William's mind was a raging torrent of anger and jealousy as I saw Kristen slide through my clutches once again. The thought of her in Stanley's arms ignited a flame within me. She belonged to me, and I refused to let go of her. The ache of my father's hit across my cheek broke the pain within. As the corner of my lips split, a metallic flavour pooled on my tongue.I stood there, firm and stubborn, not allowing a hint of pain to show on my face. This resistance was a skill developed through years spent under my father's watchful, cruel eyes. My loneliness was getting worse after I killed John, the one who had dared to stand by Kristen and help her escape. Regret for his death remained but it was swamped by the rage that overpowered me when he betrayed our friendship.My father's eyes bore into mine, anger that mirrored my own. "What do you plan to do now?" The question hung in the air like a hostile challenge. "I apologise One of our witches crossed us and helped Kristen escape. "I'll get rid of her and get Kristen," I said, my voice a controlled rasp. My father's scoff rubbed down on my nerves, making his irritation evident. "Save your excuses." He screamed which made the witches in the room retreat to the corner. Mary stepped forward, her gaze lowered in fear."Speak."Her voice was trembling in fear"My lord, Sophia's betrayal caught us off guard. Her reasons for doing so are unknown, but there is a means to find out." She hesitated, my father's silence hanging over her like the blade of a knife. "Go on," he grumbled, his words poisoned by the threat of vengeance."She is in Fork's land now and I can connect with her. I can turn her into our spy." She said and bowed her head. "So you are saying a witch who worked for me suddenly switched sides and now would help you? Do you think I am stupid?" He asks and kicks her in the stomach. She stumbled and fell on the floor coughing blood."William, arrange a meeting with the council members. We will invite the witches to sign a treaty." He said and walked to his throne. "What?" "Are we going to surrender?" I asked out of confusion. Within a second he appeared in front of me and thrust his hands into my chest, clutching my heart. One pull is all it takes to end a vampire's life. I yelped in pain. "Do you think I am that week? How can you think of surrendering?" "I am sorry Father," I said choking in my own blood."There is no way we can get inside the Fork's land. We have to lure them out." "Arrange a council meeting." He says. I stared at him with my eyes wide and my stance frozen. I knew what he had in mind......Linda and Peter returned back after their visit to human land. I was envious of Peter. He could roam freely in human land and I on the other side can't leave the witch land. From my last encounter with William, I knew they would start their next plot soon and I was wondering whom he would target next. I even had my doubts about Sophia. Maybe she was faking it all the time and silently helping the vampires. I have to do something soon. I was lost in my thoughts and didn't realize that someone had taken a seat next to me on the rooftop where I often come alone to look over the land beneath me. I can see the entire fork's land from here and get lost in the beauty of it.Hey, Peter side bumping my shoulder with his lightly. My eyes turned wide. "Hey, when did you return?" I asked happily and hugged him. He laughed lightly and wrapped his right around mine. "Just now." He replied looking at my eyes without blinking."What's wrong?" I asked getting a bit worried."You've aged." He said and chuckled.I slapped his arm playfully."I missed you." He says and looks ahead watching the sunrise.."I missed you too," I said and looked at my hands."So many things happened. Peter." "I am just lost." I sighed."I know." He says and gives a tight smile."That's why I came back.""William sent Lyn back with a threat note. I think they are planning to attack." I voiced my thoughts."The vampires cannot enter Fork's land." He said and looked at me."They can plan whatever they want but we are stronger than them and if the war breaks out we can win." He said reassuringly. I sighed."I don't know if I am strong enough.""Why do you not believe in yourself?" He questioned with a frown."I do believe in my powers but I am not sure if I can fight well. All I have learnt so far is to control my powers." I say sadly."I can clear that doubt for you." He said with a wicked smile."I do not like your smile," I said and a small smile crept on my lips."We are going to train today." He says and takes my hand before using his power to fly down the roof. We make a smooth landing on the ground."Get changed and meet me in the training grounds in half an hour." He said and ran towards the meeting hall. I shook my head smiling at his playfulness before going back to my room. I change into black yoga pants and a sports bra with a loose cotton tee on top. I put on my shoes and head out to the training ground."Just on time." Peter's velvet voice cut through the brisk morning air. I heard a thud behind me followed by several footsteps, I turned my head and looked at the people approaching us. Queen Irna walked towards us gracefully followed by the ministers and my friends. Stanley emerged from behind me and I noticed everyone was in training attire. I gulped. I got a faint idea of what was going to happen.I greeted Queen Irna with a hug and she returned with a smile. "Today we will be giving training to you." She said with a wink. I looked at her with a surprising expression. I knew it.She looked around and made sure everyone was there before chanting a spell and we were teleported to a barren, snow-covered land with an endless stream of trees covered in snow.I took the time to take in the surroundings. We were far enough from the castle. Peter stood next to me and chanted a spell. A black table appeared with different kinds of weapons and objects on it. Peter went to stand behind the table and rested his hands on either side of the covered objects. A devilish smile played at the corner of his mouth when he looked at me. I took a step back and stumbled upon Stanley who was standing with a wide grin on his face looking at me and peter."Today, we will go over the basics of your powers and then will move on to the training. Peter lifted the first object from the table revealing a large ball of ice. He moved on to the second object which was some wood chunks blazing in the fire without burning the table. The third object was a stone with uneven edges. "Are we all training today?" I asked looking at my friends Terra, Amrin and Jasmin. They had an apologetic look on their face. I feared they must be having something up their sleeves. "What is it? " I asked moving closer to them. "It's your training alone today. We will all be atta..." She stopped mid-sentence and rephrased her words "We will be training you today." Terra says with a sheepish smile which scared me the most. I thought about fleeing when Peter called me to the center of a circle which looked like a one-way route. I looked at everyone and all had a proud smile on their face as if they had high expectations from me. I gulped and stepped inside the circle trapping myself within. I stood at the centre and took deep breaths to calm my nerves.Mr. Aron one of the minsters who asked me to call him Grandpa when I entered the palace came forward and stood in front of the ring with a serious expression. "Kristen this training is going to be very tough, there will be no place for mistakes or rest. We will be using real magic and you should take it seriously or else you might get hurt for real. Is that understood.?'' He asked."Yes," I replied with confidence and placed my full attention on him. "Do you feel like you have mastered your powers?" He asked.I took a second to reply as I was not sure if I had mastered it. I nodded."Very well." He said and started walking towards the table and picked an object. "In magic white flame is the most lethal substance a person can ever wield, but you were born with it. That's why people fear your powers. " He said and came back to me. "We can use only one element at a time and master it throughout our life. As you know there is fire, water, air and land but there is one more element." He said and looked at his hand. It was nice. "The white flame will cause the ice to melt but if not used properly before you think to use other element it can become a weapon and pierce through your heart." He said and a sword formed in his hand from the ice. I looked at the weapon carefully observing it. "There are witches supporting the vampires and we do know that they will use dark magic if they want to. You should be ready to fight against it without summoning the dark powers within you," he advised. I nodded. "Now I want you to defend me with your fire element." He said as I took my stance ready to fight whatever he planned. He positioned himself with his right foot in front and his left behind him in a straight line and stretched his right hand in front of the sword. The size of the sword increased as he directed it towards me and threw it aiming at my abdomen. I summoned my white flames and it immediately responded as it sensed the threat coming toward me and dodged it.I stretched my right hand and stopped the ice a few centimetres away from me. The ice was not melting, my powers were only holding it in place and the pressure from the sword kept increasing as the minister put all his strength in it. It was getting harder and harder for me and the ice was piercing through the fire and got just an inch away from me. My powers within were getting weaker every second and he was winning.I focused on the sword willed all my energy into it and pushed my other hand in front as the white flame erupted from it mixed with my anger and started melting it. I pushed the sword with all my strength while screaming at the top of my lungs from the weight of the force. Within a second the sword flew back towards the minister and he dodged it with ease and stumbled back several steps with shocking eyes. I retreated the flame from my hands and fell on my knees panting hard."Well done." He said blinking at me with a surprised expression and turned his head to the queen nodding at her once. The proud look on her face never disappeared even for a second. She looked at the other minister and he came to me with a sweet smile and full of energy. I stumbled and stood up on my feet bowing my head to him in respect as he stopped outside the ring."Let's see how you can defend a rain of flames. You have to fight against your own element which will be much harder compared to ice." He said and had a wicked smile on his face before positioning his hands above his head and summoning threatening red flames that came down at me like rain. Each drop looked like a sharp needle aimed at me. I froze in place. I'd only ever managed to use my powers on a handful of occasions but now using my power back to back was exhausting.I took a deep breath and looked up at the sky extending a shaky hand and I inhaled deeply, the air filled with the smoke of fire. I then focused on the energy flowing inside my body, trying to use the air around me in this task."Kristen, you cannot use air against fire, it will increase the fire." The minister warned me. My heart was racing as I shook uncontrollably. "Master, I don't think she can defend it without prior practice." I heard Amrin say in a panic tone. The minister just ignored her and focused on his powers to attack me. I had to act quickly before I burned to a crisp. I tried to summon different types of elements but then it struck me.Without wasting another second I placed my foot firmly on the ground and steadied my hand above me. I summoned the ice from the table and it came to me as soon as I looked at its way. I heard people gasp in surprise. I placed the sword above my head and asked the ice to turn into a orb covering my body to protect me from the flames. It did as I asked and formed a circle around me protecting me when the flame made contact with it. The firepower was much stronger than I thought. A few of the needles pierced through the ice and grazed through my skin burning my arms and legs. I imagined and asked the ice to create a few more thick layers and it did immediately. I exhausted almost all my energy and started panting hard while not losing my focus on the ice. I looked at the minister and saw a satisfied smile on his face before he retreated the fire.I looked at the ice and thanked it for helping me even though it was not mine to use. The white fire shot through my hand instantly absorbing the ice until all that was left was a few drops of water on the ground. When I took a look around me I realized that the fire burned some of the trees around me. The master came near me and asked "How did you summon an element which is not yours?" He asked with wonder in his tone."I just asked it to help me and it did," I replied the obvious. He also looked at the queen as if talking to her in his head and turned his head back to me. "Then how did you absorb the ice within you?" He asked as if he didn't know how to do it. I looked at him searching his face for any kind of answer which he clearly didn't have. "Umm. I just thanked the power for helping me and I don't know I felt like it was smiling at me and I just knew I should use my white flame to absorb it to show my respect.He looked at me with the same proud expression and bowed his head at me. "Now I understand why the goddess blessed you. Respect is what it takes when you borrow powers from other elements. Now there is no guarantee that all the other elements have to oblige to your request so you must always rely on our own powers until you have no option but to borrow. My mouth slightly hung open in surprise from learning new things. A clap sounded behind me followed by others who joined Lyn and Peter. I nodded at them appreciatively. My smile became even wider. I looked at Stanley who took long strides with a wide grin on his face. I laughed at him and hugged him with open arms. His body clashed with mine and he wrapped his arms around my body in a tight grip."You never stop amazing me now, do you?" He asked playfully as I hugged him back with the little energy I had within me. As if sensing my exhaustion he released me from the hug and looked at my half-closing lids. "Is the training over?" I asked breathing in air to fill my lungs. He looked at me with a sad expression. "Almost," he said and I somehow knew it was not over yet. I panted hard and fell on my knees. "I don't know if I can withstand another attack. I am exhausted." I said looking at him.He kneeled next to me and smiled while pushing the hair on my face gently towards my ears. "Look at me." He said and I did."We are mates for a reason you know. He said and smiled placing his right hand on the mark on my shoulder. Suddenly I felt his powers flow within me like charging my energy back. I sucked in a deep breath when he sent more powers into my body. I was happy and glad for him to do that but when I looked at his face it was draining the color of his skin. He was giving me too much and it had to stop before he faints.I closed my eyes and spoke to his powers which I seem to do often now. "Stanely, that's enough. You must stop." I said but his powers seemed to ignore mine as it started healing the wounds on my arms and legs. "That is enough. I request you to stop." I said to the powers and it seemed like hesitated for a bit before it made sure that I got enough energy before it stopped. He placed his hand on his chest and breathed. I looked at Terra and she immediately came to my side and supported Stanley on his way back.The familiar feeling I often get when something bad is going to happen or someone watching over us crept up my skin causing goosebumps. I looked around and saw a shadow creep across the far distance. An unsettling sense of worry filled the air, and I could sense the presence of dark magic near the palace.