Aella could feel her heart pounding in her chest as the creature closed in on her position. She gritted her teeth and stood as stall as she could, fists clenched so hard her nails bit into her palm. She began to focus her energy, ready to assault this creature head on, knowing this was most likely a battle she could not win in her state. Before she could do anything, a small, fiery wisp shot by her, headed straight for the encroaching creature. Fireflies of molten hot fire lit the landscape behind her, about a dozen were flitting in a straight path to the creature, others hovering over their master like harmless lights, casting an eerie red glow upon her face and lighting a menacing half smile. The group of fiery balls that headed towards the creature broke into separate paths, some continuing to Aella’s aide and others darting from vine to vine, tree to tree along the clearing, leaving a path of fiery destruction wherever they touched.

Aella was so happy she could cry. Elaysia had found her. The woman's eyes burned red hot like coals thrown in a fire, her deep crimson hair hung damp around her face and her pale skin reminded Aella of a doll she once had as a child, smooth and perfect. The fiery wisps made contact with the creature and it howled in pain as they smashed one by one into its thick hide, each leaving deep, black charred patches of skin as they exploded. It turned in Elaysia’s direction and let out a series of high pitched chirps that forced Aella to clap her hands to her ears. A series of red tinged runes around Elaysia’s clavicle began to glow until they looked like they themselves had lit on fire, each smoldering and releasing what looked like ash into the air around her. A fist size fireball that oozed like molten lava formed between Elaysia’s spread palms in front of her and in one quick whipping motion she hurled the fire orb at the creature. It dripped liquid fire as it rocketed through the air faster than Aella could track, leaving scorch marks in the ground everywhere a drop touched. 

The creature had no time to react and the fireball smashed into its mid chest, throwing it several feet in the air. Even before it hit the ground with a deafening thud, the fire ate away at the skin and sunk into its chest cavity but it didn't emerge from its back. It gurgled and its flesh hissed as it slumped to the ground, melting from the inside out. After it let out its last breath, the vines around the clearing that choked the trees and flailed about the ground began to rot and wither as if in fast forward. The rotten goo that was left seemingly melted into the ground and almost instantly began sprouting bright green foliage. The creature's carcass sprouted flowers of the same vibrant pink and orange hues of its body. Aella hopped down from the boulder and ran as fast as her aching legs could carry her to Elaysia. She reached her and slammed into her, wrapping her arms around the woman's torso for an embrace. 

“Thank you, Elaysia. If you had not arrived I would have…”

Elaysia grabbed Aella by the arms, breaking the embrace and holding her at arms length in front of her. Her eyes bored into Aella’s, not with the compassion of a mother who had just found her lost child but with utter rage. “What are you even doing here? How many times have I told you how dangerous it is to leave me?” Her grip tightened and Aella winced with pain.

“It burns,” she pleaded. She knew better than to try to push the woman off of her. She was no match for Elaysia, physically or otherwise.  Elaysia said nothing but continued to squeeze Aella’s arm like a vice grip that seared the flesh it touched. She opened her mouth to speak but was abruptly cut off.

“She said it burns,” Yriel dryly stated. “Perhaps you should let go.”

Elaysia whipped her head around, letting go of Aella only to ready herself for another battle. Yriel chuckled and placed his hands on his hips, apparently not worried about any threats Elaysia posed even as the symbols upon her chest began to glow red hot, giving away the woman’s intent to use her powers. Aella held her breath, unsure who would win between the two powerful mages, or at least between Elaysia and whatever Yriel was. She took her chance to back away from Elaysia, out of arm's reach just to be safe.

“Who are you?” Elaysia demanded. Yriel managed a courteous smile and bowed slightly at the waist but remained silent, the tension growing thick in the air. Aella was worried Elaysia would hurl fire at the man and he would snap his fingers and suck the flames away to some unsuspecting passersby miles away.

“Yriel,” Aella quickly said, “his name is Yriel.”

Elaysia shot Aella a cold look and she knew instantly the woman was telling her to keep her mouth shut. Elaysia turned her gaze back to the man, but somehow he had closed the gap between them within seconds. She gasped, and Aella swears for the first time she saw Elaysia truly startled. Yriel grabbed the fire mage by the wrists and held her hands to her sides, still wearing the same smile. 

“Ma’am, it’s rather rude to assault a man when he is introducing himself,” he shot a sideways glance at Aella, “but it seems to be the norm these days. So much has changed in the civilized world since the last I came out in public.”

Elaysia’s eyes smoldered, “Get your hands off me...NOW!” As she yelled her arms began to glow red hot and the air around her skin warped like hot sand on a summer day. Yriel seemed unphased by this display and continued to meet her gaze. 

“If you insist.” He let go of her just as a black portal roughly the same size as the woman opened up behind her. With one finger he gently pushed her in the center of her forehead and she fell backwards through the void. He snapped his fingers and the portal winked into nonexistence, cutting off the sounds of her scream as it did.  Aella had lunged as Elaysia fell, arm outstretched to try to grab her by the hand and haul her back up but she had thudded onto the ground where the portal once was.

“What have you done?” her voice was panicked, scared for her companion’s life. Had he dumped her into the deepest part of the ocean, or perhaps into the heart of the dark forest. 

“Nothing she didn’t deserve. You saw how barbaric her manners were, right?”

“She was only protecting me, she didn’t know who you were.”

He looked thoughtfully down to her arm, “Protecting? Is that what you call that?”

Aella suddenly became conscious of the burned skin on her arms where Elaysia had gripped her. She hadn’t realized she had finger shaped burns wrapping around her biceps. “She gets a little...passionate...in the heat of things.”

Yriel didnt’ buy a word of it but decided it wasn’t going to do any good to push the problem at the moment. The girl was upset. She was attached to that woman through years of companionship and felt indebted to her for raising her. But he knew what Elaysia really was.

“She isn’t True Born like you.”

Aella couldn’t tell if he was stating a fact or asking a question, but either way she wasn’t sure what he meant. “True Born?” she questioned.

“Born a mage, like you. Her tattoos are a dead giveaway although a nice forgery of a Brue Born’s birth markings.”

Aella was dumbstruck. Trueborn? She had never heard the term, but the man was indeed speaking the truth. This was the term used for men and women born with innate magical ability. They could harness the powers around them to wield powerful attacks, create defenses, heal the body, or even shape the world around them. Family lines tended to pass specific abilities down, so many of the magical branches were considered familial, explaining why Aella had the same powers as her mother, who in turn had the same as hers, but they had been lucky as some bloodlines either skipped generations or abruptly ended and ceased producing True Borns. Those who weren’t blessed with abilities could, for a price, have Melders imbue them with tattoos that mimicked the birthmarks and give them powers of their own, albeit limited ones. They would never reach the ability level of a True Born and they could not pass their abilities to their children. They also slowly leached their own life force with every use of the magic, severely shortening their lifespan if they weren’t careful. True Borns harness the powers of the elements around them while the Impures, as the True Borns liked to call them, had to draw on their life force to power their magic.

Yriel gave her a brief lesson on the way of the True Borns and the Impure, in utter disbelief that she had no idea what he was talking about. Had she really been this sheltered, and if so, why would Elaysia hide these things from her. His distrust of the Impure fire mage only grew.

As if reading his thoughts she asked him, “Why would she hide all that from me?”

Yriel shrugged, “No good reason I’m sure.”

She held such reverence for Elaysia, looking to her as a mentor and a pseudo mother figure since she raised her from the age of 7 or so. She was practically family, but oddly, she didn’t feel love for the woman like she would true family. She was actually rather afraid of her. As memories of physical punishment played through her head, her fingers ran across the burned flesh on her arms. 

Sensing her distress Yriel patted her gently on the back, “You don’t have to go back to her,” Aella looked up at him as he spoke, “if you don’t want to that is.”

“Abandon her? Where else would I go? She has been watching over me for nearly as long as I’ve lived. Surely she cares for me, she must…” that last part didn’t sound as confident. 

“Impure don't feel compassion for True Bloods. They generally despise them because they covet what they don’t have. They would love to see your kind knocked from their high horses, so to speak.”

“If that were the case why has she raised me, kept me fed, and trained me all these years?”

Yriel didn’t know how to answer that question but his intuition still told him the fire mage was not to be trusted. He shrugged and the conversation fell to silence.

After Aella had time to digest the overwhelming information she spoke up again, “Where is she?”

“Saluine.”

She perked up at the mention of the Water Queen’s kingdom. “I thought you said you just hurled things in random directions.”

“I just wanted to see your face, and it was truly amusing,” his wide smile returned. 

She was relieved to know that he hadn’t been recklessly endangering people. She was equally relieved to know that Elaysia was somewhere safe. Saluine was a well-known hub of water mages, those most versed in the ways of healing. If she could remember correctly, it was about thirty-five days travel on foot, if the weather and wild beasts allowed fast and safe passage that is. 

“My camp is about an hour away, I’ll have to gather some belongings before we depart.”

“Depart?” he blinked in confusion.

“You don’t know her like I do and I’m not willing to just abandon her without cause. She never left me regardless of how stern she was. Besides, you can tell me about my Aunt on the way, we have a lot to talk about.”

“You mean I have a lot to tell you, not sure what great and infinite wisdom I’d gain from you. This partnership seems rather one sided.”

Aella said nothing and began her trek back to her camp. Just as she hoped, the lanky man began walking after her.