Crystals- Chapter Two: Inner Strength by Benjamin Hampton

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Chapter Two
"Inner Strength"

The days seemed to never end.

Half a world away from Dajorn, Juiloq walked down another long, spacious hallway that was almost identical to all of the others in the Academy. She tried to keep her gaze straight ahead, but the large windows nearly as large as the walls themselves provided such a breathtaking view that it was an exercise in futility. She had walked through that hallway more times than she could ever count or remember, but it never ceased to amaze her.

As she continued to look at the thick forest that surrounded the Academy and down the large mountainside it laid upon until it reached the ocean, which had waves that seemed to threaten a fierce storm, she bumped into somebody in front of her.

"My apologies!" she said in a squeaky voice, realizing that she had walked into a Master who was speaking with another one of his peers and ended up scuffing the Master's robes. When the Master turned and revealed his face Juiloq made another higher pitched squeaky noise before speaking once more. "I am very, very, sorry Master Dyob."

Master Dyob was known throughout the Academy as one of the strictest Masters to ever teach there and he seemed to unconsciously put his hands on his hips and keep them in motion while looking down at Juiloq, who was, at that point, thoroughly petrified.

"Little...little...girl," he boomed, his eyes like icicles, "what are you doing in the halls during class hours?" Juiloq hardly though of herself as a little, little girl: at age twelve she was no woman, but not a girl either. But, compared to Master Dyob, who had to be at least twenty years older than he looked (and he looked very old), twelve was nothing; fifteen days to him was like fifteen seconds to Juiloq, or so she assumed. "Well?" he said in a soft voice, hunching over even more to look at Juiloq's eyes from a distance that was much less than comfortable. "Answer me!" his voice was a shout, and Juiloq jumped back several paces.

"I-I-I was—am—delivering a message from Master Allenips." That was all she was able to get out, and when she finally—mercifully—did, she lowered her head to look at the incredibly clean marble floors that were so much so that she could see her reflection on them as if she were looking at a piece of very fine glass.

Juiloq knew better than to add to what she said. If Master Dyob wanted more details, he would certainly let her know. She kept her head down, wishing she could crawl into the spotless floor and disappear.

She could feel the burning gaze cast down by Master Dyob—literally; Master Dyob was using a bit of easy-to-control Strength on her to add a small bit of warmth to her body temperature. That was, to some extent, what Juiloq was in the Academy to learn. Strength was always a highly dangerous power to try and use at any time, which made up an entire class in the Academy, and unaided it was even more dangerous, which is what the Academy was in place for—to teach folk from all over the world how to control and manipulate Strength.