The Five Elemental Forces

[Rhonya]

Part one: Water

Giver of life, the water which is the blood of all creatures. Cleanser, washer of doubt. Do not anger, because the currents that hold so much life, can also take it in a heartbeat.

All ways to describe the element of Water. Yet, looking at the blue shape that once again moved away from her, Rhonya couldn’t help but be somewhat annoyed. They should’ve added: curious, a danger to itself, has a strong own will, stubborn, doesn’t listen.
The She-orc sighed as once again she ran after the little blob of water that she had to protect. It was shaped like a droplet, with two little arms and a head. It even had two little eyes made of water, which right now curiously looked over the edge of the chasm in the Barrens, not even noticing that it was steaming due to the heat that the lava below was causing to rise up into the air.
For a thing without legs, the elemental was surprisingly fast.

“Oh come on, little one! Look, you’ve just lost half of yourself. Do you â€"want- to disappear?” Rhonya spoke, while trying to urge the small thing further back from the edge, back onto the cooler plains of the Barren land. Thankfully it followed, though reluctantly. The little thing didn’t speak, but it appeared to understand Rhonya’s words now and again. Or perhaps it felt her emotions more, she couldn’t really tell.
Rhonya decided to take a little break. She and the little thing had walked all night and morning already past the Crossroads, only taking a few hours for some sleep. Rhonya didn’t really dare to sleep longer, afraid the tiny elemental would go off on its own and leave her behind. With a soft grunt she sat down on a rock in the shade. As the waveling moved in front of her, she opened her waterskin and poured it empty over the tiny thing. The change was immediate, the waveling grew visibly and actually appeared to enjoy the shower, its form oddly shifting for a moment as it absorbed the added water.
Not able to help herself, Rhonya chuckled softly at the happy elemental. “There, much better, isn’t it?“
Rhonya took some food for herself, sitting on the rock. As she chewed, she counted the waterskins she had left. Apparently she had greatly misjudged how much she’d needed to take with her. Her pack was mainly filled with waterskins, as much as she could’ve carried, but more than half was already gone. And she still had a long way to go…


Later they finally reached the end of the lava chasm. Rhonya had taken a short detour towards the Forgotten pools, but didn’t dare linger long or fill all of her waterskins in the lake there, she didn’t feel safe at all, alone out there. So she only filled a few and continued on.

They could’ve been faster, if it hadn’t been for the elemental which literally took every opportunity to curiously approach things it didn’t know yet. Including predators. Rhonya now sported a few open claw marks on her arms. She had bandaged them, because when she’d tried to call on waters aid to mend herself… it hadn’t answered. Typical. Here she was escorting one of theirs, but they refused to help her in turn. It had made her be even more careful though. She’d been lucky that the lion that had attacked the elemental and her had been an old one and she actually managed to kill it by tricking it and having it fall off the edge of the lava nearby. Not a very honourable end. She’d just muttered a small prayer to Fire to apologize and accept her ‘offering’ … and left it at that.
Rhonya wasn’t a fighter, she had trouble enough already with small prey, let alone a fully grown lion.

The she-orc turned to look at the small elemental, which was now bobbing up and down, circling her legs. It did that at times, mainly when she was standing or sitting still, as if it just couldn’t stop moving. With a soft sigh she poured another of the waterskins over the tiny creature, watching it grow slightly again as she did so. “You need more than I thought… And we’re not even past the worst part yet.” Saying that, she looked towards the small edge they would need to cross to get into Stonetalon. It went right past the heat of the lava far below. The water orb that was still following her as well floated somewhere behind her, unphased by anything. It didn’t get smaller. It just hung there and followed her.

Her back had started to hurt from carrying so much water. She was dusty and tired and thirsty, as she only had taken a few sips of the precious water herself so far. Maybe she could stock up in one of the towns in Stonetalon, but she rather avoided any settlements in fear of losing sight of the elemental. It already happened a few times that she thought she’d lost it when closing her eyes for only a few moments, losing it in a town might as well mean its end. No towns, she decided.
“Right.. Let’s go. No use in delaying. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can get some sleep. I don’t even dare lose sight of you anymore.” She said, while standing up.

It took them another while to actually get past the worst heat. Rhonya had been forced to stop a few times to pour some more water over the elemental before they could continue. As night started to fall again, they entered the slightly more cool Stonetalon Mountains. Exhaustion pressed heavily on the female now, but she didn’t want to stop. She only had a few waterskins left to get her and the waveling to their destination. Her throat was dry and her voice raspy as she spoke.
“Just a bit further, little one…”
Rhonya’s pace was slower now, her feet slightly dragging as she stubbornly continued. Almost as if feeling her exhaustion and that they were nearly there, the waveling kept close to her. Yet it took her another few hours to cross some of the mountains and finally, when she reached the top of one, she could look down on where they were headed.

The forest below them was burning. She could feel the heat from here, rising up into the air. The ground was blackened and cracked, trees fallen over. Rhonya frowned. The Elemental that had given her task had mentioned a fire spirit going wild, but she hadn’t expected it to be this bad. The heavy smoke was making her cough, so she backed off a little to take a rough cloth shawl from her pack to wrap it around her head. Normally she would’ve made it wet, but… There was only one waterskin left. Without hesitation she poured it over the tiny elemental instead.
“That’s all I have..” Even the few words made her cough again, not from smoke but because her throat was so dry. She hadn’t drank anything for hours now. Her legs and hands were shaking and her head felt like it was about to explode any moment, but she didn’t give up.
Slowly she started her way down towards the blackened, burned ground. The closer she got, the more weakened she felt, as if the heat was also sapping her life energy away. Looking down beside her she noticed the waveling shrinking slowly, but steadily. Damnit. They were so close…

Shielding the elemental with her own body as much as she could, Rhonya continued down. Almost there! She could feel her lips burst of dryness and heat, the sharp tinge and taste of blood filling her mouth. Suddenly she tripped, her foot catching on a loose rock. With a cry she tried to grasp something to hold on to, but it was all sand and loose, hot rocks. In a cloud of dust and ashes she disappeared until she smacked hard on the ground down below.

The last thing she saw before the black spots took over her vision was the tiny waveling bobbing around her once before it disappeared into the flames, followed by the watery blob that had been behind them all this time.
And then the world went black.

[Rhonya]

Part Two: Fire

Passion, the flame, warmth and a guiding light. Destruction, but not leaving an emptiness, but fertile ground. Anger, recklessness, an endless hunger for more.

Fire was for Rhonya one of the easiest elements to commune with, but it was always like treading on a very narrow path. One wrong step and that endless hunger would consume you as well.
Yet, she’d woken up on the scorched earth in Stonetalon, completely soaked for some reason. Next to her, the core of the water elemental that she had to return to Trakmar. She felt stronger, the thirst was gone and her wounds were nearly gone as well. She didn’t have much time to wonder about what had happened though, seeing a heat from nearby made her look up. A fire elemental. Larger than the water one had been. The scorching heat came off it in burning waves, making her lean back slightly.
Their conversation had been short but passionate, the elemental acting as Rhonya was used to from Fire by now. Angry, proud, not impressed easily. She knew how to handle it though. Not back down, don’t show any fear. Be firm but not disrespectful. He’d given her the next task after he realised who she was and why she was there. By that time he’d insulted her a few times already, but she let that slide. It was in his nature.

And so she had set out again, this time following another tiny elemental. Fire, of course. This one had the annoying tendency to flare up whenever it passed anything that could burn and set it alight. Rhonya had taken a moment to stock up on water again. Not to sustain the elemental this time, but to actually be able to douse the flames whenever it had started a fire again, even though she kept watchful eye on it and tried to prevent it from happening. The she-orc was also carrying small logs of wood now and twigs found along the way, that she fed the fire with that the elemental consisted of while making her way out of Stonetalon once more. This time though she took the northern exit, into the dark humid woods of Ashenvale.

There, the dry air changed drastically and rain began to pour down not long after she’d stepped between the large trees that blocked out most light. Now started the hard part of the journey.
“Right..” Rhonya spoke, turning towards the tiny fire elemental. “Listen. You probably won’t be able to start many fires here, with everything being so damp. But we need to move through the woods. Partly to keep you as dry as possible, and because the paths are just not safe. I know your big brother said he’d keep watch over us, but you… stand out. And elves really won’t be happy with me bringing fire into their woods.”
She wondered why she was even talking out loud, because while she’d been speaking, the little flame had moved away and actually tried to set one of the trees nearby on fire, not even paying attention to anything she said.
With a deep sigh she moved to pick it up. The heat didn’t burn her, but she knew not to hold on to it too long, for then she would be scorched. Rhonya set the little thing down next to her again, trying to shield it slightly from the droplets falling down. “Come on then…”

The trip was slow. It was difficult finding her way through the forest, especially because she kept being distracted by the little flame. It took most of the remaining day and night to even get halfway of where they had to be. In that time Rhonya had burned her own fingers from trying to get the elemental to stop running away from her, she’d taken several breaks under low hanging branches to fuel the fire that was the elemental, she’d fallen over several times and had nearly been attacked by a bunch of bears. Though she had managed to chase them off by dropping a handful of dry wood onto the elemental, making it flare up bigger and brighter than ever. Downside, the heat was actually a bit too much for her as well, so she wrapped some soaked garments around her face to be able to withstand it.

As if by miracle, she didn’t run into any elves. Maybe the large Fire Elemental had kept its word and distracted them from finding her.
Exhausted again, they reached the border of Darkshore. Not having slept, hardly having eaten something aside from what she could stuff into her face while walking. At least there was no shortage of water now with the rain, but she had to keep a very close eye on that she kept the elemental burning brightly enough. Darkshore added even more difficulty to that fact, seeing it was close to the sea and the forest was less dense.
Rhonya went on though. She was soaked to the bone, but her pack was dry and filled with wood. She’d wrapped a large, cured leather skin over the top of her pack, something she always carried with her supplies. It kept most of her things dry in times like this.

She felt the place they needed to be before she saw it. Corruption, the large fire elemental had said. She smaller one felt it too, because it suddenly picked up the pace and Rhonya had to run to keep up with it. As they reached the edge of the corruption though, Rhonya bend down to empty all the wood she had in her pack and ‘feed’ it to the elemental. As she did so however, her mind suddenly felt.. foggy.

There was no need to be scared. The she-orc relaxed entirely, something tugging on her consciousness to pull her further into the woods. On her back she felt the rune tattoo flare up in warning, but that was alright too. She didn’t need to heed that. It was fine, all would be fine…
The next thing she knew, she was standing at the centre of the corruption. The fire elemental was gone, she couldn’t see it anymore. But it didn’t matter.
A claw cupped her chin. Sharp, long nails dug into her skin and a shadow fell over her. Something massive was standing in front of her, looking down at her.
A deep, masculine voice sounded, coated in honey. It was the most beautiful voice she’d ever heard.

“What is this? A gift, so willingly walking into my domain? An orc, no less… I had not expected any of your kind to come this far.”

Red eyes looked down into hers. Somewhere deep inside Rhonya knew she was in danger, but something else kept pushing that away. It felt good, being here. There was no danger.
“Well, I am not one to turn those away that get stuck in my web. Let’s see what I caught, then…” the voice continued. Rhonya drank in every word, enthralled. The creature stepped even closer and looking up, she could see two majestic horns growing from his head, curling backwards over his head. His other claw moved to grasp the back of her head, his sharp nails combing through her hair. His eyes started to flare up slightly more, as did his claw..

“RETH RETH RETH!” A sudden noise came from Rhonya’s left and within seconds, a blaze of heat washed over her as the fire elemental made its way through the trees. It was huge now and randomly started to burn down everything around them.
The claws released her and a curse sounded in a language she didn’t speak. Rhonya felt herself dropping to the ground as the shadow moved away from her, the two red eyes disappearing.

What happened next was just a blur in her memories. The heat remained, but for some reason it didn’t harm her. Eventually she heard a scream and the stink of burning hair and flesh forced itself into her nostrils. Everything was burning. Rhonya closed her eyes and gave herself to the safety of the flames.

When the orc woke up again, she was alone. Alone in a large circle of blackened earth once more. No strange being, no fire elemental, nothing. She felt strangely clear of mind and realised she must’ve ran into the satyr that had corrupted this patch of the forest. She’d foolishly got caught into his enchantment.  Grumbling to herself, Rhonya stood up.
“Fool… Such an idiot. He had warned me about a Satyr,” she said, more to herself than to anything around her, seeing there was nothing left anymore. Aside from one little thing that she noticed now, lying at her feet. A red, shiny core, still somewhat hot to the touch.
The little elemental…

“Guess we succeeded then…” Rhonya sighed.
Rhonya waited a little while longer, but as nothing else happened, she decided to start her trip back towards Razor Hill. She could do with a good night’s sleep. She’d find the nearest Horde outpost and request a wyvern to fly her back, even though she hated flying. Rhonya knew this wasn’t the end of the task yet, she’d only helped two out of five so far.
But for now…time to return home.