Goraldia: The Element Wielders

Prologue: Free Time

I always liked lightning. Not much makes me happier than having a storm outside my window as I lay in bed at night, watching. Seeing the branches flex to the wind, hearing the roar of rain tossed around, and feeling the adrenaline behind every flash in the sky. I didn't  particularly care for thunder, but it did remind me how close and powerful the Lightning is. The best moment is when I saw the zagging streak of white plasma itself. AH, it's just SO good seeing that much natural energy. I wished I could control lightning for myself.

I loved learning all about lightning, in documentaries and stuff. I learned things about it that are fairly interesting. For example, lightning is created when the clouds and another grounded object's leads connect. And leads are - uh, nevermind, I'm rambling. I did that with things I was always passionate about, and I guess I still do.

My name is Dieter, by the way. Nice to meet you, reader. You are reading this, so I managed to get a message back. You may not understand this at first. I am dead in your world, but I am still very much alive.

I guess I should tell you a bit about what happened previous to all of this... Yeah, ok.

The summer day started normally. I got up, ate breakfast, and played some video games. I had nothing to do for the day, nothing planned. So noon, I text some friends to see who was around and ready for some fun.

No one was available immediately, so I took a walk downtown.  It was sunny, with a very light breeze. Boring enough. Though... I felt something. It was very unsettling. The sky was clear with a cloud here and there, and the humidity was perfect, but something was wrong. The air seemed... energized. I felt an aura around me, but I saw nothing. I've never experienced death before (remarkable), but it was exactly as I pictured it in my head. I dismissed this, as I'm not one for conspiracies and speculation.

Later that day, when my friends were available, I could see people walking to me, and immediately knew who it was, and so did she.
"DIETER!" Mikal called out to me with Cole next to her, another of my friends.
"MIKAL!" I replied boisterously. It's just one of those friend things. "Hey Cole, how's it goin'?" I ask.
"Pretty awesome. Got my bass guitar," Cole answers.
"Can't wait to hear it. Oh hey, Kenzie and Micah are waiting over there." So we headed over to where they were sitting.

We had a good day, just hangin' out. But we needed to get home, cause the skies had clouds rolling in. It was another suspicious thing. No weather report. No wind from a front. No reason for it to be there. But as long as it had lightning, who cares.
"I'll see you guys some other time," I said as I started to feel drops of rain.
"Yep, bye," Cole rushed off to call for a ride.
"Guys, I'm gonna have a fire at my house, Saturday. You guys should all come," Kenzie informed us hurriedly.
"I will be there," I reply with a smile. Then I started to run home.

I got home as soon as the rain started pouring. Dang, that was close, I thought. So I kicked off my damp shoes and went upstairs to my room.
"Hello," my dad uttered, while scrolling down the craigslist page on the computer screen.
"Hey," I responded. 

It was around ten when the lightning picked up. I gladly watched it for an hour, filled with excitement and happiness as usual. Then at eleven at night, it happened.

Remember how I said I knew a lot about lightning? Well, one of the first things you learn about it (along with nature itself) is that it takes the path of least resistance. This bolt definitely did not take the path of least resistance.

As I was laying in my bed watching the lightning, I felt my last heartbeat. It was fast and powerful, the kind of beat you feel during sheer terror. Yet the last fraction of it was severely prolonged, and I could tell, 'cause I was experiencing time slowly. There it was again; the aura was around me. I felt death again but this time it would be real. The clouds lit up as I watched a fracture of light zig zag its way to my window. The window shattered from the intense sudden heat delivered by the white hot streak of lightning, and all I could think was, is this really it? Lightning is going to kill me? How is this even possible? Right then the bolt suddenly paused. It just stopped in its tracks. I couldn't move either. What is happening?! I thought. Then I heard a voice. Though it wasn't a voice. It was like a cloud of chaotic sound surrounded me, but some outside force translated it to words.

Do you believe in the afterlife?
Like heaven and hell?
Resemblant of that.
Well, um, sir what does this have to do with me?
I am offering you a choice.
A choice? What are my choices?
You can either stay in the world you hold so dear to you, but with only a small chance of surviving, or you can experience a new world filled with wonderful abilities and creatures, as well as terrifying and dangerous obstacle, as you are hunted down by the less gifted of that world, as well as those like you who have chosen another alignment. Overcoming your hunters will be easier than surviving this bolt, but it will still be difficult.
I... I... Can I come back if I choose the second one?
Your physical body will have a zero percent chance of survival if you choose the second option.
How long do I have to decide?
Until this electricity decides to surge through your body.
How can I leave my friends, family, and everyone I know? But even if I do stay, there is no guarantee I will make it back. ... If I do choose the latter, I will survive at least until something else kills me...
Time is running out.
I notice the bolt has begun again, and is slowly inching its way towards me.
I... I
No decision is the worst decision.
I... You really have no choice, dude I choose to come with you to the other world.
Fantastic.

I waited in horror as I had no idea what would happen. The bolt picked up pace, and I watched, paralyzed in time, as it hit my chest and streaked through my body. I felt no pain. I didn't even feel my body. I was traveling through the bolt into the clouds. The opening in the clouds got brighter and brighter and I closed my eyes and screamed as a terrible sound surrounded me. Thunder. But this was not normal thunder, as the bolt was no normal bolt. The thunder was a menacing cackle, deep and broken. A different voice from the one that talked to me. It was evil. I couldn't take any more and blacked out... if spirits can do that.