Elementals are the worst, Jackson thought patiently as he ran.
Jackson had been hired to discreetly save Pa’ia. A nasty entity — they had called the fucking thing an enitity — had been giving the town hell for the last couple of years, and they figured they should do something about it about now. It started with the little things, like killing a few animals and burning a field or two, but now had progressed to killing people. For Heaven’s sake, it had killed fourteen people before they even started talking about what to do. So they had called Jackson, hunter extraordinaire, to deal with it.
What they didn’t tell him was that he would be dealing with a fourteen-story Fire Elemental. Discreet was not really an option.
They’re lucky the damned thing hasn’t burned the whole damn town to cinders. Jackson was now retreating. Well, running away would be a more accurate statement, but he would play that off as advanced military tactics.
Not that he hadn’t done his homework once he figured out what the thing was. You don’t live to forty as a Hunter if you just rush into things. This was Pele, a goddess of earth and fire. And she was pissed.
What the hell crawled up her crotch? he questioned himself. Of course climbing over the scorched earth probably wasn’t the best place to thing about these things. Pele hurled a ball of lava that barely missed him and scattered fire over the whole path. That route was now shit’s creek, and he had forgotten the paddle. He skidded to a stop and turned to face her. She was crawling across the earth looking with her lower half sunken into the ground like she had pulled herself out of Perdition. He pulled out his iridium quarter staff and settled in for a fight. Fire roared beneath her skin as she roared her fury.
“Akua’aina!” she roared with the crackle of fire.
What? he though quizzically? A war-cry? That’s new. Jackson gripped the quaterstaff tight and prepared to ram it through her heart, since only iridium through the heart could even phase Elementals. She was crawling closer.
“Akua’aina! Akua’aina!” Lava dribbled from her lips as she screamed and slammed the earth. She knew he didn’t understand her. Pele slammed the ground and opened a fissure straight through the crust. Jackson was getting nervous now. She just looked… angry? sad? broken hearted?
What the hell is she up to? Jackson started walking slowly towards her, getting in position for a sharp attack.
“God…” she was struggling now with words she only barely knew. “God… aina…earth…” Her face furrowed and she flared beneath her stone skin. “God…earth…land…” Little droplets of fire started to well up in the holes that were her eyes.
He stopped.
“God land? Your land?” Jackson asked tenuously. The Elemental looked at him, closed her eyes, and nodded slowly. In a moment of bizarre clarity, he knew why Pele had been torturing the town. They had expanded their borders a few years ago in an effort to hike tourism. After all, who doesn’t want to see an active volcano. They must have awoken her, not paid tribute for the land, or something. Elementals got pissy for any number of reasons.
“They took your land?” Jackson wanted the whole story. He would kill, but it was a lot of work and he was kind of lazy. But Pele shook her head again and the earth shook a little. The little bastards. They knew she was here and what she was pissed off about.
“Haawi aina… give… land,” she rumbled. Jackson had a thought.
“If they give it back, will you leave them alone?” He asked politely. It’s like talking to a damn kid. He lowered his quarterstaff. She shook her head hard now, raining lava and fire on the ground around her.
Ok then. All I have to do is convince them to close down 20% of their profit margin. Should be easy, he thought sarcastically. “Ok,” he called up to her, “I’ll see what I can do.” Then he turned tail and ran back to the town, glad that she wasn’t following him.
Elementals are the fucking worst, he thought pissed off, So demanding.
