The Last Saint

20: Drowned

They gathered at the park, with their weapons. Adam stood off to the side with Kara, looking in her eyes.

"We have to do this," he said.

She nodded and hugged him. 

"I'll see you again, right Adam?" She asked.

"Yeah, I promise."

Eve called Adam over, and Kara watched him walk away, lingering for a moment before leaving.

Eve stood in front of the whole group. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I am sick and tired of running and hiding. I am tired of being bullied and pushed around. And I am tired of seeing people die." She was crying as she spoke. "I have had enough. We're ending this. Taiyang, the First, is the most powerful Saint, he'll be hard to fight even by himself, so we're going on the attack here. We're going to kill off the other Saints who'll come to his aid first, and work our way down to him."

Ryan nodded. As did Liz.

"We're going to target the Third first. Adam, come here," Eve said, waving him over. "if we combine our magical powers, we should be able to create a portal to River's world now. I'll steer us. I just need you to provide me with energy."

"You can create portals?" Liz asked.

Eve shook her head as Adam stood beside her. "Not alone. Remember, when a Saint dies we don't get the full powers they possess, we get a 13th of their power, divided between the two of us. And we've only killed 4 Saints so far. "

She reached one hand in front, and grabbed Adam's hand with her other. She whispered at him to focus, and he obeyed. Something similar to a sixth sense inside of him began to stir, and he was suddenly aware of the power inside of him. He focused on the sensation, and realized that he could control it, in a sense. He shared the power with Eve, and she began to glow.

In front of her, a portal began to form. Adam started to feel tired. Finally, the creation of the portal was finished.

"Everyone through, it won't last long with our power," Eve huffed.

The group entered, into the world of the Third Saint. They stood on a small island of crystal, with ocean all around. Everywhere they looked, crystal pillars rose from the waters at random in the vast sea. In the distance, one pillar stood above the rest; this one was perfectly transparent, and seemed to have a giant tree branch encased inside. Eve pointed to it.

"He's there," she said.

Ryan scoffed. "Fantastic, how do we reach it?"

Something began to disturb the water. The ocean gradually grew more rough, and Adam called out to Ryan. "Something tells me we won't have to!"

A figure appeared atop a nearby pillar. Ryan pointed him out, and everyone looked. River smirked. "Hasn't Taiyang killed all of you yet?" 

"You son of a bitch!" Ryan shouted and fired an arrow, but a massive wave rose up, intercepting it.

"Allow me to show you... the powers of the sea!" River declared, and suddenly large waves started to crash down on the group's island.

The waves swept everyone off into the ocean, in different directions. They pulled Adam below the water, and he fought against them, trying to stay on the surface. However, every time his head popped up the waves forced him back down. Adam's body slammed into a surface and he felt himself being held against it by the water.

Suddenly he had an idea; he closed his eyes and focused for a minute, then a rush of wind formed at his feet, launching him up - and out of the water.

He opened his eyes and used the powers of the wind to guide him to the top of one of the pillars. He saw in the distance that Eve had done the same, holding onto Liz, and that Ryan had managed to drag himself back onto the island.

River made massive tendrils of water rise from the ocean, and begin swinging at both Adam and Eve.

Imbuing his feet with wind powers, he leaped away, but the tendrils followed him. Eve attempted to strike River, but the water swatted her out of the sky.

With each jump, Adam felt his body growing more and more tired. He was already approaching his limit. If they were going to win, it had to be now. Adam mustered his strength.

"Ryan, now!" He yelled. Ryan fired an arrow but River immediately intercepted and pounded the island with waves.

Adam and Eve both took the chance to jump to River's pillar, engaging him in close combat. His water tendrils supported him as he used a small ball of water to intercept their sword swipes. on the narrow platform, he managed to hold his ground. Finally, one of the tendrils swiped Adam, knocking him off and making him drop his sword. But luckily, there was a ledge just below the top which he grabbed. Eve was quickly overwhelmed and forced to jump away.

Adam peeked over the ledge. An arrow struck River in the back, and he turned around to attack Ryan. Adam carefully climbed up, noticing his sword at River's feet. Instead of going for it, he shoved River off the platform and into the water below.

River rose up from the water, standing upright, only his ankles submerged, and began to laugh.
"I am the Saint of Water, you idiot. You would have had a better chance of beating me on solid land!"

Eve jumped to the platform beside Adam, and raised her free hand to the sky.

"Tell me, River. What happens to a person standing in water... when the water is electrocuted?" Eve asked, with a sadistic grin.

River's eyes widened. A bolt of lightning fell from the heavens, striking him and electrocuting him. Adam called down another bolt himself, maintaining it until River's body disappeared beneath the water's surface and a stream of light came up, entering Adam and Eve.

Adam saw another vision.

He was walking along a dirt path leading up to a well atop a hill, with Eve beside him. The raven-haired man from his last vision stood before them, beside the well. The grass all around the hill was yellowed and dying, despite it being spring.

"I have spoken to the others. I know I promised to give you 5 years, but we can't wait any longer. The collapse is happening faster than we predicted. The branches have already withered this severely," Sol said, kneeling down and touching the grass with his hand. "The Fourth is doing all he can to maintain it, but there are already famines occurring around the world because of it. Entire species are dying because the Second branch is withering."

Adam nodded, but Eve scowled.

She opened her mouth to speak, but the vision ended, and he couldn't hear what she said.

He returned to reality as Eve, Ryan and Liz stood around the island, calling to him to hurry. He jumped over, and helped Eve create a portal.