Elementalist

Prologue

                    She ran through the burning forest and didn't dare look back. The smoke from the fire burned her eyes, suffocated her lungs. The blistering burns on her back pulsed with every ragged breath she took, every beat of her racing heart. The harsh underbrush scratched at her legs and tugged constantly at her trousers. The long ocean blue cape flapped behind her, catching on anything it came in contact with; leaving tears, rips and holes throughout it's now burnt fabric. The bundle she hugged close to her chest forced her to slow her pace. They were catching up to her.
                    "This way! Hurry! Don't let her get away!" yelled one of the men, before he continued his chase. The sounds of the armoured men crashing through the dense underbrush were now close enough to be heard through the raging flames. They were unfazed by the flames surrounding them, their pace only hindered by the odd fallen tree. It wouldn't be long before they would catch her.
                    'What's going on here?' she thought, as if expecting someone to answer her unspoken question. 'Why is this happening? Who are these men?' Her mind searched for an answer, but could find none. Whether or not it was due to the shock or fear, she didn't know. Then her mind snapped to even more fearful questions, 'If they catch me, will they kill me? I need to get out of here, fast.'
                    She ran blindly through the grove, having lost her bearings in the scramble to get away from the men. She desperately hoped she was going the right direction, towards the river that she had followed on her way in. If she could find the river, it would be able to guide her out of the grove. If she could find the river, it would lead her through the treacherous mountain trails out to the lake below. If she could find the river, she would be able to heal the barely breathing bundle she sheltered in her arms. If she could find the river, they would live.
                    'Watch out...'
                    Absorbed in thoughts of how to survive, the soft voice went by almost unnoticed. Yet it shook her from her panicked thoughts enough to notice the unnatural hissing of a fireball coming her way. On an instinct that seemed somewhat unnatural to her, she flung herself to the side. What direction she leaped was irrelevant so long as she could evade the oncoming threat. The fireball just barely grazed her cloaked shoulder, singeing its once solid blue colour to an ashen black. It otherwise left her unharmed. Had her long waist length hair not been tucked into her cape, she was sure it would have been engulfed instead.
                    Before she came back in contact with the forest floor, the fireball crashed into a nearby tree and caused a loud explosion. Again with almost inhuman reactions, she made a hasty grab for the remains of her cape and yanked it over top of the bundle. The force of the explosion propelled her back-first through a thick wall of branches, raking at her already burned back and tearing through the weakened cape's fabric. Her whole body seized in pain, she could feel the blood run from her freshly opened wounds. She crashed into the rock covered ground, winding her from whatever breath left in her smoked filled lungs and nearly knocking her unconscious. She tumbled down the hill, and slid to a stop near the edge of an eroded cliff.
                    Her head felt like it had been cracked open, leaving her dazed and unable to gather her thoughts. The dirt ground underneath her was packed down so hard, that if it weren't for the long grass tickling her ears, she would have mistook it for stone. She looked up towards the top of the hill to see the edge of the burning forest. Ignoring the raging inferno, she tried to focus on the peaceful soothing sounds in an attempt to calm herself. Yet with flames cracking and booming off to her side, and the harsh winds assaulting any tree that managed to escape it, the only sound left was the soft flow of water passing underneath her.
                    'The water... is so soothing. It reminds me of home... I miss home...' Her thoughts came in between the pounding of her head. 'But I can't go back... Not now... They wouldn't want me anymore... Not after what I've done...'
                    'Get up, child. You are not the only one who needs to escape from here.' spoke the same whispering voice she had heard in the forest.
                    Although it was odd, the urgency of its voice and what it said had pulled her from her self-pity. It was right. She was not the only one without a home anymore.
                    She turned her head once again, this time ignoring the screams of protest from her now bleeding back. It lay there, just outside her reach. The smooth fabric draped over its still body.
                    'No...'
                    She stretched out her hand, her fingers grazing the edge of the cloth.
                    'It's too far away. I can't reach.'
                    She pulled her arm back, tried to prop it underneath her. After a few painfully unsuccessful attempts, she finally managed to roll onto her stomach. From there she slowly dragged herself closer to the bundle.
                    With an unsteady hand, she pulled the ragged cloth away to reveal the battered tiger cub. She looked at its pained face and noticed it's once red fur had turned black from the fire's smoke and ashes. She cringed when it reminded her of how its mother, who had been coloured much the same, had lain dying, trapped underneath a fallen burnt tree. Even if it had been possible to free the tiger, there wouldn't have been enough time to heal its wounds. She had abandoned what couldn't be saved, and quickly turned her attention to saving the small cub. It had done nothing but cry for the mother it refused to leave behind, and snarl at the girl trying to separate them.
                    She threw the painful memories from her mind, and focused on her current charge. 'It's still breathing, but barely. I need to heal it, but the water is too far, I've used too much energy, I can't feel the water's energy from here... I need to get closer. Before the men find us.'
                    It was surprising how the men had not found her yet. It wasn't like she had been thrown particularly far. She had fallen quite a ways down the hill, but surely one of the men would have at least come to look down at where she had been sprawled.
                    'Maybe the blast blinded them. I did have my eyes closed at the time of the explosion, but maybe they hadn't planned on it. Maybe it took them by surprise...' The corner of her mouth twitched a quick smirk at the irony of her own statement.
                    But she didn't have time to waste. They wouldn't be blinded forever.
                    Upon her first attempt to stand, a searing pain ran through her entire leg, centering on her knee. 'Ouch... I must have twisted it on the way down here. How am I going to get out of here if I can't even walk?' She looks down at the tiger cub lying in her arms. 'No... I can't give up here.'
                    Relying on her weakened and battered muscles, she used one arm to drag herself towards the edge of the cliff, with her other arm covering the bundle. Little by little, she pulled herself along the once undisturbed ground, grabbing at clumps of the long bladed grass to use as leverage. With nearly every pull, she checked the cub to make sure it was still in her arms, fearing that some unknown and unexplained force might whisk it way without her noticing. As she got closer to the cliff's edge the ground began to soften, she could feel the grass roots start to rip away from the loosened dirt with every pull. When she got close enough, she stretched out her arm as far as she could and wrapped the tips of her fingers over the edge. Once she was sure her grip would hold, she dragged herself far enough so that she was able to look down at the river below her.
                    She had hoped that she was farther up the river, where the cliff wasn't too high and the water wasn't too fast. What faced her now was nothing like what she had hoped for.
                    'It's high, it's really high. Can I jump from here? Maybe I could.... I still have some energy, I could soften the water as I hit it... That might work... But the speed, I totally forgot about the speed...'
                    After getting all worked up about the fire, the cub, it's mother, and the men now chasing after her, she had completely forgotten about the quickened pace of the river. Although the speed ensured that she would be able to escape the men, she was still afraid of what she would inevitably encounter at the end of it.
                    With no more time to think, the group of shouting men crashed through the brush and raced down the hill, closing in on her. She was forced to choose.
                    Hardening her resolve, she pulled herself over the cliff, and fell towards to water's surface.


                    Darkness pressed in on her, crushing her chest as she struggled against it. Her arms and legs were bound as well, but she couldn't feel what restricted them. Being stripped of the freedom of mobility she had taken for granted scared her. She panicked. Fearful of being crushed by the suffocating darkness, she lashed out with her energy, illuminating the darkness for a split second. In that small lapse of time, she desperately searched for clues as to where she was being held, suspecting that she had already been caught by the men who had pursued her. But what surrounded her was nothing. No prison cells, no stone walls, no bars, no stench, no grit, and no grim. Just more darkness.
                    Even with the small outburst of light, the darkness seemed unfazed by her attack. Instead it seemed to swallow the energy, her hope, and rebound back at her so forcefully that it broke the physical barrier that had once separated them. She could feel the darkness seep through her skin and begin to flow through her veins, up to her still beating heart.
                    Death was closing in. She had expected her final moments to be more peaceful than this. She had heard tales of how, in owns last moments, the purest of lights surrounded you to ease the pain. Time would slow as ones world was being blanketed in the soothing energy. Her teachers had taught her that at the exact time of death, an Ancient would appear before the dying soul to carry them to the afterlife. They had said that it would be an Ancient respective to one's own energy, one that was of the same element as them.
                    But this, this was definitely not an Ancient of her element. It emitted no light, nor shared any resemblance to an element native to her world. It was an element born of fear, hate, deceit, and corruption. It ate away at a person's soul, turning them away from a life lead by the purest of the Ancients. She had spent her whole life studying under their ways. To learn her magic as they had taught her ancestors, and use it to rid the world of those who insisted on walking the path of this darkness. She had planned to live out her life in this fashion, as they had intended her to. Yet here she was, fighting the darkness that had come to collect her tainted soul.
                    She had been born pure, as a blessing come forth to reward her tribesmen for their lives well lived. She had been destined to be the child to save them from the world's corruption. To rid them of the darkness that slowly creeped its way into their hearts.
                    That was nothing but the past now. She had fallen from the grace of the Ancients, she had committed a great sin and shamed those who had looked up to her for guidance.
                    'This is what I deserve. I failed. I failed my tribesmen. I failed my Fathers, Mothers, Sisters and Brothers.' She thought as she slowly gave herself up to the darkness. 'Let it take me. Let it rot my soul for what I have done.'
                    She stopped resisting the darkness and let it take over her mind. Yet, despite being at ease with her decision, she couldn't help but wonder about the young cub. She hoped it was still alive, that in her last conscious moments she had succeeded in securing its life. If not, it would surely be suffering the same fate as she was. Anyone touched by energy of the tainted became tainted themselves, and would inevitable fall from the Light's grace. A pang of guilt pierced through the darkness and stabbed at her slowing heart. It was the last emotion she felt before the darkness took her mind. She deemed it fitting.