Chapter 1: (Text)

Introduction

        In a modern world like our present, exists two different types of humans, the normal and the aware.
          The normal are like you and me, simple human beings. They live lives like ours, go to school, obtain an education and pursue the lives and careers they desire. They use technology like ours, including phones, cars, modern appliances and other technological devices we use.
          The aware however, are much different from the normal humans, they all obtain some form of a supernatural power or ability. In this world, all humans have potential to have these powers, however unlike the normal humans, the aware have had an awakening that has allowed an individual’s body and mind be able to perform a power. Most aware have their awakening when they are conceived, the other majority during their childhood and rarely, some people have it after they turn 13.
Aware are also categorized into two different types, magicians and benders. Magicians must implement runes in order to use their abilities, whereas benders do not have to use runes and can simply control their abilities using their mind and body.
Most young aware are forced to attend a school dedicated to guiding the young to use their powers correctly. Once they are old enough they either join the aware military or work independently as an independent commission-based firm. Through these firms, they are openly hired for jobs that range from private security to investigations. In Atlanta, there exists a brand-new firm that consists of 4 young aware that have the potential to help change the world for the better. The following is their story...

Chapter One
The Assignment

          Two people in a small room gaze through glass into a large white room with 4 teenagers waiting in line on one end of the room in a still stance. One of the people in the small room is an older woman with white hair in a black and red uniform decorated with pins and a badge. The other individual is a middle-aged man with rather generic features, and in the lighting they are in he is indescribable.
          “And finally, Petunia.” says the woman through a microphone which is heard by the teenagers via a loudspeaker into the room.
          A girl, standing on the left side of the line of group steps forward. Garbed in a dark green school uniform, she turns her body to face the glass the adults are behind and says in a serious tone “Yes Headmistress?”.
          “Begin your demonstration.” (Elderly woman)
          “Understood.” (Petunia)
          Petunia then turns her attention forward to several training dummies that have risen through the ground, with two begin heading towards her. She takes a second, then enters a ready stance and dodges through two of the dummies attempting to fight her using their fists. A third dummy wielding a long blade rushes toward her and attempts to attack her using several slices at her. she dodges underneath the blade and in a swift motion, uses her left hand to draw a magic rune. When completed the rune lights up in a bright green color and suddenly flows into her and gives her a green aura. One of the dummies comes back to attack her head on. She runs towards it and throwing her right arm in front of her, she summons a thick tree vine out of her hand that she uses to wrap the dummy’s head with. After wrapping the head, she runs behind with the vine in hand and manages to yank the head off the body of the dummy. The dummy with the blade runs toward her again and is stopped when she uses the first dummy’s head to strike the blade dummy in the head, knocking it down and causing the blade to slip out of its hand. She turns her attention to the second of the first two dummies, who hurls several large knives toward her. She summons several vines at once to grab the knives while they are in motion stopping them in their tracks. She then commands them to throw the knives back to the dummy, which impale the dummy in multiple places but not enough to stop the dummy from fighting back and rushing toward her. She then uses another vine to pick up the dropped blade and hurl the sword to the oncoming dummy, decapitating it and stopping it right in front of her.
          She catches her breath when 8 more combat dummies rise out of the chambers in the floor behind her. She hears them run towards her and still faces away from her when she uses her palm to touch the floor below her. The target dummies rush for her all together, yet she remains unfazed from her current position. They are a mere 3 feet away from her when the ground begins to shake and a group of eight rose vines rise below the legs of the dummies, ripping through the hip portion and wraps themselves around the dummies and holds them in a tight grip. Petunia lets out a small smile when she lifts her hand up, clenches her fist and opens her hand and spreads her fingers as far as possible, the vines reacts by causing thorns to go clean through the body of the robots.
She commands the vines to go back into the ground from whence they came, leaving the dummies to be destroyed with massive cavities all over their man-like bodies. Petunia turns her attention toward the glass with the two viewers and enters a formal stance.
“Excellent work. Back to the end of the room.” (Headmistress)
“Yes Headmistress Thornton.” Petunia walks formally back to where the rest of her classmates are and stands where she stood earlier.
“And there you have them, our top 4 students of our Academy. I hope they exceeded your high expectations.” (Thornton)
          “I must say Anya, considering your school’s disadvantage to your fellow adversaries’ academies, the 4 of them seem more than capable to fulfill what it is I desire.” (Man)
          “I am obliged to have you say such a thing. Considering the generous donation you are planning to give my academy; I will gladly provide you with only my most elite students.” (Thornton)
          “It is no problem Mrs. Thornton; I understand your situation. The council is too preoccupied arguing what is best for them, they neglect an entire generation of aware that attend your academy and cherish only the young they have direct control over.” (Man)
          “Your words are true. My colleagues to the south are much more recognized and funded than we are up here in Toronto. We at the Northern U.S. A.I.M Academy will humbly accept your conditions and accept the financial support you will give not to me, but to the rich pool of powerful aware students that will soon lead our world into a perfect society. Now please, what is it you desire our brightest students to do for you, Mr. March?” (Thornton)
          “With the prowess they have demonstrated for me, the task is simple: I simply need them to give a rather blunt warning to a group of aware in Atlanta.” (Mr. March)
          “Have these people caused you trouble?” (Thornton)
          “They have the potential to and have already caused some headaches for my associates. I simply want to extend an invitation for what is in store for them as they enter the aware militia market and to warn them to avoid interfering with my organizations agenda.” (Mr. March)
          “Do these aware have names?” (Thornton)
          “According to my associates, they call themselves ‘The Elementians.’”
          “Very well.” Thornton turns her focus back into the observation where her students are awaiting her order. “Petunia, Sly, Greer & Gale, your mission is to send a militant group called the Elementians a warning on behalf of Mr. March. Is this understood?”
          “Yes Headmistress Thornton.” (All 4 students)
          “Then head to Atlanta and confront these aware with minimal destruction to your surroundings. Failure of this mission is inconceivable and being caught by authorities will result in termination of your scholarly career at my academy. Is this warning understood?”
          “Yes headmistress.” (All 4 students)
          “Then go.” (Thornton)
          A door in the ground opens and a car rising on a lift rises to ground level. The four students enter, and the car drives away with an incredible speed.
          “They will not let you down Mr. March or your associates.”
          “I believe you Anya, I will return in the evening for an update.” March begins walking out of the room and leaves Thornton alone in the room.

          A day later in Atlanta, sits a massive brick office building which houses the Georgia Aware Office and is the location where aware can become eligible to receive the license to be commissioned and accomplish free-hire bounties and commissions. There sit 4 teenagers, 2 boys and 2 girls, sitting in a meeting room with a massive oak wood table in between them is an older gentleman, who with the twirl of his fingers, controls several pens writing intensely on 4 stacks of papers. The pens finally stop writing and he turns his attention from them to the teenagers in the room with him. “Ok you 4, let’s get this documentation work over with. When I say your legal name raise your hand, state what you would like your license will have you named as and your powers. Starting things off, Jady Lynn Foster.”
          A girl with green eyes and wavy dirty blonde hair sitting on the left end of the 4 teens raises her hand and replies “I would like to be simply called Jady Foster and I am a complete elemental bender.”
          “Very well. Next up Maxwell Stephen Anderson.” (Office worker)
          A boy sitting next to Jady raises his hand. He has much darker skin than the rest of them there and has short dark hair. “I’d like to be named Max Anderson and my aware powers are that of a limb shifter.” He raises his left arm and writes a symbol in the air that resemble a sword and suddenly his entire arm becomes a simple long bladed sword. The office worker is impressed, but the other girl in the group shakes her head.
          “Thank you for the unnecessary demonstration Mr. Anderson. Next I’m gonna guess you are Celina Violeta Vasquez?” The office worker shifts his attention to the other girl, sitting on the right most seat in the group.
          The second girl has a bit of a tan in comparison to Jady and has longer black hair. “You are correct. Celina is too close to my mother’s name, so I just want to be called Lina Vasquez. As for my powers...” She then glares at Max’s chair and unexpectedly the legs of the chair he’s on melt, causing him to land butt first on the ground.
          “Son of bitch Lina!” (Max)
          The last boy and Jady simply smile in a humorous manner and the office worker laughs a bit. Lina smiles at Max, as if to tell him “You’re not the only one who can show off”. She then waves her hand and the melted metal reforms back into the chair legs, with Max and chair now returning to their original position.
          “I should be pissed you broke then fixed my chair like nothing is wrong, but that is the funniest thing that’s happened in months at this place. Gonna guess you’re a phase bender?” Lina nods and he writes that down. He sighs and then looks at the other boy. “And that leaves you to be Seth Jacob McClain.”
          The brown wavy-haired boy shakes his head in approval. “Yes, I just want to be called Seth McClain. I am a weapon summoner, with a dozen or so items at my disposal.” Unlike his other 3 teammates, Seth is much more formal about his introduction.
          The office worker is finished writing down what Seth had told him and writes off something else on other documents. He then picks up one paper and reads off “Ok, and the final step for your application, confirming the name of your firm, the Elementians is what you wrote on the digital application. Are you all still fine with this name?”
          They all look at each other and nod. “Yes that’s who we are.” (Jady)
          “And everyone, are you ok with electing Jady as your firm’s leader?” (Office worker)
          “Yes, I am happy for her to lead us.” (Seth)
          “I believe she is the most capable to do so.” (Lina)
          “She’s the right girl for the job sir.” (Max)
          “Then it’s settled, by the Department of Aware Affairs in the State of Georgia, I deem the four of you to be the Elementians free-lance firm, stationed in Atlanta. You can begin accepting commissions when your physical licenses come in and place the aware marker into your hand. I wish you 4 luck, especially since you are one of the smallest group I have signed off for, but you guys seem capable and compatible with one another.” The office worker stands up and shakes everyone’s hand as they all leave the meeting room.

          The team is now circled around together on a restaurant’s patio, eating food and discussing amongst themselves.
“Thank the gods that’s over.” (Jady)
          “Sheesh, that took forever. We applied, what, like 3 months ago? You would think they’d be much more efficient at doing paperwork.” (Lina)
          “Maybe it would be faster had one of us not almost gotten us into legal trouble.” says Max as he leers at Lina.
          “You know as well as I did that wasn’t my fault. Besides I’d like to think the Department of Aware Affairs pardoned me quickly.” (Lina)
          “Yeah, that’s why they almost sent you to the N.E.S.T.” says Jady in a quiet voice.
          “Well let’s be glad it’s over with. Now the real fun begins.” (Seth)
          “Fun? I know you didn’t go to an A.I.M Academy Seth, but even most aware know being in a firm isn’t always the thrill ride new recruits think it is. Knowing me and Jady’s past luck, we’ll probably end up having to babysit some parent’s out of control aware children.” (Max)
          “Well we do have an elemental bender with us. And with Jady’s family being well known in Atlanta I’m sure someone will hire us for big tasks.” (Lina)
          “She’s right. We just need to keep our focus clear and train to be our best.” (Jady)
          The four of them finish their meal and walk around the garden area where the plaza they ate at meets a local park.
          “Did anyone notice how cute our busboy was?” (Lina)
          “Um, no.” (Seth)
          “Not my type, but probably you and Max’s type.” (Jady)
          “What dude isn’t Max’s type?” (Seth)
          “Hey that was a one-time thing that... uh... just happened.” (Max)
          “Yeah a one-time thing that got you kicked out of your uncle’s place. Ha, sleeping with his golfing partners son, keep it in your pants Max.” (Lina)
          “Screw you Lina, at least I have actually been with a dude. What happened last time you went on date? Hm... oh yeah, you froze your dinners and water glass.” (Max)
          “Whatever.” (Lina)
          “Yeah that’s right.” (Max)
          There’s an awkward silence for a second, which is broken by Jady laughing.
          “What’s so funny?” (Max & Lina)
          “Nothing just that you two have barely known each other for 5 months and already arguing like you’ve been friends your entire lives.” (Jady)
          “She is right guys. Hey maybe this is a sign you two should date.” (Seth)
          Max looks annoyed at the idea of this comment and turns to see Lina looking at him, almost as if looking like she’s ok with the idea of that happening.
          “Hey, don’t get any ideas Lina. We are just friends and teammates, nothing more.” (Max)
          “Hm, ok Max, but we’ll see if you say the same thing when you're thirty and still single.” (Lina)
          Max rolls his eyes at this comment and turns his attention to Seth and Jady. “Hey, why is it you two don’t date? You are always agreeing with each other and smile at the same time.
          Seth and Jady make eye contact and turn away quickly. “Well maybe with all that’s going on lately, I haven’t really been looking for a relationship.” replies Seth.
          The team still converses with each other as they walk more around the open garden area. As they make another lap around the garden, Jady senses something and notices people walking away in slight fear from another portion of the plaza complex.
          “Guys, somethings up.” (Jady)
          The rest of them notice the mass of people fleeing away from a part of the shopping center. The team heads straight into the area where the civilians are running from.
          “What do you think is going on?” (Max)
          “I don’t know, but I think someone’s causing trouble.” (Seth)
          “Well, this is a dumb place to do that. There are easily a hundred aware in this part of the city, what idiot would attack...what the hell?!” Lina cuts herself off as she and the other 3 are in surprise at what everyone was running from. The entire portion of the shopping center is completely covered in red roses and vines. There are no other people there besides the team as they stand alone in the plant-covered space.
          “Is this someone’s idea of a prank?” (Jady)
          “I’m not sure, it’s a little too beautiful to be something as mischievous as a prank.” (Max)
          “Even then, why would something like this cause all those people to run away?” (Seth)
          As the team steps closer, Jady tries to control the roses away, but struggles to be able to fully grasp them using her life bending power. “I can’t control them. They aren’t responding to me and my power.” She concentrates even harder to get a response from the flowers and stems, but to no avail.
          “Stop Jady don’t push yourself too hard.” says Seth as he draws an image of a sword in the air using his fingertips, the drawing radiates a blue glow. Once he’s done a sword appears right where the drawing once was, and Seth takes hold of it in his right hand.
          “Yeah, we can handle a few measly flowers.” Max also draws a sword in the air and instead of a sword appearing, his upper right and left arms become a blade instead. The two approach the vines and attempt to cut the stems.
          “WAIT!” Lina stops the two from cutting into them. “Listen guys.” The four of them tip their heads forward into the green mass of stems and hear faint screams of people. “There are people actually trapped in the mass of roses. That’s why those people ran away from here.”
          “This isn’t a prank, it’s pretty low and illegal to harm normal.” (Jady)
          “So we’re not dealing with pranksters, someone is intentionally doing this to hard them, why would-” (Max)
          “JADY!” Seth interrupts Max. The stems suddenly come to life and immediately extend toward Jady. Before she can use her power to stop them, they have already wrapped around the entirety of her body.
          “Hold tight Jady, we’ll get you out. Max and Lina, you two try getting the people in that set of vines.” Seth tells her as he approaches her entangled body. Using his hands, draws an image resembling a knife and with a shake of his right hand, a knife physically appears in the air and he immediately grabs and takes hold of it. He draws the knife and prepares to slash the vines to free Jady, while the vines only tighten their strength on Jady in anticipation of him going to cut them. He slices the knife and cuts a layer of the vines, allowing for him to slash again to cut deeper into the green mass that has Jady tightly wrapped. He cuts several more times and is soon able to see Jady’s shirt, he tries pulling the vines away from her to cut them without slashing Jady, but suddenly loses his grip as inch long thorns jut out of the vines he has in his hands. “Son of a bitch.” Seth’s hand is full of wounds created by the vines, which only wrap themselves up again on Jady, pushing back any of Seth’s progress.
          Before Seth can notice it, a red sedan whips around the corner of the shopping block they are on and rams itself into Seth, causing him to fly several yards from the collision spot. He gets himself back up but almost immediately is hit by the same car from behind.
          Lina and Max are on the other side of the block, with Max using a rotating metal weed wacker as an arm and Lina using a long bladed shard of metal from a street sign to cut the vines and help cut out anyone who is entangled. They are suddenly alerted when they here the red car screeching moments before it hits Seth.
          “The hell was that?” (Lina)
          “Don’t know, but whoever’s doing it probably isn’t friendly. Who would drive in a pedestrian only area?” (Max)
          “Don’t know, but hey looks like Seth got Jady freed. Took you long enough. You ok Jady?” (Lina)
          Two figures like Seth and Jady walk towards Lina and Max from down the plaza they are in. The pair get closer to Lina and Max, when suddenly they disappear, and in their place is a teenager running towards them, he gets close and punches the air, and right in front of Max and Lina, a massive blue-outlined fist punches the pair and knocks them into a water fountain nearby.
          To the left of them, the vines have Seth and Jady in their grasp and drag them and throw them into the fountain. Behind them, a girl wearing a black and red uniform with a mask on walks up to the site. Where Max and Lina were attacked stands two male teens, one stockier and taller with a black and white uniform, the other shorter and a bit more toned wears a black and navy-blue uniform. The red car that hits Seth whips around the corner into the fountain plaza, on top of it, another teenage boy, sporting black and grey, pretends he is surfing on the vehicle and commands the car to stop.
          Seth and the others in the fountain pick themselves up, dazed a bit by the trauma they had just received. They step out of the fountain, look around at their attackers, and immediately enter battle stances.
          “Hey assholes, no one likes a cheap surprise attack.” (Max)
          “Listen whoever you hooligans are, I can tell you’re the ones who attacked those people.” (Jady)
          “Attacking normal people isn’t ok, you know we have to arrest you, right?” (Lina)
          The attackers do not respond. Instead they only stand in their same position.
          Jady gets a closer look at the uniforms they are wearing and immediately recognizes what they are.
“Let us cut to the chase. I can tell you are AIM Academy students. I know you did something stupid but based on what you did I know you have much more ill intent than prank and harm these pedestrians. Who are you? And don’t worry about your response, we’re gonna have to kick your asses no matter what you say.” (Jady)
          “I guess it doesn’t matter then, I am known as Rose, the guy on the car is Tech, the bigger guy is Sight and the guy next to him is Falcon. And listen, you’re a bold one Ms. Foster, our client didn’t inform us you were so naive.” (Petunia)
          The Elementians are suddenly confused and concerned at the information Petunia gave.
          “Client?!” (Max)
          “And how does she know Jady’s- who are you?” (Seth)
          “Let’s just say, someone wanted us to teach the Elementians a lesson. I don’t care what you four did to them, but all I know is that for the honor of our school and ourselves, we will not hesitate to help satisfy the needs of our client.” (Petunia)