[center][h2][color=39b54a]Rankon[/color][/h2][/center]
[center][i]The Mountain Village of Calvern[/i][/center]
[center][@PharaohAtem][@The One][/center]

"Need help."

An unfamiliar voice sounded out from his side as he focused on the ships passing by. He turned and saw a muscular stranger standing next to him who looked as though he had spent a lot of time in the forest. Rankon's brow furrowed as he opened his mouth to respond, however that is when he noticed that while he had been distracted many more individuals had begun moving around his mountain home. [color=39b54a][i]'Soldiers!'[/i][/color] The ships in the sky began to bank and turn around coming back toward his village. Something had attracted there attention, possibly the stranger? Rankon closed his eyes, he needed to evacuate the entire village before this place was demolished by the King's wrath. He reopened the tunnel entrances in village homes, feeling the feet of the remaining villagers pound the earth beneath them, ready to head deep within the earth. The tunnels were as complex as Rankon could make them given the years he had spent preparing them just in case. It would take a day's travel to emerge from the tunnels, but they would be far away and the new harvest should keep them fed until they had time to find a new home. 

But he needed to give them time. Rankon could obliterate the tunnels behind them, but they needed time to move out of the way. But it seemed that time was not on his side. The soldiers moved together in unnatural ways led by a woman who stank of bloody iron. 20 strange creatures surrounded the village as well, Rankon had never seen their like before and could not guess at their intentions. [color=39b54a]'What is it that they want? I never planned for this. So many soldiers...'[/color] Rankon could still feel the aching in his bones from the day's hard labor, his magical reserves already spent from constant use. Sweat rolled from his head down his shirt, his boots still heavy from the clinging dirt, and nothing in the way of combative training. Suddenly a man seemingly appeared next to the woman in charge of the soldiers. He was dressed in finer, more ornate clothing than anything Rankon had ever imagined. One part of his ensemble was worth more than the entire village could have made in a decade. But the power rolling off the man made that insignificant, Rankon could feel it's pressure trying to push him down to his knees before him, only the strength of the Earth beneath his feet giving him the strength to stand. It was obvious who this man was.

The Elemental King spoke, "We only care for one of you. Let me put this simply. Tell me which of you is the Earth Elemental Chosen One, and I will let the other go, otherwise you both die." 

Rankon glanced at the stranger beside him in confusion. [color=39b54a][i]'Earth Elemental Chosen One? Does he mean this man? Is that who they are chasing? Maybe if we run, we can get the King away from the village...'[/i][/color] As if to confirm his thoughts, the strange man looked at him and uttered a single word. 

"Run."

The surrounding forest exploded with activity as the trees themselves, moved with ferocity to attack the Elemental King's army. The soldiers fell quickly to the myriad of supernatural attacks coming from the trees. Rankon looked on in horror and shock, the sickle falling from his hand, this apparent "Chosen One" had decided to make his home a warzone. Rankon could not run, not with the lives of his fellow villagers depending on him buying them as much time as possible. The risk was too high to them. He needed to stop this before the King used his legendary power or decided to punish the village for the mistakes of the stranger. He bent down to his hands and knees grabbing fistfuls of the earth below and squeezing with all his strength. The earth responded to his call stone erupting not just over the king's men, but the tree golems as well seizing all of them by their legs in an effort to keep them all in place preventing further violence. Rankon gasped from the strain of the action, blood flowing down one nostril and mixing with his sweat. He could feel deep, deep below the earth his village, his friends, and his family racing as fast as they could to safety almost at a safe distance now.

[color=39b54a]"My King, I plead mercy for my people. Please spare my village."[/color] His voice strained with the effort and the fear for his people, arms and legs trembling from the strain of his ability.