Distant Elemental

Fulgora looked down to see that she was bleeding. Only for her, bleeding was a very big deal. She had grazed her skin on the gravel, tearing off layers of flesh along the side of her leg. The problem was, in slow time, she bled at a normal rate, and so if she was ducking fast and running fast and jumping fast in normal time, she was bleeding fast, too. Even as she leapt aside, she felt her head spinning. She couldn’t keep fighting in slow time, it would be too draining in the long run- she’d have to go back to normal time. As Fulgora started breathing at a normal rate again, the beast struck out at her, and this time she couldn’t avoid it.

Skye gasped as the monster slammed a paw into the girl that had seconds ago been a blur, almost impossible to see. She watched as Fulgora flew into the air and landed ten metres away, not moving. Skye could see the marks in her skin from this distance, three ragged cuts embedded into the flesh of the girl whose emotions were fading away even as Skye watched. She had to do something!

Skye, however, was beaten to the punch. As the monster roared, a flaming ball that somehow resembled a man came streaking down the road, almost touching the pitted surface. Skye knew now what she had been attacking, and watched with fascination as the man came to a running halt and sent a sudden torrent of flame at the monster with a flick of his arm.

The beast roared in pain and stepped backwards. The fire that engulfed it in a never-ending blast of heat was burning the skin just like the trunk of a dying tree. Skin like dead bark withered before the fire and in seconds the monster was nothing but a shrieking mass of glowing appendages. With a sudden BANG the monster dissolved, floating into the air like ash.

Fulgora looked back down the path, at her past. Splatters of blood could be seen, just visible in amongst the cold gravel that had so cruelly torn her flesh. She sat up, gasping for breath, and considered that her life might be at an end. In any case, she couldn’t go on. This had been her lonely path, void of anything that made her human but the pain. Her pain, shadowed by that sense of ambiguity. Was it worthless, then? Had this all been for nothing? Had she lived only to die on this lonely path, immersed in her own blood? Oh, the pain. Where had the sun gone?

A shadow fell on her then, but she found herself in a darkness without fear. She wondered at this, concluding that perhaps this was what it was to die. Into this darkness came a light and her heart was filled with momentary hope. Had she made it?
“Yes you’ve made it, you’re here, now stay with me.” A deep voice spoke, a gentle voice that persuaded her to stay alive. She found her strength and used it to hold on as pain enveloped her.

Blaise watched as a masked youth appeared in a flash of red light and picked up the Lightning Elemental. Blaise raised his hand, as though to help in some way, but what could he do? He didn’t have the power to heal, and he didn’t want to burn the dying girl to a crisp. He instead turned his anger towards the monsters that had been the reason for her death, as he presumed she would die, if she wasn’t already dead. He had to do something to stop this. In a flash, the two of them disappeared and Blaise turned toward the sound of the police sirens. In seconds he was a ball of flame, and he started to run down the road, feeling the weightless sensation building. Finally, he was lifting away from the ground and streaking through the sky; a fiery comet on a one-way road toward retribution. Skye watched him go before herself lifting into the air and following not far behind. His determination burned like the fiery mass he resembled.

Fulgora gasped and shuddered, on the verge of death. The dark-clothed man pushed aside ferns and vines, carrying her light form in his arms. In seconds he had found the Earth Elemental.
“Please, help her. I know you can save her.”
Autumn looked down in shock at the masked man kneeling before her, carrying the girl in his arms. She recognised the man from a brief encounter before, but the state of Fulgora shocked her more. Blood dripped freely down her face, through her hair and clothing. Her breathing was shallow and slow; she teetered towards death. The man lowered her carefully to the forest floor.

Pools and flecks of blood remained where Fulgora had been. Autumn stared at the crimson droplets, sitting in amongst her leafy abode like blaring lights disrupting her peace. She could feel something inside herself changing. She stared at the blood, thinking about what had caused such a sad scene, how horrific this was. Something was going on outside these woods, something that needed to be stopped. Autumn knew she had the power to make a difference. The monster she had seen before had frightened her, but Autumn was no longer allowed to be afraid.

Fulgora moaned as the Earth Element placed her hands above the tears in her flesh along her stomach. Everything was spinning around her, she could seen green, blue, turquoise, black, brown, a mixture of colours that were nothing but a blur. Radiance glowed from Autumn as she set to work healing the wounds. The flesh pulled itself together, knitting itself gently and melding like the rest of her skin, leaving no scars.
“Will she live?” It was a short, simple question.
“I don’t know,” Autumn sighed. “She’s lost a lot of blood, but she should be alright. I can replenish some of the blood, I think, but it’s more difficult that you realise. I have to duplicate the blood left inside her, and that’s a difficult thing to do once I’ve healed the wounds. I’ve done what I can; she’ll have to do the rest.” Autumn shifted backwards, sitting down on the floor with her legs straight out in front of her. Fulgora breathed in slowly, sounding ragged.
“I will leave her here. I must go.”
“What? You can’t leave her here!” Autumn stood up, indignant. She wasn’t going to let this stranger drop a wounded girl into her forest and let her deal with it. She didn’t even know where the girl had come from or what had happened to her.
“I have no choice.” It was a statement of fact that couldn’t be disputed. Autumn blinked over at the masked stranger.
“What’s your name?”
His turquoise eyes bored into hers as he considered the question. “My name is Nova.” He vanished.