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    The winter in California only brought cold winds and low clouds around. The Golden state reflected its name the sun shining brilliantly above the color of a shiny copper penny. Despite its glowing reflection on the still surface of the water the heat didn’t reach them. The cold was too dominant in the North of the state. Despite the vastly populated area of human territory on Earth they always seem to miss the most important things. Humans believed they were the grandest, most intelligent species on Earth yet they were so intelligent to not look any further believing anyone capable as them would be out in the open to be found. They didn’t see how those hidden blended into their loose society perfectly. They were unnoticed, undisturbed, and only barely deluded of their blood. Yet those who did only paid a higher price for it, a price that stripped them of what they were, shaming them in the act. Their energies left them and they became Tainters as well. Tainter is what the Society considered humans since the most effective thing they did to the planet was taint it. However the children of these cases were still born with their energy that lay in their blood, Since birth they never saw their parents again. He knew all too well how it was like being an Earth-Soul himself.
    Pierre belonged too the society of the Fallen. His people inherited the blood of the fallen angels until 5 strains of blood became dominant. The bloodlines became stronger the purer to its line it was the farther out the weaker the energy. Even if someone was born with energy form 2 parents only one was dominant and that one was used. Since he was little he was toyed with, other students saying he wouldn’t make it past a Talent because of the Tainter blood in him but he did. Now 16 he was at equal level with them and in fact better than most. He passed being a Talent and know was at being a Graced. At the moment he was taking his own initiation test into the society at his level with another Graced his age. As he waited for his partner to awaken he looked at his bow, his energy weapon. Pierre was a child of Xaphan the fallen angel of fire. His blood called too anything with heat which was another reason he hated the frigid mountains of their test zone and of his home town in Washington. His heart wanted him to go further into the territory not stopping until the finish yet his brain told him to wait and be patient.
    Eliak’s head twitched as ray of sun disturbed his dreams being in such cold weather, as he had said, had lead his sleep habits too appear more like hibernation periods than anything. He was a son of Gusion the angel of space and time. As an equipment energist Pierre’s power were based offensively in his weapon while Eliak’s ability was as an energy mentalist. So far his powers have lead them in the correct way and they’ve passed the required marks. At this distance they would travel some more tonight to catch up with schedule. Their next mark would lead them either into the Cavern’s of the mountain or the cliffs.
    Eliak slowly seemed to gain consciousness rubbing his head realizing if the sun was that bright how late it was. Pierre came from Washington further up north and despite his joy of being at least a few miles south where the weather was slightly warmer he still didn’t like it. His appearance gave nothing of someone who hadn’t spent most of his life in cloudy weather his skin being light tan. His mother was lost to him from the day he was born but his uncle who was her older brother shared the same physical traits as she did and as Pierre did as well. He had Hazel eyes bright and inquisitive and his blond hair was a bit long covering his forehead but not reaching his shoulders.
    Eliak was another matter the Society being worldwide preferred to mix around once in a while like now. Eliak came from a high society family in Puerto Rico. Pierre didn’t exactly love the place but he still felt jealous of him closer to the equator where the heat was more dominant and the weather was warm all year round. Eliak as well was 16 he had dark brown eyes and skin and a head of raven dark haircut short too only cover his forehead but cut cleanly around the ears and the neck. Something caused Eliak to start shifting from his sleepy state until he realized what was going on. Pierre sighed as Eliak made quick apologies for waking up so late and complaining about the temperature and going to the river to wash up.
    As soon as Eliak left Pierre stood up stretching and grabbing his bag heading over in the direction where Eliak was a moment ago. They only took out necessities just in case of an attack which was one joy of the test the judges couldn’t spoil and could choose as it went on. He put on his cloak which represented his bloodline and energy class. His cloak was pitch black with golden runes at the collar and sleeves to represent his energy. He looked around realizing that his partner had already taken his belongings with him too speed it up. He took his time reaching the river not taking long t hear the crashing sounds as the water hit the boulders in the water and on the shore. Eliak was already wearing his Burgundy cloak which was embroidered with light green markings and he waited by his pack for him too finish.
    After a few minutes Eliak stood up his hair blacker that usual soaked and chattering. “Seriously I don’t know why so many Tainters say the United States is grand it’s not even livable” he muttered without turning to face Pierre. Mentalists had an uncanny and disturbing way of unnerving you. Some were able to read minds, or speak to the dead, or know where you are without being there. Eliak however was skilled as a tracker knowing where something is and how to find it, one fault however is if he didn’t know what it was or only had a vague idea of what it looked like he could confuse it for another thing and get them going in circles or opposite directions. However the judges had given them what they were looking for but not how to find it.
    Eliak’s test to lead Pierre to the goal and Pierre was supposed too protect them from whatever appeared. They didn’t know what they would come up against and Eliak couldn’t see it since he had a much of an idea of what it was as Pierre did. So far they had run into a horde of blooded-bees and a crazed boar suspiciously close too their goal marks. Each was easily taken down before they reached them since when they did all would be left was an arrow stuck in a pile of ashes. The bees were a harder task and he had burned their hive and dispersed them as they tried futilely to protect their home.
    Since when they first got on the test they had both shared their complaints on the weather and if this place was forsaken if the sun refuse to penetrate its towering trees. Eliak grabbed is bag slinging it over his shoulder wincing slightly at a injury he received concentrating while walking and then going headfirst into a natural (and not put up) ditch. His shoulder had taken the main impact on a rooted rock but it wasn’t seriously injured and maybe just bruised. To be further prepared they discussed the following day’s routes and shortcuts the day before so if anything happened they both know where to meet. Elaik was no longer shaking and heading over to Pierre. “So I guess were taking the mountain route” he asked Pierre and Pierre just nodded. They had already planned this and Eliak was leading the way but it was well-known that members of the fire bloodline rarely took an order or command without snapping back, it was the way they were their tempers can fire up as quickly as they could set an object on fire.
    They walked quietly in single-file up the narrow route covered in patches of snow and patches of grass. Both Eliak and Pierre skidded off their feet head first having tilted forward on the slippey trail as not to slip backwards and slide all the way down. Once along the way Pierre almost burnt the trees grouped together next to the path in anger for bruising his shoulder when slipping on a soaked patch of grass. After a while the path stopped moving steeply up and started to become straight again. Just when they let out an exhausted and glad exhale of air after walking the exhausting path, their spirits going up that they had finally arrived was when the judges of course enjoyed messing around with them.
    When they were sure they were on solid ground and on a bearable course a small crack appeared at the edge of the straight platform where they had just walked up the steep path. Slow realization dawned on both of them as the seemingly harmless crack transformed into a series of cracks until it reached them. “Crap” Pierre hissed as one crack from one edge of the platform touched and joined another from the other side. There was a chilling sound as it got bigger and like a cracker split in half sending both of them tilting. “I think this was the cliff flag point!” Eliak nervously and jokingly yelled from his side to Pierre’s side. Pierre just sighed copying Eliak’s move of hanging to a close by stone until the ice fell off completely. Pierre’s hand found a groove in the rock for his hands and his legs found holds as well.
    It took about half an hour for the ice to crack and whatever was left Pierre melted away grabbing a twig from under a pile of snow setting it on fire and flinging it to the platform it’s heat melting the slick black ice that was left at the bottom. Pierre stepped cautiously from his holds onto the now visible stone on the cliff and after a few moments of testing stepped confidently onto the platform. He looked over to where Eliak was jumping down as well letting one hand go then the other. He held something oblong and clear in his hand. Showing his palm where a pill-like case was that had a rolled white paper inside. Eliak opened the paper then giving it to Pierre, on the paper was a picture of a Pedestal where two pendants lay, underneath the drawing laid in perfect calligraphy the words ‘follow the caves’. Pierre looked up at Eliak and nodded they were headed inside the mountains now.
    “That wasn’t hard was it” Eliak sighed nervously. All they had to do was hanging on to the cliff to avoid slipping of and going down and that was more of a physical test for trainees than anything. Pierre stood still unmoving for a few minutes unnerving Eliak who despite being a mentalist wasn’t great at reading people. He was about to ask what was wrong when Pierre grabbed him by his color and surprisingly without effort dragged him too the closest cave opening around. Pierre dropped him thee looking back at the cliff flat they were standing on. “What the hell was that for?!” Eliak yelled outraged looking angrily at Pierre getting up and facing the still quiet Pierre.
    Pierre looked at his partner walking into the cave opening and said “You’re welcome” and disappeared into the darkness. Eliak stood there confused and heard a rumble from the opening as the cliff flat crumbled within seconds covering the cave opening and knocking him too the ground. Eliak surprised felt for the wall and stood up. He tried looking around but the cavern was now pitch black with no light source. He closed his eyes focusing on Pierre an image of the blond youth appearing in his mind and as if he were close behind led to him.
    Once he reached him he breathed heavily having run through the caverns to catch up with the quick archer. Even if he couldn’t see he could sense him in front of him facing him smirking. “Don’t stress yourself we need you for the rest of the trip remember” facing back to the cavern he was headed in. Before Eliak could reply in protest of being left behind he heard Pierre reaching into his pack taking something out. He flinched as bright light appeared and once focused appeared as two flashlights he had turned on. Handing one to Eliak he pointed too him and too the cave signaling too go ahead. Eliak just sighed and began treading forward knowing without looking that Pierre was smirking at him enjoying messing with a mentalist.
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    Lucy woke up screaming again. She was holding her head between her knees and when she realized it was her making the shrill noise she stuffed a pillow in her face until they stopped. Her father rushed in going to her bed. “Are you okay sweetheart” holding her arm trying to get her to respond. After a while she responded with a nod too afraid too look up and start freaking out again. Her father was worried but he knew like all of them she had to go through this. Between the ages of 6-16 the children of the Society began feeling their powers manifest in them. William Lucy’s father belonged too the McCuire family of Sound. These bloodlines were rare for the children instead of inheriting their parents could gain any other kind of energy even if it wasn’t their bloodline. That was the gift of Sound to copy the power of others and too push it further than the normal. William had 3 siblings all who inherited different energies instead of Sound and William was the only one his sound allowing him to copy mental abilities of others. Out of William’s 6 children Lucy was the youngest barely 12 and the only one too have signs of Sound energy flowing through her. He tried seeing any specific traits to see what she was powerful in but she couldn’t copy nor reflect like most sounds. She suffered from nightmares of the dead and the dying yet they weren’t clear. William never went through this his power wasn’t focused on using it himself but using it on others and all he could do to help was comfort her.
    After a while Lucy sat up hugging her father who already showed flecks of gray in his ginger hair and sleepiness in his gray eyes. These nights she woke up scared, crying, or screaming maybe all and her father would always be there. It was hard on him not knowing anything about vision traits like Lucy was getting. They were rare, those born in Sound to predict the future or speak to the afterlife. There was never more than a handful each generation and they at times were driven insane by what they saw. William feared for his daughter being so small and having a gift like this, it was a curse and a gift. She would be powerful but she would also be used such the fate of most of the Sound lines.
    Lucy had calmed and her father left the room. Moonlight pooled over the head pillow of the bed where the girl with ginger hair to her shoulders and bags under her eyes from crying lay. She had blue eyes like her mother who died when she was born. Maybe it was a premonition of her powers or a sign that fate was close but that didn’t t change a thing as unfair as it was. She was small for her age and secluded preferring too hang around with her best friend Renetta than the others. Renetta’s father and her father had always been close. Her family were wind users, children of Lix Tetrax fallen angel of the wind. Most of Renetta’s family was physical energists being able to form realistic wings from their shoulders. They also shared the same traits such as dark blonde hair, warm brown eyes and freckles. Renetta was friends with her since they visited homes a lot Renetta being home-schooled for her “Physical” incapability of going to public or private school.
    It’s been two months since Lucy had seen Renetta. Her powers started coming out and she had to stay home more and more frequently. Lucy was lonely and scared that she would be driven crazy. In the beginning they only whispered in her dreams every once in a while. Then they began appearing almost every day, whispering voices at random as if they didn’t know she could hear. Then they concentrated focusing on the stronger voices the ones that were louder that at first were whispers and know plagued her with screaming, crying, yelling. She couldn’t stop them she tried, screaming at them to go away. They didn’t listen they stayed there as if enjoying her sleepless torment until she became so frustrated that she would force herself awake too leave their eternal bickering. Her father said she would learn to tame them and tell them what to do so instead of her hearing them they would listen to her, not just in her dreams but when she was awake. They would obey and help her and she’d be strong like some of the famous mentalists of sound. Although she had to go through this first and saying to herself, survive it.
    It was one of those rare nights where she dreamed peacefully. She was remembering more correctly when Renetta and she were sitting in Renetta’s back yard in Boston. The weather was down and gloomy so they didn’t run around enjoying the hour preferring to sit and talk under the newly planted grapefruit tree. “I can’t wait until next week” she smile “both of us we’ll go to see you’re grandma in San Francisco and we’ll have you’re birthday party there. You’ll finally be entering as a trainee!!!” she said happily to Renetta who was cheerful and nervous of the event. “I know and then when you’re thirteen you’ll enter training and then we might be able to work together” and they laughed enjoying the mood. Lucy was both glad and jealous that Renetta would be first to go train for being a member of the society like their families. “Next week alright and don’t leave without me!” Lucy yelled running over to the honking car of his father’s Altima parked at the curb to pick her up.
    She waved goodbye to the standing Renetta and turned to face the car and stopped confused. She was headed to the car but know she stood in a large area of green with scattered gray stones that were oddly shaped. Then she realized she was in a graveyard and she was surrounded by people dressed in black. She looked down she was wearing a black dress that was too well made for the girl in it with frizzy hair and pale skin. She looked around surrounded by unfamiliar faces. She looked around frightened recognizing two or three of Renetta’s family. Her father, mother, and her older brother yet when she tried to call them they acted as if they didn’t hear her. She grabbed Renetta’s fathers sleeve crying but he didn’t budge. She cried looking for Renetta, her father, anyone that could hear. She stood there crying looking for a way out when someone passed her pushing her too the lines too pay their respects. She couldn’t go backwards for the lady didn’t budge and continued marching forward. When she stopped too pay her respects she looked down at the names and froze in shock. There were about 8 unrecognizable names only familiar by the last names of Renetta’s family and friends from San Francisco. She cried at the last three names Renetta Lauten, William McCuire, and Lucy Mercedes McCuire.
    Lucy looked up in shock as someone pushed her into the hole for the graves. She landed on her back painlessly. She couldn’t move or speak yet she felt the warmth as tear after tear ran down her cheeks. She felt something hit her face and she opened her eyes since she was facing up and saw the members of the funeral throwing shovels of dirt over her. She couldn’t scream or yell no even move away from the dirt as it piled over her. The sun appeared through the clouds shining sadly for her as f knowing this was the last time she’d see it. Then as the dirt cold and sodden piled over her the sun was blotted out retreating into the gray clouds as if forgetting her leaving her alone as the dirt covered her view of the world.
    Lucy woke up with a start crying. He tried to move or make a sound and a cold hand squeezed her heart as she tried to move to no avail. She was able to roll and roll her face covered with something soft and stuffed her mouth. Something picked her up loosening the invisible bonds that held her and uncovering her eyes. Her father stood there holding her saying something her ears couldn’t hear. She looked around seeing herself standing over a pile of blanket sheet. Her bed was a few feet away and she noticed how the pillows were on the ground. “Lucy can you hear me, Lucy!” her father said worriedly holding her. She nodded looking confused. “Don’t worry you fell of the bed and were rolled in your sheets okay, Lucy alright” she just nodded her tears stopping as her heart remembered this moment. It never happened he wasn’t dead and neither was she, she wasn’t covered in dirt, and it was still Saturday, a few days before they went to San Francisco. Nothing was wrong everything was fine and it was just a nightmare, yet why did her heart feel the exact opposite.
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