A Star's Element - 1. The Elementalist

Tobias

A warm breeze settles over the burned greenery of Shurow Bay. It has been burned down for quite some time now. The small war of the humans left quite a mess. Rotting corpses of small animals settle around the hollow trucks of trees.

There aren’t any dead humans here. No, of course not. They think themselves more important than those that were here before them.

I frown at the picture of a two deer skeletons that are curled close together.

I do not like this place, yet I apparently have to be here.

My uncle has said that wherever there is a disturbance to nature, an angel is sure to follow.

Basically, he no longer wants me hunting them down. I am not a child, dammit!

I stand on the highest point of this graveyard. It will take a bit of effort to find my way down.

No signs of said angel. I seriously doubt an angel would actually come. Everything here has been dead for quite some time. What souls could they possibly take? Sure it would belong to animals but clearly they have been sitting here for far too long.

I groan and move to sit on a log. A bit of a mistake. I fall right through it.

I curse to myself and stand once again; wiping away any ash that has clung to my armor.

Sighing to myself, I turn my gaze out to the ocean.

Should I drop by Enfierna? Raiyo had said I am free to take a cup of his spiced wine at any time.

I grunt and shake my head. No I should not do that. He no doubt just wants me to get in bed with him.

Just filthy.

Not him of course. I wouldn’t dare say it. Thinking it alone sends a shiver down my spine. I do not know if he could read my mind but if he found that thought…

I set up a small camp. I drop my pack, roll out my bed roll and then sit down. Obviously I'm not going to set up a fire. This is a bit of a struggle, however.

I’ve recently lost my arm. Well, not recently. It sure feels like it. It was only about a year and a half ago. I got cocky and decided to attack a group of angels pillaging on a small village. The people had just lost their children to some random heartless king. Thank the gods Raiyo put a stop to that immediately.

I won’t say I regret defending the village people. Sure they thought I was robbing them of their ‘paradise’ but now they will hopefully get there in their own time.

I frown.

For all I know, the angels could have attacked them again. Perhaps I should stop by. I can only imagine just how much has been lost since I was there.

Too bad I am just waiting for a damn angel to show up.

Usually they come from the sky but they have been known to teleport wherever. Unfortunately they are not much different from my kind.

I snack on some cheese and bread and settle down for the day.

It isn’t at all close to night time. I doubt the angel would come out if it started to get dark too soon. I know for a fact that they haven’t been here yet. None of the animal carcasses hold the Angel's mark.

A flash of light shining on the water catches the corner of my eye. I turn to look and then I am...confused.

Pretty sure that pillar of stone wasn’t standing in the water before.

~~~
~~~

The Gatekeeper

“These poor things.” Luno’s voice shakes as he speaks.

I look over and see he is close to tears. He has found a small family of birds. Well, their skeletons.

“They will be happy soon enough.” I try and lighten the mood. He just holds his frown and looks up at me. Well, not at me, but for me.

I feel myself frown just looking at his sad face.

“Come now, let us begin,” I say.

Luno nods and then moves to take off his bright grey cloak.

Ugh, that cloak.

I remember giving him the first one. He refused it simply because it was trimmed with fur. I had to create a new one.

The stubborn child.

Still, I will not frown upon his ways. They are not bad after all. Plenty of plants can be used to feed and care for him.

He leans down to the water and hovers his fingers over the top. The water swirls under his hand and it seems to dance, almost like it is happy to see him. Of course it is.

I roll my eyes.

“Come on now, we must hurry. It will be dark soon.” I say and glance at the top of the dead mountain.

I know the demon is up there. I believe we should be fine. Perhaps I can scare him away?

Moving over to him, I find that he has decided to set up camp. Interesting. Is he looking for us? What am I thinking? Of course he is.

I sneer down at his face. He is rather handsome for a demon. I mean we all look somewhat the same but still. I personally find most demons disgusting.

Hmm...what to do, what to do?

I smile at a thought and slip into a skeleton of a tree next to him. The tree begins to creak as I move my arms, imitating the wind blowing through the limps. I lean forward, the trunk cracks from the movement.

He does not look at me. Not even so much as a glance.

I pout. The hell could he be looking at? He isn’t deaf is he?

I follow his line of sight and see that he is looking at Luno. Well, the dot that is Luno. He is so far out in the water that you can barely tell it is a person.

The damn child has started without me.

I glance once more at the demon. Sizing him up in a way. I could easily just kill him. Yet, I kind of want to see how this goes. It has been an agonizingly slow few years. I will simply leave him be for now.

Moving back to Luno, I see he has created a pillar of stone. It stands about twenty feet over the ocean water. I am not sure how deep it goes under the water. Nor do I really care.

“Begin.” I simply say, pretending I was here the whole time.

Luno smiles to himself and instantly the waves crashing into the pillar begin to reach higher.

“Enfi!” I call in a sing-songy voice.

A flash of red covers the sun’s rays for a split second before a beautiful red phoenix calls out to Luno. I roll my eyes. Of course it is to Luno. Everything just loves Luno.

Enfi’s left wing glows bright and then small flames begins to trail behind it. She circles around Luno and when the fire has frozen in the air, she flies off and back to the shore.

Fire has always been Luno’s weakest element to handle. Not exactly a surprise with his history.

I move back to the demon and see he is now standing; watching the waves dance around the pillar. The fire has now begun to grow and circle around Luno horizontally.

“What the hell?” The demon whispers. I smirk and move back to Luno.

Luno had his gaze on the horizon. As soon as I am looking down at him, his gaze lifts upwards.

That creeps me out every time. I do not understand how he can sense I am near him. He can not see me, so how does he know?

I frown and then the wind begins to pick up.

His snowy white hair begins to move in all kinds of directions. His hands are extended and he spreads his fingers out, letting the air slip between them.

Slowly, very slowly, he begins to rise. His bare feet lift off the stone pillar and he starts to float up into the air.

His eyes are beginning to glow already. We will have to work on that next time. He hasn’t even gotten to earth or water yet. Well, fully into water.

I do not stop him however. I do not wish to disturb his concentration. He has indeed gotten better. Only took a few decades I guess.

He continues to fly higher and higher into the air.

I frown, he isn’t using earth yet. He should have by now. Very well, I guess I will interrupt him.

“Luno.” I say sharply.

Almost instantly, the pillar cracks into four large pieces. I purse my lips at the gesture.

The little thing is growing an attitude.

The large stones begin to circle around him. They soon crumple into smaller pieces with each full turn around him. Soon he has a small collection of pebbles that circle beneath him. They always remind me of the stars at night. Well, at least our night sky.

I do not even have to remind him about the water. It is his favorite of the four. Which is why I make it his last to use. It serves as a sort of reward for completing the first three.

The water reaches up to him. Waves crashing over the other as if there is a crowd fighting to reach ahead of the other.

The ocean soon falls silent and rests its waves. The crowd has disappeared. Calmed by Luno himself.

With the rise of his hands, six streams of clear water rocket up into the sky. They even pass Luno in his flight and reach out for the clouds. Droplets of water rain down from where they end and fall back into the ocean.

It is a symphony of magic. None can use it as he does. Mages must use runes and scrolls but those do not even come close to bringing this much power.

The earth spirals a small galaxy beneath his feet, the winds bend to his will and keep him high in the skies, the fire dances around him in a performance that he wishes, and the water creates patterns that even the best of weavers could only hope to replicate.

All that power, and it is wasted on a fool like him. It is just shameful that he has been given power as this. Yet it is his own. Nobody can have a say that they gifted such a thing.

“That is enough.” I say.

Instantly the fire flickers out, the stones drop into the water, and the streams slip back into the ocean. Luno slowly lowers himself to the water and the air calms down.

Luno does not sink into the water. Instead he stands on it. Barely sinking past the delicate surface.

“How did I do?” He asks with bright eyes and a grin. So he thinks he did well?

“You had better watch your attitude.” I glare. He does not see it of course. He only pushes his bottom lip out a little.

“Your eyes had begun to glow before you even reached the third phase.” I state. It only causes the lip to push out further. I sigh.

“You did well, Luno.”

Instantly he bounces on his toes. The two silver ankle bracelets clink together at each bounce on his right leg. “Can I heal now?” He asks with a smile.

I can’t help but smile at this. While I find him a disappointment, his care for the world is unmatched. If only some people could do the same.

“Yes, of course.” I nod. Again, he can’t see it.

The wind picks up and he practically jets high into the sky. I chuckle to myself and move to meet him.

~~~
~~~

Tobias

I stare in wonder at the colors that are moving around the mysterious person in the sky.

I know they are definitely not an angel. None of them can cast spells. Only demons and humans. However, demons tend to hold far more power of course.

Is this a demon? I do not know of any that can control more than one element.

I want to get closer.

Carefully, I make my way down the small mountain. I tiptoe around the roots of trees and the bodies of animals.

This would be so much easier if I could transform. I wouldn’t be so damn loud and slow.

I huff a breath and try to run a hand down my face to wipe off sweat. I frown at myself for being stupid and use my other hand instead.

Why must the demon come out when it is so damn hot?

I freeze after realizing something. They could be after the contract as well. Surely my uncle wouldn’t just give me the contract and then allow others to fight for the angel’s head as well. Would he?

I frown at the figure in the sky. This is supposed to be an easy one. Most demons would not even bother. I didn’t even want to bother. Yet my uncle pushed me to do so. A way to ‘test my arm.’ What a joke that was.

Now I do not think it is a demon. The price for the angel is far too low to convince anyone to take it.

I stand under a dead tree around the middle of the mountain. I glance around to find somewhere to sit. I definitely do not want to be seen by the human. It will only bring them bad luck.

An angel would only be attracted to the one strong soul in a land of death. I guess I will have to protect the stupid mage if it comes down to it.

The colors in the sky disappear. The mage sinks down to the ocean. The dot stands in the middle of the bay.

I guess from their display, they could probably handle themselves.

Shaking my head.I push away the thought. It is a human. They think angels are good. Of course the mage wouldn’t fight back.

I sigh. I finally found a solid log to sit on and now I have to go down to protect the stupid mage.

I glance over the side of a rather steep hill. Surely I can slide down it? It seems easy enough. I have done it plenty of times before. Not this one of course, but close enough.

I ready myself and move to keep both arms in the air to balance myself. I wince at the emptiness on one side and move my physical arm in front of me. I guess that will be easier.

Soon I am sliding down. I didn’t expect to slip so fast and start to panic a little. Gods I wish I could transform right now!

Something snags my foot and then I am falling forward. I land hard on my shoulder and then I am forever rolling down the hill.

I move my arm to cover my face and then feel a sharp pain that makes me hiss through my teeth. I am pretty sure a bone has stabbed into my side. I keep my eyes shut until I finally stop rolling.

Groaning, I move my arm away. I turn to my left to try and roll over to stand. Instantly a sharp pain flares up my side and to my ribs.

I turn the other direction and decide to just lean my head back. I don’t know what it is but I am resting on something soft. I do not really want to know what it is at this moment. I have a small idea of what it could be.

Reaching down to the sharp bone that has stabbed into my side, I grip where it sticks out. With a deep breath, I pull it out fast.

I cry out and grit my teeth.

Gods fucking dammit!

Well wouldn’t this be fucking embarrassing. Soon everyone will know that the nephew of a General has died not to an angel, but from fucking tripping on top of a bone.

Excellent!

I sigh and wince at that. Bad idea to sigh.

Looking out to the ocean in front of me, I am pretty sure I am still far from the bottom of this godsforsaken mountain.

I look for the small dot that was in the middle of the ocean and see they are missing.

Oh gods. I hope they didn’t manage to get their soul stolen in that small amount of time.

Idiot, I groan and awkwardly press my hand onto the wound. Not exactly easy when it's on the same side as my one good arm.

I lean back and lift my eyes to the sky. Mostly to keep an eye out for any possible angel flying about.

Lucky bastards. I would give anything to have wings right now.

I squint as I do see something in the sky. Is it the angel? It is hard to tell. It is a bit too far in the air honestly.

The small dot begins to glow. A circle of shining rainbows spreads around them before a bright light explodes in the sky. A sonic boom follows right after. I try to cover my ears but fail. Instead I cover my eyes from the light that is far too bright.

Wind pushes me back hard against the ground.

Holy shit! What is going on?

I feel as if I am raising both hands to cover my eyes but only feel the one.

A warm tickling eases onto the wound on my side and also on the stump of my arm. I frown and slowly lower my hand but the light continues to shine. The breeze surrounds me and the smell of autumn leaves fills the air.

Strange.

The tickling of the wound soon stops and I reach down to check what has happened. Blood stains the dark armor but where there should be a puncture, there is only my bare skin.

I freeze as I realize something. I can feel the grass under...my hand! The hand that I lost!

I glance down and I just about choke in shock. My...my arm…it’s back! I lift it curiously in front of my face, even rub it against my cheek. I feel my own cheek and hand at the same time. I laugh and move to stand. I do not feel anymore pain from the fall.

Looking back up towards the light, I shield myself with my arm. I smile at how I can feel the light’s warmth.

My eyes widen as I look behind me. I was laying...on a beaver? How the hell did he not get angry with me?

He looks up at me with curious eyes before running into a bush behind him. A bush.

I look around me and no longer see the graveyard that was once here. Instead, the forest that surrounded this area has grown once again. Life is restored. Animals call out into the air, I swear it is almost as if they are crying their thanks.

I shiver even if the air is warm. Green trees stand tall and beautiful flowers are in full bloom.

The light has faded. The dot slowly falls back towards the ocean. I think by the beach. The hills in front of me covers it completely.

I just stand in shock. I...I-I need to thank them!

Immediately I start walking forward.