Rise of the Elementals Read Free

off.
    Elementals weren’t meant for such things. An
immortal species, they didn’t adjust well to the finite ways of
humans. Prior to Abrax no elemental had lived on Earth for longer
than a decade.
    A thin layer of dust had accumulated in the
hours they were gone, but time didn’t pass here like it did where
they were from. Days here were mere minutes back home.
    Running his finger across the wall,
Daviathan thought of Abrax and his final words. The master portal,
even Daviathan didn’t know its location. As an elder he was privy
to many things, but the master portal was a heavily guarded secret.
Only the guardians and the council members knew where it was
hidden.
    As Daviathan walked back into the living
room, a strange sensation ran through his body. He paused, turning
his head to the side and strained his ears. An ominous feeling
seeped down his spine and the hairs on his arms spiked. Something
was wrong.
    “ Tarian?” He called
out.
    He waited in silence, but there was no
response. Slowly moving his hand to his back he slid out a dagger
and moved quietly to the wall. He called for Tarian again.
    When there was still no answer he slipped
into the room. Glancing from side to side, he moved purposefully
like a hunting lion. Something moved in the corner behind him, but
he was too slow to react.
    Before he knew it he was on the ground and
Cleonicus hovered over him smirking.
    “ You should’ve stayed back
in Elisia.” Cleonicus spat as he raised his jagged sword high
overhead.
    Daviathan rolled out of the way just as
Cleonicus brought the sword crashing to the ground. Jumping to his
feet, he slipped and his leg shot out awkwardly. Daviathan glanced
down at the floor, streaks of blood were smeared across it and
Tarian’s ragged limbs were strewn about.
    Horror and rage shot through him like an
arrow. Tarian had been his oldest friend and longtime mentor. Now
his body lay broken at the hands of a coward.
    “ Fools you both are
really.” Cleonicus called from behind him. “You and your pathetic
love for the antiquated ways of the elementals. With your councils
and guardians, shepherding the portals when we were meant for such
greater things.”
    Daviathan’s hands shook with anger. He
slowly turned his head, his eyes narrowing into thin slits.
Cleonicus stood a few feet away from him, poised to strike. His
treacherous hands gripped his sword tightly, the needlelike tip
directed straight at Daviathan.
    “ Guardians of the
dimensions, protectors of the gateways. Why do we serve when it is
ours to rule?” Cleonicus shook his head like he was scolding a
school child. “Don’t worry Daviathan; your death will pass quickly.
I cannot say the same for those back in Elisia.”
    A bolt of pain ripped through Daviathan. For
the first time he noticed the small, shimmering light in the corner
of the room.
    “ A tunnel key. What did you
do Cleonicus, what did you do?”
    “ Isn’t it obvious? As we
speak the spectrals are laying waste to your precious
city.”
    “ No!” Daviathan wailed. His
voice reverberated through the hut, shaking the entire
structure.
    Cleonicus surged forward in a flash. He
brought the sword sweeping through the air, moving so fast it sung
as it sliced through particles.
    With a clang the metal crashed into the
stone floor, but Daviathan was already gone. He had moved so fast
Cleonicus didn’t even seem him.
    Raising his sword he spun around, but what
he saw behind him was no longer the Daviathan he knew. What stood
in his place was something much more than a man, much more than an
elemental.
    His shirt had been obliterated revealing a
blue toned skin, hardened with spikes. His hands were now
talon-like claws, sharp as razors. His eyes beamed a fluorescent
white and his hair blazed red like fire. His muscular chest heaved
up and down with each breath as if he was sucking energy from the
air.
    “ How? It is impossible.
Ascension is beyond you.” Cleonicus gasped.
    “ And yet here