The Keepers of the Elements

Huro

 "Okay, I wasn't expecting that." Tulii laughed nervously. "But it actually kind of makes sense."

"I'm the Fire Keeper." Ash said smiling. "Pippy and Alex are Keepers too, but we still need to find out what."

Tulii's eyes lit up. "I bet Sparky is the Lightning Keeper!"

"I shocked you once."

"It fits perfectly with your nickname, though! And I mean... we all ran into each other." Tulii pointed out the facts.

"Oh! Oh! Like the prophecy thing said!" Ash clapped her hands and then turned to Alex and Pippy. "The thing our mom said was a prophecy, by the way."

Tulii raised her eyebrows. "Prophecy?"

Pippy nodded. "Our kingdom was attacked by the Shadow Army and we went to this bunker thing where my mom went wacky and told us this prophecy thing. And then we got attacked again so we ran into the forest and now we're here!"

"What was the prophecy?" Huro asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Ash's forehead wrinkled in concentration. "It was like... The powers wake up... inside five. Who will meet... when the land is dark. The light will destroy the darkness. Or something."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that wasn't it. But close enough." Alex shrugged.

"So I guess we stay." Tulii smiled.

"I guess we do." Huro huffed. He could already tell that these kids were annoyingly enthusiastic.

"Yay! Go Team Underage Heroes, Fight Us!" Pippy grinned and ran over to hug Huro.

Huro backed away. "Ahhh... no hugs!"

Ignoring his protests, Pippy wrapped her bony arms around his waist and gave him a big hug. She did the same to Tulii soon after.

"Sparky. Lightning Keeper. Hugs. This day is going wonderful." Huro grumbled, stalking away from the group for some peace.

He found a nice tree far enough from the Keepers that he'd be able to think in peace, but close enough so they wouldn't worry about him. Of course, just as he finally relaxed, somebody interrupted him.

"Hey, Sparky."

Huro nodded to acknowledge the elf's presence.

"You okay?"

Huro sighed and opened his eyes. "There's just a lot of stuff going on."

"Yeah."

"I mean... my mom..."

Tulii's eyes widened. "Wait, did something happen?"

Huro punched his fist into his palm. "Yeah. That's why I was out by the wall. I just needed to... I just..." Before he could stop it, tears started spilling out over his cheeks. "And now all of this..."

Tulii bit her lip and looked down. "You... you were running too?"

"You were running?" Huro's head snapped up. "From what?"

Tulii rolled her eyes. "There was this one guy, Atrias. I was supposed to..." She groaned. "Marry him, but all the stuff with the queen was happening so it got postponed, but still. I'd have to ya know... eventually and I just didn't want to."

"You were going to get married?!" Huro wiped his tears away.

"Yeah, I guess I was." Tulii chuckled. "Atrias was such a jerk."

Huro didn't know why he found it so funny. He just never had really thought about Tulii's age, but now that he thought about it, she was probably almost eighteen. The age when all elves with arranged marriages... get married.

"Well, I'm sorry about all... of your stuff." Tulii said. "And I'm about to hug you, because you need one badly."

"Wait-"

Tulii gave him a big bear hug. It only lasted for a second, but that was just enough to make Huro go as red as a tomato. The elf smirked. "See ya later, Sparky."

"Yeah... bye." Tulii ran off to join the others in building a campfire, leaving Huro by himself wondering what had just happened.

He had just opened his heart up to a girl he had just met, but who felt like a friend he'd known for years. Maybe... maybe sticking around with the Keepers wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

...

"So. Assuming that Tulii is right about Huro being the Lightning Keeper, you're either the Earth or Water Keepers." Ash said, hands on her hips. "We have to find out which."

"How are we doing that exactly?" Alex asked.

"Follow me."

The five of them made their way to a stream, probably deep enough to go up to Huro's knees.

"Okay, you three, dunk yourselves."

Huro glanced at the water. It looked freezing cold. "No thanks."

"Come on, we have to figure out what you guys are the Keepers of."

Tulii smirked at Huro. "And if you guys don't do it willingly, we'll have to dunk you ourselves."

"How the heck are we going to find our element by dunking ourselves in a freezing cold stream?!" Alex shouted.

"Uh you'll run out of air eventually and whoever can breathe underwater is the Water Keeper." Ash said like it was obvious.

Pippy looked at her sister. "So... you're gonna attempt to drown us?"

"Are you going to dunk yourself or not?"

Pippy, Alex, and Huro looked at each other and then turned to look at Tulii, who was still smirking at Huro.

"Ugh fine. Let's do this."

"On the count of three."

"Oh Zya." Huro breathed. "I do not want to do this."

"One."

Pippy whimpered.

"Two."

Alex breathed out through his nose.

"Three."

The three of them took a deep breath and plunged their heads into the stream. The icy water stabbed at Huro's cheeks, the shock immediately making him open his mouth. "I cannot breathe I cannot breathe I cannot breathe-"

Huro yanked his head out of the water and spit up the water he had inhaled. "Why in the name of Zya would you think that was a good idea?!" He choked out. His face was numb and there was probably a fifty percent chance that he had gotten frostbite.

"Well we know for sure that you're not the Water Keeper." Ash rolled her eyes and then glanced back at Alex and Pippy who were still under the water.

"You okay there, Sparky?" Tulii asked, elbowing Huro.

"Other than my face just about freezing off, I'm fine." He grumbled, rubbing his cheeks with his hands.

A gasp made the two of them look back at Alex and Pippy. Alex was laying on the ground panting. Pippy's face was still in the water.

"So is she the Water Keeper?" Tulii asked.

"She's still holding her breath, but probably." The four of them watched the younger girl, waiting for her to pull up.

Bubbles started to rise to the top of the stream. It continued that way for another minute.

"Are we sure she's not sitting there drowning?" Huro asked.

Ash winced. "I hope not. That would... kind of suck."

"...should we make sure?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, prob-" Pippy pulled out of the water, grinning.

"Guys! I did it! I'm the Water Keeper!"