Chapter 4- Allies and Enemies
In ancient times when the four primary elements were the governing law, the beings of fire, water, earth, and wind were all at war with each other. This was long before humans came along, possibly about the time what humans call Dinosaurs existed. Although, no human was able to find any remnants of said creatures. The reason for this, each creature was made with its associated element. A water drake for example took the form of a dragon but is entirely made of water and at death, returned to mere water once again. Humans do not see rocks and water and wind as living creatures. As of now they barely even see a difference between Magma and Earth, but in the eyes of an elemental, they’re greatly different.
There was always a territorial dispute between the four elements, and there will always be a territorial dispute. The air elementals want more sky, the water elementals want more oceans, the fire elementals want more volcanoes, etc etc. However, when the destruction of the dinosaurs came about through a rock made of earth, wind, fire and water all together, they realized that to survive, territory needed to be resolved through negotiations and equality; a petty war would not make the difference.
The leaders of all four races of elementals spoke to their people, declaring that to the untrained eye, the world does look uneven. However, they explained that there is water and ice atop mountains, fire in both the sky and the land, earth even under the water, and air in nearly every area. They declared that the various locations where other elements exist in harmony are for the benefit of all, but the obvious places such as the sky for air and the sea for water are to be the regions, or rather nations of the elementals. This created laws, governments, policies, but above all, a peace treaty between all nations. The earth and sea naturally allied themselves as they were always close to each other, and the same goes for the fire beings who inhabited the sun and the sky of the earth.
One particular law was passed that declared no elemental is to come in contact with a human unless the circumstances are beyond that of a written law. This meant that natural laws, such as natural disasters carrying an elemental purely by accident to human areas, and prophecies which are not even written, were acceptable reasons to ignore this law.
Most of the governments are very similar, all of them consist of one branch that decides what’s best for all; but considering the prophecy of the water drakes, they are the only beings with two branches. Their king, Leviathan the ocean serpent ruled over all elemental related cases. But the tribunal was created for ruling against elemental/human related cases. The other three elements don’t particularly like this idea, but due to the governed treaty between all elements, this was perfectly within the water regions rights.
In he last century, the Tribunal has had three meetings with other elementals. The first was to understand what the Tribunal’s purpose was, the second was to discuss where to place an artifact known as the Fountain of Miracles, and the last one was to create the permanent alliance with the earth tribes. During some of these meetings, the tribunal were required to raise their building up above the water, to allow the other elements to enter in accordance with the treaty, not to mention to prevent fire elementals from drowning. Two or three dozen humans found the building as it had just risen up. It was not as if they were searching for anything, but they were running from a rather horrible country seeking refuge anywhere but their. These humans were caught and dealt with by the Tribunal, and were granted safe passage to their original destination. Their memories were erased to prevent any revelation of the Tribunal’s location.
The tribunal realized this is possible to happen again, so using a local legend about a triangle called Bermuda, and relocation of their temple, they now use the “disappearance” part of the legend to their advantage. The tribunal knew that even if a mistake was made and a human’s memory wasn’t erased, other humans would pass it off as a cry for attention or wild and illogical theory. They have never had a problem since.
All of these rules are set in stone, and anyone who breaks them suffers the same fate as the only other person who has broken them, a most painful death. This week however, thanks to the prophecy and the aid of the earth tribes, all of these laws are about to be broken. The rat known as Lian has been disguised as a mouse, equivalent to the one he will be replacing for his mission. His job is to befriend the boy who keeps the mouse as a pet, and if possible, the mother who is the link to the great prophecy.
“Psh, humans with their pitifully weak cages. Didn’t even have to use my hands,” the rat mumbles as he uses his tail to lift the latch that opens the cage. “Hey, you! Get outta here, there’s free cheese at the bottom of this building,” he squeaks to the original mouse. Though the mouse cannot speak, he understood, as do all earth creatures. The creatures are simply subtle enough to not let humans know of their intelligence. Although, that’s not to say domesticated animals who have never had to fend for themselves aren’t idiots. If the original mouse could speak, he was probably shouting out “hell yeah, free cheese, free cheese, whoopie!” Closing the cage behind him, the rat disguised as a mouse now waits comfortably inside, waiting for Jeremy to come home. Compared to the sewers, this is the kind of living a rat would consider luxurious, even if it’s a prison of a sort.
It doesn’t actually take that long for Jeremy to arrive home. The lucky convenience of this apartment complex is that it’s close to nearly every part of town needed, including his school. To the rats surprise, Jeremy’s much more full grown than he’d anticipated. Barely fitting on the bed, Jeremy slouches back with a comic book obviously avoiding his homework.
“Hmph, I still don’t understand what the hell that war monger wants me to do. Talk to humans and befriend them, this aint some T.V. show that humans’d be so accepting of a talking rat,” he silently thinks to himself. “Though, I do owe him. He just better know what he’s doin’, otherwise there’ll be hell to pay with all four nations.” Then, the rat sighs if a rat could ever sigh, and shouts to the boy “Yo! Can a rodent get some food over here!”