Elements of Emotion

Chapter 18: The Scorched Lands

Damien returned some time later. Caelian tried asking where they had wandered off to, but was met with a shrug. They seemed reluctant to say, which made him confused. But he decided not to pry.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Damien asked.

"Evelyn is ready," Evelyn said as she slowly stood up.

Zephyr remained silent, but took a deep breath as he also stood. Caelian noticed that he had a far off stare in his eyes and looked tired. But he didn't complain when they started moving again. He hung several steps back from the rest of them.

As they made it out of the forest of boulders, they were met with a sea of lava. It covered the land in front of them, with the occasional island that held dead trees. They were covered in the pulsating webbing, signifying that the fear sprites had been there.

They all stopped in their tracks as they stared at the sea of lava before them, except for Evelyn, who casually jumped onto one of the flat stepping stones that stuck up out of the lava. Noticing that they weren't following her, she turned around with a puzzled look.

"Are you not coming?" Evelyn asked.

"I guess so," Damien sighed as they stepped forward. They jumped onto the rock next to Evelyn. Evelyn beamed, before jumping onto the next rock, continuing on across the lava.

Caelian stepped up beside Zephyr, who was staring at the lava with wide eyes. "You can stay back here if you want," Caelian said softly.

Zephyr looked over at him in surprise. He forced a smile. "No, that's okay! This is fine."

"But you're—" Caelian was cut off as Zephyr jumped onto the first rock after Damien had continued on. He gave a noticeable shiver before jumping onto the next one. Caelian was surprised that he was willing to jump across lava. But he was glad that he'd still be with them. He jumped onto the rock after Zephyr.

The lava bubbled around them as they hopped from rock to rock. It was slow going, as everyone was being careful not to fall in. Save for Evelyn, who often had to pause and wait for the others to catch up.

"Have they considered building an actual bridge here?" Damien asked as they caught up to Evelyn.

"Why? This is bridge," Evelyn said.

"No, an actual—Ugh, nevermind," Damien sighed.

The lava around them eventually thinned out, giving them solid ground to walk along once again. Puddles of lava surrounded them, radiating the same intense heat that made Caelian sweat. Embers flew through the air, stinging his eyes as the volcano loomed closer. Ash covered everything around them, leaving the shrubbery looking gray and lifeless.

A fear sprite zipped past Caelian, and he turned to look after it. Corruption flowed in its wake, with bones and pustules sprouting out of the ground.

"How are they able to do that?" Caelian asked.

"What?" Damien asked.

"Spread corruption."

"Well... You know what corruption is, right?"

"Kind of, yeah," Caelian said.

"So what they're doing is spreading negative energy based on what element they embody," Damien said. "Remember, sprites are essentially just physical embodiments of the elements. They help regulate the mana in the realms. We know light spirits can't handle intense negative energy. This goes the same for their realm. It can't handle the mana, so it gets corrupt."

"How come we not see sprites spreading corruption in other realms?" Evelyn asked.

"They were already corrupt when we arrived, so I'd assume there was no need to spread any more. Corruption can also spread by itself, so after they leave a trail of it, it should slowly begin to grow," Damien said.