Elements of a History Teacher

The wizened old woman had to sit in the front of the classroom nowadays, her bones were too sore to stand for the full day any longer. But she still loved teaching and would gladly do this for years to come, just to see the spark come into another student’s eye as they learned about Alexander the Great or Hannibal and his elephants. She patted her silver white hair, making sure every strand was secure in her bun, while her high school students strolled in, laughing and talking among themselves. They regarded her as a kind old eccentric, and often tried to get her onto tangents talking about the “forgotten stories” of history, that her students believed she concocted on the spot. She smiled to herself, thinking “If they only knew.”

The bell rang and the students continued to chat among themselves, as they often did in the period directly before lunch time. Ms. Green shifted herself, spine cracking dryly, to casually look out the window and into the beautiful spring day. She felt the light playing along her skin and smiled, and as she did the students began to quiet down. She took a deep breath, as though breathing in the warmth of the city below, and turned to smile at her class. They quieted to silence.

“Now, who can tell me where we were after last class?” she said, her old voice cracking with age and use.

One of her favorite students, a boy a bit too small for his age with shining blond hair raised his hand and was beginning to speak when there was a loud pop pop pop noise from outside, followed by a deafening roar. Ms. Green, or Theresa to her friends, snapped to attention, standing from her chair faster than any of her students would have considered possible, if they had been paying her any attention. The students closest to the windows were already exclaiming in fright and awe, as plumes of fire rose into the beautiful blue sky. Theresa hurried to the window, cursing the arthritis in her hips, and stared, dumbfounded, at the scene unfolding below.

This particular high school was situated just across the street from a bank, which now stood unrecognizable in a pillar of smoke and flames. Theresa’s eyes were drawn to a small figure robed in black, backing away from the building, a large backpack slung over one shoulder and flames shooting out of his hands, feeding the fire as he fled. She felt the power rolling off of him, and it felt wrong somehow. Not just angry but tinged around the edges with something that felt black and corrupted. She felt a shiver run up her spine as she explored that corruption and realized that it almost felt like something was helping him, or controlling him. This was no ordinary fire mage, and something was very, very wrong.

“Get away from the windows.” Ms. Green said, her voice firm. The class obeyed, but she stood her ground, watching the figure as two police cars already appeared on scene. He turned to the cars, bringing his hands together before throwing a large, molten ball of fire into the car closest to him. It exploded just as he was bringing his hands around to form another for the other car.

You’re much too old for this, Theresa, let it be. Her fingers popped as she curled them into fists at her sides. Unless he threatens the students you can just let it be. She felt her power there, just on the edge of her senses, and willed it away. It had been centuries since she had touched it, just so she could feel herself grow old as the mortals did and experience history the way the mortals always would. All she had to do was ignore it and these centuries would not have been wasted. All the figure below had to do was turn and run the other way. But she knew, deep down in her ancient bones, that was not the way it would happen today. She was not meant to ignore her calling forever. And she could not let these students, her students, suffer the wrath of this wild little fire mage.

The fire mage turned and ran towards the school building as more police cars began pouring into the street. Theresa turned and ran to the door.

“Out! Down the back stairway. Run, and don’t stop. He may set this whole building ablaze.” She waited until her students were all safely out the door, and then she hurried to the front steps to meet this little vagabond who had disturbed her centuries of rest. She twisted and cracked her neck as she reached for the power she had kept locked away for far too long, feeling it rush into her veins and restoring her strength. The earth began to tremble beneath her, as she took the stairs two at a time, redirecting anyone as she went to the back stairs of the building and telling them to run. One student, a clever girl from her first period World History class, stopped to gape at her and she pushed her back towards the crowd, ushering her to go. She smiled, knowing that the tendrils of power she drew on were already reversing her wrinkles and returning color to her hair.

She saw him then, wearing a plain black cloak that anyone could get from a party store. Underneath he wore jeans and worn out sneakers, and she thought she spied a flame of red hair underneath the hood. Fire crackled between his hands as he sent small wisps of flame out to lick and scare the children closest to him. Rage boiled through Theresa and the ground rumbled.

“ENOUGH!” she bellowed, and thick green vines shot from the floor and grasped the villain’s hands, anchoring him to the spot. “You will leave this school and my students alone, child, or you will regret the day you were born.” Her voice growled and echoed around the hall, despite the noise and confusion of the running students. Everyone halted to look at her in bewilderment. The robed man laughed and shook the hood free from his tangled red hair, a sneer across his sharp, pointed face.

“Cute trick, grandma.” He sneered, fire leaping from him to burn her vines to ash. “But I’m not going anywhere. And I don’t think an old lady like you can do much to stop me, despite your cute parlor tricks.” Flames encircled him, popping and cracking, as he drew a ball of fire into his hands and hurled it towards her face. A pillar of stone rose in front of her and the fireball struck, sizzling to nothing.

“Oh, my dear.” She said, waving her hand and turning the pillar to dust that began to orbit around her slowly. The ground beneath them shifted and moved, pushing the students out of the line of fire and building a barrier between them and the coming fight. “You have no idea who you’ve crossed.”

“I think I can handle an old earth mage.”

She waved her hands and the earth moved beneath her, cracking the floor of the school into long shards that she brought up to orbit around her. Crystals coalesced out of the ground, and she took one into her hand, letting the others float beside her. He closed her eyes and breathed, loving the feel of power coursing through her and wondering how she had gone without it for so long. Her young opponent took that moment to strike, but her dust cloud merged into a shield, easily deflecting the flames that seemed to be growing deeper red. He snarled at her, stepping closer, and she shot a dart of flooring towards him, a warning shot more than an outright attack. He dodged and continued towards her, hands outstretched and she felt the heat trying to melt her shield of rock into lava.

“Clever.” she smiled, pulling the particles apart and dissipating the heat. He growled and pushed his flames forwards, surprising her. She formed a shield of crystal, but not before the flames licked at her skirts and burned her ankles. She cursed in surprise and rocked the ground beneath him, making him fall and causing all of the fire to die. Before he could rise, she formed a cage around him, bars of stone and bits of concrete, hewn in haste. He shot a bolt of darkening flame between the bars, and she dodged. She was beginning to get a better feel of his power now, but also the corruption, playing at the edges of his spells. Probing it gave her a sick feeling in her stomach.

He shot more fire towards her, a deep burgundy red and she began to turn the bars of his cage into walls. All she had to do was keep him contained long enough for the children to get to safety and the police to come into the building. She didn’t have to fight him. Fighting was not much in her nature, after all. Earth was an element of peace and healing, and she hated the idea of killing a child, especially one who may not be acting of just his own influence.

The cage exploded and the mage stood, bellowing, darkening fire licking every inch of his body. He snarled at her and threw flames towards her in a wild, barely controlled wave. She cursed again and threw a whirling gale of rock and debris towards him, striking him and hurling him to the ground. The corruption at the edges of his power had grown rapidly, turning his flames from orange to red to nearly black. Her mind whirled, thinking of what could possibly be exerting that much control in such a small span of time, and she didn't like her options.

She threw out a hand and raised an earth elemental, the size of a large human, and sent it lumbering towards him. Vines sprouted from the ground, entangling his feet and grasping for his arms as he raised his hand and black fire appeared at her feet. She growled and pushed the earth beneath her to hurl her away from the flames, turning her hands and willing poison into her vines. A paralytic and a mild sedative, she thought, nothing too potent now. He gasped and writhed, setting black flame to the vines and struggling free. The elemental pounded on his arms, destroying the fire and breaking his hands as he gave an agonized scream. Theresa felt the last of his fire magic give way to the corruption beneath. Darkness flowed from his fingers, thick and swirling, moving towards her like snakes. She sucked in a breath and shot herself into the sky on a pillar of rubble and vines. This was very, very bad.

The mage rose, dark flames pouring out of him, turning her elemental into molten sludge. He roared in rage, ignoring his broken fingers and sending flames and darkness hurtling towards her, his eyes as black as night. She dropped the pillar, cushioning her fall, then throwing her hands up to form a crystal shell around herself as the dark amalgam poured over her. She stared at the boy, knowing that whatever corruption he had played with had now consumed him entirely. He wasn't a mage anymore, but a monster, fire and dark, slithering tendrils pouring off of him like water and inundating her bubble of protection.

Her mind raced, thinking of various ways of disabling him without killing him, when she saw a tendril of darkness slip around the barrier and grap a student around the middle and lift her into the air. More tendrils shot towards the barriers, and Theresa stopped thinking.

In a rush of rage, she rose two enormous stone giants beside the mage and raised their fists to smash him. He dropped the students and redirected his attacks to the two elementals, darkness and flames swirling around them. She pushed the ground beneath him, launching him into the air, then drew it away suddenly, watching him plummet to the ground. Vines and thorns burst through the earth, ensnaring him and pushing poison into his veins. They pulled and tore at him, as the elementals raised their fists again and brought them down, hurling him to the ground. The vines held him fast as the fists came down again and again, dust billowing out around them. Theresa held up her hands and they stopped, as she slowly approached the writhing mass of vines, now coated with dark and spreading blood.

Sightless, black eyes stared up as she withdrew the vines and they slithered back into the earth. Theresa shuddered, kneeling beside the corpse and feeling for a pulse, then for breath. She surveyed his broken body and felt a wave of sorrow wash over her, pricking tears into her eyes.

A flash of movement caught her eye, and she watched with growing dread as the last few tendrils of darkness dripped from his broken fingers, scattering amongst the smoke and ashes. A black substance oozed like blood out of one ear, and was coagulating on the ground, stretching towards her where she knelt. She leapt up, face twisted in revulsion as it also began to smoke and dissipate.

With a final shudder, she turned and began walking towards the side entrance of the school. She wasn't sure what exactly she had witnessed, but she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, she must find her sisters. Without meeting anyone's eyes, she strode out into the chaos of the street and let herself disappear.