The Elemental Read online

  “Argon,” Elara sobbed, relief flooding through her as she stumbled towards him, arms outstretched to embrace him and her petrified child. He pulled her close with his free arm, Helia pressed in between the two, still wailing in fright. She struggled to keep her voice hushed. “Are you two okay?”

  “We’re okay,” Argon answered, his voice breaking. “Are you?”

  The visiting Elara and Argon glanced uncomfortably at each other as they watched their future selves huddle close together.

  “I’m okay.” Future Elara shuddered as a cold bead of water dripped onto her head. “Everything happened so fast.”

  “I don’t know,” Argon admitted, his heart racing. “What matters for now is that we’re safe.”

  With their fear and adrenaline subsiding at the faint glimmer of a safe night, Helia’s wails grew more apparent. Elara turned her attention to her child. “Shh… it’s okay, baby.” She raised her shaky hand and gently stroked Helia’s damp hair.

  “I wanna go home,” Helia cried miserably, wiping her eyes as more tears spilled out across her round cheeks.

  “I’m sorry, baby,” Elara uttered mournfully, pressing a kiss to the back of her tiny hand. “We can’t go home now. Not tonight. But we’re here together.”

  “We’ll have fun,” Argon added, forcing his voice to sound cheerful. “We’re going camping. Isn’t that fun?”

  “N-no,” Helia pouted, burying her head in Argon’s neck. “I wanna go home…”

  “But why go home when we can have fun over here?” Argon stretched his mouth into a smile. “Mama made sure to pack a lot of stuff for us. You see Mama’s bag? Do you wanna see the cool beds she has for us tonight?”

  Helia tentatively lifted her head to look at Elara. Elara smiled, relieved to see that the fear and terror in the child’s eyes was slowly beginning to slip away as curiosity took over. She peered at her mother, who began to dig out some rolled up sleeping bags.

  “See what Mama brought for us? Show us, Mama,” Argon urged. Her heart felt heavy as she plastered on a smile for Helia, feeling her own tears ready to take over as they tried to convince their little girl that everything was okay, when it was far from it.

  “Let’s set up our beds.” He knelt down and gently placed Helia on the floor. “Pull that side there—yes, exactly. You’re such a smart girl,” he praised, his rambling calming Helia down as she began to grow preoccupied with the sleeping bag and soon became fixated on fiddling with the zipper.

  The visiting Noiro leaned closer, examining Helia. “She looks about the same age as she is now,” he said, looking at the toddler. “Perhaps a few months apart?”

  “You know, I think I have a treat for such a smart little girl,” future Elara said, cutting off the visiting Noiro’s question. She pulled out a small parcel of biscuits from her bag.

  “Oooh,” future Argon said playfully. “Mama has biscuits! Did you see that, Helia? Mama brought us biscuits for our night camping!”

  Elara reached out and placed a small biscuit in the child’s expectant little hand, and she happily unwrapped the biscuit and took a large bite out of it. Elara lifted another parcel and silently asked Argon if he wanted one as well. His fake smile fell as Helia munched away, lifting his hand as he politely declined. His stomach twisted with the thought of the intruders violating his home. His family’s safety. They were on the run for so long, he had forgotten what it felt like to go through a day without looking over his shoulder.

  “The others…” Elara whispered, her voice trembling as she held back tears. “Are they safe?”

  “We don’t know, yet.” Argon shook his head dismally. “But we can’t go back yet.”

  Elara groaned. Her head was suddenly pounding, and she closed her eyes, bringing her hands up to her temples.

  “Please, you have to rest,” Argon murmured, holding his wife’s arm gently.

  Elara shook her head. There was no way she could sleep.

  “For Helia,” he pleaded.

  She bit her lip, looking down at their child, who was still sniffling beside Argon.

  “Please,” Argon softly urged.

  Elara nodded. She slowly crawled into her sleeping bag, its flimsy material rubbing against her legs as she slid in. Their sleeping bags were right next to each other, Helia snuggling in her father’s sleeping bag and nestling comfortably between her parents, Argon’s arm draped over the toddler protectively. Elara pulled herself closer to her small family. A wave of fatigue washed over her, and she sank deeper into their makeshift bed, grateful that the two people who had come to mean more than anything to her in the world were safe. She gently reached her hand out to hold Argon’s, and he squeezed her hand tight in his.

  The world shifted around them once again.

  The visiting group found themselves in a small tent. Future Elara was seated on the floor, her legs crossed as she leaned forward, watching future Noiro intently as he spoke. Beside her sat Argon, Detective Vega, Sargent Esen, Tami, Meer, and Astra. It looked like they were in the middle of a discussion.

  The visiting Elara casted a glance at future Helia, who was tucked away in the corner of the tent, her legs splayed out in front of her as she played quietly with a few pebbles. Her hair face was smudged with dirt, and her hair was a little messy. Elara looked back at the group of adults who were huddled around, deep in discussion. They all seemed dirtier and more disheveled than their usual state. She spied a few white strands of hair running through her future self’s head, and her face was hard, eyes punctuated with dark purple bags. A deep scar marred the side of her cheek, and another small one was on her lip.

  War had not been kind to them.

  “We can’t continue like this,” Vega uttered dejectedly. “We just can’t. How is he always one step ahead? Yun Zeru’s forces grow stronger by the day. It takes so long to track him, and we’re always confronted by his team before we can even catch a glimpse of him.”

  “It feels like he’s taunting us,” Meer spat. “He isn’t even trying to hide his efforts anymore. He’s always just out of reach. It’s like trying to catch smoke with our bare hands.”

  “He’s won,” croaked Astra.

  “No,” growled future Noiro. “No. We can’t let him win. We can’t just let ourselves be hunted down like animals. We’re the last ones, damn it!” He slammed his fist onto the ground, his eyes burning with fury. “We need to change our tactics. We can’t go after them anymore. We make the monster come after us.”

  “They already are after us,” future Elara pointed out. “His army tracked down our last hideout—”

  “No. Not the army. Yun Zeru,” Noiro said firmly. “We draw him out.”

  “How?” asked Elara.

  “By using his weaknesses against him. His pride. We taunt him.” Noiro’s voice was hard. His tired shoulders were pulled back with determination, and his weary body stood strong as he spoke with resolve. “If we can destroy him, we might just have a shot at surviving this war.”

  The visiting Noiro looked at the future group, shaking his head sorrowfully. “He’s deluded,” he uttered sadly, pointing to his future self. “We’re down to eight people. That’s it. How can he possibly think that eight people can take down an army?”

  The visiting Miela folded her arms. “Hope can drive people to do incredible things.”

  “Or desperation,” countered the visiting Noiro, staring at the future group.

  “I can’t ask all of you to risk your lives for this,” continued future Noiro. “You know what the risks are.”

  “We know what we signed up for,” said Vega. “And we have nothing left to lose.”

  “There’s nothing more dangerous than facing someone who has nothing left to lose,” Meer chimed in determinedly. Noiro nodded.

  “Yun Zeru has taken so much of my family away from me,” Argon growled.

  Elara nodded in agreement. “I’m in. Till the very end.”

  The visiting Miela turned around and looked at the visiting Noi
ro. “What are you planning? What are they planning to do? They’re crazy!”

  “I don’t know,” said the visiting Noiro defensively, putting his hands up. “This is the future. I don’t know what I—he planned.”

  “Taunting a man like Yun Zeru… What on Earth are you all thinking? How can you all agree to something like that? You all should run! Survive! Not…this!” the visiting Miela’s fumed. “How could you? How could you agree to this? And Helia! What did you plan for her? Did you even think about her? How could—”

  “Miela, none of this has happened yet,” interrupted Elara. “And we won’t let it happen. This is why we’re watching this. We’re not going to let this happen.”

  The world faded around them as the Aether Stone shifted them to a different point in time.

  The world came back into focus, and the group of adults who were once huddled in the tent together were now at the base of the ruined Polaris Castle.

  It was daylight. The air was cold around them, and future Elara could see her quick, nervous breaths fogging the air in front of her as she tried to quell her thundering heart.

  “Are we all clear on the plan?” asked future Noiro. The group nodded in unison.

  “Mama? Mama, where we goin’?” Helia’s small voice piped up from the bundle of blankets in Elara’s arms.

  “We brought Helia?” the visiting Argon drew his breath in sharply. “How could we—”

  “Mama and Dad have some work to do,” future Elara told her daughter gently.

  “No! No more work!” Helia protested, shaking her head vehemently. “No!”

  “Hey, we’ll be right back,” said Argon softly, placing his large palm on her forehead. His voice shook, betraying his fear.

  “No, Dad. Don’t go…” Helia’s lips trembled as she stared at her father. “Please.”

  Elara could feel Helia sensing the tension and fear that hung heavy between the adults. She had seen too much. She knew too much.

  “We’ll be back together soon, I promise,” Argon reassured her. “Before you’ll even notice.”

  “Really?” Helia looked doubtful.

  Argon nodded. “Really. You’ll see. You hold on to Mama, okay?”

  Helia nodded, leaning into her mother’s chest as she hugged her tight.

  “We’ll be back together soon,” Argon repeated, this time, looking at Elara. “Right?”

  “We will,” she said forcefully. She grasped his hand tightly in hers.

  Noiro cleared his throat. “Are we ready?”

  The group of adults nodded. Argon squeezed Elara’s hand before slowly letting go, his hand stiffly moving to his side. It took everything in his power to let her go.

  “Let’s go.”

  Elara took off running, Helia wrapped up in her arms. The castle ruins were deserted, and her footsteps seemed too loud amidst the eerie silence. It was strange; there were no guards, no military activity, nothing. It was almost as if Yun Zeru had forsaken the Polaris Castle entirely, driving the message in that the Polaris Empire was over. Their history didn’t matter anymore. Their very presence didn’t matter. The castle was left to crumble away, a shell of its former glory.

  She ran towards the western quarter of the castle’s ruins, watching fervently for any signs of movement. It was risky, making their move in daylight.

  But they wanted to draw Yun Zeru out. They wanted to hit him where it truly hurt. They needed to be bold. They needed to hurt his pride and his perception of his strength and power over the sieged city.

  Argon took off to the other side of the castle. Nature had already began to try and reclaim the rubble, with small shoots of greenery beginning to sprout from the cracks in the wall. He cast a worried glance in his wife and child’s direction, their figures growing smaller and smaller as they moved towards opposite ends of the castle. He loathed the fact that he could not be with them. That he could not protect them.

  The last remains of his family.

  But he needed to end this. He needed to play his part to end the war.

  Noiro ran through the remains of the iron gate and towards the center of the castle. He hoisted himself up, scaling the crumbling walls, his hands trembling as he searched for his next foothold. His heart roared in his ears, and his mind was eerily blank; it was almost as if someone else were controlling his body, and he was just part of the audience. He reached the top of the archway, and rested for a moment at the foot of the long iron flagpole that sat at the highest point of the arch. He narrowed his eyes as he turned his attention to the field. He saw the last bit of resistance against Yun Zeru, eight adults and a single child, get into position. That was all that was left of the last stand against the bloodiest battle Polaris had ever known.

  He turned his attention back to the flagpole, unraveling his knapsack and pulling out a large cloth, throwing it out in front of him. The Polaris insignia shone bright against the dark fabric. Noiro fastened the cloth onto the flagpole and hoisted it up, watching the flag fly higher and higher, waving magnificently and proudly against the early morning sky. He watched as the rest of his group scattered across the high points on the castle grounds as they unraveled the Polaris banners.

  It was a bold move. In the middle of the day, no less. The flag and banners being displayed proudly across the Polaris castle was the biggest insult to Yun Zeru. It was a stain against his victory against Polaris, a stark reminder that not everyone bowed before him.

  Proof that he had still not won yet.

  He had to come.

  The visiting group waited, watching intently as their future selves poised themselves for battle.

  “What’s that sound?” The visiting Miela swiveled her head, looking for the source of a faint chiming sound.

  “Bells,” the visiting Noiro remarked, frowning as he strained his ears. “I think it’s an alarm.”

  Sure enough, the chiming sound grew louder and louder, and future Elara could feel her ears ring as the sound swelled, enveloping the air around her. Hooded figures began to swarm towards the Polaris Castle, clad in the same blue uniform that she had spied in the forest. They came to a halt at the gates, and the crowd began to part, carving a clear path through. A lone figure walked steadily through the crowd, neither wearing the uniform nor a hood. He wore a thick, black coat, with a blood red cape draped over his right shoulder. A thick scar ran across the left side of his face, cutting through his eyebrow and the center of his eye. His scarred eye’s unseeing pupil shone a cloudy grey, a stark difference between his other coal black eye. His silver hair was slicked back, accentuating his sharp, hawkish features. His boots clipped against the cobbled ground as he walked ominously towards the gate.

  There was no doubt that they were face to face with Yun Zeru.

  Future Elara’s breath caught in her throat as she stared at the man from her hiding place, pressing her body against the wall. She squeezed Helia tight against her, holding a hand softly to her lips to quell any noise the child might have made.

  Yun Zeru examined the banners fluttering in the wind, his lip slightly curled in disgust.

  “Looks like we have some survivors here,” Yun Zeru’s voice boomed. The sound of his voice shook Elara to her core. “Not for long.”

  His voice didn’t seem like it belonged to someone who encouraged so much bloodshed and turmoil. He sounded… normal. And that was what scared her. She had built Yun Zeru up in her mind to be this big, scary monster of a man.

  Yet, there he stood, looking like any other man she might have passed on a peaceful day in the city.

  “NOW,” Noiro yelled.

  A series of explosions shattered the ground beneath Yun Zeru’s army. Some fell to the floor, shaken as the Earth trembled beneath their feet. The future Elara breathed heavily, her hand poised over the second detonator as she waited for the army to move. She needed to aim for Yun Zeru…

  A hand suddenly grabbed at her, and she drew in a deep breath, driven by instinct as her lungs expanded, getting ready to scream. T
he hand pressed hard against her mouth. Her mind raced as she struggled.

  “Shh, it’s me, El,” a familiar voice whispered raggedly. Her eyes widened.

  “Argon?” her voice was muffled beneath his hand. He nodded, dropping his hand. “I couldn’t leave you two alone.”

  Elara wanted to berate the man she loved for abandoning his post. But she couldn’t.

  How could she, when the very sight of him quashed her fears of facing their enemy?

  “We stay together,” he said.

  Elara nodded.

  “Let’s destroy this monster,” uttered Argon. He pressed the detonator firmly, bracing himself around his family as the ground trembled with the force of the blast.

  “No!” Yun Zeru’s voice roared over the explosion. “The Elemental!” He ushered to his men beside him, waving them into the castle.

  “The Elemental?” Elara frowned. “Why is he—?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Argon yelled as he pulled her up to her feet. “We have to go!”

  Together, they ran through the ruined castle.

  The once pristine halls were now disheveled skeletons. Empty lanterns hung on either side of the remaining thick, stone walls. Lush, rich, thick tapestries were ripped into shreds, hanging in their tattered remains. Crushed glass littered the floor, and mirrors were smashed and shattered into sharp, thin slivers.

  The little family ran past one of the larger halls, where one giant tapestry hung from one wall to the other, miraculously still intact. Elara turned her head towards it as she continued to run, taking in its ornate embroidery.

  In the center, the figure of a young woman was meticulously stitched into the fabric. A crown sat in her raven hair, with stitched beams of light embroidered around the crown. The woman was looking down into her hands, which were clasped above her chest. In her grasp, a precious black stone peeked from between her fingers.

  A mix of leaves and vines branched out from around the stone’s borders, each leaf’s tendril delicately stitched into the fabric. Gusts of wind blowing around the leaves were etched into the fabric, with beams of fiery light swirling around the branched out greenery. Rivers and streams of deep blue waters were intertwined throughout the carpet, with each wave carefully mapped out within the streams.