Aila stood in the middle of the front yard of her manor. She looked around before she closed her eyes, and opened her senses.

Normally, she kept alert using her passive ability to sense elemental essence, and life. However, since that incident where the black panthers almost turned her into a meal, she's become more vigilant.

"No animal life forms nearby." She turned her senses to under the stone pavers of the yard. "But it looks like I was correct. The elemental essence pressure has increased. Earth, life, water, and metal have increased their presence, and will react as soon as I start to drain the elements. At least it's not violent, just regenerative."

She sat on top of the stone pavers and thought of a plan to enact. The stone courtyard pavers were so closely fit together, she couldn't pry one out, so she turned one to dust. With the space empty, she was able to pry out over a dozen pavers, and emptied the area for a dozen feet in all directions.

"Here goes." After a deep breath, she absorbed all the elemental essence within the uncovered area. As soon as it turned to dust, the ground rushed in. Before it could approach her, as she had sunk right into the ground, she continued to absorb the elements in a vast quantity.

Nuri watched from a window, with a bit of fear in her eyes. It wasn't long before Elena ran over, as did Ivadra.

"What is Master doing? I can feel dark elements moving in the middle of the day!" Ivadra said. She looked disturbed.

"Master is absorbing the elemental essence of the ground. That's life, earth, and you say dark as well?" Nuri asked.

"Yeah."

"Didn't Master suck up the darkness during the eclipse?" Alara said as she saw the three had gathered at the front door. "That came from the ground, right?"

"Oh." Elena said, and watched. "So much though. She can barely keep up with the forest's pressure. I wonder how long she can do this?"

"Not a long time. Master hasn't hardened her skeleton yet. Until she does, she'll remain in the same state as us, just a lot stronger." Nuri said, but she sighed a bit. "She's channeling so much life essence, it's almost scary."

"What is Master lacking? What does she need to transform?" Alara asked. Nuri rolled her eyes, but paled. She had looked at the sky while she rolled her eyes, and caught sight of something that never happened in the forest.

"A storm! Master is disturbing the balance, and a storm is rolling in!" Nuri said out loud.

Unfortunately, she was wrong. It wasn't due to the balance being disturbed. The elemental pressure increase was a symptom of a much bigger problem.

The gathering of energy in the atmosphere, the elemental pressure in the soil, the dense life essence in the forest, it was highly agitated by something else. All the local elements, dark, light, death and life, earth and metal, flame, wind, water, and now lightning was highly agitated and concentrating in the atmosphere.

It was also the reason the pressure of the forest had increased. A calamity approaches.

* * *

Aila couldn't hear Nuri's cry as she yelled out the window. She was underneath the surface of the ground and frantically absorbing the elemental essence in an attempt to get ahead of it.

She could keep it at bay, but the pressure continued to try to fill in the hole while she was inside it. Her reserves were rapidly filled in all the ones she absorbed, while water was at a lower percentage.

"Rain?" She frowned, but kept up the relentless absorption rate. At first, the water was able to touch her skin. She had to jump out of the hole, while she channeled the elements. Once the hole had filled in, and stabilized, she sat back down, and steadily absorbed the water element that fell within the same range.

The water content she absorbed was richer in water element than the ancient spring water they were used to drinking and bathing in. The water source was from the upper atmosphere, where the wind elements kept it aloft, only to gather in strength, and purity.

Elena quickly grabbed Nuri when the first lightning strike fell.

* * *

"MASTER!" Nuri tried to run out the door, but Elena was much stronger than her due to her earth element. Though Nuri was more physically imposing, she was no match for Elena.

"You can't!" Elena said, and forcefully held her about the waist. She dug in her feet, and somehow held her back in spite of her being much lighter.

"But..."

"But what?" Elena asked angrily. "Can you absorb lightning?" She looked out the window. "Only Master can handle this." She said softly.

"But it's hurting her!" Nuri said fearfully.

"Yes, it is, but do you see her eyes?" Elena asked her. Nuri looked closer, and though Aila had fallen onto her knees, her eyes were white, with yellow static discharges.

"She's channeling the lightning?" Nuri said in awe.

"It's Master." Elena sighed and held Nuri by the arm. Not to hold her back, but to hold herself up. She also wanted to run out that door, but her knees were weak with fear and anxiety.

Never had there ever been an elementalist who absorbed lightning essence. Lightning was considered the anger of the heavens, a way to kill the evil doers, and often preached at temples in order to control the masses. Even some officials believed that the heavens would punish people with lightning, while nobility and royalty would swear by the heavens, and prayed that no lightning storms would gather to punish them.

Aila had only been knocked over.

* * *

It was a series of mistakes born of her arrogance, and lack of experience.

She heard the thunder in the distance, but barely took note. She felt the rain, and hastily changed her plan of earth channeling, and moved directly onto the rich water elements.

She sat on the ground and consciously sucked up the water in a steady flow that she increased as she got used to that specific element. If she had less experience with an element, she would have to concentrate a lot more, or things would get out of control.

Her water source was lower then her earth and life elements, but now they were slowly being balanced out.

Her boiling temper had flared a bit when it started to rain, but now she felt serene and calm.

The thunder sounded loudly nearby. Aila ignored the thunder as there were trees nearby, the high walls, and the gate that was tipped in metal.

Her body started to shudder and shake. Aila quickly realized that lightning didn't fall from the sky. The bolt started at both ends and met in the middle.

A lightning bolt formed over her body, and she quickly activated her innate ability to absorb the elements. The pressure and sheer amount of power quickly made her feel quite small. And vulnerable.

Aila was blasted from her spot and landed on her belly a few feet away.

"AAAAHHHH FFFFFFUUUCCKKK!"