(Outdated) The King of Elements

The Spark Ignites

The Edge Walker in the center let out an ear splitting roar as it swung its long, blood thirsty claws at the group. Everyone fell to the ground, narrowly missing being decapitated by the skin of their teeth. "Get out of the way!" Ian cried out as he, Rose, and Kim quickly rolled to their right. Dre and Megumi rolled to their left just as the Edge Walker dug its hand deep in the ground at the exact position of where Megumi's head had laid.

Megumi grabbed Dre by his forearm and jerked him up with so much force that he almost toppled over again, before she pulled him away from the rest of the group. He was stunned by just how strong she was.

"Wait, what about everyone else?" Dre asked as he caught up to Megumi.

"We will go back to them after we lose-" Her explanation was cut off by an agonizing scream. Dre skidded to a halt as he looked back and saw a large circle of blood forming on her shoulder. An Edge Walker's hand was impaled through her left shoulder.

Dre watched in horror as it slowly began lifting her up proudly; her yelling grew louder and more painful, tearful. He felt something deep inside of his psyche stirring as her screaming filled his ears like a hate filled sonata. He had just met this girl, only known her for half of a day, and yet he felt a deep stab of hatred and rage going through his entire being, as if he was watching his family being tortured. He snarled as he rushed to the Edge Walker and rammed both feet into its chest with enough momentum to knock Megumi off of its hand. They both fell to the ground with a loud thud as the Edge Walker was knocked off of its feet and landed into the darkness of the woods.

"Dammit!" she wailed through her teeth as she winced with pain from her shoulder, tears constantly falling down her face. "I didn't think they'd be that fast. I'm going to kill that blond-haired bastard when I see him again."

"Let's just hope we live that long." The bloodstain was expanding rapidly. Dre ripped off one of the sleeves on his shirt and gingerly tied it around her shoulder, apologizing every time she flinched. "Can you move your arm?"

"Yeah, but it hurts to move it too much. I think that thing just barely missed my bone. Thanks," she said genuinely once Dre was finished tying the makeshift bandage.

"Don't mention it," he said, struggling to grin. His grin quickly faded as he heard the gurgling cry of an Edge Walker; the very same one that impaled Megumi had now appeared from the darkness of the forest and was now dashing at them, its claws dragging into the ground. "Look out!" Dre called out as he and Megumi rolled under its jab. Dre looked over his shoulder and saw that its hand was stuck through the thick tree bark.

You'd stand a chance if you could use your elemental powers.

Those words appeared in his mind as he watched the Edge Walker struggle to free its arm. He wondered if his power had awakened since he thrice had escaped from getting impaled. Better yet, he wondered if Megumi's power was unlocked since she had actually gotten impaled. "Screw it, here goes nothing," he said to himself as he held his hand out in front of him, aiming directly at the Edge Walker's back.

He focused with all of his might, imaging something, anything, shooting from the palm of his hand and destroying that thing, but nothing happened. He hadn't felt any differently that when he first entered the forest.

Megumi watched on, hopeful. "Anything?" she questioned.

Dre shook his head. He couldn't believe that after all that had happened, he still wasn't able to produce any type of element. He began to ask Megumi to try her luck, until he saw that the Edge Walker had turned around and were now glaring deep into their souls. Its shoulder had dislocated with a loud snap, but it still managed to glare at them, completely oblivious to the black ooze spilling from its shoulder. It roared maliciously as it began yanking its arm free from its body.

"Oh God, now what do we do?" His first instinct was to run, but that had led to Megumi getting stabbed through her shoulder. A wet, ripping sound filled the area as the Edge Walker completely ripped its arm off. His heart rammed his ribcage as he looked behind it. The arm fell limp back to the ground as it rushed towards Dre and Megumi, the thick ooze flowing freely from where its arm had once belonged.

"Now what do we do!?"

"Not die!" Megumi said as she held her uninjured hand towards the Edge Walker. "I hope this works!" she yelled as the Edge Walker quickly began closing the distance between them, readying another wild swipe. It was a few feet away before a large fireball erupted from Megumi's hand and enveloped the Edge Walker. They both side stepped it as it crumpled on the ground. It shrieked loudly as it began to spasm violently on the ground. The fire quickly died out, and the large black husk that was once an Edge Walker now began to evaporate into dust.

They both panted as she held her hand in front of her face. Smoke began to spill out of her hand before it disappeared. "Whoa. That was pretty bad-ass," Megumi whispered through deep pants. "Let's hurry and get back to the rest of the group."

Dre helped her back on her feet. "Did it hurt firing that?" he asked as they began to run towards the area where they separated from the group.

"Not really. Before it happened, I felt like I was on fire. It was almost smothering me at first. But then, the heat was almost cocooning me. It made me feel good, like something deep inside of me connected. After that, releasing it just felt like second nature."

"Well, I'm just glad you managed to get it off in time," Dre told her through a smile. After hearing that, he couldn't wait to unlock his element.

There was another gurgling cry behind them; they both spun on the balls of their feet and readied themselves to attack, but they saw that the Edge Walker behind them was lying face first on the ground, writhing in pain as a large sharpened tree branched jutted from its mouth. Almost instantly, they saw a small body fall from the trees, landed on the creature's back, and jerked the branch out of its neck.

"Keiko?" Megumi asked with a small grin on her face.

Keiko looked up at Megumi, beaming as she said, "You two need to be a lot more careful. I almost didn't hit it in time."

Another body descended from the tree and landed beside Keiko. The large crucifix on Michael's shirt seemed to shine under the light of the glowing butterflies. He had two sharpened tree branches in his hand and one stuff under his belt. "Aside from almost killing it too late, you did well," Michael said to her. She grinned widely as she gave him a thumbs-up.

"It's not dead, you know," Megumi told him.

"I figured as much," he said as he looked at the twitching body of the Edge Walker. "I heard from that other group that we'd stand more of a chance if we had elemental powers. Sucks for me, considering that I'm human." Dre made sort of a choking sound as Michael continued. "We've got to go check on the other group. Keiko, you stay with them. I'll go back in the trees and cover you from above."

"Wait, what about this one?" Dre said as he tapped it with the edge of his boot. Its body twitch violently, making Dre yelp as he jumped back a few feet.

"Simple," Michael said as he grabbed one of the branches. In one swift thrust, he shoved the tree branch through the back of its head and deep into the ground, allowing about half an arm's length of branch above ground.