Guardian's Redemption

Chapter Thirty

The sun's beautiful reach across the darkening sky was fading behind the large mountains to the west as night slowly began the clawing of the world to grab Earth as it possession. Dark clouds creeping across the world as the beauty of the evening became the twilight. A light shot across the starlit sky as Ashley kept her eyes up at the twilight above.

Flames crackling in a pit dug enough to block the view of the tip of the fire. This fire was one that she had created from her own body's energy. There was a sense of accomplishment toward that burning flame for her. The woman's progress with her element had come a long way with her talent in these many weeks, too many to count.

The group was upon a hillcrest, looking down on a valley of dust, and dirt. The scorches of horrors lay upon the world along with the burnt buildings of once beautifully built homes that were nothing more than piles of what they once were. Broken down vehicles scattered everywhere upon the remains of this town. There were large holes in the Earth from which the demons had crawled out of though some of them seem to have closed leaving circles of pure black. The journey so far had been long and arduous. Ashley moving her sight to look down at herself and felt the dirty upon her skin.

Her eyes moving to the sleeping figures while on her shift of the watch. Ben had saw the weakness in her body and then allowed her to rest for a good seven hours before they had switched watches. She would allow him the same even though he stated he only needed two hours. There was also the risk of camp that they had just escaped coming after them, but Ashley was sensing no other mana around but theirs. Then there was Gzaar who was snoring quite loudly for the imp had been obviously pushed to his limit. Many days of chaos, travel, and scouting for his human companions proved to be too much for the little demon to put off.

The three were finally getting their rest from pushing themselves so hard since the encounter with the assassin that had seem to terrify Ben. This night was the first good nights rest in a long time for Ashley, of course Ben would be mad at her for allowing him to sleep so much but the man needed it. Sometimes when your body is talking to you, you listen.

Ashley began to work on her skills with silence. She wanted to create something like Ben's two elementals that were circling the camp this very night. It was a difficult process to do, but she thought creating a fire a good distance away from the other two would be a smart start to the process. Ten yards away sat a floating orb of fire that oddly moved into random shapes as her mind was trying to think of animalistic forms. No form took though.

The flames shot skyward barely taking an shape except that of chaos. Sometimes a ball of fire that was a blob would almost seem to bounce. She couldn't help but chuckle at herself. Fire was dangerous and yet she had willed it to life from nothing and begun playing with the chaotic element. How supernatural it was for any creature to bend nature to their own will. She remembered how frustrating and difficult it was to spawn a small flame. How not to burn herself when she did. Now she could ignite the dead grass if she wasn't careful, or burn down a building with enough force from the flames. Ashley mind went back to the man who had called himself the Element. The man was a monster, using this gift as punishment against those who did not bend to his will. Ashley swore a private oath in that moment to never become like that man.

This kind of power was a blessing to mankind, but there were those that were to become warped from this blessing. It was human nature to tear at each other. Humans multiplying and destroying, yet they can also love and help those in need when the times suits them. These were the thoughts passing through her mind as she sat there watching the ball of fire change to odd forms.

Time passing by at a slow crawl while Ashley made no progress with the manipulation of the ball of fire. While in her deep thoughts the flames of her toy would almost extinguish. Her eyes catching the remaining small flames would bring her back and Ashley would grab a little more of the element from the fire. The orb of fire changing shape into a large ring as her thoughts came across a song that her parents used to listen to when she was little. Ashley began to whistle the tone.