"There is no time, only now," said the earth element within her as she slowly moved through the pool of magma."Nothing is permanent. Everything changes somehow," said the fire elemental as she was swept down a magma shaft, rushing past the smooth melted sides of the tunnel.
"There is a reason for everything. There are rules that govern what happens naturally… There is air in everything, the secret is figuring out how to find it," explained air as Aella became aware of bubbles around her. They were rushing up, pulling her with them, until they finally burst free of the confines of the magma. As the lava spread out, overflowing the edges of the volcano rim, Aella was pulled down the side of the mountain with it.
"Many claim fire is only good at destruction," said fire, "but there is also renewal."
She watched as the heat from the lava caught everything it came near on fire. Seeds deep in the ground burned their outer coverings and prepared to sprout as the lava cooled. She noticed the trees that would have blocked the sunlight from the new sprouts were burnt, but they dropped more and more seeds as they died.
"There is more in a shadow, hiding from view, then what is seen in the light," said her shadow element, as the others finally grew silent. "People will see what is in the light, and choose to ignore that which is in the shadow, but those shadows still exist, as does everything within them. Just remember that shadows don"t exist without light. You can make light with your fire, but it is a pale comparison to the light of Alfred. If anything happens to him, you will lose a lot of your power."
"What do you mean?" asked Aella.
"There is more hidden than that which has been revealed to you. You may understand earth, air and fire better, but it will take far more than experiencing a volcano to understand all there is to know about me," said shadow.
Aella opened her eyes and looked up at the blue sky above her. She could hear Precious purring next to her as she stared up at the cloudless sky. Faint wisps of white could be seen, and she knew those were water particles high in the sky, floating along on air currents. A gentle rumble underneath her was the volcano settling down after relieving pressure from built up ga.s.ses and pressures deep underground. The heat was already disappearing from the igneous rock underneath her.
Blue sky?
Sitting up, she glanced around quickly and realized the storms were gone! How much time had pa.s.sed?! Precious looked up at her and yawned, before standing up and stretching lazily. Jumping to her feet, the panic she initially felt suddenly seemed silly. No matter how much time had pa.s.sed, things would still go on. She hoped no one had died from hunger or neglect while she had been busy, but if they had… there wasn"t anything she could do about it now.
Holding out an arm for Precious to jump to, she teleported to the lizard"s first. They had left the cave and had traveled out to explore the area. She would have to find them later. It was obvious they hadn"t died in the cave.
She jumped to the throne room of her castle, and watched as court was held. Seifer had the n.o.bles bowing to him, and things seemed to be running smoothly. She flew out of the castle to explore the rest of the city, and saw that the people had already opened up the ma.s.sive gates to the outside. She could see where they had started taking the dome apart, piece by piece, and thought about just taking it all down, but then they would know she was back. Besides, the workers that were taking it apart seemed to know what they were doing and were making money doing it.
With a nod of approval for everything she had seen here, she teleported to the halflings. They had all left their caves and were back to work in the fields. As she looked around the caves, she saw that all of the extra food was gone, and wondered how the other races were doing.
As her mind drifted over how the dwarves must be doing with all of the other races that had moved in, and how the crime must be, she suddenly remembered that she had left Firion there. He was going to be ticked!
Teleporting to the dwarven city, she scanned the area. The gnomes were gone and most of the elves, as well. The dwarves were still busy putting the outer wall back to what it had been before the storms. She could see where many new holes had been punched into it despite her attempts to strengthen it. The storms must have gotten worse here at some point.
Ignoring the scaffolding the dwarves had erected to reach the roof, she flew around looking for Firion. Teleporting to the few areas she thought he might be in, Aella had to finally give in and fly over to Bob"s bar. He would know where the a.s.sa.s.sin was.
"Well, well, well. Look who decided to finally show up," snarled Bob as Aella stepped through his door and glanced around. She had never seen him so upset before.
"What"s with the bad mood?" asked Aella, wondering if she should just leave. It might be safer.
"Do you have any idea how crazy it got while you were off somewhere else? I"ve had a nasty mess on my hands, that I did not sign up for when I agreed to connect the kingdoms in your realm. You owe me big, King of the Realm!"
Aella blinked a couple of times. "Alright. What happened?"
"The food ran out, so I had to start pulling it in from other realms. The people were using my bar as a transport service, and I had to open a whole new section to my bar just for that. Some found that they could escape the chaos of where they were living by hiding in my bar and not leaving. Your a.s.sa.s.sin was kicked out multiple times for trying to kill people in my bar, which is against the rules! I"m a bar, Aella. I serve food and drink to my patrons and offer beds as an inn on the side, for a fee. I am not a transport facility, or a hideout for criminals!"
"Do you know where Firion is?" she asked, deciding to focus on one thing at a time. "I can reimburse you food when the halflings get their fields up and going, and I think I"ve figured out a way to facilitate movement across the realm."
Bob glared at her for a moment, and she waited to see if he would demand payment right that moment, or just refuse to answer her question.
"He"s currently in the gnome city. At least he was last I knew."
"What do you mean, the last you knew?" she asked, confused. Bob knew everything!
"I"ve had to expend so much energy here in your realm, I"m not as strong as I need to be. If I didn"t have my own realm tree, then I may have needed to close my bars here."
"What?!" exclaimed Aella, glancing over at the small potted tree in the corner. It had grown a little, but if what he said was true, then she did owe him big.
"I am grateful you didn"t have to close your bars, as it seems the only reason my people are alive is because of you. I will pay you back, however long that takes. Is there something you would like at the moment?"
Bob tilted his head to the side and looked at her carefully. "You"ve changed. You"re not the spitfire you were before the storm. You"re calmer. What happened?"
Aella smiled, feeling fire within her take insult to his words. "I a.s.sure you; I still have fire within me. I took some time to learn more about myself. Is there anything you would ask of me, before I go?"
"Get the loiterers out of my bar, and get that transport system in place so I can close some of my bars down for a much-needed rest. There"s filth in places I don"t even want to mention!"
Aella nodded and headed for the door that had led to the drinking contest room. When she stepped through it, however, it was merely a room with several doors placed around it. Each door led to a different bar, and there were many people with their personal things camping in the room.
"It has come to my attention that the storm is over," she said loudly, amplifying her voice to reach the whole room.
Heads popped up in surprise to see who was talking.
"You have five minutes to vacate the area, or you will be forcefully removed. This room is about to be closed, and those who wish to choose their destination had best get their b.u.t.ts in gear!"
Some of them immediately jumped up and grabbed their things, but others merely snorted at her, rolling back over to sleep or going back to what they had been doing before she arrived. Aella calmly stood there, counting down the time. She repeated herself at the two-minute mark, to make sure none of them could claim she didn"t give them multiple warnings. When the five minutes was up, Aella used her air abilities to pick them all up, and pushed them, and their stuff through the nearest door. It happened to be the elven door, which interested her. She had thought all of the trees were gone, so how was Bob able to have a door to the elven forest still?
Once the room was empty, she returned to Bob"s bar. "You can get rid of that room. If people want to travel from one place to another, they can do it the old-fashioned way until I can get my system in place."
He nodded his thanks and waved a hand. The door leading to the room disappeared.