So... certainly been a while. Quite a few years, in fact.

Lots of life events have kept me away from writing for a while; college, moving halfway across the country for work, having to get another new job after the one I moved for let me go, getting apartments... And, the day after I begin writing this out, I am told my department will cease to exist at the end of the year.

This story is to help me get back into the writing mindset, and put the English Literature degree I worked on for four years to work. Once this is done, I can move on and return to the other stories that I have here - they've been abandoned for a while.


Elijah ran for his life, branches and leaves whipping at his face as he darted through the underbrush. Behind him, he could hear the shouts and gunfire, bullets whizzing past his head as he ducked. A few managed to hit his leg, causing him to stumble for a moment, but after a few seconds the pain had faded and he was able to run properly again.

God, how had it come to this? He pondered, pausing in a clearing to take a quick breather and figure out the way to go from here. To his left was a ravine, the bottom of which held a river, lazily drifting through. An easier pathway to take, and could allow him to hide more easily, but if they found him they'd have the high ground. On the other hand, he could head up the hill to get the high ground on his pursuers, fighting back before they could do much more than notice him.

Gritting his teeth as he made up his mind, he threw himself into the ravine, a fiery light manifesting around his hands to slow his descent before he ducked behind some rocks, listening closely to see if they'd seen him.

"Damnit... where'd that BT go!?"

"How should I know, man, you're the one in front! If you can't keep track of him, how am I supposed to?"

"Fuck you both, just spread out and search! He can't have gone far!"

As the three men talked and barked orders, Elijah flinched. BT. Bio-Terrorist.

Even after the actions of Delsin Rowe and his friends in taking down Augustine and her D.U.P., there were still people out there decrying Conduits and devoting themselves to hunting down any they could find. Like these guys for instance - rednecks with more guns than brains who saw him using his powers. Of course, they started a whole witch hunt for his head, and now, he was here in the middle of "nowhere-woods" hiding from them.

Elijah was jolted from his thoughts by a loud bang and a force that knocked him onto his stomach. The pursuer racked his shotgun, going for another shot. "Clem, Jer, I found the bastard! He's-!"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off as Elijah abruptly erupted into flames, his body coming apart as it transformed into red fire, streaming out and around the man before he was blasted in the back by a burst of fire - a Flare Shot, courtesy of a suddenly-reformed Elijah. He transmuted himself into a human-shaped inferno once more, his flame-form streaming up and over the side of the ravine and bringing him face-to-face with another man, who he promptly decked with a flaming fist. The man crumpled to the ground, clutching his burnt face with a scream, before a swift kick knocked him out.

Yet another fiery rush had him diving for the last chaser, one who fired his assault rifle wildly into the oncoming inferno before Elijah's hand were knocking away his rifle and wrapping around his throat. A moment later, the Conduit's forehead smashed against his own, plummeting him into darkness.

The Conduit sighed for a moment; it had been an impulse when he'd reformed to reach out towards the now-unconscious man, reaching out for his personal element; it could be found in pretty much every living animal, after all, but... absorbing it always made him feel sick, not the least because it always led to the total disintegration of the target.

With various forms of his personal element being found in so many different things, he found it hard sometimes. It was tempting to absorb it, to take in as much as possible, store it all inside of himself. But... that was risky. Not because of how volatile it could be, but because he wasn't sure he would be able to stop himself once he let himself start down that road.

Shaking his head once more, Elijah turned and, with a flick of his wrist, shattered the shotgun and assault rifles of his assailants. They'd whine and complain about it, no question, but it would make it much easier on whomever they decided to try targeting next. Assuming that person just didn't smash their heads in for their stupidity.

Sticking his hands into his hoodie pockets after flipping his hood back up, he walked in a random direction, simply seeking to get away from the whole thing as fast as possible.


An hour or so later, he found himself on a cliffside view, overlooking a large lake. His hands were still in the pockets of his hoodie, a thick thing with the color black comprising the torso while the arms were lined with white. Along the back was a decoration of a black-and-white Yin-Yang symbol, sloped sideways so the white Yang was higher up than the black Yin. His pants were a simple set of jeans, well-worn after so long, but still holding strong. Beneath the white hood, his darker skin seemed to glisten in the sunlight as he took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Out here, nobody could hurt him... and nobody could be hurt by him.

Turning, he headed for his shelter - an old hunter's shack, somewhat in disrepair, but still standing. It would do for a day or two, then he'd keep going... heading to Seattle on foot was a pain and rather tedious, even for a Conduit, but he didn't want to risk getting caught on a bus or something and having to use his abilities. Too easy to lose control, too many people.

Elijah had always liked being away from other people - but it wasn't as soothing when it was out of necessity. Still... he liked his peace and quiet. And right now, after everything he'd gone through today... that's exactly what he needed.

There wasn't any furniture inside the shack - none that was properly serviceable, anyway. The chair had broken when he'd tried sitting on it, and the bed... well, the less said about the state of that thing, the better. Still... this was his home for now.

He sat down on the old log he'd brought in to serve as his new chair, leaning back until he was touching the wall before putting his feet up on the lopsided table. Curling up his arms, he closed his eyes, wrapped in the comforts of his own hoodie... really, the only thing he had left from his old life.


I plan for future chapters to be longer than this. I just wanted to push this one out, so I can convince myself to keep going and make Chapter 2.

If anyone can guess what Elijah's Conduit element is, you will win an internet cookie; there's already some clues in this chapter.