Epilogue

Surprising Power Tucked Away

(Normal POV)

It's been nearly a week since Blake's death, since then, Neo has been training Cassie as a way to distract him from it. Cassie has not shown much skill so far, but she has come a long way. When they first started, she couldn't even hardly control the surrounding terrain. The most she would do was create small pebbles and launch them. This was nowhere near what Neo knew she could do, so he decided to spend everyday after school training her. After a week of hard work and coaching, Neo finally taught Cassie how to manipulate the terrain to a standard amount. Now she can create walls and other basic skills of a Earth Elemental. But Neo knew she could be much more, he saw it in her when she trained. She has a deep power waiting to be unlocked, and he was going to help her find the key. After another hour of training, he and Cassie decide to take a short break to regain their stamina.

Cassie: So how much stronger have I gotten after all this so far?

Neo: From my point of view, your power has grown ten fold.

Cassie: Really, I got that much stronger after just a week?

Neo: Yeah, Imagine how much stronger you'll be after a month.

Cassie smiled and thanked Neo for all his help. After their break, instead of training, Neo takes Cassie out for something to eat, nothing special, just somewhere they can relax and have a quick bite.

(Cassie's POV)

Me and Neo walked up to the BBQ shack across the park. We've been using the park as a training area since this used to be where Earth Elementals held tournaments. Normally, we would get into trouble for using a public attraction for this type of training, but since this was made for it, the authorities don't mind us doing it here. We both ordered a couple of Barbecue Sloppy Joe's and some sweet tea and sat the picnic table to eat. As I started to eat, I noticed that Neo was staring at me.

Cassie: Am I doing something wrong?

Neo didn't seem to respond, so I called his name and he seemed to snap back into reality and look at me puzzled.

Neo: Huh?

Cassie: You were staring at me, so I asked you if I was doing something wrong.

Neo: Oh, sorry I just kinda spaced out there for a second. I saw something interesting and got lost in my thoughts.

I raised my eyebrow looking at him like he was crazy and looked behind me to see what he was talking about.

Cassie: I don't see anything, are you sure you're not going insane right now?

Neo looked disappointed and started eating his burger without saying anything. I don't what I said to upset him, but I didn't want to press on the matter in case it made things worse. He and I ate in silence until we heard screaming from across the park.  There was a group of hostile looking men walking towards us, attacking anyone within range on their way. I took a closer look at them and gasped. These were the same guys who jumped me on my way home, and they brought their friends!

Neo jumped up from the table and walked towards them. When I went to stand up and join him, he told me o stay where I was and to not engage. I nodded knowing that I still wasn't powerful enough to deal with them on my own.

(Normal POV)

The gang shouted and started charging towards Neo, ready to attack. However, Neo created two golems and sent them to attack the gang. They were ready though, and another member summoned two giants to deal with them. Summoning is a trait that requires serious training and Chi. Summoners can only summon beasts that relate to their element, and they can only summon up to three. Anyone with enough Chi can learn to become a summoner, but the training is more than most are willing to go through. The two giants and golems clashed and the rest of the gang went for Neo directly. Neo created a small fortress out of dirt and hurled large balls of soil at them. Two of the members were hit, but the rest managed to reach the fortress of dirt. Neo dispelled the fortress and as he was falling towards them, he created a large hammer out of the small trail pebbles and smash the ground, sending the gang members flying in all directions, however his poorly made hammer went everywhere too.

 All except one of them, who used the advantage of Neo being distracted and wrapped his arms around Neo's neck. He tried to create something to knock off his attacker, but he was too slow and was losing consciousness. But before he could fade into darkness, something smashed into him, sending him flying into his friends. Neo took the moment to create a barrier between himself and them so he could regain his focus before they had the chance o attack him. He looked up and saw Cassie with her own hammer made of stone. That must have been what knocked his attacker off of him. But how was Cassie able to manipulate the terrain enough to create that kind of a weapon so soon. The glow in her eyes was something Neo only saw in two other peoples eyes, the glow meant that they have broken their shell and have unlocked the power deep within them. She brought down the barrier, and he could see that the giants defeated his golems, and now they had to face the entire group. This time, when he was about to stand up, Cassie told him to stay here. She walked towards them, as if she didn't fear them at all.

As they were charging towards her, Neo noticed that something was very off about his. For one thing, the group stopped moving. Second, they were moving, but they were moving down and they didn't seem to know why either. Cassie was somehow controlling the entire park area, and using it to create a large hole, where they couldn't escape. Then, she lifted all the dirt from the hole, and sent it back into it, trapping them to die under the earth. He couldn't believe what he saw, and when he went to ask Cassie how she did that, he say her lying unconscious on the grass.

*10 Min Later*

(Neo's POV)

After Cassie woke up, I explained to her what happened and she said all she could remember is running towards me when I was being strangled and then she blacked out. I think her powers are controlled by her emotions. That's why she was so weak before, because nobody believed in her. And I was about to disappear, the only one who seemed to want to change that. We walked back to her house since it was getting late and walked up on to her porch.

Cassie: Thank you Neo, for everything that you've done for me. Blake tried teaching me how to use my powers, but he couldn't since he doesn't have an element.

Neo: It's no big deal, I just hate seeing you get picked on by people all because you aren't as strong as them yet. I know that getting picked on is inevitable, but I can at least help decrease the amount of people that do it.

Even though she is older than I am, she and I are around the same height and don't have to look down at each other when we speak. She leaned in and kissed my cheek and told me goodnight as she walked into her house. I stood there, stunned and then finally walked away from the porch and turned to make sure nobody was watching. Then I started jumping around and whooping like an animal.