The Great Master of All Elements
There are five basic elements in the Elemental World: metal, wood, water, fire and earth. People in this world want to internalize those elements so they will have great power. For instance, the master of water (people will call someone a master when he has unmatchable ability to approach and acquire elements) can summon the rain on sunny days. Many masters are born in the Elemental Empire, which is the strongest nation in the Elemental World because every citizen in the empire is born with certain basic elements, but they won’t know their inborn elemental power until they take the national Elemental-Talent Test. This test is for all the 6-year-old children in the Elemental Empire. Children only need to put their hands on a talent-teller crystal ball. The ball will change color according to children’s elemental talent: yellow for metal, green for wood, blue for water, red for fire and brown for earth.
Ben took the Elemental-Talent Test one month ago. He will never forget how humiliated he felt when the ball turned white, for white represents no basic element and it meant that he is not an eligible citizen. Fortunately, he got advice from Frank, the teacher who held the Elemental-Talent Test. Frank encouraged Ben to try rousing the wood element in that it was the easiest one to acquire among the five basic elements.
Haunted by the shame of being a no-elemental-talent student, Ben could not but keep practicing element summoning for the entire month and today is the time to test his effort. He enters Frank’s office. Frank is already waiting for him, ‘Let’s start.’ Ben holds his breath, carefully putting his uncontrolledly trembling hands on the ball. What Ben dreams about really comes true! Little by little, the ball is turning green. Ben looks upon Frank with excitement.
‘You are successf…’ not having finished his words, Frank suddenly notices that the green color starts to retreat.
‘How come?!’ Ben shouts out desperately.
Frank frowns and keeps silent for a while. Then, he takes a thin brochure from the drawer.
‘Long time ago, there was also a person who had color beyond the five basic elements. This is the spellbook he wrote. Maybe, if you want, you can study this book but you must understand it is very dangerous…’
‘I am not afraid of danger, Mentor Frank. I will try, thank you!’ Ben says with determination.
On the way back, he enviously stares at the complex building opposite his classroom—the Purity Class. In the Elemental Empire, there are two kinds of education system. The better one is the Purity Class where children with single-element talent can get the best education, including the newest textbooks and a specially designed environment, such as natural forests for pure-wood-element students or a wide stretch of water for pure-water-element students. Ben is enrolled in the inferior one, the Hybrid Class, which is for children with mixed-element talent. Those children are labeled less talented in the empire because they needs longer time to absorb the same amount of nature energy than the pure-element children do. For instance, a pure wood element person can absorb green energy in 9 minutes, but a person with three-fourths wood element and one-fourth water element needs at least 12 minutes.
Ben forces himself to turn his sight back to his much simpler classroom: several saplings are planted in the earth in one corner; some metals are stacked in another corner; a fireplace and water tank stand in the other two corners. Children can only huddle together to grab the scarce natural energy.
He sits down, opens the book, and eagerly starts to read the spellbook:
‘Trees grow straight up, with branches touching the sky, with roots expanding into the earth.’
‘Oh, glorious sky, may you give me the water!’
‘Oh glorious earth, let me break the iron!’
‘Oh glorious fire, do not burn me!’
When Ben finishes the first line, the plants in the classroom start to shatter, as if to struggle out of the earth. The water in the tank ripples intensively and the soil and metal swirl as if a hurricane is forming. After he finishes the whole spell, the fire in the fireplace suddenly jumps into mid-air and flies to Ben, together with the other four elements. If Ben could open his eyes, he would be astonished. The water, fire, plants, soil and metals fly around him with increasingly quick speed, as if they are forming a veil to cover his figure. Simultaneously, an intensive white light shines behind his body, with green, yellow and the other three basic element colors appearing unexpectedly yet continuously.
But Ben isn’t cognizant of this. The moment he reads the lines, his mind is dragged into a dark somewhere. Failing to see, hear, touch or smell, he can only feel that his body is occupied by the five elements: wood in the head, fire, water, metal and earth in his hands and feet respectively. And the five elements are moving like five whirlpools, moving to the same destination—his heart. The instant the five elements arrive at his heart, an unbearably sharp pain bursts, as if the heart is being pierced by thousands of knives. His heart is now the arena where the five whirlpools crush each other fiercely. Outside his body, with every clash, the element colors also glint abruptly. The glitter is so intensive that students cannot help closing their eyes. They are astounded by what they have witnessed. Though they want to help Ben, they have no idea what they can do. Ben has lost his mind, but unconsciously, he repeats the lines in the spellbook. Surprisingly, as he repeats, the edges of the five whirlpools merge and their speed also slows down, as if they are guided by the spell. Students in the classroom also see the white light gradually turn to darkness. Just then, Ben opens his eyes. It seems that all the element colors shine from his eyes in that moment. The objects around him immediately fly back to their original location as well.
Ben grabs the spellbook tightly. Even though people can’t see it, he can feel that he is now able to absorb natural power from all five basic elements via his body simultaneously and his heart helps coordinate those energies to avoid clashes. He knows that his life as an ineligible citizen is over. From now on, he will set forth on a glorious path, the path to become the master of all elements instead of a single element. He will be great!