Eve watched in horror as the elemental lord burned Henry alive. She barely had time to evade as a white shafted spear almost impaled her as it spun over the edge of the pit. After a few minutes, Eve started running. Was it cowardly, she was not sure. Would she regret it? Yes, she abandoned a friend in a time of need.

At least she had the presence of mind to grab Bruce’s spear. Several miners and smiths were fleeing as well, however, they were heading towards the Forest Caldera, which would definitely be the next target. Regis was not stable, but the first city to feel his insanity would be the closest one.

She barged into the main house of the mine to find Conni yelling at a horseman, “Go to Elder Forest!”

Grace had the cows hitched up to a wagon and had quite a few supplies piled inside. Eve was not sure if cows would make the best escape animals, but they were better than nothing. A gathering of burly men was gathered around the cart, most of the miners and the surviving soldiers. Eve did not see Shale. She felt sick at the thought of having left the injured man back at the pit, but she could not muster up the courage to go back and get him.

“Come on,” Conni yelled at her, “We need to go.“

“Where to?” One of the miners holding the cow's bridle asked. It was not that he was unwilling, just he needed to know which road to take.

“Now that she’s here, the River Caldera,” Conni said, “The rider will get your families out of the Forest Caldera before it burns.”

“Can that thing really fight the whole Forest Caldera alone?” One of the miners asked in disbelief.

“The difference between you and Siren is smaller than the difference between Siren and it,” Eve said with a shudder. Henry had been utterly helpless, “And all the warriors are fighting in the planes, so no one is there to even resist.”

There was a cracking sound, like a large boulder being broken in two. Everyone turned their gazes towards the pit. Of course, they could not see a hole over two miles away while it had tree cover, but they could see the thing rising into the sky. It was humanoid, but they could only watch as it stood with its feet planted in the air.

Other objects floated beside it. The sunlight glinting off of them gave them away as metal. Slowly at first, but with greater and greater speed, they started spinning like wheels. Once they were moving so fast that only the center was visible, they slammed into the ground. Clouds of dust rose into the air before larger chunks of metal joined it in the sky. The chunks of metal were large and boxy, poorly shaped for any use.

“We need to move!” Conni said, his panic evident even in the other miner's eyes. The normally cool headed Grace looked shaken.

“What’s going on,” Eve pleaded as she followed behind the cart.

“There are a lot of elementals buried in this mine, he just dug them all up at the same time. He’s building an army,” The warrior clenched and unclenched his fist around his weapon's grip.

Eve had to remind herself that this man was an elite of the caldera. If a man who was in the top fifty strongest was afraid, then she could be afraid as well. They left the cloud of dust behind, the elemental lord not paying them any mind as it dug up more monstrosities.

They made poor but steady time, taking over a week to make it to the River Caldera. The supplies that Grace had stocked away were evidently for survival, not sentimental or valuable objects. Not to say she did not bring a sack full of silver parces, which she used to bribe a squad of Lake Caldera soldiers to guard them. They were hesitant at first, but quickly jumped on board once they learned that Eve was with them.

There was a reward for whoever brought Eve back safely. So in the soldier's minds, they got paid, homemade meals, and a short vacation. Eve felt a large amount of trepidation as she returned to her home. This was home, but she had no friends here only sycophants. She barely had any family, as her mother had started drinking like a fish to cope with her husband's death. Her sister was in Alchehall, and her grandfather always put his work first.

Fortunately, no one seemed to recognize her. The head family was recognized more by their attire and company than by their looks. Black hair and navy blue eyes were simply too common when one had a water kern. No one expected the heiress of the River Caldera to walk in with some dirty men and two cows.

“DAD!” A high pitched voice yelled.

A little boy dashed through the marketplace just outside the city gate. Several merchants almost tripped over him, but most were good natured about the interruption. He latched himself onto one of the miner’s legs. With a substantial tug, the man picked the kid up and held him up.

Several other people had arrived, several women and half a dozen children. Eve knew that some of the miners were married, but she was surprised at how many. Her eyes landed on a strange girl with pale lavender eyes, she had brown hair and a mottled skin tone that made it look like she was crying. It was odd, but what gave Eve pause was the little girl beside her. It was a four or five year old version of Tristan, the biggest difference was the green eyes. Her kern was still dormant and no essence had bled into her irises.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Eve decided she would investigate if only to let Tristan’s family know what happened. She had not seen him die, but Eve knew with certainty that he was dead, probably tortured into becoming an elemental. Shuddering at the thought of having to fight Tristan’s reanimated kern, she made her way over to the pair.

“Hello,” Eve started, “Are you looking for anyone in specific?”

The girl fixed her eyes on Eve, who almost took a step back as they seemed to search her, “Yes, his name is Tristan, though he may go by Sage, about this tall, black hair, pale skin, gold eyes, metal kern, and a bad attitude.”

“My name is Tristan!” The little girl claimed emphatically.

“He won’t be coming,” Eve said, “He didn’t make it.”

The girl sighed, “So the elemental got him.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you?” Eve asked.

“Let’s step off to the side,” the girl gestured to a set of tables, just off the road.

It was a place to make it more convenient to eat food from the vendors than to go home and eat there. While they did not have any food, the tables would be a suitable place to talk while staying out of traffic. Most of the tables were empty, but the girl took them to a table with a woman sitting at it. She wore a black cloak that was obviously expensive, but she was disheveled. Her hair was not taken care of and there were bags under her eyes.

“My name is Harp, and this is Helen,” The girl said, “We were forewarned that something like this could happen, so we came here when we got the message.”

The haggard woman looked up, “Have you seen my son? Is he alright, please tell me he is alright.” She lurched forward as if to gain a tighter grip on reality, but stopped herself and let her hands fall back on the table when she saw the frozen look in Eve’s eyes.

The little girl patted her mom’s knee, but her affections went unnoticed. Harp was the one who answered, “He died fighting.”

Eve had not actually said that, but it did not change the validity of the statement. Tristan had gone down swinging, she had at least seen his fight with Regis. A fight that admittedly made him look like a ball getting repeatedly kicked off of a wall.

“What were you to him?” Helen asked.

Eve was not sure what she was looking for, but chose to answer honestly, “Just a friend.”

The woman started crying, Harp tried comforting her. Eve felt very uncomfortable, she had no idea what to do or how to react to the situation, or how to make it better.

“Eve,” Conni yelled, she turned to find him standing with a pair of unfriendly looking River Caldera patrol men.

She sighed and left the broken family, to go have a family reunion of her own. The guards relaxed when they saw that Eve was both unharmed and healthy.

“Thank you, Conni,” They said, “Let’s get you to the Elder.”

~

Luke

~

“Wait!” Siren yelled, trying to stop Luke.

How could he, earth was not known for its swiftness, while Luke controlled lightning. He sprinted toward the mine, he needed to kill something. News had arrived that something big had happened there. A cloud of dust hung perpetually over the area. No one knew what was happening, no one but Luke and Siren.

They had not even left the border of Alchehall when news came. He gripped one of the metal canisters as he approached the ferryman. It might be faster to run around, but not by enough. He did not want to arrive to an unfair fight with a depleted kern. Luke was angry, not suicidal.

“Across the lake now!” He ordered the boatman.

The man scrambled to obey, terrified at the strands of electricity sparking off Luke’s clothing. He needed a fight, and the elemental lord would be a good target for his ire. The capsule in his pocket would even the playing field enough, all he needed was even.

Unfortunately, one of the gods Hadrid speculated about must have heard his thoughts. A figure stepped onto the surface of the water at the far side of the lake. At first Luke could not tell what it was, people could not walk on water after all. It approached the center of the lake, Luke was not sure if it was heading for them, or if they were coincidentally on an intercept course.

Once it was close enough, Luke recognized the figure of an elemental lord. It had two water parts, and the brain appeared to be earth. It was a lackluster combination, but it allowed it to freeze the water enough to halt the boat. It wasn’t the one Luke wanted, but it was the one Luke needed.

“Humans, the Lord would ask for the source of this lake. You will be rewarded for your assistance.” Its voice was watery and fluctuated oddly.

Luke punched it in the face. He felt its skull fracture under the impact as it skipped a short distance. Then he made what was likely a dumb decision. He jumped out of the boat and onto the ice.

“Go back and pick up the angry man in yellow robes,” Luke said.

He did not wait to see if the man would obey, simply making a beeline for the elemental. Luke was not sure where a second elemental lord came from, but he could make it disappear. For a moment he considered the prudence of capturing and interrogating the elemental. It was odd that they would be interested in a water source, as they did not need to drink. Then he fed those thoughts to his lightning.

“The Lord does not tolerate traitors,” The elemental said as it stood, dusting itself off.

It was standing on an ever expanding ring of ice. Luke could only smirk at a water elemental being bad at fighting on water. It lacked the skill to stand on its surface and chose instead to freeze the liquid. It blocked the second strike and the third, before retaliating with a razor tipped knife hand of its own.

The ice covered fingers took Luke by surprise, and the lack of traction caused him to slip when he jerked backward. He was faster, it was stronger. Between this one and the Dark one down in the mine, Luke would say this one was far more dangerous.

It proceeded to create two ice daggers and stab down at Luke. He ignored them as his feet were between its feet. Scissoring his feet outward, he used the lack of friction against the elemental, taking it down and rolling aside. The daggers struck the ground behind him. Luke twisted back the way he had come and smashed an elbow into the elemental's skull.

Out of the three parts that made up the elemental Lord, the kern was the weak link on this one. Luke intended to take advantage of it.