“From this point on, you will be called ‘B23108’ and you will work in Mine B for the remainder of your time here”.

I heard this and passed the guard onto the other side. The burn on my arm hurt, but the events leading up to now still had not completely settled in my head, so I did not mind the burn much. I was then led to the inner area of the building where everyone was gathered. We were separated once again into different areas of the mine and I was put in group B. As the guard took each group into their respective areas, I began to take in my surroundings. The building I was previously in was built next to a hillside and was probably connected to this mine I was heading towards. The people I had thought were weird earlier were also here. They had ears coming out of their head but also had human ears on the side of their heads. Most of them resemble animals in human form and I was rather shocked by this revelation. There were people that looked old enough to be dead and young enough to not be able to survive alone. As we reached our designated mine, indicated by a degraded sign that seemed to say ‘Mine B’, we came to a halt.

“All of you are to walk over here one at a time and place your hands in this hole while your feet are on the stone”.

We were surrounded by a dark, grimy stone, and in front of us was a crystal that stood out against the environment surrounding it. It looked like it would be engulfed by the darkness surrounding it. We were once again put into a line and took turns going up and doing what the guard said. The crystal on the ground looked rough and the hole looked like it could cut your hands quite deeply. As I watched people go up, I noticed that the crystal glowed for some, while nothing happened to others. It was finally my turn. When I stepped up and placed my feet and hands where they were supposed to go, it glowed a light orange. The group was split once again between those who got the stone to glow and those who did not. The guards took the non-glow group to one place while another group of guards took the group I was in to a different place. There were only a dozen of us and we were led away to a deeper area. I heard the guard whisper to one of the others.

“Are these the trash with the abilities in this batch?”

“Yeah, we should just kill them”

“But then that bastard Lord Ivan would kill us afterwards”

*laughs quietly* “Your right about that”

We came across a room after a while and entered it. I was looking down at the ground and lifted my head as we entered the room. It was a room surrounded by guards on all sides.

“Kill all the ones that are too young or too old, they are of no use to us”

I was shocked. Perhaps I was too young and they would kill me too. I was about to beg, but before I could even open my mouth, I saw heads roll on the ground. Then I heard a few thuds as the headless bodies collapsed. I froze. I knew they had killed indiscriminately on the wagon, but I had never actually seen someone killed like this right in front of me. After a few moments, I began to panic internally and wet myself. I didn’t understand what had just happened, I didn’t even see any of the guards move. I looked around at the remainder of the group members and saw that although they had varying intensities, the reaction was the same.

“To those of you still standing, congratulations, you have some worth in our eyes. You will show me what you’re made of in the following tests and then be sent back to work in the mines for the remainder of your cheap lives. You better do your best if you don’t want to end up like them”

He pointed at the bodies on the floor that were taken towards the back of the room where I noticed an entire mountain of other bodies. My body was yelling at me to scream, cry, run away, but I knew that if I were to do anything out of line, I would likely end up like the ones from moments before. There were only half of us remaining. The guard that had been talking to us then proceeded to explain what he wanted from us.

“You savages have been brought here because you have shown that you hold the devil’s power. You will use this horrendous power to mine for resources under the Holy Empire of Rashka. Your labor will be used to help your brethren fighting on the northern front. Rejoice, for you are serving the greatest empire the world has ever known!”

I thought this man was insane. He was a fanatic to say the least and he clearly did not understand how the people of the slum lived their lives. I’m sure the six people left in this room could care less for those on the front line. The name of the man who was talking to us was Lord Ivan IV and he taught us about what they called the devil’s power. This was a power that allowed those who wielded it to control the elements that made up the world and make use of it. We were released from the shackles binding our wrists and I felt a rush of blood towards my hands.

“I will now teach you the basics of these powers and you will copy what I do. You best hope that you not fail this test”

I thought it was hypocritical that these guards called these powers the devil’s power but knew how to use them. Perhaps we would become too dangerous if they were to give us too much knowledge; I left this thought at the back of my mind.

“This power consists of four basic elements that can be combined in order to produce a dominant and recessive result. The four basic elements are water, earth, fire, and air. These alone are not able to do much, but when combined, they release a magnificent power. Having air as the dominant power will produce single projectiles capable of penetrating the rocks in this mine depending on the strength.”

They did not mention any other combinations, but I was unable to dwell on this thought for very long because of the fact that I had been told that I had the ability to use some kind of power. Was I not a human being? No, I was. I remember my parents having been human beings no different from any others I had seen. Perhaps I had never been aware that people held this type of power. Then again I had not seen much of the world. I was both excited and unnerved by this revelation.

“You will receive special stones that have been inscribed so that you will be able to use this power immediately without having to teach you from the basics. We will teach you how to utilize this stone and you will be immediately sent back to the mine.”

Ivan then proceeded to show us how to utilize this power. We were to hold on to the stone inscribed with the air element we had received from one of the guards in our dominant hand and pour our own blood on it. It was the cost of using this power. We were all forced to cut a slit in our hands and let the blood flow on to the stone. Immediately afterwards, we were instructed to imagine one of the other elements which would be fired like a projectile in front of us. The guards had already moved out of the way and were standing behind us to prevent us from doing anything suspicious. The six of us fired at the stonewall in front of us and caused a loud bang when hitting the wall. There were various sized dents on the wall, but we had all succeeded on our first try.

“Oho, very nice, very nice indeed. As expected of devils. You will practice for the rest of the day and tomorrow you will be sent back. You will be told what to do in the mines. May Raksha protect you”

He said this in a condescending manner as he left the room.