Elementals

Prologue: Primordial Hate

Hate.

Fury.

Arrogance.

Impatience.

A void, an emptiness, a place without form or substance.

And within the void, a wild, chaotic energy with both sapience and malevolence rages against reality.

It lashes out at the nonexistent walls of its prison, trying to escape from something that is not there. It knows its predicament, of course, but it acts as its nature demands.

It has been in this state for countless millennia. Some would say since the dawn of time. And for all that time, it has raged, and it has exhausted itself attempting to escape the void.

But now… now it acts with less fury. Now, it acts with anticipation. It knows that soon, the seething darkness and the blazing light will meet in the place of balance, and shatter what has kept the energy in this void for aeons.

But first, a long and bloody struggle.

A war.

Untold deaths.

Changing of the old guard for the new.

And a remarkable girl with a talent for magic, sadism, and ambition.

The end has begun.

And the chaos is ready.

2: Act 1 - Chapter 1

Elementals

Act One: Shadow's Rise

Chapter One: A Very Dark Girl

Gleaming spires towered above the city, resplendent in their dark glory.

The streets were paved in cobblestone patterns evocative of the monsters, the hidden things, the secrets in the shadows.

A city of darkness, of Darkness, a city filled with elegant design and morbid architecture, of somber streets but joyous buildings.

I had to admit, the city was beautiful. Especially with that lovely murk dimming the lights and softening everything.

My name is Shadow, and on that day I was in Raven's Shade, the capital of Nyx, my home world.

Nyx is one of six worlds attuned to a specific element, the element of the people within. Nyx is host to the elementals of Darkness, the greatest of the six. We are the dark gods and goddesses, the lords and ladies, the elegant slayers and casters resplendent in terrifying glory. We are the best.

And I am the best among these elementals, the greatest elemental to ever live.

And yet, I walked in the streets like a common elemental, not like the goddess I was destined to become. Commoners, merchants, guards, they all walked beside me as seeming equals, unaware of my true magnificence.

One day that would change.

But for now, I showed respect to those who deserved it, stopping to let a group of guards past. I nodded to the captain, and gave a few tilts of acknowledgement to the guards, and they did the same to me, recognizing my outfit as being unique from that of a commoner or merchant.

A few commoners noticed my show of respect to the guards as they passed, and attempted to get involved by making ridiculous bowing motions and silly gestures they had no idea how to perform properly. As was my right, I sneered at their idiocy.

Turning back to the guards, I noticed that they were all slayers, something very rare for Darkness. Glorious as we are, we have a tendency to produce more casters than slayers.

I suppose I should explain this system we have, or at least touch on it. As far as I can tell from espionage reports, all elementals use the same military and educational systems; two years after forming from one of the nexuses, an elemental will enter school, where they learn basic knowledge, abilities, and so on, and are tested to see what academy they will advance into once they are nine. These range from the Academy of War where slayers are trained, or the Academy of Magic for the casters, or the Academy of Arts for all the creative types, or whatever else there is for the leftovers. They graduate at fifteen, as full adults.

The military thing is pretty simple. A slayer slays, a caster casts. Slayers fight in melee, while casters manipulate elemental forces such as the shadows or solid darkness to perform feats of magic, spells.

Of course, I was a bit special in that area, but that will come up naturally later.

Once the guards had passed, I strode forward confidently with that smirk still plastered on my face, which was as midnight black as the rest of my skin. I shook my mane of dusky violet hair, and my amethyst eyes glinted with ambition and the promise of chaos.

I've been told I look intimidating, especially when I walk with flair and emphasis. This makes sense, considering most of my outfits are designed to give off one of two feelings; an urge to bow before me as your new mistress and goddess, or a rakish sense of adventure that inspires you to serve under me as a fellow adventurer.

Sensing a pattern?

The outfit I had chosen for this meeting was one of my more memorable ones. As always, it combined style with functionality, featuring a high collar and flowing cloak contrasted with sensible leather boots, trousers, belt, and tunic. All in shades of purple, dark in some areas and light in others.

My sword was strapped to my belt, along with a small journal containing various notes about casting, psychology, and politics, letting me manipulate and manage things with greater ease.

Having assessed my appearance and found it adequate for putting fear into the hearts of those that would deny me my rightful position, my gaze returned to the city itself, that murky wonder that so entranced me.

The architecture, the colors, the image, everything about it was beautiful. Of course, I couldn't help but feel it was missing something.

Perhaps make the city more imposing? Yes, add some spikes here, some towers there, and darken the colors even more. But still not enough.

Perhaps make some of those buildings more grandiose, more impressive? Yes, add a few levels, some new colors to provide better contrast, and perhaps a balcony here or there. Good. But not enough.

Ah, that was it. Not enough Me. When I looked around the city, I saw coffee shops, blacksmiths, merchants of all varieties, housing, even homeless shelters for the truly stupid and useless, but no statues of the goddess Shadow, she who is Darkness incarnate. That would have to change. If I tore down the homeless shelters, I could build statues in their place. Lovely.

After a few minutes of mentally designing statues that accentuated both my grace and power, I found myself at my destination; the Council Hall. Every element has a Grand Council that rules from their capital city. It is composed of a Common Council representing the interests of the common elemental, and thus formed from those elementals, and the High Council, the truly elite, wise, and powerful.

I don't like the Council. They make it harder for me to kill things and take power by having all these laws and restrictions, and guards to back those laws and restrictions with deadly force.

The guard in front recognized me, and let me in without a word. I cruised through hall after hall, before reaching the main chamber, where the Council meets to discuss matters of boring import.

I swept into the room with a magnificent flourish, and loudly announced to the gathered mass of elementals, "I, Shadow of Nyx, do hereby accept the role of Champion of Darkness, and swear to do my absolute best to lead our people in the war against the other elements."

The most vocal member of the High Council, a crotchety man named Fitzdonald, said, "That is all well and good that you show devotion to the elementals of Darkness, but we have not announced that you are the Champion yet. Don't you think accepting it is a bit… premature?"

"Not really. I'm awesome, beautiful, glorious, powerful, awesome, intelligent, awesome, and pretty awesome. I'm the only logical choice. Plus, I'm really humble!"

This earned a snicker from a member of the High Council, who was immediately death-glared by Fitzdonald. She shut up, but still smiled.

Good. I need as many allies as I can get.

"Kiana Vessian, the Council has voted, and we have decided that you are not the right choice for the position of Champion of Darkness."

I twitched at the mention of my old name, which I had made clear on many occasions I did not use anymore. It was the name given to me when I was formed from one of Nyx's three nexuses, but I had discarded it years ago in favor of the name 'Shadow', which inspired fear, respect, and fit as the name of a Champion of Darkness.

"Got any reasoning for not picking me? You know I'm the best caster on this whole bloody rock."

"I am well aware of your history, Kiana. You graduated the Academy of Magic at the age of thirteen, spent a year at the Academy of War, and spent the two years since then going off on adventures and acting all together quite odd. You have ambition, intelligence, and incredible power according to the tests we've run, but power is only half of a Champion's domain. A Champion is a front-line fighter, yes, but she is also a leader, one that can look out for the elementals under her command. And you do not work well with others."

"Hey, I work great with others! What about that one mission I led, where we killed that grakker pack?"

"You mean the mission where you sacrificed your entire team so that you could exterminate the pack and their neighbors?"

"...at least the mission was a success?"

"It is obvious, even to you, Kiana, that you are not a leader. You are a warrior. Consider joining the military in its next campaign, as a special operative or a member of the Champion's retinue."

I spluttered, and I'm pretty sure my face warped into some caricature with bugged out eyes and a mouth reaching to the floor. "Member of the RETINUE!? Seriously? Shadow is not a retinue member, she is a goddess, a Champion, a leader, a great being of incredible power! Gah! This is not the end of it, you hear me Fitzy? This is not the end!"

With that, I stormed out of the building in a rage, darkness swirling around me, reacting subconsciously to my anger. Once out of the building, I gathered the darkness around me, flew into the air, and began flying toward the wilderness to the west.

I needed to work off some tension.