The old man watched the young woman stand in front of him without the slightest hint of being restricted by any of his hidden guards.

"Either they do not know what their job is, or...yes, the power radiating off of you tells me the reason they were not so foolish as to attack first. Now the why." He said. Aila smiled a little. She held out a single hair.

"Ava. May I have a sample of your hair, sir?"  Aila may appear relaxed, but she was not a fool.  Her elemental essence had scanned everything, and everyone.  If anyone tried to move, or perform a hostile act, she would be able to sense it. The old man sighed a bit.

"I can save you the trouble, young lady. My son is a veritable fool, and had no clue that Ava was smuggled into the castle. My hidden guards questioned all the doctors and nurses who attended the 'Queen' when she had the baby. She wasn't even pregnant." He said quietly.

"Do you care for her?" Aila asked quietly.

"Very much so." He straightened up, and his eyes reflected his conviction. Aila watched him carefully.

"Yet, you allowed that to occur."

"Necessity." He said, and scowled. "My son was supposed to be able to handle the throne, and his duties as a parent. Since I knew she was not his blood, I felt the risk to her should have been low, but I did not account for that bitch's cruelty."

"I will not kill him, however, she can not survive, and neither can the doctors." Aila said firmly.

"She won't survive, but the doctors have already been sequestered away." He waved his hand and a guard appeared. "Show her the wing with the ones who watched over Ava. They are no longer useful." Aila pursed her lips.

"I will not return her. This place has too many memories. If you wish to see her in the future, your carriage will be protected from Aros onward." Aila left without another word, and another guard appeared.

"She took that rather well." The retired king said.

"For which we are infinitely glad." The guard said with a bit of a smile. "She appeared right behind me and walked passed me with a tap to my shoulder. She knows where everyone is."

"Fortunately for us, she had no ambition to rule a country." He frowned. "Or is that unfortunately? Her rule would be peaceful, and no one could match her."

A moment later, his original guard appeared, pale, and trembling. Brer looked at him and nodded.

"That was fast." He said.

"Not for them." The guard said quietly. "She...put a bubble around them, and sped up time inside. They died in only a few minutes, but..." Brer took only a few seconds to understand what she did.

"Time. All the elements." He covered his eyes. "We really have to fulfill our duty and kill that bitch." He shivered. "Watch his wife carefully. When she is less protected, move in and deliver the blow."

Satisfied with what she heard, Aila left the capital. The people in that city should pray that she never finds a reason to return.

Her anger was barely sated.

 

* * *

 

Aila used her wind element to approach her home, but something caught her attention. Instead of walking, or running at her insanely high speed, she floated on the updrafts she created.

At the same time, she passively absorbed the wind elements in the air that were much older and richer at a few hundred feet in the air.

What caught her attention was a bit of smoke that came from the mountain that separated the higher ranked beasts from the lower ones.

"Oh. Delicious." Unexpectedly, her hunger acted up as she approached the smoke and saw that it came from a hole in the stone of the mountain.

Only her companions, the ones who called her Master, would understand what they saw when she entered the hole in the stone. Her bones began to glow bright orange, followed by her muscles, organs, blood vessels, channels, and finally her skin.

The mountain rumbled as she absorbed the rich lava elements, and a surge of power flowed out of her body.

Aila didn't have any ranks yet because she hadn't fulfilled the basics that her body needed. The sheer amount of power she possessed only continued to increase, and she hadn't yet fully remade herself.

Only two more orbs, or gems, within her void space needed to be formed. Lightning, and ice.

 

* * *

 

Aila laid quietly in her room, surrounded by a wall of soft warmth, and murmured in her sleep. Alara and Ivadra had managed to push themselves into this sleep dynamic, but only just. Nuri was loathe to let go of her Master, even when Aila put Alara in her arms.

"Even though I have Master in front of me, I still feel a little jealous of you, sis." Ivadra said with a pout.

"You know what Master said. You'll have your own comforter soon. For now, let's just enjoy these moments." Alara didn't need to say anything else.

They all had the feeling that Aila would soon move so far passed them in terms of power that trying to reach her would seem to be a dream.

 

* * *

 

'When I was young, science was a favorite subject, but I couldn't quite understand how the elements worked. The building blocks of my former universe, or so I was told.' Aila pursed her lips.

'I think energy is the building block there. But here, elemental essence is the building block. Metal governs all the metallic substances, even if there aren't as many here. Not like we need radioactive ore to create nuclear fission, but the sun still does its job.' Aila pursed her lips. 'A gigantic nuclear reactor, according to science back then, but with different reactions. Can't really remember what happened other then hydrogen was the fuel.' Aila sighed.

'This sun is a compressed abundance of flame and lava elements, with a base molten metal core. It's so large, the metal is compressed, and stays in its molten state, which generates enough heat to keep the lava flowing in a completely liquid state, which gathers flame elements from the solar system. Flame elements are just as abundant here as hydrogen was in my original universe.' Aila sighed. 'But I still don't quite understand how it generates enough energy to heat the entire solar system.'

'So much to understand and know, but this place tells me what I need to know in whispers and echoes. Stuff only I can hear.'  Aila groaned, then moved her attention onto the temple.  She could switch her mental gears and change directions easily.  This allowed her to remain focused on the things she needed to focus on, such as the elemental growth of all of her people, and herself.  It also allowed her to not forget the other more mundane things, such as the renovations to the manor.

With her eyes closed, Aila's awareness moved above the manor, and began to plan out what she had seen in her dreams. She gently shuffled through the memories of Ivadra and Alara, and the temple they saw when it was completed in their dreams.  This gentle intrusion did not go unnoticed, as both girls moaned and squirmed.

'Master is so good to them.'  Nuri said, and gently pressed her pleasant anatomy to Alara's body.  Her fingers slipped inside the girl's nightclothes, and gently prodded her button so that she felt the physical release her mind struggled to contain.  Ivadra pouted a bit, but rolled her eyes when her sister's hand did the same.

'Did you think I would forget my beloved sister?  Aren't we two sides of the same woman?  Oh.  Did you feel that?'  Alara asked her sister.  Ivadra nodded.  Within their spaces, each felt Nuri's life elements flow into them, and while they stared at their altars, they noted a small bit of energy that was unmistakable.  A small orb of light drifted into Ivadra's consciousness, while a small orb of darkness drifted into Alara's.

With their Master radiating so much elemental essence, and her presence within their minds, the two began to flow into each other's minds, and merge together.  Nuri also radiated life elements into the entire group, so when they merged, they exchanged the elements they were fated to exchange.

'Babies.'  Nuri nearly cried as she watched it all occur.  She saw the soft glow of life elements enter their bodies, and focus on their womb.  She saw the small orbs of essence enter, and soon merge with the life elements.  'I am going to have so many babies to coddle and feed.'

Nuri's life element celebrated the union, and the growth of two new lives within the girls, and she couldn't help but want to mother those unborn children.  She would have to make sure that both young women were properly fed, and protected from now on.

 

  * * *

 

Aila's awareness was above the manor, and only barely aware of what happened around her body.  Although the movement of elemental essence happened around her, she knew her body was safe, so her focus stayed on the manor.  She wanted to move the current wall outward, and tilted her head.

'Odd. Why is it moving?' She saw how the outer wall started to straighten and become one large rectangle around the manor. Just like the temple she pictured. She increased the amount of senses she used, and saw the earth element saturate the area. She had her answer.

'I'm the one moving things. I didn't realize I could do this.' She whispered.

The changes continued. Each wall had additional inner foundation walls added, with corner towers, and one massive gatehouse. The ancient spring was rerouted to run into an above ground stream that ran around the manor in a stone tiled bed.

These changes did not go unnoticed.

 

* * *

 

Elena ran outside and saw the changes happen right in front of her. Massive amounts of earth element, which she was able to sense, reshaped the landscape and moved the outer walls further out.

'Elena. My little bear.' She felt a whisper within her mind, and at her ear.

'M-Master?' She stuttered.

'When you wake up in the morning, cut as many stone blocks as you can manage. Get the bears to help move them near the walls. Understand?' She said softly, while Elena swooned as the elements swirled within her void space and strengthened her rate of absorption.

'I understand, Master. How big?' Elena watched as a block was cut in front of her and set near her feet. 'I understand.' A flood of warmth spread throughout her body.

'I know you do, little bear. Now be good and go back to sleep. The stone bears watch our place, so you don't have to worry.' Aila's voice soothed her more aggressive tendencies that she shared with the stone bears, but Elena had a deep desire to see her Master, and to kiss her.

'Later, little bear.' Aila wind whispered in her ear, and touched her mind. 'The more you do, the elements will obey you in much the same way. Reinforce your body every day, and soon, I'll teach you the next step.' She felt Aila slip deep into her consciousness and rummage around.

'I like it in here. Calm, quiet like the earth, and still filled with passionate thoughts. Back to sleep, little bear.' Elena's eyes were closed, but she felt warm arms envelope her body. While she had Elena distracted, she used her wind elements to lift, move, and place the girl in a bed.

"Mm, Master knew I felt a bit lonely since Nuri started to mother Alara." Shaala said gently, and lightly bit Elena's shoulder. Ellie was already being cradled by Kaala, whose flame elements would keep her warm, and stop the girl from getting too close to the python. Due to her colder nature from the water elemental affinity, Kaala's warmth was much needed to keep her away from that overly amorous snake.

Elena moaned softly as Shaala's teeth nipped at her flesh. She turned and immediately kissed her passionately, and deeply.

Aila smiled a little, continued to work on the foundations, and the underground passages necessary to complete the temple her girls had envisioned.

Now that Ava was one of her girls, she could finally relax a bit.