Earth God

by Jon Messenger

  “Earth Elemental,” Xander said as he leaned over the dying man, “you don’t have much longer, which means neither do we. I need your power.”

  “So rambunctious and impertinent, the youth,” Earth said to no one in particular.

  “Yoda here is killing me,” Sean complained.

  Xander took a deep breath to calm himself. He knew time was against them, not just because the Earth Elemental was falling apart but because he had seen Sammy, trapped as the Fire Elemental’s host yet still alive. Every moment he hesitated was another in which she could lose her battle against the will of the dragon.

  “I don’t understand the problem,” he said. “You created me for this sole purpose. The Wind and Water Elementals were convinced I was the right choice. Why are you hesitating?”

  A crack reverberated through the dome. One of the Earth Elemental’s feet broke from the ankle. It dissolved into its baser rocks, which rolled off the altar and clattered to the floor.

  “I’m wary because I see in you the potential to save the world, but it’s tempered with a yearning for revenge.”

  “Of course I want revenge. The dragon tried to kill me; it would have succeeded if Sammy, its host, hadn’t interfered. What I don’t understand is why you don’t seem to want revenge. It tried to kill you, too.”

  “Yes,” the Elemental sighed. He raised his hand toward Xander, but a few of the fingers crumbled under their own weight. “Fire did attack me, but his actions were misguided. If you get the chance, will you kill the Fire Elemental?”

  The room shook, and a crack appeared in the dome overhead. The light from the illuminated vines flickered unsteadily as the quake receded.

  “If there is no other way, will you kill it?” the Earth Elemental repeated.

  “Yes,” Xander said hastily. Cracks were beginning to form on the face of the stone man, threatening to split his oversized skull in two.

  “No!” the Elemental replied angrily as he tried to sit up. He shifted his lower body, but the legs didn’t come with his torso. They sat in perfect form for a moment longer before they crumbled to rubble. “No matter what happens, no matter the immature emotions you feel, like love and revenge, you cannot kill the Fire Elemental.”

  Xander stepped back as much in surprise over the Elemental’s dissolving body as his sudden outburst. “Earth Elemental, you’re falling apart. We don’t have time—”

  “If I don’t impart this knowledge, than our remaining time will be meaningless. You cannot kill the Fire Elemental. The Elementals are so much more than just the guides for humanity. We are the very embodiment of the elements we represent. I am not just ruler over the dominion of Earth, I am the Earth. If the dragon had slain me as he wanted, no crop would grow in the fields. Tree roots would no longer hold in the ground; entire forests would topple. Earthquakes would tear the continents apart.”

  The Earth Elemental’s hand, reduced to a mere stump, was being swung passionately on the end of a hinged elbow. “In much the same way, the Fire Elemental is consumed by all that is fire. Kill the dragon and the sun won’t warm the planet. Fires would burn but would fail to cook meat or heat water. If the dragon succeeds, humanity will die. If the dragon is killed, the planet will die.”

  Xander rushed to the Elemental’s side, cradling the massive head in his arms. Even with his supernatural strength, he strained under the weight. “So I have to defeat the dragon without killing it? He didn’t seem too worried when he tried to kill either of us.”

  The Elemental sighed as more cracks formed across his brow and nose. “The dragon knows what few others do, that if an Elemental is slain, another will rise to take its place. Nature abhors chaos and will do what it can to ensure the four elements remain in balance. But there is a time between the death of an Elemental and its rebirth, a time that will ruin the face of the planet forever. The cycle won’t reset as it should, evolving an already developed planet. The next Earth Elemental—you, if you take my power—would have to build the world again from nothing but utter ruin.”

  The Earth Elemental suddenly felt heavier, though Xander was sure it was only the extra weight of his responsibilities. “So if I kill the dragon, this won’t end, will it? Another will come and take its place, and I’ll have to fight this war all over again.”

  “Thus is the nature of the elements, always working in harmony yet at odds with one another. That is why Water, Wind, and I created you. Your ability to harness all four elements within yourself means that the cycle can end. There can be harmony, not because of cooperation between the Elementals, but because all four Elementals can be harbored within one body. You are the last chance for humanity, Xander.”

  His lower torso shattered, turning everything beneath the gouges on his chest to rocks and sand. The Elemental coughed and raised his hand to his lips, but all that remained was a stump, destroyed just beneath the shoulder.

  “I wish I could answer all your questions, Xander Sirocco, but my time has come to an end.”

  The Earth Elemental nodded slowly, even as pebbles sloughed from his cheeks and ample forehead. “It’s time.”

  Xander nodded slowly and placed his hand on the remains of the Elemental’s chest, all the while cradling the stone head with his other arm. The flowers around the room flared blindingly, dousing the room in shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. Sean and Jessica were forced to look away and cover their eyes, but Xander refused to turn away from the dying Elemental.

  The room shook violently. The glassy floor cracked like ice. The dome crumbled in one corner, filling the room with ash and smoke. Xander disappeared in a cloud of fine gray powder. Sean coughed painfully as he took a breath. The air was hot, dry, and the ash left a taste in his mouth like he had been chain smoking. He coughed again, but there was no clean air to be had.

  Turning toward where Xander had stood, Sean could see the flickering lights illuminating the dust but could see nothing of the altar or of his friend. He wanted to call out, to make sure Xander was okay or, at the very least, warn him the air was suddenly toxic. No matter how hard he tried, however, he couldn’t make more than a croaking noise.

  Darkness crept into the corners of his vision. Sean turned toward Jessica but could barely see her, silhouetted as she was against one of the glowing vines. As he reached out to her, the ash suddenly disappeared in a gush of clean air.

  Sean coughed and retched onto the once-smooth floor. He hadn’t had much to eat or drink but his vomit was nearly black from the soot in the air. Jessica was leaning against the floor on all fours, coughing and trying to wipe away the tears streaming from her stinging eyes.

  As Sean turned back toward the center of the room, he saw Xander set an armful of rocks onto a broken altar before stepping away. He turned toward the two humans, and the room was filled with a green glow radiating from his eyes. Xander walked to where they were both doubled over before kneeling and tapping the ground between them. The floor split apart without all the fanfare of an earthquake, rather like Xander were Moses parting the Red Sea. Water bubbled up from the fissure, crystal clear fresh water that looked refreshing even from a distance.

  “Let’s get you both cleaned up,” Xander said. “Afterward, we can talk about how to defeat a dragon.”

  The skyscraper shook, its upper floors swaying dangerously. The Los Angeles skyline danced outside the window, the taller buildings leaning precariously. Some of the more damaged buildings splintered and fell, crumbling into the empty streets below.

  The Fire Elemental grasped its throne, not as much for stability but out of anger. The rumbling could mean only one thing—that the endgame was quickly approaching. Xander Sirocco, the impertinent Wind Warrior, was one step closer to confronting the Fire Elemental once more.

  It wanted to yell its frustrations, to rant to someone who would understand its predicament, but there was no one with whom to speak. Lord Balor had been its first confidant, but he had betrayed the Elemental for the sake of his daughter. General Abraxas had q
uickly taken his mentor’s place, even going so far as to receive a portion of the Fire Elemental’s power, yet his continuous failures at defeating Xander had led to his dismissal.

  The Elemental glanced toward the space on the wall where once the mirror had occupied. The paint was slightly brighter in the shape of the broken frame, but the wall was now as sparsely decorated as the rest of the penthouse. Not even a sliver of the broken mirror remained.

  It sighed as it glanced at the space. It could feel the itching in the back of its mind, an indication that it wasn’t alone. The mirror had been a conduit through which its host could speak, but it was hardly necessary for their connection. Sammy still existed, an oversight the Fire Elemental constantly regretted. She alone no doubt understood the Elemental’s frustrations better than anyone else alive.

  “Speak, if you must,” the Elemental said to the empty room. “But be forewarned that I will not abide your disrespect.”

  “He’s found the Earth Elemental,” Sammy said, her voice a mere whisper in the back of the Elemental’s mind. “He has all three elemental powers now. Xander will be coming for you soon.”

  Sammy said nothing the Elemental didn’t already know, though that was very much the point of their conversation. They shared one another’s thoughts and mind. What the Elemental knew, no matter how hard it tried to compartmentalize its knowledge, Sammy knew as well.

  “He will come only if he’s foolish. I defeated him once, and I’ll do it again. My mistake of not killing him will be remedied this time. Even if I can’t slay him myself, one of my Fire Warriors will gladly finish the unsavory deed.”

  Sammy shook her head, an action unseen from her prison within the dragon’s mind. “It won’t happen like it did last time. He’s stronger now. With the Earth Elemental’s power, I doubt you could defeat him again.”

  The Elemental rose from its throne and stalked toward the window as the aftershocks subsided. It stood on the balcony, which creaked dangerously under its weight. It might appear as petite as the woman host in which it resided, but the host body held the same weight as the dragon’s true form.

  It looked over the ruined city and smiled. Most of the remaining world now looked like Los Angeles. Despite the human resistance sprouting up around the globe, the damage was done. The infrastructure was destroyed. Communications and technology were practically non-existent. People hesitantly turned on their phones only long enough to see if loved ones had called, knowing there was no way to recharge the batteries once they died. In the more remote parts of the world, personal generators rumbled, providing meager electricity, but even these would die in time. The oil fields were burning fiercely. In time, gasoline would become a thing of the past and the generators, like the last vestiges of humanity, would die out.

  It smiled not because of this knowledge, but because somewhere out there, Xander Sirocco would soon be coming to the same realization.

  “Your beloved won’t win. He won’t defeat me. He won’t survive.”

  “I know what you’re thinking, dragon,” Sammy said impertinently. “You think I’ll be the deciding factor. You think you can play the same trick on Xander again and have him fall for it a second time? He won’t do it. He’d rather—”

  “Rather what?” the dragon asked. “Rather see you dead than let me live another day? I think not. His love for you is true. He’ll do everything in his power to save you, even at the cost of his own life.”

  Sammy wanted to refute the dragon but couldn’t. Xander did love her; she had seen it in his eyes when he and the Fire Elemental fought in France. It had only been her intervention that had saved his life then. Taking control of their shared body had startled the dragon, to the point that it had briefly separated from her consciousness.

  Sammy smiled to herself, but the dragon sensed her sudden happiness. “You cling too tightly to hope, fleshling. I know exactly what you think, and I remember my surprise in my battle with the Wind Warrior all too well. You did what I never would have thought possible, but only because I was caught unaware. That won’t happen again.”

  “And you cling too tightly to your overinflated sense of self-worth. I nearly forced you out of my body then, and I’ll do it again. I may be Xander’s weakness, but once you and I are separated, I won’t be your shield anymore. He’ll destroy you.”

  The walls of Sammy’s prison slammed down around her, driving her deeper into the dragon’s subconscious where it wouldn’t have to listen to her constant baiting. With the world silent once more, the Fire Elemental stared out over its kingdom.

  As the rumbling subsided once again, Lord Balor dared to climb to his feet and press on toward the exit to this labyrinth of tunnels beneath the California desert. The earthquakes had been the cause of his unexpected freedom, but it had also nearly been the cause of his death. Aside from destroying his former castle, the earthquake had caused many of the tunnels to collapse. Those that remained teetered dangerously on the cusp of ruin. Stalactites dangled from ceilings, held in place by only a few inches of rock. Cracks and fissures ran the lengths of the walls as he hurried past, and the entire cave system rumbled threateningly as limestone walls settled back into place.

  His escape had taken far longer than he had anticipated. Between his fatigue after being captive, Abraxas’ torture, and the unfamiliar maze of collapsed tunnels, Balor was beyond exhaustion. He had found himself repeatedly turning around at unexpected dead ends and switchbacks that hadn’t existed in the years before.

  The small flame balanced in his palm didn’t offer much light, little more than a bouncing torch. It cast deep shadows onto the walls. The darkness within the recesses and side passages always seemed to move as he hurried past. He was constantly searching for danger within every alcove he passed but, to his great relief, found none.

  He had no idea how long he wandered the tunnels. Time was a meaningless concept so far beneath the earth, without the sun and moon to tell the passing of the days. Even the castle had hourglasses that showed the passing of the minutes. Alone in the darkness, seconds became minutes, minutes hours, and hours became an eternity.

  Lord Balor licked his dry lips, wishing more than anything else that he had a water skin with him. His former master had been the first to deny him water, knowing his imbued elemental powers would keep him alive without water for far longer than a normal human. General Abraxas, upon his appointment as Balor’s jailer, was all too happy to continue denying him the smallest drink.

  His head spun as he turned another curve and found himself in a long chamber. The ceiling had collapsed, leaving the room filled with rubble and slabs of rock more than twice his body length. The tons of debris formed an underground mountain, stretching toward the narrow exit on the far end of the room.

  As Balor squinted against the darkness, he saw a flicker of light within the room’s exit. He slid behind a fallen boulder, certain it was a Fire Warrior search party sent to retrieve the traitorous lord. He had no idea of Abraxas’ fate, only that the ceiling had collapsed, crushing the wall on which the general had stood. He could only hope the demonic Fire Warrior had been crushed to death.

  He kept his eyes on the dancing light and it was some time before he realized the movement came not from a torch, but rather because something fluttered between him and the source of the light.

  Cautiously, Balor stood and began making his way across the room, confident the light wasn’t part of an ambush. He climbed over rocks and scaled angled slabs of stone, ascending even as he crossed the room. His arms and legs ached from the effort and his lungs burned. No matter the increased stamina provided by the Fire Elemental’s blessing, his body was old and weary from his imprisonment. Climbing an underground mountain of stone was no small task.

  Reaching the pinnacle of rock, Balor collapsed on his chest and lay there, panting and sweating. The fluttering light fell over his face, causing him to squint. He felt something else on his face as well, something unexpected. A warm breeze blew over his skin, drying the
sweat on his brow.

  He raised his head and forced his hands below him so that he could lift his upper body. Above his head, a hole not much wider than his shoulders had appeared during the room’s collapse. The light splashing across his face came not from a torch but from the sun. Despite the labyrinth of tunnels, he had found his way to the surface.

  With a renewed sense of purpose, Balor forced himself to his feet and reached into the narrow tunnel leading to the surface. The passage was nearly vertical, a result of the rock splitting nearly in two during the quake. The edges of the tunnel were rough from where the rock had been shorn. It bit into his back as he braced himself during the climb and tore into his palms, but he hardly felt the pain. His body had felt nothing but pain over the past few weeks, so sacrificing some comfort for a chance at escape was a small price to pay.

  After a few minutes of climbing, his head emerged from the hole. A tree stood nearby, its wispy branches dancing in the breeze and casting a fluttering shadow over the hole. It had been the branches, he realized quickly, that had made the light look like it was moving from within the caves. With great effort, he slipped his arms free and braced against the sandy ground. He heaved, pulling himself free. Collapsing on the ground seemed like the best course of action. He didn’t really have the strength to do much else. For a moment, he considered kissing the ground, like a hero returning home from war.

  There wasn’t time for such frivolities. Even with Abraxas gone, there would be other Fire Warriors giving chase. It would only be a matter of time until the dragon itself came to check on its most valuable prisoner and to finally extract its final revenge.

  In the distance, a smear of black marked the edge of Los Angeles. The city itself was lost over the horizon but there was no doubt which way he’d have to go to reach it. He glanced over his shoulder at the endless desert stretching in the opposite direction. It would be a harsh mistress and would tax him worse than anything thus far, but the desert also meant freedom.