The One Left Behind
Maybe everything was predetermined right from the beginning.
The end result of one who had spent his entire journey behind a mask, concealing his true intentions underneath a thick cloak of confidence that strongly verged on arrogance, sentenced to what some would swiftly claim would be his just punishment. The man spread his hand out to the sky above him, a wry smirk plastered on his face as he registered just how much of an effort that simple task had required from him, and silently laughed at the irony of his own helplessness.
One moment the world's secrets were nearly within his grasp and then…everything came crashing down upon him as that power was so swiftly snatched away. Almost as though all the effort went through to retrieve it didn't even matter.
The man blessed by the spirit of water was now reduced to nothing. And suddenly, he burst into a more audible laughter that racked his scarred and aching body, clutching his forehead with one hand as the irony of the situation consumed him. And yet, there was no fear within him, only that endlessly and utterly maddening sense of failure as the village's protector left him defeated atop the sacred mountain peak. Like specters through the mists of time, the faces of those eight elemental warriors flashed through his vision, almost as though they were mocking his newly acquired weakness.
He lingered for moment, on his thoughts of Mia, before swiftly pushing them aside. Nothing would come of regret anymore and it was almost certain that she truly hated him for his acts of betrayal, which the Adept had committed with full knowledge of the repercussions on their relationship. There was no going back. A fact that was even more evident now that he was on the verge of death on a crumbling mountain.
His thoughts then went to the two children of the Wind, so young and vulnerable even in comparison to the other teenage warriors, each beginning to grasp at the reins of their unknown destinies. Both he had considered weak even though the pair's rapid growth surprised the man almost as much as the progress made by the travelers from Vale. Sheba even possessing the bravery (or was it foolishness?) that allowed her to make attempts at prying into his mind.
Then there was the fighter from Lemuria, naturally gifted with his homeland's power of Water, all too polite and even-tempered to allow himself to be fooled by a ruse. It was that man who accompanied his leader to the Jupiter aerie when caution and suspicion of their foes demanded it, proving those worries correct soon after. Though admittedly stung by his swift replacement, the man reflected and grudgingly accepted that the Lemurian could no longer be called a mere amateur.
Dredged up from his mind were the two friends who bitterly pursued his entourage from Vale, believing solely in the justice and righteousness of their quest, which was misplaced. Though tempted to fault them for that, the weakened man could not exactly blame them for the ignorance practiced by the secluded village. Isaac, whose tenacity and ever-growing strength became a great shock; and the companion Garet, who was staunchly loyal and stubborn despite his own clumsiness in the practical nature of things.
And of course, their supposed damsel in distress, who hardly even required their assistance in the first place. Jenna was quick-tempered, sensitive, and swift to jump on his words should the older fighter say anything she found even the slightest bit offensive. Nevertheless, she had proved to be capable in the end and hardy given the circumstances of her parents, though still remained delightfully fun to tease in their journey.
Last…was the one Earth master who formed the string that bound them all together in a quest to reignite the life force of the world and risked everything to accomplish that goal. Felix played the villain remarkably well and had the harsh determination to sacrifice for a greater cause, a difficult young man to fool indeed. In fact, the man had felt some twinge of respect for that warrior of the stone and unlike so many others, was not altogether surprised to learn how powerful he had become. That was just in the nature of that Earth wielder.
The phantoms swirled around his mind once more and he cast a lazy eye over them as the world steadily went black, the hallucinations fading along with his vision into the darkness, and the quiet shattered. Raising his hand into the air once more, Alex felt a slow smile stretch across his face just before the mountain crumbled beneath his form, casting him into the dark, unforgiving Earth.