Discovering Elements

Advancing (Kaiti)

When Izak left I went to help Merlin, tears still leaving their salty taste on my lips. Whenever I almost felt at ease I related my tears to the flood. A new flood of tears washed down my face to that thought. I was about to grab Merlin, trying to snap him into focus. Just before I touched him, he gasped and looked around. He looked at me, questioning what happened.

"I caused a flood, and um... you were hit and have been in some trance-like state" I maladroitly disclaimed.

"Cai and Izak?"

"Cai was washed away and Izak is looking for him. Are you okay? You did just come back from a trance"

"Just a memory relapse, nothing to worry about" He started to emit when he saw my worried face "It is fine, okay? We should work on rebuilding this, without our powers until we have those down." Deciding he was smart to start building, I started to help him roll the logs that had made their way up here to the camp. Working into the night, we had finished gathering wood and began gathering some clay from the river. We had agreed that I try to slow the current, but not try to do anything severe in case it backfires again. Wondering when Cai and Izak were going to come back, we sat around the fire eating some berries from nearby. We stayed up late, discussing what work we would do tomorrow and just relaxing. I fell asleep watching the fire, realizing too late that we didn't put it out.

I woke up to heat burning in front of my face. I rolled over, seeing the full moon looking at me. It couldn't have been four A.M. Running around the fire, I moved Merlin before the fire got to him. He got up, and it took a minute for it to settle him. I know I had him up woken up he gasped. I tried to summon the water to put the fire out, but I was too far from the source. My glance at Merlin showed my problem. He focused, obviously using his power. I was relieved he was trying until I remember wind fans the flame, and makes it stronger. I turned around, the words at the tip of my tongue when I saw something weird. I felt the wind, but the fire was dying. I watched as the whole forest fire sunk into a pile of ashes. Looking back at Merlin, he was falling. I caught him before he hit the ground, then set him down gently. Hoping he was fine, I nursed him for an hour then went back to bed. I woke up to the sun smiling it my face, telling me it was noon. Upset I has slept in so long, I checked on Merlin. He was still breathing, so I got back to work after putting some breakfast-soup. I observed the damage from last night, and really only the grass was ruined. One log had caught flame, but it was put out before the log burned. Making a broom out of leaves and a stick, I brushed away the ash. I kept an eye on Merlin, but he still wasn't stirring. If he didn't wake I would not hesitate to bring him to a hospital. I was almost done sweeping the ashes when his eyes began to flutter open. How many times is he going to be unresponsive this week? I sat down on the log next to him and started to help him get up. He was still groggy, and his eyes were still barely open. Shaking him a little, his eyes opened quickly. I put a cup of water from the stream, although it barely held any water. Apparently chipping indentation into a rock and then chipping it out isn't the most effective way to get water. He grabbed it and drank it.

"Glad your okay"

"You don't know that yet"

"One can only hope"

"I felt so weird last night. I think I discovered something about my powers"

"And that would be..."

"I remembered that oxygen fuels fire, so I imagined no oxygen. I focused every thought on that, holding onto that one thought. I felt energy flow though me, draining me to the point I couldn't stand. I could tell the wind was expelling from that singular spot, with all of my senses. I could hear it, see it, taste it, smell it, feel it. It was like I, I don't know, became the wind. I removed the oxygen from that space, essentially killing the fire. But I also almost killed myself" I just stood there, realizing what he had done. He hadn't pulled the wind away in itself. He controlled what is was made out of on a molecular level. I realized that we were more than advanced, we were incredible. I got up and got back to work and let Merlin rest. I had just finished setting up a lean-to when Cai and Izak came back. Cai and Izak seemed fine for the most part, but a little different. Seeing they were keeping a secret, I didn't ask them about it but created a pact to myself to find out what it was.

We sat around a campfire, roasting a pack of hotdogs they had brought back with them. I don't know where they got all the supplies in that huge backpack, but I really don't care. Anything that helps us is welcome. I was about to turn in when Cai reached into the bag and brought out marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. I basically began to drool. I wasn't sure if I ever would taste sugar again, but there it was. I stuffed five marshmallows in my mouth, not even bothering to cook them. I then started to roast them over the fire, just until the were golden brown, and really gooey. I had about three s'mores before I settled down to my pile of leaves. The discussing and other things would have to wait until morning.