Seed Of Speed

"So, what do we do now?" Tovao asked, breaking the silence after Firesand disappeared.

Rainshower brushed the tear off her cheek before she turned around and answered, "Ishu and I need to take on a master before we can do much of anything, but you should take the time to familiarize yourself with the Sect Law Book stored in your token."

"But that's booooring," Tovao complained.

Diego chopped Tovao's head with his hand and ordered, "Read the damn book, plus the red scroll. Just being caught out of your uniform could land you a month's worth of unpaid chores, so imagine all the ways you could ruin your chance here."

"Ouch," Tovao w.h.i.n.ed as he rubbed the top of his head. "You didn't have to be so rough."

"This isn't the Jobin Oasis. You need to make sure you don't get into any trouble because there is no one here who can help you out of it," Diego lectured.

"Hmph!" Tovao snorted, making the other two laughed.

"I'll be heading to the Sanctum to meet with mother's master. If you have any difficulties with Grand Master Shadowbolt, come find me there, but I doubt you will with your abilities," Rainshower said to Diego with a smile.

"Thanks, Rainshower," Diego said, returning the smile.

"Gods, don't you two have the decency to get some privacy?" Tovao griped.

Rainshower blushed a deep crimson while Diego took after Tovao who had already started running away. Rainshower watched the two brothers with a bit of amus.e.m.e.nt on her face as she walked back to the inner court where the other two were running in that direction. Unfortunately, the sight of two running and laughing young men in pedestrian clothing caught the eye of a particular grumpy elder.

Walls of stone appeared right around the two, seeking to trap them both in separate stone prisons. For the first time since he had originally triggered it, Diego's [Speed Sight] activated once again. He had asked Katalina why he could not use the ability freely like his others, but her only answer had been that he needed to improve his mastery of his {Essence of Speed}. Of course, he tried to fight the battle of 'how can he get more experience with it, if I can't use it?' but Katalina replied that it was his problem to figure out or wait until he could learn from a true master.

The stone walls rising out of the ground were slowed to crawl as he could see the individual grains of sand flying up and stacking itself on top of wall. It was forming far too fast and too close for him to stop, so he was bound to crash into it. Instead of planting the foot that was in the air on the ground as he would have, he changed the direction and kicked off the wall.

Time returned to normal as Diego flipped out of the walls enclosing around him while Tovao faceplanted right into his. The elder was stunned by Diego's escape, but as a member of the Disciple Court, he still was able to react. He threw out a hand and caught Diego with wind magic; Diego felt like he had grabbed by a giant set of talons around his waist, pinning his arms to his sides.

"Elder, please wait!" Rainshower said as she ran up.

"Who are you, girl, to tell me what to do?" the man barked.

"We are apprentices," Rainshower said, pulling out her jade token. "My junior brothers and I just left our shaman, my father, behind. They were trying to cheer me up after leaving him and got a little carried away."

"Hmph!" the man snorted and snapped his fingers.

Diego was dropped unceremoniously to the ground and the walls around Tovao crumbled, revealing him still crumpled on the ground.

"Identification tokens!" he demanded with an outstretched hand.

When the adapt gave Diego and Rainshower, he explained that although other may ask to look at their tokens, they would only be able to access information about the person that the token recorded. Diego and Tovao pulled out their tokens as well and handed them over like Rainshower. The elder pushed his senses into each one, and after confirming that each token had only been bound for a few hours, he handed them back.

"Fine, you two are free to go, but I expect all three of you to change into your uniforms before you do anything else. And be more mindful! This is a place of study and combat, not a place for games!" the elder barked one last time before he turned around and left.

The trio watched the elder walk away in mild confusion, exchanging looks with each other, but they had the good sense to keep their mouth shut. Instead of heading off in separate directions, the trio walked back to the dorms to change before they had any more problems. Rainshower parted ways with them at the street, but Tovao followed Diego back to his room before heading onto his own room. Diego's room was on the south half of the building, making it slightly closer to the main part of the sect grounds while Tovao's was on the north, yet one more example of how shamans were more valued than martial artists.

The provided uniform was a three-piece set of tan clothing. The shirt and pants were made from a stretchy material that reminded Diego of elastic which clung to his body without restricting his movement. The last piece was a cover robe made with the same material as his normal clothes and had the sect's crest, a red moon with seven stars circling it, stitched into the back. Although it was not the best color Diego had seen, the tan uniform did complement his scarlet skin when he looked at himself in the mirror of his personal washroom.

His room was about the same size of his bedroom back in the oasis, but it still felt barren in comparison. The bed was just a raised stone platform with a thin mattress and a small, bedside table. The only other pieces of furniture were a wooden table with four chairs placed around it. Otherwise, there was not a single extra thing in the red sandstone room.

Now properly dressed, Diego picked up the recommendation letter from FanFlame and headed out the door. Tovao and he had already made plans to meet for dinner in Banquet Hall, so he made his way Masters' Row, where all of the masters and grand masters lived.

Unlike the rest of the sect, there were only few people to be seen on the streets and most were in gray uniforms, meaning they were servants rather than students. Each of the manors, because every single one of them was too large to be considered a house, were designed to be unique from the neighboring buildings and emphasize whatever elements matched the master's affinity. Some had cascading waterfalls in their gardens while others had streams of fire constantly shooting into the air. Diego could not help but stare at one that was built to look just like a windmill like he had seen in pictures of the Netherlands.

Diego had to stop and ask a few servants throughout his trip for directions to Grand Master Shadowbolt's home. Despite the clear sign that Shadowbolt's affinity involved Shadow and Thunder magic, the manor he was directed to looked like something out of a child's fantasy book as it was a small cottage style house complete with an enchanted forest and even little woodland creatures that had no business being in a desert. He stopped dead in his tracks, right outside the gate, with a look of confusion written across his face.