The Elemental Page 17

  The four elements.

  Elara’s eyes narrowed.

  Elara halted suddenly, pulling Argon’s hand to stop him in his tracks. “We have to go back,” she said urgently, her eyes shining.

  “Are you insane?” Argon yelled. “Yun Zeru’s hell hounds are coming after us. We have to keep moving!”

  “Trust me,” Elara asserted. She grabbed his hand, pulling her husband and child into the depths of the castle. She ran down the staircase, turning down another hallway.

  “Where are we going?” asked Argon, Helia bouncing in his arms as he ran with his wife through the ruins.

  “The Queen’s quarters. I have a hunch,” Elara called back.

  The visiting Elara watched as her small family raced into the Queen’s wing of the castle, finally making it towards a set of heavy doors. She raced towards the door, its hinges rusted shut.

  “We need to get in,” yelled future Elara. “Help me!”

  Argon and Elara heaved their bodies against the door. Sure enough, their weight pushed the heavy wood open, and Helia watched as her parents broke into the room.

  There, in the middle of the floor, lay the Queen’s decaying remains. Elara fought back the urge to heave, the smell of her rotting corpse overwhelming her senses, as she rushed over to the Queen’s side. A few inches away from her head lay an ornate platinum Diadem. It was a beautiful piece of royal jewelry; heavy set emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and diamonds were encrusted into the base, and the twines of the Diadem rose in small, delicate points, with platinum vines twisted around the tips of the Diadem. At the very back of the Diadem lay a shiny black stone, brilliantly carved into a multi-faceted gem.

  Elara closed her hand around the Diadem, staring at the coveted royal artifact in disbelief.

  “Let’s get out of here,” said Argon, helping her up. “Before they make it—”

  A loud snarl ripped through the room, cutting Argon’s words off. They spun around and saw three large, hooded men, each of them wielding a broadsword and pointing it at them.

  “They’re trapped,” the visiting Miela whispered, horrified.

  She was right. They were cornered in the Queen’s quarters, with nothing between them except the rotting carcass of the Queen.

  Future Argon brandished his own sword, and pulled out her daggers. Immediately flying into action, she hurled one of them at the men, hitting him directly in the eye. He screamed, blood spurting out from between his fingers as he held his eyes.

  “Helia! Take her! Go!” she yelled desperately.

  Argon raced towards the screaming toddler, grabbing her and pushing through the other two men, holding his child in his arms as he raced down the hallway. Elara chased after the two men, who turned their attention to Argon.

  “RUN!”

  Elara’s breath caught in her throat as her whole world shattered before her eyes. One of the men lunged at Argon, his sharp sword swinging in one clean arc. She screamed, watching as his body staggered forwards before dropping to the ground face-first. His neck was sliced clean through, blood billowing out of the gash and all over the toddler who was still in his arms. Her heart pounded in her chest, her body moving of its own accord as she threw a dagger at the man who snatched her husband’s life away from her, the blade digging deep into the center of his back. In a blind range, she threw herself on top of the last man, wrapping her hands around his neck, and squeezed as hard as she could, watching as the man began to slowly choke, clawing at the woman’s hands wrapped fiercely around his throat. Her knees were soaked in blood, and her eyes drifted to her husband’s body, the blood spilling out from him and pooling around where she knelt. She squeezed harder, watching as the life began to fade from the man’s bloodshot, bulging eyes, his voice catching in his throat as he struggled to draw in air, and his hands desperately clawed at her, growing weaker with every passing second. Elara screamed ferociously, digging her nails into his throat as he breathed his last breath.

  Helia’s screams continued as Elara ripped the small girl from under her father’s body, tears streaming down her face as she ran.

  The visiting Elara felt as though someone punched her hard in her gut. She couldn’t breathe as she watched the blood-soaked toddler screaming in her mother’s arms. The visiting Argon’s face echoed her own.

  Future Elara ran as fast she could. She passed a window and quickly snuck a peek out of it. To her horror, each of her friends were lined up in front of Yun Zeru in the court yard, their hands and feet bound tightly. It seemed that his troops succeeded in finding the last members of his resistance. She watched in terror as Yun Zeru bellowed at them, pressing Helia’s face into her chest to muffle the child, her heart breaking as she felt the toddler’s shoulders shake in her grasp.

  Noiro lifted his head up defiantly at Yun, spitting in his direction. Yun Zeru’s face twisted in disgust, and nodded his head at one of his troops. A man walked towards the future Noiro, carrying a torch.

  Elara howled mournfully as she watched the man lower the torch to Noiro’s feet, his body slowly igniting. His screams pierced her ears, the smell of burning flesh and hair reached even to where she stood. Yun Zeru stared at the burning corpse, unfazed.

  She wanted to help. She needed to save them.

  She glanced down at her baby wailing desolately in her arms.

  She had no choice. She had to keep Helia alive.

  Elara held Helia tight against her body, her mind spinning as she ran towards the back of the castle.

  “Where is she going?” asked the visiting Elara, watching herself.

  “I don’t know,” the visiting Noiro murmured softly. He felt sick to his stomach, his own screams still echoing in his head as his future self slowly perished in the flames.

  “She’s going to hide,” said the visiting Miela, watching her friend run.

  Sure enough, Miela was right.

  The future Elara ducked into the kitchens, throwing open one of the cabinets and crawling in with Helia.

  The world swirled around the visiting group once again.

  Future Elara sat in a small, dark room, concentrating as she fiddled with something in her hands. She hissed suddenly, bringing a finger to her mouth and sucking on it, dropping the blade that she was using. On the table, lay a small, battered journal, and the remnants of the Diadem, now shattered into countless pieces of platinum and precious stones.

  “The Diadem,” the visiting Miela gasped in shock, pointing at the broken royal artifact. “She broke it? Why would she break it?”

  The vising Elara peered closely at the black stone nestled in her future self’s hands, eyes lighting up as she recognized the familiar markings. “The Aether Stone!”

  “How did she find the Aether Stone?” asked the visiting Argon, pointing at future Elara as she continued to carve her blade into the stone.

  “Did we miss something?” the visiting Miela echoed. She edged towards the sundial, where the visiting Noiro stood. “Did we miss a code from the journal?”

  “This is it,” said the visiting Noiro. He drew close to the future Elara and examined the journal. “She’s writing down the number sequences in the journal, and carving the dials into the stone.”

  Future Elara finished making one more carving in the stone and pulled out a long chain, looping it through the new hole she had etched into the stone, fashioning a crude necklace. She quickly gathered her things and trudged carefully around the shattered mounds of glass and splintered messes of wood. The ruined remains of what was once Noiro’s cottage.

  She made her way up the stairs and into one of the rooms. She set the journal and stone onto the small table which stood at the side, and finally sat down on the bed, glancing over at the crib, where a small mess of blankets lay. Elara could hear the soft, familiar snore as Helia slumbered fitfully.

  BANG.

  “They’re here,” she whispered, her voice trembling as she quickly shoved the items she had placed down only a moment ago into an old, leather satchel.
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br />   The visitors observed silently as future Elara picked up Helia from the crib, murmuring softly against her head as she soothed her child. She fastened a small cloak around the toddler’s shoulders and quietly snuck out of the cottage.

  The visiting group watched in dismay as two hooded men tailed after the fleeing pair, yelling at each other to pursue the woman and child. Future Elara raced through the thicket of overgrown rose bushes, finally making it to the Great Library. Several more men ran after her, but she bought herself a few moments alone with Helia. She pulled the necklace out and put it over Helia’s head.

  The pendant began to faintly glow blue as Elara twisted the dials, a faint clicking sound echoing through the empty library.

  “Listen here, Helia,” she whispered, pulling her satchel’s handle over her toddler’s head. “You see Mama’s bag?”

  Helia nodded her head, still sniffling.

  “Take Mama’s bag—that’s right, good girl. Don’t you let go of the bag, all right? Whatever you do, don’t let go of Mama’s bag. Keep it safe with you.”

  “Okay, Mama,” said Helia, clutching the satchel tightly. She closed her eyes as her mother pulled her hood over her head, pressing her lips to her forehead in a strong kiss.

  BANG.

  The visitors watched as future Elara whirled around, throwing herself in front of Helia and facing her assailants. The moonlight poured in from the doorway, illuminating four young men standing before her.

  “Hand over the Elemental,” one of the men barked.

  “Mama,” Helia squeaked. The pendant around Helia’s neck flashed bright. Elara grinned.

  “She’s sending Helia back,” remarked the visiting Noiro.

  Elara flew as she attacked the men, holding them off from her daughter. She turned her head to glance at Helia, making sure she was okay. At that moment, one of the men swung his sword against her chest, and blood sprayed across the floor, and all over Helia.

  “No! Mama!”

  Elara wheezed, blood bubbling in her chest as she tried to draw in air. She refused to take her eyes off of her baby until she was sure her plan had worked.

  The pendant around Helia shone bright, enveloping the toddler in a blue flash. When the light disappeared, so did all traces of Helia.

  The future Elara breathed a sigh of relief, and turned to her assailants, staggering as another blast hit her.

  Her clothes clung to her as blood billowed out from her wounds and soaked through. She wheezed, her breathing sounding wet and garbled as more blood spilled from her lips. Elara fell to the floor, her body hitting the marble with a loud thud, and she breathed her last.

  The world vanished around the visitors for the last time.

  They were left sitting in Noiro’s calm, comfortable cottage.

  It was over.

  The four adults sat silently, each of them lost in a swirl of thoughts and emotions at the events that they witnessed.

  Elara stood slowly, knees trembling beneath her as she tried to pull herself together. “I’ll get us some water,” she said blankly.

  Miela nodded robotically. Argon sat, still as a statue as he replayed the scenes in his mind. Noiro fought back the urge to dry heave, and he stared intently at the ground.

  Elara wandered to the kitchen in a daze, pausing in the middle of the dining table as she stared out the window, the warm, comforting rays of the sun shining against her face. The weight of all of what she had witnessed hit her full force, and she let out a quiet sob as she fell to her knees beneath the burden of it all.

  THE HISTORIAN

  “Elara?” Noiro called uncertainly, his ears picking up the small sob from the kitchen. He stood up from his seat, making his way to the kitchen. He walked slowly over to where she knelt.

  Her head was bent over, and her fists were curled up on her knees as she cried.

  “Are you okay?” Argon whispered. He immediately regretted the question; of course she was not okay. No one was.

  Elara nodded, sniffing as she wiped her cheek. “I’m okay,” she said. “It’s…it’s just a lot to take in.”

  “I know,” said Noiro sadly.

  “How could we have done that?” Elara uttered mournfully. “All of that. How could we?”

  Elara’s question caught Noiro by surprise.

  “She was a coward,” she continued, recalling her future self’s actions. “She watched you all die. She was the last one left, and she couldn’t do anything to save you. I watched all of you…”

  Argon’s head snapped up from the sitting room as Elara’s voice reached his ears, and he concentrated as he tried to listen closely to the rest of the conversation.

  “Elara, what are you saying? She did everything you could. Anyone would have made the same decisions she made.”

  “She could have stopped Yun Zeru. She had weapons—I could’ve—”

  “Done what, exactly?” Noiro interrupted her. “Put Helia up to the same fate? She was protecting her. She was protecting all of us. Nothing was her fault. And nothing is your fault. You don’t have anything to do with this.”

  “Noiro, she is me,” Elara reminded him.

  “Yes, she is. But you’re not her. You didn’t make any of those decisions. And even if you did, so what? Your decisions led Helia back to us to stop all of this. Without you, we would have never known any of this. No one will have to die. We’re going to stop this.”

  Elara nodded. Another tear rolled down her cheek.

  “No, don’t just nod your head. I want you to say it. I want you to believe it. We’re going to stop this,” Noiro pressed.

  “We’re going to stop this,” Elara repeated. She wiped her face again. “You don’t have to… Go back to the sitting room. I’ll get us some water—”

  “No. You go back. I’ll get the water,” Noiro said firmly. Elara opened her mouth to argue, and then decided against it. She was exhausted.

  She made her way back to the sitting room, where Argon and Miela were still seated.

  Miela still looked shaken, although she said nothing. Elara squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, and Miela put a hand over Elara’s.

  “Drink up. I also brought us some fruit,” Noiro said, bringing in a tray into the sitting room. He set down the tray and pushed an apple into Argon’s hands. “Eat.”

  Miela reached out for a banana, quickly peeling it before Noiro shoved another piece of fruit at one of them. Noiro was like that; he pushed food towards people when he didn’t know what else to do. She recalled him trying to push a sweet into Helia’s hand when they first met at the library.

  The same library where Helia saw Elara murdered a few mere feet away from her.

  No wonder Helia was in hysterics when she had first appeared. She vowed once again to keep the little tyke safe.

  “Okay. Where do we begin?” Miela asked, leaning forward.

  “Inana,” Argon answered swiftly. “If our assumption is correct on Inana being the one who was the first casualty in all of this, and it was her blood on my wall when I was attacked, then she was the first confirmed victim in this whole bloodbath.”

  “I think you’re right,” agreed Miela. “She’s the first piece of the puzzle. And according to the timeline we saw, the attack that happened isn’t very long from now.”

  “We need to figure out why she was targeted, though,” said Noiro. He looked at Argon curiously. “How close are you to Inana? And her family?”

  “We’ve been friends since we were kids,” Argon replied. “We’re still good friends, but we don’t really have time to see each other as much as we used to compared to when we were little. Why?”

  “Do you think anyone would want to hurt her to get to you?” asked Elara.

  Argon shook his head. “If someone wanted to get to me, they would go after my mother, or sister.” He frowned for a moment. “I wonder if Inana’s attack was meant to hurt her parents. They’re an old Polarian family, and they’re…comfortable.”

  “What? Comfortable?” />
  “They’re wealthy,” Argon clarified. “Extremely. And closely tied to the Royal Family. I wonder if they were being blackmailed?”

  Elara folded her arms. “It’s a plausible assumption, especially since Inana’s parents were attacked months after her disappearance. It can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Do you think you could speak to Inana?” asked Miela, looking at Argon.

  “I was supposed to have dinner with her the other week, but we cancelled. I could ask her this week.”

  “Good,” Miela said, satisfied. “But be careful. We can’t reveal—”

  “I know, Captain,” Argon interrupted. “It’s confidential. I know.”

  “Good.” Miela smiled. “Okay, so Argon will talk to Inana. What’s next?”

  “Estelle,” Elara chimed. “In the future, she was so scared that she was almost deranged. Something was definitely not right.”

  Miela nodded. “You’re right. She looked terrified.”

  “I haven’t spoken to her in years,” muttered Argon tentatively, “but I know that that was not my sister. I mean, she is my sister. But what we saw… That was not her.”

  “I wonder why we were going to see her in the first place,” mused Elara. “I remember us talking about getting some information… Information about what, though?”

  “I don’t know,” Miela admitted. “But we do know that she was targeted for something. Maybe about something she knew. She looked scared. Like she was being watched.”

  “She was so scared that she slit her own throat than chance facing whatever it was behind the door,” added Elara.

  “Do you think it’s possible that she found out something? Or could it be that she is also linked to Argon’s attack, as well? You said that if someone wanted to hurt you, they’d go after your mother and sister. They were both attacked in the future,” observed Noiro, looking at Argon.

  “I think we should go talk to her. We should find out what she’s been up to,” suggested Miela, rubbing her temples. “It’s possible that nothing’s happened yet. But I don’t like how little time we have until the first attack on Inana. We need to move quickly.”