Elements of Change

Kammon, the Calamity

It started like a pull at the back of Ezo's mind. Like someone had tied a piece of string to his brain and was gently trying to rush him down the path. Ezo was never one to be deterred from his curiosities, but he was on the road to rejoin Jaroh's Traveling Players. It'd been ten days since he'd left to visit the village of Northsea. It was too small to hold the player's interest, but there had been plenty of work for him to do and he was richer than when he'd gone in. Not everyone was happy to see an elementalist in town, but he did enough work to make it worth the time. Now, he just wanted to join up with the players, check in with Alvrey, and listen to Mathis and Tamis tell him about their adventures of the past few days.

Thankfully, the pull was leading him in the general direction he wanted to go.

The road was joined by smaller paths and eventually led to the grand roads of Desra. This section of the road was barely big enough for a village cart, let alone the larger wagons that sometimes made their way from the capital city to the outlying areas. The forest had encroached over the years. As Distria fought against its bordering neighbors, the interior roads that weren't routinely used by the military were neglected. A handful of earth-gifted elementalists could clear the whole section of the road in a few days, pushing the forest back and building a safe road for travelers, but it was a story he heard too often.

The War-Sworn were too important - and too tired - to deal with insignificant trouble. Ezo didn't know how the safe travel of the roads in the kingdom was insignificant, but he did what he could when he could. This wasn't something one man could fix though, no matter how strong he was. Instead, the villages in the area had learned to hire soldiers to guard their wagons and make sure they reached their destination safely.

It was midday when the pull in Ezo's brain pointed him towards a path that steered southward. There was nothing special about the path. It was one of many smaller paths that he'd passed as he traveled. No mystical fog begged him to follow, and no dire omens sat before him, warning him of danger. He just felt the pull to walk that path.

He'd taken detours for less reasons, so he decided to follow.

It was a pleasant walk at first, but after an hour, he caught signs of recent struggles. A large wagon wheel was tossed on its side with signs of fire damage. A trough dug into the earth large enough that he needed to summon the earth to close the gap before he could walk across it. The destruction of fire in the woods that was far too focused to have been a natural fire.

He came across a wagon that had been ripped in two. He knelt to the ground and ran his fingers over the wood.

"Stay where you are!"

Ezo froze. He hadn't heard anyone coming. He closed his eyes and shifted slightly to get to the earth under his feet.

"I said don't move!"

Ezo turned his head to look back at the man because he recognized the voice. "What are you doing here?" He stood, watching the elementalist he'd met in Mason Creek so many months ago.

"You?" The man seemed offended by his presence and Ezo scowled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I asked you first." He wasn't normally argumentative, but there was something about the other man that riled him up. Or maybe it was the other way around. Something about Ezo riled the other man up, and he returned the sentiment.

The man frowned but he looked away from Ezo. "I was hired to find raiders that have been attacking a local town's wagons. They've lost two trade caravans that were heading out. One was heading to Desra, and one to Nivet Bay."

"Barley warned us about them."

The other man turned his head sharply. "Who?"

"We met a group of War-Sworn on the road when I was with Jaroh's Traveling Players. Barley was their commander."

"I know who Barley is."

"How do you-"

"It doesn't matter. He warned you about the raiders, but didn't do anything about it himself?"

"Look, I don't know you," Ezo said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But those men were exhausted. I'm not sure any of them could have held a flame for more than a minute, let alone defeat an enemy."

"He was in that bad a shape?" The man's voice has softened, and the words seemed more to himself than a question to Ezo.

"The players have a healer with them. If it helps, she stopped and healed what she could. They need time to rest and heal, but Barley and his men were sticking together, taking care of one another. I think they'll be okay. But now I'm worried about the players. I was meeting up with them on the road north. Are the raiders heading that way?"

The man nodded. "That's where their path is leading. If your friends are there, it could be trouble. They would be too big a target for the raiders to resist. Do they have protection on the road?"

Ezo shook his head. "A couple of their guys are good in a fight, but that's always been enough from what they say. In the few months I've been riding with them, I haven't seen any trouble either."

"The raiders have ignored anyone with an elementalist in the company."

"They must have one as well, then."

"Exactly. They would have left the players alone while you were with them."

Ezo felt guilt settle in his gut. "Then when I left, I made them a target."

The man watched him for a moment, then nodded. "Then we had best find them."

"You'll help me?"

"It's the best lead to where the raiders will be heading next. If they are both heading north, their passes will cross eventually."

"Thank you."

The other man just nodded as they began to walk. They were back to his original crossroad before the man touched his wrist. Ezo stopped, feeling a strike of lightning in his veins at the brief contact.

The man's eyes widened and tightened quickly, but he ignored the sensation. "Kammon."

"What?"

"You said you don't know me. My name is Kammon."

"Ezo," he answered with a small smile.

The man started walking again, but then the name caught up to Ezo. "Wait. Kammon? As in Kammon, the Calamity?"

Kammon stopped in his tracks but didn't look back at Ezo. Ezo watched the rise and fall of his shoulders but didn't dare speak again.

"Are you coming or not, Raven?"

When Kammon began forward, Ezo ran to catch up. His mind was racing though. Kammon the Calamity. The most destructive force of fire the world had ever seen. The man had done more for the war efforts than any other soldier. And, according to story, after he arrived and single-handedly ended a month-long stalemate, he disappeared without a trace.

Kammon. The man who had helped him protect the people of Mason Creek from a flood. The same people who had all but tossed him out because they knew he'd been War-Sworn.

Ezo caught up to the soldier and braved a glance at him. When Kammon returned the look, he gave another small smile. It wasn't much, but he could see the man's shoulders relax just a little bit. Ezo felt his own unease settle as well.

And whatever that pull at the back of his head was, at least they were all three going in the right direction.

Author's Notes: And we are back to our mysterious stranger for chapter two. What do you think of Kammon? Will he and Ezo hit it off, or are there rough days ahead?