The explosion came without warning.
It wasn't close enough to shake the street, but close enough that everyone felt it, a deep rolling thoom that rippled through Yokohama's narrow alleys and bustling avenues.
"I'm scared, mummy…"
The little girl sat frozen on the steps outside a ramen shop, her back pressed against the warm wood of the entrance. The smell of grilled saba and fresh maguro hung in the air, mixed cruelly with the smoke drifting from somewhere deeper into the city.
Her hands trembled as she clutched her phone as if it was the only thing keeping her from falling apart.
The video call flickered – pixels distorting, freezing, stuttering. "I'm back in the hospital, sweetheart," her mother said, voice strained but steady. "The signal's been bad since the announcement."
"Mummy, I need to tell you- "
A scream pierced through the call. "Dr Akio Moriyama!" someone yelled. "The patient's body is freezing; his temperature is dropping too fast!" Her mother's eyes tightened. "I must go, stay inside where people can see you, " her mother said quickly, guilt slipping into her voice. "I'm sorry, my dear."
The call ended.
"I need you…" The girl whispered, tears soaking into her uniform, her fingers squeezed the phone, knuckles whitening.
That was when the ground beneath her started to glow. Soft at first, light leaking through the tiles. Then brighter. A pale light surged upward, bathing her in warmth so sudden it stole the air from her lungs. She couldn't scream. She couldn't move.
Someone… please help me.
Her thoughts clung to her mother who was always busy, helping others instead of her own daughter, as the light swallowed her whole. Then a shadow fell over her.
"The youth these days," An old man muttered, tapping his cane against the pavement, "Is it really so hard to control your energy?" The girl's eyes snapped open. A hand rested gently on her head, warm and steady. Energy flowed into her like a calming tide, threading throughout her veins, settling her heart. The light faded.
She looked up.
An old man stared back at her, tall and thin, long white hair tied loosely behind his head. His beard shimmered silver under the streetlights, and though his face was lined with age, his eyes burned with life. There was a pause. Her brain caught up to the scene; a strange old man, touching her head.....
"PERVERT"
She scrambled backwards, grabbed her phone, and bolted down the street without looking back. The old man stood frozen, slowly blinking. A restaurant window slipped open just enough for a chef to glare at him, then shut with sharp finality.
"…Some thanks I get," he sighed. At his feet lay a school bag. He picked them up with a huff, adjusting his grip on his cane which was a metal staff shaped like a dragon, worn smooth by time and use. "I'm a gentleman, you know."
Around him. Yokohama dissolved into chaos. People shouted. Others stared blankly at their screens, replaying the announcement repeatedly. Teenagers filmed everything whilst strangers prayed out loud to gods they hadn't believed in yesterday. Elementals have always been here, the old man thought. Humans are just slow to listen. He smiled faintly.
Sensei, because that's what people called him when they didn't know what else to call a man like him, watched the chaos with an odd kind of patience. He glanced down the street, sensing ripples of elemental energy awakening. Light here, fire there, water reacting in the pipes and metal vibrating in the streetlights. The elemental energy was very violent, untrained.
"Light, hm?" he muttered, thinking of the girl. "A troublesome element for a first awakening." His thoughts drifted to the two brats he looks after. "With what I've taught those two, they'll be fine," he murmured. "Especially with how special they are."
Another explosion echoed deeper in the city.
"Ah. Another one losing control."
His peace, it seemed, would not last much longer. He glanced at the bag in his hand. "Hospital it is." He walked down the street, his cane tapping the floor in a metallic rhythm. He only made three steps before he felt them. Not power but desperation and fear. He stopped beside a narrow alleyway between buildings and spoke without turning his head. "I know you're there," Sensei said calmly, squinting down the alleyway next to him. "I can smell your desperation." Three shadows stepped onto his path. Dirty jackets. Sharp eyes. Fear masked as bravado.
"Oi old man," one of them sneered. "Hand over the bag and whatever else you got like that cane of yours, I've taken quite a liking to it."
The old man sighed again. "So troublesome."
The first thug lunged, fist swinging wide. Sensei didn't move his feet. He just lifted his cane and tapped the floor, the metal tip struck the pavement once. Tink. The air snapped, warm air exploded outwards like an invisible hammer, and the thug was ripped of his feet. The man was sent flying before he slammed into the wall with a sickening crunch, dead before he slid down. The second reached for a knife, eyes wide, trying to hide his fear. Sensei exhaled and a thin ribbon of flame curled from his mouth like a dragon tasting the air. Fire flared, not a blast nor an explosion, but just enough to melt the knife in the thug's hand, molten metal dripping down corroding the flesh. The man screamed, clutching his hand. Sensei stepped closer and he touched the man's shoulder sending a terrifying wave of heat into the body igniting him from inside out. The scream cut of and the thug's lifeless body dropped to the ground smoke pouring out of his mouth and eye sockets The third tried to run. A tap of the cane. Without a chance to scream the thug combusted into flames, the powerful fire engulfing his body in a terrifying embrace. The old man adjusted his grip, expression unchanged as he stared down at what was left of the three thugs. No anger or excitement just disappointment his walk has been interrupted. "I truly wanted a peaceful retirement," he muttered to himself before continuing his walk towards the hospital, the thugs bodies still burning in the dark alleyway.
The hospital was worse. Ice crawled along the walls, swallowing equipment whole. Breath became fog. Doctors shouted orders as nurses struggled to keep machines alive. In the centre of the room, a boy lay frozen mid-scream, frost sealing his chest.
Dr Akio Moriyama stood frozen herself at the foot of the bed, her hands trembling as she tried to keep her voice professional. "He's freezing from the inside," she said, sounding as if she couldn't believe the words that came out of her own mouth. "His organs, his blood, this isn't environmental. It's.... coming from him". Ice surged up from beneath him, jagged and fast, snapping outwards like a living entity trying to protect itself by killing everything and everyone around it. A nurse screamed as frost raced towards her shoes.
And then warmth. Warmth of something older than the hospital, older than than the city. A presence stepped into so warm and so hot as if the very sun was in the room. The room immediately was engulfed with steam as the warmth and cold clashed in a one-sided battle with the heat overpowering the ice with ease.
"It's okay," Sensei said softly behind Dr Moriyama. She turned startled with fear riddled across her face. He handed her the school bag the school girl left behind.
"Your daughter dropped this."
Her eyes widened, her mouth opening and closing in shock. "How do you know my daughter?" she demanded, voice trembling. "How did you get into this room?" "Who are you?"
"Don't worry about your daughter; she is safe, and that boy will be as well," Sensei replied, pointing at the frozen child on the hospital bed. "If you want him alive, stop asking questions and take a breath." He walked past her and crouched beside the boy and placed two fingers gently on the boy's forehead. "Listen," Sensei murmured. "Your power is reacting to fear. Fear makes it come out. It coming out makes you panic. You panicking makes it come out more, you are creating your own cage." The boys lips trembled.
" I can't stop it," the little boy cried, " its too difficult." Sensei smiled gently, "Yes you can," he replied simply, "just focus on me." The warmth from Sensei's fingertips gently burned the frost, persuading it to recede carefully, retreating from machines, from shoes and from hearts. As the room began to stabilise the steam surrounding Sensei and the boy started to dissipate being forcefully expelled from the bedside window that was overlooking the whole city. Nurses and doctors staggered as the strange mist slowly left and by the time Dr Moriyama reached the bedside of the child, the old man was gone. Dr Moriyama stared at the spot where she swore she last saw the mysterious old man, her mind struggling to comprehend the miraculous event that took place. What did the old man do...
Her thoughts were interrupted as heavy boots echoed down the hall. The Elemental enforcement. Armoured figures filed into the room. All the elemental police were heavily armed and covered in gear from head to toe, menacingly staring down the little boy who was asleep, due to over expending his energy unaware of his surroundings and the fate he had awaiting him. Another figure walked into the room, however she wasn't wearing a mask. A warden. The area around this being felt different. She radiated a powerful elemental aura that even the ordinary humans could sense. Her gaze locked onto the boy. "Awakened minor," the warden said, her voice flat. "Uncontrolled manifestation, element ice. Under the Accord, he will be taken." Dr Moriyama stepped forward instinctively.
"He is just a child!" She pleaded, her voice shaking as she stood in-front of the warden who coldly eyed her with dissatisfaction. The warden took a step closer, everyone in the room held their breath. "Are you rejected the Accord little human?" The warden was now towering over Dr Moriyama. "You do realise the consequence of disobedience is death," the warden said calmly, "I will ask you one more time, do you reject the Accord." The nurses and doctors in the room screamed as the air pressure around them suddenly intensified crushing their bodies. Dr Moriyama looked at her colleagues, their faces contorted with agony, their limbs bending at unnatural angles. She then looked at the little boy who reminded her of her own little girl and tears ran down her cheeks. "I'm sorry little one," she sobbed before turning back to the monster that resembled a human and she stepped out of her way giving access to the elemental officers to take the boy. After taking the boy the elemental officers took the boy, the sense of duty over riding any emotions their face showed underneath the masks. The air pressure loosened and the doctors and nurses all dropped to the floor unconscious. Dr Moriyama did not take a single step towards them in fear of the warden remembering her presence. The warden was the last to leave and right before the warden exited the room she turned looking at Dr Moriyama right into her eye peering as if she could see the doctors very soul. With a flick of her wrist, the head of one of the doctors exploded, covering Dr Moriyama and the room in an explosion of blood and flesh. Dr Moriyama screamed as her co-workers remains covered the whole room from a pristine white to a sea of red gore, brain matter plastered on the walls, the metallic scent of blood hung thick in the air. "Remember foolish human, the consequence of disobedience is death," said the warden as she exited the room. Dr Moriyama knees buckled as her brain finally caught up on the horrifying event that took place just before her very eyes. A chorus of screams filled the hospital as more people, who were attracted by the whole commotion, witnessed the consequences of standing up to the Elementals. Sensei observed from the rooftop of the building opposite the hospital. "So it begins," he murmured.
Night fell. Sensei returned to his home, an old Japanese dojo. The dojo was tucked between quiet streets and contained wooden floors, paper doors, history soaked into every beam. Inside waited two girls. Ashyra looked up first, her amber eyes flickering with concern. Beside her sat Nyssara, quiet as ever, water humming softly at her fingertips. "You're late," Ashyra said, her eyebrows furrowing together with concern. Sensei smiled tiredly. " The world decided to wake up today." Nyssara's gaze softened. "Did it hurt?" Sensei blinked once. "Did what hurt?" "The world," Nyssara replied, like it was obvious. " When it woke up." Ashyra snorted, but it wasn't mocking. It was nervous, like she wanted to laugh but couldn't afford to. Nyssara's gaze drifted to Sensei's sleeves. "Smoke". "And Blood," Ashyra added. Sensei's smiled thinned. "Both." Ashyra's gaze dropped to his cane, then the faint scorch on his sleeve. "Did you fight?" she asked disapprovingly. "Three idiots," Sensei said. "And a city full of frightened souls." Nyssara's water slowed, then resumed. "Did you go to the hospital?" Sensei sighed, "I'm not that weak you know, but yes I did go only briefly to return a bag," he corrected, but his eyes sharpened. " And I saw what happens when fear meets true power." Ashyra's jaw tightened. "The Awakening." Sensei nodded, "across the world, any age, anyone as long as they have even the smallest amount of DNA they will awaken." Ashyra shook her head in disbelief. "So humans are Elementals now?" "No." Sensei's voice flattened. "Humans with elemental energy aren't exactly elementals more a being in the middle of a human and an elemental. Over time their body would adapt more to the elemental power however the awakening is a very volatile stage, some will die, some will mistakenly kill others. This is why two must stay close and listen to me, you are both very talented however its better to be safe than to risk anything". Ashyra opened her mouth, then closed it. She wanted to argue. She wanted to ask about the tear in the sky and about what the wardens are and why Sensei is so calm whilst the world is drowning in a flood of fear. But instead, her hand pressed unconsciously against her chest. Because she felt it again, a familiar pain in her heart. Somewhere far away, something inside her screamed a name she couldn't speak out loud.
Within Yokohama in a place hidden from human eyes – five children trained. Shadow moved, vanishing and reappearing within the darkness truly dancing with the shadows, Giozan struck his fists and legs with unrestrained madness. Vhaleria stood unmoving, crimson void energy coiling around her body. Rael's lightning sparked in jagged bursts, his body forcing itself to keep up with a power it was never built to hold. Magneta moved like a blade was pretending to be a girl. Above them their elder sister watched them all. Noctyra. Her dark, purple eyes pierced through the children, analysing their every breath, every mistake, every hesitation.
Cold. Silent. Calculating.
The children's foreheads glistened with sweat as their ragged breathing filled the void.
"Again," she said. The children obeyed because they loved her, feared her, and would follow her into hell without being asked. They were not students. They were weapons. God-killing weapons.
Somewhere far beyond the sky – something ancient stirred. Something patient. Something always watching. The Something was smiling.