In this world named Ostaria there are many different species, but all these species can be put in either of two categories: Elementals and Elemental Beasts
Elementals are us, we have a Core that let's us manipulate the Element we are attuned to, letting a Fire Elemental control flames or a Water Elemental separate water from mud, there's many things that separate an Elemental from one another, for example an Elemental can have more than just a single element inside of them, these Bi-Elementals are exceedingly rare and take on concepts rather than a full Element, like Mist and Magma, then there's the Thri-Elementals, they take the form of a more refined concept, like for example, A Storm Elemental has the Water, Wind and Lightning element.
Even inside a single element there's mutiple concepts, for Earth there is Sand, Stone and Gem among others, these vary wildly yet they share the category of "Earth", This is one of the more varied, having multiple sub-categories for each type of stone, Gem and even sand.
Fire doesn't have any sub-categories, the difference between Fire Elementals is based around how hot their fire burns, going from Red all the way to Purple.
Wind doesn't have any sub-categories, just like Fire the difference is more based around what their Wind carries, from dust, sand, even water and ice, to glass.
Water is the second most varied, with ice, water, and vapor, Water is also very intertwined with Wind, as Bi-Elementals with these two elements are of the most common.
Metal is often considered its own category rather than a Sub-category of Earth, as it has a lot of subcategories by itself, going from the humble Coppper to Titanium!
Lightning is one of the more mysterious elements, rather than sub-categories it has applications that any Lightning Elemental can do, like: Plasma, supersonic waves, and a Lightning Elemental can function as a signal jammer, relay point or a fully functional radio station by themselves with very little equipment, and that's just on the technology side, as in legends it's said to even hurt ghosts and other apparitions, though this remains unproven.
Plant Elementals are similar to Lightning Elementals in the regards of being able to do anything without the need of sub-categories, but rather than aiding on the progress of science Plant Elementals focus on the body, being the defacto healers, this doesn't mean Elementals like Fire or Wind can't heal, but it's rare for them to possess the "Life Force" concept that all Plant Elementals possess, even though the term "Life Force" is outdated, it is still useful as its a simple way to explain the very mysterious energy that let's Plant Elementals do their wonders.
There's also other 2 "Elements" that aren't really Elements, these are Light and Dark, these elements are considered separate from the others as they affect a person no matter the Element they posses, for example a Fire Elemental that is affected by the Light Element can do the simple parlor trick of turning their fire invisible or turn it into an extremely hot Plasma that has physical form, with the Dark element is something more simple, if we go with the same Fire Elemental Example it lets them do the same thing, use the Dark element in their fire and consume the Light Element, thus turning them invisible in the shadows, this can also go as far as making the mythical BlackFire, an all consuming fire only spoken of in legends.
Elemental Beasts:
Contrary to popular belief, Elemental Beasts are not Elementals whose core became the inverse for some curse or voodoo nonsense,
Elemental Beasts are all around us, from the ants that someone inadvertently squashes in their way to work to the mighty True Dragons that soar the skies and sow destruction, they have the same Core, and this Core is the opposite to ours, instead of absorbing, nurturing and refining the energy of our chosen element the core of Elemental Beasts only consume, like a hungry void that yearns to consume the world whole, this is why Elemental Beasts are so aggressive, they are haunted by an endless hunger that cannot be quenched, this is also why they hunt us, we are full of the Elemental Energy they want, so they will stop at nothing to get it.
Thankfully, we are not defenseless, as unlike our own Cores, theirs do not dissapear after death and continuously consume the energy around them to maintain their physical form, this let's us use them as batteries to fuel our mighty machines, like the planes that soar the sky and the boats that sail the sea, their bodies are also a treasure trove of materials to make weapons, armors and many other trinkets as Elemental Beasts continously saturate them to make them stronger, they may hunt us, but we also hunt them.
Excerpt from "Our Wonderful World" Written by Wallace V. Willoughby
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This story, as any good story should, starts with a chase.
In the bustling corridors of Gilded Leaf High, our unlucky protagonist was running for his life.
'I fucked up, I fucked up!' He thought as he made his way through the other students that we're just trying to get to their classes, from the corner of his eyes he saw the people giving him chase, two girls approximately his same age.
"MAX YOU MOTHERFU-" he could hear them hurling curse at him and continued trying his best to get away, with not much success, they slowly got closer while he only got more tired, but then he made a sharp turn and went directly for the exit doors that led to the gardens of the school, at least there he would have more plants to work with.
Only when he made it out of the building can we finally see who exactly our protagonist is, a freshman named Max who turned 15 just a few months ago in the summer, on his first days of high-school, with messy light green hair, orange eyes and pale skin, he wore his school uniform which looked ragged and dirty but other than that he was rather average for a Plant Elemental, if a bit short for his age.
Max is barely able to take a breather before running again, over to the area designated for the gardening club, or atleast he tried to before the door he just came from is kicked open, from the inside of the building came his worst nightmare, Tara.
The Metal Elemental seemed absolutely pissed off, with the ferrofluid that made up her hair moving wildly, barely managing to keep its shape.
Now standing just a few meters away from her and with no other people around she could finally use her powers, and that she did.
With a wave of her hand a piece of the exit doors came right off and shot at Max's face, which he barely managed to dodge by ducking to the side, he used the chance to continue his escape, but it proved futile because after running just a few meters a fireball exploded on his back, thankfully his mostly empty backpack took most of the blow but the force of the explosion sent him to the floor, he managed to roll just in time to not kiss the pavement, now on the ground he could take a look at his attacker.
Just besides Tara and with a stretched arm pointing at him was Dess, a Fire Elemental and Tara's best friend, both of them looked at Max with scorn and slowly approached him.
Tara spoke first, with a mocking tone "Not so tough now, are you? Did you really think you could talk shit to me and my BFF and come out unscathed? Well, I have news for you Maxy..." Then she got closer and kicked him on the side of the stomach, making Max wince in pain and cover his stomach with his arms, after a few moments she kneeled down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt "You absolutely can't, so guess what? We could both beat you black and blue... but-" then she paused and gave him a smirk "Considering our history together, I'll just take something that should have always been mine, make your like hell for a few weeks and call this matter settled, okay?"
Her hand moved to the back of Max's neck, and after a distinct clicking sound she took out a necklace that had been hidden under his shirt and put it to his face.
It was a thin metal chain crudely connected to a small rectangle-shaped purple gemstone that had the initials "L + B" engraved, seeing the necklace, Max shuddered and extended a hand forward while looking at it "N-No!".
"C'mon Maxy, we both know this should have always been mine, my brother made it after all~" Tara responded at the same time she slapped his hand away.
Then she got up from her kneeling position and started walking away with Deja following behind her, Max slowly and painfully managed to get up on his feet "Do you think this is what he would have wanted...? Us fighting just because you want to be cruel to me?"
Tara turned around and looked at Max with anger on her eyes, he returned a look of defiance.
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"Cruel? Do you even know what cruelty is?! I lost my brother that day, all because of your whore of a sister! And from where the heck are you getting the balls to talk to me that way you little shit?!"
Max's look of defiance turned into anger as he responded while the air in the vicinity turned hotter "I've always had them, and now I'm fucking tired of being your punching bag! And you know I lost my sister too, but you don't see me acting like a whiney bitch and beating people up for it!"
With another wave of her hand another piece of the doors flew off against Max, who quickly sidestepped the attack and ran towards Tara with a punch ready to go, but when he got closer he was swiftly stopped in his tracks with a slap.
"Woah there! do you want me to beat the living shit out of you close and personal-?" Tara responded with a mocking tone but she was swiftly shut up by a punch to the face, the force of the punch got her off the ground and barreling towards the exit doors, which ended up caving in and breaking off their hinges, Tara's journey did not end there though, she flew for a couple more meters and smashed into the lockers in the wall opposite to the doors, leaving a Tara shaped silhouette after she fell to the ground, seemingly unconscious.
Max looked at the now broken doors and the hand he punched Tara with stupefied, in his hand he noticed the familiar thin and nearly invisible yellow lines that looked like veins 'Uh... How the frick did I do that-?' He thought as he lightly touched his knuckles with his other hand 'I mean, I knew these things made me strong, but this much-?'
Then Max heard a voice in the distance that shook him to his core "There they are principal!" He looked towards the voice for a moment and then tried to run away, but suddenly it seemed like the weight of the whole world was upon him, looking to the side he found Dess was in his same situation, the principal had caught them red handed and was rapidly walking over.
He tried to escape using what remained of his strength but punching Tara seemingly used it all up 'It was worth it though-' Max thought before the yellow vein-like lines faded away.
The principal was now standing right next to them, He looked rather young and Max couldn't tell his element at a first glance, he was wearing a very expensive dark blue suit with a badge pinned to its breast pocket that had the logo of the school and highlighted that he was the principal, his hair was silvery and looked normal, his eyes we're a bright silver as he looked at Max and Deja with disappointment.
"I am sure you both will give me a very detailed and through explanation as to why the exit door is completely destroyed and a student is unconscious, right?" The principal eyes returned to a much less bright silver as Max felt the weight that was keeping him in place dissapear.
"It was him, he stole Tara's necklace and we only wanted to get it back!" Dess struck first, pouncing on the opportunity.
"They wanted to stole my necklace, I was only defending myself!" Max retorted.
"Well, it seems these explanations don't add up uh? guess I'll have to look at the camera footage" The principal responded and pointed at a camera a few meters above the door frame, when Dess saw it all the color drained from her face.
"I'm sorry Sir, i-" She wanted to talk but was stopped by Tara coming out of the building.
"Principal, I want this piece of shit expelled of this school immediately!" Tara screamed bloody murder while pointing at Max.
"I will give the appropriate punishment once I review the camera footage, I'll make sure to punish the actual perpetrator, Miss Ferrick." The principal responded with a slightly smug smile.
Tara looked at the camera with shock and then at the principal with trepidation "Actually Sir, this was all a misunderstanding! We're leaving now-" but she was stopped in her tracks by the same pressure Max felt.
"We're exactly are you going, Miss Ferrick? This situation is not over yet." Then the principal looked at Max, who was full of little cuts and small bruises, and the hand he was cradling, which had a rapidly developing bruise on his knuckles.
"Hmmm... Miss Galia, could you please guide Mister... What's your full name young man?" The principal asked.
"Uhhh... my surname is Avasius..." Max responded, dodging the question, then he looked at the supposed Miss Galia, a student the same age as him, wearing a slightly different uniform, with a coat of arms showing a Bow, a staff and a Rifle on both shpulders and on the beast pocket 'Wait- she's a student of the Long Range Combat Department of the school!' Max looked at her in awe, he then noticed the bow on her back and her hair which was seemingly made out of mist 'And a Mist Elemental too?!'
"Well, could you please guide Mister Avasius to the nurse's office Miss Galia?" The principal asked while giving Max the sideye.
"Sure thing Sir!" She nodded at the principal who nodded back and then walked inside the building with Tara and Dess in tow, seemingly accepting their fates.
Max then noticed he had been staring at Miss Galia for a slightly uncomfortable amount of time and looked away at the principal leaving.
"Hey, uh... Are you alright? I saw when that Fire Elemental threw a fireball at you and went to call the principal..." She looked at him with worry.
"No- I mean, yeah, I'm fine... Mostly..." Max took off his backpack and assessed the damage, it looked like the whole front of it was burned to cinders, leaving a massive hole.
"Darn..." Max sighed and put the backpack on again. "Well, thank you for calling the principal, I'm pretty sure if I actually fought Dess I would have 3rd degree burns all over by now" Max sighed again.
"Don't mention it, and we should get going by now, you need to get that checked out" She pointed at the still growing bruise "Oh right, what's your name? I won't call you Mister Avasius y'know?" She laughed at her own joke while Max smiled awkwardly.
"Uh... the names Max, what's yours?" Max responded while lightly touching the bruise on his knuckles and wincing in pain.
"My name is Elina, let's get going before it gets worse alright?" She started walking away while Max followed her, still cradling his injured hand.
On the way there, Max decided to try and break the ice "Hey uh... so you're part of the Long Range Combat Department right? Do you guys hunt Elemental Beasts and stuff?"
Elina chuckled "Pfft, no! Only the juniors and seniors are allowed to do that, this is my first week here! I barely even know how to use this thing" She pointed at the Bow on her back "And how do you not know that? Aren't you from the Short Range Combat Department?"
"Uhhhh... No?" He looked at her with confusion.
"Wait, what? How did you punch that Metal Elemental girl so hard she went through the exit door then? With that much strength they would accept you instantly" Now Elina looked at him with confusion.
"Oh, well... having that much strength is a new thing, I mean, have you seen a Plant Elemental capable of doing that? That's why they didn't accept me when I sent the request, they didn't believe I could actually do it, that's why I asked for a reevaluation-" Then Max facepalmed "Shit! The reevaluation, I completely forgot! I was going there when Tara and Deja started chasing me, what time is it?!" He looked at her, distraught.
"If I were you I wouldn't worry about that now, they got how you punched her on video so now they know you weren't bluffing, you just have to ask for a copy of the recording and take it to the administrative office, and let's be honest, you wouldn't be able to pass the evaluation with a hand like that." Elina pointed at Max's hand, which was starting to swell a little.
Max grunted "How much longer until the nurse's office then? This is starting to hurt like heck."
Elina suddenly stopped before a door that had a plaque that read 'nurse's office' "we're here!"
Max knocked on the door with his good hand and waited for a few moments before the nurse, a Plant Elemental, opened the door.
"Hello, can I help-?" Then she stopped talking when she noticed Max's hand "Oh dear! get inside, quickly!"
Max got inside as instructed while Elina waited outside the door.
•••••
The principal was in his office, reviewing the footage of Max punching Tara, he seemed particularly interested in the part just after that as Max was inspecting his hand, as he was constantly reverbing it to watch it again he held his phone expectantly, like he was hoping for a call...
RING! RING!
He quickly accepted it and put the phone to his ear.
"So? What do you think?" His voice sounded strained.
The voice on the other end took a bit to respond "Hmmm, this is very, very interesting. But I don't think your theory is correct, I know what it looks like, but I'm telling you the truth, this kid is not like me"
The principal sounded disappointed "Are you sure? But those vein-like things-"
The voice on the other end started to sound annoyed "I told you, it's absolutely impossible, maybe he's got something similar, but it's absolutely- Wait a second- do you have any old photos from this kid?"
The principal looked through a cabinet of documents and took out Max's File.
"Here it is, Rowan Maximilian Avasius, 15 years old, a local from this town- here it is!" From the file the principal took out an old photo from Max's previous school.
"What am I supposed to look for?" The principal asked, inspecting the photo.
"His eyes, what color are they?" The voice responded, sounding expectant.
"Uh... this is weird, his eyes... in this photo they're a reddish-brown, but here on his file they're orange..." the principal sounded confused.
"WHAT?!" The voice screamed, almost destroying the principal's eardrum, the voice took a couple moments to recompose itself.
"Listen to me Edward, right now I'm very busy with some... personal stuff, but you better take good care of this kid, I'm going to try and be done with this as fast as I can so I can head there alright? If ANYONE tries to mess with him you tell em' he is under my protection, alright?!" The voice sounded excited.
"Yes Master- Er, Sir! I'll do everything in my power to keep him safe." Edward sighed, it looked like his master was finally back to his old self.
"Great, if that's everything I'm going to go now, goodbye Eddie, Duty Calls!" And then the call was cut off.
On a far away land, on the deepest parts of the wilds, where only the strongest Elemental Beasts resided, was an old man, wearing nothing but a robe, his red hair danced like the fire it was, unwavering and still as hot as ever, besides the man was a battle axe that sinked slightly into the cracked stone that could barely handle its weight, the man stopped the call and the phone dissapeared as a gem in one of the rings the man was wearing shone with a blue light for a split second, then the man grabbed the battle axe and looked straight up to the top of the volcano he was currently on, there he saw an absolute massive Wyrm, easily as big as a caterpillar mining truck, it's body was filled with lava that oozed from the wounds that covered its body, the Wyrm roared defiantly at the man, it was a fight to the death after all.
"C'mon you over-grown worm, tell me where your mama is so I can finish her off and get the heck out of here!" The man gave the wyrm a wild grin.
The Wyrm roared again as it's wounds slowly healed, it seemed to be stalling for time.
"It that's how things are going to be, then let's end this!" With a wave of his hand the cracked earth burned red hot and turned liquid, which coalesced into the man covering him in head to toe in an armor made of lava, at the same time he grabbed his battle axe, which seemed to be literally burning with anticipation.
With a roar the man charged towards the wyrm, and the wyrm did the same, using its powerful limbs to throw rocks while spewing molten metals in a breath of pure destruction.
The man easily evaded, and then when he was close enough...