The winds of Zephyr

It was a cool and breezy evening in a little port town. Fishermen were bringing in their haul for the day and taverns were stoking fires and preparing food and drink for a night of regular customers and travelers looking to rest. It was the perfect night to sit outside with a cup of coffee or mug of ale and watch the ocean.

            A little boy named Henry was out on the docks waiting for his father to come home when he spotted a strange ship in the horizon. The ship was as large as a navy battleship but instead of the kingdom seal, the flag was black with a bloody skull image. The dark ship marked the peaceful landscape as it sailed closer to shore. A dark storm was growing and following in the trail of the dreaded black flag ship. Henry knew the men on the ship were pirates and not the fun kind that go on adventures. Henry ran into the house to tell his father and word spread quickly of the approaching pirate ship.

            The pirate ship sailed so quickly toward the town that it looked as if Zephyr, the god of the winds was carrying them to shore. The town prepared what weapons they had and tried to fortify the docks. The town had been at peace for so long that they were not ready for a pirate invasion. The harder the townspeople worked the more they realized how unprepared they truly were. Within an hour the pirates were almost upon them and the dark storm was already overhead. Thunder boomed and the lighting crashed around. Visible bolts struck the water around the pirate ship as it approached. The townspeople were so overwhelmed by the attack and it hadn’t even happened yet. Surly the pirates were closer to demons than they were mortal men. The town would be reduced to ash and no one in the town would ever be heard from again, nor their bodies ever found.

            The dread ship was so close that the pirates could be seen from shore. The pirates weren’t cheering for blood with swords ready, they were fleeing the storm. Terror could be seen in the faces and eyes of all above deck, the storm was chasing them and refused to let up. a bolt of lighting shot down from the sky and struck the ship. A loud crack and bang were heard, sounding like an explosion. The sound of wood being bent and broken followed up next, then the screams of pirates as they fled into the water. Electricity poured from the clouds and crashed into the ship. The townspeople looked on in horror as they saw what they thought was the wrath of god. The electricity spread out along the breaking and splintering wood and resembled a giant hand.

            After ten minutes of lighting pounding the pirate ship and unrelenting strikes on the water, the storm began to calm and the skies cleared up. The storm vanished from the sky and that remained were dead pirates and broken ship pieces. The boy Henry spotted a man washed up on the shore and he was breathing. While the pirates wore black and red and were covered in weapons and tattoos, this man looked more like a sailor or a person that might live in that very town. He was pale and had black hair that came down to his eyes, he had a long navy blue coat that looked weather resistant, sturdy black boots and black workers gloves. The townspeople helped him onto dry land and he was take to the local tavern. It was agreed that he was most likely a prisoner of the pirates and that he could be trusted, but should still be watched.

            The man had twenty feet of chain stashed inside of his long coat, a large sharp hook, two stone jars engraved with mystical runes, various tiny bottles of herbs and exotic ingredients, a flintlock pistol, a pouch of gold coins and a small sailor’s knife.

The townspeople were a little startled by all of the strange items in the man’s coat, but they insisted on making him comfortable while he recovered from his injuries. They had many questions for him and figured that he would be less likely to answer them if he woke up in the local jailhouse.

            The man started to wake up, he found himself in a warm bed, near a crackling fire. The injured man has sparkling blue eyes like the sea after a storm. He tried to stand but felt too weak. The mayor of the village came into the house to greet the injured man. The mayor had a handlebar mustache, brown eyes and gray hair. “Hello, son. Can you speak? My name is mayor Gustav. Who are you?” Asked the Mayor. “My name is Isaac” Said the injured man before passing out.

            The mysterious Isaac survived being held by pirates and lived through a overwhelming storm that killed all the pirates aboard. The townspeople had so many questions and hoped that he had the answers.

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.