To Disturb the Harmony~Chapter 13

“So the elements are a bit out of whack,” Aisling protested. “Couldn’t the gods just out them in their place? I mean all Poseidon needs to do is raise his trident and everything will be fine. Right?”

“It isn’t as simple as that,” Athena chided. “We aren’t talking about simple water here. We are talking about the Elementals, the very forces of nature themselves. While the gods have domain over the various realms of the world, they only draw on that power, but they do not control it. Imagine for a second that your entire house started fighting against you, and that is now what we face. We also face the problem of that house fighting with other houses, so to speak.”

“The tornadoes on Olympus,” I said. “That was the wind, wasn’t it? And the prophecy, it talked about how the element of fire had been captured somehow.”

“Yes, you are correct. The embodiment of the flame disappeared somehow, and the other elements have since been trying to control what was its realm,” Athena said with a sigh. “The mortals haven’t noticed yet as there is still some elements of flame left in the world.”

“But how do you capture an element?” Kimi asked, puzzled by the conversation most likely.

“Much like how gods exist in many places at once, so to do the elements. They exist, or at least existed in a delicate balance. However, they too have a central body, a kind of true form that can be captured and much like the gods, once they are captured, their power counts for nothing.”

“Is there anything you can do to help us?” I asked her, almost pleadingly. Just hearing everything Athena had mentioned made our quest seem almost impossible.

“There is not much I can do I’m afraid. However, I did come with a gift however for my granddaughter. Think of it as an early Christmas present,” Athena said as she presented a hat to Aisling. “Use it for protection when you need it.”

“Cool,” Aisling said as she took her current hat off and placed it inside her bag. She then took the hat from Athena and placed it on her head. It was a black hat with the image of a white owl on the front, outlined in silver thread. “Thanks grandma!”

I saw that annoyed look return to her face, but it faded soon after and the elevator door opened behind her. She took a step inside and turned around to face us.

“Isn’t there anything you can give my friends,” Aisling asked, with pleading eyes and with the same grey intensity that Athena’s had.

“I’m afraid not. However, from the looks of it they have already been given gifts of their own,” Athena said and the doors began to close. “However, I can give you a small bit of advice. It isn’t just the other three elements you have to look out for.”

And just like that the doors closed and we were left in the room alone. While I was grateful of the information Athena had told us, I wish gods would just give us a straight answer. What gifts was she talking about exactly?

“Why didn’t she just let us take the elevator down with her?” I said out load, not really thinking about it. I looked over to see Kimi and Aisling giving me a strange look and there was a moment of silence.

“I don’t know, but I got this cool hat!” Aisling blurted out as a big smile crossed her face. Just then the elevator opened and a new guide came waking through and took a quick look around.

“Hello, it appears there is a blizzard coming through, a pretty bad one from the looks of it. We are evacuating the area for the time being or any open areas until further notice. Is there anyone else up here?” he asked, taking another look around.

“No, everyone else went down in the other elevator,” Kimi said.

“Alright, if you’ll just follow me down this way, I’ll lead you to a warm place,” he said and gestured us downstairs. We followed him downstairs into the lobby area and out into the open area around the monument. I could barely see anything around me as snow had started falling pretty thick.

“It’s freezing!” Aisling said as she pulled her jack closed around her and zipped it up. I heard some kind of meow from her bag, which I took as a sign of agreement.

“It isn’t that bad,” Kimi said as her jacket remained unbuttoned, but the longer part kept flapping in the cold wind. Personally, I was on Aisling’s side this time, but the guide motioned for us to follow him.

“Come on, this…” he started, but a huge just of snow and wind blew past us, causing all of us to grab onto any loose objects we had on, like Aisling’s new hat. Soon the gust faded and I opened my eyes, but a second later they opened up even wider in shock. The guide was frozen solid, and I don’t even mean he was just really cold. There was a layer of ice all around his body that must have been at least an inch think and he looked more like an ice sculpture.

“What in the world happened to him?” I question as I just looked on in amazement at what had just happened. Just then, the wind picked up and I could see icicles forming on the closer buildings and stalls around. As the wind blew past my ear, I thought I heard a sound.

“Freeze!” I thought I heard it say and on instinct I pulled my sword from my pocket. Aisling seemed to do the same and the wind seemed to react to it. Then, the snow and ice began to form into what looked like a face and a body started to form around it.

“What is that thing?” I asked as I held my sword, ready to attack whatever it was.

“I’m the element of ice! With the power of fire gone, I will plunge this world into the next ice age,” he shouted before calling up another gust of cold wind.