Tales Of Earthem: P.O.T.S
Chapter 12

Verse 11- Thee untouchable Queen

The giant chandeliersparkled beautifully above the hall and it lit up to the sound of roars fromthe 100’s of students that filled it, the showcase was taken place at one ofthe grand halls in the academy which meant everyone was present. E and DGraders littered the stands all cheering for their desired pupil out of the 12,“ Welcomeeee to the grand showcase event “ bellowed the prefect who would actas the announcer for today’s event” you’ll all be luckily enough to see each ofour 12 E graders give you a preview of what their made of , so without furtherado let’s get this show on the roaddd” the moment the announcer ceased his speaking the crowd delivered adefining roar” now let’s welcome our first candidate to the stage ….. Miss AlaniaKaur “meanwhile Jyro, Tristine and the other 9 students were in another roomwatching from a monitor. The 12 chosen were all required to wear the sameclothing that was given to them, the boys wore a black vest and matchingtrousers whilst the girls were required to wear white vest in addition to whitetights or leotard trousers. Alania Kaur was the first out of the 12 to step outonto the stage, now no one knew what they’ll have to do today so the whole roombuzzed with anticipation, “seeing as this is an Academy for Elite personnelwhat better way for our chosen students to grace you with their skills via aMOCK BATTLE!, a mock battle?” said Jyro to Tristine , “mmmm yup I had a feeling it would turn out this waygood thing I brought my bow & arrows with me” she said, “ don’t feel scaredJyro I know we haven’t been taught any combat but just do what you always doand use your instinct” said Tristine as she tried to console Jyro, but what shedidn’t know was that Jyro wasn’t worried about fighting Jack had alreadygroomed him to face demons but it was revealing to everyone else he could useLightning brand. Now there was students about 5 or 6 all standing aroundnervously guarding what looked like a cage covered up in a velvet veil so noone could see what was inside, the announcer made a signal towards them allthey then proceeded to remove the veil. When the veil was removed the crowdfell to silence and shock at what they saw in the cage, Jyro gasped and closelylooked towards the monitor “ Tristine, what in the world is that” asked Jyrowhilst his eyes stared at the creature. It had 3 horns 2 short ones and onelong one in the center, its body resembled a rhino but its body was moremuscular than one and its scaly skin was grey all over with dark red shadowsaround the head and legs, “ S..s..sir whenever you’re ready” mumbled theannouncer , professor Valentine then walked forwards “Open its gates u fools and get out of hereI’ll take it from here” scolded professor valentine, the gates slowly openedand the students scurried away, the creature opened its dark yellowy eyes andset his sights upon the professor “ yesyes there we go come to daddy you demon” as the professor taunted the creatureit proceeded out the gate and charged towards the professor “animi imperio” whispered the professor, on the beasts head purple started to appear withthe letter V in the middle of it. The beast stopped in front of the professorand bowed its head, the on looking crowd simply watched on in amazement, “ayyou can stop being afraid It’s in my control now” the professor said whilst hesmirked at the announcer, “... oooook thanks for that..ahem, it’s time nowfolks for the Mock Battle to begin, This level 1 lesser demon shall fight against our 12 chosenjust for your entertainment” the crowds spirits slowly became alive again andthey slowly applauded and cheered.

Meanwhilethe students in the next room didn’t seem to phased by the creatures arrivalwell accept Jyro of course, “hahaha finally something to finally test ourpowers as exorcists I was beginning to get bored of this school” said Valkowhist he cracked his knuckles menacingly, “so that’s how it is, the professorsBrand demon control , pretty expected for a guy like him” spoke Tristine, “sohe’s making sure that thing doesn’t go to wild against us” said a young darkhaired boy called bobby west who was among the chosen 12,”pffft there’s no needfor a mind control my mum told me lesser demons are a piece of cake” respondedMadison scarlet whom was also part of the 12, Jyro was still a bit worried atthe fact he’d have to fight the creature in front of everyone , still ponderingon what he’s going to do, “ you’ll be fine Jyro I know you can do it”encouraged Tristine who knew anxiety was within her friend, “ Totally Jyroproviding you’ve fought against one before but newbies are almost certain tolose their lives” blurted Madison scarlet who was trying to scare him “Oh Shutit Madison he’ll do just fine” said Tristine.

Meanwhile at the main hall Alania slowly begunto circle the beast who huffed and puffed, she nervously watched the demonsmovements as slowly became agitated , “acutis Flores” said the girl and dozens of pink petals startedappearing around the her, the petals span and danced around her to the appreciationof the crowd who aaahed and oooed at the spectacle, the demon suddenly chargedtowards her with its long horn as its spear-head “Ballo” she said next thepetals begun to spin furiously before all dashing towards the oncoming beast.The dozens of petals seemed to harden like steel and with the spinning trancethey were all in they ripped through the creatures body, it lost its balance andslid and tumbled straight into the wall, the crowd became quiet for a fewmoments waiting to see the beasts fate, moments later it’s body begundecomposing then it burned into a blue flame then turned to ash, the crowdroared in appreciation. Jyro was amazedat what he was seeing which helped settle his nerves on fighting the demonhimself, “ nice and easy, Bravo” said Bobby applauding at the screen,” “oh FYIthat’s what happens when you kill a demon Jyro they burn with a blue fame thenvanish into ashes, that’s when you truly know their dead” bobby added. The announcerlooked at his sheet again “MISS TRISTINEEEE MORROWIND!” the announcer bellowed,“right looks like I’m up, wish me luck Jyro” she said, the young blue headedgirl grabbed her Arrow and pouch then proceeded to the main hall, she stretchedout her arms and legs then took a deep breath, another gate was brought inagain with the same creature inside and the students did what they did beforeas did Mr Valentine. When the beast wasreleased The creature charged towards Tristine, upon it closing on her shequickly somersaulted over it andcheekily smiled, the demon charged again and Tristine followed suit with asecond somersault, the crowd loved every minute of it and cheered and screamedfor the young girl , “ ha-ha alright let’s see if I can get you in one shot”said Tristine , whilst she evaded every attack the demon through towards her shebegun mumbling to herself, “Alanias petals cut him 64 times but his movementsslowed at the 45th strike and his eyes whitened at the 56th… so his heart must be right….. there” she said, Tristine then drew and arrowand aligned it with her sight , she fired the arrow and watched as the arrowhit the demon right above its front left leg which sent it crashing to theground. The vibrations from the crowds screams could be felt from the room Jyrowas staying in , he looked on at the monitor and saw Tristine greeting andbowing to the crowd, he too felt to clap as he thought Tristine foughtamazingly well and there wasn’t one student who didn’t applaud even theprofessors enjoyed her fight.

Jyro was anxiously waiting for his name to becalled out but it didn’t come and by now the 12 where down to 4, Jyro, LeoBlackstom, Isis Gates and Valko Tius. The crowds noise seem to become louderwhen they realised who was left, everyone was awaiting the name call of IsisGates. “ Leo Blackstorm “ bellowed the announcer , the crowd begun murmuringand chattering when they heard the name Jyro looked around the room when a tallbroad shouldered boy got up and proceeded to the main hall, Jyro couldn’t helpbut feel like he’s met him somewhere but couldn’t figure out where meanwhileTristine after finishing her fight went and took a seat next to Johnny in thestands, “Jyro still not on then” said Tristine “ no not yet but doesn’t that big guy seemsfamiliar” asked Johnny,” oh that’s Leo I tend to bump into him at Mongoleys”Tristine casually replied “ Mongoleys??? Thought Johnny when he then rememberedthe evening he went there and bumped into that tall fellow with the hood, “NOWAY, IT’S HIM it’s that big guy from before the one I bumped into” he exclaimed.Leo made his way to the front hall carrying a big object on his back which wascovered up, the girls from the crowd whistled and cheered his name but the boyhad no response, he simply gazed into the eyes of the demon ahead of him. Themoment the gates opened he removed the wrappings from the object he wascarrying and out immerged a ridiculously huge long sword, the crowd gasped inshock at seeing it, “what in heavens is he gunna do with that” Johnny asked,Tristine squinted her eyes and analysed Leos arm muscles “he’s trained his bodyto use that weapon, this should be over in a few seconds” she replied. Professor Valentine looked intrigued when Leostood before him, he looked up and down at the boy then smirked menacingly, andhe lifted up his palm and muttered to himself ,the markings on the beast glowedthen turned from purple to red and the demon immediately became enraged. Theenraged demon roared and gored through the air, the shockwaves resonatedthrough the halls shaking the chandeliers, when Mr Valentine took his seat MrKobi immediately questioned him on what he did “ I simply made it a bit moreinteresting headmaster considering the remaining 4 are quite interesting nowdon’t you think” Mr valentine Smirked at Headmaster Kobi who was only thinkingabout Jyro. The beast charged with bloodlust at Leo, its speed and power hadnotably increased with the floor tiles flying off the ground as it ran, “ ComeLet’s Play puppy” said Leo whilst gripping his long sword with two hands, justas the creature was about to maul him down he disappeared, the crowd gasped inshock and looked around the hall, Leo was all the way across the room tauntingthe beast the crowd then screamed with excitement, “ whoa what was that “Johnny asked “I haven’t the slightest of clue but what’s even more scary isthat I don’t think he used a Brand” Tristine said worryingly . When the demonrealised Leo was behind it, it huffed and puffed then charged again at him inthe same way , Leo slowly lifted his gigantic steel sword and positionedhimself, he positioned himself the same way a Baseball player stands when he’sabout to hit a ball, the creature approached into Leos range and with one bigswoop !SWOOOSH! He sliced the creature in half. Everyone present had theirmouths open, where did he come from?, who is he? The crowd fell intoquestioning one another before giving Leo a standing ovation, the head teachersapplauded and talked amongst one another “ so the rumours were true theArchanine clan of swords sent their heir here” stated Mr Valentine “ so he’sfrom a long line of sword masters is he, ho-oh this year’s kids are quite afrightening bunch probably the best crop we’ve had in years… don’t you think soheadmaster” one of the professors stated, but the headmaster didn’t reply hejust sat down patiently waiting .Back in the other room the remainingcontestants looked on “ergh what a show off” stated Valko , now Jyro too was inshock at how strong Leo was but what shocked him the most is that he actually sawwhat happened to Leo when he disappeared ,Leo spun at a tremendous speed almostlike a cyclone he then jumped across to the other side of the room but how Jyrocould of seen that he didn’t understand himself but he knew the majority of thecrowd probably couldn’t. Valkos name was called up next which left Jyro in theroom alone with Isis the one who’s said to be the strongest in the year.

Valkoarrogantly walked out of the waiting room clutching hold of his crossbow, thecrowd lightly applauded him, the crowd watched on as the new lesser demon wasreleased from the gates. Jyro didn’t know whether or not to talk to her but hefelt the silence in the room was too much to bare so he turned towards Isis andnoticed up close just how beautiful she actually was, her long curly hair wastied up with a ribbon, whilst Jyro admired the girl Isis gazed blankly at themonitor Jyro thought she almost looked bored. “Oh err looks like it’s finallyour turn soon” Jyro muttered nervously, Isis turned towards him and stared atthe boy, Jyro felt even more nervous than before as her cold stare piercedthrough him, “humph why are you so nervous, could it be you’re afraid of the demonor afraid of yourself? She asked, Jyro wasn’t expecting such a reply and satthere speechless,“ anyway looks like I’m up” Isis said, but as Jyro turned tothe monitor Valko hadn’t even left the battle hall so how could she have knownshe was next, “ ISIS GATESS” the announcer screamed which sent the whole crowdto roars and cheers.

Isiswalked into the main hall the moment the crowd saw her they all fell silent,she was dressed in the white leotard trousers with a white vest, her blue eyessparkled at the on looking crowd who whistled and lightly cheered for her. Thenew creature was released soon after her arrival but this time it did somethingdifferent for all the other 10 participants that fought It, the beast wouldalways charge in the first few seconds of spotting them even so since Professorvalentine increased the Demons bloodlusts it became even more direct whenattacking but this time it didn’t charge, it simply growled and puffed andcircled the girl. The crowd didn’t understand it and neither did most of theprofessors “why does the demon not attack” said one of them “has your brand woreoff Valentine” Mr Kobi adjusted his glasses then proceeded to answer it himself“the brand is still present and nothing’s wrong with the demon it’s simply justscared” the headmaster said and one by one the professors and all of the onwatching students slowly begun to realise this. “so even her presence is enoughto scare demons, cor blimey” Said Johnny, “her power is even more frighteningI’ve heard, her family all share a unique brand which is said to be of thesacred five elements of the world” explained Tristine, Johnny scratched hisruffled brown hair and looked at Tristine aimlessly” what’s the sacred fiveelements” he asked, “aren’t you studying to be a ducem? And you don’t even knowwhat that is …. Basically the sacred five elements were the first elementalBrands to ever exist they are Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Lightning but the AirBrand was so unique that it remained only within the Gates family” explainedTristine. Johnny took himself a few moments to digest the information but seemedto understand it eventually, “whoa whoa so you’re telling me our academy hasone of the five first brands in the world studying here? That’s bloody amazing“he said, “Well I think there might be a second… but I’m not sure if we’ll beseeing it today” said Tristine whilst she daydreamed about something else, “huhtwo? What, who?” blurted Johnny “never mind just watch, look something’s aboutto happen”.

Isisbegun to walk towards the cautious beast who still continued to diligentlywatch her, “ I’m becoming bored now” she said to herself, Isis begun toincrease her pace towards the beast almost powerwalking towards it, the demonhuffed and grunted then eventually charged at her whilst roaring, Isis held outher hand” prohibere” she spoke the demon immediatelystopped in its tracks, whilst Isis kept her hand stretched out the demon couldnot move, its yellow eyes rolled about in panic but its body was as still as astatue. The professors were all on their feet in amazement , “so this is one ofthe 5 elements” said Professor Dhanoa, “ yes… she holds the Brand of Air” MrKobi said , he then turned his attention towards the headmistress “ are you allset in case this gets out of hand “ he asked her the headmistress nodded inresponse ,”huh how could this get out of hand she’s completely controlling thedemon now headmaster” spoke one of the other professors, but what they didn’tknow was that Mr Kobi was referring to taking measures upon stopping Isis.

Jyro sat alone in the room and stared at themonitor intensely concentrating on what was going on, Isis then spoke again “detorqueo” the demons legs slowly begun to pull awayfrom one another, the demon groaned and tried to resist but its limbs continuedto stretch whilst it wailed in agony, the crowd looked on in horror and watchedon as Isis tortured the demon. By now the demons limps were as far as theycould go and begun stretching even further, sounds of the joints dislocatingand skin tears could be heard, the hall filled with silence and groans ofdisgust, Isis then spoke again “ recline” the demons body slowly started to bendawkwardly and almost instantly Headmaster Kobi slammed his foot down and stoodup, “ ISIS THAT’S ENOUGH” he shouted, Isis looked back at him her cold eyesstared at the headmaster who to bore down her with a menacing look “Finishit…..Now” the headmaster said, Isis sighed to herself then reluctantly agreed “fine…. Displodo!”the girl muttered, instantly afterwards the demon exploded. The crowd ofstudents were baffled by what they had just witnessed, as fear filled theirhearts not one person cheered or applauded for the girl they all just sat thereand looked on, almost feeling sorry for the demon.

Bythe time Isis decided to walk away feint applauds begun to occur whilst sheexited, but the young girls barbaric display wasn’t done by enjoyment shesimply wanted the message to be clear, everyone in her eyes is an ant and ifshe so pleased she could squash them without hesitation, and for Jyro thismessage was received loud and clear. The announcer made his way to the fronttiresome it’s no surprise though considering the way the event has turned out,”and finally we come to our last Contestant out of the chosen 12 let’s hope weend this show with a great performance .. Now give a round of applause for MrJyroooo THOMASSS!” the call of Jyros name was received well amongst the hall,Jyro heard the cheers and whistles which relaxed his nerves a bit more, he’dalready been planning on how he was going to approach the battle so his mindwas already in fight mode. He slowly walked to the door where he could feel thevibrations just by holding the doorknob, he took a deep breath then proceeded out,the hall erupted with a roar, Jyro was stunned as he looked around the hallwhere the on looking students were screaming his name, “GIVE EM HELL MATE”screamed Johnny with Jyro responding to his friend with a thumbs up, “give themhell? What does that even mean? Sighhh it pains my heart to know I shareeducation with such barbarians” said Tristine whilst Johnny simply ignored thegirl refusing to get into another argument about Grammar with her. Jyro stepped up and waited for the Demon tobe released from its cage, as professor Valentine approached the beast to markit with his brand he glanced towards Jyro and seemed to mutter something whichJyro couldn’t make out, now Jyros habit of observing his surroundings verysharply occurred he was so focused on the crowd that their noise drowned outthe sound of the demons cage being unlocked, he begun to embrace the cheerswaving his arms and smiling at everyone in his sights. Jyros eyes eventuallymet Tristines who two begun wording something to him, she then started pointingand as the crowds cheers settled her words could be made out “Pay Attention youMoron The demons been released” she bellowed, Jyros senses suddenly becameapparent to the situation but by the time he turned his head towards thecreature it had already closed in on him preparing to maul him down. Jyrodesperately dived out of the way with the horn of the demon just about missinghim, ooohs and aaahs could be heard from the crowd Jyro slowly got up andbacked away from the demon he looked around the hall trying to replace somethinghe could use to fight it with when his eyes sighted a golden candle standacross the room, Jyro quickly sprinted to the opposite direction in an attemptto lure the demon who charged towardsthe boy in blood lust, the moment the demon pounced on him Jyro quickly changeddirection and dashed the other way leaving the demon to lose footing and tumbleover. The crowd begun applauding Jyros performance, Mr Kobi too looked on witha smile on his face. Jyro grabbed the golden candle stand with both of hishands and approached the beast, the beast slowly got up and turned around ithuffed whilst huffing and roaring in frustration and anger, it suddenly chargedat the boy at a frightening level of speed Jyro was caught wrong-footed and wastossed aside by the demon. He bounced on the floor with a loud thud and slidacross the hall, “Oh Gosh what is he doing” Tristine moaned whilst putting herhands over her eyes, Jyro got up and gripped the half broken candle stand tightly,the demon charged at him again but this time the moment it did Jyro alsocharged at it and jammed the stick forwards Jamming it into the demons mouth.The beast’s movements stopped as it thrashed about violently trying to cutloose, Jyro gripped as tightly as he could before the demons power finallyoverwhelmed him and sent him crashing down to the ground, the crowd gasped infear as Jyro was now pinned down with the beast on top breathing down on him,“Headmaster shouldn’t we stop this That boy may lose his life” spoke one of theprofessors but Headmaster Kobi kept quiet and watched on. Tristine and Johnnylooked distressed in their seats whilst they watched on, “Trish... shouldn’t wedo something?” Johnny worryingly said but just as he turned towards her Johnnysaw a fury in Tristines eyes that he had never seen before, clenching her fisttightly and biting hold of her lip eagerly watching the fight. Jyros time wasrunning out, the half broken candle stick was the only thing between the demonsmouth and his head and it looked like it was about to break as well, Jyro begunto quickly see if there was anything he could do in this situation but whilsthe looked around his eyes fell on the stands where the Professors were seated,he looked at professor Dhanoa who for some reason smiled at him even though he wasin a dire situation , then he looked at professor valentine who was laughinghysterically, then finally Mr Kobi who looked on at him with a serious face andnodded at him. Jyro started replaying the words from all those who gave himadvice he then remembered Jack,……” alright kid listen up, there’s going come atime when you’ll have to make an important choice…well there’s going to be afew times when you’re going to make important choices , now as long as thatchoice is what your heart wants don’t regret it and bear the consequences likea man you hear me , because that’s the only way you’ll survive in this world”…the words he remembered from Jack suddenly made all his inhibitions go away.

Jyroslowly reached for his Zooz stick and placed it into the demons mouth “FuliminisPulsus” he spoke and a ball of lighting formed inside the demons mouth followedby a shockwave that blew the demon off Jyro and sent it spiralling through theair. Jyro slowly got up and looked at the beast who lay on the ground stillstunned from the attack, as the demon slowly regained its senses and sluggishlygot up, Jyro gripped his weapon and dashed forwards at the beast pointed theweapon towards the demon and screamed “ignis erupit!”(Lightning bolt) the smallsceptre on the end of his stick sparked with bluish white coloured electricity,then a huge stream of lightning shot out of the end and electrocuted the demonto death. The crowd screeched from the blinding flash and covered their eyes,they slowly opened their eyes to see the blue flame burning from the demonsbody which incinerating into ash, silence filled the hall as Jyro stood andlooked around the shocked faces of the spectators, “Wait… was that ,was thatjust..” mumbled Johnny, Tristine immediately stood up and begun applauding, theheadmaster Mr Kobi too then got up and started applauding moments latereveryone got up and clapped and cheered for Jyro.