Tired of Looking

Amanda left Christopher's home in a hurry. He naturally tried to stop her, seeing the wind was still blowing firmly, but she asserted saying she had important matters to attend to.

With a promise to return, he let her go.

It was because she did not have her bike with her that Christopher insisted that she take his car. She determined that it was manageable. She planned to park the car a mile away, hidden from one's site, and meet the other masters.

While driving herself, she saw a small passage with no pavement. She drove to that direction and found a dead end. She concluded it was a good place to park the car and transport herself back to the forest.

Amanda looked around to make sure that no one else was there. When she was certain that she was alone, she closed her eyes and called for Abasi.

"Take me now, Abasi. I'm going to smack your head for nearly giving me a heart attack earlier," she said, before gradually disappearing inside the car.

Instead of a proper landing, as usual, Abasi gave Amanda a fright, bringing her to fall into an anaconda's lair. One huge twenty feet long snake and her young were visible to her, a mile away from the sky.

She had no time to assess the situation and concluded there must be no one around for Abasi to play a trick on her.

"Aaah!" She yelled as she let out her phoenix wings in broad daylight and flew back up in the sky, stopping her from causing any harm to the snakes below. "Abasi!!!"

"That's for even thinking you can smack me, Amanda," said Abasi before bringing her to their actual training site.

In the middle of a rainforest in Brazil, a large cave was turned into a training area for the masters of the world.

Amanda was brought to its entrance where thick vines and an enormous boulder of rock blocked its passage. Her fire slowly faded, and the same could be said to her glowing eyes.

Now, only covered in her second skin, she walked towards the cave and soon felt the earth tremble beneath her feet. The large rock, which was nearly fifteen feet high, moved by itself, allowing a small opening for Amanda to enter.

While small pieces of the earth fall in the cave's opening, Amanda walked past the entrance and found herself trecking to a long and narrow path. She felt the earth move again and soon the light from behind her disappeared, suggesting the rock returned to cover the cave's entrance.

Only her bright eyes led the way, as she went down deeper into the hallow.

After minutes of walking, she finally reached the center of the cave where a pool of water rested and underneath it were bountiful luminous gemstones, enough to light up the cavern within half a mile.

Brody was already there, and so were Abasi and Trisha.

"Hey Amanda!" Called Taara, the master of the wind. She was floating up in the air, as if she was standing on a cloud.

Amanda smiled at her pleasantly before Taara brought herself to her side. Taara lifted her up in the air as they hugged each other.

"I miss you too, Taara," said Amanda.

It had been weeks since they had seen each other. Among all the elements, Taara was always in demand. Natural disasters were her cup of tea. Controlling the wind and the storm, changing its direction when necessary.

Considering that the blue crystal master, the water element was yet to be found, it was Taara who tried to take its place, blowing down forest fires and calming the seas by reducing winds.

"Now that everyone is here, we need to address something very important," said Trisha. Turning to Amanda, she Trisha asked, "Who was that man you were with?"

Amanda took a deep breath. She thought, technically, she did not keep anything from the other masters. It had only been days since she met Christopher. "His name is Christopher Towns. They have a house at Trinity Bay. He said he came to visit. I met him just a few days ago - "

"And you were already sleeping with him?" Trisha asked with her eyes wide open.

The shock on Taara's face was apparent while Brody and Abasi fell confused.

Abasi probed, "But Amanda, I thought you end up hurting normal beings with your touch?"

"Yeah? You could only touch us - masters, right?" Asked Brody.

Amanda put her hands on her waist and said, "Okay, first of all... I did not sleep with him. I slept next to him. There is a difference."

She looked carefully into their eyes before resuming, "There was a storm at Trinity Bay and we both got caught in the rain. Long story short, I ended up in his house. Apparently, he easily gets cold and let me tell you, he was freezing cold last night! All I did was help him and gave him warmth. That is - all! Nothing more!"

"And yes, strangely… he could touch me like the way you all can touch me without getting hurt. If I warm myself up, he can feel it but he does - not get hurt!"

"Wow! I'm happy for you, Amanda!" Suggested Taara.

"What do you mean happy?" Trisha said in anger. She turned to Amanda before adding, "Are you having feelings for this man, Amanda? Because I am telling you right now, you may fall infatuated with another man, but once you meet the blue crystal master, you will forget all these emotions... Remember that the blue crystal master is your fate."

Amanda let out a heavy sigh. She said, "Here we go again about this guy who seemed to be missing from the world… I'm tired, Trisha… I'm tired of looking for him."

"What if - just what if he is the blue crystal master, Trish?" Brody suggested. He pitied Amanda. Amongst all of them, she was the only one alone in her life.

Brody and Taara were fated together and so were Trisha and Abasi, but Amanda… Amanda's destined master seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth.

Trisha remained to stare at Amanda. She asked, "Did you try to sense it? Did you feel the crystal within him?"

"Yes… Yes, I did… but there was no crystal inside him," said Amanda. Her face was the saddest upon reporting her findings of Christopher.