Distant Elemental

With a slight rustle, Andromeda burst through the bushes to reach a nearby lake. She sat down on the ground next to Narrabeen Lake and looked out at the swirling depths, trying to calm herself. Breathing in deeply, she could smell a faint scent of lilies growing nearby and she smiled, feeling calmed already. This place was the perfect spot to relax and think about things. Dense bush surrounded the small clearing where the lake met the land in a smooth overlapping of water on ground. The ground curved upwards only slightly, it was almost levelled out completely. The lake went out quite a fair ways until it met the other shore, and the distance was so far that anyone who stood on the opposite side would have difficulty spotting Andromeda. But it was no surprise that someone on her side of the shore did. Nayru blinked in surprise as she noticed someone not far away from her, sitting on the shoreline and mucking around with the water. Nayru’s surprise turned into shock as she saw the water lifting near the girl in small droplets before sinking back down to join the lake.
“Hey! What are you doing? How are you doing that?”
Andromeda jumped as though she’d received an electric shock, indeed jumped so well she didn’t come back down to the ground but instead hovered slightly above, her shock evident. She turned as though make a quick escape when Nayru cried:
“Wait, stop! I can do that, too!”
Andromeda froze. Her heart beat faster. She swivelled in the air to look back at Nayru.
“What did you just say?”
“Look, I’ll show you.”
Nayru walked down to the edge of the lake with Andromeda watching closely. She raised her hand out above the surface and ripples spread from where she held her hand. The ripples grew larger and faster until the water rose up in a semi-circle around the shore and came down with a mighty splash. The Water Element looked over at the Cosmic Element and smiled.

Fulgora swung her bag over her shoulder, picked up her folder and trotted down the road to school. Her dark hair swung from her shoulders and her plain blue eyes looked about restlessly. It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that she was cautious. Every step was trod with a delicate nature as though the ground would crack beneath her if she stomped down too heavily. Her petite, fragile figure paused outside a shop on her left that displayed the news on a million different screens in the window display. Some urgent report was flashing across the screens and Fulgora stopped to watch. At first she thought it was some sort of joke, some monster prank that had people freaking out. The longer she watched however, the more she began to realise this was actually happening. The monster looked pretty big, about half the size of the biggest truck she had seen, and just a little bit taller. She would have been more surprised if she hadn’t been an elemental. Police were at the scene, shooting at the monster, but this seemed somehow to be non-effective because of its tough hide or something, Fulgora didn’t hear. The news report was vague and the images were hazy, any footage of the monster was from helicopters too far away to see it properly.

It was after school when Fulgora was trotting carefully back home that it happened. Her blue eyes flashed about, studying the landscape as she walked along the street when she heard the siren. A police car was driving slowly towards her with an officer holding a loudspeaker out the window and yelling out an urgent warning to everyone, calling for an evacuation. Fulgora automatically ducked behind a car parked on the street and waited for the police car to go past, listening to the sirens. People were emerging from their shops, locking up and leaving, but no-one had a second thought for the dark-haired school girl standing on the side of the road. Soon the street was empty, all the shops along the road were locked and a slight wind blew restlessly, stirring up the remaining rubbish and leaves cluttered in the kerbs. A screaming roar filled the early afternoon hours. Fulgora looked up quickly, staring down the road as far as she could see. The droning noise of a helicopter distracted her for a few seconds before she looked back and saw a shape emerging on the horizon. It was an awkward shape, moving quickly towards where she stood, and long before it reached her she recognised it as the monster the news reports had spoken about. It seemed now that no police were trying to shoot the thing down, but a helicopter hung overhead, tracking the progress of the thing. Fulgora wondered why the police had left it alone, but it suddenly became all too clear why.

Splash!
A massive wall of water rose up from an impact, making the two elementals look up. The lake was a chaotic mass of ripples spreading from somewhere near the centre. As the two girls looked on, a writhing shape emerged from the centre with a loud bellow. The beast screamed and flailed, sending more water airborne in waves. Andromeda and Nayru looked at each other and there was an understanding between them.
“So, how are we going to do this?”
“Well, I’ll try lifting it up as high as I can get it and drop it down. Maybe you could hit it with a tidal wave after it falls or something?”
“Yeah, I have an idea. Lift it up as high as you can get it.”
Andromeda smiled. Nothing could be easier.
Her hand rose up, palm facing the monster. Nayru could feel a strange tingling in her limbs as though the gravity change was affecting them where they were as well, only on minimal standards. The water around the beast started floating up gently in droplets along with the beast, which seemed to have paused in wonder. It moved its limbs slowly, reacting to the weightless feeling. Higher and higher it floated, no longer pulled back to the ground. Now it was Nayru’s turn. She raised both her arms and moved them across as though moving aside an invisible curtain. With a steady rushing sound, the water in the lake moved slowly, yet surely. It seemed almost as though nothing was happening at first, but things started to speed up as the water moved faster, rising to the demand of the Elemental. In seconds a massive wall of water stood to one side, bare rock revealed underneath the monster. The beast was squirming now, trying to move in the air, and bellowing pitifully as it looked across at the wall of water shimmering next to it. As suddenly as it had started to rise, the beast plummeted to the ground, faster than normal gravity would permit. This was, of course, not normal gravity. Nayru felt the pull on her somewhat stronger and so did Andromeda, but they ignored this as they watched the beast hit the ground. For a few seconds nothing happened, but the beast raised its head suddenly and let out a blood-curdling shriek. It looked over at the two Elementals with something like death in its eyes. The path to them now was clear, slightly craggy rock, rising gently towards them. The beast slowly got to its feet and started scrambling towards them.
“Oh no you don’t!” cried Nayru. The water, which had shimmered above them like a waterfall going the wrong way, came down with a sudden roar. The beast had no time to move as a massive wall of water crashed down to its abode and landed on the monster with the enormous power of a tsunami. The beast could make no noise beneath the torrent, and it was swept away to the other side of the lake. The next thing the elementals saw was a shimmering of black particles fading away above the lake.