Elemental Awakening

Chapter Sixteen

Those that were left in the Cactus Paw complex fell into complacency in the time that the majority of the group had left. Maybe they believed that the threat was gone, maybe they hoped that they larger population attracted the threat enough to distract it from themselves. Maybe they forgot that they were at risk in the first place. Unfortunately all their hopes and wishes were for nothing. The beast did remember them, and needed to feed his swarm once again. 

There were men in the fields that night. They were lovingly tending to their crops and few animals that were left by the larger group. One by one they lifted their gaze to the sky, transfixed to the blue moon. Women and children began filing out of the cave entrance looking toward the sky. One by one every member that was left behind were standing in the fields staring at the blue moon track it’s path across the volcano caldera. The humming began as the moon was at its zenith, tribe members began to wake from their hypnosis.

Fear settled in everyone's gut as a cloud eclipsed the moon. Still unable to decide if they should run the few thousand people that populated what was left of the Cactus Paw basin stood rooted to their places. It would have been pointless to flee in any event, the swarm was casting it’s hungry gaze on the people below. 

One by one the people fell to their knees as the humming and buzzing of the mass of insectoid bodies drove a subsonic drone into their heads. Eardrums burst from the pressure and each person clutched their heads in pain. Their screams were unheard as the drone made no room for any other sound. The first wave of the swarm were the corpse beetles. Flesh was ripped from bones killing people in the most horrifying way possible. Each bite stripped away skin and sinew from the beetle’s victims leaving clean white bone exposed for the next wave of the swarm. The bone weevil beetles took all evidence that the Cactus Paw even existed in the inactive volcano. 

The humming quieted down, and slowly the basin was empty. All life, all organic building materials, all traces of humankind was gone. Just a ghost in the record of the Abyssal plain. One day if inquisitive beings stumbled upon this place they would find nothing to indicate any evidence that a thriving civilization was once housed inside the belly of a sleeping mountain.

…

A chill ran through Dankiyet as she sat with Tangden in the rooms that Exquisite and Yasigi arranged for the higher council and the Elementals. “Are you alright mistress?” Tangden asked.

“I don’t know.” She replied feeling disoriented. David entered the sitting room quickly looking around as though he was checking for a threat. “What is it my love?”

“You didn’t feel that? Our people have been attacked again.” He answered, still checking. “I need to go to the camp, Adad should be in the roost right?” David asked Tangden.

“Yes master, I will join you.” The former tax man stood following the younger elemental through the door once again.

David ran up the stairs to the dragon’s roost. The roost was at the top of one of the onion capped towers overlooking the city and joining harbor. The entry was large enough for two dragons at full wingspan to glide into their perches without touching. Adad was sprawled on the raised platform that served as his perch. “Adad, Lake! I need to get to the camp as soon as possible! Something happened.” The dragon lifted his head and lazily regarded the Elemental. 

Lake popped his head up from behind his dragon where he was dry scrubbing his scale as the only open water access they had was the harbor. “What’s the matter David?” He asked, walking around and brushing dislodged scales from his clothing. 

“I felt an attack on our people, I need to verify.” David explained in a tone that indicated that he felt that he was wasting time.

“Adad’s mate is at the camp and she seems content at the moment. I just asked my brother, he’s on patrol, and he says nothing is out of the ordinary.” Lake reasoned with David, attempting to reassure the young man.

Sui and Wendy rushed in behind David both with worried looks on their faces. “Did you feel it?” Wendy asked. Dashing all hopes for Lake to finish the task for his dragon. 

“Yeah, but Lake says the camp is fine.” David replied. Tangden and Lake shrugged, but Adad chuffed and lumbered up then extended his leg for the party to climb on his back.

“I guess we are going then. Let me get another rider here.” Lake said, indicating that David and Tangden could climb up behind him. “Ogoun and Peace will be here shortly for you two.”

Adad traversed the roost floor quickly then launched himself into the air at the edge of the entrance. Within a few moments they were over the sprawling city. David could see the busy streets around the senate buildings, stretching out in all directions toward the walls and main gate. The main boulevard reached into the heart of the senate block and through to the castle. It intersected neighborhoods, markets, and industrial sectors giving any newcomer a taste of everything that the city had to offer. Parallel to the main boulevard though was the real story of the city.

To the north of main boulevard was Slum Road, and to the south was Highborn Avenue. The city guards made sure that none of the residents of Slum Road were seen on main boulevard for very long, and they never crossed into Highborn Avenue. There were many small connecting roads from Main Boulevard to either of it’s parallels making it easy to navigate the city quick and easy, as long as you stay in the center. Once you left the three primary parallels however you would end up trapped in a rat’s maze of alleyways and dead ends. Even the more affluent streets were over crowded and confusing to navigate. 

David observed the city until they flew over the gate into the camp. The camp was in stark contrast to the disorganized city. Tents and wheeled boats were lined neatly and grouped in clusters of eight around a shared fire pit. Each cluster had the work animals neatly tethered to the boats with room to move and grazed. The tents were perfectly stacked and well manicured. The walkways from cluster to cluster were clearly delineated and marked so no one could trip over tent guy lines.

David could see that each cluster had two boats to six tents, and the tents were mixed materials. There were at least two nomad tents in each cluster leaving the remaining four tents brand new and quickly constructed to mimic the nomads’ professional construction. The closer that Adad brought them to the camp he could see that at a few tents there were nomads instructing the villagers and Gold port residents how to construct more tents with the material that they brought. It was more colorful and in some places he could see gold thread standing out at the seams, giving away where the new materials were purchased. 

Adad began to back wing pumping air under his wings providing a smooth and easy landing. He was an expert in flight, and his ancestor memories aided his technique. Once settled he extended his leg allowing David and Tangden to dismount. David ran to the large tent next to the designated dragon landing area looking for Tariel and Ashfoot, as they elected to stay with the camp with Avensong and the warriors. 

David flung the tent flap back startling Tariel, but annoying Ashfoot. “Did you feel it?” David asked in a panicked voice.

“Yes, but it was not here, I believe those that chose to stay back in the basin are our fallen.” Ashfoot answered crestfallen. David sank to the carpets of the tent floor, devastated that the prediction came true. Losing even one person to this evil was bad, but there were almost five thousand people that stayed back in the cave complex. 

“We just have to honor their choice, and thank them for their sacrifice, they were well informed what might have happened to them were they to stay.” Tariel said as he stood up to leave and inform the rest of the camp searching for specific people that were members of those families that were left. 

Once he was down the path Ashfoot gathered David’s attention. “Launching such a large attack may have exhausted the beast. As terrible and sad as losing so many of our clan is, it may have given us more time to bring the Gold to our side. We need to use this to our benefit.” 

David’s face was grim, but he nodded understanding that they would need to petition harder in the senate to gain favor in the city. “We’ll go back and let the others know. How many have come to the camp from the city so far?”

“Nearly three hundred, just today, that makes the count one thousand, and our total population sixty five thousand.” Ashfoot answered. 

“That works even better for us then. That means we just barely outnumber the City’s population and can gain seats in the senate.” David said with hope returning after such somber news. “I’ll bring Dankiyet back in a few days.” with that, David ducked out of the tent and ran back to Adad and Lake, right as Ogoun and Peace were landing with Sui and Wendy. 

“Did you find what caused that?” Wendy ran up to David with worry plastered on her face.

The fire elemental nodded with grief. “Yeah. It was the basin.” He said without stopping rejoining Lake and Adad. “We’re going back to the city, we need to make preparations to begin filling the senate seats.” David and Tangden climbed on the back of the grey dragon behind his rider Lake. 

Sui and Wendy headed to the tent that David just vacated to sit with Ashfoot and Tariel for a bit before heading back to the city themselves. They didn’t want this to be a wasted trip. David just wanted to get back and get the plan started. He needed to save as many people as he could, he couldn’t feel like a failure anymore. 

Once they returned to the city the sun was just rising. David was used to being on a night shift, after living on the same cycle as the cactus paw for so long, but he missed the way the desert looked in the afternoon, the sky painted in reds, orange and purples. Most of all he missed the way that the horizon was hazy with the heat, and the smell of the cactus flowers opening for pollinating bees and butterflies. 

Regaining his thoughts he debarked Adad, the fire elemental left Tangden and Lake in the roost to head down to the room that he occupied with Dankiyet. He mused how drastically his life was changing. This world was completely different from everything that he ever knew, but at the same time, it was so familiar. He reached his door feeling exhausted, and contemplative. He needed rest, real rest, that has been evading him since Locksear first appeared to the Cactus Paw at the planting festival. 

He noticed that Dankiyet was already burrowed into the blankets of their low bed, almost building a nest in the pillows. The baby wasn’t very big yet, but her joints have begun to ache and she found getting comfortable evasive. He crawled into the fortress of comfort that Dankiyet erected wrapping his arm around her waist pulling her into his chest. He knew that he was meant for her, but at the same time he still couldn’t believe that she returned his affection. In a way she saved his life. 

He thought back on his dark days, an orphan, kicked out of the group home because he’s technically an adult, but at the same time they didn’t bother giving him any skills to survive. These days seemed dark for a wholly new reason, it wasn’t neglect, but actually malice that was threatening him now, and worse, his family. He has a family now. 

David let sleep take him enveloped in the warmth of his shaman. He didn’t dream this night, not any that he would remember, and that was a blessing after the nightmares that were the norm since the first attack. 

…

At noon Sui and Wendy returned to the city and the rooms provided by Exquisite. The pair went in search of their senator host once they reached the level of the offices. “We need to see how far she has gotten with her own progress.” Sui whispered to Wendy as they rounded a corner.

“Yeah I get that, but why does it need to be right now?” She asked

“I have a feeling that this attack was a build up, I don’t agree with Ashfoot right now, I don’t think that it’s going to slow down, I think that Locksear is throwing a decoy for us to bite on. There was no need to attack the ones that we left behind, the only thing that they served for him was to affect us, the Elementals, we are the only ones that would feel that attack. It was a clear message, he is consuming the world.” Sui snapped his mouth closed as they entered Exquisite’s office. She was with a small man in a brown robe. His style reminded him of the monks in the monastery he grew up in. He waited for her to acknowledge their presence. 

“Good afternoon Master Air and Mistress Water. Please have a seat, let me introduce you to my friend.” A quiet smile adorned Exquisite’s face “This is Edger, he is a monk from Saludade. He is here as he has found some manuscripts that have a prophecy that you may be interested in hearing about.” Sui stood forward, before claiming his seat all of his attention was on Edger.

The man was quite flustered at being introduced to the Elementals and could not contain his excitement. “Oh fantastic, the Master Air Sui, and Mistress Water Wendy! I am beyond pleased to finally meet you!” He excitedly began as he bowed low in front of the Elementals. 

Sui returned the bow and politely. “Thank you brother Edger, please let us discuss your documents.” Edger was taken aback by the formality that Sui imparted upon him, he wasn’t expecting outlanders to understand his customs. 

“Master Air, May I ask how you know to address me?”

“I was a Buddhist monk in the Dreaming world. It is pleasing to meet someone that knows monastic courtesies here. I was not expecting this.” Sui answered.

Edger was shocked, what are the chances that the Dreamer would be a monk as well. “I must know more, but first let us go over this.” The monk pulled a leather cylinder from his sleeves and opened it revealing sheets of parchment rolled inside.

Edger laid the documents out on the table that occupied Exquisite’s office. The text was in English and the pictures were detailing everything that had happened since Wendy was dumped into Lamasuli’s lap. “This can’t be real,” Wendy whispered.

“But it is Mistress, these were foretold when the dragons came to the abyssal plain and claimed the mountain ranges.” Edger promised.

“But the Dragons brought people here in the first place.” Sui corrected.

“Not true, the dragons brought their people here, but we have been here from the beginning.” Edger clarified.

Sui nodded accepting this. “It seems that we didn’t get the entire story from the queens.”

Edger smiled then continued pointing at the manuscript. “At that time the dragons were still able to transform into their human form, and we interacted with them. One of their dragon kings fell in love with our priestess. They had a child.” 

“How is that even possible? They are two different species!” Wendy blurted out.

Edger paused blushing a bit before continuing with the narrative. “He was the first and last child, when he was born the dragon queens killed the king, and refused to let another king in their ruling council. Gradually the Dragons lost the ability to transform, and began to fall into madness, and were forced to create a psychic link with their riders at birth. The link is somewhat parasitic..”

“We know this part.” Sui interrupted, the monk sounded negative knowing that the dragons depended so heavily on the human mind to be stable.

Edger collected himself “Yes sorry about that. Uhh, okay yes, so the child that was born had great psychic powers, and prophesied that the rift between our world and what is called the dreaming world would open every one hundred years allowing at least four very powerful people in.” 

“What do you mean by ‘at least’?” Wendy asked.

“Simply that, Mistress. The rift leaves room for more than four people to wake from the dreaming world. But it says here that they won’t appear in the desert of our world, they will come to the water wood across the chasm.”

Sui and Wendy sat back in amazement. They had the chance to find more people, more help even. This was wonderful news for them. “We need to find them!” Wendy finally said.

“What if they don’t come until the end of the cycle? We are twenty years early remember?” Sui reminded her.

Wendy deflated, flopped back in the chair hitting her head on the high back, she hissed in slight pain, but heavy defeat. Annoyed, she looked at Edger, “So, what else does it say that has you excited.”

Edger began to animate more “That’s just it Master, Mistress! Once the rift opens, it opens for all that are chosen to come, not just the Elementals!”

“Hang on, ‘not just the Elementals’? Is this like when you said ‘at least’? Do these people have different powers?” Wendy began grilling Edger, and firing off questions. “Does this paper say where we can find these people? And what are their powers?”

Edger staggered back from the barrage looking to Sui for help. Sui simply shrugged “You might as well continue, Wendy doesn’t have a lot of patients after she was personally targeted by the beast.” Edger paled, and Wendy frowned. 

Edger cleared his throat. “So all it says on this sheet is that they will appear in the Water Wood south of the mist. We know that that area is east of the chasm. But we can get there in two weeks if we take the Gold road.”

Finally Exquisite added to the conversation. “I Take it you wish to organize an expedition?”

“We don’t have much time senator, this next attack from the swarm could level Gold city.” The man was urgent in his needs.

“You won’t find financial support within the senate, I suggest talking to the Cactus Paw and the Dragons to find someone to mount this excursion.” Exquisite said while rubbing her temples. “I wish that I could do more my dear friend, but you know the lengths that I have had to go just to allow access to the elementals and their council.”

“I understand. Thank you my dear friend.”Edger was crestfallen, “Master Air, Mistress Water. Thank you for the audience.” 

“You are welcome brother Edger. I will meet with my colleagues and will let you know our decision. I’m certain that Exquisite has let you know what we are trying to accomplish here at present.” Sui replied.

“I will be in the library, I appreciate that you are considering this proposal.” The monk bowed and left the office to the Elementals and the Senator.

Exquisite was introspective but explained to the Elementals what Edger meant to her.“I have known Edger his whole life. He is my cousin, but his parents fled the city when the classes began to stratify, leaving more and more in poverty. My parents stayed to try to fix the problem, but his father was a laborer and found himself at the bottom even though my aunt was a teacher. My aunt knew about the library of Saludade. We would only see each other twice a year when my father made the trip to the chasm for trade, we would stop in Saludade to replenish and trade.” 

“I can tell that you care about him. It was interesting meeting him. I’m not certain that we will be able to do anything about tracking down the others that might have come through the rift with us though. We will have to confer over this matter.” Sui explained.

“We should probably go take care of that then.” Wendy said as she was standing to head to the door. “You just keep working the senate over so we will be in a better position to defend the city when the time comes.” 

Sui followed Wendy out of the office with a nod to Exquisite. The pair walked into the rooms that the council were using for meeting purposes and addressed the others that were in the city. Dankiyet was thoughtful but kept her opinion to herself for the time being. Cafune agreed that the group should find the others, but didn’t want the elementals to be the ones to go in search. They would have to bring this matter up to the dragon queens to send riders and Cactus warriors in an expedited manner. The whole situation was becoming more trouble than it seemed worth. They didn’t even know how many people they should be looking for in the first place. 

“For now we should wait to see what Exquisite can accomplish with the senate.” Cafune finally declared. “It’s not like we can make a tracking stone for these people.”

“That’s it!” Dankiyet jumped up in excitement. “We make new tracking stones!”