The Forbidden Power

Chapter One

We are the stone people.  For all of time we will stand strong, for we are the rock, and the rock is us.
-From an old Rock hymn

Raquel held her sister's hands, swinging her around in circles just above the rocky ground.  Lulu giggled, the sun reflecting off of her shiny brown hair.  Kira sat on a rock and watched her sisters, a smile on her face.  She brushed a piece of her own brown hair behind her ear and her head shot up when she heard a squeal from her younger sister.
"What is it Lulu?" Raquel asked.  She gestured for Kira to come over.  Kira stood and jogged over, smoothing down her dried grass dress as she did so. 
Kira knelt down with her sisters.  "Is it the butterfly, Lulu?  You want the butterfly?"  Lulu nodded vigorously.  "Okay then, let's go."  Kira stood and grabbed Lulu's hand, and Raquel took the other.  They swung Lulu up and down as they walked, following the butterfly.  Everything was silent, because most people were asleep.  The only reason that Raquel and Kira were awake is because Lulu had woken them up that morning.  The silence was disturbed by the thundering of hooves.  Kira looked around frantically.
"The Fire Army!" Raquel shouted.  "They're here!"  A flaming arrow whizzed by her head, and she ducked.  Lulu screamed, an ear piercing wail that would wake even the deepest sleeper.  The village flooded with Fire Soldiers, and people, still half asleep, came out of their huts.  They yelped in surprise as they were taken captive by the Fire Army.  Flames sprouted from the soldier's bare hands, making it impossible to run.  Raquel and Kira attempted to pick up the screaming Lulu, but she thrashed her arms, making it almost impossible.  At last, Raquel wrapped her arms around her younger sister, turning to run.  A soldier grabbed her arm, and Raquel tried to make Lulu run to Kira.  Lulu, still screaming, clung to Raquel's leg.  The soldier hoisted them into one of the carts, and Raquel locked eyes with Kira.
"Run, Kira!" She shouted.  "Get out of here!  Run!"
Kira knew her sister was right.  People were being loaded into the carts, and though they fought, they were no match for the well trained Fire Army.  Rocks flew through the air, but the assaults were weak, no match for the well trained soldiers.  Kira was the only chance of saving her village.  Looking at her sisters one last time, she turned and ran.  She was dimly aware of the soldier's shouts behind her, and the flaming arrows that whizzed past her head, but she didn't turn.  She just ran.
Her bare feet thumped on rock and soil as she ran from her village.  Once she was a safe distance up the hill, out of the village, she turned, searching for anyone else who might have gotten out.  All she saw were the people, her friends, her teachers, her family, being herded into carts like animals, their faces grim and dirty.  The carts wheeled away, and a blood curdling scream filled the air.  Kira recognized that scream.  Lulu.  Her sisters were in a cart, looking up at her with frightened eyes.  Tears were in Lulu's eyes as she weakly beat the side of the cart with her fists.  Raquel, the older sister that Kira had always looked to for help, needed her help now, but Kira could only watch.  She tried to close her eyes as the archers sent flaming arrows into her village, but she could not look away.  For what seemed like hours, there was silence, until the village exploded.
Kira was thrown back by the sheer force of the explosion.  Bits of rock and dirt rained down on Kira as she shielded her face.  Dust wafted through the air.  Kira finally dared to lift her head, and when she did, she began to cry.  Flames danced across the rubble that had once been magnificent stone structures.  Her home.  Kira let out a small whimper.  Her village was gone.  The Fire Army whipped horses, who pulled the prisoner-filled carts over the hills and out of sight.
Kira labored to tear her eyes away from the destruction.  She forced herself to walk away.She continued to cry until she could cry no longer, because there were no more tears. Kira told herself that she had to keep moving, in case any of the soldiers had followed her.  She plodded on, watching everywhere for the sign of enemy soldiers that could seal her fate.
Night was falling quickly.  Kira looked around at the never-changing landscape and sighed.  In the orange light of the setting sun, she hastily started to make herself a shelter.  Kira gathered palm fronds and tugged them into a bed-like shape on the floor of a small cave.  She sat on them and shivered as the sun's rays were cut off by the mountains in the distance.
Kira was tired, but she was not ready to sleep yet.  In the darkness of the newly fallen night, she brought out a lava rock charm, fastened around her neck by braided weeds fashioned into a delicate chain.  She knew every bump and crevice on it by heart.  Kira still remembered the day that she got it.  It was at the yearly Gathering of the Elements, before the war started.
Kira was wandering around.  She was six years old, the youngest she could be at a Gathering.  The dragon guards of the temple rested and watched the festivities from above.  She was amazed by all of the sights and smells of the market, where, once a year, people showed off their elemental skills and merchants sold what their element had to offer.  One stand, from the subdivision Rain, had jars that, when opened, created a small storm.  Another stand, from Nature, a subdivision near Kira's home in Rock, was selling all sorts of seeds.  Kira was drawn to a particular stand though, where an old peddler perched with his merchandise.  Spread on the table in front of him were beautiful charms, crafted of lava rock.  Kira assumed that the peddler was from Lava, the tribe that dwelled in the volcanoes on the edges of Fire.
One charm had stood out.  It was not carved, smoothed, or polished, except for a single hole through the middle, so that it could hang on a string.  The man smiled when Kira asked what he wanted for it, and let her have it for free.  The next day, Kira made a chain for it and put it around her neck.  She had worn it ever since.
Only days after the gathering, Andras, the Fire Lord died and his son, Antwan, took over and tried to finish what his father had started.  It was rumored that Antwan was crueler then his father, that he, in fact, was the very cause of the Fire Lord's death. He wanted control of Ether, the fifth element, the magical energy that created and controlled all things.  Ether could only be summoned by all four elements working together.  Andras had tried to reason with the leaders first, because the Ether could only be summoned by the leaders willingly.  But Antwan had a new angle.  He tried to destroy every tribe or village in his path and take them hostage.  This is what had happened to Kira's village.  After wearing the charm for eight years, Kira took the lava rock between her fingers and pulled, breaking the delicate chain.  After what they had done to her, she wanted nothing more to do with Fire.  She squeezed the rock in her hand, then threw with all of her might, out into the abyss.
The sun was rising quickly.  Kira hurried to destroy her temporary shelter and disguised her tracks. She brushed up some of her footprints, but there was nothing else she could do.  She had to keep moving.  Yet the results were unsatisfactory.  Any second glance at it would be an indication of Kira, hiking away from her village, and from the Fire Army.  She sighed, and knew she had to use her powers.  everyone else could use their powers with ease, bending the rock to their will.  Kira hated doing this because it drained her energy, but she had no choice.  Kira stared at the ground and willed the earth to do her bidding.  Once she felt she was in control, Kira pointed at a boulder.  It lifted, slowly, because she was tired from yesterday's hike, into the air.  With a flick of her wrist, Kira sent it flying into the rocky outcrop she had used for shelter.  Rock slammed into rock, and the shelter was demolished.  Kira slumped to the ground, exhausted.  Finally, though, she forced herself to rise and keep moving over the rough terrain.  She was the only hope for Rock.
    Kira didn't realize how far she had come until she reached the border. Mounds and mounds of charred, black vines stood in her way.  Under normal circumstances, the wall of dark green vines that separated Earth from Water would have stood tall, reaching toward the sky. But this was war. The realms were in chaos, the elements confused. Antwan had set the borders alight to incinerate the wall, causing it to fall.  Kira stepped over the mounds of burnt vines, away from her home, into the territory of Water.
The sun began to set, and Kira continued her journey.  She had to keep moving.  She had to warn whichever village she came across.  At this rate, it would probably be Rain.  She looked up at the rumbling storm clouds in the sky.  Definitely Rain.  She sighed in exhaustion.
Throughout the whole night, Kira continued on, over hills, under trees.  Even in the dark, she could see the brilliant green foliage.  The plants near Rain thrived because of the constant downpour, and as they grew brighter, Kira knew she was getting closer.  She walked until she dropped, she couldn't go another step.  Kira didn't even bother building shelter; she just slumped to the ground.  The grass was cool and soft underneath her.  Soon, Kira was fast asleep.
Marching.  It filled Kira's ears.  She sat up abruptly.  Kira's heart pounded in time with the footsteps of the soldiers.  She sprinted in the opposite direction.  The continuous rainstorm grew larger as Kira ran.  Finally, in the eye of the storm, Kira spotted a village.  She ran towards it.  Kira had come to far to fail now.  Just on the edge, she ran straight into a girl.  she wore the colors of Rain, navy blue and silver.  As the girl turned, her black hair whipped and gleamed in the sunlight.
"What? Who are yo—"
"Run!" Kira screamed.  "We have to run!"
The girl looked over Kira's shoulder.  Understanding dawned in her eyes.  On the horizon, soldiers marched, clad in fiery orange and red uniforms.  Some had flaming swords, some flaming arrows and others harnessed flames in their bare hands.  Kira gripped the girl's arm, and together, they ran.