The strong, brawny man stood at the edge of the cliff. His hair was close cropped and brown, and a touch spiky on the back. He wore nothing but brown pants, unaware of the chill in the mountain air. Idly lifting a boulder, he cast it with inhuman force at the cliff face. It hit with a smashing, splintering sound that pleased him, and he picked up another to do it again.
He continued that way for some time. Until he abruptly became aware of something small and fragile at his side.
"…?" Looking down, storm cloud grey eyes met bright blue.
"What're you doing?" Surprised by the query, the man stopped what he was doing and regarded the intruder by his side. He'd never had anything to do with mortals in his life, so this was unexpected. Thinking for a moment, he identified the human as a child… and a very young one. He had very pretty, silvery blue hair and possessed a delicate beauty that the man thought would only be enhanced with age.
"Throwing rocks." He finally replied, and the boy tilted his head to one side as he picked up another boulder.
"Oh." The boy watched in silence for a moment as the next boulder went flying. "Why?"
"Trying to start a landslide." He could have easily begun a landslide from within the rock… just weaken a few bonds… but he was having fun seeing if he could start it just by throwing rocks. It was far more amusing. The boy frowned.
"Why?" The man shrugged at the query.
"No reason." There was really no reason for what he was doing, besides that it amused him at the moment. The boy's frown deepened.
"But there's my village down there." The man paused, startled by the thought. The mortals living in the valley hadn't even crossed his mind. He turned his head to look, calculating the distances.
"Shouldn't make it that far." It was a fair ways. Although he couldn't be absolutely certain, because of how he was doing this. If he got a big enough chunk of the cliff it could, perhaps, reach that far. What would happen if it did? He wasn't sure. But why should he care?
"Shouldn't isn't too good when there might be people in the way." The boy said solemnly, and the man looked at his rock. Somehow, his fun wasn't very fun anymore. Tossing it away, he turned to the boy.
"What's your name?" He knew very little about mortals, just the usual things all elementals knew… but that told him that mortals had names, just as his kind did.
"Ienzo. What's yours?" The child looked up at him fearlessly, and he smiled. It was… impressive.
"Aeleus. Where are your parents?" He was sure they had to be somewhere nearby. Smart and fearless as the child was, he was much too young to be here alone. Ienzo frowned.
"Not sure. I lost them when I was looking at some birds." Aeleus tilted his head and listened to the earth for a moment. If they were close… ah. Yes. The earth brought vibrations to him.
Ienzo! Ienzo? A woman's voice and another child? Aeleus blinked, focusing his attention back on Ienzo.
"I think your mother is looking for you. And your brother?" The other child sounded male. Ienzo nodded.
"That's Myde, we're twins." Aeleus nodded and offered the boy his hand. Ienzo took it with a smile. He wasn't sure why, but he liked Aeleus. He couldn't know that the elemental was thinking the same thing… this child was oddly charming. He'd never felt anything like this before.
"I will take you to them." Aeleus wasn't sure, but he thought there were plenty of things that could happen to a child in the woods. And that would be a pity. He wanted to see what this child would look like fully grown. Taking the child through the woods, they slowly made their way to the voices. Soon, Ienzo could hear them too.
"Mama!" He pulled away from Aeleus and he let him go, but followed curiously as Ienzo ran to his family. A woman with soft blond hair grabbed and hugged him, tremendously relieved. So did another small boy, this one with sandy blond hair
"Where did you go, Ienzo? We were so worried! You're in serious time out!" Ienzo tried to protest, but she was looking up with a frown as Aeleus stepped out of the woods. "Who are you?" The second child looked at him curiously, but was too shy to speak.
"He's Aeleus." Ienzo spoke up. "I found him near the cliff and he brought me back."
"Oh." His mother said something in his ear in a low tone. Aeleus knew he probably wasn't meant to hear, but he heard anyway. Earth wasn't as good at vibrations as air, but it was better than water or fire, so his hearing was acute. "Are you okay Ienzo?" Aeleus wondered, briefly, what she thought he might have done to the boy. But then, he probably looked extremely peculiar by human standards. Ienzo looked puzzled for a moment.
"I'm fine mom. Aeleus was tossing boulders." That clearly didn't reassure her, and Aeleus suddenly turned away, walking back into the woods without a word. He could always find Ienzo later. The Earth could find anyone.
"Bye Aeleus!" He paused at that, and glanced back to see Ienzo waving with a smile. Smiling back, he waved.
"Bye Ienzo." As soon as he was out of sight, he vanished back into the Earth.
He wanted to keep his nature secret from them, for a time. It might be amusing.
"The information age is awesome." Axel said appreciatively as he typed as his laptop. Roxas smiled, amused.
"For us, anyway. I bet the atrox aqua aren't as thrilled." The oceans were a bit more polluted than they had been, a long time ago. But Roxas knew that wouldn't really bother the water elementals much. As long as it wasn't an actual taint, they took such changes for granted. Some of them would have been born in the first oceans, which would have been a chemical soup compared to the water that existed now. Still… "Since the gremlins won't talk to them at all." Despite being partly earth, which should have been an ally of water, gremlins utterly loathed it. Which made sense given that they were the elementals of machines.
"Most of them probably haven't noticed that gremlins exist yet." Axel said with a grin and Roxas nodded. After the problems with the 'angel', they had spent a good hundred years in the core. And when they arose, they had found that the world had been utterly transformed.
They were living in Vishrii now. The mainland of Norash, their old continent, hadn't quite recovered from the morbus ventus. Unsurprisingly, the plague had inflicted a gruesome death toll. Their town in the mountains was going strong, thanks to its location, but neither of them had wanted to go back. The house might not be tainted anymore but it held too many bad memories.
Vishrii, though, was interesting. A lot of people fleeing the plague had settled there and fortunately, the plague of the morbus ventus wasn't natural and even when people brought it with them, it petered out that far from the plague wind. So it was a mix of cultures now. The worship of the One God had vanished almost entirely here in favor of the worship of Gaia or the pantheon the Vishrii believed in. Gaia was considered to be a part of that, actually. In general, the people in their new home were very friendly. But most of them didn't know what the terra flamma were. They'd decided to do things a bit differently this time.
Axel and Roxas were finding new and interesting ways to apply their powers in the information age. Gremlins were absolutely everywhere and their natures partook of air and earth. Air was a natural ally of fire and earth was part of their natures, so the gremlins were eager to please as long as the two terra flamma asked nicely. So they were making a very good living as technomancers.
Technomancers were wizards who specialized in technology. Mostly expert programmers but sometimes not, they were adept at binding and commanding the gremlins. Gremlins could rewrite code and correct mechanical problems easily, but cooperation was grudging when they were bound so mostly technomancers just kept them away as they worked. Which was important, because when the gremlins decided to act up anything that could go wrong would go wrong. That might have made technology in general unusable if it weren't for the fact that gremlins each had their own 'home' in a piece of machinery and didn't like having to look for new homes. So although they could occasionally get cranky, the gremlins usually didn't push it far enough to get their homes scrapped. They could still go pretty far, though, so technomancers always had plenty of work.
Roxas and Axel weren't the best programmers or engineers out there, although they'd developed a certain level of skill. It helped when the gremlins were willing to tutor you. It helped even more when the gremlins were more than willing to do part of the work for you, and they had quickly developed a reputation as the best technomancer's in the city. Which might not be fair to the human ones, but life was never entirely fair.
"So, what shall we do tonight?" Axel said brightly, interrupting Roxas' musings. "We could go to a restaurant, we could go to a club, we could play Eternal War, we could walk along the seashore and insult the undines-"
"Oh no we couldn't. Last time you did that they sank a ship." Axel grinned like a naughty child, and Roxas shook his head with a smile. "You're terrible. I don't know why the undines talk to you." They might not do what he wanted, but the undines were still willing to speak to Axel. He shrugged.
"To know me is to love me. Although that probably wasn't love… we could go to the sky needle, that was fun." Roxas considered it. That had been almost another elemental disaster, when the sylphs circling the needle had decided to play with them in front of spectators. But it had been fun when they'd snuck back in after hours and let the sylphs have a real go at it. Getting jetted around the needle in fire form had definitely been a good time.
"Sounds good, but can we get some salty sweet ice cream first?" They'd have to eat it before they reached the needle or it would end up splattered everywhere, but that wouldn't be a problem. Roxas was finding he loved the salty ice cream. Axel nodded.
"Sure! I'd love some of that." Axel loved the salty sweet ice cream almost as much as Roxas. Shutting off his laptop, he stood and stretched. Soon they were heading out the door to hit up the ice cream parlor, then the sky needle.
It was a very good life here in the city of New Vasini.
"Aeleus? You there?" Ienzo was older now, sitting outside and doing his homework in the sun. Aeleus was uncertain of exactly how old the child was now. All he knew was that they had been conversing off and on for six seasons. He wasn't certain Ienzo's parents knew about him. He'd taken no great pains to hide his presence, but Ienzo seemed to call out to him mostly when they weren't home.
"Yes." Aeleus slid easily out of the ground, joining Ienzo at the picnic table. He looked over Ienzo's work curiously. "What are you working on?"
"Elementals, actually. I was thinking, since you're here, I should do a project on the gnomes." Aeleus smiled slightly. That was Ienzo, always logical. "Could you answer some questions for me?"
"Certainly." Aeleus was a bit amused by that and wondered what Ienzo's teachers would make of his citations. Ienzo was quite pedantic in his reports so Aeleus was sure it would be interesting if he listed it as an interview. "What would you like to know?"
"Well, what's it like to be a gnome?" Ienzo asked innocently and Aeleus considered it for a moment.
"What's it like to be a human?" Ienzo looked confused as Aeleus smiled. "Your question is too general. I have nothing to compare it to."
"Oh!" Ienzo thought for a moment, tugging on his bangs with one hand. "Well, in that case, what's it like living underground?" That was a much better question and Aeleus considered a moment before he answered.
"It's beautiful. You can feel the flexes and strains of the earth, sense all the different layers of rock and soil. And the rock speaks." Ienzo looked a little skeptical at that. "It vibrates. If you know how to read the vibrations, it can tell you things that are happening far, far away. It is very relaxing, just resting in the ground and listening to the voice of the earth." Ienzo quickly noted that down.
"That sounds really interesting. What powers do gnomes have, in general?" Aeleus thought hard about that question for a moment.
"Well, there are many hybrid elementals but for pure gnomes, our powers are very physical. The manipulation of matter is what we do best, particularly stone, dirt and metals. Gnomes also tend to have powers of healing, particularly when combined with the power of water. Water is our closest ally, since it often moves through the earth." Ienzo nodded. That was common knowledge. "We have no powers over people's minds and thoughts, unlike the sylphs and undines. Our nature tends to be protective, although the wrath of the earth can be terrible." Aeleus shrugged. "Earthquakes and landslides are our province."
"What kind of gnomes are there?" Ienzo asked and Aeleus smiled.
"There are many. First, there are the simple gnomes, the smallest spirits of the dirt. They can be encountered anywhere. Then there are the fawns. They are the spirits of the fertile earth, and often have some powers of water. They are only a little more powerful than gnomes but are better at healing, although not as good as some of the true hybrids." Aeleus paused for a moment, thinking, before he continued. "Next are the tumulus. They are the elementals of hills, mounds and graves. They are more connected to death than most gnomes and they often cause landslides. Above them are the erus, the spirits of stone. They are far more powerful and can be found in the deep earth, or mountains. They can be involved in earthquakes. And of course, above them all are the magnus terra, the mighty earth." Aeleus stopped there, but Ienzo asked.
"And what can the magnus terra do?" Aeleus hesitated, then shrugged.
"Anything." Ienzo just looked at him and Aeleus knew he wouldn't accept that answer. "The earth answers when we call. If we chose, we can make the earth part and unleash the fire of the core into the land. We can tear down mountains or rise them up… we are the earth." Ienzo blinked, then swallowed.
"Aeleus, if you're that powerful, why are you here?" Ienzo asked, and Aeleus considered it for a moment.
"I like speaking to you, Ienzo. I'm curious to see what you will look like as a grown man." Ienzo blushed lightly as Aeleus continued. "And when you found me, in the mountains, I was throwing rocks because I was bored and it was fun. We are capable of becoming bored but humans are rarely boring to us. So that is why I am here."
"I see." Ienzo wasn't sure how he felt about that, that Aeleus was following him around because he was bored, but the truth was the truth. And the part about him as a grown man was interesting. Ienzo vaguely wondered what Aeleus would have looked like as a child if he had ever been a child. Which he hadn't, so it was really a pointless speculation. "Well, that should be a good start to my report." Ienzo considered his notes for a moment. "Although I'm not sure how to explain you as a source. My teachers already think I'm really weird." Aeleus grinned as Ienzo echoed his earlier thoughts.
"If you need me to come to your school as a witness for your report, I would be glad to do so." Ienzo's eyes widened at the offer. "I've never seen a school before." Aeleus was very curious, too. He had stayed away so far out of a desire not to cause trouble for Ienzo, but he really would like to see the place where the boy spent most of his time.
"Really?" Ienzo looked like he wasn't sure if he should be amused or worried. "That might be good if Mrs. Allerton gives me a really hard time. Thanks, Aeleus."
"It's nothing. But do you have any raisin-oatmeal cookies?" Aeleus was quite fond of those. Ienzo laughed and stood.
"Sure! Mom always makes tons of them." She thought that Ienzo and Mynd were both eating them, and had no idea that Aeleus was actually the one who was getting most of them. Ienzo and Mynd both didn't like raisins. "I'll go get you some." Ienzo headed into the house as Aeleus watched with a smile.
He vaguely wondered what would happen if Ienzo's mother ever found out about the cookies. It might be interesting.