Forgotten Elements
Chapter 21

The portal went about as well as expected. It wasn’t as unstable as the one heading to the wastelands, but it was pretty damn close. While it didn’t drop us over a chasm filled with lava, it did nearly drop us off a cliff. We landed only a couple of feet from the edge. If it weren’t for Parker grabbing my waist and pulling me toward him, I probably would’ve stepped backward off the edge.

“That’s not what I was aiming for,” he murmured as he looked over my shoulder at the ledge.

I arched an eyebrow as I tilted my head back to make eye contact. “You had an actual destination in mind?”

Parker chuckled as he pulled me further away from the edge. “Maybe we should save portals as a last resort,” I murmured, fisting the material of his shirt in my hands as he walked backward, and I followed.

“Are we closer?”

“Yes, a few miles by my estimate.” I took a step back from Parker now that I knew I wasn’t at risk of falling off the cliff and pointed down the steep hill toward the dense jungle. “We’ll have to go through there.”

Parker rubbed his jaw as he considered the jungle. “Can you sense if there’s a Guardian down there?”

I thought back to what I felt approaching the chasm and the river and shook my head. “I wasn’t able to sense the Guardian’s connection until I was nearby.” It would’ve been helpful if I could sense how many Guardians there were and where they resided.

The trek down the hill was uneventful, as was the first hour or so through the jungle.

I could imagine how beautiful this place once was—picture the shriveled flowers in full bloom. The trees had rough bark that had a marbled pattern with light and dark browns swirling together, which would’ve been stunning had it not been for chunks of the bark having flaked off. Once vibrant orange leaves—or at least, I assumed they used to be vibrant in color—were shriveled and drooped, as were the branches.

Anger flooded my body at what this piece of shit was doing to this once beautiful realm and in turn, killing the Elemental Guardians that had done nothing wrong. They were just minding their own business keeping the balance of the realm in order, and some fuckwit showed up and began stealing what didn’t belong to them.

I hoped this asshole couldn’t handle the power and died a painful death.

Out of nowhere, the ground began shaking, nearly knocking us off our feet.

“Earthquake?” Parker shouted as he reached for me.

I shook my head, not feeling any of the telltale signs that came with an earthquake. Normally, when there was an earthquake, there was an upheaval in the energy as the tremors shook the land, but I didn’t sense it. What I did sense was something connecting to the earth and trees, reminding me of what I felt in the river.

Before I could tell Parker of this new revelation, an earsplitting creaking sound filled the air, making me clap my hands over my ears. The shaking ground only grew worse, and this time, it knocked us over in a tangled heap.

All the trees were tall and towered over us. All of them except for one. It was maybe thirty feet tall and nearly twice as thick as all the others. Its branches were moving like the ones in the dark forest, twisting at awkward angles as they wound together into thick ropes. The roots ripped from the ground as the trunk split in half, and the horrible noises grew louder.

Shit. This wasn’t a tree; it was a humanoid figure covered in bark.

The branches twisting together formed six arms—three on each side of the trunk—with three claw-like fingers at the end of each arm. As it spun around, the ground trembling with each step, I found a squished, angry face built into the trunk near the top.

I had just managed to climb to my feet, as did Parker, but as soon as the creature started moving, we froze. I’d rather not go on the offensive right away and piss off this creature any more than it already was. Even weakened, fighting this thing would be a pain in the ass and something we didn’t have the time or energy for.

Like with the last creature, its focus immediately found me, and it bellowed in a deep, creaky roar that had me covering my ears once again. Even after it stopped roaring, my ears still rang—although it wasn’t near as bad as when Emmy shrieked.

Parker grabbed my hand and dragged me alongside him as we took off. His pace was unbelievably fast, and I struggled to keep up, which was made worse by how the ground trembled each time the creature took a step. The creature wasn’t moving all that fast, but its strides were long.

I groaned when I felt energy infused into the nearly depleted jungle, and it came alive. The roots of a nearby tree sprang out, and if I hadn’t sensed their movements and shoved Parker to the side, it would’ve stabbed at our hands to separate us. I didn’t bother attempting to connect to the ground or trees. The Guardian’s connection to the jungle superseded mine, and all I’d accomplish was wasting my already weakened magic. I’d have an easier time wrestling control of fire from Reed.

Fire would’ve been a good element to use against it, but unless Parker had a lighter stashed somewhere on him, that wouldn’t be possible. And there wasn’t any water nearby, leaving me with only one element to use: air. The air shield I put up didn’t completely block the roots or branches since, once again, my control of the element was weak as it fought against me. But at least it slowed them down enough we could avoid them for the most part. I did get whacked in the thigh by a branch, and somehow it hurt even worse than getting hit by those asshole trees in the dark forest.

“Jump!” I shouted to Parker as I felt the ground weaken a few feet in front of us seconds before it crumbled and left a gaping hole. It wasn’t big enough that we would’ve fallen in it, but had we not jumped over it, it would’ve tripped us and possibly sprained an ankle.

If the branches, roots, and crumbling earth were the only things we had to worry about, I wouldn’t have been so panicked. Parker had begun forming spells that helped block the projectiles and even blast them away. In any normal circumstance, I would’ve cringed at the smell of sizzling bark and the damage the tree’s roots took. But the trees were already dying, and within days, this realm would no longer exist. It was sad what was happening to them, but there was nothing we could do for them at this point.

The trees were a manageable threat to us—it was the giant controlling them that was the fucking problem, especially with how he was gaining on us despite his slow speed. Now I knew how Michael Myers’ victims felt in Halloween. The last time I glanced over my shoulder, it was only fifteen feet away.

Parker formed an energy ball in his free hand and launched it over his shoulder. Based on the ground shaking and a growl vibrating the air, I’d say his aim was good, but all he accomplished was pissing it off.

Parker launched two more consecutively, but it seemed to have little effect on it. He waved his hand at the creature as he glanced back. A loud thump followed, along with the ground quaking even harder, and I assumed he knocked the creature over. I formed an air shield, making it as solid as possible as I placed it before the creature. I knew it wouldn’t stop it, but I hoped it would slow it down enough for us to escape.

“Last resort!” I shouted to Parker as the creature rammed into the barrier, my hold on the element slipping. The creature slammed into the barrier again, and my hold slipped, but at least it bought us enough time for Parker to create a portal.

The location this portal dropped us off at wasn’t great, but at least it wasn’t worse than the cliff—not by much. It was on a hill, and unfortunately, since I dove through the portal, I tumbled down the hill until I landed on the sandy beach at the bottom.

“Ouch,” I groaned, rubbing my arm from where I landed on a rock during my fall.

“Not my best portal placement,” Parker muttered, pushing himself to his feet, having taken a tumble down the hill as I had. He grunted as he stretched his arms over his head and glanced at our new surroundings.

The sand on the beach was coarse and bigger than typical sand, the color off-white. Half a mile away from us was a turbulent dark green ocean and its choppy waves that would be near impossible for me to swim in, even at full power. With waves this high and powerful, I doubted even the craziest of surfers would dare attempt going out, much less riding these waves.

After portaling from the jungle, we were now within ten miles of the source of the drain. It was both a good thing but also worrisome. It was good because that meant we were that much closer to getting answers and getting out of this realm. But on the other hand, we’d be facing someone crazy enough to steal magic from a realm and was hopped up on its power. With how I wasn’t at full strength from being in a weakening realm, I wouldn’t be much help to Parker in a fight against them.

I would suggest trying to portal again if it weren’t such a roll of the dice. The closer we came to the focal point, the more chaotic the elements became and in turn, the energy of the realm. I assumed this was the reason why Parker’s portals were so unstable and unreliable. With this in mind, a big part of me was afraid it would become more difficult for Parker to create a rift out of here. Maybe we should cut our losses and leave now while we still could.

When I brought this up to Parker, he insisted that he should be able to create a rift when the time came and reiterated that we needed to learn everything we could. He wasn’t saying anything new or anything I didn’t know, but it did ease some of my worries a fraction.

“We should get away from the ocean. Not only can I not hold back a tidal wave, but I’d rather not replace out whether or not there’s a Guardian out there.” We were lucky the ley line didn’t lead out to sea. I wouldn’t have a single clue how the hell we would’ve gotten out there without drowning. Fire may have been my weakest element, but water wasn’t too much higher on the list.

Rather than move away from the ocean Parker grabbed my waist and pulled me so I slammed into his chest and crashed his lips against mine in a bruising kiss. The aggressive kiss was unfortunately all too brief, and all I could do was stare up at him, wishing he hadn’t stopped.

He dropped his forehead against mine, lifting his hands to cup my face. “When all this shit is over, I’m finally taking my chance to taste you.” Based on how my entire body came alive, with pooling arousal between my legs, my pussy was fully on board with this plan.

I was saved from having to come up with a response when the wind began tugging at my clothes and whipping my hair around my face. The crashing waves became louder as the ocean grew more tumultuous.

“Time to go,” I said as I grabbed Parker’s hand, and we took off away from the water.