The Heroes of the Elemental Academies

Chapter 20: Solemn News From Home

Seth

   Seth just smiled at Strat's remark. "Well, I'm glad you came to help."

   "You better be," Rylee growled but not taking her eyes off the demons. "Do you have any idea how annoyed we are with this. We did tell you to be careful, didn't we?" Seth didn't reply to that but instead he moved to stand next to Mike on the end.

   "Well how about we finish this before we start with the arguments," Isbis said. She took her place next to Seth. The demons had begun to move standing and getting ready to fight. Seth prepared himself too. He focused on calming his breathing and slowing his heart rate like his old fencing teachers would have him do.

    The demons of course charged forward completely oblivious to the fact that they had no chance of victory. There was only twenty or, so demons left out of the original fifty. And if twenty demons could win against them they would done so at Hartshire. Seth wouldn't even need to do anything. But Rylee stepped forward and turned to face Strat.

    "I have an idea how about we let the new water master here take care of this. If he's truly grasped the concept of water, I'd like to see it." This caught Seth by surprise. What was the point in calling them if they were just going to stand back and make him do it all anyway.

    "I never once said I'd mastered anything!" Seth exclaimed. I didn't call you guys just so you could make me do all the work anyway."

    "True," Jack said from the other side of Strat. "but then again you were going to be quite happy to let Strat take care of them all weren't you?" Seth was getting angry at this blatant display of discontentment and contempt his so-called friends held for him. And it was then that with-out his knowledge a chill began to creep out from him one that spread over his friends like a blanket and continued to thicken and harden as more layers were added.

    "SSS-Seth ww-what are y-you d-doing!" Rylee exclaimed.

    "I said that I didn't come here to fight your wars, but in reality, what I didn't come here to do is to deal with your contempt and jealousy of me. It is very annoying, and I thought that you were supposed to be God's people." The layer thickened into a visible sheet of ice that was covering all of them. The Demons had not bothered to attack it seemed they knew better than to get near the sheet of ice.

    "We get it Seth," Isbis pleaded at Seth side. "No one was saying that they have held contempt for you or jealousy."

    "Enough Seth!" Strat yelled as an aura of fire enveloped him quickly breaking the ice shell around him. "And you too need to stop antagonizing him before you get someone hurt. Now Seth take a good look at what you are doing to these people and then ask yourself why Rylee asked if you had truly grasped water control." Seth indeed looked to those around him trying to see past his anger. His anger was always like a bright light very hard to look at much less passed. But never the less he did it and he saw that he had in fact already completely frozen Mike and Jack, and Isbis and Rylee were shivering uncontrollably. Seth felt his mouth open in horror.

    "How do I reverse it!?" He asked panicking even before he fully understood the gravity of what he had done to his friends.

    "Think of a warm spring day, the kind which heralds the return of spring and the end of winter. The kind which would melt the ice that has covered the many trees." Strat replied. Seth rushed to do as he asked and closed his eyes. While he thought Seth was vaguely aware of something else going on something like a fight, but he did his best to ignore it. He kept picturing a sunny day with the blistering heat leaving a river of sweat down his back. The picture faltered and he had to imagine it again. He continued to think about it until he could hold the picture in his head with little problem. He had no idea how long he had been standing there with his eyes closed but he came out of it once he felt a hand shaking him awake.