Recently
on Fires of the sky, the main group who had participated in the Elemental
Challenges has finally returned to Arkon’s Magic! But… to the rest of the
students’ surprise, several students have not appeared in the group, and they
knew that something tragic must have happened to them all. As a vow, Matt
decides it is best for them to do their own thing, because messing around all
throughout the first two years did nothing but cause them to lose more friends
in a very traumatic way. One thing to note now is that… after 365 days, things
have changed. Almost every student had to separate and disconnect with each
other due to self-anger and terrible memories of the first two years. We will
have to see what is up by reading onward to Fires of the Sky – Junior Year!
Episode 262 – The Upper and Lower Hierarchy
In this world, dragons have said to
take over human control. Being the 26th map to explore for Stan and
Jen together, this was one of their toughest. From ogres, to avian, and then to
dragons, they had their share of troubles. This was a book that Jen had almost
finished reading, but for some reason only the letters could be seen from her
while others were not able to see. What was this? Why could she be the only
girl to read invisible text?
“Matt, y-you’ve saved me! So that is what the text meant.” She said
with a huge sigh of relief. The dragons behind Matt were slain and vanishing
slowly. Jen quoted from the book that she recently read for this world, “Be who
an extra man, the only will and the only way to surpass. The man returns from
an unexpected fate from the young girl’s past as they now live forever in
peace.”
Matt took out his cellphone. He did
not say anything other than, “Go home.” There was no expression on him.
“W-What? What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to have a word with Stan.
For now, use my cellphone and go home. I’ll return with Stan by using his
cellphone.”
In the past, the El Monte students
were only able to use powers if they went through another world from their own cellphone. As time had gone by, the
students have gained better mobility and stability to fight in their own
capabilities. They were not required to use personal cellphones, and instead,
were able to fight even through others’ phones.
Jen shook her head. “I’ll stick with
you and find Stan. I’m fine now-…”
“Go back home!!”
Jen’s face turned red in surprise.
The wind was brewing and there was an awkward silence now. A leaf passed by
Jen’s reddened face and she had nothing more to say. As Matt walked away from
her, Jen thought to herself about how things have never been the same ever since
he returned from the Elemental Challenges.
Things – have never been the same…
~~~
Stan took a slab of scales from one
of the yellow dragons. “This can mark as a great treasure to bring back home!”
He said, putting a piece in a jar.
He turned around and noticed that
Matt had returned. As Stan leaned forward with one hand to the right, he waited
for Matt to shake his hand. Matt slapped it away and then he punched Stan to
the ground.
“How could you be so stupid?!” Matt
started.
“H-Hey, that was hella rude!”
“You know what’s rude? Being
inconsiderate of Jen’s safety. While you’re back on Earth who’s supposed to
have a normal life, you decide to meddle with these books and do what, train
yourself? What are you going to train yourself for?! You have no reason, yet
you drag Jen into this!”
Stan was still on the ground; his
cheek was swollen from the punch.
“I… I don’t know. You guys came back
with… two less people. Their parents are worried sick and it made me feel as if
it was because we are not strong enough.” He stood up. “Look, Jen was in tears
when you guys came back. She feared that things were going to change and I was
the only shoulder that she could use. Where were you?”
“Don’t put this on me now. I had a
bunch to go through.”
“Well, Jen needed you and you
refused to look at her in the eye. She told me not once have you two looked at
each other directly and it hurt her, day after day. I brought her along to make
her feel more brave, confident, and adventurous throughout the year. The past
25 worlds that I’ve went to were just fine and we had almost no trouble at
all!”
“Almost?”
“That’s not the point. What Jen
needs is you to be around her more. She thinks you don’t care!”
Matt became silent. Stan was the
same, waiting for what Matt could say next. He then took out his cellphone, not
wanting to think about their conversation. With an offer to return back home,
Matt decided to do so without saying anything.
~~~
“I know what you’re thinking!” Van
elbowed her friend on the arm. These two girls grew a closer bond throughout
their repeated Sophomore year in Biology class, and now they have been bind
into the same ‘Regular’ PreCalculus class. As Huy mentioned way back in the
beginning of Sophomore year, there are differences between Regular classes,
Accelerated, Honors, and AP classes. There are three levels within these four
class types – with Honors and AP classes being treated the same. Some courses
such as PreCalculus only have Regular and Honors.
The girl that Van was talking to had
a darker expression to herself compared to Sophomore year. This is Winny, a
girl now speechless in contrast to her prior self. Van placed her head on the
table in a childish manner.
“Ohhh Wiiiii-nny~ Say something!
Teehee.” Van said with her usual personality despite her sophisticated respects
when praying for Jenny. She had not changed much really.
Winny twitched. It was as if she was
dreaming with her eyes open.
“Van? Hi, sorry about that.”
“Throughout the year, you’ve been
less responsive. You used to be so fun!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Come on, class is about to
end. Let’s walk to our next class together!”
Winny had been eying her cellphone
for a while now. Was it a world that she was concerned about? What has she been
doing in the past year? Van did not see any signs of other worlds being listed
on Winny’s cellphone. The quick glance suddenly stopped once Winny moved away.
“I’m sorry, Van. I have to go talk
to the counselor. She wants to talk about my PreCalculus placement.”
Van remembered that Winny was not
able to enter Honors PreCalculus with all of her friends who were considered
intelligent. This included mainly Jen, Alex, Yessenia, Kalpesh, and Omar. Winny
recognized herself belonging into such a class, but she felt insulted that the
counselors had decided to place her into a Regular class which included Matt and
Shirley, and of course Van.
As Winny stood up, Van decided to
quietly follow her.
Outside, Winny headed past a
barn-looking building. She stopped and turned around. Van hid by the corner of
the building. Winny then went through a tunnel-like field that was extremely
narrow. It was considered the best shortcut if students wanted to race for the
lunch line. She turned around again, and Van hid behind a wooden box.
Winny then opened the door for the
Guidance Office, partly known as the counselors’ building. She took a look
around before she entered. Van tucked her head into the large bushes next to
her. Winny decided it was safe to enter the building now.
Van snickered to herself, “Hehe, so
she really is going in there!” She
was about to take a step out but the water sprinklers nearby splashed into the
bushes. “Ah- hey!! What the heck!”
~~~
Oddly enough, due to the layout of
last names, Winny had one of the four counselors that no other friend had. Her
last name began with the letter ‘G’, but every other student was labeled in
either the beginning letters, or they were stacked into the last letters of the
alphabet. The room was oddly comfortable even if disruptive students were meant
to take counseling there all the time.
Van looked through the window and
she randomly had a glass cup dangling between her right ear and the window.
“Now, Winny, here is an interesting
offer that I give only to students who really feel they deserve to be placed in
a higher class. Starting in a few days, you will move into the Honors class.
After their first exam, if you happen to maintain a B or higher, then you may
stay.”
“Yes, that would be fine.”
“If not, then you will be returned
to the Regular class.”
“Yes.”
As the counselor handed Winny the
paperwork, Winny was about to sign her name at the bottom. Her hand froze.
“I was once learning psychology in
college,” her counselor said. “I may be no expert, but they did teach me that
students tend to be a little slower mostly because they are concerned with
outside factors.”
Winny still said nothing.
“Is there something bothering you?”
The counselor asked kindly. Winny looked forward and stared at the counselor
with a strange look.
“No. There is nothing concerning
me,” Winny said as she signed the contract for her to enter Honors PreCalculus
class.
From outside, Van was amazed. “So
Winny was telling the truth! She’s not hiding anything from me after all. Eheh,
I stalked her for nothing.”
“What are you doing?” Maggie said
aggressively.
Van was startled. She dropped her
glass cup and the counselor and Winny heard a clank! nearby. With them assuming it was just the wind, they
carried on with their contract’s conclusion.
~~~
There were some policemen wandering
around the school of El Monte. In each high school of the district, there lie
about ten policemen who guarded the school campus in case of any strange
disasters that continued to occur from the past year. As more students from
each school were compressed into one place and gained hold of more elemental
power, it was difficult to stay at an underground pace without being revealed.
One instance that had just occurred moments ago was that Kalpesh somehow made
the science building covered in smoke. However, he was not in trouble as none
of the objects nearby were damaged. Counselors and even the principal knew he
was a prestigious student. They decided to give him a break.
Jen had exited from the English and
Languages building that was closest to the cafeteria. She wanted to check if she
had any detention hours for being late. In this school, detention is thirty
minutes for every tardy in the morning – even if it is a five second tardy.
Seeing as her name was not on the board, she noticed that Matt had almost a
hundred hours and was about to be sent to Saturday school.
She then turned around and noticed
the large crowd. “Oh! What could this be now?” She said in a complaining manner
as she headed over, pushing students aside so she could see. “This has to be
another one of those occurrences.”
Jen noticed that her best friend,
Lisa, was up in the front. Lisa was from the very beginning of the story when
she suspected that Matt was hiding something, and that Jen should go figure out
what he was hiding. This was even before Jen knew that Matt had the ability of
fire. Lisa still has her ponytail and she was the least to change from the rest
of the students.
“Hey Lisa, what is this all about?”
“Oh hi! Um… I’ve heard that Kalpesh
accidentally made something blow up but the smoke came from a chemical reactor
that he tried to make as a short circuit for our chemistry lab. It’s just a
rumor though. Nobody really has proof as to how he did it.”
“That cheater,” Jen said as she
thought to herself, “He’s probably using his powers again.”
Another explosion happened from the
back end of the science building where the actual chemistry class took place.
This classroom was across the biology room. Jen and Lisa took a shortcut from
the front of the crowd to run onto the newly cemented road that replaced the
construction from the past several years. They could see Joey chasing after
Kalpesh.
“Kalpesh, you little ass!!!! You
ruined my chemistry lab!” He yelled from the bottom of his lungs.
“You know, Jen… I never really
understand how Kalpesh is doing all of this.”
“Yeah, hehe,” Jen responded in
guilt. “Um, weird things are happening. I should go talk to them.”
“Speaking of weird things,” Lisa
said before Jen was able to run away, “there is something I’m concerned about –
with Jenny.”
Jen turned around. “Huh? What do you
mean by that?”
“Well, we’ve had our differences in
the past but-…”
“With Jenny? But she’s so nice.”
“I know, but we were all different
before. I never got a chance to apologize to her now that she’s gone missing.
How long as it been since she last showed up here? I could have sworn that in
one moment, she was in our Biology class while working on a lab, but the next
instant she disappeared. It could be all in my head, but something really
bothers me about this.”
Jen was quiet. She knew exactly what
happened to Jenny, but she had to stay quiet since Lisa does not know about
elemental powers. However, it felt really strange for Lisa since she has no
idea what is going on. Instead of Matt having to hide the elemental history
from Jen, Jen now has to hide it from Lisa…
Jen began to hug Lisa. “I know it
seems confusing, but you’ll probably figure it all out someday.”
The
sun was setting really early as of October in the late afternoon. Yes, compared
to before, mysteries have been uprising and detectives are brewing the city
even through the night. Where is everybody else hiding in? Are they hiding in
their homes this time around?
~~~
- Preview to the next episode! -
Matt: On the next episode of Fires of the Sky…
Shirley: Ah, here we go! We’re getting somewhere.
Alex: What do you mean?
Shirley: Oh! There you are. Slowly, we’re doing some more bonding,
right? You’ve seen some of the characters return and interact with each other.
We haven’t had much of that in the past 365 days.
Alex:
Show them your flashcards again!
Shirley:
Okay! H-Hey… Who’s making fun of my new physique?! Someone should be making fun
of Alex’s new hairstyle.
Alex:
A-And now, the weather!
Shirley:
More like, check out the new Yessenia.
Alex:
She does seem a bit stronger, although she didn’t really need any more
improvement.
Shirley:
Ah! There’s also Jen and Stan! Stan is making Jen some kind of promise, a
promise that deals with burden?
Matt:
Here we go… Next time on episode 263, An Ambience of Burden, Unidentified
Mentality!
Alex:
I’m not really feeling it.
Shirley:
Me either… Hey, next week, we should really switch off with different people
with this preview podcast. I’m getting a little dizzy.
Alex:
Okay!~
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