She had made rain pouring down in Elias's room, and now she was soaking wet. On the plus side, the pain inside of Sasha had almost subdued. Playing with the elemental forces did something to her on a very basic level. She didn’t like it. The magic she got from the queen starting to infiltrate her soul. It felt dirty and it made her angry. She had never cheated, and going through so much pain for something that was not rightfully hers pissed her off.

“Come on”, Elias said and landed her a hand.

With a swift movement, he dried their clothes. Sasha looked at herself, the bed, and the floor. All dry.

“Neat.”

She rose from the floor, following Elias lead out. They were heading out of the castle. As far as Sasha could see the most of the people were still laying sleeping in their bed. No one was noticing the missing princess being back.

“Where are you taking me?” Sasha had problems keeping up with Elias's tempo.

“We can’t practice the wind and earth inside of the castle. We are going to the graveyard.”

“Visiting the knights of Aaliyah”, Sasha mused. She still had favors to call in. Maybe some of them could help her. She didn’t need to forget, and erasing her memory wouldn’t help. Putting somebody to sleep was already taken, she would save that one to the big final. Clearer ground was about the same. She would call for that favor before she made her decision. She had to know she was right, she had no room for half a kill. Already tried that one.

“When did you learn this elemental magic thing?” Sasha asked.

“In my teenage”, Elias said, a big smile on his face. “Got a bit cocky. Wanted to show off.”

“I bet you did.” Sasha pushed him at his shoulder. “That’s quite impressive.”

Elias just shrugged, and Sasha looked away. They had stopped and now they were alone, standing in the middle of the churchyard. Not a single soul close by. She put her hands on the earth, trying to feel its power.

“What happened?” Sasha asked. “When you got the magic? I suppose you hadn’t a clue?”

“No”, Elias confessed. “I had saved up some leveling, and my mother decided she would give some extra stolen magic. Add to that I choose to make some volunteering magic behind the back of my parents.”

“So you are a rebel, uh”, Sasha said. “A rebel rewarded with the elements.”

Elias smiled, raising his brows.

“Good old times. No, let's see how you will tackle the wind.”

“I've figured the wind is relentless. I will rock this.” Sasha knew all about living in a world of patience when the feelings were raging inside. She had counted the witches falling victims of the king. And then she had stopped counting at all. Now she just focused on revenge. Sasha inhaled and closed her hand. She could feel the magic inside, the swirling longing for its release.

“Try to direct the wind to the hamlet over there, see if you could blow it away,” Elias said.

Sasha opened her eyes, she held the magic firm for a short period, looking at the hay bale. There were some trees around, and some gravestones. She saw no one living.

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“Ruin”, Sasha said.

The wind left her chest like a hurricane. It grew in size the further away from Sasha it went. The hay was giving the hurricane a firm form. It looked like a hay scythe and it was slicing a tree to firewood in mere seconds. Soon after a giant rumble was heard. The gravestones closest to it fell to the ground.

“Stop it”, Elias shouted.

“How?” Sasha had no idea. She had let it loose, and it had felt marvelous. Now the hurricane was moving its way, whipping up a stone from the ground, in its wake was the church alley. Grey dust was making the air foggy. Stones from the alley moving up in the wind. Why stop something of such beauty?

“Here. Now!” Elias ordered. He slapped his hand together as if he was telling one of his hounds to stay still.

The hurricane stopped in its track, a giant slowly changing direction moving towards them. The dust was drawn back into the spiral, the air looking more solid.

“Heal”, Elias said. He closed his eyes, and let out his hands as the priest in the church. The hurricane behaved the same, unfolding into several small obedient dogs, each one of them slowly moving the gravestones back in place. Every piece of the tree laid at the ground, in on a big lump.

“A bit too good job I am afraid.” Elias rubbed his neck. He clapped his hand and the wind became still, the chaos of before gone.

“That was impressive”, Sasha said and looked around. If it wasn’t for the pile of firewood everything was back to normal. Or almost, at a closer inspection, some of the moss on the gravestones were missing.

“Just one left Sasha. And I know the perfect practice. Think of the earth as life-giving. It is calmness and an endless circle. Every one of us will go back to her eventually. Could you, carefully try to send back the pieces of the tree?”

“Carefully let something go back to life? I don’t do careful Elias. I am a destroyer, a taker. What you ask of me is healing. It will not help how much power or how much elemental I have within. I can’t. It's impossible.”

“Try, will you?”

Sasha put her hands on the ground and mumbled. If she should have any chance at all she would have to go full gear.

“You know, I don’t feel the pain any longer”, Sasha smiled. “You don’t think it's better if I put that wood on fire instead?”

“You have to find the spirit of the elements. To anchor it, and know which strings to pull. You can do this Sasha.”

“I can burn stuff”, Sasha muttered and tried to find that eternal circle within that Elias had talked about. The mud still felt like mud, and not even the tiniest magic twinkle found its way to her fingers. “Well, at least its starts to feel juke warm.”

“Fires are coming off the ground”, Elias muttered and dampened them with rain. “Not good.”

“Well, wet earth and some seeds. We might get this tree starting to grow in a year or two”, Sasha said. “What about going around it the old-fashioned way?”

“You ain’t trying.”

“I do.”

“I don’t have a year. Try”, Elias said and put his hand in the sticks of wood. “Feel it, the smell of earth and timber, the life in the air. Conjure the energy that is already lingering here, but the roots back where they are belonging.”

Where Elias's hand were some of the sticks glued together, forming their way down in the earth.

“Write a book of poems”, Sasha hissed. She felt hot white anger and tiredness. She had figured out three out of four elements. She deserved a break. Hell, she was going to give him earth.

“Step back”, Sasha said and put both of her hands down in the hole where the tree once stood.

“Earth of power”, she rambled, closing her eyes and concentrating on that foreign energy that was swirling inside of her. The cheat magic, the far too strong forces that she was not high enough level to master. The magic that tried to ripe her from inside.

“Give back life!”

Out of her chest, an arc exploded, burning itself deep in the ground and lighting up the complete graveyard. Thunder was heard, and the force of nature was throwing Sasha backward, she ended up with a thud on the ground, looking at the arcs still going crazy on at the sky.

“Well that was an answer at least”, she said, getting up at her elbows and looking at the now completely burnt wood in front of her. “Does not look like earth magic to me.”

There was a silence after the storm as if even the grass had stopped moving.

“Elias?” Sasha said and looked around. She quickly moved up, seeing the still figure lying on the ground behind her. “Elias?”

His skin was grey, and the eyelids flickered. It looked like snakes were moving under his skin. She took him by his shoulders, shaking him.

“Elias!” Sasha yelled.