The Beautiful Monster

The entire group met in a large grassy area behind the motel around eleven in the morning. The town that Scott had pulled into was small, so there weren't many people lingering around to spectate the power show-off that was about to happen. Luckily, the motel building gave them cover.

"Alright. Let's see who's stronger!" Scott smirked as he clasped his hands together.

Elias rolled his eyes as the five of them stood in a circle in the field. He wasn't here for a competition.

He and Melina were here to see what powers they had to work with. Melina had helped cracked his seal a little so now he could perform some slight magic.

"We're not competing," he told Scott pointedly. He wasn't here for Scott's entertainment. He hardly even knew why Scott was here besides wanting to claim that he helped and was a hero.

This was a chance at bragging rights for him, especially since he brought Elias and Melina together.

Scott shrugged, still looking amused as he leaned toward Tyler.

"My money is on your girl," he whispered.

Tyler merely rolled his eyes, prompting a small smile from Elias.

"Alright! Do you want to go first?" Melina asked Elias, looking a mix of excited and nervous. She faced him in the field in front of everyone else, who kept a good amount of distance from them.

Elias nodded, glancing around for something he could use as a prop. The field bordered a patch of woods with sprawled out trees and bushes, and an idea then came to his mind.

He walked toward one of the smaller trees, not wanting to push himself too hard. He pressed his palms on the trunk and pushed upward, utilizing all of the strength in his body.

Alyssa watched with wide eyes as the tree started to lean and the roots started to groan from the pressure.

Elias gritted his teeth and gave the tree one last push, making it topple and pulling the deep roots right out of the ground.

He stepped back with a heavy breath, feeling a warm ache fill his arms from the exertion.

"That was it? I could do that in my sleep," Scott called to Elias.

Elias' head snapped to the side so that he could glare at Elias.

A second later, he was right in front of him, dashing back across the field so fast that no one saw him until he stopped in front of Scott.

"Your strength doesn't matter if you can't catch me," Elias pointed out. There had always been competition between them.

Someone had to be the strongest or the fastest. Elias knew that he was better when it came to speed, and it worked well against Scott's strength if he used it properly.

Scott narrowed his eyes at Elias before striking at him.

Elias quickly ducked to the side, moving so fast that his body seemed to blur to the naked eye. He pushed Scott back, knocking him to the ground with a low laugh.

Melina moved to Elias' side, placing a hand on his chest as Scott got to his feet.

"I'm going to go ahead and put a stop to this before you two kill each other. You're extra strong and fast, but I'm also interested in seeing your fire ability," Melina told Elias with an intrigued look on her face.

Elias glanced around before shaking his head.

"I need fire to work with," he told her.

"You can't conjure it yet?" Melina asked with a frown.

"I don't think so. I didn't think that I could," Elias replied. He thought that he could only manipulate existing fire, but he hadn't exactly tried.

Melina hummed under her breath.

"Well, you should try practicing that. It'll come in handy," she told him before digging through her bag. "I think I have a lighter in here somewhere."

Elias glanced over at Alyssa a bit warily, hoping that she wasn't freaking out right now. To his surprise, she looked incredibly interested and even impressed. He flashed a smile at her, which she returned.

"You've got this," Alyssa told him.

Elias felt a warm feeling swell in his chest. It meant the world to him to have Alyssa's support. If she had been weirded out by all of this, he would've felt more nervous about exploring his powers.

"Here it is!" Melina said before flicking the lighter on, producing a tiny flame. "Do something with it."

"Hold on," Tyler broke in as he walked over to Melina. He gave her a pointed look as he took the lighter from her. "I'll do it. Don't want that pretty face of yours getting scorched."

Melina laughed and lifted up on her toes to press a soft kiss against his cheek.

"Right," she said before backing up to stand next to Alyssa. "Okay, do something now."

Elias turned his attention to the small flame, watching it sway back in forth as it reflected in the dark of his eyes.

He imagined it growing bigger. With that thought in his mind, he focused all of his energy in his mind instead of anywhere else in his body like he did with his other powers.

Suddenly, the flame flared, growing a few inches larger before dying back down to its original size.

"That's good! Now, do it again, but hold it," Melina told him.

Elias nodded, focusing back on the flame. He wasn't too familiar with his fire ability, but he wanted to explore it more.

He narrowed his eyes, putting that image of the flame growing bigger back in his mind. When the flame flared up again, he clenched his jaw, straining slightly as he held that power. It felt like intense pressure in his head that he held onto for dear life.

"You have to learn how to breathe and control it. Don't strain too hard," Melina said.

Elias let out a shaky breath, still maintaining the flame. He breathed in and out steadily, feeling that pressure start to grow less intense.. He could feel his strength draining slightly the more that he held the flame.