Chapter 12 - Aven
During our time here so much of my life has changed I have met colorful and bright souls that I am grateful for, there has also been a few individuals I would have rather just ignored, life should be easier like that.
I am kind of excited about training today, going outside in the rain, actual rain. I have seen it a few times in my life, and it has rained more in the rainy season here than in my entire life. The rain gets old for most people, but for us of water, it is like standing in a place that screams for us to stay and never leave, to hold onto to sky and feel the rain's loving embrace. I can feel the rain better now even through the walls, and today's is not like any of the cleansing floods we have been getting it is the opposite, it is a light pitter-patter and playful rain it is teasing at the air, and I cannot wait for the shift of the wind. And I can't wait to feel it, it will be quite wonderful.
Rains 3
Liz once again chose me as her partner on the field, and I do understand why people call her the Devil's Behemoth I am so grateful that she is my partner now because of the number of people we have beaten and the training she has assisted me with has made me an absolute force to be reckoned with. But one of the things I didn't want to happen just so happened to find its way onto the field with us, they are known together as Serpent's Fortress, Sheila and my friend Elaxan, they as one cohesive unit and are mortifying together. And as a rock flung by Sheila sails past my head, I realize now isn't the time to daydream any.
I am hiding behind a wall of water and next to me Liz is breathing hard, she took one of Elaxan's water whips across the chest and I understand those hurt. The crashing of my wave comes to a halt and I feel myself parting the proverbial sea in front of us, and Sheila calls down from atop the Stone cathedral she likes to set up at the beginning of training matches, she truly is the Unmovable Maiden, "Will you guys start to take this seriously we are getting bored up here?"
Lizbeth's smile could cut steel, the pressure she must have been feeling as her breathing returned to normal, she had been forced on her toes and pushed back. "It must be nice to look down on us from on top of your fortress there," I find myself trying to pull at least one of the two down from the tower. Elaxan in response pulled a raindrop from the air and sent it spiraling at me with enough force to take anyone else's face-off, I just let it pass by me and sent a flood at the base of the tower. "You know Aven that isn't a bad idea, I'm sick of the defensive, let's just take the castle out," Liz said, pulling her trademark sword from the earth, its stone blade is now such precision, a master craftsman would blush at the sight of it.
She set herself into a wide stance even for her and a pauldron of stone formed over her right shoulder, her sword arm, she is serious. I crashed more water into the tower higher and higher, and I could feel the strain of using too much energy from both Vado and the water from the air, the feedback wanted to make me double over, but I can push through this. Liz made her move, the stone creaking under her foot as I lifted the wave higher onto the castle revealing its base. I'm saying this out of respect, Liz is terrifying. She is so fast it is hard to keep your eyes on her and all while she is pretty much in freefall from the jet of stones, she calls to launch her faster and faster with each step, and she can turn on a pins head of the stone. But today another monster took the field, the earth squealed and groaned under her feet, and with each step, the ground under my feet shifted and rocked. The monstrous power she commanded the earth itself bowed to her will and with a twitch of her arms, four boulders the size of horses broke from the ground. She looked over her shoulder to me and smiled then her face steeled as the four boulders rocketed toward the base of the castle.
The resulting crash sent me sprawling back and a cheer from both sides of the arena erupted into the air, the fortress had fallen. Dust rose into the air blotting out my vision for a moment until a shadow, Liz dashed further into the cloud toward where the castle stood just moments before. Using the water falling from the sky I pulled the dust clear from around me, this water was heavy in comparison to what Vado allows me to throw around, the feedback from water pressed into my head crushing my will to continue, but I couldn't submit to the weight.
The sound of stone crashing against stone shook me free from the feedback, looking around I could make out Liz with her sword smashing boulder after boulder from the air, being lobbed at her by Sheila. I felt it more than saw or heard it, an arm shot out at me from the side, and a wave of water pressed me from my feet, the raging wave was more than enough to hold me down but there was more. A figure pressing my arms down broke free from the torrent and the wave parted leaving two towers of still water holding my arms and legs down. Vado's chittering filled my ears, and I used my connection to him to fling the water on my face at Elaxan, the elf was too quick for me though. His hips pressed against my stomach, his thighs crushing my ribs to my chest and his arms outstretched over me. Holding mine down under the frozen waterfalls.
"Well, isn't this just the best way to hold you down now Aven," His voice was the only thing registering in my mind as it danced across my hearing? My face burst into flames and I tried to rise from under him but with all the straining and fighting I couldn't budge my arms an inch and screamed: "What's your problem Elaxan!" I could hear Sheila scream from across the arena, Liz is on the way. Elaxan huffed and smiled down at me saying, "Not much time so I might as well get this out of the way."
Confusion filled my mind followed by a sense of bliss as his lips met mine, the thundering of my heart erupted and the towers of water holding me collapsed from the heavens above crushing him deeper into me. Then the power of earth surrounded me as Liz strolled up shoving Elaxan off of me parting our lips from each other. The rush of blood from my head made me dizzy and feel tingly all over my body as I simply lay on the ground shuddering. What was that? Liz's hand filled my blurry vision, my limp body. Her voice followed her hand, get up lover boy," as her sentence finished the pillar of stone, she launched Elaxan with retreated towards the ground.
Rowan
As the fight concluded I could tell the girl of the earth was an absolute monster, I wonder if that is Lizbeth. A voice found the two of us from behind, "Now you aren't supposed to be here normally." I turned to find a woman, dressed in a modest cloth blouse, and loose-fitted pants of similar but darker material. Her face gave her away, while slightly older than me, that was her bloodline as an elf, her dark red hair pressed down by the afternoon drizzle. She looked almost identical to Liz with one exception the eyes hers were cold and hard and as black as coal. She spoke again, "How did she do?"
Frozen in my shoes I couldn't find a way to formulate the words in my head, so what came out was simple, "Awesome!" Gronaan's reply along the lines of, "Uhhh, umm . . . what they said." The woman burst into laughter followed by, "don't worry you aren't in trouble we have been waiting on someone to see the other's so we could finally integrate you all, but" She held a finger to her pursed lips and made a shushing sound our way, "it's going to a surprise in a few days."