And the Results Are...

Hello everyone. First of all thank you for contributing to the poll about the future of the Chronicles. I suppose you'd like to know the results? Right then, so in first place is (drum roll please)... 

A Return to Normal Proceedings

Hello again, dear readers of this ever growing Chronicle of the Elements.

The Long Tale - A Pause

Hello again, followers of The Long Tale.

The Long Tale No. 50 - Blind Freedom

Flashes of light and shadows, originating from the man's fingers, encased the sphere, blinding the dragon completely. The flashes' speed fluctuated as the time within the sphere ebbed and flowed. The man reached through the sphere and touched the dragon's snout, extracting its knowledge, its experience, its being. And, then, finally, the man drew a sword, coated in the blood of kings and beasts alike and plunged it towards the beast's heart. The dragon shrieked and, as the blade broke the sphere, tore free of its prison and knocked the man to his knees before flying away. Blind but free. 

The Long Tale No. 49 - Captured

Blackened flames danced across the sphere surrounding the dragon, encasing it in a raging inferno. The beast shrieked and tried to break free, but merely added crimson to the darkness. The man moved his hand and the sphere froze to ice with only the dragon's great eye being able to move, its maw still caught up in its final roar. A burst of wind moved the sphere down where it rested on a newly formed goblet of earth. Vines reached up and encircled the beast, compressing the sphere further until the creature was in the foetal position, facing the man...

The Long Tale No. 48 - Return of the Elements

The projectiles stopped in their tracks, frozen in the split second before they would have struck the man. He moved the flame over to the icy spears and melted them before using said water to extinguish the flame. He shone the light onto the shadows and they eradicated each other from existence. Then he reversed the wind and used it to send the spears, cannonballs, blades and thorns hurtling back towards the oncoming Elementals. They took cover beneath trees and vines grown by druids and rocky shields thrown up by golems. But they stopped charging nonetheless. The man stepped forwards...

The Long Tale No. 47 - The Changing Winter

The sharp white dogs of war bit into the man with crystal fangs and icy breath. The wind intensified at barraged the man with spears of ice and blistering cold. So very cold. The man fell to the ground, the dogs taking advantage of their fallen prey. But then, resolutely, he stood up and brushed away the frozen blades stuck to his clothes. He changed the wind and for him the dogs transformed back into angels that guarded him from the winds that did him harm. Heat radiated out from him and the snow melted leaving behind nothing but memory. 

The Long Tale No. 46 - Nature's Brawl

The water rippled and shook as the boy brought it around him, rising up with the waves and standing on the resultant inverted whirlpool. He threw a river at the girl who hid beneath the ground, dodging the attack, before rising up and slicing the boy's pillar in two with blades of stone. Ice formed around the boy's feet and he slid along the ground, dancing between the man and the girl's fierce blows before returning her attack with shards of ice. They shattered on the wall of stone with which she hid herself and slowly the boy's ammo emptied...

The Long Tale No. 45 - Man Fights Back

The beast roared in anguish and let out a stream of crimson fire. The flames surrounded the hole that the man was hiding in and yet he did not burn. Thick black smoke plumed from the impact site and yet was soon blown away. The dragon shrieked and launched itself at the man who merely pointed his hand at the creature and let it feel the force of a hurricane. It flew backwards and rose up into the sky, its final gambit to escape. Suddenly, its great wings slowed and the very air seemed to stop. The man rose, smiling...

The Long Tale No. 44 - The Burning Disease

A flicker of flame. A tendril of smoke. That was all the warning that the man had before the forest fought back against the oncoming disease. The line of trees behind him caught alight and formed a ring of fire around the suffocating smog, choking the disease with grey, wooden smoke. The poison screamed, its cry resonating with the pain of all that it had killed. But still the forest squeezed. The blaze crept further towards the smog, spitting sparks at it in detest. Flames ran along the poison, burning it into oblivion. The forest was fighting back. And winning...