Disclaimer: Quest of Elementals with all of its characters, ideas and storylines is copyrighted by me, Mikomi. Don’t use any of my ideas without my written permission.

Element 03 – Shades of Grey

The chilly night sent lines of dust through the streets in the Vulcania district. Only the sound of footsteps broke through the silence from time to time. After the announcement that the Fire crownprincess had been seen at the docks earlier that day, the guards of the Water clan were taking their job more than seriously. There wasn’t a single point in whole Lava Haven without a guard and that made life even more uncomfortable as useal. All inhabitants denied to have seen Angel nor to have heard of her current location. Some were lying, without a doubt. The Fire clan members all held together and would rather die than to betray their princess. They had their pride, a pride which the Water clan stepped onto for too long and this pride was holy for them. Even the worst physical torture couldn’t break the Fire clan pride. And thus the guards had more than a difficult mission to fulfil. And now, as the midnight hour was getting closer, most of them were giving up any hope. Just like the guards who were on their last control walk through the Vulcania district.

“You know, I believe that it was all a bad joke. If this girl was here we had found a trace of her.”

“Silly boy. You don’t know the Fire clan as good as I do.”

The younger guard blinked in surprise and turned around to face his way older camerade who was brushing over his white beard.

“Their pride is unbreakable. Betraying the crownprincess by telling something of her location is like killing one’s mother.”

“Then, why don’t we use violence like years back when ....”

“Shut up! You don’t have a single idea of what was going on back then. Another violent act could lead to a civil war and, holy Sirene protect us, we would have great problems if that happened.”

When he noticed the confused look of his young partner, he grunted and fastened his steps. The young guards were a great threat in his eyes, they knew not a single thing about what actually was going on and only saw the good and bad side, white and black. They didn’t even waste a thought on all the the shades between.

“Boy, you still have to learn a lot. Otherwise you’ll have great problems.”

“Problems? What do you mean? Hey, wait!”

The guards disappeared behind the next corner and the street was silent again. Moments passed and then a petite figure stepped out of the shadows. Red eyes traced the street, up and down before giving the others a sign to get out of their secret place behind some bushes. Crystal sighed in relief and loosened the hold on her skirt.

“For a moment I thought they would discover us.”

Standing on the middle of the street, Angel could only smile despisefull at this comment. For her the guards were so untalented that they couldn’t even catch a little mouse if they had to. She had known that they would give up sooner or later and that time would be perfect to disappear out of Lava Haven. The situation had somehow gotten out of control in the moment she had stepped onto the ground of her kingdom. A guard had recognized her and that message had kicked off an avalanche. Within a short time the command to find the Fire Clan’s crownprincess and kill her immediatly made its round through the whole town. But unlike all the years before the Water Clan faced the first resistance of the people they should control. No word about Angel’s location left their lips and their hate was shown more or less openly. The whole situation was extremely tensed and Angel wasn’t the only one who had sensed that. Sighing lightly, she turned around and faced the others. Her most loyal friends who would never leave her side for a second.

“Let’s go. The forest is not far away.”

The others nodded and together they disappeared in the dust of the dark street.

A blackgloved hand banged on the table and caused a glass to fall down on the ground, splitting into pieces.

“What do you mean with giving up?!”

Chris had to gulp and gather all of his strength in order to continue. As the first commander of the guards in Lava Haven it had been his order to stop the search for the crownprincess once the night had fallen. But his chief was of another point of view. Only seeing the great honors he would achieve when this girl was caught, he didn’t care about the facts that were known about her and her companions.

“Sir, it has no sense to continue this search. In a night like this it’s near to impossible to find her. It would only be risky for our men.”

Looking down onto the ground, Chris avoided the angry glare of his chief. Maybe this night would be the last of him being the first commander.

“Well then ....”

The chief stood up and walked over to the window, brushing over his beard. His eyes trailed over to the thick forest behind the last district of Lava Haven. His eyes narrowed. This forest was the only way to leave the town and that would bring the the needed advantage.

“Chris?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Call all guards and inform them that they all shall patrol the border between town and forest. Give them the strongest weapons we have and tell them to shoot at everyone who dares to leave Lava Haven.”

Chris’ eyes widened upon hearing this command. That was insane, completely insane. That would probably lead to the bloody deaths of many innocent people and he didn’t like this idea. Stepping forward, he desperatly tried to call on his chief’s mind.

“But, sir. That would mean killing innocent victims. We cannot ....”

“We can!!”

The chief whirled around and stared at Chris as if he was nothing more than a little guy who had no idea of life. This young commander had never been of his taste, hell only knew why their king had chosen him to be at such a high position among the army. Such a silly guy with too much emotions. Grunting, he grabed his cape and walked towards the door.

“If you cannot do it, then I will. But you follow me, milky boy.”

With strong steps, he left the room and Chris had no other option then following him. His mind was racing. He couldn’t support such an idea, he had to warn the crownprincess. Even if she was his enemy there was no use of risking other people’s lifes for her end.

“But how can I warn them without being noticed myself?”

Fast footsteps sounded through the empty streets of the Vulcania district. With Angel and Dark in the lead, the five headed towards their destination, the forest of Lava Haven, the only place where they could be safe from all the guards and plan their next steps. No barriers had blocked their way by now and that raised some sceptical thoughts. Even if the guards weren’t so insane to take them all alone as Angel had pointed it out, they were certainly planning something. Wiping the sweat from her face, Erin tried her best to keep pace with the others. And asked the question everyone was pondering about.

“Do you think we can pass the border without problems?”

“Certainly not. These bastards have an idea on how to stop us.”

Garayn growled at the thought of some high-technology weapons awaiting to be tested on them. His expression got so dark that Erin was nearly scared. But he was right, she knew that. Throughout her young life she had seen more violence actions than others. Actions by the Water Clan, an effort to convince all people to only believe their ideas and judges. Not that it had helped in any way, it had raised the resistance even more even if it was hidden in the underground. But with Angel’s help it would be possible to raise the old balance of the elements once again and to end all the fights and violence. That was Erin’s motivation to help and the only reason why she had put herself in such a dangerous situation. Looking up she stared at the glowing red hair of her best friend. If only the people knew how much a single girl can change the world. In that moment, Garayn stopped abruptly and Erin nearly tripped over him.

“What’s the matter?”

The other three had stopped as well and Angel came walking back, brushing some strains of her out of her face. Her expression was a mixture between surprise and anger, after all they were loosing important seconds for their escape. Garayn shook his head and pointed over the corner they had wanted to pass.

“I have the feeling that something is awaiting us behind this corner what can be our end.”

“Pardon? Our end?”

Dark sighed and leaned agains the next wall. He had expected something like this to come and with a chief like the one in Lava Haven it was foreseeable what would await them. A great line of guards with strong weapons and the order to shoot at anyone who got in their reach. Kicking a stone aside, Angel gnashed her teeth. Her plan was near to end before it had even really started in case they couldn’t find a solution within the next minutes.

“But what can we do? There’re no other ways to escape.”

“I might know of another possibility.”

The five spinned around and faced a young man hidden behind a great darkblue. He stepped out of the dark backstreet, avoiding to show them his face and only pointed behind his back.

“Another path leads out of here. You just have to follow me.”

Angel’s red eyes glittered sceptical and she examined the person in front of her. He was suspicious to her but on the other hand it seemed like they could trust him. Other people however couldn’t decide that fast and had to be convinced even more. Like Garayn and Crystal.

“Name one reason why we should trust you. We don’t even know you.”

The young man shook his head and showed his unbelieve on that way. He knew their situation perfectly and therefore couldn’t understand why they wasted their time with pointless questions.

“My identity is not important. Important is that you have no other choice than trusting me if you don’t want to be killed by the newest, deadly weapons.”

With that he turned around and had nearly disappeared in the backstreet again when Angel noticed something of her interest. The cape had lifted a bit and in the moonlight she could notice a sign on the right glove the man was wearing. A blue mermaid, the sign of the Water Clan. Her red eyes widened with surprise.