Discovering Elements

Flawed Power (Merlin)

Kaiti dragged a girl into the camp, ice coating her skin. Her skin was a pale blue, her eyes a sparkling well of a storm. I told them what to do, but then I wandered into the background. She should be fine, and I needed to make a bed or something for her. If she stays. I hope she does. I listened to her story, something not adding up. How did she get through the woods if she was being hunted down by scientists? They would have precautions, not just letting her escape. As the sun began to rise, so did our spirits. Izak had gone into the woods and found some new berries that tasted really sweet and good. I grabbed a handful and walked towards where Kalyn was sleeping. I made it over to find her bag empty.

"I wasn't told to hurt you, but if you interfere with my mission I will put you down permanently." I was about to yell to Izak and Kaiti when I finally saw here. I saw her frown and then everything went black.

"Where is the guy with electricity? I need all of you guys together" I looked up, trying to move and warn them. I realized they knew, and we were all tied to trees with some kind of paracord. She was yelling at them, trying to get information about Cai. I saw her raise her hand and slap Kaiti, blood dripping from Kaiti's smirk. Izak looked less harmed, but he was also much more...calmer? Focused? Something like that. I was about to tell them about the pending threat when Izak's face showed hypertension. The Grove around us are getting hotter and some of the leaves and trees caught fire. Kalyn backed away from the Flames that were igniting around her. When she got far enough, I sent a breeze that was strong enough to knock her to the ground.
She got up and set a retaliation of images and sounds that cause us all to jump in our limited positions . Across the Grove I saw that Kaiti's bonds have been broken by the sudden jolt. As Kalyn got closer to me, Kaiti started making her way towards us. I quickly hid my watching action by moving my eyes around, but Kalyn figured out my ruse easily. She whipped around as Kaiti slammed her fist into her face. Kalyn spun back, blooding spinning in a spiral pattern. Kaiti was cradling her fist. Cai looked at her in a new light, but I knew she had it in her. She grabbed a sharp rock and rushed over to me. She began cutting the paracord, but the strands were breaking too slowly.

I watched Kalyn get back up slowly, a rising form. Kaiti was several strands away from finishing my cord, so I closed my eyes and focused. A hair on the side of my head blew past me as the wind picked up strength. I sent a massive blast, but felt resistance. The bonds broke, and Kaiti ran towards Izak. My blast hit Kalyn, but it didn't hit full force. More rather, it glanced her. For the most part it swept past her and hit a tree. The tree wobbled, but didn't collapse or anything. I tried using my powers again, and the resistance was gone. I forced air away from the center, lowering the air pressure. Without the added weight, you could see her balance was severely harmed. She kept getting up and falling, but my power was going to last much longer. I was weakening at an accelerated pace and I was going to pass out soon. Last thing I saw was Izak's last string breaking.

"Merlin, are you okay?" I snapped to focus with Kaiti's long blonde hair hanging over my face. I spit out the hair in my mouth only to get more. Kaiti moved her hair back and looked at me.

"Sorry about that, how are you doing?" I signaled okay with a thumbs up and looked around. We were in a cave, or an overhang. Water ran along the edges, and Izak stood guard in the entrance.

"Did anyone search the cave?"

"Yea, it's just a couple of feet past where the light ends. Not much room, but we can make do." I nodded forlornly, my mind rushing through things. It didn't take much to go through everything in the cave. A small pool at the bottom of a trickle of the rain, and a small fire. Izak had a fire dancing in his palm, but it wasn't very big. It kept sputtering out, while his face was contorted in focus.

"Everything alright?" He jumped and looked around at me, shock interrupting the focus. The flame disappeared, leaving a trail of smoke.

"Are you having trouble with your element?"

"How could you tell?"

"I was having the same problems before, when I attacked Kalyn"

"Ours isn't the same. My power freaks out when I'm in an enclosed space."

"Maybe our powers have certain weaknesses dependant on the person. Let's try it." I pulled Izak farther into the cave, to where there was almost no room to move. Izak tried using his power, but not even a flicker of light or heat showed in his exposed hand. My power was working well though, letting a light breeze whisper through the cave.

"Tie my hands"

"What?"

"When Kalyn had me trapped, my hands were tied together. See if that is my weakness" Izak began to tie my hands together with some leftover paracord when Kaiti walked in.

"I thought we were friends!" Was drowned out by a wave rolling into the cave. It wasn't big, but it would still be lethal in such an enclosed area. I yelled stop before it could make it and the wave passed.

"We're trying something, okay? We think we have weaknesses, where our power may- I don't know? Malfunction? Even stop? We don't know, but we think they are different for everyone. Izak's weakness is enclosed spaces. We think mine is wrapping around my hands." Kaiti nodded at the wave flowed gently out the door. I expect it to not be far though, just in case. Izak continued wrapping my arms, but not very tight. As soon as he was done with the knot, the breeze I was procuring stopped. The room quickly heated up, but it proved our theory correct. Elementals have weaknesses.