Liv trudged through a swamp, feeling terrible. The mist clung to her skin, and she felt sticky all over. Why did their first battle have to be here?

  Zara, unfazed by the terrain, led the party, briefing them for the thirtieth time on what was to come. "MAGGOTS! THERE'S A WARBAND OF DRYADS AND A COUPLE DARK ELVES, SPOTTED BY OUR BEST SCOUTS! GUESS WHERE WE'RE GOING?"

  All the recruits groaned. "Directly towards them!," they muttered halfheartedly.

  "YOU'VE GOT IT IN ONE! WE'LL BE SEEING THEM SOON. WHAT ARE OUR PLANS?"

  Jade danced to the front. Liv envied her method of movement as she moved through the boggy ground effortlessly. It would be so much easier if she could walk on water. Breathing mist out, she continued the trek.

  "RECRUIT. ARE YOU WALKING ON WATER?," Zara asked, turning to stare Jade in the eye.

  Jade suddenly stopped with a fearful expression. The water rippled beneath her feet as she sunk down into it. Jade shivered as the water climbed up her legs. She squeaked out a quick reply to Zara. "No... I'm not walking on water, ma'am."

  Zara nodded. "THAT'D BE VERY NOTICEABLE AND WOULD GIVE AWAY OUR POSITION, SO IT'S A GOOD THING YOU AREN'T."

  "What about the sound your shouts create, then?," one of the gaggle of recruits asked.

  "HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF SOUND SPIRITS, MAGGOT?," Zara screamed at him.

  Everyone continued walking as Zara reexplained their battle plan. "THE GIRL MURDERS THE DARK ELF AND DRYAD COMMANDERS. MAGGOTS, YOU GET TO HANDLE THE ORDINARY TROOPS."

  Jade piped up. "Ma'am, we can handle the commanders! We're strong enou-"

  "No, you aren't," Liv said, cutting her short. "I've fought both you and the lowest-level dryad commander. I destroyed you without a sweat, while the commander almost destroyed me."

  Jade stopped talking, falling in line with the other recruits. Zara spoke again, uncharacteristically not shouting. "Maggots, we've reached the enemy."

  Liv instantly went on guard. She drew her new sword, made by the best elven smiths. In her mind, Liv reached out to the connection she had with Vivian, though she didn't call through it just yet. The mist begrudgingly showed them a line of trees not too far ahead. Flickers of movement were visible between the trunks.

  Zara stopped, as did the rest of the company. "We rest here."

  The recruits groaned before Zara raised a hand. She turned to Liv. "They're setting up camp. I believe we have the best chances if we attack when they're all asleep. Do you agree?"

  Liv nodded. "I can set up a couple wards of dream and Air for defense and stealth as well. Darkness will be useful too."

  Zara turned to the trees. "Recruit Azen. You're taking first watch."

  The named recruit walked up to where Zara was standing, turning completely towards the trees. Liv found a nearby dream spirit, quickly Whispering a few words to it. Feeding it energy, she watched as it flew in a ring around them, a shell of dream she knew could only be seen and sensed from the inside rising in a dome to surround them. Liv pulled a wind spirit over, and gave it similar instructions, having it construct a simple barrier around them to provide a modicum of protection. Finally, she grabbed a darkness spirit and instructed it to help the dream spirit. It floated over to the shell, increasing the power of the illusions surrounding them.

  Liv settled down. She wasn't assigned to any of the watches, so she could be at her best while fighting. There was nothing to do but win.

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  Night descended upon the world, the stars coming out to shine. Liv saw moonlight spirits and star spirits all over the place, drawn out by the night. The company suited up, pulling on their armor and weapons. Liv simply held her sword, fighting in a silk shirt and pants. Armor would slow her down too much, and leather had a tendency to be stiff sometimes. Many of the recruits suited up in full plate, while the archers, like Jade, wore leather armor. The leather wasn't a very good idea in a swamp, the humidity causing it to harden, restricting the archers' mobility.

  Zara quickly arranged the recruits into ranks, waiting patiently for them to stumble into place. Then, finally, she nodded, and they were off.

  They made a good amount of sound, clonking through a bog, but Zara kept it down with her affinity for sound as they ran towards the camp. They reached the treeline without any trouble, getting out of the accursed bog. The enemy camp was set up just inside the forest, a multitude of quiet tents all over the place. Quite a few sentries stood at its edge, alert and ready. Zara held up her hand and they stopped. She pointed at Liv. Then she pointed at the biggest tents, making a shooing motion. Then she crouched down, pretending to sneak. Liv nodded. Sneak to the big tents, start a fight with the leaders. Don't get noticed until you get there.

  They could slowly raid the camp and stealthily kill soldier after soldier. However, it wouldn't work for long, with the heavy or stiff armor that they were wearing. Getting noticed would instantly put them in a bad position. Causing chaos would be far more effective, and the faster their leaders died, the faster Liv could help the others.

  A dream spirit slid over to Liv, and she faded into the world around her. She jogged towards the big tents, leaving the company behind. Surprisingly, there was no nervousness. Just a sea of calm. Liv had done this before. Nothing would go wrong.

  Quickly, Liv got there, none of the soldiers noticing her. Many of them were dryads, though Liv saw a few dark elves. They stared right through her, the cloak of Dream she was wearing letting her slip by. The big tents loomed in front of her, each guarded. Liv easily ignored the guards, slipping past them directly into the first of the large tents. Inside, a group of dark elves slept, beds made of earth and air supporting them. Liv walked forward, drawing her sword. Suddenly, the eyes of the dark elves opened as one. Liv reacted instinctively, tossing herself to the side. A ray of light annihilated her previous location.

  The dark elves got off their beds. "We had protections in case someone tried to assassinate us," one said, stretching.

  "Time for you to die," Another said, stones rising into the air in front of him.

  Liv released her cloak of Dream, grabbing her connection to Vivian. A moment later, she reached inside, grabbing the lightning and water fused to her body, activating them. Then she stepped out of the way of a barrage of stones, weaving between the swings of an elf with a claymore.

  Vivian finally showed up. "So we kill these people?" 

  Liv nodded. "Yeah. Help, maybe?"

  Vivian chuckled. "I'm not going to help. I'm going to teach you how to Sing while fighting. In return, you can teach me how to talk to spirits when I call you over."

  Liv sighed. "Maybe we can do that when I'm not fighting dark elves?"

  Vivian ignored her comment. "Reach inside yourself."

  Liv did so, still dodging random attacks from the dark elves. Only her energy pool and the two elements that were a part of her were visible.

  "Look closely at your pool of energy. Is it really just energy, or does it have an... attunement?"

  Liv ran directly into a swing of a quarterstaff, flying through a wall of the tent. The entire camp was alerted now, though chaotic, soldiers running into each other. The recruits marched through the camp, steadily advancing. She looked at her energy, trying to find out what Vivian was talking about.

  The dark elves followed her. Liv started attacking them, rushing through their defense. Being attuned to water, and getting used to her lightning were powerful increases to her strength, allowing her to fight on the same level as the dark elves. They kept launching attacks at her, but Liv weaved between them as she swiftly took them down, one at a time. Soon they were all left on the ground, corpses spewing blood. Splitting the head of the last one, Liv turned to Vivian. "What do you mean?,"

  Vivian smiled. "My Note, which I use to Sing, is the power of music. What is your energy the power of? By the way, it's called Voice."

  Liv examined it carefully. It seemed to interact with her emotions, drawing extra power from the calm rush she felt right now. "Emotion?," She asked.

  Vivian clapped. "Yep! Voice is the power of emotion."

  Liv looked down at the dead bodies she had just created. Something was wrong. This had been too easy. Vivian continued talking in the background, but Liv wasn't listening anymore. Not dying was a priority. "Vivian. Do you know where the commanders are?"

  Vivian stopped mid-sentence. "Eh?" She opened her mouth, Singing a quick note. Vivian pointed towards a nondescript tent. "They're over there."

  Liv sighed, watching figures exit the tent Vivian was pointing at. It looked like this would be much harder than it seemed.