Elementals—those rare beings who could merge with a natural phenomenon so completely that the line between flesh and nature vanished—were creatures whispered about, revered, and feared. William had never read about them in any dusty library archive.
Everything he knew came from his father, carried through late-night talks and half-finished stories told beside a dim lantern flame.
One immutable truth lingered in those teachings: *as long as even a speck of their element existed somewhere in the world, an Elemental could never truly die.* Fire, water, lightning, sound—each one tied to the eternal heartbeat of nature.
And William had already met one.
A boy around his age. A boy who knocked him out cold during a spar. A boy who blitzed him so mercilessly that William had no idea what even struck him until he woke up flat on his back hours later.
Mark—Domella's son.
