Teenage Vampyrs, Enchanteds, and Shapeshifters join the Otherworlder Academy to train to fight off a demon horde and save the Otherworlder realm!
Welcome to the rewrite of The Otherworlders! (This is v2 version, which explains the odd read to vote r...
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Later that day, in the gym, the kids are in the middle of training. They're practicing their special skills, either alone or sparring with peers from their own race. Master Achebe walks around assessing their technique. Suddenly, he stops. "Cameron," he says, letting out a woeful sigh, "if you encounter a demon in the woods, is that really the best you can do?"
Cameron stands thirty feet away from a straw dummy, situated against the wall on the opposite side of the gym.
The straw dummy, a brand new one Master Achebe set up especially for this training, is perfectly intact except for a small, cigar-sized hole burning in its chest.
Disappointed, Cameron looks down at his hands, flipping them over, front and back, as he scowls. "Well, to be honest, I've never really gotten the hang of these things."
"What? Your hands?" Patrick snickers as he holds the punching bag still for Ava while she kicks it and Jake watches.
Farid and Fiona, in the midst of wrestling with daggers, both manage to refrain from laughing out loud. But the sound of a hearty chuckle escapes Sebastian before he can stop himself.
Cameron shoots Sebastian a nasty look, then turns back to Patrick and grumbles, "No, dumbass, my magic--shooting fire and ice from my hands."
Shoving the punching bag aside, Patrick growls as he stalks towards Cameron.
Master Achebe quickly steps in to intervene.
"Okay, that's it!" he says, gently pushing Patrick back to his corner of the gym.
Then, he turns to Cameron, concerned. Propping his fists low on his hips, Master Achebe asks, "So, you've never been able to master your powers?" He tilts his head in disbelief. "What on earth have you been doing with them all this time?"
"I don't know," Cameron shrugs. "Blowing up beer cans and lighting people's cigarettes at parties."
"Oh, good gods!" Master Achebe slowly drags his hands down the side of his face.
And he was feeling so optimistic during their exhibition yesterday. But now he's beginning to see the gaps in the kids' training. And as he gauges just how much more work the Masters will have to do to get these kids ready, his optimism wanes.
Master Achebe lets out a slow, beleaguered sigh. "Cameron, Cameron..." he says, pinching his nose in a sad sort of agony, the kind of agony that only an adult dealing with teenagers knows. "You're a Mage," he says. "And an Elemental Mage at that. As I understand it, this makes you a very powerful being in the Enchanted world. Is that not true?"
"I suppose so," Cameron mutters, sweeping his bangs aside. Then, keenly aware that all eyes in the room are now on him, he shoves his hands deep into his pockets and avoids Master Achebe's gaze.
Mortified, he doesn't even want to think about what the Shifter and Vampyr kids think of him now. He'd sensed their hostility--to all the Enchanted kids really--right from the get-go. But there were a couple of them, Patrick and Farid in particular, who seemed especially hostile to him.
