Elementals

We all stared, wide eyed, at the little boy who introduced himself as a mage. Is this a joke? Demi got up from his opponent and moved beside me. He wearily observed the little boy.

“Don’t look at me like that! I’m not going to do anything suspicious.”

“A child?” I blurted out.

“I’m older than I look.” Says the kid who’s pouting. “I sealed my magic in the artifact, it stunted my growth!” The kid insisted. From where I stand, it sounds like the tantrum of a child. No, even if Tyler’s dumb, Tali isn’t. She wouldn’t just believe the kid without proof. I looked at my sister, whose judgment I trusted.

“He really is a mage, Taya.” The little mage kid hmphed me and turned his head away. I must have lost my touch. Children used to like me.

“If you sealed your magic then how are you supposed to use magic to seal the mist?” Demi asked.

The kid smiled. “As expected of a skilled mage! You ask the right questions!” The kid clapped, seemingly delighted.

“...I’m not a mage.”

“You’re not a regular mage but aura users are a specific type of mage. And that is how we’re going to do it. You will unseal my magic. Then I can use all the magic previous generations stored away to re-seal the mist!”

“If the mist is made of the souls of wizards, how do we know you won’t suddenly change sides?” Derek asked, clearly skeptical.

“I’ll answer that,” Tyler chimed in. “The answer is simple. He would be the first to die. The wizards were corrupt when they were alive. After hundreds of years, their souls have deteriorated even more and they’re now crazed. They aren’t thinking like mages. They’re searching for food to sustain themselves.”

“For food?”

“Yes, and on the menu is magic power. You mentioned that the mutants were interested in Taya. And that the crazy tainted my brother came across, was interested in him. That’s because they would perceive your aura as food. Demi has control over his aura so he’s off the menu. Taya has stronger aura then Jer so they would think her the most delectable.”

“Why is my aura stronger?”

“Bloodlines, probably.” This time the answer came from Demi. I raised an eyebrow. “I might not have known about the tainted but I do know something about aura. Silvester gathered all the books he could find on the subject. When I first entered the Arstine Fiefdom, I was amazed. The architecture, the infostructure, everything was made of ice. And it was beautiful, even more so then the capital. I had no idea how such a thing could be created. That was until I began to read the books in his study. Honestly, his private collection could rival the royal library, maybe not in quantity but in information. He had hundred of books: ancient scripts, domestic and foreign politics, foreign military strategy, ancient military strategy. Among them was the history of magic and aura users. When magic began to disappear, elementalists also began to dwindle. The royal family secretly hunted down the known elementals in order to protect their status. They didn’t want anyone who could threaten the throne to remain. Silvester was a water elemental; he just kept it secret and never used it outside of his land.”

“The vassals actually told you that?” Tyler asked in surprise.

“Haha, no. Even if I earned their respect I’m still from the capital, a royal no less. I found Silvester’s diary. In it he talks about his abilities, as well as the ability of a wind user named Claude. He also mentions feeling a resonance when we met. A few more meetings solidified his suspicions that I was also an aura user.”

“My father’s name is Claude.”

“Wait, is that why he took such great care of you?”

Tyler and I spoke simultaneously. Of course, Demi responded to me first!

“Then your abilities make sense, Taya. And he may have initially stuck around for that reason. But as I read more it became apparent that he genuinely cared of me. For that, I’m grateful.”

Tyler and I both nodded. Tali turned to me. “So you can use the wind ability as well?” She seemed pretty surprised about that. But since I recently awakened and was just a normal child when we were together, I guess that makes sense.

“Yah, but I only found out recently. Remember when I said I killed a mutant? That’s when I found out.”

“Oh that makes sense! I was wondering how Demi ended up so banged up but you, who claimed to kill it, were perfectly fine.” Tyler looked like he discovered the answer to the universe’s deepest secrets.

“I didn’t kill it with the wind ability. I killed it with a dagger.” I responded in annoyance. Demi patted my head. This stupid man pushes all my buttons! I can’t believe he and Demi were friends.

“Aura responds to the emotions of it’s user. It awakened when I was about to die. I got...careless. I taught Taya some military swordsmanship and she’s a natural. Don’t belittle her.” Tyler started grumbling under his breathe and I made faces at him. Tali laughed.

“No matter how old, you’re still a child,” she said between chuckles.

“I’m not a child! He’s just annoying!” Jer sent me a look of understanding. Ugh. I hope we don’t bond over his annoying brother. Tyler coughed, looking embarrassed.

“Anyway, I guess Silvester didn’t know about my family lineage.” Tyler mused.

“You mean OUR family lineage,” Jer interrupted. “I guess I inherited that power, unless you also can move earth?” Jer questioningly looked at Tyler.

“...no, I can’t. Creed told me about our family roots so when I heard tainted were drawn to you I put two and two together.”

“Wait, so you can also use aura? When did that happen?” I asked Jer. I’m surprised Brandy hadn’t blurted that out yet.

“About a month ago...the first time we attempted to come to Tal. It didn’t go well, hence Dave’s eye patch.” Dave frowned add touched his face. I wanted to ask more but I don’t want to upset him when the memory is still fresh.

“Okay, so the three gifted are going to help the little mage kid right? What are us laymen supposed to do?” Derek spoke up.

“Well of course you have to do your part, since you heard everything.” Trent gave a nasty smirk. “You’re coming with us to kill some people; the imperial guard to be specific.”