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Chapter Sixteen: History of the Element Shards

“What!?” Tera practically shouted. “Are you telling me that was your friend from before?” Koza nodded slowly. “But how can that be? I thought he was dead?”

“He is…I mean, he was. Or…This doesn’t make any sense…” Koza was stumbling over his own words. Tera offered to help Koza up. Standing slowly, Koza could barely keep his balance from the shock. Tera let him lean on her as they walked to keep him from falling over. It wasn’t long before they came upon a small little town with a sign that said “Brannoch Village.”

Upon entering, Tera looked around for somewhere to rest. There was a little bench a little bit in from the front gate. Koza sat down with a thud, while Tera sat down softly next to him.

“I don’t understand Tera,” he said. “How could that have been Adrian?”

“I’m not sure…” she replied. “Are you absolutely sure it was him?” Koza nodded.

“I guarantee it was him. I’m not sure how its possible, but I know it was him.” His shoulders drooped slightly as he talked. “I saw him get killed with my own eyes. I’m the one that buried him. I know that he is gone. Yet there he was, right in front of me. He knew my name and everything. There’s no question that it was him.” Koza paused for a moment. “And another thing I thought was weird…Did you see what was around his neck?” Tera thought for a moment, then shook her head. “He was wearing these two weird looking stones around his neck. One of them was purple, and the other one was a teal color I think. Both of which were glowing. It was weird.” He sighed and leaned back on the bench. Closing his eyes, he said, “I just wish I had some answers…”

“Hey kid,” a voice that came from off the right side of them said. Koza opened his eyes, and he and Tera looked over. A man was leaning against a nearby building. He wore a brown vest over a plain white t-shirt. His pants were a burnt aurum color, his shoes matched as well. He wore a set of thin glasses that rested just below his dark brown eyes. His long, straight black hair was styled back into a ponytail, and shined in the sunlight.

“Me?” Koza asked. The man nodded.

“I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation there,” he said. “My name is James, and I run the library not too far from here.” James pointed off towards the middle of town. “I heard you say something about your friend being dead, but you running into him and seeing him alive?” Koza simply nodded. “Also did you say he was wearing some odd, glowing stones around his neck?” Koza nodded again. “Well then, would you come with me to the library? I think I might have something that will give you some answers.”

Koza and Tera looked at each other, then stood up and walked over to James. He smiled and motioned for them to follow, walking off towards the library. Along the way, Tera leaned over and whispered to Koza,

“What do you think Koza? This guy seems a little odd to just spring up like that,” she said. Koza shrugged.

“I want to know what’s going on here, and if this guy says he can give me some answers, I’ll see what he has to offer,” he whispered back. James cleared his throat, causing both of them to look back ahead. James had stopped walking already, causing Koza and Tera to almost trip forward trying to stop to avoid running into him.

“Here we are,” he said. It was a medium-sized building, constructed of marble. Three stone pillars on each side of the large, glass double doors held up the ceiling outside. Koza and Tera stared in awe at the sight. James laughed and said, “If you think the outside is good, wait until you see the inside.” With that, he walked up and pushed open the doors. “After you,” he said, motioning for them to go in. They both thanked him and walked inside, James following after.

“Whoa…” Koza and Tera said in unison. The library had a vaulted ceiling, with rows upon rows of all different sorts of books. Some looked brand new, others looked ancient. The floor was also made out of marble, though it was slightly scuffed from people walking all over it. The entire place was empty except for the three. There was a desk in the middle, presumably where James sat during his work days. The air inside was air conditioned and cool.

“Welcome to my library,“ James said proudly. “Follow me if you would please,” he said while walking off towards the back of the library. Both of them complied and followed James to the back. James stopped in front of a metal door with a lock on it. Pulling out a key, he opened it slowly. It made a loud creaking as it opened. He went on in, signaling them to follow. Both of them walked in slowly, looking around.

Inside was a dimly lit little hallway, with shelves on both sides. Upon the shelves were randomly assorted scrolls and old looking books. Most of the items were covered in a layer of dust. Koza and Tera were playing follow the leader, but James seemed to know exactly where he was going. Stopping at the end of the hallway, he looked up and pulled out a large, ancient book. Its cover was made of leather, and had a gold lock on the front.

“Here it is,” James said, half struggling to hold the book up. It looked as if it weighed half of what he did. “Come along then,” he said as he made his way back to the door, Koza and Tera right behind him. Tera closed the door as they exited the hallway, and followed James and Koza back to the front desk. James set the book down with a thud.

“Phew…Here we go. This book should give you some answers to your situation. I’ll tell you this much, if my theory is correct, the stones that you saw your friend wearing are called ‘Element Shards’. This book was written long ago, information from numerous scientists has been compiled into it.“ He paused to adjust his glasses. “Long hours of work and study have been dedicated to the creation of this book. Element Shards are not something that you can just find lying about randomly either. I could go on, but I’ll let the book do the talking.” With that, James undid the lock and opened the book. Flipping through a few pages, he stepped back. Koza and Tera got closer and began to read.

“ELEMENT SHARD: Special type of stone that grants user control over a particular element. Element shards have different effects at different times, some having side effects aside from their general purpose. Only a handful can be found naturally occurring in nature, the rest must be crafted by hand from existing shards. Following is a list of all known shards to date.

BASE SHARDS - These shards are the only ones that are found naturally occurring in nature. Names are accompanied with their element power:

Gale Shard - Wind
Dust Shard - Earth
Mist Shard - Water
Flare Shard - Fire
Spark Shard - Electricity
Crystal Shard - Ice
Gleam Shard - Light
Shade Shard - Dark
Metallic Shard - Metal
Forest Shard - Wood
Spirit Shard - Death/Rebirth

DESCRIPTIONS - These are the base powers of each of the natural shards

Gale Shard - Allows user to call forth a strong wind, as well as manipulate air currents
Dust Shard - Allows user to manipulate solid stone into multiple forms
Mist Shard - Allows user to control water currents, as well as bring forth rainstorms
Flare Shard - Allows user to manipulate fire at will
Spark Shard - Allows user to control electrical currents, as well as summon lightening
Crystal Shard - Allows user to create an infinite number of objects out of ice
Gleam Shard - Allows user to manipulate light itself, being able to illuminate dark areas
Shade Shard - Allows user to manipulate certain shadows, as well as block out light
Metallic Shard - Allows user to control and manipulate metal objects
Forest Shard - Allows user to control the growth of plant life
Spirit Shard - Allows user to breathe life into the lifeless, as well as bring back memories of past lives”

Koza stopped reading. He thought for a moment, and nodded to himself. Turning the page, he kept going.

“COMBINATIONS - Different abilities are granted to those who combine more than one Element Shard

GALE SHARD

Gale Shard + Dust Shard = Sand Shard: Allows user control and manipulate sand, as well as summon sandstorms
Gale Shard + Mist Shard = Storm Shard: Allows user to conjure up powerful thunderstorms, as well as create solid sheets of rain
Gale Shard + Flare Shard = Burst Shard: Allows user to create multiple powerful tornadoes of fire
Gale Shard + Spark Shard = Thunder Shard: Allows user to control higher voltages of electricity
Gale Shard + Crystal Shard = Blizzard Shard: Allows user to call forth powerful blizzards at will
Gale Shard + Gleam Shard = Angelic Shard: Allows user to control and shape different light patterns
Gale Shard + Shade Shard = Midnight Shard: Allows user to create clones of himself/herself made of shadow energy
Gale Shard + Metallic Shard = Shrapnel Shard: Allows user to shoot out small, sharp metal shavings, as well as create storms of scrap metal
Gale Shard + Forest Shard = Nature Shard: Allows user to speed up or reverse the growth of plant life, as well as grow plant life on any surface
Gale Shard + Spirit Shard = Afterlife Shard: Allows user to raise an army of undead minions

DUST SHARD

Dust Shard + Mist Shard = Mud Shard: Allows user to conjure up rivers of fast-flowing mud, as well as create mudslides
Dust Shard + Flare Shard = Lava Shard: Allows user to call forth bursts of lava, as well as control lava flows
Dust Shard + Spark Shard = Shock Shard: Allows user to create electricity-infused stone projectiles
Dust Shard + Crystal Shard = Frosty Shard: Allows user to create multiple objects out of frozen stone
Dust Shard + Gleam Shard = Flash Shard: Allows user to create stone projectiles that explode into bursts of blinding light on contact with solid objects
Dust Shard + Shade Shard = Illusion Shard: Allows user to create and launch invisible stone projectiles
Dust Shard + Metallic Shard = Polished Shard: Allows user to create specialized mirrors out of stone coated with polished metal
Dust Shard + Forest Shard = Creation Shard: Allows user to construct walls of earth and plant life with ease for defense, as well as shelter
Dust Shard + Spirit Shard = Whisper Shard: Allows user to receive help from spirits”

Koza looked over to the next page. The print was surprisingly small. Tera had to squint over Koza’s shoulder to see.

“FLARE SHARD

Flare Shard + Spark Shard = Shower Shard: Allows user to rain down a shower of sparks on a targeted area
Flare Shard + Crystal Shard = Flood Shard: Allows user to melt down large ice structures to create flash floods; Also allows user to create ice structures if need be
Flare Shard + Gleam Shard = Sun Shard: Allows user to create intensely blinding light that is sure to stun opponents
Flare Shard + Shade Shard = Moon Shard: Allows user to control the different phases of the moon
Flare Shard + Metallic Shard = Burning Shard: Allows user to produce searing hot metal from the earth’s crust
Flare Shard + Forest Shard = Wildfire Shard: Allows user to start and control forest fires, among other types of fire
Flare Shard + Spirit Shard = Morale Shard: Allows user to increase the will to fight back not only physically, but emotionally as well

SPARK SHARD

Spark Shard + Crystal Shard = Crackle Shard: Allows user to create projectiles made of electricity-infused ice
Spark Shard + Gleam Shard = Holy Shard: Allows user to conjure up pure light energy to counteract darkness
Spark Shard + Shade Shard = Darklight Shard: Allows user to fill a specific area with a strange light to see what cannot be seen by the naked eye
Spark Shard + Metallic Shard = Magnet Shard: Allows user to attract certain substances that contain metal
Spark Shard + Forest Shard = Firework Shard: Allows user to create bursts of light with something as simple as a stick (better effect with dry objects)
Spark Shard + Spirit Shard = Guidance Shard: Allows user to illuminate a path to take when one becomes lost

CRYSTAL SHARD

Crystal Shard + Gleam Shard = Mirror Shard: Allows user to create an ice mirror that will reflect anything from light, to effects of other Element Shards
Crystal Shard + Shade Shard = Darkice Shard: Allows user to create black ice structures, which will last twice as long without melting
Crystal Shard + Metallic Shard = Heavy Shard: Allows user to create armor out of frozen metal
Crystal Shard + Forest Shard = Winter Shard: Allows user to freeze plant life over, making it brittle enough to be broken with little effort
Crystal Shard + Spirit Shard = Soul Shard: Allows user to freeze the soul of a single target (NOTE: Shard is useless afterwards)”

Stopping to think on what it could mean by “freeze the soul of a single target”, Koza turned the page and continued to read.

“GLEAM SHARD

Gleam Shard + Shade Shard = Blacklight Shard: Allows user to cover an area in a special black light that will reveal footprints, among other things
Gleam Shard + Metallic Shard = Refraction Shard: Allows user to coat any surface with a light-reflecting material
Gleam Shard + Forest Shard = Growth Shard: Allows user to increase the size of plant life to way beyond what would be normal
Gleam Shard + Spirit Shard = Silence Shard: Allows user to take away the voice of a single target (NOTE: Only works on one target at a time)

SHADE SHARD

Shade Shard + Metallic Shard = Darkshine Shard: Allows user to create and control beams of black light that will blot out normal light
Shade Shard + Forest Shard = Withdrawal Shard: Allows user to force plants to hibernate and die off as if it were winter
Shade Shard + Spirit Shard = Summon Shard: Allows user to summon help from the spirit world; completely random as far as good and evil go”

“There sure are a lot of these things aren’t there?” Koza asked as he turned the page.

“You bet there are,” James replied with a smile.

“METALLIC SHARD

Metallic Shard + Forest Shard = Slip Shard: Allows user to coat surfaces with a slick substance capable of allowing the user to grind on said surface
Metallic Shard + Spirit Shard = Strength Shard: Allows user to gather strength from benevolent spirits

FOREST SHARD

Forest Shard + Spirit Shard = Goddess Shard: Allows user to gather strength and well being from surrounding plant life

DUEL COMBINATIONS - When combined with an Element Shard of the same type, a more powerful Element Shard of that type will be formed

Gale Shard + Gale Shard = Tempest Shard: Allows user to summon winds of unimaginable strength and power
Dust Shard + Dust Shard = Drought Shard: Allows user to dry out all moisture from a large area
Mist Shard + Mist Shard = Whirlpool Shard: Allows user to create large whirlpools of water, even if there is no moisture around
Flare Shard + Flare Shard = Blaze Shard: Allows user to create intensely hot, white flames
Spark Shard + Spark Shard = Bright Shard: Allows user to call forth multiple lightening bolts at once
Crystal Shard + Crystal Shard = Diamond Shard: Allows user to create incredibly strong and resilient ice formations
Shade Shard + Shade Shard = Shadowlurk Shard: Allows user to manipulate all shadows at will, as well as suffocate targets through shadows
Metallic Shard + Metallic Shard = Ore Shard: Allows user to manipulate multiple metal ores from the earth’s crust into an infinite number of items
Forest Shard + Forest Shard = Woodland Shard: Allows user to grow trees out of not only any surface, but also out of their own body
Spirit Shard + Spirit Shard = Gate Shard: Allows user to open a temporary, small portal to the spirit world”

Koza stepped back and sighed.

“That’s enough reading for me…” he said. Tera rubbed her eyes and nodded. James laughed to himself. “That explains how Adrian is back, but I don’t know what to do about it,” Koza said.

“Is there anything to do?” Tera asked. Koza scratched the back of his head.

“I’m not sure…That answered one of the questions, but there is still another problem that remains unsolved.”

“Really? What?” she asked.

“How did Adrian get the Element Shards in the first place? Its not like he could’ve just gotten them on his own…Someone must have manually placed them on him,” Koza said while looking down. “The question is, who? And for what purpose? Why Adrian?”

“True…” Tera said. “We don’t even have any idea where we should start looking for him, do we Koza?” He shook his head.

“Oh well. Maybe we’ll get lucky and run into him again.” He turned around. “Thanks for your help James. I really appreciate it.”

“Think nothing of it,” James said with a smile. He adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
Koza and Tera headed out of the library and started towards the back gate of the town. Tera pulled out the map from before and checked it over.

“I don’t see a town anywhere close by here,” she said. “It looks like there is a river up ahead though, along with a lake if I’m reading this correctly.”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Koza said. He then started laughing to himself. Tera looked at him.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Haha.. ‘River.’ ‘Bridge.’ I didn’t mean to say it like that,” he said, clearing his throat. Tera laughed to herself and shook her head.

“That was a horrible pun,” she said.

“Didn’t stop you from laughing did it?” he said in defense. She laughed again and put the map away. Both of them walked side by side to the end of the town. Turning around for one last look, they exited and were on their way.




Next Chapter: See You on the Other Side