Lightning

Lights raced overhead as Ace sat inside his patrol vehicle. It was other vehicles flying by, no doubt. He wondered what people were doing so late at night. Looking around his dashboard for the clock, he noticed it was almost midday. He couldn’t tell with the tall buildings that blocked the sky above him.
Ace sighed as he looked at his mission form from the Protectors, the law enforcement of the planet Trangia. The clear paper shimmered as electronic text appeared at the touch of his hand. The time required for the assignment was almost done. Ace thought about the assignments he would get: all the same, low-end, easy stakeouts at abandoned places. It wasn’t his fault he was of a different Element then the rest of Trangia.
The thought of Elements always made Ace think of his past. He learned, while growing up, of bedtime stories that explained how Elements came to be. Trangians called it the Elemental Discovery.
The Elemental Discovery was history and mythology. It was about six people and their explorations through space. These six came across a blue dust covered planet that was far away from where any may have called home. It was also uninhabited as far as the six knew. Upon more exploration, they found ruins at the most northern point of the planet. The ruins had engravings of many glyphs that shined the same colour of the rock on the surface. The glyphs seemed to give power to the six people. The six were able to use the power of six Elements: Light, Dark, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water at their will.
Trangia was a planet of just Fire and Ice Elementalists. Elementalists were those who held the power of an Element.
Ace thought about how everything seemed to change. It was the year of 1192, but it started 6 years ago, the night he discovered his Element.
*****
Walking down a street from the nearby school, Juhnad Secondary School, Ace Senrog was with two of his friends. He stood between them as they chatted. His short blond hair glistened in the light of the sun as they marched down the streets. The three of them lived in the second biggest city on Trangia. It was called Juhnad, the capital of Trangia West. Juhnad was known for its strong fleet of Protectors and being one of the most suitable places to have a family. Trangia was a planet that was divided by the directions of a compass. Each quarter of Trangia held a capital and its own Protector Headquarters. Only Trangia East held a Government Headquarters.
“So Ace, find out your Element yet?” Knelo asked.
“I will find out tomorrow when I turn 15…that’s even if I get an Element, Knelo,” Ace replied sighing, aiming his piercing amber eyes to the ground.
Elementalist’s powers awakened inside when they turned 15 years of age. This reason dated back to the possibility of the six founders being 15, but it was just a theory.
Knelo had his Element. He had gotten it a few months ago. Knelo’s hand erupted in small flames as he ran his hand through his short light brown hair. He was a joker. He constantly liked to make jokes about how ‘hot’ he was. Knelo’s hazel eyes lit up in the light of the Element, and his muscles tensed.
“Well hopefully you get ice, like me!” Raed said.
“I don’t know Raed, ice seems weird to me…” Ace admitted.
Raed had his Element for over half a year now. After seeing Knelo use fire, Raed retaliated by covering his arms in ice. Anytime Raed used his Element, his blue eyes seemed to slice into anything he looked at. His long black hair would slowly move with the icy air that would lift off of his arms.
“Well that means you can’t be it, because they say for ice powers you have to be willing to have it,” Knelo snickered.
“Shut up Knelo! That’s just a daft rumour!” Raed yelled.
“Oi, you both need to calm down.”
“Fire beats ice!” Knelo yelled as his arms roared with fire.
“But both Elements live here, so what difference does it make?” Raed sighed, with cold air flowing from his lips.
“Yeah they are both on the same side, so you both need to be quiet.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right…” Knelo said, calming down.
It was long before they reached some of the surrounding neighbourhoods, not too far from the school. Ace finally caved and asked,
“Does that mean I am going to get fire?”
“Well it’s a possibility for either or. Guess it’ll have to be a surprise,” Raed replied.
“Well, fire powers would be awesome,” Ace said while thinking, “Nothing wrong with ice either though.”
“Ha, yeah sure Ace,” Knelo chuckled.
It didn’t take long to reach the street where Ace had lived. It was only a block or so from the school.
“Well guys, I’ll see you tomorrow at school!”
“Alright, later Ace,” Knelo responded.
“Yeah, see you tomorrow! Good luck with your birthday surprises!” Raed said smiling.
“Yeah, let’s see what’s in store for me.”
They waved goodbye and Ace started heading down his street. It was the only white brick house on the street compared to the usual blue bricks of Trangia. All the houses stood two stories tall. Every yard, including Ace’s family’s, was cut nicely and grown evenly. There were small green machines that people of Trangia programmed to keep their yards looking well. Many people at the time nicknamed them “Maintainers”, because they were the repair bots of the entire planet.
Ace got to his house and put his hand on the door. A screen appeared on the door. It scanned him. After the system recognized him as a family member, the door unlocked. Ace walked inside and shut the door behind him. He noticed both of his parents were standing in the entry way.
“Hey mum and dad. How’s it going?” Ace said, taking off his backpack and setting it beside the door.
Ace’s mum and dad were both Elementalists. His mother was an Ice, and his father was a Fire. Ace was pretty sure he would inherit one of the two Elements. That or just be a powerless kid. There were a lot of Elementless people on Trangia and they were said to be elsewhere too. It was quite common to see those families living amongst the Elementalists. It was almost guaranteed to inherit an Element if your parents possessed them, though.
Ace’s house was a decent size upon entering. Once inside, it was a large opening with the stairs being the centre of attention as anyone entered. They led straight up to the far wall and split into two stairways leading to the east wing and west wing of the house. Ace called them ‘wings’ but they were just small hallways. The living room was a few metres away from the door, and was also connected to the kitchen and other rooms on the first floor. The house had a regal feel with many whites and gold.
“We’re doing well, son,” the calm and deep voice exited his father’s mouth.
His dad was always the collected type. His full name was Zeryl Senrog. He rarely got angry or yelled. He usually went on with his business to help the family. He was often wearing a pressed black suit, because of his job working for the Government Headquarters. He was required to keep his hair cut short because of the job, although he loved having his blond hair longer. Ace was told that his father liked to hide his grey eyes. Ace’s mother loved Zeryl’s eyes so it made him shy.
“Ace…um…there is something we need to tell you,” Ace’s mother seemed to smoothly say.
She was quite different from Ace’s father. She never got angry at Ace much, but she could get steamed at anyone that lacked a sense of care. Venale Senrog was her name, though she married into the Senrog family. Her attitude was the quite the same of Zeryl. Venale’s hair was long and brown, which matched her dark brown eyes.
“Oh yeah?” Ace asked cautiously. He felt like he was attempting to tread upon an icy road, and one wrong word would make him slip.
“You know tomorrow is your birthday right?” Zeryl asked.
“Yes…is this going somewhere?”
“Well Ace, we didn’t want you to get your hopes up and not be disappointed if you don’t get an Element,” Venale replied.
“Well you both have them…so why wouldn’t I?”
“Ace we haven’t told you this before but-” Venale began.
“We aren’t your real parents,” Zeryl finished.
It took a second to sink in. Ace stood completely shocked at the words he thought he would never hear.
“Wait, what?! How is that possible?!”
“We actually found you outside our vacation home. You had a letter with you,” he replied.
“What did the letter say?” Ace spat out angrily.
Zeryl pulled out a piece of paper that was aged with a slight brown colour. He unfolded it. Ace first noticed an odd symbol at the bottom of it before Zeryl began to read from it.

“Dear Trangian Family,
Our son is in danger as the youngest of our Family. We are at war, so he needs to be where he will be safest. Trangia is safe because it has the Factions and Protectors. Our Family has not had a new-born in ages and our enemies will do everything to make sure he does not grow old enough around us. When he comes to age he will discover who he truly is, and hopefully reunite with us when he is ready. His name is Ace. Please take care of him.”

“My parents are at war…?”
“It seems so,” Venale said.
“With who? And what’s that symbol?”
“It’s possible to be a symbol for your parents. Maybe your family crest. We researched as much as we could. Your parents were here when we found you, but they left to unknown destinations. We looked at the portway records for that. We couldn’t find any clues of who they were. They just vanished.”
Ace shook his head and reached out for the letter. Zeryl handed it to him.
“I…I need to think,” he managed to say before he ran upstairs into the east wing.
The east wing was a dark hallway. It contained Ace’s bedroom on the farthest right, the toilet room across the hall from that, and a room where Ace had grown up. As he passed the room he lived in infancy, he still couldn’t believe what his parents just told him. Ace reached his room, opened the door, went inside, and closed it quickly before he let his “parents” talk anymore. He sighed and looked back at the letter.
‘What does this mean…?’ He thought as he moved his finger over the symbol.
He decided to lie on his bed while looking at the note. Before knowing it, his mind racing about the words on the note, he drifted to sleep.
As he opened his eyes to see himself standing in an open grass field with nothing else but the ground and the night sky. Ace looked around, feeling somewhat paranoid. The area did not feel like Trangia. There wasn’t an artificial lights trailing through the sky, no loud city or capital nearby, no sign of any sort of life.
“Where am I?” Ace questioned aloud.
A loud voice from above replied, “You are in destiny, young Venx.”
Ace looked around more, but no one was there. The word Venx ran through his mind as if it had been said to him his whole life.
“What’s a Venx and what is destiny?”
“It is you; you are a Venx. I am destiny,” the voice replied.
Ace’s eyes widened and exclaimed,
“So that’s my family? I don’t even know who they are.” then he added, “And this isn’t a dream?”
“Yes Ace, the Venx are your family…Every Venx must discover who they are, but only few travel through destiny. A dream,” the booming voice hesitated, “but not as a dream that anyone else would experience.”
“Then how do I do that, ‘travel through destiny’? How did I get here?”
“That’s your path, but it isn’t clear.”
“You can say that again! I’m Elementless, aren’t I?!” Ace yelled shaking his head.
“Ah, but you aren’t without Element Ace. But do not underestimate those without Element, young Venx. I will reveal this.”
“I didn’t mean it like that…” Ace said, thinking he offended the name sake of Elementless.
“Here’s a family gift. It will clear your mind of any doubt.”
Ace shielded his amber eyes as a bright light shone down from the dark sky. He felt a sharp pain through shoot through his body. Screaming from the pain, Ace began to hear voices come to his ears. Voices spoke to him. They seemed familiar. It was two people, a man and a woman; Ace’s true parents. They took turns saying two words each. It started with his father saying,
“Power,”
“Sleep,” his mother said after.
“Adventure,”
Ace’s mother finished with, “Discovery.”
The light went away. Ace fell to his knees. He was almost out of breath.
“That…didn’t…help much,” Ace panted.
“It will be clear in time, Ace Venx. The prophecy has been told, and now it is up to you to fulfil it.”
“What prophecy?!”
There was no reply. Ace sat there looking around. He stood up, dusted his pants off, and looked up to the sky. In the sky was the symbol that was on the letter. Ace realized what it looked like. It was a symbol making an A and a V connected at the tips.
“Could the symbol be meant for me?”
Staring at the symbol, it began to fade. His vision blurred and everything started to disappear.
When Ace’s eyes opened, he was in his bed in the dark, with only light coming from the window. He looked over out the window. It was night time. Ace looked at the letter that was still in his hand. Through the crumpled paper, the symbol on it seemed to shine.
“I think this note must have held a power in it to show me who I am. Or maybe destiny is natural to some Venx…”
Ace remembered it would be his birthday now. He quickly looked at his arms, hoping that fire or ice would happen at his will. Nothing happened. He sighed and slid out of bed. Walking over to the window, Ace stared at the night sky.
“Those voices must have been my parents. Why couldn’t I just have a family member tell me everything?” Ace whispered, as his eyes scanned the distant stars. “I feel so apart from everything important…what is going on out there?”
A strange noise came from outside. Ace’s eyes moved down to see the dimly lit street. A man was walking in the middle of the street, towards another person. Ace quickly backed into the darkness of his room so he wouldn’t be seen watching.
The walking man ignited one arm with fire, and froze his other with ice: A hybrid Elementalist.
“A Hybrid in Juhnad?!” Ace whispered, shocked as he noticed the other person was going to be under attack.
Hybrids on Trangia are usually most wanted criminals, due to their strange occurrence of two Elements. They tended to cause havoc more often. There are some hybrids in Trangia’s population that weren’t bad. Trangians treated them, as if they were, for their reputation. They were never used to anything out of “the norm,” without judging it first.
Ace decided to rush downstairs. He ran down the even darker east wing and leaped down the centre staircase. He opened the front door, heading toward the street. That’s when he had a clear view of both people out there. The hybrid’s Elements revealed bright blue eyes and long brown hair. Ace could tell that the hybrid was several years older than him. The hybrid wasn’t too intimidating looking, aside from possessing two Elements.
“So what do we have here; a boy just wandering the streets late at night?” The hybrid spoke.
“My name’s Sollus Daeartus. And I’m not wandering,” the boy spoke with a strong voice.
“Daeartus? Never heard that name ‘round here before.”
“I could imagine. It’s a Deslosite name,” Sollus replied, with his shoulder-length black hair moved slightly in the breeze.
Deslosus was a neighbouring planet to Trangia. It was at war within itself. This was another reason Protectors came to be; to try and preserve planets from war. Deslosus didn’t have the Protectors. It could have possibly been because the colonies on Deslosus were ruled by kings and barons. The Elementalists were those in power higher than the ones ruling; a passive-aggressive coexistence. Most Elements were present on Deslosus, but the two main Elements of each opposing side were Fire and Water.
“What brings you to Trangia, eh? Tired of the conflicts?”
“I have no interest in unnecessary bloodshed,” Sollus stated.
Ace walked up to the sidewalk near the two. The dim light of the street light revealed him to the other two. Chills ran through Ace as he felt the cold of the concrete on his bare feet.
“Is this your friend, Daeartus?!” the hybrid asked.
Sollus looked at Ace. His eyes seemed to glisten from the street light above. His left eye was green and his right was red.
“You might want to get out of here. This man is a hybrid,” Sollus said, standing about eye level to Ace.
“This guy could hurt you just as easy,” Ace replied.
Sollus smirked.
“I wouldn’t hurt him anyways. No need for violence.”
Ace tilted his head in a confused manner. Doing so, he didn’t realize that the hybrid was blasting ice at him.
“Look out!” Sollus yelled, but was too late.
Ace felt frozen up to the neck. Struggling didn’t seem to help him feel any freer. He managed to gaze down and see thick ice built up all around his body. Cold air rolled off the icy surface.
“Ha! You little brats make it too easy!” The hybrid yelled.
“What do you plan on doing in Juhnad?!” Ace yelled, trying to act braver than he felt.
“I plan on being the best criminal hybrid Trangia has ever seen,” he replied with a devious smile.
Sollus looked angry. Sollus then drew a massive sword from his back. It was surprising to Ace to see such a young kid with a sword. Elementalists usually held swords, daggers, knives, shields, or used bows and arrows. Firearms were rarely used by Elementalists because Elements could not be projected through bullets.
“He was unarmed! You had no right to freeze him!” Sollus yelled.
The hybrid laughed and launched more ice to fully cover Ace. It made it where he could barely see what was happening. He could barely make out the hybrid through his greyish-blue vision through the ice. The feeling of cold quickly overcame him. It was almost an instant feeling for Ace to fight to keep his consciousness. The ice from Elementalists was a lower temperature than any other form of weather-made ice. He managed to see Sollus’s sword burst into flames and watched him charge at the hybrid. The hybrid started to blast ice and fire at Sollus. The fire absorbed into the fire on his sword and he easily dodged the ice, as if he had been fighting all his life. Sollus reached the hybrid and swung, but the hybrid jumped back.
Sollus continued swinging at the hybrid. A worried look began to form on the hybrid’s face. Then Ace felt a sudden surge in his body as he could no longer see the two. As a frozen figure, he fell to the floor. The ice shattered and scattered along the street. Ace was still losing consciousness from the chill that still lingered.
‘Ace, get up and fight! What is wrong with you?!’ Ace thought as more thoughts ran through his mind.
Ace struggled to get up to his feet. He managed to get to his knees before his vision began to fade in and out. As his heavy eyes were about to shut completely, another surge ran through him. Ace opened his eyes wide.
He jumped straight up to his feet and looked straight at the hybrid. His mind told him to charge the hybrid. Sollus had the hybrid pinned to a house across from Ace’s, awaiting for the right time to strike. Ace ran toward them. His feet seemed to be gliding along the ground. Ace reached them in a few seconds. Sollus felt Ace coming and jumped out of the way. Ace came to a halt a metre away from the hybrid. He pointed at the hybrid and then lightning discharged out of his hand and fingers. The hybrid blasted through the house wall he was against. Sollus quickly got up and stared at Ace.
“You’re a Lightning Elementalist?” Sollus asked.
“I guess so…?” Ace questioned, looking at his hands as sparks jumped across from them.
The hybrid started to get up. He was covered in dust and debris. The family inside the house was moving into a far room as they stared at the hybrid, Sollus, and Ace. The hybrid stood up fully, ignoring the family.
“That…fuckin’ hurt…you know?” The hybrid mumbled as he stretched.
Ace readied himself, as did Sollus. His fists jolted with electricity and Sollus’s sword roared with fire.
“You two think you can take me on?! You both are just kids!” the hybrid laughed.
“I know we can,” Sollus stated.
Ace grinned. The courage within him rose every second.
“I’m one of the most powerful hybrids! I am Bomtraq!” The hybrid exclaimed.
He blasted fire at Ace and ice at Sollus. Sollus ducked, and Ace sidestepped inside the house. He reached for Bomtraq and grabbed his shirt. Ace pulled the hybrid outside away from the house and family. Thoughts raced through Ace’s mind. ‘Where did this strength come from,’ Ace thought to himself, ‘I feel like I know fighting tactics now!’
Just then Ace felt another surge. His eyes lit up with electricity sparking out of them. He felt power coming to the tips of his fingers. Then he snapped his fingers and the sound of thunder cracked. Energy burst from his snap like a sonic boom. Its massive wave pushed Bomtraq across the street.
“You don’t see that every day,” Sollus admitted.
Ace stood still in a daze.
“I’m not quite sure how I did that, but it seems thunder does follow lightning,” Ace spurted out in a cheesy tone.
“It helped!”
Bomtraq stood up, looking angry. His muscles pulsed and his blue eyes flared. Ace and Sollus ran at Bomtraq with their Elements at the ready.
Once they reached a few metres away from Bomtraq, a vehicle came out of thin air and stopped in front of them. It was a Protector squad car. Protectors exited the vehicle and quickly blasted Bomtraq with ice while he stood confused. Ace’s foster parents came out of the house. Ace noticed Zeryl held a telephone used for contacting the Protectors.
“You two deserve our thanks for slowing him down. You did really well against a hybrid for being so young. Few kids would’ve had that courage, or even made it out alive. You two are practically Protectors yourselves,” a Protector said chuckling.
Ace laughed and looked at Sollus. Sollus doused his Element. He walked over to Ace and said, “Thanks for the help.”
“No problem. I’m Ace Venx by the way!” Ace proudly stated.
“Sollus Daeartus. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Bomtraq looked up at Ace as he was being dragged into the Protector vehicle.
“Venx you say? You’re a long way from home, Lightning-blood.”
The Protectors put Bomtraq into the back of their vehicle. He stared with evil eyes at Ace and Sollus.
“Good thing you have Protectors here. Back on Deslosus, that guy would’ve been quite harder to stop,” Sollus said.
“Yeah, they should stop him from ever terrorizing innocent people,” Ace replied in a serious tone, “But it seems that he knows something about my family…”
Ace looked up to the stars. He began to wonder about his family. ‘If you guys are still out there,’ Ace thought, ‘then I will do whatever it takes to find you.’
*****
Ace shifted as he was remembering the moments leading up to now. He was looking up at the night sky, thinking the exact words he thought of when he was younger. He looked for the stars that could possibly be where the Venx were still waging war.