Ellera

Map

Zuleima

The First and Second have left back to the district today. The Council won't tell them. They'll get lie to and a story will be put into their minds.

I turn to Scarlett who has her back towards me. What is she doing? I walk to her and she moves away. Really? I stop and cross my arms. She's still mad, always mad at me.

"Can I never change your mind?" I could barely hear the question.

"No, let's talk about something else,"

"Then what?" She turns to look at me.

"Another baby?" I joke. She shakes her head.

"Now is not the right time," so does that mean she would be down for it after all of this is over?

"Alright, what do you want to do?"

"Honestly, nothing."

The next two days, the others return. They seem to have their head in the game now. Now, we leave to go deeper into Colos. Hopefully to find the gate with the information the Council gave them. It's far from here. It could take us days to weeks, but will that be too late? What will happen if the gate opens? Will Fie step out and plague the world or will something else emerge? I don't want to know now.

We travelled fast by using animals as mounts. Yet, the deeper we go, the more they refuse. Are they scared? If so then we are on the right track.

"We have to leave them here," Darwin sighs. I agree. We all dismount and I help Scarlett get off. She push me away and went to the others. Tsk, whatever.

"Thank you for the ride," Stella rubs her deer's head. It gently bump its head on her then after that, they all run back the direction we came from.

I can't feel what they're scared of. Does it only affect animals? What about Scarlett? Can she also feel it? Maybe not, there's no signs of her being afraid, or it could be that she's not showing it.

"Zuleima, let's go," they urge me. I nod and walk behind the group.

Not even an hour in, we can across a man with a burnt face. He attacked us and we didn't hesitate to fight back. He is an air user and he's good.

You have underestimated us. I went behind him and flame his back. He roars in pain and turn around. I back off and let the others attack the weak spot I had expose. In pain, he disengage the fight and flee.

"Is everyone okay?" Fraser ask. We all are. I don't think that man even land an attack on any of us. We were too much for him to handle and what a poor choice he made.

"Be cautious, there might be more of him around here," Amista said.

"Well that's the first person we've meet in deep Colos," Stella chuckles.

"And they weren't nice. Good thing I have you all," said Fraser.

"Guys, we're close! The gate must be..." Darwin points ahead of us. "Behind that tall mountain."

Great.

That man was the only person we ran into today. Now that it's dark and we're below the tall mountain, we're going to rest for tomorrow.

"So Ellera, she can really fix this?" Fraser ask.

"That's what the Council said," Darwin answers him.

"Hopefully, she's going where we are heading," said Stella. I look to Scarlett and she's awfully quiet. She has to get over it. Ellera is meant for this. She needs to accept that.

"Everyone get some rest," I tell them.

"Good night guys," we all bid each other.

I rest on the dry ground and look to the sky. It's full of stars. I can't see the moon due to the tall trees, but I know it's a full one tonight.

The next morning I was waken up by the others. They gave me the news and my heart drop. Scarlett ran away. We need to get her back. We know she's heading for the gate because the map Darwin is in charge of is gone.

We have to go and that's right now!

There's no way Scarlett would climb that mountain. I'm more than positive that she went around. We are going to follow her. No chance I'm letting her sacrificing herself.

"Scarlett!" Fraser yells. Took us all afternoon to catch up. Her stamina isn't that well so I expected this.

Like a pack of wolves, we chase her. Scarlett couldn't outrun us but she had protection.

Ellera!

I light my flames and attack her. She skillfully manipulate my flames to her hands and now we're fighting fire with fire. I block a kick from Ellera and strike her with a fist but she steps back to avoid it.

"Tell me the good news, Duvessa's dead?" I ask as I shoot metals at her. She stops them by raising her hands up in front of her.

"Duvessa is... behind you," I turn around and feel a punch to my face. I stumble back and hold my mouth. I feel blood on my hand. All I saw was her metal arms before she and Ellera attack me. I did my best to fight back then luckily Fraser came to my rescue. We fight against them before he is able to take Ellera away.

I stomp the ground to summon a wall to protect myself from Duvessa's attacks. She's ruthless right now. I've never seen her like this before. My wall rips and I step back. Duvessa jumps through the opening of the damaged wall and sends metal shards. I melt it away and swing at her. It caught Duvessa in the face but she respond back by punching me in the stomach. She got me before I liquify her arms, but she made new ones instantly. Damn it! I give myself some space but she keeps closing in. Ow! I drop to a knee and breathe hard.

"Duvessa, stop," I raise my arm and hold my stomach. "We don't have to fight."

"It wasn't a choice," she steps in front of me. "Look what you've done to me. I cannot allow the same thing to happen to Ellera or Scarlett."

"What are you going to do? Kill me? We've been through so much together. I know I messed up! I regret this okay! I don't know how to fix this!" I shout at her as my tears fall. I wipe them away to look at everyone who is fighting. Ellera just knock down Fraser. I quickly look back to Duvessa. "Let's stop this, let's begin again, my Second."

"No... No!" Before she can attack me, I give her a low blow. I hear a gasp and a muffle groan from her. She drops to her knees holding her crotch, I couldn't help but laugh.

"You fool," I get up and kick her cross her chest.

"Duvessa!" I turn to see Ellera coming to attack me. Quickly, I kick Duvessa on the head to knock her out.