Ailey POV:
Hi I'm Ailey of the Elemental domain. I'm just your typical normal next door neighbor except, I'm not. If you ask the people who know me, they'll all have their own opinions about me.
My mom will say I'm her sweet little angel. My dad was barely around but whenever he was, he made sure to remind me of how weak I am and how he wished I was a boy.
My best friend Aria will say that I'm a positive person who's highly adventurous. I don't blame her for saying that. I mean looking at the number of troubles I had gotten us into, adventurous sounded more like a compliment. The old man at the grocery store will say I am loud and his wife will say I was sweet and will play matchmaker for me to get engaged to his son.
My school colleagues and even most of the teachers will say that I'm delusional and impossible to deal with. Especially since I kept bringing up the fact that I was going to find the person who possess all four forces and the fifth and sixth forces so I can help her save the world. They kept their distance and the only person who believed this was Aria and my mom. But even they doubted me sometimes.
The people of the other domain thought we the Elementals were living our best lives. But honestly we weren't. We weren't even living our own lives let alone making the best out of it. The monarch controlled everything.
All men at the age of 16 either become guards or palace servants. While we women learnt handiwork and took care of the household. And we didn't have a say in that. If anyone ever dared to stand up against this, they'll be as good as dead. Our powers reveal themselves around the age of 16.
For many girls their sixteenth year is the best year but for me,it was the total opposite. My father said he had gotten fed up with our family. My mom couldn't give birth again. And his only child was a female too. He kept complaining about it and on the morning of my sixteenth birthday, he was nowhere to be found. He had left us with nothing. He had already auctioned off our house.
But Aria's dad came to our rescue, he helped mom earn a job at the palace because he was an elite guard who was highly valued and his recommendation and my mom's reputation got her in. But life was still not good.
Life in the palace was even more strict. What you wore, said, ate and did were all done according to the rules. Every room was bugged and no one was allowed to say anything bad about the officials or share anything about what goes on in the palace to an outsider. The only thing that kept me sane was Aria.
I am now 17 but my powers has still not surfaced because I have to be at peace for it to come. And all the things happening in our family and the change of environment makes it very hard to be at peace. Aria tried helping me but it wasn't helping especially since I always felt something was off about the palace.
"Ailey you're just overthinking it. I've lived here my whole life and I haven't seen anything weird about this place." Aria tried to convince me nothing was wrong.
"Then do you care to explain why we are not allowed to go to the Cryptoria tower. That's not even where the royals live. They live in the Imperium tower and we're allowed to go there. The Cryptoria tower is just a library. Have you ever wondered why no one is allowed there. They must be hiding something." I said trying to prove my point.
"It doesn't matter if they're hiding something or not. There's no way we're getting in anyway." She said clearly curious.
"What if there was?" I said smirking.
"Wait, you know a way we can get in. That's impossible!" She exclaimed.
" I don't. But I think I know someone who does." I said still smirking.
"And who might that be?" She said with curiosity written on her face.
"The royal descendants of the Elementals are allowed to get in. My mom is a royal descendant of the Fire Elementals. Before she married my dad against her family's will and lost the favor of her family, she was an explorer. She was also a Royal at the time so she could go anywhere she wanted. I heard she was the best at her time. If anyone has any info on how to get into the Cryptoria tower, it's her." I said confidently.
" And how are you going to convince her to tell you?" She asked.
"Leave that part to me." I said sure that I will get the answers.
Later in the evening at the Oblivia tower:
"No." Mom said without giving me a chance to even explain further.
" Mom please. I heard the Cryptoria tower has the best books on how to trigger your elemental powers." I tried convincing her.
" It does but clearly, that's not your intention of wanting to go there." She said seeing right through me.
"At least tell me what it looks like and what's in there. If you do, I will never mention it again." I said with pleading eyes.
" We shouldn't even be talking about this in the first place. It's past your bedtime, go to sleep." She said firmly.
Clearly she wasn't backing down and so was I. So when she turned off the lights and went to bed, I lit up a candle and sneaked into her small study. I knew that was where she kept her book of explorations and she always made sure it was off limits. And just like I said, there it was.
It was old and fragile so I made sure I held it well. As I went through it trying to find in formation on the Cryptoria tower, I saw many things that I was interested in but I decided to focus on the Cryptoria tower for now. And just as I thought, she had information on it and even a picture of it. I immediately wrote down what the book said was the way to get in. I went back to bed excited to share it with Aria.