As Amelia’s feet carried her forward, she tugged at her hood to keep the chilly air from overpowering her. But when she stepped onto a slick patch of earth, her foot slid, causing her to stumble. After she hit the ground, she propped herself up and ran a finger through the muddy surface. She rubbed the mud between her fingers before standing up and staring into the sky. Her eyes widened as she raced up the small hill.
When she reached the summit, Amelia raised a hand, and the first raindrops slammed against her palm. As each droplet collided with her skin, it rippled, absorbing the drop like a stone thrown upon a clear lake. Each strike teased her fledgling smile to her ears. Water, specifically rain, rejuvenated the grim woman stalking about the hillside. As the last of the wrinkles clinging to her arms vanished, Amelia pushed the hood back, exposing her face to the falling rain. Just as the droplets rejuvenated her arms, they washed away the harsh lines of her face. With a deep breath, she stared up into the heart of the rainfall, letting the sudden storm renew her weary body.
“Hey, there,” a male voice sliced through the pleasant thumping of raindrops.
When she opened her eyes, Amelia’s head rolled about her shoulders as she searched for the source of the disturbance. After finding nothing before her, she turned around slowly and glared at a group of four leering brigands. With a guttural growl, she shook her head and marched away from the outlaws. “Don’t bother me.”
One of the fools whistled at her while another placed the tip of his sword on the ground. “You’re the one, trespassing.”
“I believe you should compensate us for the transgression,” a third said with a soft chuckle.
“Why do the fools always find me?” Amelia clenched her fists as she turned her head and studied every inch of the four strangers, her grinding teeth the only other sound. “This is your last chance. If you walk away, I’ll forget you bothered me.”
All four burst out with laughter as they clapped their limbs.
“This is your own doing. You had your chance!” She threw her arms out into the storm as if to block their path. As their mirth turned to snickering, the four bandits brandished their blades and charged. When the quickest attempted to grab Amelia, his fingers simply passed through her body as if she were a cloud.
The second assailant lunged forward, but he sailed through Amelia’s wispy form and slammed into the ground.
“I tried to warn you.” Amelia ignored the other assailants and grasped the second’s face. As he struggled against her slick yet digging fingers, she pulled him closer to her lips. “I warned you twice to leave me alone. For me, that was pleading.”
Suddenly, the two who hadn’t reached her shared a brief look before fleeing. Yet before they took a second step, watery tendrils lifted them off the ground. As they thrashed like hooked fish, the water swelled and eventually enveloped them. Standing, Amelia ignored the man dangling from her fingers and stared down at the first attacker. “But you had to terrorize someone who felt like ignoring your pathetic lives.”
The remaining man’s gaze flicked toward the two fleeing men as they crumpled to the ground. A second later, his sword and knife fell from his hand like anvils plummeting off a cliff. A moment later, his legs crumpled with a pair of cracks, pitching him face first into the muddy ground. With a grunt, he pushed himself off the mud as his two companions sank into the softening earth. “Don’t hurt me?”
“Weren’t you trying to collect from a trespasser?” Amelia’s eyes narrowed as she lifted her free hand, catching the raindrops.
“Please, don’t kill me!”
Water entombed the man dangling from her hand as she tossed him behind her as if he’d been nothing more than a clump of grass. She walked to the kneeling attacker and turned his head toward her cold and swirling blue eyes. Instantly, he tried to wriggle away but howls of pain wrapped about the living. When his eyes opened, his gaze fell to the slender tendrils stretching out from Amelia’s fingers and ending about his body. She stood up and kept his panicked eyes next to hers. “It was once widely understood to never challenge a Storm Warden.”
“You’re… you are a… a… Storm…” the thug said, as his eyes fell to the vanishing forms of his companions. His fingers fell to his shattered legs as his head whipped about. “You can’t exist! Storm Wardens were nothing more than a myth!”
“Ahhhh, but I do exist. And I’m a fully trained Strom Warden,” Amelia said as she glanced over her shoulder. She returned her attention to the man hanging before her. “Don’t worry, you’ll join your friends soon enough.”
“We…”
“Didn’t know,” Amelia said, pulling the man closer to her. She lowered her voice as if to guard a secret. “That’s not an excuse to terrorize people who you think are beneath you. Because, eventually, you’ll run into someone like me.”
Amelia dropped the man to the ground as she smoothed her drenched clothing. With a snap, water pooled around the man as she inclined her head. Without another word, she spun about, resuming her journey.
“Don’t kill me?”
The soft plea yanked Amelia’s head, forcing her gaze on the survivor. “How many have asked that of you?”
“What does that matter?”
Amelia threw her head back and a feral howl ripped through the sky. In response to her cry, lightning split the sky, striking a nearby tree. When the remnants of the corresponding thunderclap died, her eyes narrowed. “Of course it matters, but I suppose you can have a chance for life.”
“What?”
Humorless laughter escaped Amelia’s lips as she snapped her fingers, and the water fell away from the sole assailant as she vanished.