A Lumen Ripple | An Elemental Story

Chapter 26 - Stay Away!

Seeing the fury that emanated all around her, Wade knew he was in a pickle. He walked the other way from her in a hurry, tightly gripping his camera as he looked front and back frantically.

Ember stormed along in pursuit of him, staring with locked eyes afire.

Wade quickly lapsed into a panic, picking up the pace sharply to a heavy jog. She mirrored his run in tandem, unable to take her eyes off him.

Having clicked just how angry she was, Wade sprinted full bore away, sweating in fright and continuing to look behind her frantically. 

Ember sharply flashed purple in warning as he looked back. Seeing just how much she was gaining on him, Wade made a sharp change of direction, shoving himself into a busy bar. Anything to avoid her wrath.

Without a sliver of hesitation, she ran into the bar after him in pursuit. Being a fire girl, she didn't have such an easy time filtering through all the elements present. She couldn't just turn into a puddle and slither away. She had to carefully plan her attack.

As a result of the frustrating change of pace, she huffed angrily as she filtered her way through, aggravating some folks.

Luckily for him, Wade managed to slip out the other side of the bar unnoticed. Ember arrived moments later, halting and looking about. She sharply looked left to right, having lost him. Unfortunately, the street she found herself on was the busiest of the night thus far.

It was coated in even more bright red lights, in shapes suspicious to the elemental eye. This street made the last look like a kindergarten.

She looked upward at a neon sign of a pair of eyes, with text below that read;

'Want to see more?'

Knowing that she didn't want to see anything that place offered, she scoffed, disgusted by it.

She sharply looked to her right, holding her arms back as she leaned forward. She'd managed to catch a glimpse of Wade - to her relief and his dismay - watching as he casually strolled much further up the road.

She picked up the chase, exhaling angrily as she did. She raced after him, about to pass by an alleyway to her right.

Moments before she was to do so, she was quickly halted by the trio from before. As she realized she'd recognised them from the bus, her breath quickly shortened, causing her to step back a foot.

"Hey there, pretty lady." one said.

"Thought you could shake us?" another added.

Ember's eyes widened in growing discomfort, seconds from lashing out.

"Can I help you?" she queried with a fake smile.

She took a good look at the three of them - all a head shorter than she was.

"Do t-- the thing--" one said.

"Huh?!" another replied.

"Y-- you now. Th-- the thing!" the first pushed.

"Y'all mean this?" the third understood.

The third guy slowly moved toward her with an arm of touch out, causing her to step backward with her hands up.

"Look, fellas. I don't want any trouble," she said, slightly frazzled.

"Y'all don't--" one retorted.

"But we do." another added.

Ember let down a heaping gulp, a little more frazzled.

"We know exactly who you are." one pressed.