The Frozen Beginning (Elemental Diamond Book 1) by Daphne Robynson Page A

Brink and the bowls. Unsure what to expect, Glacier take a few measured steps away as well.
    Brink stands behind the bowls facing the audience, and takes a few deep breaths. The flying camera hovers in front of him once more, this time further back to get a wide shot of his physic. Glacier is still visible in the corner of the camera.
    Suddenly, a flame lights in the middle of the bowl, and her muscles tense in surprise. Glacier can feel the heat from the flame where she stands, boiling her flesh. She itches at the hot skin, taking another step back. Without realizing she had left the stage, the same guard pushes her back out into view.
    Glacier watches with curiosity as Brink’s muscles twitch. A few seconds pass with the audience in stone silence, waiting. Glacier looks to Fielder at the bottom of the stairs, and find his gaze flickering between her and Brink.
    Her eyes back on Brink, she finds his shoulders tense and his body visibly vibrating. His thick arms suddenly lift in front of his chest, and his hands slowly clench into fists. His eyes concentrate solely on the bowl with a lone flame at the centre. As his hands clench tighter, they begin to glow a faint orange.
    His hands glow?
    Glacier’s eyes are drawn to the fire, as it slowly seems to melt.
    Melting? How is the flame melting ?
    The flame grows in size despite its floppiness, a thick hot liquid gathering. The bowl crumples in a melted heap as the heavy, bright orange liquid devours it.
    Lava .
    The sluggish molten substance slowly gathers in the concrete bowl until Brink’s hands unclench, the glow fading to nothing. Immediately after, the magma hardens to rock, and the bowl is soon filled with a dark concrete look-alike. The entire crowd has sat in continued silence throughout the demonstration, all wide-eyed and mind-blown. Glacier’s hand rises to cover her slack jaw, her wide eyes absorbing the boy in front of her.
    The different shades of his eyes are almost unnoticeable; he looks like every other fire elemental. From his tan skin and dark hair, to his thick stature and body heat. Unlike Glacier, with snow-white hair instead of brown, her ghostly pale skin is opposed to the naturally sun-kissed complexion. And her eyes …
    Unlike me, he isn’t different until he uses his element .
    Whispers break out across the audience, snapping Glacier from her haze. She catches the Pyre team now gathered at the bottom of the stairs, staring at their teammate with stunned expressions.
    Drawn back to the front of the stage, the audience erupts in shouts and demands for explanations, for reasons answering how Brink is capable of doing what he did.
    Maybe they would have a similar explanation for me …
    “Citizens, please! Settle!” Sasis steps forward with his arms raised above the audience in a peaceful manner.
    His arms slowly lower as the crowd’s noise starts to dim, and a small smile pulls his thin lips. His voice is soothing to the audience as they quiet down, but Glacier’s mind is still travelling a mile a minute.
    A lava elemental… How is that possible!
    “My children, we will explain everything.” Sasis considers what to say. Glacier stands in stunned silence.
    “We are evolving. This is our evolutionary path.”
    Evolution?
    “These two individuals are just a glimpse at what we will become!”
    This doesn’t make sense …
    “What these two are capable of today is what we will soon be capable of ourselves!” His words carry on, but Glacier doesn’t hear them clearly.
    I am simply evolved? But Thomes had labelled me a hybrid … This doesn’t make any sense? How is my power only now revealing itself, after all this time? And what about Brink? He can control his element! How can he control it and I can't? How long has he known about his ability?
    There are so many more questions now than before.
    “—Glacier Wardgrave.”
    Her eyes snap to the voice, Sasis, after he says her name. Gathering her bearings, she steps forward. She looks to the