The Academy: Somethings we just have no control over

He felt himself being pulled towards the academy, could feel the lightning inside him fighting with his own water and relented to be pulled along by the rainbringer, knew it had something to show him. The lightning swirled around him, appearing to crack in the sky over the ruins of the academy. Confusion spread across his face as he makes his way closer to the ruins, just waiting; he's learned that the rainbringer does things in its own time and in its own way.

And then a flash of lightning was emitted from his skin, travelling outwards until it formed into a shape he recognised as being similar to that of Betrayal, right down to the stance the lightning mass adopted. His water flowed away from him, pooling on the floor and then rising up to resemble the former wolf king Kale whilst the earth rose up to create a solidly looking creature that his own memories were sure looked like Elemmire but he knew it had to be Azshara. And then the air whipped up and danced around him until he could recognise the faint outline and majesty of his friend Pirate - before finally a fireball blazed across the sky came to settle beside him taking on the form of Artaxxas made entirely out of flames. They stood united before him, each keeping the others in check - their strengths and weaknesses meant none were ever in complete domination over the rest but nor did any fade away. His attention was directed towards the lightning mass as it shifted closer to the shimmering watery shape, the others fading slightly into the background forcing him to concentrate on exactly what the rainbringer was trying to show him, the two whose elements he shared. And then he could feel the two sides warring inside himself, the mischievous lightning whispering mistruths about fire to water as it spoke of revolutions, could feel how water slowly came around to believing every single word lightning cared to feed into his ears. After all without water, fire had nothing to limit its abilities - there would be no one to stop it from trying to take over, no other that it was weak to. He felt the shock and horror of his own water and the decisive choice it made flashed through his body as if it had been his own.

And then he watched helpless to interrupt (almost as if he was just watching this all play out in a movie theatre and not watching history play out before him) as Azshara and Kale stood face to face with Pirate and Artaxxas whilst Betrayal smirked from the sidelines, the fifth element delighting in the fun and chaos that was no doubt about to begin.

And then (in a crack, a howl, a shudder), they were gone. No longer did the angry shapes resemble Pirate and Kale or Artaxxas and Azshara - they had returned to their raw elemental forms. The landscape beneath his feet changed to something that seemed much more familiar to him - he turned, spying the desert of Leviah stretching out before him and then turning again the forests of Lumina before the smell of the familiar Oreallo sea washed over him. He remembered this place, the strength of the elements flashing and rolling around him as well as the lack of other equines suggesting that he was somewhere between Andurien's sacrifice and the rediscovery of the elements by Pharoah, Lorien and Arayah. But it was far from peaceful.

In the battle raging between Fire and Water, Earth had created numerous earthquakes to occur as well as creating structures and buildings to appear from the dislodged soil and rock whilst Air swirled madly in series' of tornados, blasting the Levian sand across the landscape and into earth's structures. Fire had begun to indiscriminately scorch the land, raining fireballs from the sky whilst Water caused a tsunami to rise from Oreallo in order to quench the blazes created by Fire. They ravaged at one another for days which stretched into weeks, weakening one another but also themselves whilst lightning (hiding and otherwise forgotten) had watched in amusement until it seemed to realise they were fully intent on destroying one another. A deafening crack and flash of light filled the sky and the depleted four halted their battle immediately, surprised to see lightning after having not seen a trace of the fifth element for weeks. It was Air who was initially suspicious of Lightning's sudden return and surprisingly (considering they had been battling for months) Earth who supported the belief that the entire revolution had been fabricated by Lightning.

When the dust had settled and the earth had ceased burning all that was left were the ruins of a few of earth's buildings. He blinked and saw the first spies being drawn to the place where lightning had ceased the battle whilst the warriors took to battling where water and fire had scorched and flooded the land. And then his eyes drifted across to watch as the first scholars were drawn in closer to the site that was to become known as the academy. He could feel the strength of the elements that lingered here still, heard as the strongest living amongst them declare the temple site as being a spiritual nexus convincing the others that they could harness the good that the elements could achieve if they studied in a place (where if they believed the legends) that the elements' destructive power had once reigned as a reminder to them all.

All too abruptly he felt the present day flood back to him, all noise and bright lights and not at all the tranquil academy he was used to. Others had come here, like he had, wanting to learn, wanting to know - the elements haboured many secrets (the stone, the seed, the elements themselves) - the temple ruins were perhaps just another secret that many over the years would speculate about but few (if any) would ever know what truly happened. Momentarily he felt the five elements swirl around him as he staggered out from amongst the ruins, still uncertain as to why his relic had chosen to show that to him now. Then again he had discovered the more he thought he knew (about life, the rainbringer, the elements, everything), the less he actually knew - and he was finding that he actually liked it that way; it kept life that little bit more interesting.

GUARDIAN OF THE RAINBRINGER
WATER III & LIGHTNING III