Elemental Awakening

Chapter Twenty

Mazy ran to the other elementals shouting that Cleo was in danger. She knew that her sister would be making every effort possible to block the eruption of gnashing teeth and claws, but for how long. If she was worried then that meant that they were already here. She heard the hum of millions of insect bodies before she got back into the workshop where Wendy and Sui were. They looked at her as her feet echoed down the hallway announcing her arrival. 

“They’re here!” Mazy shouted instantly, launching the elementals and house captains into action. Wendy and Sui ran out the front of the library to meet with Cleo. Telepinue ran to the warrior house to rouse the troops while Edger rang the alarm bells of the great library. Sui quickly called for David and met with the young woman on the ground outside the library. 

The sky grew dark as the swarm clouded the horizon, the ground rumbled with bodies reaching for the surface. The wind grew hot with the press of insect bodies in the area. Glittering wings and eyes cast an eerie glow on the wave of destruction that quickly approached the temple of knowledge. The Elementals stood in shock of the conglomeration of creatures the gathering was more in number than the first attack on the volcanic basin that they knew as home. Here they had no way of sustainably defending themselves. 

“Sui! Lift!” Telepinue ran to sui in one of the wing suits with one of the weapons that Edger had been demonstrating. It hummed with latent energy ready to be unleashed. Sui nodded what she needed. The master of wind sent a blast of air under the warrior woman rocketing her into the air. Soon her entire air force was behind her on dragon back and in wingsuit diving and sending jets of fire into the wall of the hoard. 

Sui watched in admiration of her bravery in the face of the storm. She had a grace about her as she spread her suit wide waiting for another lift of wind to close her arms again taking aim with deft accuracy and wiping out a column of swirling bodies killing thousands with sickening pops and crackles.

The swarm was devouring their own dead as fast as the elementals and Telepinue’s dragon yearlings could kill them. Sui was expecting a rain of crispy insects to fall on him, but instead they were consumed on the way to attacking the clan. They could all smell the cactus oil coating skin, but this deterrent was only slowing these new variants of menace. 

The hum in the wing beats slowed and coalesced into a terrifying message. The vibration in the wind interrupted Sui in his machinations to lift and propel the wing suited warriors, and spoke to everyone present. {Give us the water mistress!} At least two of the wingsuit warriors were knocked out of the air due to Sui’s inability to use his power because of the disturbances created by the swarm. 

Dragons blew more flames into the swarm igniting all creatures in their path. Riders used the new energy based weapons and began sizzling insects in sweeps indiscriminately. Sui was no longer able to send blasts of air to redirect fighters out of each other’s path and one warrior was injured in the unfocused attacks. Telepinue screamed orders to her fighters making them focus their attacks to an outside perimeter leaving the rest of the fighting on the inside to the Elementals.

The insect swarm changed their target from the gliding warriors and dragon directly to Wendy attempting to encapsulate her in a ball of beetles. She was quicker than them though and sliced through them with water and ice. She expanded the moisture in their bodies and froze the humidity around them dropping piles and piles of pestilence on the sand. She began to sweat with the strain of keeping up with the onslaught but just redirected that new resource into a fevered counter attack.

The insect swarm changed their target from the gliding warriors and dragon directly to Wendy attempting to encapsulate her in a ball of beetles. She was quicker than them though and sliced through them with water and ice. She expanded the moisture in their bodies and froze the humidity around them dropping piles and piles of pestilence on the sand. She began to sweat with the strain of keeping up with the onslaught but just redirected that new resource into a fevered counter attack. 

Cleo was crushing and collapsing tunnels under their feet and reinforcing the land underneath them so that the undermining would not endanger the fighters above nor the library. As she could she sent rocks and pebbles flying into the thickest throngs of miasma the crush of bodies was so thick that it decimated hundreds of the larger creepy crawlies. Cleo created a wall around the battle keeping the spiders and scorpions from reaching the fighters on their feet. {Give us our queen!} 

Cleo quickly built a geode around Wendy seeing the attack around her had grown more fervent and desperate. A wave of flying beetles descended wrapping around the crystalline obstruction chewing at the sphere to break into it. Sui raised a cloak of wind around the geode adding a second wall. David joined their efforts calling for an inferno to wrap around the crystal ball. Cleo could feel under the crystal that a wall of ice was growing around Wendy. 

A new human voice joined the humming of the insects “I will take her! She is rightfully mine!” a shadow was slowly revealed in the cloud of moving bodies. The creature towered over the warriors and the Elementals. His grey skin gleamed in the dim fire light of David’s inferno. The wings revealed behind the monster twitched and shimmered in green iridescent hues. Slowly the massive not quite human creature strode towards the barriers encapsulating Wendy. “I know you can hear me, my little pet. I know you have been misbehaving. I will claim you. But for now, I will take what you desire the most.” 

Pearspine’s infantry rushed in with torches and oil bags ready to douse anything that crawled into their perimeter while the dragons kept the air clear from attack. The fighters with wingsuits descended to the ground with their energy based weapons ready for anything. Cleo was keeping up as best as she could but she missed one tunnel that opened under the feet of at least twenty warriors from Pearspine’s house. They fell to the waiting mandibles of beetles and scorpions ready to shred flesh and rend sinew from bone. The screams were deafening. Cleo fell to her knees taking all the responsibility on her thin shoulders. She should have seen that. She should have closed that tunnel and fortified the ground. She failed. 

Pearspine began directing fighters around the tunnel opening and screamed at Cleo to pull herself together and close that tunnel before the mass of writhing bodies could flow forth. Cleo snapped herself out of her self reflection and did as she needed to, collapsing the tunnel and layering more rock and soil underneath them making the ground denser. Pearspine nodded in approval and rolled through directing more warriors to position themselves on the perimeter laying layers of cactus oil waiting to ignite it. 

Clouds of wings and teeth descended from higher in the sky wrapping a yearling drong in horror. One by one the bones of the draglet and his rider fell upon the warriors in a macable downpour. As each bone landed on the ground in their perimeter it shattered letting bone weevil beetles erupt from the hollows, they immediately sought out the soft flesh of the nearest fighters and began attacking. More fighters fell to injuries before they could defend themselves from the onslaught. David began igniting the cactus oil and directing his green flames to seek out each insect inside their fighting circle avoiding the people defending the camp and clans. 

Horrifically though all this was simply a distraction for them all. The beast from the desert knew how to weaken his intended target. He was guided by the moon, and they had one singular goal. The absolute control and ownership of the water elemental. Monks joined the fighters with their weapons and knowledge of the threat. They helped and directed efforts to key points in the insect swarm that would lessen their threat. Their tactics were being noted though.

The malicious eyes of the beast from the desert scanned the warriors gathered standing in disbelief settling on one out of place monk. The monster extended his arm and one mangled finger pointing at the monk. Suddenly he was wrapped in an arm of the swarm and began screaming. The crystal ball and all barriers shattered revealing a devastated Wendy. She began screaming. “Edger! No! NO! Not him! Please!!” 

The towering insectoid monster gleefully turned his murderous gaze to Wendy. “Be ready for me next time.” His wings began flapping faster than the eye could track leaving a green blur behind his back. The monster launched himself into the air taking the swarm of insects with him. Leaving several warriors and monks dead on the ground after such a confusing and sudden attack. 

Wendy ran to where Edger had been standing moments before, but nothing remained, only his medallion indicating his order. Wendy sobbed on the sand releasing her tears back into the dying earth. Ice grew in fractal patterns around each salty impact. 

Cleo, David, and Sui stood around Wendy not quite knowing what to do for their friend. Not sure how to handle all the information that had just been laid at their feet. Only understanding that she needed comfort, and would be blaming herself for her lover’s death after this tragic event.

…

The clan changes drastically with the events of the attack. The former citizens of gold not quite trusting the elementals after Locksear presented himself and targeted one of them. They thought that this wouldn’t be happening in the first place if the elementals had never shown. The Cactus paw and the Dragons knew differently though, they knew that the elementals were really the only people keeping the monster from being able to fully unleash the power of the blue moon. And the scribes and monks of Saludade knew that their power alone was capable of holding back the waves of death beating at their gates. 

The council now is composed of people from all four origins for the time being, open elections will be scheduled for in harvest time. The council grew from seven members to nineteen with representations close to evenly distributed. The council is seeing an increase in cross tribe marriages, but are also seeing more strife and fights break out because of the inability of some to integrate into the homeless amalgamation. The cactus paw being hard headed and stubborn, the dragon claw wanting to keep to themselves, the scribes and priests of Saludade clueless as to a world outside their books, and the gold city denizens stuck in the hierarchy of aristocracy. The people need guidance, and the elementals are pressed to enforce unity.

The clan needed to keep moving to the chasm and the land beyond in hopes of finding the other dreamers. The monks and citizens of Sludade all elected to join the clan, and new elections were held before they struck camp on their way to the Bridge. The clan was now truly massive and consisted of people from Cactus Paw, Dragon Maw, Gold city and the Port, and now Saludade. Because so many of their people died during the attack of Saludade and the clan finally began to work as one unit they decided to name the clan after the town. With the new weapons and innovations that the library gave to the survivors they felt that this would bring homage to  those that were lost.

Almost a third of each warrior house was killed in the attack and that did not set well with anyone. They needed to move and fast, they needed to find the others. Maybe their powers would aid in defending themselves from the monster that Locksear had become. That last attack had been the first time that he had revealed his new form to the world, and it was truly scarring. The warriors needed time to process what they had witnessed. The power, strength and confidence that this monster boasted was unnerving. This attack was clearly meant to be simply psychological, and it was working. The nightmares now were from their own volition, this monster no longer needed to haunt their dreams. 

Everyone worried about the mistress of air, and for good reason. It was clear now that she was his only target. His main goal may be to cleans the world of all life, but he let everyone know that she was his key to that end. This affected her more than anything. Yes she lost her lover, but now she knew that the attacks would not stop because of her. She hated that feeling. 

Wendy once again became withdrawn from the others. She was indeed blaming herself for the death of someone that she was coming to love. Wendy’s mental health was deteriorating and no one was able to reach her. Even Sui, her best friend, was making no progress in pulling her out of her darkness. She wasn’t shirking her duties as an Elemental, but she was doing little else outside of that.

Some one was always with Wendy from this point, the elementals could feel that she blamed herself, and they were afraid that she would willingly walk into the desert and give herself to the beast thinking that she could stop the attacks by giving him what he wanted. Dankiyet and Ashfoot knew that that would only make the attacks worse, more powerful, and devastating.

Lamasuli tried to  reach her charge one evening and walked with her in their camp a few days from the Bridge. “You can blame yourself all you want, but that is not honoring your lover, nor is it changing the events that happened.” 

Wendy rolled her eyes, she was fed up with everyone trying to comfort her. She wanted to wallow in her misery and to be left alone. “I know that. Just let me deal with this on my own.” 

“No Wendy, I’m not going to do that. You think that this is all your fault, but the real fault is on that monster out there.” Suli grabbed Wendy’s shoulders forcing her to look her in the face. “I know what you are feeling, you think that you can take this on yourself and spare the rest of us. But that thing out there will not stop because he has one thing that he wants, you are nothing but a tool for him. Something to be used and thrown away.”

Wendy pushed the woman away from her. “How else am I supposed to feel. He made it clear that he will continue to chase us and kill everyone that I care about. So it’s better if I just stop caring!”

Lamasuli shook her head, hurt that her friend was shouldering so much on her own. “You need to feel angry. You need to want to fight. You need to be the asset that you need for yourself, not just for us, but for you.” 

The elemental scoffed. “You say that so easily, yet all I see is attack after attack directed at me.”

“So fight! Don’t let him win in your head! Once he makes a home there all is lost!” The warrior screamed at her friend pointing at her temple. “He won’t stop once he claims you. He will just use whatever power he gains from you to wipe all life from the waking world.”

use whatever power he gains from you to wipe all life from the waking world.”

“I’m done with this argument right now, if you want to keep your babysitters on me fine, but I can’t change my mind or feelings so easily.” Wendy continued with her walk around the camp trying to burn off her steam.

The elemental was in turmoil and even though she wanted to let people in to help her, it wasn’t all that easy. She felt like she was blocked from having a real connection, and couldn’t voice her fear to anyone. She wondered if the monster that wanted her so desperately was doing something to keep her from connecting to anyone again. She knew that she missed Edger horribly. She considered starting a life with him once all this settled, but other plans had been set in motion, plans stronger than she could hope to be. 

For some reason Wendy still felt out of place here. All the other Elementals felt at home, like they were meant to be here since the beginning. But Wendy, no she was just a stranger, and imposter, not of this plane. She wanted to feel normal again, and she only briefly had that with Edger. How was she supposed to find that again? How was she supposed to feel complete when her home had been taken from her so completely. 

Wendy kept her journal though, it was a habit that she brought with her from her teen years in the dreaming world. And it was something that she connected with Edger on. She felt that this was one thing that she must continue holding onto that one thing of her lover. She wondered if she would be as fervent about annotating her life anymore if her lover was still with her. She decided that she probably would, and that made her interest in that hobby all the more insistent. Maybe it was something that he would want her to keep doing. Maybe this was her way of holding onto her grandparents and her home from before drowning in the ocean to wake up in the sand and blistering sun. So she wrote, and she let herself feel.

...

Day 20, month 4

Dear Journal,

Things have been getting harder. The nightmares, the missing people, the food shortages, everything. I’m so tired. I keep thinking to myself that I want to just go home, then I realize that this is supposed to feel like home, so I just want to go to bed and wake up when this is all over.