The Last Elementalist

Part 18

Yuri stood on the river with his eyes closed, balancing on one leg. He tried concentrating on the sounds around him, just like his uncle Ryo had taught him. This was supposed to help him gain control over his abilities as well as his emotions. He brought his hands up, slowly. He opened his eyes and concentrated on the water around him as it went up with the movement of his hands. Nobody was around. Clones made of water appeared all around him. Nothing could distract him now. Yuri brought his hands together. He set down his foot and spun, sending quick kicks and punches into the air. Strikes of air flew towards every single clone with close precision, hitting every single one of them straight in the chest and making them burst out of existence once more. 

A high pitched sound erupted in his head, making his concentration break and sending him into ice cold water. He couldn't breath and sank to the bottom. His eyes fluttered closed as he was dragged with the current. 

Deep in the forest at the barrier, they stood. Menacing as they had been in his nightmares for the last weeks. Blood, lots and lots of blood all around. Fire. Chaos. Death.... Bodies without heads, heads without bodies. And blood, blood everywhere. Some stabbed to death, some were burned... Death was all around. Everyone he knew. Everyone he cared for. Except for his father who had left two days ago. He stood there in the middle of the burning village. Every wall, every tile, even the fountain was drenched in blood... Dark figures of people he did not recognize surround him and come closer and closer and closer, bloody blades and knives in hand. He takes a step back in fear as he looks around him. His breathing gets faster and so does his heartbeat. And then they're dead, more blood is shed and he is standing there....all alone....

His eyes fly open and he tries to take a deep breath, water enters his lungs. He starts to panic as more water floods his lungs as he desperately tries to get back to the surface. Finally he remembers how to swim. Which he isn't very good at. His head comes up above water and he takes a quick breath of air before he's pulled down again. A white wolf comes runs into the river, seemingly out of nowhere and grabs the young boy by his collar. The wolf quickly swam to shore, the boy's collar in it's mouth. An unconscious Yuri is dragged back to land, back to safety. The wolf starts circling the boy and gave him a few licks in the face, effectively waking the child up. Yuri's eyes flutter open, at first not really realizing what had happened. Then everything came back to him. His eyes fixed on the white wolf, but he didn't feel frightened. Quite the opposite actually, he felt connected to it in a way that he can't begin to describe. He patted the wolf's head as it began to whine. 

The images of the dream he's been having for weeks now flash in his mind, knots tied in his stomach. 'What are you waiting for? Go! Save the village! Save your family!' He hears a voice say in his mind. Confused he looks around and then locks eyes with the wolf. 'What are you looking at me for?! Go!'  He heard again, his eyes grew wide. 'Did that wolf just talk to me?' he asked himself, almost sure he had imagined it. Another flash of images run through his head, causing an immense pain to erupt from his skull. He screams out, holding his head. 

All he saw was the darkness, there was an eerie silence. The stench of blood and death hung in the air. He saw the white hair of his mother, it stuck out against the darkness and the blood. "Maaaaamaaa!" he screamed, but there never came an answer. The more he looked around, the more bodies appeared. He started to get dizzy, nausea overtook him as he saw more and more of them appear. Suddenly a sharp pain in his back and then he fell and fell and fell.... Into eternal darkness where he would have to suffer no more.

His eyes widen and he finally ran and ran and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him. For weeks he'd had these dreams and never did they change this much. But the essence was still the same. His family... dead. The village... burned. Him.... the sole survivor, the last Elementalist. It was a little while before he reached the village. It was eerily silent, although there wasn't any darkness since it was the middle of the day and the sun was still out. The atmosphere was gloomy. His breath hitched in his throat when he saw smears of blood. He forced himself to go on, not believing anything had happened just yet. He didn't have to go much further into the village to see the bloodbath that had taken place. Heads without bodies, bodies without heads. Blood. Blood everywhere. Everywhere he looked was blood. Faces he recognized, others that couldn't be identified no more. The first one of his family he came across was his uncle Ryo, guts laying around his body. Brains smashed in with an axe. Yuri felt sick to his stomach. He looked away and not much further was his uncle Yuka, lifeless eyes were staring back at him. Eyes that would haunt his dreams till the day he died. Keiji and Kazuki, died the way they came into this world.... Together. Then came Mai, Baba and Jiji. Lots and lots more bodies came. He yet to find his mother. "Maaaama?!" he yelled out as he spotted her white locks among the others. Tears welled up in his eyes, he couldn't take it anymore. "Maaamaaa?!" he yelled again, wanting for her to reply to him. But the answer never came. 

Once he reached her, he fell down to his knees next to her and broke down. "Mama" he sobs out. "Maaamaa" he cries out "Wake up" he sobs. The rain falls, soaking the small boy in seconds. Yuri didn't care about that. "Please, mama" the tears stream down his face as he lays his head on her chest. "Please... Wake up" he whispers. Yuri starts crying, sobbing uncontrollably as he realizes that his mother will never wake up again.

AN: I cried while writing this. I've been putting this off for as long I possibly could because I got way too attached to my characters. But I've finally done it. Another update is coming soon.