The Elementals | Book 1. The Cliffs of Immensi

Chapter 10

Andrea's parachute opened as she pulled the string down. She gasped as the movement jerked her upwards suddenly. She looked over at Cascade, who had also deployed her parachute. Cascade seemed very distracted, constantly changing her viewpoint.

"What is it?" Andrea asked, curious. But when she followed Cascade's gaze she already knew the answer.

"Rough seas," was all Cascade said.

Andrea knew perfectly well what she meant. Huge, vicious-looking waves broke and crashed onto the shore of a tiny, barren-looking island. The waves tormented the island, ever threatening to tear it down. They seemed to quarrel amongst themselves, even when not tormenting the island, about who was the biggest or the scariest of them all. But of course, to Andrea and Cascade, they all seemed like colossal waves.

"Do you think you could calm them down? Make them stop doing... whatever dangerous things they are doing?" Andrea asked Cascade, but again, she already knew the answer.

"Waves like that, and that many of them? No. I'm not anywhere near that powerful. That would be like telling you to put out a huge forest fire." Even Cascade, normally so calm and composed, looked frightened and nervous.

"Point taken."

"As I'm sure you've figured out by this point, that tiny island over there is our only hope."

"Yeah, I figured that out. There aren't that many things to choose from."

Cascade nodded nervously.

They steered the parachutes towards the island, trying to maneuver them in a way that took advantage of the strong wind which constantly threatened to throw them off course.

The pair were almost to the island when the parachutes were blown off course by a particularly strong gust of wind. Andrea, who was already very nervous, started to panic. "We won't make it!" She shouted, and suddenly lost her focus. She frantically tried to pull the parachute to the left again, as they had been set off course to the right. This set her parachute spinning.

"Andrea! Carefully turn!" Cascade called, but Andrea didn't hear her words over her state of panic. While Cascade managed to turn to get relatively back on course, Andrea was spiraling out of control.

Suddenly, a sharp branch, coming from the single tree on the island, flew towards Andrea's parachute. Tearing a hole in the fabric, the branch passed by. Andrea was sent plummeting down.

"CASCADE!!" Andrea cried out desperately, but there was nothing that Cascade could do. Andrea was too far away.

Cascade landed in the water and managed to control it enough for her to swim the very short distance to the island.

Andrea, on the other hand, was in a bad situation. Andrea had fallen into the water, and was constantly being barraged by waves. Compared to what's happening now, what Cascade did to me a few days back with her waves from the fountain was nothing. Andrea clutched the backpack with all her strength, since it had been ripped off her back. Every time a wave broke near her she clutched onto the backpack for dear life, hoping that the wave wouldn't make it in time to break on her, rather than near her.

Cascade looked out to sea, hoping that Andrea wasn't as far as she thought. In a moment, she spotted Andrea, a small figure bobbing in the water. Cascade gave a sigh of exasperation and quickly considered what she could do. Andrea was far out. But if Cascade didn't find some way to fetch her soon, Andrea would probably die after she lost the backpack or a particularly large wave broke on top of her.

Cascade came to a decision. She couldn't control the plunging, soaring waves of a rough sea, but she could swim. And she could surf. Better than any human. Cascade looked around the island, looking for something that she could use. She spotted a piece of bark in the sand, and she picked it up. Then she ran towards the roaring waves and dove into the water.