Free Elements (Tear of God Book 1) by Raymond Henri Page A

lighten the mood. She ran off as soon as she touched Mink’s shoulders, but slow enough that he could see where she was.
    “Okay then.” Mink took off after her.
    She musn’t have been going very fast because Mink caught up to his mom traveling at a slow jog. He reached out for her shoulder, but before he could make contact, she darted off to the right up a grassy hill, leaving swirling green blades in her wake. Mink changed direction in a wide arc and found it very hard to speed up while running uphill. Before he could overtake Nyam, she veered off to the left and down into a shrub-filled valley.
    Going downhill was insane. Mink tried his best to check his speed by walking. He lost sight of Nyam during the descent and had to scan the valley below to find her. Once he reached level ground, he resumed a quick jog. He shot across the plain adjacent to the valley so comfortably that he sped up to a run, headed straight toward his mom, who was now hurdling shrubs.
    Thinking himself close enough, Mink jumped down at her. Both of them jolted with surprise at how quickly he had caught up. Still, he failed to tag her before she lept over the bank to the south toward some gray rocky outcroppings. Mink followed instinctively until she began taking long strides from the top of one distant rock to another. His lack of confidence in stopping superceded that of his ability to choose his footing carefully atop the rocks. He had no choice but to press on, the hard, sharp surfaces of the rocks promising danger.
    Mink held his breath and concentrated as each foot passed over the jagged stone tops. It would be difficult enough to run around their bases on the ground without Quick Legs, let alone try to find his way over them at this speed. Falling in-between could only result in pain Mink would rather avoid. He understood perfectly well what his mom had said earlier about reflexively avoiding pain. She mocked him with dancing leaps from left to right, egging him on to quicken his pace. The process reminded him of a childhood game he used to play where certain steps were safe and others were traps.
    Beyond the rocks stretched miles of grassy foothills spotted with random trees and flowering shrubs. Nyam zig-zagged ahead of Mink. He picked up his pace after passing the last of the rocks, trailing her movements. He managed to switch direction with considerable speed after a few wipeouts. Suddenly, he realized that it would be better to anticipate her location, rather than wasting energy trying to catch up. Her pattern proved to be rather basic, and Mink picked where he might intercept her.
    Diverging from the chase, he sprinted ahead to his chosen spot. With a welcome sense of predicability, Nyam came straight to Mink and he touched her shoulder as they crossed paths. After tagging her, he turned his hips to the side and slid on his feet for several yards before coming to his first standing stop.
    “Tag,” he said, grinning ear-to-ear.
    His mom smiled too, and stepped up to him in a second.
    “Well done. You aren’t ready to start using this effect until you can think and run at the same time. You just finished three months of Quick Legs training faster than I had hoped.”
    Mink felt exhilirated by his first experience using an advanced effect, and could scarcely believe that he had already become accustomed to it in less than an hour. “Does this mean I’m some kind of genius?” He asked, face flushed with exertion and pride.
    “It means you’re on the same level in that effect as most ten-year old Body users. Congratulations.” Nyam curbed Mink’s ego, but was obviously pleased with her son. “How’s your breathing?”
    It didn’t even occur to him until she asked, but he wasn’t winded at all. He barely had any sweat on his forehead. “Wow. Great.”
    “Find your tree.”
    Mink took no time locating and pointing it out. Dusk still hadn’t quite given way to twilight. The amount of ground that Mink had covered in so little