——————Hours earlier——————

                        

Anna had escaped the confines of her tent roughly an hour ago, she was currently on foot walking deeper into the swamp.

                                 

You know?… I can’t remember a single movie where it works out for the heroine to walk into the woods at night, after hearing the advice of some disembodied voice telling her to go out and find something there.

Anna thought jokingly to lift her mood.

               

She was thankful for the full moon and stars out tonight, it helped her guide her steps as she traversed the night time swamp.

God! I am going to look real stupid if I don’t find what I am looking for… Anna realized. Lilian is going to put a ball and chain on me if I come back empty handed… hell! I will let her! Because if I get out there and come up empty after everything, then I too am going to start to think that all the voices I’ve been hearing, really have been inside my own head.

                               

“Agra’Yala… I know I have said somethings back there… And I am not taking them back… But it would be real cool if you don’t hold that against me at the moment right now, and if you would send your child or whatever he is my way soon to pick me up… I… am kinda not a fan of walking alone in the woods.”

                

It wasn’t but a few minutes later that Anna began to hear something.

                        

Not just hear it… I can feel it.

She realized that she was sensing an elemental spirit nearby.

Their close… a lot closer than I was expecting them to be.

                   

*CREAK*

                         

*SCRAPE*

                                

*CREAK*

                            

Anna listened for the sound as she heard it getting closer towards her.

                              

*CREAK*

                     

*SWISH*

                  

Anna noticed she was starting to hear the sound of water being disrupted as well.

                     

It’s real close.

                                          

Anna felt as if the presence of the elemental was all around her.

         

What is with this presence?! It is so weird! It is almost as if……— Anna rolled forward, compelled by Lilian’s hunting training in the mountains.

                                              

*SPLASH*

               

She had just jumped and landed on the other bank when a large hulking creature rose up from the swamp itself.

            

Hulking is right! Holy shit!

         

She watched as a three meter tall hulk of a creature emerged from the bog.

It was made of mud, earth, along with vines plants and had bushes stuck to its back.

He looks like if Groot ate the Incredible Hulk! Anna thought hysterically.

Its face, if it could be even called that, was a mess of roots and vines that traveled down what was supposedly this creatures head.

It had some sort of lichen that was overgrown coming out of its face, simulating the appearance of eyes: the lichen glowed with a feint light.

Its legs were mud covered tree stumps.

While it was bipedal, its upper half was so large, that it used its huge arms as support on the ground as it walked around on its knuckles like a gorilla.

There were flowers with moss underneath them on the top of its head, making it look like white lilies growing on its head that ran down its back, mimicking hair.

Most would call this beast horrendous, Anna looked at this creation and amalgamation of plants and dirt as,

            

“Pretty…” Anna whispered in awe. Her botany days coloring her opinion of the creatures appearance.

                           

She felt a pleased satisfaction come from the creature’s spirit.

But then she gave it a stern look.

“God though! You scared me! What is the big idea sneaking up on me like that?!” She said in a slightly miffed tone, the smile never leaving her face, nor did her voice sound to harsh.

                       

*CREAK* *GROAN*

           

Anna looked at him with a tilt of her head.

“Mother Agra’Yala called you Lazrator… But I can’t sense your true name?! And your spirit?! It’s like nothing I have ever felt before!”

Anna was staring at his face as she reached up and stroked its viney visage.

*GROAN*

She felt a slight painful reaction from her words.

“Can you not speak in this form? I am sorry if my questions are upsetting you. I just have so many.”

“≈And I shall speak for this child here, my child Anna.≈”

“Ah! There you are mother… I was beginning to wonder if I had hurt your feelings so much that you were refusing to talk to me.”

“≈I was slightly offended… but I also realize now that I was wrong in how I handled things.≈”

Anna looked skeptically at the space she felt Agra’Yala floating.

“You know… I hate to sound like a skeptic after what I just said; especially since I want to apologize for how harsh I was: though I do think you deserve it a little bit. But what is this? Did you really have a change of heart all on your own?” Anna asked Agra’Yala.

“≈Of course I did my child, there is no need to be suspicious of my actions now. I—“

*GROAN*

Agra’Yala was interrupted by Lazrator as he shook his head with a groan.

“≈L-Lazrator?!≈”

“Oh? Is mother lying again?” Anna asked Lazrator.

*GROAN*

He nodded his head.

“Figures.”

“≈Now see here!— I will not stand!— This is completely!— how dare!—≈”

Agra’Yala was huffing indignantly at how Anna and Lazrator were treating her. They both had bored expressions on their faces at her behavior. Though with Lazrator. That was just how his face looked.

“≈It seems that all my children these days are doing nothing but rebelling against me. *SIGH* Yes, I admit it. I did not have a change of heart willingly… And I wasn’t going to come here to help you my child… But Mar’Aiyanok forced the issue and threatened to do something drastic. One of which I could not allow to happen. So I was forced to come and concede to your will, Anna my child.≈”

“Damn! What could a mountain do to threaten a planet?” Anna wondered.

“≈Many things. Least of all, collapse herself and bury the wetlands under her rubble.≈”

Anna eyes went wide at this news.

“Jesus Mar’Aiyanok! Overkill much?!” She exclaimed at her friend’s desperate attempt at helping her.

“≈*SCOFF* That is the least trouble she could have given me.≈” Agra’Yala confessed. Her spirit looked down at Lazrator in sympathy. “≈She threatened me that she would abandoned her mountain to travel with you.≈”

What?!

“Wait? Huh?!” Anna said confusion.

“≈*SIGH* If this did not have some sort of relevance to the situation. I would not have brought it up at all.≈” Her spirit moved down to caress her offspring’s features.

*GROAN*

“≈We elementals, are not tied to a mortal form. Thus we can not be easily killed. We are usually tied to a bountiful source of elemental energy. Mar’Aiyanok’s is the mountain herself.≈”

“Okay? I got all that in my lessons… Why is this relevant?” Anna asked her.

“≈Because we can do something drastic… We can create an avatar for our very souls to inhabit: to accomplish feats in the mortal realm beyond our area of influence.≈”

Anna’s eyes went wide at this. She turned to look at Lazrator as she figured out what this was about.

“This is his avatar? Is that why is spirit is so… Weird?”

*GROAN*

Lazrator shook its head.

“≈No, not quite. This is my child’s situation is a bit different from what Mar’Aiyanok was threatening to do. This is just an external form for this child’s true avatar.≈”

“Its true avatar? What is an avatar exactly?”

“≈I will explain on the way. We should not tarry long here. Climb a top of  Lazrator.≈”

“Climb on him?” Anna did a double take at Lazrator. “You’ll allow me to ride you?” She asks Lazrator.

Lazrator groaned as he nodded.

“EEEEEEEE!” Anna squealed in excitement.

She ran towards Lazrator. He lowered his hand, allowing Anna to step onto his palm that was made up of interlaced reeds, that were covered in moss.

“Soft, but firm.” Anna commented as she reached down and felt his palm as he lifted her above his head.

*GROAN*

“≈They say that their is gravel and mud held beneath the reeds and moss. It helped to make their hands soft to hold things. While the exterior is mostly rock, vines and branches for strength.≈”

“Interesting.” Anna said fascinated at the construction of Lazrator.

She stepped from their hand to sit on top of their head.

*GROAN*

“≈He said—

“I know. “Get comfy, this is going to be a long ride.” …I can feel them better now.” Anna said towards both of the spirits.

Both Agra’Yala and Lazrator were both stunned to silence for a moment.

“}That… Is interesting. You are more talented than mother has let on.{“ Lazrator commented.

“And you were not what I expecting an elemental guardian to be.” She quipped. “So? Which of you wants to explain to me what an elemental avatar is, and why Mar’Aiyanok could use that to threaten Agra’Yala with it.”

“}Oh, We can explain that one.” Lazrator spoke up and offered at first. But sensed Agra’Yala’s displeasure at being dismissed like she had.”By your will of course mother…” Lazrator said as an apology towards Agra’Yala for his faux pas.

But to Agra’Yala’s offspring’s relief, she made a dismissive gesture to them both.

“≈It matters not who explains it. I was hoping to use this as a form of apology towards my adopted daughter. But I suppose having you two get closer will be a better use for this information.≈” Agra’Yala made a wave with her spirit before fading away into the aether. “≈Have fun getting acquainted you two.≈”

Anna giggled at Agra’Yala’s departure.

“I am still mad at you!” She shouted out loud. “But I am now becoming ready to let it go!” She informed her adoptive planet mother.

This earned Anna a tickle from Agra’Yala’s spirit as she passed through Anna’s chest, in the elemental spirits equivalent of a hug.

“}She really cares about you, she does.{“ Said with brassy bass and somewhat echoy tone.

“I know… I feel bad in a way… If I had just done what she had planned. Maybe certain things wouldn’t have happened… but I won’t compromise my morals or what I think is right for her desires or plans.”

“}We won’t tell you not to. But be careful with that, Mother Agra’Yala is rarely wrong. She does things for a reason. It is best to compromise, than to flat out refuse Mother.{“ Lazrator cautioned.

“…I’ll keep that in mind for the future…”

Lazrator nodded their head as they walked.

          

“So? tell me about these avatar things? How did Mar’Aiyanok threaten Agra’Yala with it? You mentioned this is not your true avatar?”

“}~Ho Ho Ho!~ What a healthy thirst for knowledge. We approve of you even more.{“ Lazrator comments before answering. “}Suffice it to say. What an avatar is; is essentially a vessel for us elemental spirits to dwell inside, not unlike how Mar’Aiyanok is stationary within the mountain.{“

“So correct me if I am off base then, but they are essentially a walking form of where your spirit dwells?”

“}Boiled down to basic understanding; no, but they have some similarities. When an elemental spirit is born, it seeks out a source of elemental energy. From there, it forms a resonance with that type of energy. Finally becoming that type of elemental spirit, we call this process the Elemental Convergence… with us so far?{“

Anna nodded her head.

“}After a spirit connects to this source of energy. They usually are connected to wherever that source of energy is. This doesn’t mean they are stuck there. If they choose to, a spirit has many ways to move from their location. But most elementals choose to stick to the first source of unoccupied elemental energy they find.{“

“Why is that?”

“}To nurture and help it grow.{“

“What?!” Anna asked flabbergasted.

“}This will be difficult for us to explain to a mortal, especially one that has not finished her training.{“

“Well sorry for being untrained,” Anna pouted playfully with her arms crossed. “I have only been a shaman for… well, not even two weeks yet. I only just learned to channel my energy from myself.”

“}Even without that. You would still be a shaman, just from the principle of being able to hear us.{“

“}To continue and explain, back when the world was young and void. Mother Agra’Yala took pieces of herself and planted them around the world. These pebbles were the only source of elemental energy connected to the planet at the time. They became a well for her few children to feast on and to grow. As an elemental spirit grows in strength, they are able to feed their own energy of their spirit back into their own elemental energy.{“

“Wait! Is a spirit’s energy different from the elemental energy they have? Huh? I am confused now…” Anna asked while trying to figure out how she got this backwards.

“}To explain it another way. A spirit sends their energy that they collect from a source of natural elemental energy, back into the source Itself: the energy an elemental spirit absorbs from a source does not drain the source of its energy; for the source itself emits the energy naturally. So they only take what would naturally be lost into ether of the planet.{“

“I see… So after collecting enough that they could hold within themselves, the elemental spirits would add back to the source they are taking from, and make the source itself larger.”

“}You do catch on quick.{“

Anna preened at the praise given at being a good student.

“… So wait?! You said at the beginning the world was void at one point right?!”

“}That is right, all it had was mother’s core at first. She broke pieces of her own core apart to place these pieces across her surface, to allow her children to grow them.{“

“}These pieces eventually formed and became what you call the dirt, land, and mountains.{“

“………………………………..”

“}Friend?{“ Lazrator was concerned by Anna’s silence.

“Sorry, SORRY!” She apologized profusely. “I just…… I just— I felt like my brain fried there a little trying to comprehend what this is all implying. Holy shit…”

“}Yes, the mountain you know as my big sister was once nothing more than a speck of rice at one point. Over the course of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of years; she became the mountain you know of her today.{“

“……Okay…… So that explains why an elemental wouldn’t wish to leave their elemental source they had been cultivating. But what is an avatar then?”

“}An avatar, is essentially a mobile source of elemental energy. So, this will allow an elemental spirit to latch on and to move about freely after attaching themselves to this source of energy.{“

“Okay, that sounds great and amazing, being able to move able freely and all that. But I am assuming there is a catch?”

“}You would be correct. The catch is, that unlike a source that is natural in its placement or one that finds a way to occur natural. These sources are made from destroying a source.{“

“Oh my!”

“}That is the most extreme outcome, the other outcome is that it is heavily damaged or deformed after the process.{“

“}The other problem with it is, that the elemental spirit attached to the vessel, or in this case, the avatar. Must maintain the connection to the core at all times.{“

“What does—“

“}Sorry, we used a term that another elemental would understand. In essence, unlike how a spirit could use their abundance of stored energy to provide for elemental magic to a shaman, we are basically always syphoning from the elemental source attached to our avatar. Because we need to constantly feed our power now to supply the avatar to function or to use some of our stores to cast elemental magic ourselves. So the source is always being syphoned to maintain ourselves and the energy required to make the avatar function; none of that energy, nor the ambient energy from the artificial source is lost. It is all used.{“

“Can the source run out?”

“No. It doesn’t work like that; that would be our spirit’s energy reserves. The artificial elemental source does not act as a container for energy. But as a means to provide constant supplies of energy. Like your heart or stomach does for a mortal.{“

“Ah! So it is not a battery, it is a generator.”

                          

“}………………………………………..{“

                               

“}We have no idea what you just said.{“

“It’s a… umm… a machine, if you know what those are. Its function is provide energy to other machines.”

“}That sounds about right.{“

“So what does it use for fuel?”

“}Pardon?{“

“The artificial source? What fuel does it consume to provide its energy?”

“}It doesn’t. It is not like a human stomach that needs food. By its very nature, it is the source of life. So it is more accurate to call it your heart or lungs.{“

“Oh! Okay. So it is the thing that keeps you going. So it is less like a battery… and yeah, I don’t know what the fuck to call it. We didn’t have a thing that provided free energy on my planet.”

“}This doesn’t necessarily either. It does not consume anything to produce its energy. But it can only produce so much of its energy at any one time.{“

“I see… I don’t actually. But I get what it does. I guess I will just have to chock this up to being magic or mana! Or whatever the hell this mysterious energy thing is!” Anna complained.

“}It is not that complicated.{“

“No. But that doesn’t mean it is not confusing; especially if you have a certain logic on how things are supposed to work before coming here: things need fuel to power them. Things burn this fuel to provide energy to move the other things.

So when you tell me this thing just provides energy, that just doesn’t make any goddamn sense…”

This got a chuckle out of Lazrator.

“}At the least, you know the why; and that is the important part. Because why it is such a drastic thing for an elemental to do is because: not only do you have to damage your elemental source for however long you have been cultivating it. You also cannot grow the one you are using as a vessel and avatar. Not only that, there is a real chance for you to be killed in your avatar form as an elemental spirit.{“

“Wait?! Really?!”

Lazrator nodded their head.

“}Yes. If your elemental source is destroyed while you are using your avatar, your spirit may suffer damage as well. Or at the least. If it is destroyed, you might not have a source or place to go and run to save yourself without a source.{“

“What does that mean?”

“}Let us say that Mar’Aiyanok did make an avatar. That she was with you inside the human kingdom when she was destroyed. As a roaming element spirit, she would have three options. Use as much of the energy she had left within her spirit to travel and find a free source of elemental energy. Or dissipate and let your essence be taken in by Mother Agra’Yala again.{

“Taken in?”

“}We are born of her spirit, and if in an emergency. We can allow our beings to be taken in by her own spirit again… but the cost is basically everything we have cultivated over our existence.{“

“Ouch! Hard choice between that or death I suppose……… Wait? You mentioned three ways, what is the third?”

“}Finding an empty vessel of some sort.{“

“Would any vessel work? Even if it doesn’t have an elemental source?”

“}Of course not! But, as you said, it beats death. Being in an empty vessel, let us say, a sword or an amulet. Allows us to basically hide inside of the inanimate object until we can find a way to get to a new source some how. It is our last ditch effort to live: being without a elemental source would be the same as if you did not have air. The energy we have build would slowly be surely get depleted before long, are souls would cease to be.{“

“And that is how you die…” Anna filled in the blanks morosely.

“}That is it: that is how you kill an elemental.{“

“Geez! Not sure I wanted that burden of knowledge on my soul……”

“}Better to know and how to prevent us from dying, than to just let us die in ignorance.{“

“That is fair I suppose.”

Anna was noticing that the sky was turning from a dark-blue satin, to a reddish-orange hue.

“Guess it is morning now.

“}Yes,{“ Lazrator agreed. “}And we are just about to us.{“

“Us?”

“}Our avatar.{“

            

Anna felt her palms begin to sweat.

Oh boy…

                      

————————————————-

                                             

Lilian and the rest of her entourage were following Anna’s trail until they came across something strange.

“Where did she go?!” Lilian shouted.

“Her tracks just disappear!”

“Maybe she was a mage?…” Suggested Grak’Horve.

This earned him a glare from Lilian that made him flinch.

“Not disappeared… look!” Said Harks.

The looked at where Anna’s last foot prints were.

“She moved back and forth here for a bit… then she stepped forward back the way she came… but the next step is the one missing… oh I don’t like this…”

“What is it?” Asked Safarti.

Lilian looked up at her soldier with a glare for him.

“Are you blind? Or just stupid. Look!” Lilian pointed at some of Anna’s tracks.

“Yeah? So?”

“See how some of them are squashed or cut off? Like it was a soft step or a half press of her weight?”

“Yeah?”

“… look closer… see this part, where the foot print of her’s looks more smashed into the ground but also flatter?”

“Uh-huh?”

“See how it the this ring around it?!”

“…Yeah…” Grak’Horve acknowledged nervously.

“That means something big was here…” Lilian informed them.

“Yup…” Harks agreed. “Something big… And something quick too… it also made a clear path that way as well… look.”

Almost as if the swamp and the forest opened up from the spots on the ground. There were no trees in that direction. Just small circle imprints into the soft ground.

“I think the guardian has her.” Harks hazards a guess.

           

“FUCK!” Lilian swears.