In the forty acre plot of land that Dana Cortin owned deep in the wilderness nothing was unnatural. Every shrub, vine, tree, and animal was native and in perfect balance. No one could tell it different from the thousands of acres that surrounded it except him. At the very heart of the plot a group of nine was at the entrance to a steep cavern as gloomy as the dark cloudy sky. Dana was the shortest of the gathering, a child in stature but in status on the same level as the royal family. His pallid grey skin was just a few shades lighter than the storm above and his slender four foot long tail was the only indication of his age.
He and a similarly colored Matae stood at the edge of the incline looking into the dark abyss with disdain. Dana turned to his companion, looking up to him due to the two foot height difference.
“Naten, you take the lead,” he said in a calm but serious tone, then turning to face two forest green Matae and a twenty foot long white lizard with pale blue markings behind him that bore four unconscious men on his back.
“Sergei and Enoch, cover the rear. Razz, follow.” The two men nodded quickly and got out of the way of the massive reptile which crept up and nudged against Dana anxiously. Faint blue markings began to glow on his body, casting an eerie luminescence. Naten looked back at Dana before walking into the darkness, the rest of the group following silently and methodically behind him. Dana reached back without looking and tapped Razz’s nose lightly twice. The well rehearsed message was clear to Razz who immediately amplified his light output, illuminating the entire cave around them.
The tunnel, though natural, was oddly linear and smooth, the incline only increasing as they descended. Were it not for their specialized foot gear and naturally flexible joints they would have been forced to repel. As they trekked on in silence the natural fauna kept to the shadows in fear. Faint blue streaks of light plagued their vision as countless miniature lizards like Razz darted away from their path.
An artificial wind whistled through the passage on the rocks and ventilation shafts leading to the surface as they descended, created by unknown methods deep beneath the surface, but Dana had his theories. He had discovered the Cortin Fault Line by accident nearly a century ago during a training session he had with his father. Together they had discovered his powers early and spent several weeks of the year in the wild, far from society, to get control and develop them as much as possible.
After several years of making minimal progress with some of his more dangerous powers his father had seemingly gotten impatient and opted for a more drastic and natural approach. He put a gun to Dana’s head and demanded results, or he would pull the trigger. For a few fleeting moments he thought it was all a cruel joke until a deafening blast rang in his right ear followed by the gentle trickle of blood down his neck. In his other ear he barely heard his father telling him that was the one and only warning.
Dana shook his head and cast the thought into the recesses of his mind as they came to the end of their descent. The destruction he had caused as a result of that year’s training to the area they were in now still lingered, an ever present reminder of just how dangerous one of his own kind could be. It was humbling and strengthened his resolve in the job he now held as the lord of Faldonia. Without his nation there was little chance of acceptance.
“We’re here,” Naten said lowly, the cave walls doing their best to turn the statement into a loud roar. The slope suddenly flattened out almost perfectly, pocked by the occasional rock outcrop and rough walls that had been shaped by the seeping rains. Less than forty feet from the edge of the tunnel the cave ended in a massive abyss. Razz padded to the edge and chirped a call into the darkness curiously, hoping for an echo, but the fall was so massive none came. Sergei and Enoch slowly approached the edge as well to satisfy their interest. They had only been down to the fault line twice in the past fifty years.
“Don’t fall,” Sergei mumbled patting Enoch on the back. The blue haired man yelped nervously as he tilted forward dangerously before gaining his balance and stepping back several paces.
“You asshole,” he growled, grabbing Sergei’s white striped tail and pulling him away from the fault to hit him. Dana glared at the two and snapped his fingers agitatedly. Seemingly on command two rocks as large as lemons dislodged from the roof and landed on their heads. They immediately stopped their playing and went to Razz who was sniffing at an abandoned bat den in the wall.
While the two unloaded the four unconscious men from Razz’s back Naten sifted through his pockets for a folded piece of paper and Dana cracked his neck and popped his fingers in preparation.
“They’re ready, Dana,” Sergei said as he finished laying the heaviest of the four men in a line at the edge of the precipice. Taking a deep breath Dana held his hands together to create an open diamond and exhaled slowly through it at the four. As the last of his breath escaped he clapped his hands together to seal the motion. They jerked awkwardly as Dana’s power took control of their movements; slowly levitating them he guided them with orchestrated motions, raising their sleeping bodies prone in the air. He snapped his fingers and released the reserve of energy he had been using to keep them unconscious.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, shorty,” the far left man with spiked hair and a nub of a tail shouted almost immediately. “Do you know who the hell you’re messin’ with?” Even held by Dana’s powers his body suddenly jerked strongly to the left evoking a pained groan as his attempt to teleport failed.
“You didn’t forget so easily that we were captured, did you Nick,” the man to his right asked amusedly as his eyes slowly opened. His hair long black hair was slicked back and his tail ended in two points. Still in pain Nick groaned in response at the jibe and began to look around for options. The other two men remained seemingly unconscious.
“I would assume that Eric is in hibernation still,” Dana asked the fork tailed individual as he focused on the sleeping body of a man with short hair and a fatty tail that accounted for more than half of his total weight. The man chuckled but didn’t bother to answer.
“I’m awake,” the far right man muttered before Dana could guess why he also seemed to be sleeping peacefully “We’re in a cavern near a vast abyss, I believe. That would mean that we’re being exiled. They couldn’t just execute us and get it over with?”
“Figures they’d make that decision without even hearing our side of the argument,” Nick grumbled as he attempted to teleport fruitlessly once more. Dana glanced at Naten who took the cue and cleared his throat, looking at the unfolded paper.
“The sentenced; Michail Daport, Eric Swanson, Nick Vanburen, and Allen Greensworth, of the criminal organization E-Anima. You have been found guilty of 492 counts of murder, 2,196 counts of assault, high treason, and conspiracy to murder the royal family. By national request your sentence is exile in the Cortin Fault Line. As ordered by King Salori your powers have been suppressed by meta parasites.”
“Oh that’s cheap,” Nick snorted. “Why don’t you just cut off our arms and legs while you’re at it?” Dana rolled his eyes and clenched a fist, gently increasing pressure on the man who hissed and went silent. Naten cleared his throat and continued.
“As ordered by Queen Salori the entire cave system and fault line shall be contaminated by elemental infestation and all memories of specific locations in the sentenced have been removed. As with standing law on exile, if for any reason any individual from within the cave system is seen at large they will be executed immediately. The sentencing is final and cannot be revoked under any circumstances. Signed by the king, queen, and the Emissary of Genera as the witness.”
“What a load of shit,” Nick fumed as Naten finished reading. Michail chuckled quietly to himself as if the exile was a joke. Naten looked at Dana questioningly who shrugged and looked back at the man.
“Do you have anything you’d like to say before I release you,” Dana asked respectfully. He was already weary of their presence. The amount of innocents that died at their hands for their rebellion was unjust and despicable. He kept his thoughts to himself nonetheless and maintained his neutrality in the affair. Even criminals as horrible as them deserved respect.
“Nope, I’m done wasting breath on you and your people,” Nick offered up instantly. Allen remained silent and observant, Eric slept on, and Michail’s chuckling seemed to only get louder. He regained his composure and looked almost happily at Dana, smiling as if he had lost all his senses.
“You are going to regret not killing us,” he laughed mockingly. “You really are!” Dana sighed and looked at each of the four men, studying their faces and committing them to memory.
“Then by order of the royal line your exile begins now. May you find the error of your ways before the inevitable end.” He brought his hands together and said a silent prayer to the gods before exhaling and releasing his power over their bodies. Nick immediately tried to teleport to freedom but Dana had expected this and casually waved a hand in his direction. He shouted in surprise as an unseen force pummeled him hard enough to send him far into the darkness beyond the edge of the fault line.  
The three other criminals rapidly fell away over the edge, twisting and freefalling into the abyss, Michail’s laughter echoing through the caverns maddeningly. They would not die from the fall, steps had been taken to ensure that once they got deep enough the descent sloped and they would slide into a deep cave system with no exit.
“Think there’s any merit to his last words,” Naten nervously asked Dana as they heard the last of the echoes die off.
“Unlikely, but it will not be forgotten,” Dana muttered as he untied a small pouch from his neck and looked disdainfully at it. He pulled the draw strings open and emptied a multitude of small crystals in his hand, harmless to the inexperienced.
“And now by order of Queen Salori, the fault line is to be infested with elementals to ensure that those who are exiled remain that way,” he said more to himself than his companions who had taken many large steps away from him. He allowed the myriad of crystals to slowly float as if unaffected by gravity in front of him, spreading them out and regarding each one in turn carefully. To the naked eye they were nothing but harmless quartz, but he could see far more sinister traits in them. Trained in dealing with elementals he knew that the crystals each contained highly volatile creatures; remnants of a lost species that gave birth to all life on their planet that lived only to survive the most unpredictable and violent of fights in nature.
Dana extended his arms out and to the sides rapidly in a wide wave, scattering the crystals across the chasm at blinding speeds. He stood there, holding his position and focusing intently on the distant miniscule dangers, shattering them one by one, allowing their dormant, comatose forms to come back to life and begin to feed on their new environment. As he finished the final crystal his arms dropped almost casually to his sides and a cheerful smile spread across his face. His companions were unphased by the sudden emotional change he had taken; having served him for many years they knew his personality was just as random as the elementals.
“Let’s get back top side while they take root. We’ll need to do some hunting before we hike back to civilization. Razz, you ready to play taxi?” The enormous lizard chittered happily and lined up at the tunnel that led out as Dana, Naten, Sergei, and Enoch mounted his glowing back. Dana patted his head once and he took off at full speed, digging into the stone like soft dirt.