“You said you wouldn’t look!” Eial choked on his words. Unnerved, afraid. He wasn’t ready for the demon to know.

“What are you?” The demon grimaced, his gaze was as if he had just met an unfamiliar being.

Eial’s lips pursed, and his eyes searched the demon’s, trying to understand the consequence of this new reveal.

“Tell,” me now, the demon was planning to command, but was yet again interrupted by the sounds of more guards on their way.

“I’ll tell you later, I promise,” said the elf, half hoping for the impossible that the demon would forget this after the escape. On the other hand, this meant Eial could openly use his powers as long as there were no other guards present.

Ignoring the demon’s watchful eye, Eial was thankful the demon didn’t ask further. After a quick surveillance of his surroundings, he placed his right ear and palms on the wall, feeling all the vibrations near them. 6 seconds… 5 seconds…

The guards were close.

Eial stepped back and faced his palms towards a part of the ceiling a few feet in front. His eyes closed. Feeling the thick layers of stone, the layers of fire, the layers of water, the layers of wind. And within a second, that part of the ceiling collapsed, forming an entryway to the floor above. Grabbing the demon’s shirt where his chest lay, he used wind to propel them upwards through the opening and simultaneously fix the hole he had just created. All just in time to hear the guards turning into the corner where the two of them had been a few seconds prior.

The demon so far had decided on silent observation, but that idea crumbled in a few seconds when he was forced upwards. “What the hell?” he let out, unprepared for what had just happened. But he continued to follow the lead of the elf, running down the hallway of the floor above.

“Sorry for grabbing you! We just needed to get out!” Eial explained. His breath began to become heavy, and the slightest bit of perspiration glimmered on his forehead.

The guards on this floor so far were sparse considering most of them assumed to trap the prisoner and his accomplice on the floor they were on below. Unfortunately for them, they hadn’t expected anyone to casually make a hole in their (thought to be) impenetrable walls. The demon hadn’t expected it either. It was added to the list of thoughts that rumbled inside his mind while he tried to make inconclusive connections.

Elven prisons were constructed with the idea of making sure no one was able to leave. All the walls, the ceilings, the floors, they all were built on intertwined layers of various elements. The only way to break it would have been to manipulate each element, which, to a single elf runaway, would have been impossible. Considering, well— elves only had one element attuned to them.

The two of them continued to run the hallways, enveloping anyone they noticed in more air tombs. Occasionally, Eial would put his ear and palm to the walls, and when he felt the coast clear above, the two of them would travel upwards a floor using the same technique as earlier.

The guards became more and more scant the higher they went. Which came in handy as the elf’s face turned paler by the floor, his breath more raggad, his pace slower.

The demon’s contribution on this escape was about the amount of times ground frogs could fly— close to none. The only time he used his magic was to lift himself up the slight amount he needed to get up to each floor through the opening the elf had made. If I don’t have to lift a finger to get out, I won’t, the demon reassured himself in arrogance, in place of a more grey clouded thought. The weariness of the elf was also something he turned a blind eye to. Or rather, was something that made him grin. The elf did have limits.

Finally, Eial blasted the ceiling on the top floor, flowing in a rush of open air and dampness from the rain that had been. After using air to launch himself up, he rushed to a corner of the rectangle platform, splashing in puddles that had formed, and peeked over.

“So? What now?” the demon finally voiced.

“Well,” the elf started in irregular breath, “the ground is full of guards. And more guards are probably on their way up in this tower to trap us.”

It had just dawned on the demon how stupid of an idea it was believe in the confidence of the little elf. Last time, it ran them straight to a dead end. Blood started to boil within the demon like water within a heated cauldron. “Don’t you dare fucking tell me you don’t have a plan.”

“I do!” Eial countered. He explained with his chest lifting in pride, “Elves can’t fly, but you can.”

“Huh?”

“So you can just grab me and fly up. And I can help defend any attacks while you get high ground.”

The demon closed his eyes and took a weighted breath in, unsuccessfully calming his anger. “You do realize I can’t fly right now,” he said through gritted teeth.

“What?” Eial tensed, staring with his eyes wide.

Wings that were tucked behind the demon lifted, revealing a completely shattered ribbing of what once was. In mild pain, he bit out, “How did you not fucking notice?”

Eial whipped his gaze at the floor below him, thoughts racing. “Aw jeez, aw jeez,” he croaked out in panic, tapping his right foot on the damp stone below. He was so sure of this plan, so proud of this plan. A part of him thought the demon would praise him for his tactics.

Then, within a flash, hundreds of arrows made of various magics presented themselves to the side of their vision, surrounding them, and in time, curving downward towards them. At the same time, footsteps that sounded like an army of horses running in the wild came behind a stone entryway to the roof they were on. They lost all openings for escape.

“Aw jeez!” cried the elf, quickly turning his focus towards the demon. “I’m sorry!”

The demon had just lifted his magic, preparing to defend himself from the falling arrows. But with a THRASH, he was whipped with water and air magic, his breath taken out. As if in slow motion, his body floated down, and his head drifted towards the left, viewing a blurry silhouette of the little elf with his palms facing towards the demon. How dare—

And everything turned black.