Helia slowly stood up, walking over to the window. Outside, birds tittered delightfully as they flitted from tree to tree, and she spied a plump cook toting a cart of freshly baked bread making her way up a neatly pruned pathway. Her eyes moved along the pathway, to the occasional group of guards and strolling townsfolk, and finally, to the castle.
Her breath caught in her throat.
There it stood, in all its pristine glory, its white walls gleaming in the sunlight. Bright, colorful roses and shrubberies dotted the windows and terraces, and she could hear the faint sound of music streaming from somewhere in the gardens.
It was peaceful.
She had never known peace.
Helia shook her head, breaking herself out of her trance. She needed to focus. She looked down at the old, beaten-up satchel hanging by her waist.
Don’t you let go.
She wasn’t sure if the voice ringing through her ears was Tami’s or her mother’s voice. She concentrated.
What did her mother’s voice sound like, again?
It had been so long.
She needed to get out of here.
Helia looked out of the window, waiting for the opportune moment to slip out of the cottage unnoticed.
She needed to find a safe place to properly examine the contents of the bag. Tami had mentioned that everything she needed was in that bag.
And she needed to find out what to do next.
Helia’s mouth watered.
In the bustling crowd of the Polaris market, the aroma of freshly roasted chicken caught her attention, and her stomach grumbled angrily.
She was so hungry.
It had been a few days, and she had wandered around Polaris in a daze, utterly lost and confused. She felt like a failure, having already wasted so many days just trying to find food and shelter for herself. She had taken to sleeping in the odd nook and cranny in the outskirts of the town, trying to avoid drawing attention to herself.
She hadn’t dared to open the satchel, yet. She needed to find somewhere safe, first. There was too much at stake to have something so important be lost, or at risk of being stolen away from her.
For now, however, Helia’s energy and attention was on the fat, juicy roasted chicken on proud display at one of the market stalls.
She didn’t have any money.
Her stomach growled.
She reached her hand out towards the chicken, and then hesitated, biting her lip.
She was so hungry. She closed her eyes, drawing her hand back towards her. She couldn’t steal. She couldn’t risk bringing any unwanted attention to herself.
“You aren’t thinking of stealing that, are you, miss?”
Helia froze.
That voice.
It couldn’t be.
She turned around, and sure enough, it was.
Professor Neptune.
Helia gaped at him, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.
It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
“Ah- I… I wasn’t—”
“One chicken for the miss, please.” The Professor smiled at the man working behind the stall. He held out a small handful of coins, dropping it onto the counter. The shopkeeper promptly bagged the chicken, placing the hot parcel into Helia’s eager hands.
She looked down at the chicken, salivating.
“Thank—” Helia paused. The Professor disappeared in the crowd. She caught a glimpse of his telltale velvet robe swishing behind him before the crowd enveloped him into its throngs.
Things were looking up.
She knew what to do, now.
She needed to find Professor Neptune.
“Come now, Aileh,” the Professor chirped, the heels of his boots clicking smartly against the marble floors of the Old Archive. Helia smirked as he uttered her name.
It was a trait of the Elementals to hide their identities through anagrams. Tawer. Areth. Ria. Erif.
It was her way of taunting him with the truth, dangling it before his very nose, the Professor utterly oblivious to the truth.
It had been a month, and she had managed to track down the Professor and enlist as his personal bodyguard. Using the skills she learned during her training as a Warrior, she quickly captured his attention and impressed him with her prowess in offense, defense, and vigilance. She was, after all, Elemental 0001.
The very first Elemental Warrior.
They just weren’t created, yet.
It was the perfect cover, really. She kept her ultimate enemy and target close, never letting him leave her line of sight, while also having the resources of the Old Archive tomes at her fingertips. She had a safe place to examine the contents of her satchel: Two old, ragged books. She had a place to call home.
“Looks like we have some visitors,” Professor Neptune mused, standing outside of his office’s door. Helia stood alert at his heels, watching intently. Her blood ran cold as she spied a woman clad in a blue uniform.
An Elite.
Helia shook her head, squinting again.
No, it wasn’t an Elite.
It was a Guardian.
Helia stared.
“We were friends with your parents, a very long time ago. I used to work with your Aunt Miela as a Guardian. She was a good friend of your mother’s.”
She stared at the back of the woman’s head, her long braid tied neatly behind her.
Was this her Auntie Miela?
She looked at the woman, who was deep in conversation with the other occupants of the room.
“…Targeting scholars, libraries, and schools is a common tactical move in the military to bring a civilization down to its knees,” the woman uttered, her voice hard. “Destroying knowledge rips away the identity and strength of its beholder. Languages have been lost that way. Technology. Culture. Progression. By targeting scholars, you can set back an entire civilization hundreds of years. By erasing knowledge, you can ultimately erase that civilization. It’s an awful tactic, but an effective one.”
Helia frowned at the woman’s explanation, a sinking realization settling in.
Now that she thought of it, Helia had never seen scholars before. In fact, having a whole squadron of scholars working and thriving within the walls of the Old Archive was a foreign sight to her eyes. She listened intently to the conversation, eager to learn more.
“It’s been done before?” another woman asked, horrified.
Helia’s ears pricked at her voice.
She had heard that voice a thousand times in her dreams. That voice that she yearned to hear for so long. That voice that she had replayed in her head so many times, desperate to hold onto the few shreds of what she could remember.
Mama.
She looked at the woman, craning her neck to take in as much as she could of her. She had dark, long, wavy hair that fell over her shoulders and hung down to the middle of her back. Helia watched as the woman turned her head, and she raced to memorize the outline of her mother’s face. The way her nose turned ever so slightly upwards. The curve of her lips. The shape of her chin.
Helia brought a hand up to her own chin, recognizing the similarity they shared.
Professor Neptune strolled in, chiming into their conversation. Helia strode in behind him, standing sullenly in the corner of the room. She was suddenly very aware of how she was standing, and the clothes she wore. Her short, dark, wavy hair was pulled neatly into a low ponytail at the base of her skull, with a few tendrils curling softly around her hard, sunken eyes. She wore a fitted jacket over a smart pair of trousers, her gloved hands folded neatly behind her back as she stood stoically
She saw her mother glance curiously at her, and watched as her eyes darted down to the strap around her ankle, spying the hilt of a small dagger, peeking from under her left trouser leg and furrowing her brow curiously.
“Don’t mind Aileh,” the Professor waved dismissively at her. “She’s got quite the personality”—he chuckled—“but she’s quite useful. One can never be too careful…”
>
Helia surveyed the visitors, trying to memorize each of their faces. Her eyes finally landed on her father.
Dad.
Her face contorted as painful memories began to resurface once more. She struggled to keep her composure, and she trained her eyes on his face. He had dark, curly black hair, and he frequently ran a hand through his curls as he engaged in conversation with the others.
They were so young…
Helia held her breath, looking at her parents. She never thought she would see them again.
She wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch them. Make sure they were real. She yearned to run over to them and be wrapped up in their warm embrace. Her body burned desperately, and it took every bit of power and strength she could muster to hold herself back.
She needed to bide her time, if she was going to do this right. She would save them.
She would save all of them.
Something about today felt different.
Helia could feel it in her bones.
Or perhaps, she was just cold.
She had lost track of how much time had passed since she had gotten here.
Was it too late?
No. Helia chided herself for feeling so antsy.
She needed to time it right.
What was it that Mr. Vega had said to her?
You’ll know when the time is right. Trust your instincts. Trust your memories.
Trust your memories.
Helia shook her head. She could hardly remember anything from this timeline. She was simply too young.
She felt used. Like a pawn, a mere instrument, being moved back and forth between time, the world pinning their hopes of peace and being saved on her.
Tami was right. It was unfair.
Helia felt resent bubble up inside of her.
She resented Mr. Vega and Tami.
She resented…
Mama. Dad. Uncle Noiro. Auntie Miela.
Why did they leave her?
Helia bit her lip, her anger battling away with a small wave of guilt.
They didn’t leave her. They were taken away from her.
“Keep up, Aileh,” Professor Noiro called over the wind. She snapped back to the present, and tread carefully over the foot of the cliff, her boots sinking into the soft sand as she followed the Professor on one of his daily walks alongside the ocean.
They eventually made their way back to the entrance of the Old Archive. Her ears pricked. She could hear a group of people chattering excitedly amongst each other. Professor Neptune lifted a finger to his lips, signifying that they needed to approach quietly. Helia nodded, and followed him as they walked closer to the group of people huddled around the statue hidden in the corner of the cavern.
She watched a tall woman clamber back down from the top of the statue’s head, excitedly explaining to the group around her.
The woman clambered back down excitedly, quickly explaining to the group what she had seen.
“You’re brilliant, Estelle.” Uncle Noiro rubbed the back of his neck in admiration. “All this time…”
“It’s just like the Ballad said,” the woman squealed. “She hid the other amongst diamond, emerald, sapphire, and ruby. It was in the Diadem all along!”
Helia saw Professor Neptune smile.
She shuddered.
She had seen that sinister smile before.
“Noiro?” he called out, smiling as he watched the group jump in surprise. “How nice to see you!” Professor Neptune smiled cheerily. “Aileh and I just came back from a little walk. Are you here to see me?”
She sulked behind the Professor, watching his every move.
“Er, no,” Uncle Noiro uttered nervously. He shifted uncomfortably as he saw the Professor’s smile grow bigger. “I mean, yes. We were just taking a walk ourselves, and I wanted to drop by and say hello.”
“Of course.” Professor Neptune smiled. “Come, please. I believe I have some snacks in my office.”
Helia watched as the group exchanged uneasy glances, and were ultimately coaxed into following them to the Professor’s office.
Helia followed behind him, her lean, muscular arm propping the heavy door open with ease. It was then when she noticed the little toddler trotting anxiously alongside the group, her mother’s hand reaching for hers and holding it securely, eyeing her warily as the pair walked past her and into the office.
Helia’s heart stopped.
It was her.
She could feel her breaths echo in her ears, each shaky breath reverberating through her as she watched her toddle-self walk so steadily with her parents. So safely. So blissfully unaware.
Everything suddenly became clear.
Helia remembered this day.
She could never forget this day.
You’ll know when the time is right. Trust your instincts. Trust your memories.
This was it.
This was her chance.
She just needed to strike at the right moment…
Helia watched, her heart aching as she watched her Mama and Dad exchange worried glances, and then both look down at their daughter between them. She watched as her Dad instinctively moved forward, partially shielding her toddler-self from view.
She was loved.
She could see it.
She could feel it.
She felt her insides clench.
Watching her toddler-self receive so much care and love was painful. She felt as if she were in mourning. Mourning for herself, for all the loss she had experienced in her short, miserable life under the Elite rule.
Under Yun Zeru’s rule. Under Professor Neptune’s rule.
She blinked, catching herself before she could spiral into her thoughts.
She could mourn later.
She needed to focus, now.
She watched as the group before her—her family—slowly realize who Professor Neptune truly was.
What he was planning to do.
Not yet…
She watched as Yun Zeru burst into the room with his men, holding her family captive. She watched as Uncle Noiro pleaded with his old friend, begging him not to carry through with his plans.
Not yet…
She watched as, one by one, Yun Zeru’s men began to attack.
She felt herself freeze. She wanted to move, but her eyes darted wildly back and forth between Professor Neptune, Yun Zeru, and their men. Fear gripped her bones, and she retreated into the shell she was beaten into when she was first captured all those years ago.
She couldn’t move.
She stood stoically behind Professor Neptune, her empty, hollow eyes seemingly devoid of any emotion. Her Mama looked pleadingly at her, begging her, begging the Professor, begging anyone, to do something. She was screaming, begging for her toddler to be let go.
A faint flicker flashed in Helia’s eyes as her Mama’s eyes caught hers.
NOW.
An incredible crack began to fracture the marble floor, and the ground trembled and shook beneath their feet. She could hear her Mama gasp as a surge of ice-cold water suddenly began gushing out of the floor, sending her body into a cold shock. Her captor shrieked in surprise as the water seeped into his clothes, the cold sending shockwaves into his muscles, causing them to seize. Her Mama took her chance, pushing back against him and breaking free from his hold, running towards her child.
The water roared and swelled around them, pushing and holding the office door shut, the door shuddering in its frame with incredible force.
They were trapped.
Her Mama snatched the toddler from Yun Zeru’s arms, taking advantage of his momentary lapse as he stared around him in shock and wonder. Professor Neptune looked at the ground in awe, and then at the child, who was shaking in her mother’s arms and wailing.
Her Mama looked down at the toddler in her arms, backing away from the men. She trembled, and her Mama clutched tighter at her.
“Mama, what’s happening?” the toddler wailed as the stormy grey water
roared around them.
Her Mama looked down at her toddler again in surprise. If she wasn’t doing this, then who was?
Helia turned her attention to the Professor.
Finally. This was it.
She was going to save her family.
All of the rage she felt, all of the anger, the pain, the hurt, the suffering… It was all going to be over, soon. She felt a surge of energy blast from her body, and ripped the water from the ground, throwing everything she had into bringing the cold, unforgiving water and exploding it at the Professor.
Helia held the water into a thick column around him, holding him captive within the watery prison. Professor Neptune clutched at his mouth and neck, clawing silently at an invisible force that seemed to suck the life out of him.
Yes. Drowning was quite silent.
Columns of water began to overtake the captors, entrapping them in watery pillars. The room was suddenly filled with watery pillars, the water swiftly swirling around each of Yun Zeru’s men. The men tried to fight their way out of the watery pillars, but the current drew their arms back in. One by one, each of their struggles began to slow and finally cease. Their limbs floated limply, swaying with the waves. Their eyes and mouth fluttered open and shut as the water whipped around their bodies, their corpses dancing in the current.
A horrid, watery ballet.
Unbearably captivated, her Mama found herself frozen, watching in horror as the bodies around them waved lifelessly about.
As quickly as the water came, it seeped away back into the ground, leaving the waterlogged, lifeless men strewn about on the floor.
Helia’s eyes rolled back as the water disappeared, and she blinked as she tried to regain focus of her surroundings. She felt drained.
She looked at her Mama, who was grasping frantically for her child, holding her close as she shook, their bodies trembling together as they took in the bodies spread across the floor.
“Regards, from your Elemental Warrior,” Helia spat shakily at the Professor’s lifeless body, her nose wrinkled in disgust as she poked him with the tip of her boot.
Her Mama stood before her, frozen.
Was it really over?
She could hear a commotion erupting outside of the office, and she wondered how many more men would be coming in soon. The door was still held shut, waterlogged and swollen in place, refusing to budge from efforts of others trying to break in.
The Elemental Page 28