This World Burns Blue

Chapter 7

Sasha awoke with the sun shining bright in his eyes; he yawned and lifted himself off the ground. When he stretched out his back popped making him purr in delight. He looked around, blinking as he took in his surroundings. He remembered that he came here last night, and he sighed. This is my home now. He thought to himself. He got up and got around to start his day. He was going to have to get used to forest life now.

--

Alex hadn’t slept since Sasha went away. He had hope when he and Micayla went out into the local forest to look for him, but when they searched all night and there were no traces he gave up the little hope he clung to. He lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling, Abby and Micayla spoke to him but he was not listening.

Micayla finally forced him to listen by slapping him. “Alex! Get a hold of yourself! We aren’t getting anywhere just sitting around here. Things on the outside have gotten much worse since Jordan was killed; we need your help Alex.” She stared distantly out the window as she spoke.

Alex groaned and lifted himself off the bed. “How can I help? I’m not an Ershio.”

“You’re still a strong fighter, plus, everything you do could help us with finding Sasha. Alex we’re at war, and even though you aren’t an Ershio, you’re in it.”

Alex sighed. He nodded. “What do I need to do?”

She blinked and tossed him something that was wrapped up securely. He unwrapped it and blinked. “Ershioniate?” He questioned.

“Gather as much as you can, buy all of it from everywhere. The less the humans get the better.” She explained.

Alex nodded again in confirmation and got up quickly. He grabbed his book bag and slung it over his shoulders before exiting the house. He went to the nearest store that sold Ershioniate and walked up to the cash register.

“All the Ershioniate you have.” Alex demanded.

The store owner looked at him funny.

“I’ve been having a little problem lately.” He added.

Despite staring at Alex for a while the owner complied and came back with his whole stock of Ershioniate. “That’ll be one hundred and sixty-two.”

Alex pulled out his wallet and gave the man the money, it seemed to be a lot of money for all of it, but Alex concluded that the prices were rising lately because of the new war going on. “Thank you.” Alex smiled and stuffed the Ershioniate in the bag and walked out. There was one other place that sold the stuff, he headed there next.

After he bought the towns whole stock of Ershioniate (or what hadn’t been bought) he headed back to his own home and dropped his book bag by his bedroom door, slightly startling Micayla. When she turned she flung herself towards the trash can and threw up suddenly. After she recomposed herself she backed into the farthest corner of the room.

“S-Sorry…a-all that Ershioniate it’s e-effecting me.”

It all suddenly hit Alex and he lifted the book bag. He mentally face palmed before exiting the room and giving the bag to his mother, who put it in the basement. When he came back into the room Micayla looked slightly less sick.

“Sorry about that, you feel better?”

She nodded. “Yea, now that it’s not all next to me.”

“Do you think getting all this is going to even the Ershio’s odds?” Alex questioned.

Micayla looked down. “I don’t know. I hope so. The humans are so mad at us, we were only defending ourselves.” She explained.

Alex sighed and leaned against the wall carefully. “I know…they want to kill you all. That’s why I’m so worried about Sasha. He’s all alone.” He trailed off and got quieter towards the end of his sentence.

Micayla put her hand on his shoulder and made him look at her. “Sasha’s tough, he has an ability any of the Ershios would dream to have. Not many Ershios get to have one of the Elemental Abilities.”

He nodded to an agreement of something he didn’t quite understand, but then he thought of the Ershio he and Sasha met before, Haley. “That Haley Ershio, her eyes are wine-red. I don’t know her ability, but would it be fire?” He asked.

Micayla paused for a moment. “Wine-red? Most likely, fire Ershios are rare, but with their flame comes immense strength and it’s hard to control. They usually end up going insane. All of the Elemental Ability holders have little control over their abilities, have you been seeing a personality change in Sasha at all?”

Alex answered almost instantly. “Yes. He’s more aggressive. Sasha would usually be the last person to act in violence. But recently…”

“It’s his change. He’s trying to control it, but the ability is trying to control him,” She replied. “If it ends up controlling him he’ll lose control and destroy everything around himself, and he won’t stop until he’s dead.”

“He won’t-“

“You do realize if he loses control we’ll have to put him down, right?” Micayla looked at him seriously.

Alex lost all color. “H-He won’t. He won’t lose control.” He insisted.

Micayla looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes, but she agreed. “Right. He’s tough.”

They were both silent for a while until Alex realized something, “Isn’t your ability an Elemental one?” He inquired; her ability was after all Air Manipulation.

“Yes, but I have one of the more controllable Elements as my ability. Air is sleek and swift, easy to control. Fire is fierce and unforgiving, Water is simple and clean, and Nature is hearty and Beautiful. One a scale, Fire is the most unstable, then there would be Nature, and the easiest to control are Water and Air.” She went on carefully and explained with much detail.

“So, if Sasha can learn to make instead of destroy he can control his abilities to their fullest power?”

“Precisely. But being alone out there isn’t helping. He went straight for a forest to hold him, as his powers grow stronger his human mind will begin to deteriorate and he will become a monster, slaying every living thing within his bounds. Alex, I am saying solemnly, but surely, if Sasha cannot control his powers, and he goes mad, I will personally put him down myself.”

Alex shivered at the thought of Sasha going mad, and at hurting anyone. That’s not how he wanted Sasha to end up, he promised Sasha’s mother that he’d help Sasha go somewhere in the world, this wasn’t what she meant, he was sure of it. He also thought of Micayla having to kill Sasha. He forgot about that quickly.