“Alright everyone!” Commander Veer shouted. “Two teams, half with me, half with Aster.” It seemed to Yarro that everyone already knew which group they were in as they moved immediately. It must have been a training thing. He saw Kael go to Commander Veer's side. When Kael turned around and noticed him hesitating, he motioned Yarro over. Yarro followed without a second thought, glad to be with Kael and not have to think of which side to go on.
“Are you secretly a guardian, because you’re really looking out for me,” Yarro said with a joking grin.
Kael winked. “I couldn’t just let you stand out there all alone, now could I?” A member from the company close by sneered at the remark, and Kael glared at the woman. The man was getting flirty in front of the whole company, of course it would get a reaction or two.
“Alright, Aster’s team, you head to the right, rest of you with me.” Commander Veer didn’t wait for a response, and headed on to the mines. The ceiling was so tall due to the Earth Elemental it faded into darkness. They went down a shaft and headed to the left. The group behind them headed to the right. “Fires!” At her command the fire elementalists of the company held out fire in their hands and lit the torches some others had carried in. Yarro was near the front, with Kael and Commander Veer, and eventually they light reached them.
At first the Earth Elementals coming up were just a couple every few minutes, just light the surface. After about 20 minutes of traveling underground there were more and more Earth Elementals, and they were coming up faster than those who had arrived on top did. At this point Kael held Yarro back for the rest of the company to get in front. “Let’s have the rest of the company take the lead for a while. We’ll tire ourselves out if we stay too long up front.”
The front switched with the back and the company carried on deeper into the mines. Commander Veer still led the company, for reasons unknown to him. He didn’t know how much energy that woman had. Guess there was a reason she’s commander. From what he could tell from the back, more Earth Elementals came up the deeper they went. The company made quicker work of them than Yarro could have. Once again his element was useless. About 30 minutes later, there was a near endless assault of Earth Elementals. They crowded the tunnels, and the front of the company was getting winded.
“Back team, to the front! Get ready,” Kael said. He placed his hands on Yarro’s shoulder. “3! 2! 1!” In one swift, practiced movement, the front of the company halted in their tracks, and the back stepped to the front. Yarro felt a shove from Kael’s hand, and although he was a moment out of step, he was able to make it without much hassle. His heart raced as the adrenaline pumped into his veins in preparation of the assault. Commander Veer let Kael take up the lead as she finally fell back.
Yarro was met with a whole host of Earth Elementals. The rocks ground together in an ear screeching cacophony and in some areas he didn’t know where which Elemental ended and which one began. They were much more aggressive than the ones at the beginning of the mines. A rock came flying up towards him. Yarro moved to duck but it never made it over. Kael had caught it in mid-air, and threw it right back. The rock hit an Earth Elemental in the jade orb and it collapsed at once. “Thanks,” Yarro muttered, still awed at his reaction speed.
Kael didn’t reply, and instead opted to throw narrow, long rocks to dislodge the heads of the Earth Elementals. He wasn’t just aiming at the head. He was aiming at the small gap between the head and the body, where the head floated just above the torso, and flicking the rocks when at the end so the orbs came flying off. The size of the rocks weren’t big enough by itself to attack the head full-on. Yarro watched at his precise skill with such small earthen projectiles, something so skilled it was difficult for most earth elementalists to control as casually as Kael did.
Yarro himself had an idea, but he wasn’t sure if he had enough water with him for the amount of Earth Elementals attacking the company. He swirled his waterskin. It felt like enough water for a decent chunk, and that was enough for Yarro to go with it.
He took a deep breath and made a sweeping motion from left to right to cover the width of the mine shaft they there in, at head level. Then carefully pushed both of his hands out, slowly, to keep from straining himself to quickly. The water thinned as he tried to stretch it back as far as he could. It stretched and stretched as far as he could and enveloped the jade orbs of each Earth Elemental he could see. Sweat bead down the side of his face as he felt himself stretch thin at controling this much water. If he wasn’t trying to concentrate so hard, he would have noticed that the company had all but stopped their attacks and were watching him instead.
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Once Yarro was sure he had covered as many heads as he could, he clenched his fist and yanked the water back in one simple motion. All the heads that were previously covered with the water were yanked out at once with a pop, and they all collapsed in a heap. Yarro gasped for breath, which he only now realized he held, and his knees wobbled a bit. Kael grabbed his arm to hold him steady. His face forced a smile but it was clear through his eyes the pure concern and worry he had for him. The way was clear now, but that was the most water he had commanded and it took a lot out of him. He felt more sweat trickle down the back of his neck as he caught his breath.
The company looked in awe at him with complete silence. “You OK?” Kael asked, concern dripping in his voice. He gripped his arms and motioned for Yarro to lean on him. He nodded, his head barely able to lift itself. He might have even fallen to the ground if not for Kael. Kael looked him over carefully before he motioned for the group to continue onward. “Let’s keep moving.” The chatter picked up again as they headed deeper into the mines, now full of vigor and excitement from that exhausting display he just pulled. Yarro continued to lean on him and moved as best he could.
They neither saw nor encountered any more Earth Elementals. The mines were quiet, and empty for the next 15 minutes or so while they descended. Eventually the group came upon a dead end. There was no machinery thought to be creating these creatures to be found. Yarro sighed, disappointmented. This would be a lot harder than he thought. “Spread out! Look for a false wall,” Commander Veer said from the back.
The fire elementalists began to put light to the cave walls, and earth elementalists began to feel and knock the walls. Everyone searched high and low as they tried to find some semblance of a false wall. Though Yarro thought that if there were one, it would be obvious, if the Master Earth Elemental-shaped hole at the entrance was anything to go by.
To Yarro’s complete surprise, a false wall was found within a few minutes, about 30 feet back from the way they came. He didn’t even have time to sit down. He was still tired from overexerting himself earlier and wasn’t sure how much longer he could go on. But still, he slowly made his way over and they all gathered outside the wall. “Earth!” Commander Veer called out. A few earth elementalists stepped up, fists ready. “On my command! 3, 2, 1!”
The earth elementalists blasted the rocky wall and easily came tumbling down. As the dust settled, the wall opening reaveled revealed a grassy room full of flowers in full bloom all around the room, some that even climbed up the walls and onto small platforms and filled in crevices and cracks in the wall. Spacious, but dark except for a single ray of sun from the ceiling. It was amazing that something so serene and beautiful was this deep in the mines.
Fire elementalists went in and lit the area so the company could see. The room itself was tall and wide. There were deep footprints leading out of the opening, which Yarro assumed them to be the Master Earth Elemental that made it out. Near the back of the room was quite a large indentation, devoid of flowers and with a clear indication of where the Master Earth Elemental had sat down. Which means it had sat there for quite a while, and therefore might not be the Obrarian-made construct they were looking for. This… complated things.
Embedded in this indentation was a large pyramid-shaped red crystal. The company surrounded it as Commander Veer stepped up. A fire elementalists began to inspect it, moving the fire up and down and all around. The crystal didn’t look particularly special to the naked eye. It had no base, no ornamentation, and there was nothing inside it. It was transluscent all the way through, perfectly cut, and shone with a glare as the sunlight hit it. Yarro thought it was a bit strange that such a large crystal would lay here. If it wasn’t an Obrarian-made construct, how did it get here? It certainly wasn’t a naturally occuring crystal. Yarro never was in the mines for too long – mostly for the squables with the miners – but he picked up a thing or two from his time in Dawic.
“That’s probably what’s controlling the Master Earth Elemental and the regular ones all around the mines. Kael?” Kael stepped forward. “Shatter it,” she commanded.
Kael nodded at once with a determined and stern face, and placed his hand on the top of the crystal. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After a moment of silence, pieces of the crystal cracked and shattered and a piece flew out. He had a feeling Kael wouldn’t stop there and created a barrier of water around the crystal to slow the pieces that would inevitably hit someone. Kael took another breath and shoved his hand down, creating a split straight straight down the middle. The rest of the crystal shattered and this time most of it was caught in the water. The pieces that made it past the water barrier lost all momentum and ended up on the floor right outside the water.
The company waited for something to happen, but nothing did. No elementals jumped out to kill them, but they had no idea if what they just destroyed had deactivated the one they needed to fight. Yarro didn’t like this feeling of incompleteness. His gut told him that what they did wasn’t all they needed to do, but Commander Veer must have felt otherwise. She nodded in satisfaction “Alright, let’s head back up, get some rest. Tilana, go ahead of us and tell Aster’s group we’re resting at the inn when they’re done clearing their side.”
The woman nodded and quickly made her way out of the room. The rest of the company followed, but slower. Commander Veer led the group with Kael and Yarro in front. He desperately wished he could have been in the back so he could take his time and recover but it seemed the Commander had other plans. Yarro was grateful that Kael stood close by the entire trip. He even held on slightly tighter for a moment whenever he stumbled a bit.