The Heart of Gelmina

Elody found herself floating above what she assumed to be one of the artisan wells which fed the city. But it was like no well she had ever known. It was as wide as a great lake, and deeper than anything but an ocean should ever be. The water spread out on all sides, glittering and crystal-clear. The whole thing was illuminated by a soft green inner light which seemed to come from the water itself. it covered the entire lake but was strongest near the centre. As a nature spirit herself, Elody sensed the presence of something in the water. Something old and powerful.

This was the source of the cursed water. For a moment curiosity eclipsed even her rage. There was something buried in the lake. Some great source of magic which fit nothing she had ever seen before. She wondered what it was and how it had come to be here. She was even tempted to dip below the waves and take a closer look but caution stayed her hand. A power like that could harm even her if she wasn't careful.

Besides, she wasn't here for it. She had other reasons to be here. She cast her gaze across the waters, seeing the many thirsty pipes and pumps which were at work, a tangled network of mechanical tendrils that stretched from the water to the stony walls. The city drank deeply of the well, but judging by its depth, there was plenty more. In the distance there was a rocky shore which had been polished smooth by centuries of gentle waves. There, she saw a collection of buildings and people. Almost enough to be a small town! That was where the machinery was kept and maintained, and was also directly under the palace.

So that was it. This was where the water came from and where they pumped it to the whole city! That was the secret of Gelmina's slaves. The reason so many turned to slavery and didn't regret it was a combination of constantly reinforced cultural axioms and the hypnotic suggestions carried in the drinking water.

Elody did not know how to feel about that. In truth, she didn't know how to feel about a great many human things. She was all too well aware of his distant she had become with age, and how alien her perspective was to a mortal. She did not know if this would be considered evil but she suspected that perhaps it would.

It felt evil to her, anyway. Elody's true nature was not that of flesh and blood, but soul and magic. Her mind was quite literally the only thing she really had. Everything else was a robe, a shell she could don or discard at will. The only thing that made her into herself was her thoughts.

The idea of those being taken away was utterly repugnant and filled her with a furious rage that boiled through her being. Elody had never known anger like this in her life. Not when she fought in battles, not when she clashed with the mages of Vrasha's brother. Such an all consuming fury almost scared her with its intensity. It was like the old stories she had always heard. Ancient and primordial nature spirits could destroy whole cities. It happened from time to time. They would emerge from their sleep and slaughter. Before now, Elody had never understood how they could do what they did. Even though she was their kin, she was smaller and lesser in every way. It had baffled her.

Now, as she felt the anger within, she felt she understood. She wanted to lash out in rage, to destroy. To kill! But she reined that back in. Vrasha would not want her to become such a monster. She did not wish to shed blood if she could avoid it.

But there had to be punishment. Her whole soul told her this. For what had been done, there had to be payment.

She reached out, channelling her power. The waters below her rippled and began to move. Water was her element of choice. Like most nature spirits, Elody could channel almost any element if she had to. But she had always favoured water. Water and the nature that dwelt alongside it. Plants and trees and vines. Those were her calling.

She had no vines here, but water alone would do.

The waves started to build, growing larger and larger. Near the shore, people were gathering and pointing. Some of them had swords and shields, but that would mean nothing against her. Others were mages, and she could feel them trying to channel and disperse her power. She waved them off like flies. Not a single one of them was even worth her attention.

Elody gathered the water around her body. She had discarded flesh, but her soul burned so brightly that it was like a star. The energy flowed and intertwined. Now the mages were shouting, they realised that they could not stop it.

Elody sent the great wave coursing towards the shore. It grow as it travelled, rising up and up to dwarf the buildings. The humans were cast in shadow. Some of them threw down their weapons and began to run. More did the same and soon they were all sprinting for cover. That was good. She would not let them die.

But she would destroy the buildings. Wreck the pumps. Make a point. Then she would collect Vrasha and tell her what had been going on. The two of them would go from there. That would be the time for mortals, when Elody would have to once more try to think like the woman she once had been.

But that was not yet. For now she was nature itself. The water crashed against the shore, tumbling forward in a great wave to swamp and destroy the first of the buildings. But just as it did, Elody felt a **** of power spike through her control! The wave was turned aside, instantly was dismissed and broke apart. The water did not touch even a single one of the buildings.

And there, standing before the shore was one human who had not run. Elody had not seen him before. He had seemed so small, so easily missed.

But he was not easily missed now.

He was muscular and powerful, with tanned skin and a shaved head. His eyes blazed with an inner light and in his hand he grasped a mage's staff. Energy burned around him in a corona, bright and savage. Elody tested her might against him again only to have it repelled. He looked towards her, seeing her soul even without a body.

"You." He said. "I presume that you are here because of the water?"

"You can see me?" She asked. "No human should be able to see me now. Not even a mage!"

"Ah, but I am beyond a simple mage," the man laughed. "As far beyond them as you are. However, I am afraid that there is no time for simple chat. I don't suppose I can convince you to simply go away?"

"No." Elody said. "What has been done is evil. There may be payment!"

"Evil?" The mage laughed. "You must be a young spirit to speak so passionately of good and evil."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that as a spirit matures, they tend to learn the truth of the matter. There is no good. There is no evil. There is only power. Power allows one to do as they will. Crying about evil is pointless and wasteful. If you have the strength, do something about it! And if you do not, simply accept your fate. That is the way that this world works."

"Very well." Elody said, finding her dislike of the man growing by the moment. "I will do something about it."

"You will try," Spoke Kazum the Archmage.