The Elders (Sky: Children of the Light)

~Chapter One~

AVALA'S POV

A breeze skittered across the sand, shifting the shimmering grains, and blowing them up into swirling eddies. The sky was covered with beige sand clouds. An enormous broken bridge stood among the sand, and along where it led to were endless waterfalls of shining sand. 

"Why is there SO. MUCH. SAND," Ethis's voice came from behind Avala, "Snow is MUCH better. Sand is itchy and sticky and-" 

Avala flicked her wrist and sent a wave of Sand exploding in his face. He spluttered and glared at her. She shrugged while the rest of the Elders snickered. 

"That was not all me. Sand did not like you insulting it." 

Avala grinned and carried on, coming upon one of the larger sand waterfalls. Parting it, she ducked behind it. There was a small stone room concealed by the falling grains. It had paintings of the mountain looming over the desert, and her people, Rythulians. 

"Rayem? Will you do the honors?"

He grinned and stepped forward, threading light around the group to tie them together. In a flash, they got swirled into the sky, disappearing and reappearing miles away, on the mountain. 

Crashing down, Avala found herself face down in the sand. Avala politely asked Sand to help them up. It thrummed with power from being so close to the mountain, sending the Elders flying up into the sky. They glided down, landing on the rocks.

 A stream of petals flew over the edge of the mountain bluff, forming into their friend from Floare, Ace. He grinned and pulled out a bundle of shimmering white cloth. "It's finished!"

Avala gently took the bundle, unfolding it to reveal a cloak, identical to the one she was wearing at the moment, but with different embroideries. Looking closer, she saw that there were elements from each kingdom stitched in golden thread. There was a manta from the Sky Kingdom, and there! A swirl of petals from Floare! A Flowe Monster! 

She slipped off her current cloak, and donned the one made from the merchants in Floare. She felt a ripple of power flow down her arms and grinned. 

"It's beautiful!" She hugged Ace, and his face petals turned red. 

Flapping her cape once, she floated into the air, much higher than her previous cape ever had done. Her new one supported her, almost like she was being held up by invisible ropes in the sky. She felt free, like she could go anywhere that she wanted too. Gliding down she landed and skidded a bit, sending pebbles rolling off the side of the mountain. 

"We really should get going." Ethis said, looking around, "We don't know what we will meet up there."

They were heading to a shelter up the mountain, where they had seen a shape fly into earlier. Avala knew the mountain was a dangerous place, with snow and inescapable monsters called Guardians. They had to make sure that the figure was alright.  Turning around, she leaped up high with her new cloak, rising several feet into the air. She glided forward, landing up on a high precipice. The rest of the group followed. Suddenly a CRACK reverberated through the cliffs around them. Avala heard Kira yelp. 

"Sorry sorry!" Kira had struck the side of the cavern with a bolt of lightning, causing a mound of snow to fall on top of her brother. All of the Elders had trouble controlling their enhanced talents. 

They walked in silence for a while, and a soft snow started to fall, covering up their footprints. In the distance, Avala spotted a Rythulian in the desert, trekking across the hot sand far below. 

Coming around a bend in the path, Avala spotted a yellow haze through the thickening snow. The shelter! Calling to the others, she rushed forward passing into a small stone storage room. There, sitting on a wooden barrel, was the figure. 

"Are you alright?" Avala asked.

The figure turned around. They were dressed in a white cloak, their face in shadow.

"You know me. I'm always alright. But let's skip the formalities for now." They stood up and pulled off their hood, revealing striking silver eyes and white hair laced with black. "My name is Tam, and you fell right into my trap." He snapped his fingers and Sky Children dressed in white cloaks leaped out of the snow.

Avala did as the Elders had been instructed long ago. She fled.

✧

Racing down the path, Avala looked behind her to make sure the others were following. They were, but so were their pursuers. Skidding around the bend, Avala slid down the sloping path. She felt Land and Sand rumble beneath her, trying to help. Reaching a part where the side of the path dropped off into a cliff, Avala sped off and glided, racing toward the ground. Land told her that her friends were doing the same, hurtling down the mountain. Opening her cloak farther, she wobbled a bit, not used to it. The ground rose up to meet her, and she landed like she would using her Rythulian cloak. A spray of sand flew up around each Elder as they landed, and Ace had turned into a swirl of shimmering petals. Gliding across Sand like she had learned long ago, the group of Elders sped towards the portal back. The swirling vortex hung over the sand dunes like a mirage, and you would miss it if you didn't know where to look. Spinning into it, Avala felt herself float up up up, until she was setting foot on the stone floor of Floare. (A/N: Does that sound odd to you? How else should I phrase that?! Just ignore it TvT) 

Lily noticed them from one of the upper levels of the city and flew down, landing on the floor with a barley audible thump. Avala told her about the Shadow Rebellion members that had been waiting for them in the Sand Kingdom, and how they had met Tam. Lily listened silently while checking everyone over to make sure they weren't hurt. 

"You shouldn't do that again. You may not be able to die of old age, but you can still die by the knife of another. It's more dangerous than ever in the Kingdoms." 

She was right. But one thought nagged at her.

How had Tam found them?

Welcome to the first chapter of The Elders! For some reason it seems really short even though it's over 1,000 words...