The road to Keford was half a day of journey on horseback. They rose on fresh horses, and alternated between galloping and walking to give them a break. They both really wanted to get there as soon as possible. By the time the duo reached the edge of town, the last glow of orange peaked over the horizon. The first stars were beginning to appear and the moon was rising as the sky.

Once they entered Keford, there was a subtle but constant wind. The horses began to act noticeably more nervous as well. The area on western Keford had a couple hundred people. Usually the eastern part was more busy. They looked at the duo strangely as they passed, but none warned them.

By the time they reached the bridge that went over the cliff to eastern Keford, the gust of wind was heavier to the point where heavy furniture like carriages and large sofas slid around. Clothes that had been on a laundry line whipped around. Yarro also had trouble staying on his horse, and if he was having trouble, then the horses must have also had trouble staying on the ground. Dust and dirt kicked up all around them, obscuring their vision.

“It’s like we’re in a tornado!” Kael shouted over the wind. He looked around in reverence and awe at the strength the wind could have. They both came to the same conclusion.

“Why do I get the feeling this isn’t a natural event?” Yarro shouted back. The winds were too constant and even.

Across the bridge, Yarro could spot multiple, smaller, baby tornadoes ripping up the ground and twirling past buildings. These were air elementals of a normal size. Which meant the town itself was inside the Master Air Elemental. Past those elementals, on the far end of the town, was the factory. From what he could see, the workers boarded up what they could but it still looked heavily ripped apart from the destructive wind.

“We’ll have to go through those,” Kael said. The air elementals seemed to congregate mostly in front of the factory, but they could easily just run through them with the horses. Hitting them in any way would have no effect as they don’t have a physical form. The duo looked at each other and nodded.

They slowly and steadily crossed the bridge. It felt like they were trying to walk through a wall since the winds were so strong. Some winds blew cold air, some blew air as hot as a furnace. This air stunk too, but not like before. This one smelled more like thousands of chimneys. Once they passed the bridge, the wind even turned violent. Yarro nearly fell off his horse and when he straightened himself out, at least 3 air elementals came towards them.

They needed to pick up the pace to outrun them. The duo snapped the reins and did their best to dodge the incoming tornadoes. Things like planks, metal bars, and even food was stuck in them. One elemental even spit a few out when they got too close. Kael dodged one that would have impaled his neck.

They eventually made it to the factory entrance, where they seemed to encounter the worst of the wind. The building looked more run down from close up. They dismounted from their horses, but hesitated at the door. “If we’re really doing this, the Queen might not like it. We’re going against her orders, after all. We might have to go on the run. I have no home to go back to, so I don’t mind. But you have a family,” Kael said with a smile. That damn smile.

“But you have me…” Yarro stared at him, his face beginning to heat up. His mouth had spoken without thinking about what he was actually saying. But for once, he decided to go with his gut. He seized the moment while Kael was still processing what he had said. “Can I kiss you?” he blurted out. He didn’t know how Kael was going to react, or how they were supposed to work together after this confession. What if he didn’t feel the same way? That would be beyond awkward.

Kael nodded after what felt like the longest pause in his life. The wind whipped around them, hair and clothes flapped in the wind as they leaned in to kiss. It was the most unromantic first kiss that could have happened. Their lips were chapped, their hair was in their eyes, and the wind was trying its best to kill them. But to Yarro, it was still the best he could have had. From yearning and wanting for Kael since the moment he saw the man and resigned to never being with him, to kissing him.

Yarro completely melted when Kael placed a hand on his cheek and gave in to the kiss.

The door to the locked factor burst open and they stumbled in to take shelter from the wind storm. The rock Kael used to break the lock crashed on the wall on the opposite end. Yarro cleared his throat. “For now, let’s destroy this factory,” he said with a crack of his fingers. "We can't defeat the Master Air Elemental, but we can at least destroy the thing making it angry."

Kael held his hand out towards the rock he used, his fingers at first outstretched, then he slowly closed it into a fist. The rock began to crack until it at once burst apart. From there, Kael was able to break it into smaller, more manageable chunks. These smaller rocks then floated up to his hand and slowly swirled around his arm. Artillery ready to fire.

Smoke had filled the entrance area and was escaping through a hole in the wall. Something was on fire. Unfortunately, it was dry smoke so Yarro couldn’t collect any moisture or water from the air. He had hoped there would be water inside for whatever reason. To the right was a hallway that led down with doors on both sides, and to the left, Yarro couldn't tell. It was open, but the hallway reached around.

“The right looks like it might have people?” Kael asked. The first door on the left was a bathroom. It stunk of the sea, but Yarro wasn’t going to take a chance at pulling up that “water.” The duo continued down the hall, inspecting each room behind the doors until they came to the end. Each door was welding various parts of the tank that were needed. Still, they encountered absolutely no one. “Interesting how this whole place is deserted.”

“They probably ran as soon as the Master Air Elemental formed. I don’t sense any water in here either. Only the overwhelming ocean.” To Yarro, the ocean was a force larger than land and it called to him in the back of his mind. Here, the call was so strong that it was all he could feel. It was this urge to jump off the cliff and dive into the water. In a way, he missed this feeling since leaving Rylin when he was assigned to Dawic.

“Must have been shit working conditions if they didn’t even have access to water. But we are next to the ocean. Do you think you can pull it up from all the way up here?”

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Yarro shrugged. It was worth a shot.

There was no exit this way, so the duo went back down the hallway to the entrance, and chose to go the opposite way. On this end was one large room, around 2 stories high, and filled with half completed turtle tanks. Stations for them were in an even row, with whatever parts were needed right next to them. Many of the stations were scrambled, as if they all left in a hurry. Wooden walkways without any railing swung from above, held from the ceiling by mere ropes and metal chains.

With so many tanks in one place, it was easy to see why this was the reason for the elemental attacks. So much iron and coal would have needed to be dug up from the mines. Dawic’s mines. No wonder the Deities and the Master Elementals became upset and made a fit. They stole the earth under them to wage war against the very humans the Deities are trying to protect.

One turtle tank close to the large back doors was near complete. here, he could get a closer look at the final product. It was easy to see why they were named after turtles. Its main feature was a wide cone as the majority of the base, like a turtle shell, and the bottom third caved inward. The flat tip had a separate, detachable part that lifted up and down to enter and exit. This wide cone had metal hexagonal plating that looked like it could be easily removed to see around them. A look at a tank that wasn’t fully plated yet revealed that the inside had 4 wheels to it and a ladder in the middle.

It was quite the complex invention. Since the holes at eye level were much too small for elemental manipulation, these were indeed for non-elementalists and their rifles. Should Listhua enter a war, like Queen Illa has been vying to do with Obraria, non-elementalists could be perfectly protected from the elements while giving room for offense. They could effectively double the amount of soldiers they had with these. They would stand a chance against the enemy.

The large doors at the very back were big enough to fit one of these tanks through. It led to an even larger, fenced off area, where the wind wasn't as strong. Outside, there were multiple tracks left off from the tanks leading out. The gate wasn’t locked and instead banged against the fence in the wind. There were no tanks parked in the area, strangely enough. Either the workers rode them out or the Master Air Elemental threw them off the cliff the first chance it got. He wouldn’t be surprised if the winds got strong enough to lift such a heavy machine.

They walked past the gate and to the edge of the cliff, where the ocean crashed against the rock walls. They could hear the splash of the water from all the way up here. Yarro glanced down. It was a long way, but he was confident he could pull up the water. Even if he didn’t know why or how. He would simply let instinct take over him.

Yarro took in a deep breath of the salty air carried in by the strong winds. He let it permeate his lungs and absorb into himself. With both hands extended out, he focused on his element within and the call of the ocean he was feeling. He focused on the waves, and the pattern they were crashing at. With each break, he felt it build up. It crashed higher, and higher. It beckoned to him. It yearned for him. Yarro stood patiently at the edge of the cliff, hands still outstretched and calling to the water. Waiting for the perfect moment.

At last, one large wave crashed hard into the cliff-side and he felt the spray of the ocean water land on his skin. He sprung into action within a moment’s instance. His hands above his head and over, in a circular motion. The spray of the water and droplets that fell from the crashed waves followed his hands into a ribbon, upwards and curving into itself in a large ball of salty ocean water.

Yarro could finally put one hand down, and kept the other on the orb of water to keep it from unfurling. He looked back at Kael, a smile plastered on his face. Kael himself was awestruck. The rocks he once held had had fallen to the ground. They seemed small in comparison to commanding the ocean. It took a lot of concentration to do what he did. "Ready?" Yarro asked.

Kael nodded and pulled the rocks back up to rotate around his hand. “You take the right side of the hallway, I’ll take the left side. We’ll save the big room for last, yeah?”

Yarro skipped the first door on the left, since it was the toilet, and the second room was the office. Nothing of note to destroy. He tried to rifle through the desk but even the papers looked boring. No blueprints of any sort, nor anything incriminating. However the next room had a tank, bare and with only the skeleton hastily structured together. Yarro was easily able to slice the base in half with enough pressure on the sea water.

The next door had rows and rows of metal plating. Some had a fresh coat of paint while others laid bare. He was able to dismantle these by wiggling the water under the bolts of the plate and popping them off by force. It didn’t seem enough, though.

Yarro was deep in thought about how to destroy them further when he heard a large explosion coming from across the hall. It rocked the floors and walls, dirt fell from the ceiling. The rumbling continued and a few minutes later another explosion happened. A few chunks of the ceiling fell down around him. The building was coming down. What the hell happened over there?

Kael came running into the room. “Come on, we need to go!” He had to shout over the various sounds of debris crashing down around them. He went to grab Yarro’s hand, but he yanked it away before they could touch.

“No! We’re still not done!” Kael’s face warped from simply scared to outright fear at his declaration. A passion seemed to ignite in Yarro but instead all he felt was fire in his eyes—Literally. His vision turned red from the flames. The embers reached up to his eyebrows, causing them to curl. “I’ve run away before, but that’s not who I am. I can save Keford this time, I know it.” He didn’t know how he knew it. It was simply a gut feeling. He had to save Keford. This couldn't be another Dawic situation.

Yarro closed his eyes and took a deep breath. On exhale, smoke escaped his lips. The flames returned to his eyes, brighter than before. Now with purpose and determination. And without any hesitation, he ran headfirst into the main room of the factory. A beam crashed down behind him, which blocked off Kael from following completely into the main room. He heard the man shout something behind him but he kept going. Something inside him had just snapped. Yarro needed to do this. If this factory was the source of the Master Elementals’ attacks, the reason Dawic was gone, then it needed to be wiped off the map.

Yarro lunged forward and sent water flying to the first turtle tank he saw. It was easily pushed back into another tank, and what little amount of plates that were attached were easily ripped off. Initially a straight shot, whatever water escaped to the sides of the stream looped back around to the beginning of the force he created. A stronger force from the water caused both tanks to collapse on their side. He commanded the water back to him, into the ball, to move on to the next.

With each destruction of a turtle tank, passion turned into obsession with taking the entire factory down. This needed to be done. This was vengeance for Dawic. It wouldn’t bring them back, but he felt satisfied in knowing Keford would be safe from the rampage of the Master Air Elemental. His body heated up like it was on fire, but he was not bothered by it. The heat didn’t hurt. He didn’t even register it, since he was so focused on the task at hand. Inside him, it felt more like a cozy campfire. Like the Fire Deity was within him.

Unfortunately, Yarro was being careless. With the fire that surrounded him, and having it mix with the water he commanded, along with the explosions before causing havoc in various areas of the factory, he didn’t realize how much smoke had filled up the room. He didn’t notice the ceiling falling all around him, or the walls breaking away as he destroyed turtle after turtle. Another explosion, this time too close, and the whole building came falling on top of him.