Original Stories Fan Fiction / Fables/Fairytales Fan Fiction ❯ The Elementalists ❯ Eleven - The Enemy's Power ( Chapter 11 )

The group ate their lunch rather quickly, wasting no time in getting back on track again. They listened intently for any signs that someone was following them, keeping their senses alert for any abnormal scents or sights.

 

The girls conversed for quite a while, talking mostly about nonsense. All but Chi had been to the Human World at least once, so the other three described what it looked like and the different kinds of cultures and things of the sort.

 

“Wow, it sounds so amazing!” Chi said afterward. “But what are skyscrapers?”

 

“They're these really tall buildings,” explained Kai, raising her arm way above her head. “Well… they're taller than Florian's mansion,” she said, assuming that to be a better analogy.

 

“Yes, and a lot taller than you as well,” said Feng, laughing whole-heartedly for the first time in a while.

 

“Wh-what?!” Kai glared at Feng, her eyes mere slits from glaring so much.

 

“Don't squint too hard, your eyes may stick like that,” warned Candis, joining in on the teasing. Kai groaned and whined, pouting and complaining as usual.

 

Florian laughed at the scene, though he noticed that Guren was also looking back at the group, a small smile forming on his face. `Heh, maybe when we're all happy like this, he feels it too,' he thought, but frowned after thinking it through more thoroughly. `Then again, an empath's emotions never matter, since they only feel others'.' He sighed somewhat sadly, looking around at the beautiful Oaks that surrounded them. “This sure is a beautiful forest,” he said quietly.

 

“Isn't it? I control all of it, too!” chirped Chi, grinning from ear to ear. The girls laughed, saying that she was such a childish little girl. “Well, I kind of am,” she pointed out, pouting.

 

Feng ruffled her hair. “That is most definitely true, little one,” she said. Chi glared and smacked Feng's hand off of her hair, but laughed afterwards anyway.

 

 

The sun did not set until late that night, almost near midnight. The group set up a small campsite in another clearing and prepared a small but filling dinner. They had roasted salted pork and potatoes, and their only choice of drink for this night was water.

 

After dinner, they decided who would be on watch first for the night; it ended up being Kai, since they drew pieces of grass and hers was the shortest. “Damn, why me?” she complained. “As if I haven't lost enough sleep already.” She yawned, poking at the small fire to keep it going a while longer. She had put on a cloak to keep her warm from the roaring wind, but as thick as it was, the wind was stronger. She had asked Feng to keep it toned down, but she only answered with “I can control the element as well as create it, but I cannot control Mother Nature.” Kai sighed, frustrated at the answer and somehow with their current situation.

 

`I really hate camping out in forests,' she said in her mind. Her ears perked up when she heard rustling in the bushes, but it only turned out to be a small bunny. The tension in her chest decreased slightly, though not completely. She had never been one to like being the only person awake, alone, in a forest during the night.

 

`I'm sure glad I wasn't born an Earth bender, or Elementalist.'

 

She jumped up suddenly when she felt a presence nearby. She sniffed the air lightly, catching a demon scent in it. She cursed, muttering “Dammit, of all times, it just had to be when I was on guard.” She stood up quietly, trying not to wake anyone.

 

“I'm coming with you,” whispered Candis, scaring Kai a bit as she appeared beside her. The fire wielder stood up, following Kai through the barrier spell and out into the night.

 

They came upon a small shore and lake, and on the dock sat a young man. He had mid-back length bright blue hair, flowing beautifully with the wind. He turned to look at them, a smirk on his face. His eyes were completely black, and held much malice in them.

 

“Who are you?!” Candis demanded. He laughed evilly and stood up, his black cape flowing in the wind.

 

“Why, I am Gilead,” he answered, his voice deep and supercilious. “I was sent by Lady Rika to deliver a… message, for you,” he said, advancing towards the girls. He stopped when Kai bent the lake so that it was a floating wave, waiting patiently, over his head. He merely chuckled at her nonsense. “You will not defeat me. Not here, not now. Perhaps never.” There was a flash in his eyes that made the girls flinch.

 

“Try saying that when you're frozen,” Kai retorted, slowly freezing the water so that there was a point at the end, and guided it straight towards Gilead's heart. She was surprised when he made no effort to simply step out of the way.

 

Instead, even as the blood flowed out of his chest and onto his clothes once the ice pierced him, he laughed. His laugh was so full of impiety, Kai's hands practically went numb, as the ice turned back into water, leaving a gaping hole in the man's chest. He put his hand over the wound, muttering in the language of the Dead.

 

Smirking once more, he stepped even closer to the two girls, who in turn, backed away. “You amuse me, girlies,” he said, his smirk widening when the girls saw that his wound was completely healed. “Maybe I'll use you as pets when Lady Rika let's us capture you.”

Candis had had enough as fire rushed out of her hands and straight towards Gilead. “In your dreams, you sick bastard!” she shouted angrily, continuing to shoot fire at him until he was completely surrounded by flames. Kai then surrounded the fire with water, then turned it to ice, trapping him between the two elements.

 

“That should do it,” she mumbled. “I hope.” The two stood there for a few moments, tensing, as they made sure that he was dead. Unfortunately, he was still very much alive. The ice exploded, sending millions of sharp shards of ice around the shore and into the lake. “God dammit!”

 

“Hahaha, like I said, you cannot defeat me… yet,” he said, once again healing the burns on his arms and legs. He sighed, running a hand through his blue hair. “On to business. Lady Rika wishes you to know that she will stop the prophecy from coming true, but before that…” He smiled cruelly. “She would like to see you at your truest forms, using your powers to try and defeat her. But of course,” he chuckled. “That's the key word: trying to defeat her.”

 

The girls clenched their teeth furiously, getting ready to charge at him. “I wouldn't do that if I were you,” he commented, looking boredly at his nails. “I can create invisible things, you could say. Such as…” He took his hand and held it in front of him, forming out of thin air what looked to be a spear. “For now, you can see it,” he said. “But with my powers, I can make them invisible, making it easy to defeat you.” As if to prove his statement, he made the spear vanish into thin air. “Now, watch.” He threw the spear at a tree, and the girls watched with shocked looks as it blew the tree up.

 

“Oh, there's that little factor as well,” he added, as if he forgot he could create bombs. “I can make inanimate objects, or even elements, combust whenever I like.” He smirked, then turned to open a swirling black portal. “Portals make traveling easier, you see.” He bowed slightly as if to mock them. “A pleasure meeting you breathtaking girls.” He laughed once more and then vanished into the portal.

 

“That bastard,” Candis said, her fists still covered in fire.

 

“I know,” agreed Kai, shaking uncontrollably. “But if Rika has that kind of power on her side…” She trailed off, not wanting to say what she was thinking, though she knew that Candis was thinking it too.

 

Without warning, Candis turned around and shot a fireball at a nearby tree. “Come out, whoever you are!” she shouted. She heard muttered curses and was surprised to see Guren come out from behind the tree.

 

“Guren? You saw… all of that?” Kai asked, the strain on her body easing. He nodded grimly.

 

“Yes, every part of it,” he said, looking towards where the portal was. “That man, I knew him once,” he confessed. “I met him when I first joined the Ministry. He was my trainer, and he was almost like an elder brother to me, too. But…” His eyes hardened as he glared at the same spot. “He got himself captured and they brainwashed him.”

 

The girls frowned. “Well, it's a small world after all, isn't it?” Candis asked rhetorically. She sighed, rubbing her eyes, clearly tired. “Let's go back to the campsite. As egotistical as he was, he doesn't seem the type to attack us when we least expect it, like a cheater.”

 

“Yes, let's go back. I'll take over your post, Kai,” Guren offered, though with no emotion in his voice. The girls walked sluggishly back to their companions, wishing they wouldn't have to tell their companions the dreadful news the next day.