Melody walked through the woods on the outskirts of the training grounds. The morning sun was just breaking on the horizon illuminating the distant mountains and slowly warming the air. Melody breathed deeply, enjoying the early morning stillness. A bugle in the distance signaled the approach of the next challenge, she still had time though.
After standing on stage for hours yesterday she had tried to escape before her family found her but she had been unsuccessful. All she had wanted was to get away for a while, detangle that ball of stress that had slowly tangled itself up as she stood on the platform. She didn’t know what she would have done if that boy hadn’t distracted her, It had taken all of her willpower to just stay standing on the stage.
Stepping over a fallen tree she pushed some branches out of the way and stepped into a clearing. Some tree fairies were slowly drifting around the field, glowing in the morning sunlight. They sang a song as they flew back and forth.
Smiling to herself Melody froze at the edge of the field, not daring to breathe. Untamed fairies were notoriously shy of humans, if they noticed her they would disappear into the woods. The rhythmic motions and quite singing calmed Melodies nerves. She temporarily forgot about the upcoming challenge and was lost in the moment.
Melody wondered what the fairies were doing, they seemed to be gathering something from the field. Looking closer at the ground in front of her she saw a leaf poke out of the ground. It shot upwards covered in blossoms. After a moment the blossoms fell off and the now shoulder height bush was covered in small purple berries.
Reaching out her hand Melody took some of the berries and popped them into her mouth. She bit into them, they were perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy with just a hint of tartness. Realizing she had left camp before breakfast and that the competition would start soon she took a double handful of berries from the bush, stuffing them into one of her pouches and stood back to watch the ferries, eating the berries as she watched.
A motion in the bushes to her left made her start, startled she turned searching the bushes intently. Through the bushes, she saw a fire ape slipping forward. It crouched at the edge of the field observing the tree fairies. It barely made a noise as it moved forward, the tall grass hid its approach and the ferries gentle singing masked the noises it made. A fairy drifted closer to where Melody and the fire ape were hidden. Melody felt frozen, she wanted to help the fairies but fire apes were dangerous. They were nearly human size and they were incredibly fast and strong. Not to mention their fire abilities. The ape crept forward tensing.
The ape lunged forward grabbing at the fairy. It caught it in its huge hand as it threw fireball after fireball at the rest of the fairies, covering its retreat. Unable to stand it anymore Melody pulled out her air amulet. She pulled on the magic and buffeted the ape over the head. Startled it let go of the fairy. which fluttered to the ground, one of its wings was crushed. Melody flew forward landing between the ape and the downed fairy.
The ape screeched in rage, it bashed Melody over the head, knocking her to the ground. It leaped at her, she deflected it with a wind gust. It landed softly, twisting around and throwing a fireball. The fireball landed on her leg, singeing it to the bone.
Melody screeched wordlessly, nearly passing out from the pain. Her vision blurred and darkened, with all her willpower she fought off the darkness and shook her head to clear the blurriness. The ape lept, she sent a blast of wind at it. Or at least she tried to, the amulet was empty. Melody watched as the ape’s fur ruffled in the breeze she had cast. It opened its mouth wide as it fell towards her, its arms outstretched, hands ablaze. She tried to role out of the way but her leg was too badly damaged and she was unable to move. She closed her eyes, hoping it would be fast. The heat from its palms burned her face. Suddenly it was ripped away. Opening her eyes she saw the bushes beating at the ape, the grasses grew up around its feet tangling it. Vines snaked out of the grasses, tying it down even more securely. The ape ripped at the vines, burning through them. Ripping itself free it took off, screeching at the top of its lungs.
Melody lay there groaning, her whole body hurt. Pushing herself up to her elbows she looked around. The Fairies hovered around their wounded comrade, singing gently. The fairy’s wing started to straighten, the broken wing seemed to flow and reform perfect and whole again. It’s tinkling laughter floated on the breeze, filling the fields with joy and happiness.
Melody smiled at the sound. She reflexively sat up but the pain in her leg made her groan. The fairies disappeared into the bushes in a flurry of beating wings and thrashing limbs. After a moment they reappeared one by one. They fluttered around her, quietly observing her. As if in unison they started singing again, they lifted their hands towards her and their faces showed signs of strain.
Melody felt her skin warm, and her pulse quicken. Her whole body started to itch, the skin on her face felt tight and uncomfortable. Looking down at her leg she saw the muscles regrowing, the burnt skin sloughed off and new perfect skin regrew. Within minutes she was perfectly healthy again.
One of the fairies flew forward laying a hand on her chest, it closed its eyes concentrating. The fairies song changed, became deeper and more soulful. They spun around faster and faster, Melody was filled with wild energy. She felt like dancing, running, exploding. Throwing back her head she laughed in delight.
Just as she thought she couldn’t take it any longer she felt something release inside of her. As suddenly as the song started it ended, the fairies dispersed back to their field.
The warning bugle sounded for the next event, reluctantly Melody started back towards the training arena, munching on the berries as she went.
Stepping out of the woods and into the training arena she looked around, she saw Terrance standing a ways apart from the rest. After a moment of indecision, she started towards him. Each group moved through the events together, she would be in the same tasks as Terrance for each of the challenges.
Catching sight of her Terrance waved, “hey”
“Hey”
Standing together they stood in silence for a while watching the other initiates milling around. Melody took out her bag of berries and offered some to Terrance. They tried to engage in some mild small talk but it felt forced and they let it drop after a while.
Melody felt the knots returning to her stomach, she didn’t want to do this again.
“Don’t worry about it, Melody. You got this.”
“I’m not so sure, I always liked air, working with stone wasn’t as easy.”
“You placed first in air, after that you don’t need to place high to have first pick when we link with the air elementals. All you have to do is place respectably in the rest of the trials to have a chance at one of the greater elementals.”
“I am not worried about that, it’s performing in front of people, I was all nerves yesterday but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been because I knew that I was good with air, now that I have work with stone I don’t know if I can do it.”
Melody watched Terrance stop observing the other initiates and turned to look at her. His clear blue eyes studied her for a moment before he spoke again.
“When I first saw you I was not impressed, you looked like a timid little girl who wasn’t ready to compete.”
Melody felt her face redden at this, she knew he was right. She wasn’t ready to compete.
“I was wrong however, you walked up to the line and suddenly a different person was standing there. She was not shy, awkward, or terrified. I don’t know why you are so terrified of groups, but when the pressure is on you have what it takes.”
“Thanks,” Melody replied, “I’ll try to keep that in mind.”
The announcer started up then, “Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the second day of initiation. Let’s give it up to our brave trainees.”
Melody fought the urge to hide behind Terrance as the crowd started to applaud.
Cadence 