Burning Water: Stories of the Elements Chapter 6

BURNING WATER: STORIES OF THE ELEMENTS

By The_StickMan

Chapter 6: Technology

“Fire, Water’s in trouble!” Ice exclaimed as she barged into Fire’s room.

Fire looked up and saw she was terrified. He knew she cared about her daughter, so he decided to set out and rescue Water from whoever got her.

Fire dashed downstairs and out the door. He looked outside to see a faint glow emitting from the canopy of the trees. He ran as fast as he could toward it, throwing aside any Woods in his path.

When Fire finally arrived at the portal and the otherworldly creatures, he was bedazzled. He had never seen anything like this before, and he knew almost everything there was to know about Elements and Element history.

He looked closer and saw Water. She was being held by the creatures, and they weren’t seeming to let go. She was trying to wriggle her way out, but continued to fail.

“Water!” Fire called. She looked over at him, and was very excited to see he was there. However, the creatures saw too.

They dashed at him, but he avoided their grasps and leaped over them before burning their backsides. As the first troops roared in pain, Fire attacked the ones holding Water, smacking them across the “face” before jumping on them over and over and starting fires on their gray bodies.

Fire grabbed Water and tried to pull her away from the clearing, but she pulled back. “What are you doing?” Fire asked.

“I don’t want to just leave,” she replied. “We might as well explore the other side of this portal now.”

“Ugh, fine,” he said, giving in. “But let’s make it quick.”

The two stumbled toward the portal, with Fire in the rear. And when they stepped through, they saw something very odd.

A giant building loomed before them, a factory of some sort with a sign perched near it that read “Mechanical Factory”.

Fire and Water looked at each other.

“Do you think those creatures are called ‘Mechanicals’?” Fire asked.

“I dunno,” said Water, “but we’ll see as soon as we go in.” She pointed to the factory entrance.

“Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second! We’re not going in there!” Fire disagreed.

“I mean, why not? We can clarify our answer,” Water continued.

“No, Water, no!” Fire yelled, but before he knew it, she was already running towards the entrance. “Fine. Race you there!”

They dashed as fast as they could to the entrance, and Water made it there first. They then opened the doors and saw it.

The factory was amazing. It was exceedingly large, with steam rising from every corner. Of course, the robotic creatures were being constructed in a long assembly line. However, the people were making the Mechanicals did not seem to like their job. These “workers” were small, elf-like creatures that wore dirty and raggedy clothes. They looked very sad, like they had been doing this for years.

Fire walked up to one of the elves. “Hi! I’m Fire, and this is my cousin -”

“Don’t tell them anything,” Water whispered, holding her wet hand over his mouth. “We were wondering, what is this place? Where?”

The elvish creature looked up from its seemingly eternal job.

“Wells, I don’t knows,” it replied.

“What do you mean? You work here, right?” Water asked.

“Wells, we’s mores of slaves than workers, but I guess thats is correct,” the elf answered.

“Slaves?” Fire asked curiously.

“Wells, ones days we was having funs in the forest, and thats Technology guy picked us ups and tooks us to this place.”

The cousins looked at each other, confused. They looked back at the elf.

“Who’s Technology?” Water questioned.

“He’s the bigs guy heres, hes runs the place.”

“Can you show us where to find him?”

“Over theres,” the elf replied, pointing toward a pair of double doors in the far corner of the factory room.

“Thanks!” Fire said, and he followed Water toward the doors. The elf looked down and continued building Mechanicals.

They burst through the door and saw a strange Element behind a desk. He looked up and said, “Ah, visitors.” His voice was strong, but high-pitched and scratchy.

“Technology!” Fire yelled. “What are you doing to those poor elves?!”

“Well, just what I need to do,” Technology replied, still covering his face. “To obtain the one thing I want: everyone’s SOUL!!!”

He got up from his chair and showed himself. He looked like a small TV, with a rectangle for a head that had a yellow glow. Fire had seen this before: a computer, one of the newest types of technology out there. Technology had a scar across his face, showing he participated in many battles.

“AND YOUR SOULS WILL BE THE FIRST! HAHAHA!!!” he screamed.

Water threw Fire at him, who whipped Technology with his flames. He fell onto the floor and started writhing in pain, but got up and fired a zap of electricity at Water. It hit her and caused a chemical reaction, resulting in an explosion that covered Fire’s vision. When the smoke cleared, Technology was gone.

Water was in much pain. She was on the floor unconscious.

“Water! Water, no!” Fire yelped. But there was nothing he could do.

Thanks for reading!