Original Stories Fan Fiction / Fables/Fairytales Fan Fiction ❯ The Elementalists ❯ Twenty-two - Memories ( Chapter 22 )

Candis woke Kai and Eryk up soon after Guren had woken up, which was a little past 6 A.M. They ate a small breakfast that consisted of the usual bread and water, and then continued on through the forest. They stopped at a small stream to fill up their water supply, when Eryk heard a distant rustling in the trees.

 

“Did you hear that?” he asked cautiously. He stood dead in his tracks, listening intently for any indication that a demon was nearby. The shiver up his spine answered the allegation within his thoughts.

 

A wicked cackle came from the tree tops, as the group hastily turned to the tree that the sound came from. A demon with dark blue skin and long, lighter blue hair stood on the lowest branch, its red eyes glinting. “Well, what a shame,” he said. “I've been found. Oh well, this shouldn't take too long.” He smirked, jumping out of the tree and landing a good ten feet from the four.

 

Guren stood his ground, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword. “Remember he's a copycat. Don't do anything rash,” he warned, glancing towards the girls and Eryk. The girls nodded, but Eryk didn't seem to hear; that or he chose to ignore Guren's words of wisdom.

 

“I'll teach you!” shouted Eryk, charging towards the demon while forming a staff out of thin air. The staff was made of the finest wood Eryk could muster up and polished so that it shined luminously. At the top was a circle, and in the circle was a ruby crystal. He swung once and then twice at the demon, who dodged both shots.

 

“That will do you no good,” it said, laughing and jumping high into a tree. Eryk snarled, slamming his staff on the ground. He lifted his right hand to his face, his middle and pointer fingers pointing straight up and his eyes closed. He mumbled an incoherent curse, and soon a bright light erupted from the ruby crystal and hit the demon with full force. It shouted out in pain, falling from the tree and landing on its knees. When the light subsided, the demon stood warily on its feet, wiping the blood flowing down from his cracked lip. He smirked, cracking his knuckles and then sticking his right hand out. “Thank you for that,” he muttered before doing exactly what Eryk had done—forming a staff out of thin air. “My turn.”

 

With an evil grin, the demon pointed the staff towards Eryk, muttering the same exact spell. Eryk stood in shock, his eyes wide as if he was unable to move his limbs. Only when he saw the jewel inside the staff glow was he pushed out of the way by Candis.

 

“Idiot!” she exclaimed, pushing herself off of him. “Guren warned you that he could steal your powers.” Eryk glared at Candis, but hurried to get up and face the demon once more.

 

Seeing the looks on his opponents' faces made the demon laugh once again as he made the staff disappear. “Face it, children,” he said, looking quite bored. “You can't beat me.”

 

“You wish,” said Kai, readying her bow. The demon laughed hysterically at her when he saw that she had no arrow to aim with.

 

“What good will that do you, darling?” he asked, still laughing. “You've got no arrow. Besides, I can create a bow and arrow too,” he added, doing precisely what he said he could do; making a bow and arrow appear out of thin air, he smirked at her, aiming his own arrow. “Shall we, then?”

 

Kai stared hard at the demon. “Ready,” she said. “Set… GO!” The demon fired his arrow, but Kai jumped out of the way just before it could touch her. Startled, he lowered the bow and stared at her figure in the air. “Taste this!” she exclaimed, aiming an arrow made of ice straight at the demon's heart. She let go, her spirit energy increasing the speed of the arrow.

 

“No!” shouted the demon as he was struck mere centimeters from his heart. He stumbled onto the ground, pulling on the icy arrow as he tried to get it out. “How… When… What was… that?” he asked feebly.

 

Kai smirked, putting her bow back onto her back. “Easy,” she said, examining her nails. “You thought I would fire a spiritually charged arrow, didn't you?” she asked, stopping to look the demon in the eyes. “Well, in case you don't know, I'm the Water Elementalist. I could have shot an arrow of water instead and it still would have killed you. Maybe you should think beyond common sense.” She winked at the demon, now on its knees, gasping for breath and almost begging for them to save its life.

 

Guren leaned against a tree with his arms folded, smirking. “Good thinking,” he said softly. Taking out his communicator, he immediately paged Ilias and the others. “We've just beat demon number two,” he confirmed once Ilias had picked up.

 

“Ah, I was wondering what took you so long. We're already on our way back,” Ilias complained, though he was only joking. “We'll meet you tomorrow then. Be careful, and get lots of rest!” Guren rolled his eyes, closing the communicator and putting it back in his pocket. `Always acting like a devoted older brother, that Ilias,' he thought to himself, smiling faintly.

 

“We should head back,” he finally said, noticing that the other three were sitting on the ground, poking at the passed out demon with sticks. Guren made a disgusted face, asking, “What the hell are you doing?”

 

The three immediately stood up, dropping the sticks. “Sorry,” they apologized, looking quite embarrassed. “Well,” continued Kai, “He was actually kinda cute. Too bad he's a bad guy. Anyway, shouldn't you call Skyler and have his cronies come get him?”

 

Candis stared incredulously at Kai's random thoughts about the demon and tried her absolute hardest not to laugh. Shaking her head, she sighed at her friend, as did Eryk and Guren. After a good eye roll, Eryk said, “We probably should head back, though.” The other three nodded and, after Guren reported to Captain Skyler, headed back the way they had come from.

 

 

They were only halfway back to the meeting place by dusk, and had decided to camp out again. “It's too dangerous at night in these woods,” Eryk said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Kai, it's your turn to keep watch.”

 

Kai groaned and unwillingly sat up from her makeshift bed. “I was about to go to sleep! Why don't you keep watch, Eryk? You've only done so once so far!” she complained. Eryk grumbled, mumbling about having used up more energy than she did in the battle.

 

“Kai, just take the shift, will you?” mumbled a sleepy Candis. She was already in bed, half-asleep. “It's only for a few hours. You can switch off with Eryk at midnight.”

 

“What?!” cried Eryk, staring wide-eyed at Candis. “You can't just decide it like that!” Candis glared at Eryk, the fire in her eyes stronger than ever. He gulped again, turning and angrily muttering to himself. “Fine.”

 

Kai sighed, putting her arms behind her head and leaning against a tree. She wondered how much longer these battles would go on, and how they would have to defeat Gilead. Frowning, she thought, `I don't want to have to use my powers. None of us want to. But…Guren does have a point… If we weren't supposed to use them, why were they given to us? I remember…when I first used my powers…'

 

Kai closed her eyes, remembering the day when she first learned her powers.

 

I was about…five years old then. Brother was fourteen, and it was my birthday. Some of my friends and I were playing at the beach and making sandcastles and swimming. It was so fun… Brother said that later he had a special gift to show me that only I could see. I couldn't wait!

 

After we ate dinner, brother took me back out to the beach. `What are we doing at the beach, brother?' I asked naively. `If your present was at the beach the whole time, you could have shown me then!' He smiled, ruffling my hair.

 

`I'm going to show you how to use your true powers,' he answered. `Watch how I bend the water.'

 

Brother rolled up his sleeves and pushed back his mid-back length hair. It was so beautiful then; the long, brown locks made him look almost like a female. He was quite a looker, though he never had a girlfriend. Not that I knew of, anyway. Later, brother had to cut his hair because the villagers said it made him too feminine, and being manly was a big thing then. They didn't want to be disgraced by his womanly looks.

 

When brother felt that I was watching intently enough, he moved his hands around in a circle. Slowly, the water started swirling around, creating a mini whirlpool. I gasped in shock—I was so amazed! `Wow!!' I exclaimed. `Brother, teach me how to do that! I want to learn!' I cried enthusiastically, tugging at his sleeve.

 

He laughed and bent down, stepping behind me and holding my small arms out. `Put your arms like this,' he said, gently pushing my arms slightly to the right. `Now… Clear your mind of any thoughts except bending the water.' I closed my eyes and cleared my head just like he said, thinking only of bending the water. `Good,' he said happily. `Now, slowly move your arms around in a circle.' He guided my arms around the first couple times, then let go. Soon I was doing it on my own, and the water had gradually started moving too. I grinned widely, my eyes sparkling with delight. After turning it for a couple more minutes, I jumped on my brother and hugged him.

 

`I did it, brother!' I said proudly. `I did it!'

 

“I did it, brother,” Kai whispered softly, a tear escaping her eye and rolling down her cheek. She jumped a little when she heard the rustling of someone moving around on their make-shift bed. She quickly wiped the tears off of her face, looking away when she realized it was Guren. “Sorry,” she said hastily, knowing she had disturbed his sleep once again.

 

He scratched his head, staring off into the darkness of the forest, his golden eyes still understanding. “It's fine,” he murmured. “But…” He hesitated, looking away. “Don't cry.”

 

Kai tilted her head, slightly confused. After thinking about it, she shrugged it off, sitting up straight. “Go to sleep,” she said boldly. “You need more rest.” Smirking at her, Guren laid back down and fell asleep. `Ahh… What am I going to do?' Kai asked herself, staring at the moon hanging lazily above the swaying trees.