Flow of Existence

"I love you Nash." The words were still pounding through Nash's head, he honestly couldn't believe what had just happened to him.

Ade, who he had had a crush on for as long as he could remember, had confessed to him. This was the best day of his life.

When Ade had confessed to him he honestly didn't know how to respond for a good couple of seconds, he stood there dead in his tracks, frozen up thinking of a way to answer.

When he looked back to see those beautiful icy blue eyes staring at him, not a hint of unseriousness detected in them, he had told her he loved her too.

He didn't know how to feel about it, confessing always seemed like such a huge wall, and now that wall was suddenly broken through out of nowhere.

'I'll have to thank Kes later.'

He was quite sure his friend had set the two of them up together; he didn't really believe he had something to do, it felt like something his friend would do too.

Nash was walking in circles while he was on his way home. Trying to calm himself down he closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.

He didn't really know how to control the maelstrom of emotions running through him. He wondered what others, especially his father who was probably great at detecting Flow, would feel from him right now.

Would it be love? Would it be happiness? Or would it be surprise? 

Every time he remembered those icy blue eyes, who were seemingly as deep as the ocean, staring at him his heart would thump.

He leaned his back on a nearby building to relax.

He couldn't stop himself from thinking about the future now that he and Ade were officially a couple together.

Would he start talking to Kes less? He didn't hope so, he loved spending his time with his friend more than anything. But maybe he would have to focus on his girlfriend more now. He sure hoped being with Ade wouldn't cut into his time with Kes.

And after that, how would the even further future look? Would they have kids together? He wondered if Ade would want them.

After finally collecting himself and reeling in his thoughts Nash made his way home.

He couldn't wait to tell his parents about finally having made progress with Ade, it would be a bit embarrassing to tell them that he wasn't the one who had made the first move though.

He was excitedly closing in on his house.

So why exactly was there smoke coming from that direction?

…

Nora had felt something horrible, she knew something bad was up.

After quickly sending Kes away she was now making her way towards the village chief's residence. She was happy her son had just listened to her without complaining, immediately dashing away when she told him to.

And before she knew it she heard a loud explosion. 

Luckily it came from the other side of the village, Kes would have time to get away. Nora just had to hurry up and get to where the village chief was.

But she realized the village chief had probably sensed it himself by now, she wondered how many people had already been sent away by the village chief, and how many people would make it out alive.

"Enemy attack!" She screamed as loud as she possibly could.

This turned out to be a mistake as someone suddenly pounced on her.

The man, who looked about thirty years old, had short brown hair. He was quite muscular but not especially bulky. He wore a red robe, and most terrifyingly possessed a whole lot of Flow.

Nora could feel the pressure coming from the man draped in red. She quickly dodged out of the way.

'Shit he's strong.'

The man stayed quiet as he formed his Flow into fire, he had already formed his innate element.

Nora responded by forming a wall of sand blocking all the fire that shot towards her.

This made the man raise his eyebrow in surprise. "Oh, innate sand, that's quite rare around here."

The man dashed towards Nora again, which made her jump backwards.

She formed some sand trying to impair the man's vision, but the man quickly swept it away with his arm and dashed inwards again.

This bought her enough time to jump up to a nearby building, taking the high ground she formed more and more sand as if trying to bury the man. 

The man formed a wall of fire, sweeping away the sand as he too jumped on top of the building.

More people stepped out of their houses to see what the commotion was all about, but that didn't mean Nora was getting any backup.

More people wearing the same red uniform jumped out, they weren't as strong as the man who had formed his innate fire element but they were still stronger than the average villager.

In front of Nora's eyes multiple villagers who just came out to see the commotion either got killed or captured. But Nora didn't have any time to think about it, she quickly formed another stream of sand and sent it flying towards her enemy. 

The man dodged and seemingly gave up on fighting with his innate element as he dashed inwards and tried to deliver a palm strike to Nora's chest.

Nora was faster, as she stepped to the side and delivered a strike of her own straight to the man's temple. 

This stunned the man for a second in which Nora quickly delivered a strike to his chest sending him flying backwards. 

The man was mad, Nora could feel it. His Flow wasn't even remotely trying to hide his raging emotions, apparently he could not accept losing to her here.

The man looked up. "Look, I don't have all day to waste here, if you surrender yourself now I will guarantee your life. You will get sold as a slave or something, but it's better than dying isn't it?"

Now it was Nora's time to burn with rage. "I'd rather die."

She formed another stream of sand quickly shooting it towards him. She dashed together with the stream of sand seemingly in sync.

But the man wasn't holding back anymore, she could feel his killing intent. He had seemingly been trying to keep her alive to sell her as a slave later. 

The man waved and formed a stroke of fire and sent it flying towards Nora who quickly jumped to the side to avoid it.

The man jumped towards her, avoiding the stream of sand and pouncing her at the same time. He delivered a hard strike straight to her gut.

Nora twisted her body as she spasmed. She landed on the ground, barely managing to land on her feet, and took a hop like an agile bunny shooting towards another building.

She had decided stalling for time would be the best option now, but she couldn't run away. If she ran away the man would either chase her down and kill her or start killing other villagers.

She bit her lip so hard that it started bleeding and dashed to another building.

The man was hot on her tail, she could feel the annoyed emotions coming from his Flow and the burning hot fire that was being flung at her.

Making herself smaller she jumped and rolled into a nearby window. 

Before the man chasing her could follow inside, she formed another stream of sand and shot it out of the window.

It scraped the man's cheek, his expression growing even more angry.

He burned through the walls of the building she was hiding in, as Nora quickly rolled away and took cover. Even though she was safe behind the cover the man kept flinging fire at her.

"Come out, my previous offer still stands! You can still leave here alive if you want to, don't you have a kid or something?"

This was something he shouldn't have said, Nora suddenly dashed out from behind the spot she was hiding seemingly disregarding her defense.

She formed a blade of sand and shot it towards the man, he was a little late to block, this time the stream of sand didn't just scrape him but left a large gushing wound in his shoulder.

Blood gushed out of his shoulder, as the man screamed loudly. Nora didn't miss the chance she dashed at the man, her whole being burning with rage and killing intent. 

Nora had grown rusty at fighting after settling down in the village, she didn't join the hunting team despite having the strength to and instead decided to dedicate her life to teaching, researching and raising her kid. She had lived a peaceful life, never having to worry about fighting again. And now this man here was threatening the very thing she had dedicated her life to, the village was going up in flames, her kid had been threatened. 

She hoped he was safe somewhere, she hoped her husband was safe somewhere too. Honestly she hoped her husband wouldn't be as foolish as her, she hoped he would just lay down his life and become their slave.

She didn't want him to die, she didn't want her family to fall apart.

She put all her strength into her next attack with incredible power and killing intent she bashed against the man's shoulder.

The bloody shoulder cracked despite being reinforced by the man's Flow. The cracking sound of the shoulder was grating, but Nora couldn't hear it anymore; she was focused on nothing but taking this man down.

She twisted her body as she felt a fist land on the back of her head, but she couldn't get knocked out here. She grabbed the man's arm and pulled with all her strength.

Flesh was being torn apart as Nora pulled with all her might, the grating sound of bones and flesh ringing loudly through the burning building. After twisting the arm around and pulling even harder she managed to pull the arm out of its socket, twisting it clean off.

The man roared loudly as blood gushed out of his stump of what had first been his arm. He looked at the woman standing with his arm in her hands, she looked like a wild beast.

The roar clearly attracted attention as more people with red uniforms dashed into the building.

One of the people who had entered the building stared at the scene with wide eyes. "Con what the hell happened to your arm."

"That doesn't matter now. Kill this woman even if it's the last thing you do." Con barked, his voice filled with intense rage.

Three people pounced Nora, she knew this was the end.

With the last bit of her strength she formed another stream of sand intending to finish the man that had chased her so far off, he had to die here.

But it wasn't enough, the stream of sand left a large gush in the side of his leg but she couldn't kill him.

The last thing Nora saw before she blacked out was the man cursing loudly as he moved his only remaining arm to cover the large wound on his leg.

Nora's mouth formed into a smile.

'I'm sorry Kes, I'm sorry Yosen. I love you guys.'