Hexus

*14* Arpent

[5:37AM, February 18, UTC +08:00]

“Henri, what’s happening?”

Henri turned away from Portia and looked around. Five minutes ago, he was getting ready to sleep after his night time study session. Then he received one of those weird internal messages – only telling him to wear warm clothes – and before he knew it, he was standing on some grassy cliff, struggling to breathe and freezing his ears off.

What the hell?

“Welcome to Tibet.”

The voice came from behind them and he turned around. A short brown-skinned but Chinese-looking man dressed in red and gold robes was walking towards them. He was smiling amiably and didn’t seem at all affected by the weather. Portia, fortunately, was dressed in her coat. Henri figured she had listened to the internal message. His own skin had gone sickly pale and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.

He was really starting to hate these random summonings. He had exams in a week.

“I’m Tenzin Tseten," the man said, "Your lama. The Time masters informed me that you would be here.”

Henri turned away from him and really took in his surroundings. Within view were snow-covered mountains in the distance and valleys of jagged rock covered in patches of brown grass. He deduced that this was a very high altitude area, which explained the freezing temperature and why it was really hard to breathe. He wondered why the Chinese man looked so comfortable while only wearing a few layers. He felt like he about to turn into a Popsicle and die.

“What are we doing here?” Portia asked. Henri dropped to a squatting position and hugged himself for warmth. He couldn’t feel his fingers anymore and his lips were getting dry.

“We begin your training,” Tenzin said.
“It’s only been three days since the summons,” Portia protested, hugging herself and shivering.
“Best to begin quickly, no?”

Henri gritted his teeth and looked down at the brown grass. This was the last thing he wanted to be doing on a Monday night. Or Tuesday morning, as they were now on the other side of the world.

“You can make yourself warmer, you know,” Tenzin said. Henry looked up. The Chinese man spread his feet, like some kung-fu fighter and thrust his arms in front of him. Ice crystals formed in his hands, growing and shaping themselves into spikes. He gave a short grunt and the spikes flew forward, straight towards Henry’s head. Henry barely managed to roll away from the spot he was squatting on and stared in shock as the ice stabbed into the floor.

“Mon dieu! What are you doing? You could have killed him!” Portia screamed.
“We won’t do much if he remains in that position, would we?”
“Leave him alone. It’s really cold up here.”
“And this is why he needs the movement. Create heat from within.”

Another ice spike formed and Tenzin held on to it and charged. Henri’s eyes widened.

Is he insane?

No time to find out, Henri thought as he got up and ran. He felt like his lungs were on fire as he fought to push air into them. His limbs burned from the strain. He wasn’t getting enough oxygen and he started feeling dizzy. Tenzin suddenly stopped chasing him and flung the spike towards Portia.

“Think fast.”

Portia screamed and swung her torso to the side as the spike flew past her head. She turned, stumbled and fell on her knee, but regained her stance and started running. Tenzin formed three small ice spikes and released them in quick succession towards her. Two stabbed into the ground behind her as she sprinted and the third missed her shoulder by a hair’s breadth.