Chapter 9: Unexpected Storms

MAX

​I'm standing beside a screaming Hester, who's to excited to realize it's too late to make such unholy noise.

"it's 2am in the morning for ascenders sake" I say, a ball of water is swirling around him, and maybe he has cause to celebrate, still…

Unrid and Nayra rush in a few seconds later, and their screams are just as loud, and although I'm grumbling their excitement is infectious and soon, I'm screaming in excitement too.

Hester is laughing so hard and I'm so proud of him, Nayra scolds him for having an elemental talent like his father, but Unrid is the proudest of all, and his arms are wrapped around his son.

Hester asks if we can finally get tested, and I'm furiously nodding.

Unrid laughs at us "sure, of course, you could even go today"

I'm ready, to find out of my class and abilities that I probably don't even know about. this part of the sector didn't have a test centre so we'll be travelling to the capital, by sea and it'll probably take about 4 days.

I asked Unrid if he would be coming with us but he shakes his head, so we'll be going on the journey on our own, Hester is of course happy while Nayra fusses, constantly grumbling and advising us to be careful.

We say our goodbyes and walk towards the shore of the port, we say our goodbyes to a few early risers, we board a large ship, and I marvel at the size of the vessel. the captain approaches us, large and burly, dressed in tight fitting clothes, we pay for a single cabin and meal for 4 days, he hands us off to a deckhand, who introduces himself as Sihle.

"We're finally going" Hester whoops as he jumps on one of the beds" I nod at him and point behind us.

"You know, I'm sure there are a couple water talents on board, you might learn a few things from them" Hester turns wide eyed at the idea, and he instantly jumps off the bed, I chuckle at how excited he is and I turn to follow him.

We find Sihle, and he introduces us to a water talent, a small silver haired woman, she's immensely beautiful, she laughs at Hester's excitement and he conjures a ball of water, Thuli raises an eyebrow at the conjuration while I roll my eyes at his antics.

Thuli asks "What tier are you again?"

Hester replies that we've not been tested yet, Thuli is surprised "That is an impressive conjuration for a tier 0"

Hester puffs up in pride, and I burst out laughing. The ship leaves the harbor just a few minutes past sunrise, I stay for a couple minutes as Thuli explains a few techniques to Hester, who's nodding so fast that I worry that he was going to break them. I leave them to themselves; I walk to an opposite side of the ship to practice my storm talent.

I watch the men as they run around the ship, doing one thing or the other, as small smoke like clouds form around me, since I became my storm talent, the hazy smoke like clouds have become brothers, they float around me, broody and grumpy.

Hester comes to join me a few hours later, wielding two balls of water, he attacks my clouds and I frown at him, he smiles at me, cocky, so I urge the wind to disrupt his concentration. He curses as he tries to keep the water balls together but it's a losing battle and I laugh as the water splatters on the floor.

We go back and forth, attacking each other and of course I win every time, he rolls his eyes at me and calls me out as a cheater. I cry out in mock anger, but my amusement bubbles out of me, when I get tired, I drag myself to the room and take a nap, the movement of the ship lulling me to sleep.

Stars dot the sky when I finally come out, I find Hester playing some kind of game with a few of the deckhands, I find my way to the cook where I get a nice dinner.

The night is peaceful, I feel the wind swirl through me, whispering urgently, I look around for any sign of danger but I don'tfind any still I'm on my guard. The wind cries, agitated and the two wind talents around me stand up from their game, I catch their eye "something is terribly wrong, the wind is…"

I swirl my hands around trying to express the winds agitation, and the other talents nod in confirmation, we watch silently for almost an hour, the other deckhands stare at us in worry, but I can see that they are on their guard.

Soon, I feel the air around me change, it felt different and suddenly I understand what the danger is "It's a storm" I shout "Astorm is coming" I turn to the captain and he waves me forward.

"Is that your talent boy?" I nod in confirmation and he turns to his crew and says "The wind talents say there's danger coming, a storm, let's do all that we can to make sure we survive it"

The men start to prepare, herding the passengers into the ship where it's safer, water and wind talents volunteer to help, after a few hours, the wind picks up, steadily rising, Hester grumbles beside me and I wonder if he could even be of help in this situation.

I watch the clouds gather in the sky until the whole sky is covered, thunder rumbles in the distance and the wind shrieks at me, one of the ship's crew calls out an island in the distance, and I wonder if we would even reach it.

"I think you lads should go below deck" the captain says to us, Hester nods and I almost breathe a sigh of relief at least he would be safe, he turns to look at me but I shake my head.

"I can help, I have a storm talent" the captain nods. Hester goes below deck, urging me to be careful. I step closer to the captain as tiny drops of rain begins to fall, I look up the dark clouds above roiling and grumbling like a massive monster

I steady the wind around me and the captain, I see Thuli and a few others around the edge of the ship as they try to calm the waters.

Lightning flashes in the dark cloud as thunder rumbles steadily, the wind picks up, becoming more agitated and I work on conquering more wind and calming them, but I eventually reach my limit a few meters away from the edge of the ship, it's a struggle and I have to keep my attention on it or risk losing it, but at least the inside of the ship is calm, the other three enhanced wind talents calm the ones beyond my reach.

"Steady, steady" I whisper to the wind around me, willing it to remain calm, I wonder how long I can hold it, But I hope it'll be long enough. The storm grows, the clouds a roiling mass of black clouds, the sound of thunder persistent and never ending, the captain is pushing the ship for all it's worth trying to survive the unexpected storm.

The wind is charged around me, and it only takes me a moment to realize what's coming, terror grips me and I turn to the captain, but I only manage to squeeze out a warning, fortunately the captain hears me and I see the terror reflected in his eyes.

He turns to shout at the men and women on deck to raise whatever defenses we have against lightning, people raise shields or barriers, and it's just in time as only a few seconds later, a massive bolt of lightning strikes the waters directly in front of us.

There's a scream of terror as light blinds me, and throws the focus of one of the wind talents, an area of wind is immediately liberated, and the rush of agitated wind is so strong that it almost blows a couple people off the ship.

The captain shouts at the man to get his wind under control, but I can barely spare any attention to all the ruckus as I feel the charge in the clouds above me spike dramatically, the captain turns to me obviously panicked as he tries to navigate the turbulent waters.

The island is closer now and he directs the ship in its direction, I see hope on the faces of the people around me, if we make it to the island, we would be fine, but its hard to hope when I know what's coming.

"More lightning" I say, barely above a whisper and it's a wonder the captain hears me, the captain turns to his crew, shouting at them to prepare for more, hope drains from their faces and I see despair set in. still they scramble trying to protect the ship and take cover at the same time.

I want to cry at how futile our defenses will be against what's coming, if that lightning hit, no one will survive it, the ship will be broken to pieces and all that will be left of us is broken bones and cooked skin and I know I have to do something about it, I have to at least try to save as many as I can, so I point up slowly towards the higher masts I could stand on.

"I need you to get me up there" the captain looks at me like I've gone insane, I can't afford to explain so I glare at him, and although he's skeptical about my sanity, he calls some of his crew who manage to set a ladder up.

It takes me an eternity to reach the top of the mast, I lose control of some of the wind, but the enhanced talents cover for it, when I reach the top, I raise both hands to the sky, preparing for the worst.

I feel the lightning build within the clouds and with growing terror, I try to connect with them, to become them, when my mind connects with it, I'm filled with an utter loss of control or direction, chaos and destruction flow into my mind and I realize that I cannot control these, I'm not strong enough.

I feel the lightnings gather towards me, hundreds of them arcing towards me like iron filings to magnet, they strike down and slam into me like a horde of angry mammoths, I lose control of the wind and my entire world goes white with pain and pleasure as my body absorbs the pure energy rushing into me.

I fall to the deck of the ship, shattering wood, as the lightning becomes a part of me, the pain is indescribable, and I scream in fury and pain, it goes on for seconds but it feels like forever, I feel myself tier up at the massive influx of primal energy, strength flows through me and I feel my senses increase.

I open my eyes seconds later, the entire storm is breaking like it had lost its strength, my ears ring and I see smoke rising from my skin, I'm bleeding from a thousand cuts, but my body is filled with strength.

I slowly turn to look around me and I'm met with blood and broken bodies, the entire ship is a broken and I realize that the wind must have wreaked havoc on the ship after I lost control of it, and I realize that I have not saved these people.

People jump out of the sinking ship, hauling children and their elderly into the cold waters, Hester finds me and drags me, without a word we are jumping off the sinking ship and into cold freezing water.

The island is closer now, only a few miles away, but I'm in shock, guilt and terror raging within me, I —

"Get it together max, this is not the time or place for a mental breakdown" Hester shouts at me, as he drags us through the freezing water.

I manage to get myself together and swim with Hester as he uses his talent to push us forward, we find Thuli moments later, helping a group of people swim through the freezing waters, there's blood everywhere, the cries of the wounded, a symphony of fear and pain.Thuli is screaming frantically, and it doesn't take long for me to realize why she's so scared, when the sound of snarling monsters reach me, and I see a monster cut a man in half.