So there are more than four elements in this world, I thought as I flipped through the pages of the new book my mom had bought for me. I had never been able to understand my family's financial situation, but I decided to not worry about it. I just hoped I wasn't putting any more pressure on them with these books.
According to the 'Basic Guide to Binding', there existed four other elements other than fire, water, earth, and wind. These four elements were categorized as 'advanced bind,' and being able to sense them and control them was an extremely rare occurrence. These four advanced binds consisted of:
Lightning, Holy, Ice, and Infernal.
I wasn't too sure what differentiated regular fire from infernal, but I guess I would just ask my tutor when she arrived. My father had sent numerous letters to the capital requesting a private teacher, but it seemed like nobody believed him, and rightfully so. There was no way a four-year-old could control bind, at least that was the mentality of people in this world.
However, one person had seemingly accepted and was on her way here. She was called Starset.
My father had been teaching me how to attribute a color to the bind around me to reveal what element attunement I had, but all I could see were white strings of energy, no matter how hard I tried. I didn't know if white was a certain element or if it was just neutral, but I guess this was why I was getting a teacher.
A few days after receiving the confirmation letter from Starset, she finally arrived. I had never been great with people on Earth, completely centering myself on my own survival rather than helping others. I wanted to change that thought process of mine, but it was what kept me alive for eighteen years in the underworld. It wasn't easy to discard.
"Hey," said Starset as the door flung open, Bruce standing there intimidatingly.
"Welcome, Starset!" he exclaimed, instantly dropping his aura. I peeked over at the figure in the doorway from behind my mother, who was sitting in the living room smiling at her son. Was she amused at how her son could sometimes act normally?
"It's been a while, Jane," said Starset, walking straight past Bruce.
"It really has, Star, how have you been?" asked my Mom, both of them embracing in a tight hug.
Wait, these two were friends???
I could tell my Dad was as shocked as I was. He just stood at the doorway, jaw dropped.
"Jane, are you telling me Starset only accepted our letter because she knew you?" asked Bruce.
"Maybe?" she responded, averting her gaze.
"Imagine how much time I would've saved if I had known..." said my Dad, "I'm going to sleep."
Damn man, you've really got it rough, I thought as I watched my Dad trudge over to the room.
I looked up at the woman in front of me. She had long black hair and powerful orange eyes. She was pretty skinny, and had a rather pale complexion, making her look like a sort of ghost. She had a small nose and gave off a rather awkward aura which I was all too familiar with, maybe she also preferred to go solo?
The woman met my gaze and kneeled, smiling.
"So you're Jay, I've heard a lot about you from your mother," she said softly, "do you want to start training right now?"
Wow, this woman gets straight to business. I merely nodded and she smiled at the gesture.
"Okay, Jay. I just want to see what you're capable of, okay?" she announced, and I smiled ever so slightly. She pulled out a beautiful silver knife from her belt and held it forward.
She's an assassin!
I charged at her, willing bind into my sword as I brought it down on her knife like I had done numerous times against Bruce.
The shock of the impact sent a wave of bind around us, resembling sound waves that distorted reality when you looked through the shimmering light. Star just stood there, her face monotone. All of a sudden, she smiled and laughed.
"Hahaha, you really are something else! I guess everything your father and mother said wasn't an exaggeration!"
"Star, did you think I was lying?!" shouted Jane from the doorway as she watched the spectacle unfold.
"Uh, n-no?" responded Star nervously, and we all broke out into hysteric laughter.
The next few weeks were spent training with Star, who I learned had teamed up with my mother on many adventures. My mom was a holy user! I couldn't believe it! I had known my mom was something special, but I didn't expect her to be able to control advanced bind. Throughout our days together, I learned so many things about my parents; how they had met, how my dad had proposed in the middle of a domain, and so many more things.
"What about advanced bind?" I asked one day, and Star merely raised an eyebrow at the question.
"What do you want to know?"
"How do you control them?"
"It all depends on the color of the strings you see around you are. Of course, you can train with a basic element and slowly start to understand advanced elements similar to it, but it usually takes years of dedication and hard work" explained Star.
"What about the difference between fire and infernal?" I asked, the question never being able to escape my consciousness.
"Hm, it's difficult. The real difference would have to be the possibilities. Both binds deal with fire, which is fairly obvious, but infernal can manipulate it to such a high degree that they can manipulate it however they want. It's hard to explain, but if you ever run into an infernal binder, you'll be able to notice the difference immediately."
At least this woman could explain concepts better than Bruce, I thought.
However, even with a teacher, I was unable to produce a single element of bind throughout these six weeks of training. I had learned how to manipulate neutral bind extremely well, being able to enhance my speed and increase my armor with invisible barriers, but nobody could understand the meaning of white strings of energy.
Seems like I would have to figure that part out on my own.
Today was my day off from training, and I wanted to use that time to go out into the forest and meditate to further enhance my bind control.
"Mom, I'm going to the woods," I said as I left the door, a small knife at my side.
"Okay, honey," she said, "Just don't go too far!"
After numerous hours of training with Star and my dad, my mom had finally authorized me to enter the woods alone. I never entered far, merely going deep enough to have direct contact with nature all around me.
JANE CADMIUM'S POV:
White bind... I had never heard of anything like that. Was it maybe a repercussion from such an early awakening?
Ever since Jay had told me about it, it has constantly been on my mind. I mean, I wanted to help my son as much as I could, but I didn't know if there was anything I could do. Anything anybody could do.
Jay was someone who was, for a lack of a better term, different. He seemed to constantly be absorbed in his thoughts, but I could never guess what he was thinking about. It always seemed like he was contemplating a life he had never had.
I wasn't a fan of letting him go out into the woods alone, and whenever I could, I would accompany him and just knit while he meditated. Sitting against a bark, it reminded me of my days adventuring. Next time he would go out, I'd join him and meditate with him! Maybe like that, I'd be able to understand him better.
All of a sudden, I heard a weird crash coming from outside.
"Did someone drop their weapon again..." I muttered, going outside the house to check. I opened the door and stopped in my tracks, gasping at the scene in front of me.
A massive fire had spread across the dry trees of the woods, massive branches snapping and making sickening thuds as they hit the ground, shattering into millions of little shards of wood.
Bruce ran up behind me and grabbed my shoulder.
"Jane, we need to go! People say there's an attack!" he screamed, "Starset has already gone to help out the villagers evacuate!"
"But Jay..." I whispered, barely audible.
"What?!" he shouted above the turmoil of noise outside.
My eyes shook as the realization hit me.
"Jay is still in the woods!" I shrieked, making Bruce look at the woods in a panic.