War resounded all throughout the plains as swords, shields, and arrows clamored, injuring those who came in contact with them. Serafina and Tide were looking over the blazing sea of combat and destruction. Little by little, their former clans fell before their eyes.

“Tide, how many battles have they had since the start of this Rotation?”

“You were with me every time, weren’t you,” he snapped, “There were eight.”

“But I had other things to attend to, as you well know. Countless times I had to appease the Pillar with other Wardens. And only a few days ago, I had to pacify a large horned fire lizard before it tore down the entire forest.”

“Wait, you went down there?”

“Yes, only because no one else spotted the creature. I almost missed the start of the ceremony.”

The battle below was heating up. Spheres of water, conjured into shape by Water’s spells, were launched into the center of Fire’s tribe. Panic rang out whenever parts of Fire formation broke. Water advanced, Fire resisted.

“I wish,” Tilde sighed, “we had those waterball catapults in our time.”

“You would have killed me, Tilde”

“Yet, here we are.”

Fire’s formation quickly recovered from the last blow and changed into something resembling a tiger’s paw, cleverly striking from many places. Serafina arched her brow in disbelief.

“Is that the flare formation? I may have underestimated Vulcan’s ability to lead.”

“Was that how you defeated us in Dewy Cliff? I remember faintly that your team split ours apart.”

“No, that was dart rush, there wasn’t enough space on the cliffs for that. How do you think we would form a massive claw on the cliffs of a mountain? We would have plummet to our death.”

“Well, doesn’t Vulcan always know how to get around anything?” Both of them laughed at the remark. The true power of Fire’s team lay in strategy, planning, and agility.

“Can you believe Vulcan was just a child then?”

The “claws” of the formation penetrated Water’s team, cutting it into isolated sections. Split apart, Water was now at a disadvantage. Just then, Fire launched their own missiles. Water’s field was ablaze with fireballs and craters carved on impact. A cry broke out from Water’s central formation as Cascade was nearly struck by an errant fireball.

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Cascade was one of Water’s most prominent commanding leaders, and he had more tricks up his sleeve. “Water, the lance!” He shouted.

All of Water’s powerful spellcasters channeled their energy into the river by their side. Water began to flow out of it and morph into the shape of a spear. It then began to solidify, the temperature around it dropping rapidly. Frozen, the spear began to spin, knocking out any Fire soldier in its vicinity.

A few fiery tendrils, glowing red with intense heat, lashed out at the lance, carving gashes into it, but were overall ineffective as the damage was quickly fixed. Fire’s spellcasters used advanced pyrokinesis to redirect some of the fireballs that were launched, rapidly striking the lance. After a couple of repeated blows, it shattered. Part of it, already melted, evaporated, while the ice chunks left behind were sublimated by the hot boulders. Fire cheered.

The Water spellcasters, momentarily caught off guard by the aggressive counterattack, regrouped and swiftly adapted their strategy. They flooded the field with an immense amount of water, approaching Fire’s position rapidly. Unprepared for this quick recovery, some of Fire’s soldiers built small lava walls to hide behind, some stood there and panicked, and most of them braced themselves. A huge swirl of water crashed into them, knocking many of them off their feet.

The walls proved to be ineffective. They evaporate water that came near, but the wave was so large that it could only do so much before being overwhelmed, eventually solidifying and trapping many people beneath.

With the Fire warriors disoriented, the Water spellcasters seized the opportunity and manipulated the remaining water droplets. Sharp shards of ice formed from the moisture that gathered midair and darted towards the Fire warriors with precise aim and speed. The icy projectiles cut through the air, finding their mark and incapacitating many Fire warriors with freezing wounds.

Despite the initial setback, the Fire warriors quickly rallied. As the Water spellcasters sent out yet another wave of water, the Fire warriors channeled their fiery energy, intensifying the heat around them and evaporating the incoming floodwaters. Steam billowed from the ground, obscuring the battlefield and making it difficult for the Water spellcasters to maintain their focus.

“Shield!” Vulcan’s stentorian voice roared across the plains. With a simple, one-word command, all soldiers retreated and came back to their side of the field, using fire and rocks to form a wall of molten lava. Many of the ice shards struck the wall, failing to pass through and vanishing. Stumped by this, Water’s formation disintegrated as some people fled for their lives as the wall advanced, some tried to break part of it with water, and others stupidly stood their ground.

The wall’s structure fell, turning into a flow of lava, collapsing onto the water's field. It buried many soldiers alive, their agonized screams muffled by the thick liquid. A sphere began to rise out from the lava. Cascade was caught inside the lava flow but managed to protect himself from most of the damage, though his stamina was starting to falter.

“Water, retreat!” Cascade rasped. Water’s soldiers began to withdraw as the order was given, their losses heavy. Vulcan, deciding not to push it, gave orders to hold.

Serafina and Tide left as Cascade’s remaining army fled and Fire celebrated their victory.

Once again, Fire had bested Water. But at what cost?