Chapter 10: Of Cheeseburgers and Friends

 Seth

 When Seth opened the door to his house he saw his mom on the couch in the living room reading some kind of papers. When she saw him her expression brightened.

 "Seth honey how was practice this morning?" she asked. Then she saw who was behind Seth and they saw his Mom.

 "Attention! Chief Commander Salute!" Seth looked behind him to find his team standing at attention saluting his mother with their right fists slamming against their left breasts with a unified smack.

 "Oh at ease," Katie said with a almost bored expression.

 " Seth are these guys part of your squad?" His mother asked. Seth nodded.

 "I brought them here because they have committed a grave crime," Seth said giving his mom a slight wink.

 "Oh and what crime is that?"

 "The crime of never having had a delicious hamburger," Seth replied with a playful tone.

 "What time is your next class?" she asked.

 Michelle stepped forward, "our next class is in forty five minutes ma'am."

 "Then we can give them due punishment for their crime," his mother said.

 "Seth would you go turn on the grill and set out plates?" Twenty minutes later each one of Seth's squad members had been given a hamburger with ketchup and cheese. They were seated at the dining table ready to start eating. They prayed over their food and then Seth watched as they all took their first bite. Michelle yelped and dropped her hamburger.

 "What is this taste!?" she said exasperated. "This is way to good to be food of the mortal world." Aria nodded in agreement as she chewed her first bite seemingly in bliss." Just then there was a knock on the door and his mom went to answer it. When she returned Matt and the kid Travice were with her. Before Matt could speak Seth put him in his seat and put his hamburger in his hand.

 "Eat now," he commanded Matt raised and eyebrow at him but with a quick look at his mom Matt bit into the hamburger. Seth watched as Matt's eyes began widen further and further until they couldn't widen no more. Matt finished chewing and then took another bite and another until the hamburger had been devoured. Afterwards Matt tried to catch his breath.

 "That was... That was," Matt began.

 "Absolutely Amazing," Michelle finished polishing the hamburger grease off her plate with part of her bun.

 "So do you eat this hamburger a lot in the Normal World," Travice asked. Seth turned to him. Travice was about five foot two and from what Seth could tell he was fast and quick with his sword. He hand straight black hair that had a golden feather braided in to two braids that ran down each side of his head, kind of like a native american style. his eyes were a forest green and they shone with amazement at the food that he was consuming.

 "Well yeah we eat these all the time, they are main cultural food."

 "Well I just found my restaurants new item," Travice said. Seth just stared at him.

 "Hold on you run a restaurant?" Seth exclaimed.

 "Well some of us can't live off the soldier life alone you know." Seth didn't know how to respond to that so instead he decided to change the subject.

 "So what's the deal with these elemental gem things?" he asked. At his words everyone stopped eating. Matt sat forward and studied Seth intently. Then he looked over at Seth's mom who didn't betray any emotion. He turned back to Seth clasping his hands and resting his chin on them. It looked like such a classical gesture the kind of thing that happens in fantasy movies when the characters are discussing something in a tavern. Seth had to make an attempt not to laugh when he thought about that.

 "The Elemental Gems..." Matt began.

 "Are the eight elemental gems gifted to us by God to use in defense of the worlds. They are the original and most pure forms of our elemental power," Michelle interrupted. "The Legend states that we have to use the elemental gems to defeat Reaper."

 "And am I right and guessing Reaper is the same one from the stories." Everyone looked at Seth like he was speaking Japanese in the middle of a American rural small town.

 "You know the Grim Reaper, The Pale Rider, Death, do none of these names ring a bell?" Seth asked. At the last two the group's eyes lit up in recognition.

 Matt nodded " Yep that's the one."

 "I thought that Death was one of the seven horsemen of the Apocalypse? So wouldn't he be under God's command." When he said this everyone's faces clouded over with nervousness. "Well yes he is but think of him as overeager child. His entire purpose for living is to start the apocalypse and destroy the world... but his problem is he keeps trying to start the apocalypse early and we have had to stop him. We also have to keep destroying demons so that they don't cause havoc in the normal world."

 "Oh," was all Seth could say.

 "Unfortunately when Reaper last got free, the academies rallied to defeat him with the elemental gems. But Reaper had learned from his past mistakes. He defeted the elemental masters one by one and took their gems. He spread them across both worlds and hid them in places that would neutralize their power. it will hopefully be our job to locate and retrieve those gems because without them we can't win."

 "No! we can still prevail!" Seth's mom said with more conviction than Seth had ever heard her muster. "We can not forget any of us that our faith belongs to God. With whom anything is possible. We can't place too much belief in objects or they will replace the one who has been with us all this time. And who gave us the power in the first place. We are no longer just of the human race. We have the ability to save, and protect in more ways than just physical. We must keep our own faith and the teachings of Jesus."

 Everyone in the room had stopped and was just staring at Seth's mom, including Seth, in shock. After a few minutes of silence and thought Matt was the first one to speak.

 "Chief Commander is right, we have to put our trust in God more than we put our trust in the world. Because, while bad things happen, and people get hurt; we must continue to trust in God and we will prevail. If we are to be successful we must be prepared to not only fight but to put our beliefs to the test. That means our faiths, and conviction will be tested. Just because we believe in God that doesn't mean our lives become perfect and we are above all others. It is because we are believers that our lives are tested constantly. Because we have declared ourselves the enemies of the Devil so he will do everything he can to defeat us or to shake our beliefs." For the second time everyone in the room was completely shocked into thought. Seth was no exception, his life had been uprooted, changed in a way that he couldn't have possibly predicted, and his view of the world was drastically changed. But he hadn't really thought of his faith in a while.

 Seth had given his life to Christ when he was just twelve years old, his reasons were not only because of how he was raised but also because of the overwhelming joy he had felt when prayed to God at night. It was because throughout all his life the world had thrown him down. With all of the moving from place to place and all the bullying he had endured over the years he had always felt like he had God. He remembered nights that he would spend staring at the roof of the car as they had driven through the night to where they would be living next.He remembered just talking to God like he was his best friend. He remembered sharing his fears, doubts, pain , and anger with God, and even though God didn't actually speak, Seth could just feel that he was listening and it almost felt like God was standing next to him with his hand on his shoulder just listening to everything he had to say. like he was reminding Seth that he was never alone.

 "Well enough of that for now we need to get to our next class," Aria announced standing. She turned and bowed toward Seth's mother. "Thank you for the food Commander," she said formally.

 "It was my pleasure," Katie said with a smile. Then she turned to Seth, Go on honey go to class and learn as much as you can because it won't be long for you have to face the demons yourself. and next time there won't just be one.

 Gradually Seth fell into routine. He'd get up go to combat lessons in the morning, which consisted of learning the various ways to fight certain demons. Then he'd go to class with Rylee as she taught the history and geography of Elementia as Seth learned it was called. Much of what he learned was fascinating, the world of Elementia cliche as its name is was, if Rylee was to be believed a wondrous place. It was filled with all kinds of various people and races. The most prominent of these races were the Dwarves yes, Dwarves, Elves, Scandians (also known as the dragon people), and the Giants of Old. The Dwarves were like most dwarves of fantasy. They were, blacksmiths of the highest quality, masons, craftsmen, and miners. The only difference was that they didn't believe in pagan Gods like they did in almost all other fantasy's Seth had come across. Both the dwarves, elves, and scandians believed in the one God the same as the Academies. The dwarves had another name though, they simply call him The King, or if being formal the full title is: The Holy King of the Vacated Stone Tomb.

 These three races were allies of the Academies and had been responsible for protecting Elementia from demons long before the Lightforce or any of their kind had moved arrived on Elementia. The Giants Seth had heard were enemies of the Academies and the other three races but, they had left everyone alone for nearly two thousand years. The leaders of the three races didn't feel like provoking a war between them and the giants if they were content to keep to themselves and stay well enough away.

 So this is how his days went by. He slowly got to know his squad though their number had been reduced to include just him, Matt, Aria, Michelle, Travis, and a small shy girl that was maybe thirteen years old. The girl was noticeable only because of her cherry red hair and bright yellow tennis shoes she always wore. Seth had tried on multiple occasions to get to know her but she had always brushed aside his attempts. Although he did get her name out of her; it was Isbis The name was an odd one but Seth didn't give it a second thought. Isbis always kept the hood of her uniform up and hid her face as much as possible. She was very mysterious but Matt and the others didn't pay it no mind so Seth figured that it was okay.

 Seth and his squad had been progressing steadily and even though the training was tough they were getting along well and for the first time in a long time Seth was truly happy. He finally had friends he wouldn't have to abandon or leave and he was quite content. Seth's swordsmanship had progressed to and unprecedented level and he was actually excited for the future. But Seth should've known better than to believe that everything was going to stay the way they were.

 Seth was shaken awake one night by his mother who was standing over his bed like a ball of light floating above her head to provide light. That was another thing he'd found out about his powers. Apparently the power they used wasn't their own. it was a gift from God and as such he had to ask God for what he wanted his power to do. He didn't have to do this with small things like when he had made the wings come out of his back or a simple light source, but for bigger things, like say a car (yes, Seth could make any car he wanted which he was ecstatic about), you had to pray, so the closer you were to God, the easier it was for someone to call upon Him. But these creations were limited to how strong you were. depending on what you created and how big it was, the person making it would lose a measure of their energy and strength until they were rendered unconscious or in more serious circumstances even dead.

 "Seth, wake up!" his mother said trying to convey, urgency while trying to keep her calm quiet voice. Seth groaned and rolled over to look at the clock. Great it was 2:24 in the freaking morning, what could his mother possibly want from him. Seth looked up at his mom feeling kind of annoyed he wouldn't have been surprised if she just wanted to go on a mid-night walk or something. She was like that, she always picked the most inconvenient times to try to bond with him.

 "Mom, what is it? I have to get up in about three and half hours so can't you..." he stopped as he saw her face. It was wrought with concern and even a hint of worry. Seth sat up, rubbing his eyes trying to clear the sleep from his eyes. Something told him he would not be going back to sleep tonight. "Okay what is happening?" he asked now more fully awake.

 Katie was dressed in her full battle attire, which consisted of a white hardened leather chest plate, with pauldrons, greaves, Silver steel chain-mail hauberk, and the white hooded cloak.

 "Seth hurry and get dressed," she told him. Seth pulled back the covers exposing his bare feet to the cool climate of the house.

 "Why? What's going on," Seth asked now concerned because of the frantic tone of his mother's voice.

 "There's no time, I'll tell you on the way now hurry. You'll need your armor on as well." Seth now was thoroughly confused and nervous. It wasn't normal to see his mom so flustered. All that kept running through Seth's mind was, what could possibly be going on. Seth got dressed in record time and then had his mom help him into his armor, which was identical to hers' except it was fitted for him. Seth strapped on SonFang and then his mom and he left together.

 "So mom are you going to tell me what all this is about?" Seth asked as they left the house and started down the ever lit street.

 Seth's mom looked over at him and hesitated before she began to speak. but when she did speak it was in the calm controlled manner she normally used.

 "We're under attack," his mother said. Those three words held such enormous consequences that everything seemed to stop. The wind that Seth hadn't been aware was blowing suddenly ceased, the sounds of insects, and the chirping of crickets stopped. The whole world seemed to sigh in resignation to those words. Even the lights of the city dimmed a small fraction. Those words although Seth had known they would probably eventually come, had taken him completely by surprise.

 "Wait what do you mean under attack?" Seth asked. his mind automatically went to the defenses that safe guarded the Academy. "How did they get here? Shouldn't they have had to go past the other Academies to get here?" Seth didn't like this at all. He finally had thought he had a place where he could belong, why then did something like this have to happen.

 Seth's mom sighed, "the truth is we have no idea how they by passed the other academies without them knowing but we are sending messages to warn them. But the size of the army coming against us is not one we can defeat entirely on our own without the help of the elemental gems." Seth's mother stopped in the middle of the and turned to face Seth, the look in her eyes made Seth's heart flutter it was a look of utter terror. Then in a flash the look was gone and Seth heard his mother take a couple deep breaths.

 "But we have God so we will endure. I fear that you and your friends search for the Elemental gems will start much sooner than we expected."

 "How soon will that be?"

 "The enemy army will be here in the morning so you will probably leave tonight." Seth was stunned he'd expected the army to be close but it was difficult to understand that when the sun rose like it had on any others day, many people would give their lives for a world that didn't even know they existed.

 "Now come the others are gathered in the war room." Seth didn't trust himself to speak so instead he just followed his mother as she jogged down the street her boots sounding like the beat of a drum with every step.