Hell, I'd rather not be connected to it and have a normal life. This isn’t something I chose. "I wish that it wasn't the case."
"That's why you don't deserve it." She pulls out her sword and steps toward me. "Why you were chosen is beyond me, but it doesn't matter. You'll never get the last artifact. It all ends now."
This girl is freaking psycho. My power surges and the Water Artifact flashes in sync with them. I'm being tugged toward it once again, but if I want to survive, I'm going to have to contend with Ria for a minute.
Dax is laying down on the ground, almost comatose. It reminds me of the time in Hell when I was off kilter. His face is bright red like a tomato and appears to be overheated. I don't know how she's doing that with the water, but he's not going to be much help to me now.
She lifts her arm up and swings the sword hard at my shoulder.
I call out to the wind, and it blows so hard her blade hits the ground right beside me.
"You got lucky." Ria spins and kicks her leg out, nailing me right in the belly.
Dammit that hurts. I stumble back into the wall. Not wanting to give her time to react, I push off, and my hands immerse in flames. I rush at her and grab for her dominant arm, hoping to eliminate some of the sword attacks. But when I get close, she grabs my hands dousing them with water.
Her connection to the water irks me. She shouldn't have been able to do that.
"Not as easy as you thought, huh?" She chuckles then punches me in the side.
Using her momentum, I spin and elbow her in the head, causing her to crash on the ground.
After flipping on her back, she jumps, landing on her feet, and swings her fist toward my face.
Ducking, I ram her in the stomach, slamming her against the wall. Her head makes a loud thud as it bounces off it. Desperate for this to end. I head-butt her and watch her fall to the ground. She groans and lays face down right next to Dax.
My head is throbbing. Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do. Now that my power is all pulsing and out of whack, the water element feels so strong that it's undeniable. I need it now to complete me and need to get it before Ria regains all her senses.
The problem is I don't know how to get around the memory spell. I take small steps, getting closer and none of the confusion hits. Soon, I'm right next to the display, and I lift the glass lid off of the podium. The three round drops of water that hover in the air twinkle, and as soon as I reach out to touch them, the water soaks into my skin and absorbs inside me, traveling straight to my core with the other elements.
Just like the others, the power rushes through me, my limbs filling with cool liquid and helping to contain the raging inferno inside me that seems to always be near exploding.
As the four elemental powers inside me merge, the ground quivers underneath me. The water from the ocean crashes loudly and rushes toward me. The wind blows and whips against the building, and the stars appear to be on fire. Even though I'm not outside, I can feel what each element is doing to celebrate finally being in sync with one another.
There are no noises from outside. The fighting has halted, and as I walk to the window, the waves are now at the fortress, ankle deep and receding, but the fighters are not fighting and are, instead, watching the show.
Dax moans at my feet and pulls himself against the wall. "You did it."
Even he can feel the difference in the air, and now I can see everything. The hair on my neck stands as I feel Ria rising as quietly as possible. She grabs the sword off the ground and moves so slowly there aren't any sounds to alert.
As she raises her arm to swing the blade, I turn and stare her square in the eye. Without moving, I set the floor underneath her on fire.
She squeals, and then she reaches out to the water to put it out.
The only reason I know is because she connects with me, and before I can squash it, the water appears to extinguish the flames.
Crap, how is she still able to connect to it? It's freaking inside me.
A huge smirk fills her face. "Huh. Lookie there."
None of this makes sense. I've got to figure out a freaking way to get out of here and still protect everyone. "It's over, Ria."
"Oh, no it's not." She raises her hand, and the power inside me surges.
No, this isn't supposed to happen now that I have all of the artifacts. It's because of her damn connection to the water. Since the turquoise magic is surging, the other elements respond by increasing in strength as well.
"What's wrong?" Ria cackles and tilts her head at me. "Is something causing you problems?" She runs at me and swings her sword at my feet.
At the last second I jump over the blade and kick at her chest. I hit her square in the center, and she stumbles back.
"You need to end this." Dax is standing against the wall, but his face is still red from whatever Ria did to him. "The longer you draw it out, the worse it'll be."
He doesn't have to tell me that twice. "I'm trying."
"She's not strong enough to take me." Ria laughs as she tugs at me once again and then rears back and swings her fist at my face.
Throwing my right arm
