By Night [1]

            Kaios observed the forest floor below. Not a soul had made a move for the past twenty minutes. The mark was supposed to be coming this way soon—at least—that was what his subordinate had radioed. Regardless, he sat, unmoving, on the bough of the massive Oak, bowstring taut with an arrow ready for release. An aggressive water elemental had learned how to freeze things, though the season for learning and applying such practices was far away. It simply proved that the situation was getting bleaker.

            Finally, some movement on the right. The male elemental cautiously crept by, two floating orbs of water on either side of him. Kaios took aim, elbow locked. “Return to Mother Earth,” He mumbled under his breath before releasing the arrow. It flew true to its mark and the elemental collapsed without even a cry of pain, the two liquid spheres falling to the ground with a wet splash, soaking the ground beneath them.

            “He’s been removed,” The elf muttered over the radio, giving coordinates before he leapt down to stand guard over the body. This was getting insane. Watching several elements go rogue on the humans was almost unbearable. This didn’t even peak to its worst until the humans angered the sea elementals, stifling and suffocating them with their oil.

            The humans had poisoned the planet. It was a fact that everyone— even the perpetrators— knew. They were trying to redeem themselves with ‘green’ ways of living, but it was already too late. Elves and elementals alike felt the pulse of Mother; she was their lifeblood. How sick dear Mother was. The elementals that went after humans were trying to protect dearest Mother.

            Kaios glanced at the body, his expression unreadable to any onlooker. The elementals that went rogue would attack or kill a human; a direct defiance of Mother’s law. Her children were not to fight. Any kills that they made were to be of necessity, such as hunting for food; the blood spilt would benefit Mother, not harm her.

With all the killing that had been happening as of late, however, he was surprised that Mother hadn’t wept at hard as that time long ago. The humans made up some fool story about a male human named Noah saving all the animals last night Mother sincerely wept. Kaios let out a snort. Their imagination was almost interesting.

“Wow, nice shot, sir!”

Kaios’ thoughts were interrupted as the two subordinates finally arrived.

“I don’t enjoy this; don’t talk as if I do.” He replied. “Get him to a river and gently dispose of him in the river. Allow him the peace of returning to his Mother River.” Once they died, elementals returned to their basic roots, sometimes quite literally. Water elemental ceremonies that were recorded showed their dead being placed in rivers, where their Mother would reclaim them, turning the body back to water and starting another cycle of life later that year. A sort of reincarnation that had been in motion since Mother Earth birthed them.

The younger elves nodded and obeyed their orders. Kaios let out a sigh and ran a hand through his deep brown hair. “I’m ready for this to be over already.” As the leader of the Elemental Elimination and Rehabilitation League, however, that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

* * *

“A night elemental?”

“Yes, sir.” The blonde replied.

Kaios frowned and looked at the sketch they had acquired. Black hair, blue eyes, and a near perfect face. He flipped the paper over to read the small bit of information that they had managed to dig up about her.

Five foot, four inches tall, daughter of the light elementals, rogue for twenty-four hours so far, after killing a human at a campsite in the deeper woods. Great. The light elementals were as old as Mother, and one of the few sane elementals left. Old-fashioned farts, but still sane. Kaios tucked the sketch away into the inner pocket of his weatherworn jacket.