Young Writers Society

Kessa - Earth

Kessa smiled distantly. "Maybe you were looking for the wrong thing," she said, smiling at Arkady. He blinked at her. Kessa shrugged. "From what I understand, earth is one of the least apparent of the elements. That is what I am."

"But why should earth be so unclear?" asked Arkady.

"Because its boundaries are so muddled. Fire often spews from the earth in the form of magma. Water is housed in the earth's deep springs. Wind wraps around it. If you look at any living creature, you will see a balance of the elements in them. That is what earth is. The balance. In most elements, one looks for an exaggeration of an element, something that does not occur in nature. Pure wind. Pure fire. Pure water. But earth could not be itself without all of those. In other words, as an element of earth, one must have a perfect balance of the elements. And in being so, I resemble nothing more or less than life itself. Difficult to spot, if I may say so."

Arkady was silent for a moment, thinking. They walked side-by-side for a moment. Kessa looked around herself. Kessa never spent much time outside of the Merchant or Temple Districts. She was enjoying the walk, even if the reason for it made Kessa sick.

"That is interesting," said Arkady after a moment. Kessa laughed.

"Yes, well, most people assume that earth is limited to plants and animals. Not true, not true at all. It is a very strange element. I have this inexplicable, acute awareness of every element and every living or once-living thing around me. It is both comforting and intimidating."

Scarlet/fire~

The man that startled me pushed past us and stalked off.

"Should we follow him?" I asked Teresa.

"Are you crazy he'll probably mug us." she hissed.

"We'll I think we should." I smiled as I ran off after the guy from the sound of steps behind me I knew she followed.

"So. . ." I started but stop when he gave me a look over the side of his shoulder. "What's your name and where are we going?" I asked after swallowing my fear of this guy. Hopeful Teresa wasn't true about her theory.

James~~

"My names James. We're going to my safehouse. Few know where it is, and those few know better than to go there without permission. We should be safe there for a while?"

"Why should we trust you?" The other girl asked, from several feet behind.

"Because neither of you are exactly normal, and in this city, being a freak isn't a good thing."

The answer seemed to only make her more wary, ''exactly my point."

"If the wrong person sees you, they'd kill you, or at least take you prisoner. However, someone... of a like mind, might be willing to help."

I paused to see if the implication had started to sink in.

Scarlet/fire~


James words seemed so weird yet comforting. "So your like us?" I ventured hoping that maybe he wasn't trying to trick us like Teresa has been saying.

A small smile escaped his lips along with a nod before he turned around to continue leading us to his safe-house.


(Sorry for the short post I don't know what the safe-house looks like or where it's)

Arkady

Well, that explains why I never sensed anything before. He thought. Her awareness and balance of the elements was interesting, and easily far more subtle than anything he could manage. Even the most inconspicuous of his abilities had glaringly obvious effects, although nothing as forward as a solid wall of water.

"So, did you always know I was an element, then?" He asked.

Kessa shrugged, "I had a hunch that someone in one of the temples was, but I didn't really look into it too much. As I said, everyone has the elements balanced in them somewhat, and amongst the temples there are stronger ones, though not strong enough for any of them to actually be elements. So it would have taken more than a cursory glance to work out who it was."

Zal, a few steps ahead of them, stopped and looked over his shoulder at them. "They're very close by." Small currents of wind eddied around his feet, and his eyes flashed with the emerald fire that told them he was using the wind to spy on their quarry.

"Where?" Arkady asked, knowing that he was the only one of the three of them who had no immediate way of finding the princess and her kidnapper.

"A house at the end of the street." Kessa replied, her eyes drawn towards one in particular, no doubt giving off the strong signature that any element would carry.

James~~

the safe house was tucked away in a small corner of the projects, and looked as if it was just another set of apartments, but once inside the front door there was a gate that required a key that only I possessed . After that there was a long hallway filled with traps that could be disabled by pressing a tile in on the wall, and a door that lead to the actual house.

I kicked open the door and we came into a large room. The bottom part was a library/living room with an open balcony that wrapped all the way around the room. Smaller rooms branched off of the balcony that lead to bedrooms and armories, and other things. A hallway across from us on the bottom floor lead to the kitchen and dining room.

"Welcome to my house."

*what age city is this cause I thought it was like medevialish not modern sorry if I'm wrong*

James/ Lightning

I paced up and down the room watching the princess sleep. I had set up a thin static bubble 50 meters around the barn anyone that walked through it wouldn't feel anything, I however would feel the distortion of the static energy and know someone was approaching. Suddenly I felt three distortions, I opened the door a crack and peered down the road, this was a deserted road path probably because of the family that had been killed here. I spotted them immediately two boy one girl, they didn't look like guards but the way they walked boomed confidence.

"shit" I whispered to myself when I spotted the one leading he had green hair and I remembered seeing him from the corner of the eye in the temple. That and he and his companions were walking right towards us. I acted quickly grabbing the princess and tying her hands up again and tying her to a wooden post, I grabbed a large bundle of hay and pushed it in her mouth, next in punched her in the face a few time smearing the blood around her face, hopefully they would forget about me for a few seconds when they saw her like that. The door creaked and I jumped to the safety of the rafters above. They walked in carefully but when the girl saw the princess she rushed over to her to make sure she was okay.

"dam coward" The boy without the green hair said. The other boy nodded.

"the things people do in this city is shockin... wait he's still here!" I decided this was the moment to strike and dropped down from the rafters and released a powerful blast that catapulted the two boy out of the barn I spun around and kicked the girl in the face before blasting her to the back of the barn, I was going on instinct here letting training I'd have before I forgot take control. I jumped out of one of the holes in the barn and headed towards the boy without green hair. A bolt of lightining closed the distance between us and knocked the boy over. He was strong though and got back up knocking me over with something?, water?.

**I was under the same impression as Jok.**

i'll change it

Rose

I don't remember much when I wake up. I find I am teid to a pole, and a girl and a boy are fighting with the man who kidnapped me. Why was I in so much pain? Who were these people? Then it all came back in a rush. Everything.

The boy has green hair, and the girl is a element too. I can tell. I think one of them realizes who I am, and the one with green hair shoots me with a seemingly never-ending spout of water. I take my knife out of my back pocket and cut myself from the ropes. were these people trying to kill me. I make a run for it, then I fall to the ground as a shock of electricity runs through me. I was going to die. I knew it. I had no strength left.

Then a soldier on a horse comes up to me. My savior. But he gets shocked as well. I take the reins of the horse, and run off.

But I still don't regret offering my help.

**Erm, Kaywiia, there were two boys and a girl there. Zal, Arkady and Kessa.**

Arkady

"Wait, he's still here!" Zal shouted as the kidnapper dropped down, his hands raised. Electricity crackled between them.

Arkady lifted his own hands, bringing forth a stream of water than began to shoot towards the lightning element. But the other boy had surprise on his side, and twin arcs of lightning hurled Arkady and Zal back out onto the street. The jet of water flew wide, hitting the princess instead. Drenched in icy water, she seemed to shake herself a little, waking up and starting to get a bearing on her surroundings.

As the acolyte rose to his feet, shaking a little, he saw Zal doing the same a little way off. Kessa was nowhere to be seen. Moments later, though, their opponent came hurtling out a window, long brown hair flying around his face. Another bolt of lightning flew towards Arkady, and he twisted out of the way only enough to prevent it seriously injuring him. He was sent spinning onto the cobbles, and hit them hard, grazing his face, his elbows, and his knees.

Phorcys had trained him for combat, though, and he quickly rolled up into a crouch, sweeping his arms up as he did. At this, the water running through the gutter rose up, coiling around his attacker's legs in a high speed, twisting pair of funnels, before jerking forward and pulling him over.

Zal joined in as he tried to get back up, sweeping him off his feet again with a gust of wind. Arkady was shaking with fury now, he'd never liked storms much - while the rain was a blessing to him, and he loved that, the static electricity in the air didn't agree with him at all, and set him on edge. Two bolts of lightning were even worse than that, and had him in a frenzy. He stretched out one open palm, and sent the murky water rushing over the kidnapper's face in a crushing grip.

Distantly, he could hear Kessa shouting at him to stop, saying that the princess had run for it, and that this guy was practically on their side anyway. But for the time being, it was going to take more than words to calm Arkady down. His glyphs burned an almost blinding cobalt, visible even through his robes, and his skin began to take on an almost green colour in some places, his face elongating a little and teeth sharpening.

James

Murky water gathered be up in tower of water Their was no were to go this was it. or was it. I felt a surge of energy and lightning came from the sky all around us, the boy with green hair managed to defend himself but it was a direct hit and he spiralled off into the dying crops. The other boy didn't get hit but the lightning barrage caused him to lose focus and the torrent of water dropped down. It took me a second to get my barrings, the ground was mostly scorched with craters every now and again, the boy who controlled water stood up, his eyes were glowing and I realised I shouldn't of pissed him off. Then I felt power surging through me and I knew this wasn't going to be a one sided fight, a mass of earth rose up in front of us blocking both of are attacks the last thing I saw before blacking out was the green boy get up and use his wind power on me.

**Eep, sorry I took so long to post. >.< Been busy. Also, sorry this is short, but I really dislike controlling other people's characters.**

Teresa

I looked around, mild interest on my still-hooded face. This was a nice place... I looked at James. "Tell me again why you brought us here." I adjusted the rather large money bag at my belt. If I didn't bring it back by sunrise I was out of a job.

Don't worry about it. You'll be back before sunrise... right?

It all depended on what this man wanted with us. I fingered the blade at my hip nervously, though I wouldn't really need it if a fight broke out.

Arkady

The cocoon of water slowly tightened around the other boy, Arkady trying to crush the life out of him even as he felt Kessa grab his arm and shake him a little. Then, in one blinding instant, the air crackled to life with electricity, the deafening sound of point blank thunder exploding through the area. Arkady spun away from his enemy, clamping his hands over his ears and squeezing his eyes shut, his yell of pain and terrified fury drowned out by the sound of the brief storm.

Forcing himself to tear his hands away from his ears, he stretched them out towards the other boy. He had to end this as soon as possible, before the leviathan could wrench away the last vestiges of control. The fight had to end, even if it meant him using the one, cruel method that had been expressly forbidden by the priests.

Before he could begin to target the kidnapper with it, however, a wall of earth exploded upwards in front of them. Soil, clay and bedrock rose high before them in an impenetrable shield, preventing either of them from seeing the other. Arkady stepped back, raising an arm to cover his face as miniscule chips of stone clattered to the ground around him.

And in his brief moment of distraction, a second attack hit him. A whirlwind rose up around him, twisting around with such terrific speed that it began to drain the oxygen from the air around him. Black spots appeared across his vision as consciousness began to drift out of his reach. Dimly, he could see Zal and Kessa, both exercising their powers as much as was necessary in order to curb the actions of the two rogue elements.

He wavered on his feet, already beginning to seem more human as his elemental side was forced deep down once more. A small, ironic smile flitted across his lips, prompted by some unknown thought, and then he dropped to the ground, completely unconscious.

Kessa - Earth

Kessa threw her arms down, shaking. She glared at Arkady's crumpled form. She sank down to the floor, quivering. Her skin was burning. She wanted to claw the stuff off. Kessa could feel her glyph pulsing to her heartbeat. The others didn't seem to understand how badly they destroyed the natural balance by using their powers. Kessa hated using most of hers, for the very simple reason that it left her feeling as if she had attacked herself.

Kessa waited for the burning sensation to die down. She stood up slowly, looking up at Zal. "Thank you," she said deliberately. "For helping me stop that." He nodded slowly, staring at her. Kessa glanced down at Arkady.

Kessa knelt down and placed her fingertips on his temples. Kessa closed her eyes, and let a bit of her energy flow into him. Arkady's eyes flew open. Kessa's jaw tightened.

"What did that accomplish?" she hissed. "Nothing! The princess is gone, and you've probably made permanent enemies with that other element."

Kessa scowled, and stood up. "If you feel nauseous, that will be because I didn't know what your balance looks like. Sorry." Kessa folded her arms across her chest. Arkady blinked at her.