Colliding Elements (Original Draft)

8. Conquest

A scream broke the morning silence, waking up Ash immediately from her slumber. She jumped up in her lumpy bed, the wool sheets slipping off of her arms and causing an itchy sensation on her arms. She rubbed them while listening to the sounds of yelling and screaming off in the distance, soon being drowned out by a loud snort. She flinched from the noise before looking at where it had come from, seeing Hunter still sound asleep in the bed they had shared.

"Hey! Wake up you log!" Ash shook Hunter, not receiving any response. She looked by the bedside table, seeing her cup of water from last night at dinner. A smile appeared on her face as an idea came to her mind. She snatched the metal cup and held it above Hunter's head, tilting it ever so slightly to let the liquid fall on her best friend's face.

Hunter immediately smacked herself to get the water off while sitting upright. "What was that for?" She snapped at Ash while still wiping her face. "I'm tired of being wet all the time."

"Hey," Jim turned over to look at them from the other bed in their room. He yawned and rubbed his eyes before continuing on. "What's all the commotion about?"

"Listen to it outside," Ash spoke. She motioned to the glass window with her head, getting Jim to be silent and listen to the cries coming from the villagers.

The ruffling of sheets was heard as a black head popped out with a loud yawn. "What's going on, guys?" Kyle asked while stretching.

"There's an attack on this village right now. We need to help save them!" Jim jumped out of the bed, Ash following him on the way out.

Hunter and Kyle stayed in the beds they had slept in, still not registering the situation completely. The sound of breaking glass came from behind Hunter, making her turn around quickly to see a black spear rolling on the wooden floor. She jumped up off the bed and walked towards it, avoiding shards of glass as she maneuvered to the spear and picked it up. She looked out through the now broken window, seeing men, women, and children running eastward out of the town, black masses chasing a few of them down and beating them to the ground.

"What is this cruelty?" Hunter asked quietly and angrily, balling up her hand into a fist, pale knuckles turning white.

Kyle turned his head in her direction, sleep still holding control over him. "What's going on? Did Jim say an attack?"

"Yes," Hunter spoke and knelt down. The glass was pushed aside by her fingers before she picked up the spear, feeling the metal was quite hot. "It seems that we're being pursued by whatever villains are in-" She stopped for a moment, remembering the military uniforms from her first night in the element world. "Not just random ones, but apparently by the king." After finishing her sentence, Hunter grabbed the window frame and jumped through it out into the streets.

"Hunter!" Kyle called out, trying to rid himself of sleep as he stood up and ran towards the window. He stopped short when he encountered the glass shards, not wanting to cut his bare feet. He looked for a way around the glass, noticing a pair of boots on the side Ash slept on. "Oh great."

~~{*}~~

Jim and Ash ran through the mass amount of people running in the direction opposite of the two. They looked around, seeing men clad in black all over the place, either attacking villagers who fought back or attacking the fire monks that had swarmed the area. A fireball came rushing through the air, nearly nicking Jim on the cheek.

"Stay back!" He yelled at Ash as she ran up to him, hiding behind him.

"What's going on?" She inquired, peering over his shoulder by standing on her tip toes.

The fires kept coming as they hit soldiers square in the chest and knocking them to the ground. Some struggled to get up, their visible skin appearing to be red, not to mention the painful blisters bursting on their skin. Fires hit them once again, knocking them to the ground and ensuring they didn't stand back up.