Rage against the calm

The rain and storm of the day swirled and howled against the order and comfort built by the humans below. Lights flickered in homes as the wind shook electricity poles. Windows rattled, rain battered against rooves and umbrellas were tossed around by the storm like cats tossed around a ball of tinfoil.

Greggory Smitt was preparing coffee when there was a knock on the door. Rain and mist shrouded the figure standing hunched outside the house. The figure wore a long coat and a brimmed hat. The collar of the coat was turned up to keep the rain off the neck. Greg opened to the door to reveal his next door neighbor, Henry Gearhart. Henry looked up with a warm smile. “Hellooo” He said as he leaned his “Os”.

            Everyone looked like ominous and suspicious figures while standing in the rain and the friendly neighbor was no exception. “Glad you could make it!” Greg exclaimed. Henry’s smile broadened as he stepped into the house. The home was warm and inviting. The front door led into the living room, then from the living room was a set of stairs to the second floor and in the back was the kitchen. The living room was decorated in earth tones with an emerald green recliner tucked away in the back by the television.

            Henry took off his brown loafers and proceeded into the living room. The smell of fresh coffee lingered in the air. The calm atmosphere of the home pushed back the raging storm outside.

            As Greggory led Henry through the living room, Henry noticed an old fashioned pistol hung on the wall. “Where did you get that?” Henry marveled. “It was my great grand father’s gun. Kept in the family and it still works too!” Greg said with pride. “Been getting much trouble on this part of town?” Henry joked. “No, nothing like that” Greg laughed.

            The two men walked into the kitchen, on the table was two cups of black coffee, a small bowl of sugar, a small carton box of creamer and spread across the table were papers. Henry stared at the papers as he removed his coat and hung it over the back of a kitchen chair. “Really glad you could help me with these taxes. Running my own business this last year has been a nightmare of paperwork” Greg said sheepishly. He didn’t like troubling his friends and neighbors for help but Henry was already thinking about the task at hand. “Oh no problem” Henry said with a smile and eyes that looked lost in thought. Henry snapped back to the present and sat down.

            As the two men sat down a knock was heard at the door. “I’ll get it” Greg said with a cheerful tone then walked briskly to the door. “I’ll just get to work” said Henry as he sorted through the papers. As Greg walked to the front door, Henry spotted the top of someone’s head move past the kitchen window. Henry stood up and walked to the window above the sink and looked down and around. The person was gone.

            Greg opened the door to reveal an ominous figure standing in the rain. “Hello, sir, can I trouble you for a minute” Asked the man in the coat. The man turned to Greg with a smile but the smile looked painted on. Cheerfulness was not this stranger’s default expression, which Greg discovered by noticing the deep frown lines on the man’s face. Greg was unnerved by the man but tried to remain polite. “I really am in the middle of something, sorry” Greg said hastily. The stranger stuck his foot against the door to keep it from closing. “It will only be a minute” said the man.

            As Greg spoke to the man at the front door, Henry heard the back door begin to open. Neither Greg or Henry were in very good shape but between the two of them, Henry had the natural strength and could have been an imposing figure if he wasn’t so lazy.

            Henry kept close to the wall and moved in on the door. The back door opened then a man in a dark coat entered the home. Henry hid behind the kitchen wall. A tree branch was pushed by the force of the wind outside and struck the side of the house. All four men were startled.

            The front door man jumped into the house, tackling Greg and slamming the door shut behind him. The man from the back door charged in. Henry panicked and saw an open door that appeared to be a closet. Henry charged from his hiding space and tackled the intruder into the closet. The intruder flew backward through the open door, which was the open door to the basement. The man was tackled then thrown down the stairs of the cellar, hitting each stair on his way down and landing on the concrete in a crumpled mess.

            Henry stood shocked for a minute but then ran to help Greg. Greg and the front door man were struggling and punching each other until Henry charged in and tackled the man. Greg scrambled to his feet and moved back into the living room while he watched Henry fight with the intruder. Everything was happening so fast that Greg didn’t have the mind to jump back in and help.

            As the two fought, the intruder wrestled in his coat for a weapon. The intruder pulled a knife from his coat and stabbed it down at Henry. The burly neighbor moved his head but the blade sliced his ear. The burglar tried again to stab Henry again. All of the grunting and struggling ended in a loud “Bang”.

            The intruder, who was on top of Henry, dropped his knife and clutched his side. Henry felt blood trickle onto his stomach. Greg stood there with a stern yet concerned face holding his great grandfather’s old pistol. “I told you it still worked”

The storm passed and the rain slowed to a trickle. The rage and chaos of the storm had tried to fight against the calm and serene atmosphere of the humans living below but the storm was gone and the houses remained.

Ambulance dragged away two injured burglars as police asked Greg and Henry a hundred questions. The calm air of Greg’s home was replaced with the feeling of rattled nerves and slowly calming adrenaline. As the police officers took pictures and wrapped up their investigation. A tired recruit in damp boots spotted the fresh coffee and in a hopeful voice asked “hey, can I have some coffee?”

The head officer scowled and Greg almost started to laugh. Instead of laughing, Greg just gestured to the coffee maker and said “help yourself”

Corridor of Time

Thomas walked through a corridor, the walls were covered in wallpaper in the style of nineteen-twenties American décor. Doors lined the corridor, each door was a rich oak color with black metal handles. None of the doors could be opened except one. At the end of the hall was a door made of white marble, it looked heavy and unmovable but glimmered with an otherworldly luminescence.

Thomas walked briskly towards the marble door, his black dress shoes scuffed against the long strip of floral carpeting that ran down the center of the corridors hardwood floor. Thomas’ brisk walk turned into a run, his dress pants making a swishing sound as he went. The corridor was silent except for the noise Thomas made as he tried to reach the white door.

The more Thomas ran the longer the corridor seemed to be but he was determined to reach the door. He didn’t know why he was so driven to this door or how long he had been running, he didn’t bother looking back or try to open any other door, his goal was straight ahead and he was in a full sprint as he tried to reach it.

Details of the door were revealed as he drew closer. The door had a gold lining, along the edges and made a square pattern in the center of the door. A small golden crest of a lion head was next to the silver handle of the door. The door was opened slightly, a shaft of light beamed out through it, dust particles floated and danced in the air, reflecting the light shining on it.

Thomas finally reached the door, he stopped for a moment as he tried to catch his breath. He took off his hat and his suit jacket then wiped sweat from his head. He felt like he had been running for miles in his dark gray suit but didn’t bother looking back to check how far he had traveled.

As regained his composure he heard the light pattering of rain on the other side of the door. A cool breeze blew through the small opening and the rain sound grew louder. Thomas reached for the handle and as soon as he touched the doorknob the door slammed shut. Thomas stood there stunned his hand still outstretched now only grasping air instead of the silver handle.

At this point Thomas thought about trying a different door, maybe another door entirely. There were so many brown wooden doors in the corridor that one of them would open. Thomas thought about this for several seconds and though it was only seconds the seriousness of the decision made if feel like an eternity. Thomas felt that going through a door was one of the most important decisions of his life and while he wanted to open the white marble door he worried he would be wasting his time on the flashy door and never get to leave the corridor at all.

Thomas reached his hand out again for the silver doorknob of the marble door. The golden lion emblem protruded out form the door and cut Thomas’ hand as he grasped the handle. Blood trickled from his hand and coated the golden lion’s mouth but Thomas continued to turn the silver doorknob.

Thomas twisted the handle of the door, his hand gathering cuts and scraps as he went. The golden lion was not a mighty guardian standing in his way, but the continued cuts and bleeding made Thomas reconsider his actions. Even though doubt was growing in him, he continued. He turned the handle all the way and pulled the door open. Though it appeared to be made of heavy marble, the door opened with ease. Thomas pulled his hand from the door, acquiring one last scrape from the golden lion.

The sound of rain could be heard in full, a gentle breeze rolled into the corridor from the other side of the door. Light was cast down over Thomas. It was warm and inviting. Thomas put his suit jack and hat back on and stepped through the door. This wasn’t the end for him but it was certainly the beginning of something wonderful.

Elements of Chaos

The fight for the universe has begun, slowly and quietly it has started. The Dark Elementals stand lined up facing Deus as he speaks. It is a cold and windy night, the elementals are on a beach somewhere in the world. The waves crash behind them as they stare inland at their self appointed leader. “The last few months, many of you have wondered what my big plan was. The light Elementals also believe I have a plan and are trying to prepare. The truth is I do have something in mind. I have created the ability to fuse small amounts of our powers. I will lend a small portion of my power to you all, in return, I will get a small amount of each of your power. This way, we will be able to kill our elemental counterparts without our elements canceling each other out” Deus said, his eyes wide with excitement and madness.

“If we kill any of the light elements. Wont their power be lost? That would upset the balance of everything” Said Kaji, not wanting to fade away because his other half was destroyed. “Yes, we cannot break our bond without both of us dying” added Morana. Deus smiled. “Yes, you are right. In the past we have not been able to kill the other elements because it would send us into oblivion. But with my new power, we can each now absorb the fallen Elementals! So each of us will be whole again, but without having to deal with our obnoxious other halves personalities. Once we get them out of the way, we can then destroy all life in the universe and return to our original forms” Deus explained.

Most the dark elementals cheered. Zephyr did not. She wanted to be rid of the humans that she hated so much, but she hoped that one day when the Elements returned to free flowing energy, Aeolius would be there with her. She didn’t want his power she wanted him. Not wanting to seem like an outcast she let out a halfhearted cheer. Which fooled everyone but Deus. Deus knew she would be a problem, but didn’t know how big of a problem, or how to deal with her. Unfortunately Deus needed one of every element to proceed with his plan.

Everyone was then taught the technique to transfer Elemental energy. Deus explained that once they all transferred a little of their power to the rest of the group they would be able to absorb the fallen elementals automatically, because this technique would change them enough to do that.

The ceremony began and each elemental focused, then their bodies exploded into elemental energy leaving each elemental a floating ball of energy. Kaji’s body, for instance, burst into flames and now he floated there as a large ball of fire. Once they returned to their most basic forms, they began sharing energy. Everyone gave a little piece of energy to the rest of the group and in return got a little back from everyone. This wouldn’t effect their powers, but it would give their attacks more of an edge.

Elemental energy floated rapidly around the beach, swirling glowing light being transferred into Elementals. No one was around to see this, but if they did, they probably wouldn’t believe what they saw.

Once the energy was absorbed the dark elementals returned to their human states. “I feel stronger!” said Kaji, as he punched and kicked in the air. He could summon flames like normal, but his fire was so charged with Earth, water and wind energy that he could burn another fire element without a problem. Deus smiled. Everything was going according to plan. Now all they needed to do was defeat the Light.

Almost on queue the elements of light appeared. Terra had become worried that Deus would do something drastic and she decided to find out first hand what he was planning. Since Deus was one of the most devious of the elements Terra decided they should all go together. As soon as the light elements appeared Deus began to laugh. He was indeed taken by surprise, but to him it was a good surprise. “Wonderful! This saves me the trouble of hunting you down myself” Deus said as he clapped his hands together in a show of pure joy. His smile was as twisted and deranged as his mental state.

Terra felt like she had just played into his hands but wasn’t sure what was about to happen next. Aeolius looked at Zephyr with concern. Zephyr had her head down and seemed ashamed. She now possessed the power to hurt any of the elementals and though she didn’t have a problem with killing other elementals, she knew if a fight broke out between two sides, she would have to either switch sides or kill Aeolius, or more painfully, watch someone else kill Aeolius.

The other elementals didn’t share Zephyr’s concern. Kaji grinned ear-to-ear and looked as happy as Deus, but for a different reason. Deus was happy because he was closer than ever to achieving his goal. Kaji was happy because he would finally get to put an end to his annoying other half. The two sides stood in a stand off and Deus opened his mouth to speak “This is a turning point for the dark elementals…” He began to say. Then Kaji summoned a fireball and launched it at Delia with all of his force and hatred for her. It was a direct hit and Delia flew backward as she was engulfed in flames. She lay sprawled out on the ground, burnt and injured. She mustered her strength and stood back up, ready to fight. “ok, so long story short, we can hurt you now” Deus muttered quickly.

Terra was shocked by this turn of events. She didn’t know how Deus accomplished this, but she knew they would all have to fight for their survival. Terra took a battle stance and the earth around her rose up like a snakes head, sitting still ready strike. Deus moved his arms outward and the earth rushed forward like a wave and crashed down on the light elementals. Terra blocked the attack with her earth strike and the others blocked with their own powers.

Delia’s hand’s ignited and she rushed at Kaji with fury in her eyes. “You’ve doomed yourself by picking a fight with us! Now you and your dark weakling friends will perish” Delia swiped at Kaji with claws made of fire. Kaji stood there and laughed but wasn’t laughing when Delia sliced deep wounds into him. Kaji’s face twisted into rage and he attacked her with a blast of fire. “Stupid bitch!” He shouted rapidly shooting fire at her. Deus saw this and realized by combining their powers to hurt the light Elements they also destroyed their own resistance that they had to their own element. He didn’t bother explaining because it seemed everyone else saw this and understood the basic idea.

Now that the two groups of Elementals could hurt and kill each other, there would be a huge open battle and when the dust cleared the fate of the universe would be decided.