Third installment in the Four Elements series.
Andie and her friends finally reached senior year. But of course, when you're the living incarnations of fire, earth, water, air and light, peace can't last for long.
After everything they'd been t...
The throne room floor felt cold and hard against Zarias's skin. His head felt about to explode, and most of his body hurt even more. He'd felt pains after training before, but nothing this bad... of course, this hadn't been training. His father had struck him, which was naturally quite different. He slowly opened his eyes. His long dark hair covered most of his face, so he tested his arm. It was sore, but bearably so. He pushed his hair out of his eyes. The throne room was empty and even darker without any light except from the red glow coming in through the window.
Cautiously, trying to ignore the sharp pain caused by each movement, Zarias straightened up. His fingers touched something wet and thick. He couldn't be sure in the dim light, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was his blood. He pushed himself off the ground, taking hold of the wall for support. Breathing with difficulty, he slowly made his way out of the room. Pausing in the corridor to make sure his father wasn't coming back, he hobbled painfully across the passage until he reached the foot of the top of a staircase.
Hm... this is going to hurt... he thought unenthusiastically. But it's got to be better than just sitting around... if he found me like that, he wouldn't rest until I was destroyed...
So he made his way down step by step. As he'd expected, it hurt. A lot. But if he knew anything, it was that the wounded who didn't move forward were doomed. Pausing on the last stair to catch his wheezing breath, he couldn't help thinking back to the time when he'd returned wounded after his first encounter with Adrianna and Bane. His father had been more furious than he'd ever seen (well, until about an hour ago). Zorak had wrecked so many things in the castle that day that it had taken over a week to fix everything and have the throne room back in order.
As he reached his chambers where he planned to rest, he passed a mirror. Probably against his better judgment, he managed to stand in front of his mirror. He had blood matting his hair and covering his forehead, and a large bruise was already forming over his eye. There were several burn marks in his skin, and his clothes were singed where the lightning had struck him. Wincing, he lifted his shirt to see the full extent of the damage, revealing his bare muscular chest, carved by years of intense training.
Tokens of a father's wrath... he told himself.
He leaned against the nearest wall, not daring to sit down in case he found he couldn't stand again. He had brought his father's wrath upon himself by helping the humans. There was no denying it. Now, he needed to decide where to go from here. It didn't take him long to figure out the answer to that question.
Once he was able to stand the pain enough to walk almost normally, he took a fresh jacket and slid it over his shoulders. Then, he left his chambers. It was fortunate he knew the castle so well. He could walk through it with his eyes closed. Eventually, he reached the place he wanted.
He hadn't been in there often. His father always disapproved it, though he'd never explained why. Perhaps because he didn't want Zarias finding something out? A part of him was tempted to search through the place and see what he could find, but he neither had the strength nor the time to attempt it now. He would have to try at some other time. For now, he knew exactly what to do if he was to set things right. Putting aside his curiosity, he turned away. He focused his attention to several large red stones. These were what Zorak used to cross the barrier of the Realm to Earth.
He had to go there. He had to find the humans.
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Zarias's eyes snapped open. He sat bolt upright with a gasp and glanced around. It was dark, save for the glow of a small oil lamp hanging above him. He was nowhere he recognized... He winced at the sudden surge of pain.
"You should go easy," said a voice in the dark. "Isabelle did her best to heal you, but your wounds seemed pretty serious."
Looking around, he recognized Bane, his face glowing in the light of the lamp. He was sitting on what appeared to be a wooden stool, facing Zarias, with his arms crossed over his chest. Zarias had noticed this was a common defensive body reaction when humans felt threatened but wanted to conceal it, or wanted to give silent warnings. In this case, he suspected defense.
"... Guardian of Light," he said.
"That would be me. But I suppose you can call me Bane."
Zarias was about to ask why he would do that, when something else caught his attention.
"... Did you say an Isabelle healed me?"
"Isabelle, yeah, the reincarnation of water." Bane explained. "She can use her water abilities to heal injuries. And she was kind enough to do it for you."
Zarias didn't try to hide his surprise.
"Why?"
"Don't think this means any of us have forgotten or forgiven what you and your father have done, Zarias," Bane said sharply. "But we figure there had to be a reason for you to come our way in your condition, and we're willing to listen to what you have to say."
Zarias blinked.
"Yeah, I'd probably be dubious myself. Well, I suppose in fairness, not all of us were so lenient. Jessica, the Earth reincarnation, was all for finishing you there and then."
"Why did you refrain from doing so, then?" Zarias wondered, sincerely curious.
"One, because we didn't think it right to strike a fallen man," Bane said. "And two, like I said, we want to know what brings you here."
"Is that why you're still here? To get information?"
Bane shrugged.
"Partly," he admitted. "But it's mostly to keep an eye on you."
There was a silence.
"Are you not going to ask why I am here?" Zarias inquired.
"Oh, we will. But we think it's best we all hear it from you."
A new silence fell between them.
"You should know that I never laid a hand on Adrianna when she was in our Realm."
"Shut up!" Bane snarled. "Don't you dare say her name. And as for the never laid a hand on her part, that changes nothing. You. Could. Have stopped it. But you didn't."
"How was I supposed to? And besides... it was coherent with my father's plan..."
"Oh, so it's acceptable to almost torture someone to death because it's coherent with some plan? "Bane demanded heatedly. "Don't be ridiculous."
"Well... she defied him..."
"He abducted her and came this close to killing her!" Bane shouted. "How can you stand by and let him do things like that?"
"I cannot!" Zarias shouted back. He lowered his voice. "Not any more."
Bane, thrown, paused a moment, thinking he'd misheard or misunderstood.
"What do you mean, you can't?" he finally asked.
"... It started when my father struck Ad-" he eyed Bane questioningly.
Bane realized what he wasn't asking and rolled his eyes.
"Fine. You can use her name. But you say one word against her and you'll regret it. Am I clear?"
