Dark. Closed eyes. The smell of burning candles was overwhelming. With each deep breath, her chest was feeling heavier. She could barely focus, keeping her meditative posture. Sarah could feel the wind softly touching her long hair while she was getting deeper into a trance.

The smell of grass was getting unbearable.

“Grass?”, she gasped.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing in a grassy field, near a lake. The sun was strong and warm, and she took a few moments to enjoy the sunlight.

“So hot, mother of all living beings …”, she whispered to herself

“Praise the mother,” a deep voice replied from the lake. Sarah turned to look towards the water. A tall, beautiful woman with golden hair and light blue eyes was standing in the middle. Of course, compared to her, most other women were tall. The two stood watching each other.

And then she came to the realisation “You are walking on water? How is that possible?”

The woman laughed, and her eyes turned a darker shade of blue, then her clothes too and started melting into water. And then she melted along with them to reveal a female form made of a clear, sky-blue, water.

“Welcome, my sister! I will be your first guide.”

Remembering her training, Sarah straightened her body and relaxed her mind. She was a druid. A few weeks ago, the high-council invited her to train as an Elementalist. After a month of training with the High-Elementalist, she was ready to face the four challenges. Water required a straight body stance and fluidity in thought to control.

The woman smiled, and as if she wished it, the sun was immediately covered by black and white clouds while she started melting into the lake. Her body was falling into the water, and the water behind her was rising into a wave.

Sarah didn’t have a moment to lose. She opened her hands as widely as possible, lowered her head for a moment and as the tide was falling towards her, she turned up, looked into it while moving her hands in front of her “Aquaaspis” (aqua aspis). The wave fell like a rockslide as she was casting the spell. A shield enveloped her body, creating a water-bubble with breathable air. She was safe from the first attack and she just realised, her companion stick, her favourite, and most powerful weapon was not with her and she now was inside the lake, or the lake had grown to swallow her.

The water elemental emerged from the foamy wake of the wave to attack her with sharp claws of ice. Her shield held off the attack, and the elemental’s eyes became red with anger and rushed again.

Sarah had to retaliate. Her command of the elements was not robust enough to subdue the elemental; that was her test. She had, however, her druidic training and skills. That needed more concentration. Closing her eyes, she could concentrate on the life-giving forces around her and touch every part of nature.

The grass! She was still standing on it. The lake had grown and enveloped the nearby area to attack her, as well as whatever, was around her. With a gesture, the short, almost unnoticeable, grass grew into proportions and attacked the elemental at her command. Pointy edges trying to cut the water creature and others to get a hold of it.

It was enough to give her some time. Not enough!

It cut through the green blades and was coming back at her. There was nothing else around. Only water. And then, her training came to save her again.

“Aqualash!”, she shouted with fierceness and a blade of solid water formed to cut the path of the elemental. It seemed to hurt, but the water swallowed its cry. Sarah insisted, giving movement with her mind. The blade was dancing exchanging blows with the creature. A final blow and it exploded into tiny drops of water.

The drops began whirling collecting the excess water of the lake until it too dived into the calm now lake. With the exception of a small area in the centre. Slowly, the water began to rise, revealing a female shaped form. This time, the water first became clothes, then the body took a more human shape, and lastly the eyes formed last out of water.

“You are strong as a crushing wave my dear Sarah. Welcome to the Water Elementalists. Use our gifts with care to protect and heal.” she said blowing a kiss and again melting into the lake...