
What's the point of learning to use other elements if you can't use them at the highest level?
Pathetic.
Vladymir watched what was going on in a corner without really paying attention to the scene unfolding before his eyes. He sat in a corner and considered it completely pointless to help his comrades who were battling the various magical creatures emerging from the bowels of the cave.
He yawned as he sat uncomfortably on a pile of stones he'd placed on a bed of water he'd floated with his magic.
Their joyful exchanges and outpourings of strength were not for him.
Vlad jumped to his feet while Pip and Nox were still reconnoitring, having just sent him a signal from the other end of the cavern. The magician tried to concentrate on deciphering the message his two companions were trying to send him.
"Caref- .. Ce...r is co..."
"Pip, Nox, try to articulate please, I don't understand." He said, hoping the ghosts would receive the message more comprehensibly than he received theirs.
One message managed to get through the magical interference.
"Cerberus. Incoming."