Elementals 2: The Stones of Power

Chapter 4-Group Project

"They were made into crystal spheres that were used in wizard staffs to help enhance their magic and store power for bigger spells." He answered. We all shot him a blank stare. Even Professor Blaze was shocked.

"Yes, that's correct." The professor clapped. "Well done, Axel."

'Huh, wasn't expecting Axel to get the right answer...' I thought to myself.

"The interesting thing about the chromatic orb, however, is that, depending on the intentions of the elemental and the environment, it can alter its elemental magic." Professor Blaze explained.

"Oh, cool!" I whispered to myself. Lexie raised her hand, and the professor met her gaze.

"Yes, Lexie?"

"Didn't it take months of preparation for those mages to create a chromatic orb?" Lexie asked. The professor nodded.

"Indeed it did. Which is why we're starting now."

The professor snapped his fingers. All the items that appeared on my table disappeared in a small burst of flame.

"Now, the chromatic orb is one of the most versatile items an elemental could create at first level, being able to harness magical energy of different elements, focus one's powers and be fired as projectiles." The professor explained. "And your task for the semester is to create one."

I turned to Haru and Lexie, a wide grin spreading across my face with excitement. They both had the same expression on their faces.

"You will each work in groups of two, with one group of three since there's twenty five of you, to create the chromatic orb. Most of the items you will need were in the scrolls, however to keep it challenging, there are one or two things that will need to be collected throughout the school." Professor Blaze explained.

'Around the school?'

"And, to keep things fair, I've already grouped everyone into their groups."

The entire class was very displeased by that.

"Alright, the groups are as follows..." The professor began reading out the list of teams. Haru and Lexie were grouped together, which the two high-fived at, Franklin and Cirus Jr were also put in a group. Emily was grouped with Brandon, Kai with Ryan, Elizabeth with Kylie. The Low triplets were also put together, to nobody's surprise, and so on and so forth. Almost the entire class was called out until the professor called my name.

"...Brianna Thermis with Ivan Moltress. And finally, Alexander Fier and Axel Blaze."

My eyes widened. Axel's did too. We turned to each other, then back at the professor. There was complete silence in the classroom.

"...WHAT!?!?!?" Me and Axel yelled in unison. The professor shot us a look.

"Is there a problem?" He asked.

"Wha- yeah, of coarse there is!" Axel said.

"You remember what happened last semester, right?" I added.

"Yes, I remember." The professor's eyes shifted, glowing with a harsh, somewhat furious tone. He pointed at Axel.

"You provoked your classmate into giving in to his anger and suffered the consequences." He said. Axel held a hand over his scar, a wave of guilt seingoy washing over him. The professor turned his attention to me.

"And you didn't head my warning and scorched my son's face, a feat that should be virtually impossible, even for a fire elemental as powerful as yourself."

I looked to the ground, away from the professor and Axel. The sensation of the flame I conjured on that day rang through my palm, the heat of it forcing brief sparks of guilt and regret to surface for a moment.

"Believe me, that day is still fresh in my mind." Professor Blaze said, his tone shifting to a more serious one.

"Can't we be grouped with other people, professor?" I pleaded.

"Yeah, dad, please?"

"I think you'll find that, if you just give each other a chance, the two of you will work well together." He said.

"I highly doubt that." Axel scoffed.

"Yeah." I muttered.

"This could also be a great opportunity for you two to work things out. You did make up on the last day before midterm after all. This could lead to something more."

I shot Axel a glance. He glanced back. I knew he was thinking the same thing I was. The professor was right, he did apologise for everything. And we both agreed to start over. I seemed to have forgotten about that. We looked at each other and let out a unified sigh.

"Alright." We agreed. "We'll work together."

"Excellent." The professor smiled. "Your projects will be due at the end of the semester, and they will count toward half of your grade, so work hard on them."

Professor Blaze snapped his fingers once more. All the scrolls started to glow brightly as ink began appearing on the surface.

"These scrolls will have all the instructions needed to create your chromatic orbs, as well as the guidelines for the written portion of the project you will also need to hand in." The professor explained. "Any questions?"

The class shook hair heads.

"Right then." He snapped his fingers, and the scrolls disappeared. "Take out your textbooks and turn to page seventy three."

We all did as Professor Blaze told us. I turned to Axel, noticing the scar that still covered his eye. It seemed to be healing well, which brought me a bit of relief. He shot me a look of uncertainty. I just nodded to him. He nodded back, not really saying anything.

With that, our first class of the semester began.

~~~~~

Author's Notes

OH MY GOD, THIS CHAPTER TOOK FOREVER!

Sorry this one took so long. I was so stumped on what this chapter would be about at first, and everything just didn't come out right when I started writing. Then when I finally got to a part where I felt my writing was satisfying enough, I hit another roadblock which left me stumped for a few days. But hey, the chapter is finally done, and I'm happy with how it came out.

Also, I had no intention of Alex and Axel being paired together at first, but I'm glad I did. Not only does it give the two of them to fix their relationship, but it also allows for so many fun ideas for dialogue between them. I can't wait to get to writing that in.

-BlueBoyHalo14