Elemental: Chapter 2

Jumping off the cliff had seemed like a good idea at the time, considering it pulled Sith and herself away from the obvious slaughter by fire or by blade. However, looking down at the three-hundred foot plummet, she was having second guesses about her once wise decision. They now would be nicely smashed into a mushy pulp that the Fire Elementalists could scrape off of the ground and pour into a bucket, then hand over to the General for him to slurp down!

Luckily, it seemed that her instinct had not failed her, and there were some survival reactions of her element that would save the two of them. She felt her energy drain greatly, so much that her head felt like a fluffy cloud, empty and passing-by. Jarae quickly noticed that a huge slope of ice had formed where they landed. It was still a harsh landing, but instead of rolling and being smashed up more, the two of them slid easily into the forested area, landing in a lump on the moist grass.

She was so dazed, so tired now, but even Jarae knew that there was no way for the Fire Elementalists to get down there. There were no nearby paths leading down, and it was far too steep for them to climb down quickly. Even if they began a climb, they would have time to escape and get far away from them before they were in range to attack. There was only a quick sigh of relief before she remembered that not everything was okay: Don was dead, his throat slit, and Sith was seething with anger, which could easily be directed at her.

This thought was quickly confirmed as Sith lunged at her. His hand grabbed a hold of her neck, just under her jaw. It was not tight enough to choke and suffocate her, but it was painful, and it did constrict her air way. His brown eyes were dangerous and she could almost see a red glow coming from them.

“This is your fault!” He snarled, spit flying into her face. “If Don had never met you, we would never be in this predicament! Now he’s dead, you bitch!”

Jarae managed to choke out, “I didn’t kill him… It was Anthre who gave the order… it’s not my fault… it’s not… Don chose to save me…”

She disliked like the pleading; disliked always being the one that was begging for her life. However, she could not accept that it was her fault that Don was dead. It was Anthre that had given the order, and another man that had drawn his blade and given the fatal slash. Jarae never once touched that blade.

Surprisingly, Sith let go of her. Her head lolled to the side and she almost passed out. She was even weaker than she had been before, and she just felt like sleeping…

“I have no idea why Don chose to protect you. He was obsessed with ‘balancing the elements’, as he put it, and disobeying General Anthre.” He closed his eyes, and hung his head. “You… I will admit you just saved my life,” the words seemed very difficult for him to say, “and I am now an exile from my country… Anthre is my enemy. I will avenge Don.”

He stood up, his face now changed. He was still angry, and still not that friendly towards Jarae; this was obvious. Though now he was a Fire Elementalist against his own kind, and this was comforting to Jarae. Maybe others were realizing how awful the man was, and the country would bring down itself, and the war would end.

Of course, this was a just a fabulous daydream.

“Come on, we should get moving. Their knowing our location isn’t any good.” Sith said, and immediately started to march away.

Jarae tried to get up to follow, but found that her legs were much too weak. She had used so much of her energy, and she hadn’t had that much to begin with. She wanted to sleep, just too sleep… Now that she couldn’t get up, she would most definitely be left behind, found, and killed. The end was always her premature death.

Another surprise then followed, more surprising than Sith releasing his grip on her head: he hand scooped under her knees, then behind her back, and he was carrying her. She looked at him, unable to conceal her shock in her emerald-green eyes.

Sith, then, seemed to notice both the shock and the color of her eyes. He muttered, “You Ice Elementalists are funny looking. White and blue hair, green eyes…” He was clearly babbling, and shook his head. He began to walk, and Jarae had a funny feeling her tiny frame was not much of a burden to the hulking man.

After hours passed, nightfall was threatening and the sun was lowering. Not once had Sith stopped, and Jarae knew that he had to be tired, thirsty, and hungry. Obviously recognizing this problem, Sith set Jarae down, rather harshly, and collapsed onto the ground himself.

One of his pouches were quickly grabbed. He procured a water bottle and began to guzzle. She could see beads of sweat on his face, but couldn’t help but envy the sound of the cool water being gulped down his throat. Pulling it away from his lips, Sith noticed her envious stare, and tossed her the water bottle. She caught, but didn’t drink nearly as much as him, for fear that he would change his mind and kill her.

“Here.” He reached into another pouch and withdrew a loaf of bread. Tearing it in half, he tossed her one of the sections. “That’s all the food we’ve got, so you better hope that we found a town tomorrow. Maybe you can stay in a town, too.”

Jarae slowly ate the bread, trying to figure out what to say next. Finally realizing there was only the easy way to put it, she stated, “We’re in Ice Country. Not only are the few towns left, I don’t know where they are, and I doubt they have many supplies. Also,” she glanced northward, “we can’t go to Fire Country, because you are a traitor, and I’m unwanted. If,” there was a heavy swallow and a heavy pause from her, “if … we go to Earth Country, I’m sure I can vouch for you, and get us both through… then you can part ways with me, and I can be safe with allies.”

Her eyes searched his for reaction. She could almost hear the rumbling of anger escaping him. It was a simple realization to understand that Sith did not want any form of help from her, but even he knew that her plan was the only one that would work. There was no help anywhere near but Earth Country.
“Whatever,” he finally replied, brushing off some crumbs that had attached themselves like parasites to his black shirt. “I’m going to go look for some water. I thought I heard some running earlier.” He unbuckled the strap around his chest, and his broad sword fell to the ground with a loud thump. Jarae had forgotten he had that. It probably made his fall down the ice slope feel even worse.

He looked down at her and snarled, “Don’t touch the sword,” He then smirked a bit at her, and added, “though I doubt you can lift it.”

Sith went stomping off, and Jarae knew that he also wanted to be by himself to mourn the loss of his brother. She rolled over on her stomach, drawing shapes in the dirt on the ground. It felt like there were weights on her back, and she could only assume that that was guilt. Yes, Anthre had made the order to kill Don. But was Sith right? Had she been a distraction? She had wanted to ask Sith more about Don’s idea of balancing the elements, but she was not naïve enough to ask him any questions about it. It would probably be days, weeks, before he even wanted to talk about his brother, and the two would definitely have parted ways by then.

Jarae looked down at the shapes she had haphazardly been drawing, and realized that she had done a rough sketch of Don. It reminded her of back when she lived comfortably in a big house. There had been a large room that her parents had given her solely to work on artwork. Oh, how she loved to paint…

She figured that her silly little piece of artwork would piss Sith off, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to erase it. She stared at it for a little while longer then crawled across the ground to a softer part of the ground. There was a nice bed of moss under one of the trees. Jarae noticed that the terrain around them was rockier and the temperature was warming up a bit. They had to be nearing Earth Country.

There were audible stomps announcing Sith’s grand return, and Jarae chose not to have to talk to him for the remainder of the evening. She closed her eyes and adjusted her breathing so that she gave the illusion of sleep. It worked, or maybe Sith just didn’t care. She heard a thump and a sloshing noise and knew that the Fire Elementalist had been successful in his quest for water. There was a pause, then some shuffling around. A snap. Another one. A rustle in the trees. She was curious as to what he was doing, but she refused to open her eyes. There was finally another thump and Jarae was positive that he had finally lain down to rest.

Sneaking a peek, she opened one eye. Across from her, Sith had made a bed under another tree. In her line of sight, she could see the drawing there, and just above it, a new cross made from twigs and vines.

---

Jarae awoke to Sith nudging her. She opened her eyes groggily, used to waking up only when she deemed it necessary. He had his broad sword strapped onto his back again. He looked like he had been up for awhile.

He held the water bottle out to her, then said, “Drink some, but don’t take all of it. Who knows when we’ll find water again. I couldn’t find any animals,” he cleared his throat when saying this, and Jarae had a feeling that he did find one, and it had gotten away, “so we’ll have to wait to see some later, if there are any.”

She nodded in response, choosing that they were not friendly enough for her to tease him. Jarae grasped the water bottle gingerly between her frail fingers and took eager sips, trying not to seem too needy. When finished, she handed it back to him and he quickly strapped it back onto his belt.

“I’m guessing you can walk on your own today?” He asked, rather sharply.

Again, she nodded in response, then followed up by standing up. Her legs felt weak, still, but they were much better than yesterday. She would be able to walk alongside him (though probably behind him), so long as they took a break every once and awhile.

Sith, seeing no need for further conversation, began to walk. Jarae, already falling behind, jogged a little to catch up with him. He gave her a sideways glance, but said nothing.

For the first few hours, there was nothing but silence. Birds seemed to be absent from their homes in the trees, and there no signs of any other form of life. Then, ahead, Jarae spotted a small brook coursing through their projected path. She jogged up to it, kneeling down.

“Just get a small drink,” Sith ordered, “and we’ll be on our way.”

“Hold your horses!” Jarae said in a surprisingly sharp tone. Sith recoiled a bit. She realized that he had been beginning to think that he had complete control over her, and she was glad to show him otherwise.

Jarae leaned her head over the water, turning it to the side so that her hair was submerged. She then began to rub the water over it, giving it a good rinse.

“… What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Sith said in half shock and half anger.

She snapped her head back, spraying water from her silver braid that narrowly missed Sith. Glancing over her should at him, she said, “My hair smelled like it had been washed in swamp water, and it was making me nauseous.” She stood up, brushing the wet hair off of her face. “See, that didn’t take long. We can go again.”

Sith had an expression that could only be described as angry confusion: he wanted to slap her for wasting time, but he was too shocked at her not listening to him.

The two of them trotted across the brook, Jarae skipping at little to spray water around. A low growl escaped from Sith’s throat, and she quickly stopped, but secretly smiled when he turned away. She didn’t know what had gotten into her, but this was certainly making the time pass quicker.

The day dragged on like watching two snails race to the finish line. The forest remained barren. There were trees, upon trees, upon trees, all full of lush leaves, but lacking in the fauna department. There was nary a rabbit or a bird for them to kill and eat. Their two stomachs rumbled loud enough to wake the dead, or worse, attract Fire Elementalists.

Sith finally sat down heavily on a log that lay across their way. He rubbed his head, then said, “I think, at least, we are in Lightning Country. Strange, though, where are the animals…” He trailed off, and Jarae knew they were feeling similar dread.

Both of them went on a march in separate directions, searching for a body of water or some signs of life. They met up again, giving each other distressed looks. Their stomachs echoed each other with angry growls.

Suddenly, Sith turned and punched a tree. There was a blast of fire when the two connected and Jarae leapt back in surprise and fear. He whirled around, facing her, his body temperature rising. She said nothing, only feared, once more, for her life.

“My brother is dead, I’m a traitor, and now I’m stuck in some hell-forest with an Ice Elementalist who seems clueless about survival!” He yelled. “How the hell did you survive on your own? What, were you way from people for a week?”

Jarae suddenly felt a calm inside of her. It was foreign feeling. It was overcoming her usual terror and making her feel very… serene. Perhaps it was the fact that she was once again getting light headed with the lack of food and water.

Either way, she said gently, “Actually, I’ve been traveling on my own two years. You and Don were the first ones I’ve traveled with since my town was destroyed.”

The calm that had taken over her seemed to move over to Sith like a gentle summer breeze. She could feel the air around them return to normal, and he turned his back to her. He was looking up at the sky now, lost in thought. She wanted, very strongly, to ask him what he was thinking. She wanted, more than anything, to ask if he regretted what his country had done.

Then, skittering.

It sounded like there were little feet running around everywhere, causing the ground to tremor with the amount of little feet there were. Jarae could hear a strange chattering. It was a haunting sound. It made her think of mice running across the kitchen floor, fearing for their lives, except these mice were just skeletons. She felt dread, and knew they were in danger.

Her dagger was out, but Sith’s sword had already been drawn. He had backed up to her so that they were each facing a different direction.

“They’re everywhere, whatever they are,” he whispered, as if the creatures would only know they were there if they heard him speak. “What the hell is this?”

To answer his questions, the skeleton mice that Jarae feared erupted from between the trees, though they were not mice at all. They were disgusting, blob like creatures that seemed to mold into a different shape at a whim. They formed the bottoms of themselves into the feet so that they could run, but now they were growing long, gangly arms and sharp, sharp fangs as they approached their prey. Jarae’s mouth dropped open, but sound escaped her. Never, in fifteen years, had seen creatures such as these.

“They…” Sith’s eyes were large, and he was stumbling over his words. Apparently, these were just as terrifying to him as they were to her. He finally continued his sentence and cried, “They don’t have elements!”

Jarae stared at the monsters and realized that he was right. There was no color around them, and she knew that she had enough strength in her to tell that. The disgusting things were elementless, foreign, wrong, just wrong.

When they got closer, Jarae could see blood lust in their little yellow eyes. Sith slashed viciously at them, then found that when he did so, the cleaved creature just doubled itself and kept on moving. Switching to fire, bursts of flame spurted from his hands and descended on the monsters. They burned, shriveled, and fell to the ground. Only a second passed before they got up once again.

Jarae figured it was a perfect time to let out a cry of terror. Sith didn’t even tell her to shut up. He continued to launch fire balls at the monsters in a desperate attempt to save their skin that would soon be penetrated by their sharp little teeth…

Then, a blip. Jarae felt different. She felt as if something had happened, but it had taken no time at all. There had been an instant gone, an instant in which something vital had occurred but she had not been allowed to be a part of it.

When her eyes refocused, she noticed what promptly made Sith gasp. All of the creatures lay slaughtered across the forest floor, twitching as the attempted to regenerate and put up a fight once more. Standing amongst them was a man.

She could not tell at first that he was a man. He was shorter than Sith, this was easy to tell, but taller than Jarae. He had a slender figure that was shown in his face but hidden by a long white trench coat with black buttons. His pants were white, his shirt was unseen, and his shoes were black. As the man turned to look at them, Jarae saw a very odd face. He was pale as her, the two of them like snowmen. His hair was whiter than that snow, and his eyes were a dull gray. For a moment, she believed that he was an angel.

He sheathed a katana that was strapped to him just as Sith’s broad sword was strapped to him. He spoke, and sounded much more manly than he appeared, and all he said was, “Come with me, and hurry.”

His movement was swift, and Jarae felt compelled to follow. Sith was equally stunned, but equally willing to follow. The three of them launched through the forest, and when they finally came to a halt, only Sith and Jarae were panting.

Sith was first to speak, and his words came out harsh and strong. “You are a Chronos Elementalist!” He sputtered. “You’re far from your country, aren’t you? What are you doing here? Why did you save us?”

The man seemed to not be phased at all by Sith’s flurry of questions. He considered their faces with his cool gray eyes then responded with, “The girl is also far from home, and you have only just left yours.” He ran a hand through his hair, shaking it out. “And I have every right to be here, as do you. I saved you because I don’t exactly like to let people die. Do you?”

The last words were clearly a jab at Sith’s origin. Jarae could tell that Sith’s face was not burning with fire, but burning with embarrassment. Summoning up the courage to ask a question, she asked, “But there’s nothing around here at all… how did you find us?”

“Ah, a good question.” He said, and smiled.

Stepping forward, he did a quiet and quick bow. As he straightened back up, he announced, “I am named Gen, and I am here to take you to your destiny.”

His black gloved hand reached again to his sheathed katana and he withdrew it, a look of murder in his eyes.