The Four Winds

“It's been a while.” Notus eyed Reinhardt suspiciously as they began to circle each other. Zephyrus and his other two brothers watched from where they stood, staying out of the fight. Notus wanted Reinhardt to himself.

“I have to say that I feel honored. You managed to track me down, even in the midst of a war.” They already seen the Dragon's Tail once so Reinhardt had to be careful when he used it. The weapon excelled when it was used as a surprise, but its effectiveness dropped once the enemy knew about it. Making sure he kept his eyes on the other three winds he tried to find the best avenue for an attack. 

“After our run in out in the Shadow Forrest I have been dreaming of this fight.”

            “I'm sorry to disappoint but you haven't crossed my mind once." Unlatching his cloak and letting it fall to the ground Reinhardt felt his opportunity to strike. From somewhere in the distance Eurus shot an arrow at one of his blind spots, hoping to end  the fight quickly. Boreas almost fell over himself trying to rush in and close the distance between them both. Notus was visibly furious with his brothers for interrupting but couldn't do anything about it now.

             As the arrow flew towards his back Reinhardt grabbed the wind that was controlling the arrow and let it slide by him. Turning toward Boreas he released the Dragon's tail, but quickly snapped the cord downwards, forcing the blade to whip up and backwards. Notus' whip caught the cord of the Dragon Tail. Pulling the whip tight the tip of Reinhardt's Dragon Tail to lash backwards wrapping around Notus' whip.

             “You're impressive!” Notus yelled, pulling as hard as he could on the whip. He wasn't trying to disarm him, the man knew that the weapon was attached to his arm, he simply needed him to be unable to move. Boreas leapt over a dead body, knife ready to strike. Watching him approach Reinhardt felt the wind gather around the blade like a sharp cover. Having to make the choice in that second he realized that he hadn’t been ready to do what he knew he needed to do. 

The bandits that had slain his family was one thing, but this man was a soldier, no different than he was, following orders and living day to day. Until now Reinhardt had managed to not kill anybody on the battle field. Though an effective weapon, the Dragon's Tail wasn't the most lethal of weapons. It was actually far better suited for disarming and incapacitating its enemies. 

As he grabbed hold of the blade with his will he saw the fear in Boreas' eyes. He understood in that moment that his own weapon belonged to Reinhardt and as the blade slammed into his shoulder he screamed loudly. Zephyreus tried to catch his brother but was off balance and crashed to the ground. Reinhardt thought the man should be lucky that he didn't want to kill him.

        Almost as if the whole event hadn't happened, Notus released his hold on the Dragon's Tail and moved behind Reinhardt to get a better vantage point. When another arrow came whirling at him from behind he grabbed it and threw it towards Notus. Not expecting to have to watch out for his brothers own attacks he barely missed it.

        "Watch what you're doing Eureas!"

        "I don't know what's going on. The arrows just keep flying past him!" Reinhardt was beggining to understand that Eureas was not the smartest person in the group. 

        "Stop shifting! He can steal them from you!" Notus cracked his whip, trying to strike Reinhardt but he was just out of range. From what he could see the group didn't have much practice with their weapons without the use of the wind, so that was a massive advantage for him.

       "Notus, I can't shoot this thing without my power. My aim is awful!" Smiling inwardly he was happy that the man had felt the need too confirm his theory. Sometimes stupidity was a blessing. Notus probably didn't share his belief. 

       Pushing closer the strikes became faster and faster, but keeping out of its limited range was easy. As he retracted the Dragon's Tail he felt an arrow shoot by his body. He hadn't felt it coming since there was no shift guiding it, but he wasn't worried since the arrow didn't come dangerously close to striking him. 

       Changing tactics, Reinhardt rushed Zephyrus. While runing extracting enough of the metal cable on his arm to wrap around his neck and he lept over him. Not expecting the attack, Zephyrus couldn't defend himself. Using his weight and momentum Reinhardt threw him through the air towards a surprised Eureas. The two brothers tumbled to the ground, awkwardly, entangled in their gear.

       Reinhardt watched in amusement as the two started struggling to get back to their feet. In such a short time he had managed to reduce all four of the famed warriors into a joke. Having crushed their moral it was clear to everyone watching who had won the bout. Blood soaked soldiers fell to their knees in despair, while others cheered for what Reinhardt had been able to accomplish.

       Watching Notus' carefully, Reinhardt could see rage burning deep within his eyes. Dropping his whip, the elementalist apprentice turned his head towards the sky. Straining his body past its breaking point a storm grew in the sky overhead. With his senses Reinhardt could feel the power of the attack, and understood what he was trying to do.

       "I will never let you defeat Master Astraeus! Our lives for his!" As Notus collapsed lifelessly to the ground the storm began to fall towards the battle field. Fighting to gain control of the attack it became clear that he couldn't, something was blocking his power. Without the ability to move the attack he was helpless.

       Weapons clashed to the ground all around him as men from both sides ran in fear. The mass of wind broke into smaller and smaller pieces, gaining speed and hardening. Failing to steal the power from a nearby earth elementalist, Reinhardt knew something was wrong. Not bothering to run or hide, he waited for the attack to come.

       Dust shot up from the ground as gales of condensed wind struck the ground. Zephyreus brought up a ball of air around him so thick the falling blades were pushed away from him. As the final desperate attempt to kill Reinhardt ceased, Boreas lay dead on the battlefield. Zephyreus dropped to his knees, exhausted from the fight. Eureas lay unconscious nearby, a stone having struck the side of his face.

       Blood dripped down Reinhardt's arm in tiny streams. Roas' arm reached out to help Reinhardt stand up. He hadn't when she had shown up but a friendly face was a pleasant change.

       "Are you okay? I felt that strange storm coming towards you, and when it wasn't turned away I knew something was wrong. I barely had enough time to raise a shield before it reached you." Tearing off one of her sleeves, Roas applied it to the cut on his shoulder.

       "You stopped all of that from hitting me?" 

       "Not all of it apparently. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to stop wind with fire." For the first time he smiled at her joke. Blood began dripping onto his cheek in small droplets. Looking Roas he could see that she hadn't escaped the blast as well as he had. Tears lined her clothing as well as burns and lots of blood. Her lack of boots also caught his attention, though in the moment it was more of an amusement. 

       "Looks like you had more trouble than I did." Making a gesture towards her feet, she smirked innocently.

       "They didn't match my outfi..." Roas' dark red eyes moved past Reinhardt. As the color drained from her face Reinhardt turned around, looking for what she had seen. In the distance, moving through a line of parting soldiers was a man slowly walking towards them. He looked no different than any other man. Altogether average, but his eyes were silver, and Reinhardt knew who he was. The one person he had wanted to avoid was now standing in front of him. Leader of the Duzee nation, Wind Master, Father of the Winds, Astraeus.

Author's Note

At this point in the story everybody is waiting for the rematch between Reinhardt and the Four Winds, but what I have been trying to build up to is the clash that is about to happen next.