Chapter 4 - Pairs

"Luke Morgenstern?"

"Here" said Luke without moving.

'I can't use my powers so there's no point telling anyone about them.'

"Okay, that's the register done. Now, if you can be patient for another minute, I'll give you an explanation of what I know" said Elena, standing in front of everyone.

"This will just be a short explanation of what you should all know.

First of all my actual name is not Elena Smith but Elena Silver."

Kyle, Mia and Quinn where shocked to hear this and reevaluated Elena in their heads, purring more importance on her now that they knew she was from one of the most powerful families in the Shadow world.

'As I thought she's a Silver, the noble Elemantalist family of Britain who are able to control the weather.'

"Me, Chris, Rick, Kyle, Andrei, Mia and Quinn, are all able to use magical energy in one way or another.

I'm a wind Elementalist from the Silver family. Due to my bloodline I'm able to control weather as well as wind.

The other 6 all use different Classes of magic. There are 7 classes of human magic. They're called Elementalist which is my Class, Mage which can be split up into the specialisations of summoner and formations master, Exorcists who borrow power from their God to wield magic, Hunters whose magic is similar to Exorcist's but the source of their power is different, Werewolves whose bodies are fused with magic increasing their strength and Cultivators who use magic to strengthen their body and soul.

Then there's the last class, called Anomalies, they wield unique magics that work by influencing raw energy in a set pattern. No one knows exactly how an Anomaly is created or how their able to use raw energy without turning into a shadow."

Elena waited a moment to let the class digest the information before continuing.

"Now I'm going to talk about Shadows. A Shadow is a monster which is created when a human absorbs raw energy into their system. At rank 1 they are mindless monsters whose only goal is to absorb the latent magical energy in a person or animals system. They absorb the energy by bite however when a Shadow bites you, they will also transfer raw energy into your system turning you into a Shadow if you survive. In a lot of ways they are very similar to the zombies.

However there is one main difference between zombies and Shadows. When a Shadow absorbs a creatures energy it gets stronger. When a Shadow reaches rank 3 it regains a bit of intelligence and if it increases its strength more it will continue getting smarter and will even be able to command weaker Shadows."

Hearing that the Shadows where even worse than zombies the students moods turned even worse.

Seeing that Elena quickly reassured them. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds. It takes years before a Shadow can even reach Rank 3, however this was before the today so the Shadows will probably mutate faster due to having more food but we're still unlikely to see one too strong so early. We're also quite strong so unless we meet a rank 5 Shadow we should be able to handle it."

Hearing that they where strong enough to handle any Shadows they might come across the students moods instantly brightened.

"I can't believe we have so any people who can actually do magic in our class" a student whispered.

"I know it's crazy right? With them we might actually make it back home" another student whispered back.

Elena smiled a little then started speaking loudly. "Can you listen for just one moment please?"

The students quietened down again and Elena started speaking. "I don't think it would be productive to just stay in this room so I would like to form pairs from the people who know magic to clear out this floor of Shadows as well as the roof and the stairs. Does anyone object to this idea?"

There was silence, with Quinn shaking his head and Kyle finally deciding to pay attention, as no one spoke out against the idea.

"Great!" exclaimed Elena. "Jason can you come with me to the stairs?"

"Of course" replied Jason.

"Thank you, Chris, Kyle could you two check this floor for Shadows?"

"Sure" said Kyle before standing up and stretching in front of the class.

Chris nodded towards Elena.

"Great, Rick, Quinn could you two check the roof for me?"

"Okay, I've finished the defensive formation, it should keep anything below rank 4 out of this room." said Rick whilst walking towards Elena before stopping in front of the students.

Quinn jumped up from his seat and walked towards them, with a smile on his face he said, "Definitely, Elena."

"Thanks, Andrei, Mia could you two stay here and guard the room?"

Andrei nodded and Mia spoke a quiet agreement.

"Excellent, if everyone has what they need let's go now" said Elena.

The six who where going out then walked to the door leaving the room in silence.

Before anyone said anything Andrei opened a bag he had been carrying. He took out a black revolver with different, unknown engravings on it. When Luke looked at the engravings different mutterings filled his head. He quickly averted his gaze so as to stop the voices.

'Ow my head. That revolver must directly channel power from the Rift! Revolvers like that are very rare.'

The unwelcome voice then decided to share his thoughts again. 'Yes, that Hunter clearly isn't so simple to have such a weapon. You should get to know him.'

'You're just interested in what he knows about the Rift.'

'A man needs to be interested in something, and what better than the mysterious Rift between worlds? It's nearly impossible to enter and even harder to get out! Even us Demons no very little about it!'

'Why didn't you ask my grandmother about it then?'

'Those Riftwalkers are very secretive, even your grandmother wouldn't tell me much. But if you used the powers you inherited from your mum, my daughter, you could explore the rift yourself!'

'Too bad those powers are evil.'

'Too bad you would let your friends die because you won't use your powers.'

'Shut up!'

'Just think about that, will you?'

...

Back in the hotel room Luke saw Mark walking towards him.

"Hey Luke" said Mark, taking a seat next to him, "You walked hear with Elena didn't you?"

"Yes" replied Luke.

"Did Elena tell you anything on the way here?" asked Mark, "I know she just gave an explanation, but it seemed there's a lot of detail she missed out, so did she say anything else to you?"

"No" replied Luke.

"Oh, okay" said Mark.

"..."

"..."

"Erm, wel-" started Mark but before he could finish he was interrupted by someone else.

"Hey Mark" said Lucy, "what are you doing over here?"

"I was just asking Luke if he new anything," said Mark.

"Oh, hi Luke" said Lucy.

"Hi" said Luke looking over to see Lucy standing in front them with another girl beside her.

"This is Kate, my best friend," said Lucy, introducing the girl beside her. The girl was short and slim, with messy, long blonde hair. She had an infectious smile that you couldn't help but be happy looking at.

"Hi, Mark, Luke," said Kate, smiling.

"Hi" said Luke.

"Hello, Kate" said Mark "you seen surprisingly happy today."

"Hahaha" hearing that Lucy giggled the said "Kate's always like that even when everyone's sad she keeps a smile on her face, that's why she's so great!"

"Lucy stop it!" exclaimed Kate, "you're embarrassing me."

"Hahaha, " laughed Mark, "don't be embarrassed Kate I thi-"

BANG

Luke heard something crash to the ground from above. The building started violently shaking.

BOOM

A crack appeared on the roof spreading outwards, like it was trying to paint the entire ceiling in cracks! Soon the ceiling could no longer cope and collapsed towards Luke and the rest of the class!