Tower Of Rebirth

Chapter 5: Earth Elemental

Elara created swirling currents of water in the air, forming a protective barrier around her companions just as three boulders crashed against the watery shield, shattering into harmless fragments. Lucas’s demeanor gave way to a fierce determination, knelt down to examine the earth beneath their feet.

He had a deep understanding of the earth's properties, and thus was searching for weak points in the elemental's rocky form as it spat out smaller disfigured golems made entirely of stone. Their eyes, hollow with two huge arms and small legs to move around.

Guess these things are its arms and legs, Adrian surmised, bringing out his dagger, he watched how they moved. 

Now on his feet looking directly at the giant monster, Lucas, with his characteristic quirkiness, piped up, "I dare say, that green glow in its chest is where the source of energy is coming from, my friends."

Adrian clenched his fists, gripping his dagger in his left hand, and tapping into his gift. He leaped into the air, defying the elemental and running straight towards the minions. There were a few of them now. Some bigger than others but they still had the same disfigured shapes, and green glowing cores carved into their chests. 

Twelve minions created so far, he thought let’s see what my gift can do as he ran towards the first earth minion in his path. The moment he got close to it, the minion swung both its giant arms down to smash Adrian to a pulp. 

Adrian, moving quickly darted to the side, narrowly avoiding the stone hands about to smash him whole. In the heat of the battle, he instinctively knew that speed was of the essence. With a quick motion, he tapped his left shoulder with his right hand, taking advantage of his unique gift. 

Closing his eyes for a fleeting moment, Adrian delved into the depths of his power. He envisioned his body transforming, as if the very essence of gravity yielded to his will. In his mind's eye, he saw himself shedding the weight of the world, every ounce of mass becoming inconsequential.

The sensation was surreal as his visualization took hold. It was as if he had become weightless, unbound from the constraints of gravity itself. His footsteps barely grazed the ground, each movement propelled by an otherworldly lightness. It was as though he had unlocked a secret dimension of speed, defying the laws of physics.

With newfound agility, he weaved through the chaos of the battle, dodging minion attacks as he touched them one by one. They now seemed sluggish compared to before, and could barely hit him as he moved through all twelve minions in an amazing display of speed. He stopped just before getting into range of the elemental’s main body, just in time for a boulder to crash and stop just three steps ahead of him. 

Looking back towards the others standing far behind as the minions rushed towards them, he jumped and landed a few feet from the barrier just in front of the group. Lucas's voice rang out with authority as he spoke out to Adrian, "Focus on the elemental's heart!" he commanded, his finger pointing unerringly at the glowing green core within the rocky chest. "Strike there, and we can weaken its very essence."

Extending his hands, as he focused on the minions, his senses heightened. He could feel the weight of the rocks that composed them, each grain of sand and pebble. It was as if he became one with the very earth itself. 

With unwavering concentration, he tapped into the core of his gift. In his mind’s eye, the sensation was similar to shifting one's perception of reality. Adrian envisioned the minions as feathers on a gentle breeze, their stony forms lightening, losing substance. In reality, the minions quickly lost all weight, as they hovered confused in the air, suspended by the faintest touch of gravity.

Adrian cried out, straining himself as he pushed them towards the giant elemental, feeling his control over their body in every fiber of his being. It was a delicate balance, like controlling puppets on invisible strings. One by one, he physically pushed the weightless minions towards the giant elemental's chest, where the massive green core pulsed with a light green energy. 

The minions, moving quickly struck the elemental with incredible force. Their impact sent reverberations through the elemental's body, causing it to stumble and roar in agony. Cracks began to form around the green core, and a series of hairline fractures snaked across its surface.

Adrian’s brow furrowed with effort as he focused on keeping the minions weightless, while he used them to attack the giant stone monster. Suddenly, the elemental, in its wounded fury, tried to attack again. It formed massive boulders in its rocky hands to throw at its attacker, but Adrian was faster. 

Using his new found speed, Adrian rushed towards the elemental. He jumped really high into the air, until he was standing just over the core. Then he increased his weight by 1000%, dropping with the force of a nuclear warhead on the elemental's chest, causing the huge green core to crack in two.

The elemental roared. Adrian fell to the floor.

All the while, Elara's protective barrier held strong, safeguarding the others from harm. Her eyes were locked on him. He could see the trust and determination in her eyes. 

As the seconds stretched into minutes, the elemental's core showed more significant signs of distress. It pulsed erratically, cracks deepening and spreading like spiderwebs. Adrian kept himself focused as he watched the elemental pull itself together with a deafening roar.

Out of breath, drained from the immense exertion and stumbling back, Adrian released his control over the minions, allowing their broken pieces to fall to the ground.. Malik was watching, so he rushed forward to offer healing to Adrian as the group figured out their next step.

Suddenly, Elara’s barrier dropped. 

With a swift motion of her hand, she transformed the water barrier protecting them into a multitude of razor-sharp icicles, each as long and thin as giant needles.

What the? Adrian thought as he watched her change the properties of the water barrier into ice as she shaped them into the finely tuned weapons she needed. “That’s amazing,” He said, just as she gestured, shooting them with the speed of a projectile toward the Earth Elemental with such precision and finesse. 

"Focus on the heart of the core!" Lucas shouted, his finger pointing at the glowing heart of the earth monster. 

“I know,” Elara replied, still gesturing as if guiding her power. Then boom! They hit. 

Icicles found their marks, piercing the elemental's rocky hide and chipping away at its immense form. Each strike caused the elemental to roar in pain and fury, but it was not to be outdone. In response, the elemental, still regenerating, continued its assault by hurling two boulders towards them with tremendous force. 

They missed. 

The ground trembled beneath their feet with each impact, making it increasingly difficult to maintain their footing. Sensing its vulnerability, the elemental made a desperate attempt to retaliate. Two new minions started forming, pulling themselves from the earth as the elemental roared as if to say it can’t be beat. These new ones were twice as tall as Adrian himself, and even Malik, who was the biggest in the group.

Adrian rushed ahead, jumping straight to the nearest one, not willing to give them a chance to fully form as he moved to touch his new foes. Just as he reached it, he heard a shout from Lucas… 

“Argh! Watch out,” He screamed, while dodging a stone arm, he dove to grab Elara moving her out of harm's way as another arm landed just where she was standing—icicles still forming above her head.  

Adrian landed on top of the first minion, touched its head, and then looked to see what happened. Lucas was standing protectively above Elara as she was on the ground, one hand in the air still holding on to her powers. Another giant minion had formed halfway behind them, its arms stretched out towards where it attacked. They looked fine, so Adrian jumped to the other minion, then he reached into himself, tapping into his power, and made them both heavier this time.

They were stuck in the ground. 

Too heavy to lift their arms to attack him, Adrian turned towards the giant elemental. 

Elara, now seeing her chance, unleashed a final barrage of icicles at the elemental's chest. The green core, weakened by their earlier efforts, finally gave way under the relentless assault. With a resounding crack, the core shattered, sending shards of green energy flowing through the air as the minions broke apart, followed by the giant figure.

The elemental let out a deafening howl as it began to crumble, its rocky form disintegrating into a pile of rubble and shards.