Water Shaper (World Aflame)

by Messenger, Jon

  Jon Messenger

  Clean Teen Publishing

  Copyright © 2013 by Jon Messenger

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Cover concept and design by Marya Heiman Copyright © 2013 by Clean Teen Publishing

  Editing done by Cynthia Shepp

  Typography done by Courtney Nuckels

  Water Shaper is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s over-active imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Clean Teen Publishing

  PO Box 561326

  The Colony, TX 75056

  http://www.cleanteenpublishing.com

  For more information about our content disclosure, please utilize the QR code above with your smart phone or visit us HERE.

  To Jacki and Alistair

  Who always make sure no matter how engrossed I become in a story, they keep my head above water.

  THE EARTH GIVES WAY TO THE SEA,

  THE SEA BOWS BEFORE THE WIND,

  THE WIND FEEDS THE FLAME,

  THE FLAME BURNS THE WORLD OF MAN DOWN TO THE EARTH.

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Acknowledgements

  Xander Sirocco pushed the toes of his tennis shoes through the silt that had buried much of the street. The liquid mud clung to his shoes, and he shook them vigorously to remove the filth. Raising his head, he looked down the mud-covered road.

  Most of the street was blocked by an avalanche of dirt that poured from the hilltop above the small town. Some of the smaller buildings had collapsed, leaving stone and wooden debris jutting from the banks of dirt. Other houses stood, but the force of the mudslide had shattered windows and filled the buildings’ interiors.

  Walking gingerly down the street, Xander stepped lively around the protruding timbers and rubble. A few houses further down the lane still looked intact, as though the buildings opposite them on the street had absorbed much of the brunt from the mudslide.

  The sound of trickling water reached his ears as he approached a part of the street that was blocked by the flow of dirt. From the heart of the muddy pile, a small river of water crashed into the wall of the nearest house before cascading into the alleyway and out of sight.

  Xander frowned as he examined the mud that blocked the way ahead. He slowly closed his eyes, and a gust of wind enveloped him. His T-shirt fluttered in the building wind, and Xander sighed as the breeze soaked into his pores. Slowly, his feet lifted from the ground until he hovered a few inches above the filth.

  He walked forward, though his feet were suspended above the mudslide. Each breath of fresh air seemed to revitalize him, as though he were deeply connected to the wind itself. Which he was, he had to remind himself. He was the Wind Elemental now, having absorbed her power. He was the last of the Wind Warriors, and the last hope for humanity.

  As he cleared the offending mud, he touched back down on the stone street and laughed to himself. The idea that he was the last hope for humanity seemed preposterous. He knew more than a few people—especially his old college professors—who would have hung their head in despair had they known who was attempting to save their lives.

  One of the unsullied houses sat just ahead on the left side of the street. Xander looked around once again but didn’t see any people. The town was abandoned, though Xander had no idea for how long. Despite his misgivings at walking through a ghost town, they were hungry and needed something to eat before they continued flying. It had only been by chance that Xander had spotted the archipelago.

  The door unlocked as he turned the handle. The interior of the building was dark like all the rest of the houses, power having been either shut off on purpose or by the mudslide. Despite the darkness, he stuck his head inside the door and called into the gloom beyond.

  “Hello? Is there anyone here?”

  He wasn’t sure anyone would have answered even if they had been at home, or even if they would have understood English. The world had been ruined by the infighting between the Wind and Fire Castes. Earthquakes, volcanoes, wild fires, and worse had completely changed the face of the planet. He was glad the villagers had fled their homes, but he wasn’t sure the world they found would be any better when they made landfall somewhere else.

  Standing at the doorway, he strained to hear any noise. When he was sure the house was empty, he pushed his way into the large central room. He could see light streaming through a back window, illuminating the kitchen. Smiling, he made his way to the back of the house.

  A foul smell seeped from the refrigerator as he approached, and he wiggled his nose in disgust. The smell alone told Xander that power had gone out at least a few days ago, long enough that the contents of the refrigerator were already spoiled. Despite knowing that more hardy foods might have survived in the fridge, he bypassed it all together as he continued to search.

  As he turned deeper into the kitchen, he forced a broad smile. A baker’s rack near the rear of the room held some fresh fruit that didn’t look completely spoiled. A wispy, white mold covered one of the apples in the basket. There were some bananas or plantains—Xander wasn’t sure which—jutting from a mix of forgotten mail near the back. They were marred with black spots but still looked edible. He also noticed a few cans of vegetables but didn’t think his companions would appreciate that option.

  A few letters tumbled from the rack as he pulled the bananas free. Reaching down, he picked up the mail and quickly scanned the gentle woman’s writing on the envelopes. Xander frowned, knowing that a whole family’s life had been uprooted, and he was at least partially to blame.

  With a sigh, he set the mail back on the baker’s rack. He didn’t know if the family would ever come home again, but the symbolic gesture of leaving everything as he had found it would be appreciated, he was sure.

  Bananas in hand, Xander walked back toward the front of the house. He paused as he neared the front door. Sitting on an end table near the door was a small, stuffed teddy bear. His breath caught in his throat as he picked up the stuffed animal, feeling the coarseness of its fur and the hard stitching at its shoulder, as though it had been sewn back together more than once.

  He held the bear in his hands and stared at its inky black eyes. His mind swirled with conflicting thoughts. In one instant, the realization once again struck him that this destruction was in some part his fault. Immediately afterward, the thought was replaced with the real
ization that some little girl was without her home, her food, and her teddy bear. Those were all the reasons he wanted to defeat the Fire Elemental—to bring a sense of normalcy back to the lives of all those who had already lost it. Gently, he set the teddy bear back down on the end table and said a silent prayer that the little girl to whom the bear belonged was safe.

  With his prayer complete, he stepped into the bright sunlight and kicked off the ground, flying quickly into the air.

  He passed over the roofs of the village, shaking his head as he saw some of the rooftops struggling to be seen beneath the wall of mud that had slid down the side of the nearby hill. The hill itself looked like someone had sheered free the side of it, slicing down to the stone and letting the dirt and grass slide free. Despite the destruction it caused, Xander knew it would have been amazing to watch.

  Passing over the top of the ruined mound, he glided toward another hilltop nearby. Against the lush green of the grass, Sean and Jessica stood out as they sat on the crest of the hill. They had their backs to Xander as he approached but quickly turned when their hair whipped wildly in the strong breeze he created.

  “Find anything good?” Sean asked with a smile. He rubbed his portly belly affectionately. “Fat kids got to eat, you know?”

  Xander landed lithely on the grass beside them and tossed them each a banana. Jessica caught the fruit but frowned at its condition. She delicately prodded the squishy exterior of the banana and looked up unapologetically toward Xander.

  “This is all they had?”

  Xander shrugged. “Power’s out in the town. Everything worthwhile is already spoiled.”

  “Don’t worry about her,” Sean said, glancing over at the blond woman. “She just hasn’t reached her quota of complaining for the day.”

  “I will punch you, Sean,” Jessica said. “I dated Xander, and I’d still punch him in the head if he got lippy.”

  Sean patted the ground beside him, ignoring Jessica’s less-than-idle threats. “Pull up a seat and join us for a while. You’ve been flying nonstop since we left Iceland. You’ve got to be exhausted.”

  Xander sat down heavily beside his best friend and smiled at the pair. “Strangely, I’m really not. I’ve actually never felt better.”

  Jessica arched an eyebrow in concern.

  “Don’t give me that look,” he replied. “I’m not kidding. It feels like being up in the air revitalizes me. Each breath seems to wash away any feeling of being tired, sore, or worn out. It’s…”

  “A bunch of metaphorical bull crap,” Sean replied with a smile. He pointed to the banana in Xander’s hand. “Now eat, unless you’re going to tell me that the wind cures your hunger pangs, too.”

  Xander’s belly rumbled at the mention of food. “No, apparently I still need to eat.”

  He swung his legs over the side of the peak and let them dangle. The edge of the hilltop was stone and dropped steeply toward the slime-covered rocks below. The lakebed beneath their feet had obviously only recently drained. Large, bleached-white rocks poked through the film of algae that coated the edges of the bowl-shaped depression. Intermixed with the algae, they could see glistening, silver-scaled fish laying on the rocks and baking in the strong sunlight. The scent of rotten fish rolled up past their noses and threatened to steal their appetites.

  The algae and large stones eventually gave way near the center of the lakebed, where the bowl flattened into a huge slab of limestone. A large fissure ran the length of the limestone sheet, dropping away into the darkness of the earth.

  “Where do you suppose we are?” Sean asked as he stuffed the bruised banana into his mouth.

  “Sao Miguel,” Xander quickly replied.

  Both Sean and Jessica turned inquisitively toward him.

  “It was on an envelope in one of the houses,” he explained.

  “Is that in the Caribbean?” Sean asked. “It sounds Spanish.”

  “Portuguese, actually,” Jessica corrected. She tried unsuccessfully to run her fingers through her knotted blond hair. “It’s one of the islands in the Azores.”

  It was Xander’s turn to look confusedly at Jessica.

  She frowned at their curious looks. “Just because I’m a sorority girl doesn’t mean that I’m stupid. I probably paid way more attention in class than either of you jokers.”

  “She’s got me there,” Sean replied with a smirk.

  “Finish up,” Xander said as he popped the last of his banana into his mouth. “We’ve got to get going soon.”

  “How much further do you think it is?” Sean asked.

  Xander stood and looked out over the lapping ocean waves that caressed the island’s shore. He could feel the tug in his gut growing stronger the further they flew. They had been following the pull—toward an Elemental, Xander assumed—since they left Iceland, and he had never felt the draw more clearly.

  “It won’t be too much further now.”

  Sean stood and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. For a moment, he looked out over the endless horizon of ocean that surrounded them.

  “You nervous?”

  Xander shrugged. “I don’t think I was when we left the Wind Elemental and my aunts and uncles, but I’m getting that way now. There’s too much time to think when you’re flying for hours at a time.”

  “Don’t worry, Xander,” Jessica chided as she stepped up beside them. “Thinking’s never been your strong suit.”

  He arched an eyebrow toward her, but she offered a disarming smile. Xander smiled and held up his hand, bringing his thumb and index finger within an inch of each other.

  “You’re about this far from being left on the island by yourself.”

  The three of them laughed and, for a second, Xander was able to forget about all the weight of responsibility he was shouldering. Then, as their laughter petered off, it came crashing down upon him.

  The Fire Caste was moving against the world, ready to burn all vestiges of humanity in an attempt to start life on the planet over again. His only hope at stopping them was to find both the Earth and Water Elementals, who would help him defeat the Fire Elemental that haunted his every move. If that wasn’t enough, he also had to save his girlfriend who, aside from being a Fire Warrior herself, had been captured by the Fire Elemental so that she could become his new host.

  All that pressure on the shoulders of someone who had once professed that if they made a bell curve of all college students, he would be at the peak as the most-average one alive.

  “Come on,” Xander said morosely. “Let’s not drag this out.”

  Sean burped and patted his belly. “Isn’t there a rule where you’re supposed to wait an hour or something after eating before flying? I’m asking for your benefit. You guys should just be aware that I get airsick, just in case I wind up throwing up.”

  “Ignore him,” Jessica said. “We’re ready.”

  The wind whipped around the trio as the pupils of Xander’s eyes turned stark white. The effort involved in flying had quickly become subconscious after he absorbed the power of the Wind Elemental. The trio lifted off the ground with ease and floated higher as the island withdrew below them. They leveled off before Xander launched forward, pulling Sean and Jessica in his wake.

  The Fire Elemental stood before the mirror and looked on in disgust. Its reflection showed the stringy, unkempt blond hair. It flickered slightly in the reflection as heat shimmered from its shoulders and head. The hair hung over its eyes, partially covering the smoldering red that had consumed the once crystal blue irises.

  The face that had once been Sammy’s looked strained, with faint bruising beneath both eyes. The Fire Elemental had fought against sleep after taking its host, but the biological imperative caught up to it. It frowned, and the woman’s full lips turned downward at the corners. It didn’t like the idea of having biological imperatives. There was another imperative it had quickly discovered that both fascinated and disgusted it. It assumed the Fire Warriors conducted themselves in a similar fash
ion, but it had never cared enough to find out such frivolities.

  Turning away from the mirror in disappointment, the Fire Elemental stormed out of the palatial apartment. It ran its hand along the wall, feeling the hard stone against the soft skin of the woman’s palm. That was, perhaps, the most disturbing thing it had experienced since taking its host. Though it knew it was still as practically indestructible as it had been as a dragon, it felt soft and vulnerable. With the woman’s short stature, it often found himself looking up at its servants, rather than towering over them.

  As the Elemental opened the door to its apartment, a pair of bowing Fire Warriors stood outside. The two ornately dressed generals kept their eyes turned sharply to the floor until the Fire Elemental had passed. Only then did they stand and turn on their heels, quickly following the blond woman toward the spiral staircase that led out of the tall tower.

  “Tell me of your progress,” the Fire Elemental said. Its voice rumbled from the woman’s throat in a tone that hardly matched the delicate features.

  General Kobal stood a head above Sammy’s short height. His broad shoulders filled the narrow staircase directly behind the Fire Elemental as they descended.

  “My legion is outfitted and ready to march to war, my Master,” he said.

  “Excellent. And you, General Geryon?”

  General Geryon ran a hand nervously across his short, blond hair. His hair was slicked back against his head with a combination of grease and sweat.

  “The Fourth Legion is formed but undermanned, Master,” he said. “Many of my men were deployed in search of the Wind Warriors and few returned alive.”

  “My men,” the Fire Elemental corrected. “The Fourth Legion, like all the legions, is mine and mine alone.”

  “Of course, Master,” Geryon said. He bowed even as they walked.

  “Those that remain of the Fourth are ready to march?”

  Geryon cleared his throat and tugged at his leather tunic. “The men… they aren’t yet fully equipped. They’ll need more time.”