By the Grace of the Dawn

By Irony Illuminator

Chapter One

“Admittance in the Society of the Elemental Workers is a high honor and privilege. You should all be proud in your abilities that brought you this far.”

“With respect, Great Master, it is the Dawn that has brought us this far.”

The first speaker, a man in his middle years, short, portly, and balding, gave a quick and rather irritated nod at the second speaker, a young woman. “Yes, of course, Celia,” he said dismissively. “By the grace of the Dawn, you are all here today. Blessings on your heads; blessings on your pending admittance.” He stepped down from the small, raised platform he’d occupied and stood back, arms crossed over his chest.

“By the grace of the Dawn, we are here. The glory and praise we credit to the Light of Life, the Creator of our worlds,” the young men and women intoned. Measured applause swelled through the gathering, pleased, yet controlled, as parents came forward to congratulate their children on their success.

And yet, as often is the case, there were those who stood alone, whose eyes surveyed the crowd, searching for what they didn’t have, wishing that there would be someone to come and cry on their shoulders, to congratulate them as others did.

Few approached these loners, only murmuring niceties as they passed hurriedly. There was just something about these young people that discourage cordial conversation on success.

One of them, the young woman named Celia, released a breath and gave a short laugh. “Well, we made it, didn’t we?” she remarked. “We earned our admittance into the Society of the Elemental Workers.” She shook her head in mild disbelief. “Anybody else having trouble grappling with the concept?”

“Well, we know what got you through,” a young man named Taylor teased. “Did it ever occur to you that you could have just asked if we couldn’t believe it?” She slapped him lightly.

“I, for one, can believe it. It was fated to happen.” Tall and regal, blonde-haired Giselle’s superstitious comment was greeted with mockery.

“You don’t believe in fate anymore than the Great Master believes the Dawn deserves credit for bringing us all here,” Taylor’s twin sister May said with a shake of her head and a small smile. “By the way, that was a nice touch, Celia. You know, correcting him and all.”

“Why, thank you,” Celia said with a mock curtsey, spreading her pale blue skirts. “I thought perhaps he needed a little bit of reminding.”

May turned to the young man standing next to her and frowned slightly. “Chase? Is something wrong?” she asked.

He turned to look at her, dark eyes cold. “No,” he said shortly. “I was merely thinking.”

“About what?” Taylor wanted to know.

Chase eyed all of them. “Do you remember the promise we made when we entered the training program?” he asked quietly.

Faces sobered and voices became serious. “Yes,” Giselle said when no one else seemed ready to speak. “We remember.”

“We promised that whatever powers we acquired, no matter where we went in the world, whether we succeeded or failed, we would all serve the same cause,” May said in a small voice. Her tone implied that it rather frightened her to recall it.

“What is in your head, Chase?” Celia inquired. “Are you wishing to refute the vow?”

“No.”

“Then what is it?”

“We are all here. We have earned our admittance. We will all serve the same cause.” He looked at each of them in turn, holding their gazes. “In this way we will keep our promise, yes?”

“What are you talking about?” Taylor and Giselle demanded at the same time. They glanced at each other. Taylor smirked and Giselle ignored him.

“Explain, Chase,” Celia said commandingly. He turned his attention toward her, treating her to an acerbic smile. She colored slightly.

“What path will you all take?” he said softly, studying them. “You, Celia. What power will you pursue?”

“I don’t know,” she stammered. “I have not thought it out.”

“Giselle?”

“The power of Lore,” she replied smoothly. “If there is such a thing, that is.”

Another faint smile touched his lips, but he turned quickly to the next person. “May? What will you do?”

“Whatever the Dawn wishes,” she replied timidly. He softened slightly as he looked at her.

“Taylor.”

The young man shrugged and grinned. “Whatever strikes my fancy,” he said carelessly with a cheeky look for his twin sister. She glared at him. “And what of you, Chase?” Taylor inquired. “What power will you pursue, as you so intelligently put it?” His smile became a challenge.

Chase smirked. “The power of Night,” he said. A few sharp gasps met his words and he prolonged his smirk, darkly amused by their shock.

“But Chase!” Celia exclaimed. “So few undertake to learn that power. It is dangerous.”

“You might destroy yourself,” Giselle said calmly, as though the thought was not too troubling.

“You’ll be killed!” May cried.

“You’re mad,” Taylor said as smoothly as Giselle ever could. “Celia wanted to know what’s in your head. Well, I can answer her. Nothing. Nothing’s in your head. You’ve gone over the edge, if you catch my drift.”

“Trust me, I certainly do,” Chase said sharply. Taylor crossed his arms over his chest. Celia put her hands on her hips, Giselle frowned at him thoughtfully, and May chewed nervously on her lower lip. Chase spread his hands. “If we are to serve the same cause to our fullest potential, we must all master different powers. Only then will we succeed.”

“Personally, I think that those extra chores Master Liayre assigned to you have addled your brains,” Taylor said with a laugh. “We don’t even know what this cause is. We don’t know what powers we want to pursue. It’s ridiculous to think about. I would recommend the power of Common Sense for you, Chase. The Dawn knows you need it.”

Chase sent him a black glare. Taylor backed up a step, most likely thinking that perhaps he himself needed the power of Common Sense a little more than Chase did, at the moment.

“Chase, what brought this on? Why choose this power? There are so many others to select from, and certainly even ones that haven’t been discovered yet. Why not try and uncover one of the secrets? Surely that would be better than pursuing the power of Night.” Celia spoke all this earnestly, moving to place one hand on his arm.

“We are your friends, you know,” Giselle said coolly, and then left the sentence alone, as though it didn’t come across as unfinished.

May glanced at the latter and shook her head. “What Giselle’s trying to say is that we’d hate for anything to happen to you,” she said, her voice taking on a motherly quality. Though timid sometimes and the youngest of the group, (Taylor was a few hours older than she) she was by far the most inclined toward maternal instinct.

“Nothing will happen to me,” Chase said firmly.

“Then you’re really going to do this?” Taylor broke in, shocked.

“Yes,” the young man replied firmly, his dark eyes hard. “And I would suggest that you all do some investigating and figure out what powers you’re going to pursue.”

“No point in wandering aimlessly, is there?” Celia murmured, mostly to herself.

“Congratulations, my children,” came the pompous voice they all had grown to despise. The Great Master inclined his head to them while they pressed their hands together and bowed from the waist. “You have triumphed over the difficulties of the training program. Have any of you thought about what powers you will strive to obtain?”

Celia shot Chase an almost imperceptible warning glance. He scowled at her when the Great Master wasn’t looking.

“We have not yet decided, Great Master,” she replied quickly, hoping her tone hid any irritation she felt. “It is the excitement of our admittance, I suppose.”

The short man gave a knowing nod. “Of course, of course,” he murmured. “But you must choose soon, my children. It is important that your powers start being honed from the first day of your participation in the Society of the Elemental Workers.”

“By the grace of the Dawn,” they murmured as the Great Master strode away.

“If he calls us his children one more time, I’ll cram the words down his throat,” Chase spat.

Taylor smirked. “I think that’s probably the first time I’ve ever heard you and the Great Master say something remotely alike, Chase,” he said, seeming amazed. “Miracles do happen!”

Chase’s expression was so furious that Taylor jumped behind his sister, peeking over the top of her head at Chase warily.

“Taylor,” May said in frustration. “Stop provoking him!”

“Please,” Giselle agreed. “You certainly wouldn’t want Chase’s face to freeze that way, now would you?”

“Considering that’s how he looks the majority of the day, I shouldn’t think it would make much difference,” Celia remarked lightly. Chase turned to look at her, surprised, which for him was the equivalent of someone else’s mouth hanging open. She laughed at him. “This is supposed to be a celebration, Chase. Lighten up, and paint your face, or your black attitude will frighten everyone away.”

He snorted, but when he glanced back at Taylor and found his friend still hiding behind May, the glare melted into a smirk, and then laughter. Taylor relinquished his hiding place sulkily to the accompaniment of the entire group laughing at him.

Chase and his claim to the power of Night were forgotten.

For the moment.