5th elemental

Done in Photoshop only using brush tool and layers

As the 5th elemental arose from the earth, bearing the tangible form of the 6th element (decomposition), Joseph witnessed as the goliath generated complete annihilation of the materials it tread on in a blaze of light. As his army attacked with explosives and fire, they unknowingly gave it more power in the form of decomposition. This gave the elemental more incentive to spread absence of everything.
Humanity had gone too far, and now faced the element they had uncovered in its purest form. Humanity was cunning, coming up with that very dehumanizing element, but now, I watched as the 6th element destroyed it's composer in the pure form only I could create.
Joseph watched in horror as the hive on the 5th elemental's underbelly lit green. For the first time, he had witnessed the less humane than anything humanity could have created. Before his eyes, strange arthropods with four oddly placed eyes swarmed on the hive, beginning to take flight. They slithered out, shelled with a weak earth which burst on impact into a green glow. They swarmed, their wings like blades as they cut into the entire army, human and next generation alike. They were known as the Saprophytes, and were more of a drone than the very elemental they slid out of. However, their purpose was to wound, not kill. As well as this, they carried and deployed their larva, the Aether Obviators.
These green worms were regurgitated by the Saprophytes, and had the sole purpose of speeding up the process of dehumanization. They entered the body to take over the mind, and dehumanize the aether within. Once this was done, the Aether Obviators exposed the skull and sunk the lower jaw, creating a tactic of fear. One elemental was capable of dehumanizing all 50 of the men Joseph fought alongside with, including his father. One elemental could create a militia that big, and make it grow as the larva bread within the minds of the dehumanized.
Humanity no longer had a chance in my eyes, until I saw the irony in what I had done. Joseph was wise, so I sent his own mother, now powered by all elements except the 6th, to rid of him. As I watched her shed a tear as she forced an Aether Obviator inside his mouth, I noticed that in the process of purifying decomposition into an element, I had dehumanized myself. Now life seemed to have no chance as Joseph struggled and his mother contemplated her own death for the deed I forced her to do. But then, I noticed a calm stillness within Joseph. His mother put his father out of his misery, and then tried to do so to herself, when I noticed no sign of the obviator within Joseph. However, the 6th element was within him. Somehow, he was one with it, completely humanized. His eyes opened, glowing green, and he used decomposition on his mother. Not to kill, but to paralyze her in her footsteps before she took her life. To my amazement, he forgave her. I noticed more and more people like him, and in shock asked myself what I had done.
Humanity had a fighting chance because of Joseph and these people, but I could not help them. I was dehumanized, and so for humanity to live in balance, peace, and make a new fresh start, It had to kill me in my tangible form, so I may turn back to aether…
-Terra's narration of the concentrated 6th element within the 5th elemental-