The Power of Four

Prologue

Long ago...

Ember - Fire

My kingdom is a wild world of freedom. I rule Mt. Magma with fiery control. No one goes without basic supplies, and no one disobeys me. I am Queen Ember of Mt. Magma, the ruler of my people, and my fire. Long ago when I was just a teenager, four beings were given strange gifts. The four elements. I was given a fiery personality, that is both caring and dangerous. Just like fire. I can give warmth and light to those who need it. I can also set fire to anyone who tries to push me around. Without me, the world would be a cold, dark place, with no light, and no heat. Without me, the world would die. It is the same with the other rulers. When we came of age and inherited our thrones, we divided the world into four great kingdoms, Mt. Magma, The Great Forest, Misty Lagoon, and The Cloud Mountains. It was hard being queen, especially when you had such a controversial personality. But I managed, keeping peace with the other kingdoms, but staying firm and not giving in to anything or anyone. Each day I stand at a cliff ledge, looking over my kingdom. We thrived in the harsh life of a magmian. We were sparks in the darkness. This was what I told my people when I became queen. I have this power for a reason. I must keep the world in balance. I reassured myself daily. But deep inside, I knew this prosperity was too good to be true, too good to last forever. But for now, for now, it was perfect. But this eternal doubt stayed, no matter how much I stamped it down. However, I was right in the end. In the end, all failed.

Forest - Earth

When the moon hangs overhead, illuminating everything, my kingdom comes to life. There was absolutely no doubting me, or else you face the wrath of my vines. I was the queen of the earth elementals, and my kingdom was now thriving. My name is Queen Forest, and no one dares to not listen to me. You could, but someone would find your dead body hanging from a tree. No one disobeys me because they simply know that I am powerful and can do anything I wish. But this power was also used for many other things rather than killing. It's used for life. Earth was the foundation of life, and it made sure that everything stayed put. My powers were a gift from the world itself. I felt the earth rumble under me with every step, but I had never given thought about it before. The earth then decided to give me full control. The air element, fire element, and water element were also a part of a good life, but personally I believed that the earth was the most important. However, one without the other is going to overbalance the scale. That is why I was crowned queen. To make sure that our world doesn't die. To make sure we live another day. To make sure we don't go back into the chaotic world again. Sadly, all that came true. All because of one element.

Glisten - Water

I gazed over the sparkling lake, and over the cascading waterfalls into the distance. Water really is everywhere. We see it in the small brooks, in the cool rain, and even in the little puddles, gathered after rainy days. My kingdom had the most of it. You see, I was given control over all the water in the land. There are three other beings with a gift like mine, having control over Earth, Wind, or Fire. With just a sweep of my arm, I can make water dance up from the pond, or create a trail of snow, and I can feel all the water in the world, just pulling at me and calling to me if I just concentrate. This might sound like so much fun to some people, but it was so much pressure. All the citizens in my kingdom, the Misty Lagoon come to me when they have a problem I must solve. All the pressure of being perfect always seems to get to me, but it has to be for the best. After all, me and my fellow elementals were given powers to bring order to the world. Elements make up all life, and no one could live without them, so therefore if we have one person controlling each element, the world would be peaceful, right? Wrong. No peace can last forever, and the truth is, even with one element gone rogue, the world will fall into disaster, mayhem, and perhaps even death.

Gust - Wind

I sighed as the other leaders talked on and on about their kingdoms. It's almost my turn, I thought.

"The trees have been growing well. The only problem is the winds have been too harsh on our plants." Queen Forest said, eyeing me with a fierce glare.

I sat up with an eye roll, "Well it's not my fault. Maybe you should make your trees more resilient!"

I could see tension building up inside the Earth Queen. Her fists were clenched, but all she said was, "You're lucky I'm not going to strangle you just yet, wind elemental."

I ignored the threat and continued, "My kingdom was prospering just fine until I started hearing complaints from my people. We're getting less and less water from our wells, it's too humid for our crops to grow, and plants are just straight up dying for no reason! You need to give us more water, make it cooler, and keep our plants alive!" I demanded, looking at each of the leaders in turn.

Queen Ember snorted, sparks flying, "And how does that happen when your kingdom is the coldest of all of them? I made sure you had no heat waves, and so the only reason your crops should be dying is if they aren't watered properly." She said defiantly.

"You're not going to get water from wells that aren't in the right spots, and your plants need water to survive! You haven't been watering them!" Queen Forest snapped.

"All of these problems are because of you and your kingdom. None of this is our fault. If you would just teach your people how to do basic things, maybe you wouldn't have to rely so much on us." Queen Ember added.

I felt ready to explode, but suddenly Queen Glisten spoke in her calm, silvery voice, "It's okay, Gust. We all knew you weren't up for the job and we're going to screw it up. It isn't disappointing, we can fix this."

Queen Ember snorted and Queen Forest nodded in agreement.

I jumped up and the queens looked at me. Their expressions were impatience, fury, or in Queen Glisten's case, quiet smugness...?

"You know what? I don't think ANY of you deserve this position. None of you take it seriously enough. So I'm out! You'll see what happens when the superior element is working against you, you idiots." I yelled. I turned and summoned power from deep within me. Winds pounded the quartz walls, making them crumble. With another flick of my wrist, I summoned winds to carry me and I flew away before being caught in the tornado I had created. I had left before seeing the leader's reactions, and when I looked back, all I saw were three figures amongst the mountain of rubble. I faintly heard Queen Ember's voice shouting after me, "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, GUST!"

That felt good, I mused evilly in my head, maybe I should let myself do what I want more often...

Over 550 innocent people were killed by Gust's wrath over the course of days.

The three queens were able to stop him in the end, but Gust left a permanent mark on all the kingdoms.