Elements

Lava poured from Icy Volcano’s mouth and onto the soldiers, but they blocked it with their shield. He decided to take a different approach and started freezing them instead. Leo instantly pulled out his lighter and went to free the frozen statues of the army.

Black Hole was making several portals, in which the men fell through and ended up in the sky. It was as if they were skydiving, but without a parachute. Carina was already one step ahead of Black Hole, and was ready to start bringing them down to safety.

Touchless would randomly create invisible walls in front of the soldiers so they would unexpectedly run into them. Michael sent blasts of water to Touchless in order to distract her.

Boulder was launching big hunks of rocks, so I would get a hold of the same rock he was lifting and steer it back to him. He was a lot stronger than me, so most of the time, he would end up throwing the rock at me, but I would block myself with nearby roots.

We were all occupied during the fight, when I noticed Willow was gone. I looked around, and I saw her running to the Cave of Miracles. Boulder saw where I was looking and called for Touchless.

“Hey boss. Look over there.” He pointed to where Willow was.

“Stay here. I’ll be back shortly.” Touchless floated over on her unseeable platform.

Michael, who was originally fighting her, exchanged a worried glance with me.

“Distract Boulder. I’ll be back,” I told him.

“Be safe,” he said.

“Nothing about this situation is safe. I can’t promise anything.” I ran off in the direction I saw Touchless and Willow went. I couldn’t see either of them as I headed down the path. I kept walking in the woods and following the dirt path covered in gold and copper leaves.

When I looked up from admiring the leaves, I was standing in front of the cave. Inside, I could see Touchless and Willow fighting.

Willow was an incredibly skilled fighter. She was too quick to be trapped by Touchless. Vines shot from her fingertips and wrapped around Touchless’s wrist, pulling her closer. When she was close enough, Willow punched her square in the nose. Touchless grabbed her nose and Willow kicked her in the stomach. Willow was pushed back and she stumbled on the ground.

Touchless had a golden sword from one of the soldiers. She picked it up and held it over her.

“NO!” I cried.

Roots hit Touchless’s arm and she dropped the sword. Willow got back up and shot vines around Touchless’s neck, strangling her.

“Let...go...of...me,” Touchless coughed. I saw the sword float over to her hand, and she sliced off Willow’s vines.

I cornered Touchless in the corner of the cave with roots, and pinned her up against it. Thick, brown ropes strapped her up against the wall. She tried fighting against them, cutting through them with the sword, but the roots took it from her hand and brought it to me. I made sure her hands were covered so she couldn’t make any walls.

“Enjoying your stay?” I mimicked.

“I am, but I’m afraid it’s my checkout time. As for you two, you’ll get to enjoy staying somewhere else.”

Willow and I exchanged confused glances. When I turned my head to look at her, I noticed someone in the corner of my eye.

“Crap,” I said, before falling through a portal into the oblivion.

I looked around to see where I was now. It was dark and musty, similar to the room I was in in the Toxic Shadow HQ.

Instead of having four cells and a big iron door, there were lines of rooms surrounded by iron bars. It was cold, and there was a wooden door at the end of the row of cages. I looked around to see Carina in the cage on my right, Leo on my left, Willow next to Leo, and Michael next to Carina.

“Where are we?” I wondered, talking to no one in particular.

“We’re in the palace dungeon,” Willow said.

“Guys, what happened? How did they get us again?” I said.

“We somehow lost the battle. All the soldiers are either dead or injured. Black Hole was eventually able to get us in one of her voids and sent us here,” Leo said, sounding disappointed in himself.

“Leo already tried melting the bars,” Carina said, almost reading my mind. “It didn’t do anything.”

“These bars are fire proof,” Willow said.

“Clearly.” Carina rolled her eyes. “They don’t bend with Air either.”

“Water won’t do anything, and I’m sure you can’t connect to Earth, Jade,” Michael piped up.

I closed my eyes and tried to feel for a connection. The only connection I could feel was the moss growing on the stone walls, which would be useless. I opened my eyes.

“Nope. Nothing,” I confirmed.

“So then what are we supposed to do? Let them win?” Carina said, frustrated. She looked toward Willow. “You’ve been awfully quiet this whole time. What do we do?”

I looked to where Willow was, and saw she was fiddling with the lock on the door. I heard a click and it opened.

“I’m the queen of this place. I have the key,” Willow said, walking over to each of our cells to set us free. “We have to hurry.”

“I’m afraid it’s already too late.” The wooden door was ajar, and I saw four silhouettes standing on the outside of it.

Touchless stepped forward, holding a golden staff. At the top was the Sacred Water flowing within the Windstorm. Above that combination was the Everburning Flame, making the staff look like a beautiful torch. Wrapped around the handle was the Golden Roots, starting at the bottom, then slithering up the top like a snake.

Willow shot vines at the staff, but before it could reach it, she turned into an ice statue.

“Nice work,” Touchless said to Icy Volcano.

Michael sent a burst of water towards Toxic Shadow, but Icy Volcano froze it, leaving the frozen water floating in the air. The Sacred Water on the staff glowed as Touchless pointed it to Michael.

“Water on staff, shimmer and shine, this new element, will now be mine,” Touchless recited.

A blue beam of bright blue light went straight to his gem.

Michael yelled out in pain. He dropped to his knees, the beam of light still shooting at him.

“Michael! No!” Carina cried. She sent Air to Touchless, but it was too late. Michael’s blue gem laid on the dungeon floor, along with his limp body.

“You killed him,” Carina whispered.

“I’m sure Willow already went over this. His Water gem is ours, and yours will soon be too.” Black Hole said.

Next, a grey beam of light shot at Carina’s chest, the same way it did to Michael. The Whirlwind glowed, and Touchless repeated her line, replacing Water with Air. Leo took out is lighter and shot flames at Touchless, but Black Hole aimed it right back at him. We both dodged behind Willow’s icy figure. When the fire was gone, I ran over to Touchless and tried yanking the staff out of her hand, but it was too late. She wouldn’t let it go, and I heard the clink of Carina’s gem drop to the ground.

Tears blurred my vision. There was nothing I could do. We couldn’t fight back. I collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

“It’s going to be okay,” Leo said, comforting me.

Right after he said that, an orange beam went for him, sucking the life out of him.

“I… love… you,” he said before dropping to the ground.

Touchless walked over to me. “Any last words?”

“Just do it. Kill me. There’s nothing worth living for. You just killed my three best friends in front of me. Kill me too.”

Touchless hesitated. I saw a flicker of something in her eyes, but it was gone too soon for me to tell what it was.

A green beam of light came towards me. The pain was unbearable. It felt like a sword, piercing through my chest. All of a sudden, the light that came out of me stopped, and my face hit the cold, hard ground. I wasn’t dead. I looked up from my spot on the ground to see Willow holding the staff. The dungeon became hazy, then the world went black.