Page 58 of Ocean of Silver

Tezya chuckled softly as he walked over to a control panel I hadn’t noticed. He flipped a lever, and an instantaneous humming started pouring over the area. A quiet shudder made my feet quiver as the ground was shifting and changing underneath me.

“The training arena was set up by ground users. It’s a simulation. They manipulate each dome to produce naturally occurring weather that happens on the planet. Once you leave our protective shields, the weather becomes unpredictable and unstable,” Tezya said as he crossed his arms over his broad chest. He wasn’t wearing a shirt again, and it took everything in me not to stare at his sculpted abs.

The rumbling grew louder and pulled my attention away from him. I snapped my head from dome to dome as they were changing before my eyes. My hair whipped against my face as I tried to make sense of everything. I walked over to the first dome, the slight humming encased whatever was stirring inside. A large mountain grew from the mud, but there was a hole on the top of it. Red, molten liquid spewed down the mountain, taking mud and ash with it.

“The mortals call it a volcano,” Tezya said as he came up beside me.

“What is it?” I asked, “Is it fire or water?”

“A little of both, I guess. It moves and flows like water, but it’s scorching to touch. It will burn everything in its path.” It made me wonder what would happen if Tezya and I combined our abilities.

The next two domes I recognized. One had blazing fires burning all the trees that sprouted inside the circular mud pit. The other was a wall of water so powerful it knocked down the buildings that manifested on the dirt. “Wildfires and Tsunamis,” Tezya remarked as I walked past each dome.

“I don’t understand,” I said as we made it to another one. This one vibrated and shook everything inside. I watched as the mud and earth cleaved into two right down the middle. “The mortals have no abilities, they are powerless, but the planet they live on has powers?”

It was odd to me how the mortals weren’t anything special. According to our kind, they were weak, yet they lived on a planet that seemed like a living creature of its own. A creature that seemed angry with them, a creature that called to death. It seemed to possess every ability known to the Advenians and somehow made it more lethal.

Tezya smirked. “It’s the weather here. The planet is strong and wild and can be unpredictable. At any point, any of these events can occur, but it’s mostly calm on the mortal lands.”

My eyes widened as we took in the last few domes. One was a moving, darkened spiral of debris. It looked like an air user was manipulating the wind itself, forcing it to hurtle together into a vertical wall of death. I squinted closer and realized that the grayish wind was spiraling around an axis, slowly moving to destroy everything in its path.

I jumped back into Tezya’s hard chest as a bolt of lightning crashed from the top of another dome. A deathly roar crackled as rain poured and slammed into the mud creating a sloshy mess.

But the last dome gave me chills that wouldn’t leave. It seemed to combine the weird twisted wind and water together. A beach rose inside the dome, but it was nothing like the calm, blissful ocean that Tezya took me to. The waves were tall and monstrous as they crashed into the sand, the wind was invisible, unlike that gray spiraling wall, but it was just as deadly. Roofs were thrown, trees were uprooted, and heavy rain poured down so thick that I could barely see through it.

“This one is called a hurricane.”

“It’s horrible,” I breathed as I watched the destruction, unable to tear my eyes away. “How can the humans live on this planet when this happens to them? We’ve always been taught that they’re frail and that they die so easily, so how does this not kill them?”

“It does kill them sometimes, but they don’t have a choice. They don’t know any better.” Tezya tilted his head toward the dome that had me transfixed. “Hurricanes actually occur on our island too, but our air users thicken their shields and all work together, so it never breaches our city, but it can happen where I’m taking you.” He turned to me. “Are you sure you want to go with me?”

“Yes,” I said, and I meant it. I wanted to see the land. I wanted to see a mortal up close. Vallie would murder me herself if she ever found out that I had an opportunity to see one and didn’t take it. Not that I would ever see my red-headed friend again. My gut twisted at the thought, and I quickly blinked away the tears before Tezya saw, focusing on the deadly waves. Would I ever be able to manipulate the water with enough strength to produce this kind of destruction? Would I everneedthis kind of power?

“Alright, then you’re going to be training inside each of the domes for the next two days. I want you here practicing up until the moment we leave. I have business to attend to, so Brock will be training you.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, trying to hide my disappointment.

“I have to finalize some things for the trip. I’ll see you before it’s time to go. And Rumor…”

“Yes?”

“The mortals aren’t weak.”

Tezya left the moment Brock showed up at the domes. Kallon and Rainer were towing behind him. I was happy to see them, but some part of me felt hurt by Kallon. I wanted to be her friend so badly, but she, too, kept Tezya’s identity a secret. Who herbetrothedreally was. I knew deep down that wasn’t fair. She didn’t owe me anything. I only met her a few weeks ago, and she knew Tezya for… I didn’t even know how long, but probably close to a century. Was I really upset that she was more loyal to him over me? It was stupid. If anything, she should hatemefor all the time I spent with her betrothed, but she didn’t. She didn’t seem to mind at all.

“Good morning,” I called to the three of them once they were in earshot.

“Hey, babes,” Kallon replied.

“Hi, Scottie,” Rainer followed with a dazzling smile. His black curls were tied up in a high bun today that showed off the fine lines of his face.

I looked toward Brock, who was the only one not smiling. “We aren’t here to socialize. I told you two that if you are coming along, you’re joining the training,” Brock growled as he made a point to look over each one of us. I shivered as I took him in. He was massive, slightly bigger than Tezya, but this was a different version of Brock than I had ever seen before. He wasn’t the gentle male that danced with me at the Ball, distracting me so that I didn’t have a meltdown in front of everyone. This was Brock from the army that Tezya told me about—the one who never backed down from a challenge and always came out on top. He was a born warrior, lethal in every way.

Kallon rolled her eyes. “I’m aware. You only reminded us ten times on the way over here. Besides, Scottie needs a girl to fight against, then she can really learn.”

My smile was genuine as I looked at her. She wore skin tight clothes, showing off her thin and dainty frame, but I didn’t doubt that she was a skilled fighter, that she had hidden muscles running up the length of her. It was like the Goddesses took a normal-sized Advenian female and stretched her out to make Kallon, leaving full parts only where a female would want them. Half of her hair was dyed a light lavender today, and it was pulled out of her face and wrapped in a tight bun, mixing with her usual shiny black.

“Fine then,” Brock said, “Kallon, you fight Scottie first.”

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