“Wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The five elements that reign over the world that we live in. Now children, who can tell me what we call those who are able to manipulate those elements?” questioned the keeper who began teaching us.

Everyone’s hand shot up, some attempting to dislocate their shoulders by reaching so high, others with their hands barely visible so that they were less likely to be called upon to answer. One kid, obviously bored at the topic of conversation, decided to ignore the others that were waiting for the keepers decision on who spoke first. Remaining slouched in his chair, he spoke in a monotonous tone, “Why are we bothering with this. Every week we’re told the same drawl. ‘Only users can manipulate the elements’, ‘becoming chosen is rare, so prepare for life as a commoner’. We get it. Stay in our own little corner of the world, keep our heads down and we might be able to live a decent life like you.”

“Yes… Quite. Well since you obviously know so much Luc, why don’t you explain to us why you can never hope to achieve being a user?” he spoke with venom only possible for those with shattered dreams, and with a pointed stare and a gesture of the hand, luc ventured up to the front of the group to finish this. All so that he would be able to do things far more interesting, like hustling the local games or snatching some rich kids stuff before he knew what happened.

“During your 16th winter you’ll be able to touch the Aether Stone, given to us by our ever so gracious gods, and power will either force the vessels in your body to accept the Aetherian Force so you can control one of the elements, or the vessels will explode due to the stress of the force and you’ll die if a wood user doesn’t heal you within the week. The reason we will never become users is because no orphan is stupid enough to risk the slim chance of becoming a user, when the likelihood of dying is far greater as we have no money to pay the brotherhood to heal the us.”, said Luc, and after a deep breath after his proclamation, queried, “so can I go?”.

The keeper waved him off and Luc left the orphanage, dreading the coming high sun, when the Aetherian stone will arrive on town and he would do something superbly stupid that would end his time as a back-alley rat, one way or another.

Luc was an orphan, always was since as long as he could remember. He was currently 16, and so had the option of touching the Aetherian stone for free, it cost the price of  a small city if you wanted to touch it at any other time. Now obviously, despite his recent outburst at how no one in their right mind would touch the stone without suitable coin to pay for the healing afterwards, that was what he was planning on doing. Afterall, his life wasn’t going anywhere anyway, so there’s no harm with ending it early for the once in a lifetime chance to actually amount to something.

So now Luc began making his way down the streets of Sanderston, a middling city that only managed to prosper because it stood in the middle of the road that merchants and users walked down to reach the capital. Daydreaming as he went on: what he would do when he became a fire user; the rapid agility; massive widespread destruction, and pairings with beasts and elementals alike that allowed a user to go from another crop in the field to a diamond in the rough. He dawdled through the rows of houses and shops with these thoughts as he made his way to the city’s main gate, where unlike  the rows of people that already crowded the streets, he would be awaiting the convoy that would free him from his fate, one way or another.

By the time that the convoy arrived the sun was in the middle of the sky, bearing down onto the city. Luc, being sat upon the battlements of the wall, was able to feel the rushing wind from the east that managed to keep him cool where shade was a luxury. As the soldiers and merchants that escort the Aetherian stone made their way through the city gates, a heavy hand clasped down upon his shoulder.

“I’ve been lookin’ for ya kid. Time to become an adult and start payin off those debts that have started to rack up”, a greasy looking face said from behind him, as the hand on his shoulder dragged him off the wall to look at the speaker. His name was Roggie, but demanded everyone call him Reginald as he thought it was more sophisticated sounding, which it was. He was the semi-unofficial leader of the city, running everything from the underground to the office, be that through bribes or blackmail. Every year he called in the debts from the children or parents with no hope of making a decent pay, to be his slaves in all but name. Luc was his most recent prospect after Roggie caught him scamming a game in the local pub, with a silver coin in his pocket, which was a year’s wages for a farmer. Of course silence was never cheap so Luc ended up losing his silver, as well as gaining debt double that, with interest that made it impossible to pay off unless he robbed the local lords treasury.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Yeah, I know, after the Aetherian stone has passed through, I pay off the absurd debts that I have, which I have you to tha-“, Luc’s words cut off by a swift backhand, knocking him down with a bleeding lip.

“That’s Enough lip outta you, get down there, refuse the test, and we’ll make sure nothing worse happens to ya”, the greasy man stated with a smug look that shone with the confidence of a man who thought that the perfect plan was about to come together.

And then, as if nothing happened, he turned and left toward the town centre so that he could get a good viewing experience, just in case any testers had their vessels explode. After Roggie was out of sight, Luc silently berated himself for what was possibly the millionth time about trying to up the scale of his scams. Although the five coppers he got on average a week from scamming the new merchants and traveling game runners was plenty for an orphan like him, being able to earn 20 times that within a single night was too much for him to pass up. Now it didn’t seem so worth it. Scratch that, it definitely wasn’t worth it.

After pulling himself up, he headed in the opposite direction to the mobster, deciding to walk along the wall and let the wind slowly blow away his thoughts, until all that was left is the thought that he will soon be free from the persecution of being an orphan. Free from the greasy mobsters that force him into jobs, and the keeper who was only hired to persuade the children to stay in the city so Roggie had a steady supply of workers.

A couple hours after the convoy arrived, the ceremony was all set up, and the guards began announcing that all children of age were to arrive in the town centre to declare their decisions on whether or not they would accept Gods blessing or not. By the time Luc arrived he was one of the last so that when he dies he doesn’t ruin the rest of the ceremony, definitely not because he fell asleep behind the bakery. And so time passed as one after the other, the children of Sanderston became adults with the very simple phrase “I refuse God’s blessing, as I am not worthy.” That is until Luc came up. The last child in a long line, the afternoon gone and most people in the pub. The only crowd that was left were the convoy as they would never willingly stay if they could camp out on the road anyway.

When Luc stepped up to the rickety, podium that held the stone,  the guard in charge of the ceremony begins his speech with such conviction that you would think its his first time saying it today.

“Behold child, the conduit for our merciful Gods blessing. In ancient times, mankind was overrun by the forces of evil, to the point of extinction. At that time, God chose to send down the ability to gain the powers of the elements that govern the forces of this world. And so, with the guidance of the Hero Leon, he who could hear the voice of God, mankind fought back with everything it had, driving the vile scourge of evil from our world, and back into the shatter. Now, on your 16th winter, you have been given the chance to prove your faith to God and accept his blessing so that you may fight for man once again, if the forces of evil will ever return. How do you choose child?”

Now that all sounded very impressive, but all Luc could think about during the speech was how he just wanted to touch the goddamn stone already and get this over with. And so he did. Whilst replying with the customary phrase “I shall prove my faith, and defend my people” he reached toward the stone, with hope in his heart. Hope for a better life. Hope to leave this backwater of a city. Hope for the fire force.

But hope is only good for being crushed.

Luc didn’t get the Fire force that would make him a force to be reckoned with.

Nor did he get the Earthen force that would make him indestructible.

Or Metal, that specialises in assassinations and duels.

He would have even preferred to get the wood force, at least with the ability to heal he could have a decent income.

But no. As he has always known, life is unfair, and a useless gutter rat will only ever amount to water. The most useless force that exists. It can do everything the others can do, but with less power and a greater cost. They are beneficial in times of war, but useless in times of peace, and since there hasn’t been a war for over 5 centuries, water users are little better than glorified mascots and couriers. After all if you’re a Jack of all trades, you are ultimately a Master of nothing, and only true masters of their element will be able to make a difference in a fight.