Dream Beyond Life's Edge

For the Capital

"There are some elementals here," Stadtmen warned, tensing Talia. "Stay close. And don't let go of the barrier tool."

Talia sharpened her eyes and ears, trying to find any movement.

Light came from the woods, heading in their direction.

It nearly hit Stadtmen, but he swung his right hand and an earth wall arose and blocked it.

Fire wasps lit up the woods, burning everything as it headed towards them.

While standing in one place, Stadtmen calmly looked around the woods surrounding them. "Talia, sit down," he ordered Talia. He took a breath and opened his mouth. "Luxo-ras."

Talia crouched down trying to avoid the incoming light magic Stadtmen casted.

But nothing came of it for a while.

The fire elemental approached Talia and Stadtmen like a storm of fire, circling them until it surrounded them. Its front struck first.

"Sit!" Stadtmen calmly shouted to Talia through the flaming sizzlings.

Talia sat.

Dozens of light beams struck the elemental, purging most on the front lines. Stadtmen aimed his palm in a circle; slashes of light came and massacred the fire elemental wherever he pointed.

He pointed his left palm at the light elemental and gently fired a pillar of light.

A high-pitched shriek pierced through the woods and Talia reflexively covered her ears—one with her palm, the other with her shoulder. "You can kill a light elemental with light?"

"Of course," Stadtmen said as he continued killing the fire elementals. "A light elemental can't be made out of light. Careful, another one's coming."

Talia nodded and moved her head as low as possible to not obstruct Stadtmen's view and magic.

With the light elemental defeated, the shadow elemental lurking behind darkness' cover finally emerged. Only for Stadtmen to defeat it.

"You can stand up. Ae-ris." Casting a water sphere above them, Stadtmen cleaned the dirt and mud on their clothes and body. The water swiftly evaporated some moments later. "How is your condition?"

"I'm fine."

Realizing Stadtmen's power, Talia couldn't help but wonder, why wasn't he helping during the fight with Jane?!

*****

For hours, they continued their journey without stopping. Talia's legs had turned sore. Though she didn't have the guts to ask Stadtmen to stop, at least she could take comfort in his power; the couple encounters they had with elementals had proven it beyond doubt.

It wasn't until nightfall that Stadtmen decided to halt the journey. Making camp by a riverbed, Stadtmen felled a tree, and Talia rushed to sit. With Talia watching, Stadtmen piked the two tents onto the ground, gathered and blazed the firewood, and slashed another tree for him to sit on.

The fire heat graced their skin, battling against the night's cold.

"Is the fire really fine?" Talia asked. "I meant that, wouldn't it attract attention?"

"I'm staying up for the night," Stadtmen said. "You should sleep. Tomorrow's going to be more tiring."

As silence came over the two, the cackling of the fire echoed through the woods. And Talia finally gathered enough courage to ask.

"How is, um... my mother?" Talia asked. "Did she survive or... did she..."

"Your mother has been executed," Stadtmen admitted frankly with the same calmness he had for the battle. "No matter what I could've done, her twice attempted murders and the fight she had a couple days ago sealed her fate."