Free Heir of the Elements by Cesar Gonzalez

there, but she looked even angrier than before. Her gaze wandered over to the deceased Kraimaster and then back to Draknorr.
    “I don’t know how you escaped, girl, but you won’t live to tell the tale.”
    Aya took off in a sprint. Draknorr fired balls of dark mass.
    Falcon heart turned into ice. He knew he was too far away to help Aya. The attacks were too close to her. There was no way she could dodge.
    To his surprise she didn’t try to dodge. Instead water engulfed her entire body as she sprinted. She grabbed the balls of mass with her aqua hands and crushed them as if they were nothing.
    “Skeletal hand!”
    A hand of dark bone burst from the ground. It took Aya in its grasp.
    “Now die.” Draknorr cackled. “Crush her.”
    Something was wrong. Falcon could see the hand squeezing, but Aya looked calm, almost bored even.
    A second later, the sound of crackling bone echoed into the night.
    Draknorr’s eyes intensified again as his attack burst into hundreds of pieces. Out of the debris emerged Aya, still running, and still fully encased in water.
    “Lightning wall.” Red lightning crackled around Draknorr. “Let’s see your water get me through aarghhh—”
    “As you wish,” said Aya.
    A bubble of water surrounded the dark wielder’s armored face. His lightning dissolved as he flailed from side to side. Both his emblems glistened, ready to form an attack. Two large blocks of ice fell on his hands, crushing them to the floor. Even through the water, Falcon could hear a gargled scream.
    Aya now stood directly in front of Draknorr. She touched the water on her prisoner’s head with the tip of her finger and it turned into ice.
    Before Falcon could assess what was going on, Aya uppercutted the block of ice. A thunderous blow echoed as the ice along with the helmet blew to the wind.
    Falcon stood in shock. He had always thought Draknorr to be a human. But the red hollowed eyes, the four-pronged jaw that opened widely, revealing two sets of tongues, and the fur-covered face were definitely not human. He fell to his knees, his mangled arms dangling uselessly by his side as he looked up at the girl before him in awe, as if still in disbelief of what had just happened.
    “This isn’t over, girl,” Draknorr finally said, his voice filled with wounded pride. “I took your sister, and I will take more and turn them before this ends.”
    “The dead can’t take anyone,” said Aya, as calmly as if she were describing the weather. Her hand drove back. A water lion appeared around it. A heart-stopping crunch emitted from Draknorr’s neck as the punch landed under his chin, snapping his head back.
    The hateful red in his eyes dimmed into dark coals as his head bounced off the ground and his breathing ceased.

Chapter 8
     
    The three of them walked silently through the forest as they headed to Falcon’s former home. Once Draknorr had been killed, Falcon had space wielded Kraimaster’s lifeless body back to K’ran’s home. Immediately after that, they hurried out of the city before the guards arrived in full force.
    Falcon glimpsed over at Aya from time to time, trying to gauge what she was feeling. She walked with her head up, but Falcon could tell by her stern face that there was much going on inside her head. He had been far from her for months. He’d thought that seeing her again would be a cause for celebration, but instead it turned out to be a nightmare.
    “Hear that?” asked Faith, a second before Falcon asked the same question.
    “I think it came from the left,” Aya added.
    “Very good, Nakatomi,” said a cheerful voice Falcon hadn’t heard in quite some time. A tree before him twisted in circles until it became a mangled mess of dark brown. A second later Sheridan stepped out. He wore his usual trench coat that reached down to his knees. The tattoo over his right eye stood out from his pale skin. “I was hoping that I could sneak up on you, but I see that won’t be happening.”
    Aya turned