The Chronicles of Earth and Time

Chapter 11

Aura watched as the tornado burst into flames. She continued to try to contain Ustrina within the tornado and decided to add a dome of swirling air over the tornado. Suddenly, the tornado of fire exploded causing Aura to fly backwards. Even though she tried to secure the tornado with the air dome, it was not enough to hold Ustrina's power.

Terra watched as the tornado exploded with power. She saw Aura fly backwards as the force of the explosion propelled her. Ustrina stood in the center of melted glass that had been created by the fire that Ustrina had used over the sand. Terra and Ustrina watched as Aura caught herself in the air using the wind to hover in the sky. Ustrina frowned as she watched her younger sister float there relatively unharmed.

"You're not the only one who can fly, Aura!" Ustrina screamed in rage and jealously as she created blasts of fire from her feet and hands. Terra and Aura watched in awe as Ustrina flew through the air. As far as Terra and Aura knew, Aura was the only spirit that could fly, but that was because she used the wind to carry her. Seeing Ustrina using her element to fly to the air was just unbelievable. Before Aura could even comprehend what just happened, Ustrina flew towards her and threw fire blasts at her. Aura tried to dodge them, but there were too many. Terra watched as about a dozen blasts hit Aura. Before Terra knew it, Aura was falling from the sky unconscious.

"Aura!" Terra cried as she used the roots of the earth to propel herself into the air. Reacting on instinct, the roots wrapped themselves around Terra's feet and ankles in order to keep her steady as they guided her through the air. She ended up catching Aura just as her eyelids were fluttering open again. Roots gently lowered both Terra and Aura to the ground. Terra looked into the sky and saw Ustrina hovering there in frustration. Terra glanced back at Aura whose arms and legs were littered with burns. Terra lowered her brow in anger as she glared at Ustrina. Suddenly, Terra used the roots of the earth to attack Ustrina from all directions. Ustrina was so busy fighting the plants that Aura just stood there watching the fight as Terra held her hands up in concentration making sure the plants kept fighting Ustrina. Aura took advantage of the moment and took inventory of the damage she had received from the fight. She noticed she only had minor injuries compared to what she saw Terra received. Even Aqua had more injuries than Terra. Then Aura noticed something. Aqua was not with them.

"Terra, I need to ask you something." Aura asked as Terra continued to fight Ustrina with hundreds of roots and vines.

"Aura, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I am kind of trying to concentrate on keeping Ustrina at bay." Terra panted as if she was out of breath. She wrapped Ustrina in a cocoon of roots and vines then slammed it to the ground creating a crater in the sand.

"But, Terra..." Aura began until they both jumped from the sudden explosion coming from Ustrina bursting from the cocoon.

"Aura!" Terra yelled in frustration as she used the vines and roots to grab Ustrina around her ankles and toss her around.

"Terra!" Aura screamed as the wind suddenly blew Ustrina into the sky and across the desert. Terra dropped her hands causing all the plants to pause. She looked over at Aura and said nothing for she was too stunned to speak. "Where is Aqua?" Terra lowered her head looking at the sand. "Terra." Terra glanced at her sister and met her eyes. "What happened?" She asked in complete seriousness.

"Listen, Aura, we shouldn't worry about Aqua right now. We need to focus on defeating Ustrina." Terra stated as she held her head high and walked back toward the battle.

"She's dead isn't she?" Aura called from behind Terra which caused her to stop mid step. Terra looked back slowly at her younger sister who stared at her with large innocent eyes. The wind gently lifted Aura's hair letting it flow around her dramatically. If Terra did not know any better she would think of Aura as an angel instead of the wind elemental.

"Oh, Aura, you know you can always tell when Terra is keeping secrets from us when she does her serious older sister act." Aura and Terra heard Ustrina's voice taunt. The two sisters looked to the side and saw Ustrina standing a few feet away from them. "I'll answer Aura's question for you, Terra. Aura, Aqua is dead and it's your fault."

"What?!" Aura cried as she stumbled backwards a few feet away from Ustrina and Terra.

"Yes, Aura, she's dead because of you." Ustrina urged as she walked across the sand toward Aura.

"Aura! Don't listen to her!" Terra yelled as she ran toward Aura to comfort her. Ustrina quickly ran toward Terra and grabbed both her wrists. Ustrina then secured both wrists with one hand then covered her mouth with the other hand.

"Terra!" Aura screamed as she began to fly forward.

"Ah, ah, ah, Aura. If you come any closer I will activate my element." Ustrina warned as Aura came to a complete halt. "That goes for you to Terra. If you try anything I will attack Aura." As she finished her threat, Terra could see the bottoms of her feet begin to glow with power. She knew then if she tried to escape Ustrina would unleash her power through her feet right at Aura. "Aura you might not have seen what happened, but I did." Ustrina explained as she threw Terra to the ground then proceeded to trap her in a cage of fire. Terra's wrists were bound by a fire rope that burned her skin. "You see," Ustrina began as she walked toward Aura, "when you conjured that tornado a branch from one of the nearby trees broke off. It was sucked into the tornado then flown back out. Fortunately for me, it stabbed Aqua. She was already weakened by me so that was just the final blow. So, I should really be thanking you, Aura, for getting rid of Aqua for me."

"How could you possibly know that? You were in the center of the tornado and surrounded by fire!" Terra yelled through the fire bars of her cage. Aura felt tears stream down her face as the guilt of killing her sister processed though her mind. "Aura, this isn't your fault! Don't let Ustrina convince you otherwise! If she hadn't turned against us none of this would have happened!"

"Terra, you better shut up if you know what is good for you!" Ustrina hissed as she aimed a fireball at Terra. Terra then stopped talking in fear of getting blasted by the fireball. Ustrina flicked her wrist and the fireball went out.