The Six Elemental

by Ali House

  Except for the murmuring, the area was quiet. Everyone was waiting for the Six-Elemental to make her move.

  Slowly, Kit turned to face the Forces. An excited murmur went through the soldiers, but Zenyth could read the look of determination on Kit’s face.

  “No!” Zenyth yelled. “Don’t trust her!”

  It was too late. Kit raised her hands and a strong wind burst through the Forces’ side, scattering the soldiers and the barricade. A loud cheer went up through the Tecken army and they charged forward, breaking through the second barrier.

  Zenyth tried to look at Kit, but her former friend was quickly lost in the rush of Tecken soldiers.

  Kit turned away from the mess she’d just created, but she didn’t move. Soldiers dressed in dark blue were pushing past her as they claimed the second barricade. The streets were full of debris, and the scene reminded her of one of the paintings from the art exhibit. It felt as if it had been a hundred years since the night she’d first attended.

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Akola was standing beside her with a worried look on her face.

  “Are you okay?” Akola asked.

  Kit nodded. “I’m fine.”

  “Are the rumors true? Do you…?” She paused. How do you ask someone if they remember how you fooled them into thinking they were on your side?

  “I remember,” Kit said. Her voice was subdued, as if she was thinking of something sad.

  “And you’re still with us?” Akola couldn’t believe it. Was the reassignment still working on a subconscious level?

  “Above everything else, above you or me or anyone else on this world, the most important thing is Unity.”

  Akola breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought they’d turned you against us.”

  “I know which side I’m on.”

  She was surprised at the change in Kit, but she could understand why the sadness was there. It was tough to turn your back on a side you thought had been right. Akola smiled and put an arm around Kit’s shoulders.

  “Let’s get you back to Erikson, okay?”

  “What the hell was that?!” Cale screamed at Zenyth. They’d been pushed back from the front not only by the wind but by the army. Captain Quinn had ordered them to get out of the way while they desperately tried to hold their ground, so Zenyth had grabbed Cale by the arm and pulled him away.

  “That was us losing the war,” Zenyth replied, leaning against a building.

  “Not that! Why did you scream out not to trust Kit?!”

  “Because she was going to destroy our second barricade.”

  Naydir ran over to the two of them. He’d been standing a few blocks away when everything had happened and he’d heard his sister’s yell.

  “Why did you yell that?” he asked as soon as he was close enough. “What did you do?”

  “What makes you assume I did anything?” she shot back.

  “Because she wasn’t under Tecken’s hold anymore!”

  Cale looked at the both of them. “So it’s true? Kit’s on our side?”

  “She’s not on our side,” Zenyth said firmly.

  “And why not?” Naydir demanded. He crossed his arms and stared at his sister. War or not, he was going to stand here until she told him what had happened.

  Zenyth frowned and wished that there was somewhere else she could be. If she hadn’t had that argument with Kit, would she be on their side right now? Would Kit have gone back to Tecken no matter what was said to her?

  “We can’t depend on Kit to win this war for us,” she said. “We’ve got to do this on our own.”

  “What did you do?” Naydir asked again.

  “Look, she’s made her choice and I don’t think there’s anything we can do to stop her.” Zenyth knew that she’d screwed up immensely and that there was nothing she could do to fix it. She’d doomed the entire Segment – perhaps the entire world.

  Naydir knew how his sister had been feeling after Kit had disappeared, and if the two of them had met, he knew that she wouldn’t take it easy on Kit. But was his sister capable of saying something so bad that it would make Kit turn against her friends and everything she used to believe in? He didn’t want to think about that.

  Maybe there was another level of brainwashing that Tecken had done to Kit and she was still under their spell somehow. Naydir didn’t think it was possible, but he couldn’t think of any other reason. Kit wouldn’t turn her back on her friends.

  “Look,” he said, “I’m going to join the army whether they want me there or not. Cale, would you like to watch my back?”

  Cale nodded. “I’m ready for a fight.”

  “Then let’s go.”

  The two of them hurried to the third barrier, leaving Zenyth alone with her thoughts.

  Erikson had moved his command post closer inland with the capture of the second barrier. He wanted to stay close to the action, but not close enough to join it. He was a leader, after all, not a mere soldier.

  The newest command post was on a small hill. He would have liked to be higher up so that he could see the battle, but the tallest building was the ISS building in the center of town and it was too close to the fight. He’d be able to move into it once they’d taken the third barrier.

  As he looked at the map of Stanton and the redrawn lines, he heard whispering behind him. His two advisers had obviously found something of interest. Erikson looked up and saw that Akola was leading Kit into his tent.

  He’d heard the rumors of her regaining her memory and of the fight between her and a former friend. There had been spies in the area during the fight and they had rushed to him to tell him every word. Even still, he hadn’t been ready to believe that she was on their side until he heard about her performance at the second barricade. Surrounding her with kindness had worked better than he could have hoped.

  “Katherine,” he said joyously. “It’s great to have you back.”

  She nodded and he noticed that she didn’t look particularly happy. Regaining her memory must have made this battle harder for her. She was fighting friends instead of faceless soldiers.

  He put an arm around her shoulders and led her to the map. “Let’s plan the best way to take over the third barrier and make this war a quick one. I’m sure that once they lose Stanton, the rest of the Segment will realize that fighting us is pointless and they’ll all surrender.”

  He smiled at her and she tried to smile back, but there was still that sorrow.

  “I know you’ve had to make a tough decision, but it’s the best for the Segment. A united Segment is a free Segment. Delta will provide the template for all others to follow for happiness and freedom.”

  “And you’ll do away with the Church of Humanity?”

  “Of course. They are nothing but a stain on humanity. My kingdom will preach tolerance and acceptance.”

  “And what about the Council of Twelve? Do you think they’ll accept your win?”

  Erikson laughed. “They’ll have to. With you by my side, I don’t think we’ll ever have to worry about war again.” He stepped away from her and pointed at the map. “I think we should start concentrating more on the side streets. Too much is happening in there and too many soldiers are wandering around. We need to clean up as we move forward.”

  He continued to outline his plan, but as he talked he noticed that it was getting harder to speak. He paused and tried to take a breath, but it was as if the air around him had vanished. He turned back to Kit, who was looking at him with glowing blue eyes.

  A hand went up to his throat, but it didn’t help. There was no air anywhere. He fell to the ground and his advisers rushed to his side, confused. Erikson pointed a hand at Kit, but before the advisers could do anything, a large blast of cold air pushed the two of them out of the tent.

  Still concentrating on Erikson, Kit glanced at Akola. Her former friend was standing on the other side of the tent with both daggers drawn.

  “What are you doing?” Akola demanded.

&nbs
p; “Uniting the Segment,” Kit replied. She looked back at Erikson who had stopped fighting and was now lying on the ground. She could tell that he was dead, even without checking for a pulse. She should have felt horror at killing someone, but right now she didn’t feel anything.

  “I thought you were on our side!”

  “I know which side I’m on,” Kit echoed hollowly.

  Akola’s mouth dropped open, but she quickly closed it and focused on the upcoming fight. Now that she knew the truth, she was ready to take on her former friend. She was ready to fight Magnus’ killer.

  “Do you think it would have stopped here?” Kit asked her, still standing near the map. “Do you think Erikson would have been content with this Segment’s surrender? He would have hunted down anyone who would be a threat to him and his new order, and when that was done, he would have hunted down the Humanists and anyone else he didn’t approve of.”

  “You know better than anyone what the Humanists are like. They deserve to die!”

  Kit shrugged. “Maybe they do and maybe they don’t, but I’m not going to be the one to condemn them or kill them. Freedom means that everyone has the right to do what they want, not just certain groups. Humanists can be horrible, but we need to teach them the errors of their ways. We become just like them if we choose to hunt them down.”

  “No, we’re different from them!”

  “Not if we’re forcing other people to do what we say! Erikson never would have been satisfied with this Segment. He would have moved onto other Segments, taking them over and putting them under his rule. No one man should be allowed to do that. And I will not allow that to happen to this world.”

  Akola lunged for her, but Kit pushed her back with a blast of air. Akola landed in a heap on the ground, but she was still in the tent and in one piece.

  “The Erikson bloodline has ended,” Kit said. “I want you to go back to Tecken and tell them that this war is over.”

  “Do you think that I’m just going to let you leave?!”

  “You don’t have a choice in the matter.”

  “And what are you going to do?” Akola asked angrily.

  Kit took in a deep breath. “I’m going to end the war I started.”

  Akola wanted to throw a dagger and bury it in Kit’s chest, but she didn’t move. Even when Kit walked past her and out the tent, Akola just sat there.

  The Forces were beginning to lose the third barrier. Their hopes and their resolve had been blown away with the second barrier. As long as Tecken had the Six-Elemental, there was nothing they could do to win the war. The Forces could fight as hard as they wanted, but one appearance by the Six-Elemental would destroy everything they were fighting for.

  Most of the soldiers had decided that they might as well take down as many Tecken soldiers on their way. The fighting became more reckless and brutal, with more people being carried off to triage, and more bodies in the streets.

  Nobody noticed when dark clouds began to form overhead. It was early in the evening, so there was still enough light for them to see their opponents. In less than seven hours Tecken had taken half of the island.

  Suddenly a large streak of lightening fell from the sky, blasting onto the ground in the center of the battle. It didn’t hit anyone, but it paused the fighting and made everyone look at the clouds warily. More streaks of lightening hit the ground, forcing the two sides apart.

  As the two sides stood opposite each other, Kit walked through the empty space. It was the same as before, but this time everyone knew which side she was on. She was even standing closer to the Tecken side.

  “This war is over!” Kit yelled out to both sides.

  A loud cheer erupted throughout the Tecken side as they began celebrating. The Forces were not ready to give up the fight and continued plotting ways to kill the Six-Elemental. If they could take her down, then they stood a chance of winning.

  Suddenly a large crack cut through the earth, separating the Forces from Kit and the Tecken army. The Forces backed away as their enemies continued to cheer, but their victory was cut short as the ground under Kit and the Tecken army began to shake violently.

  The Tecken army tried to run, but the earth underneath them suddenly broke apart and flew up into the air, swallowing them in a large cloud of dust. The Forces could only stare as the other side disappeared from sight.

  Everyone stood still, unsure of what had just happened. The only person strong enough to do something like that was the Six-Elemental, but why would she include herself in the wreck? After a few seconds, the Captains gave the order for all Air Elementals to clear the dust away. When the air was clear, they could see a giant hole in the street where Kit and the Tecken army had once been standing.

  “Kit!” Naydir’s voice rang out as he pushed past the others and rushed to the edge of the hole. It was the size of a city block and had caused the collapse of several nearby buildings. He couldn’t find Kit anywhere in the tangle of bodies and dirt.

  Naydir hurriedly slid down into the hole. When he reached the bottom, he could see that the bodies were all still and quiet. He wondered if they were dead or unconscious.

  What had Kit been thinking? Was she in here, lying still with the rest of the army? Or had she managed to save herself at the last minute?

  “Kit!” he yelled, trying to remember where she would have been standing before the collapse. “Where are you?!”

  Finally he saw a familiar shade of blue hair amongst the rubble. As he drew closer he could see that half of her body was covered by rocks and dirt, and there was blood covering one side of her face. He moved the dirt off of her with a wave of his hand and knelt down next to her. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she could be sleeping. He put a hand on her face and spoke to her gently, telling her that she had to wake up.

  Kit’s eyes slowly fluttered open.

  “Is it over?” she asked in a low, hoarse voice.

  “It’s over,” Naydir said. “You did great.”

  Kit’s eyes closed and her head rolled to one side.

  “Kit!”

  When she didn’t respond, Naydir picked her up and carried her to the surface. Not one soldier stopped him as he raced towards triage.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  When Kit opened her eyes, she was in her bedroom in the house on 10th Street. She hadn’t been there for weeks, but it looked like nothing had been touched since she left. She should have felt glad to be back, but she couldn’t feel anything.

  The room was dark because it was night, but the lamp on her desk had been turned on.

  “Oh, you’re awake.”

  Kit looked over to see Bryanna sitting by her bed. She looked up from the magazine she’d been reading and smiled, but Kit couldn’t return the sentiment.

  “We thought we’d lost you there for a minute,” Bryanna told her. “Naydir and Cale told me what happened yesterday, but I’m still finding it hard to believe. Were you trying to kill yourself or something?”

  Kit turned away from her and looked at the wall instead. She had been trying to kill herself. It was a cowardly thing to do, but she couldn’t think of facing anyone after what she’d done. She’d killed a man, for god’s sake, and injured and killed how many others?

  “I’m glad you’re awake,” Bryanna continued. “It’s really amazing how you took out the Tecken army in one shot. I had no idea that the Six-Elemental could be so powerful. After that, Tecken surrendered. Obviously most of them were seriously injured, just like you, so they had no hope of winning, but once we found Erikson – oh, have you heard?”

  “He’s dead,” Kit said in an empty voice.

  “There wasn’t even a mark on him. Nobody knows how it happened…” She paused. How did Kit know about Erikson’ death? The Forces didn’t find out until a few hours ago, and Triton didn’t tell her about it until half an hour ago.

  Kit was silent.

  “Did you…?” Bryanna’s eyes widened.

  “He’s dead and the bloodline’s ended.
It’s over.”

  Bryanna didn’t know what to say. Most of the Tecken army had survived the street collapse, so she’d managed to convince herself that Kit had taken a drastic measure to stop further bloodshed, but knowing that Kit had killed Erikson... Had her intention been to kill all the Tecken soldiers? How far would Kit have gone to end the war?

  Naydir stuck his head into the room. “Bry, could you-” he looked at Kit and saw that she was awake. “How are you feeling?” he asked her gently.

  She didn’t turn to him or respond. Bryanna mouthed ‘not good’ to Naydir.

  “Well, the war’s pretty much over,” he said. “We’ve still got a few rebel groups to deal with, but without Erikson, they’re not getting very far. We’ve already sent someone over to Tecken to discuss the terms of their integration and things are going surprisingly well.” Naydir looked at Kit. “If it wasn’t for you, who knows how long this war would have gone on.”

  Kit didn’t respond. She just stared at the wall.

  Zenyth joined her brother in the doorway.

  “Is she awake yet?” Zenyth asked.

  Naydir nodded.

  “So,” Zenyth said to Kit. “Did you kill him or what?”

  Kit wanted to bury her head in the pillow and block out the sound of Zenyth’s voice. She hadn’t enjoyed killing Erikson and she hadn’t wanted to do it, but she couldn’t let the war continue. She hadn’t killed him to get on anyone’s good side or to make up for all the problems she’d caused – she did it because it was the only way to stop the war and she was the only person who could do it.

  “And what you said to me earlier – that was all crap, right?” Zenyth was trying to be calm, but she couldn’t keep the anger out of her voice.

  “Someone from Tecken might have been nearby,” Kit said quietly. “I needed them to think that I was still on their side.”