As the battered Elemental sat there consumed by flames, his mind was blissfully at ease. He focused his efforts on blocking out everything around him. After a few hours or days, he could not tell, he had enough strength to do what he needed to be free of Kana’s spells. As the word formed in his mind, he knew that his friend Lord Neb would forgive his command of water. The word that formed in his mind was from the sacred language of the guardians. Their language was one of power, and when a word was uttered aloud, it commanded one of the elements to obey. The power was only effective if it was used singularly. When the Elementals spoke to one another verbally, their words did not command because they were used in plurality. It was forbidden for a guardian to speak a command word of an element they did not have stewardship over. Kana was the first to break this commandment since the first war of Tuwa. They all knew how to use all the command words, but only the rightful guardian should command the element, or elements.
“Watnese!” bellowed Keb. The wraiths pulled back from him in shock. Power emanated from him after he said this command word.
Water rose up from the stagnant pool and dowsed Kana’s flame. Lord Keb was free of the painful flames, which gave him even more strength and resolve to continue his attempts to free himself. He calmed himself again to the same point he was at before he uttered the command word for water. As he settled his mind, he knew that his actions had altered something within the earth. He had broken the commandment just like Kana, and he would have to pay for his trespass. He knew that the guardian would forgive him, but he would have to make amends to Lord Neb and Mistress Khalida for his trespass. They too would understand that circumstances did not allow for anything else and that it was for the greater good. Though, a law that was violated required punishment and retribution. He knew that in his case the payback would be considerably lighter because of the mitigating circumstances.
“Frumacia!” yelled Lord Keb. His wooden-shaped body transformed into his human form once more. He had freed himself of Kana’s traps. He did not look into the depthless faces of the demons floating all around him as he took in his surroundings.
As he scrutinized the cavern, he could sense the presence of another creature that did not belong. It was not like the others because it had a discernible form. The being was powerful and was possibly created by dark magic. Evil emanated from it, and its fowl stench filled the air around him. The wraiths began to move higher toward the ceiling as if making way for this new threat. It was clear that they did not want to leave, but this new demon, or whatever it was, posed a greater threat than the whole of the specters. Finally they turned toward one of the walls in the cavern and disappeared. Keb was all alone now with this invisible beast, and in that instant he knew was trapped. He simply could not find his foe even though he knew that it had a body. An unnatural mist began to spring up from the dank pool of water.
“Watnese!” bellowed Keb once again. Once he had uttered the command for water, he forced the pool to freeze. He made every drop of water turn to ice in that dank green pool. He thought that this was where the beast was coming from. He was sorely mistaken.
Keb felt a tall figure rising behind him, and he knew that he had been mistaken in his hasty assumption. He turned around to see a creature that appeared to be three times his height and appeared to be coiled like a snake. The beast had red eyes that had slits for pupils. A forked tongue flicked in and out of its massive mouth tasting the air around it. There were two enormous fangs that were three feet long and that were being displayed warningly to Lord Keb. The scales were a blackish green color with no distinct patterns. This snake was obviously a creation of dark magic that was used ages ago. It was once an average poisonous snake, but it had been altered by magic to its current size. The vile creature stared at his prey ominously as if waiting to see what Keb would do. The unnatural beast was some sixty feet long and was three times as wide as the guardian who stood transfixed in front of the demonic creation.
Lord Keb immediately tried to communicate with the creature by using telepathy, but he could not penetrate the snake’s thick skull. “Erome!” commanded Keb. Huge chunks of the ceiling above the beast came crashing down on its head, smashing it to the earth. For a few tense moments, dust engulfed the room and nothing moved. As time passed, Keb became convinced that he had not killed the creature because if he had truly hurt it there would have been some sort of sound from the dying beast.
Rocks flew into the air as the snake burst from its earthen prison and raised its head high into the air. Keb was quick enough to throw up a protective shield around him so that the first attack of his adversary was thwarted. However, his magic shield had holes in it from where the creature’s fangs had hit. Somehow the venom had dissolved the shield where it had come into contact with the protective barrier. The vile creature rose up into the air again to position itself for the next attack. Keb decided to use basic magic to see if it had any effect on it. He sent fireballs and ice bolts into the underside of the worm with extreme force. The magical assaults merely glanced off his scales and were deflected into the cavern walls. This beast is just like a dragon; magic cannot penetrate its scales. The guardian hesitated for a moment while he tried to figure out what to try next.
This time his hesitation worked in his behalf. The snake struck with unbelievable speed and accuracy. It did not try to poison his prey this time and simply swallowed him whole. This was an erroneous move on the serpent’s part. Once inside the vile creature, Keb used every basic spell he knew to wreak havoc on the defenseless inner walls. The beast thrashed about violently from trying to dislodge the Elemental he had consumed. Then he tried to vomit Keb up so that he would stop inflicting such horrible damage to his innards. As the beast heaved repeatedly, the earthen lord clung to the sides using metal claws he conjured up. This caused even more pain and discomfort for the wretched snake.
“Zege!” screamed Keb defiantly. Unquenchable fire burst into life along with a rush of water heading in the opposite direction of the fire. Wind ripped through the belly of the beast as massive boulders appeared out of thin air and began to roll both directions. Keb dislodged his claws from the sides of the snake and transformed the claws into hands again. He clapped his hands together is one swift motion, and all of the elements converged together at a point in front of the Elemental. An explosion of the four elements ripped the snake in two and consumed it entirely after the collision.
Lord Keb stood in the now silent cavern covered in slime and other nasty pieces of the deceased reptile. He waited a moment to see if the wraiths would return after the demise of the snake. As he pondered on this thought, he began to wonder why the specters were afraid of this beast. It could not have harmed them. They have very little substance and could easily avoid the creature. Bewildered by this he turned his attention to escaping the cursed mountain. He tried to use his psychic powers to see if he could send a message through the earth to one of the other Elementals. It was then that he realized that Kana’s magic was not blocking him. There was a much more evil form of magic being used to deny him the ability to communicate to the outside world. He then realized that the walls also had a magical barrier that would not allow him to leave the cavern. The wraiths were allowed to exit because they served the power that was holding him captive. I am trapped!
***
Lord Neb was warned by Mistress Khalida that the southwestern part of the Black Forest was ablaze and that there were several fires burning in Tarisdell. She had asked him to put out the fire that was threatening the Seda’s home because she did not want them to venture outside their domain. It would not bode well for either side to have them on the loose and unchecked. They were powerful beings that had helped the guardians in their fight against evil many years ago, but they had isolated themselves because of their mistrust for every living thing. They did not take sides anymore, and anyone who was unlucky enough to cross into their realm either died or was not right in the head ever again. Khalida believed that if the fire that was burning their home was put out at once that they would not become involved in the battle for Renshaw.