forum Elementals Chapter 4: Celestial Tides (OPEN)

Started July 16, 2020 by @Story_Creator

tune

Aria tilted her head, confused. As the man ran away, she retreated back into the forest, running back in the direction she came from.

"Hey! Where- never mind." Marlin sighed and looked at the green eyed girl who was still there. "You okay?"

Sage nodded. "Yes, sir." She said softly, the bird on her shoulder finally poking their head up. "Though I should be getting home." She went to walk down the path, bare feet poking out from under her skirt.

"Um…" Marlin felt like he should follow at least one of them. "I'll… walk you home." he said. "To be honest I'd rather not stay in a creepy woods at night with magic glowing things. Especially all by myself." He stomped on a bit of ash that floated by. "Also, I need to ask you a few questions about this fire. What all did you see?"

Sage shook her head. "Nothing. I tend to walk in a different part of the woods. I have since I was seven, and I have never seen a glowing stone circle. I just heard voices. I don't hear them often in the woods."

((Dumb question, but about when does this take place?))

"So you've never seen anything like this before?" asked Marlin "And you don't know either of those people?"

Sage shook her head. "No and no. I may have seen the other girl with the other miners, but I don't know her. And I've never met the other man."

"Hmph." Marlin reached to his pocket for a pencil and pad of paper, but they weren't there. Right. He'd left them with the rest of his gear. "Do you have any idea what he meant by 'elementals'?" he questioned.

"Well, they can't be real… my grandmother told me the stories like every other kid in the village, but that's all they are. Stories. Fairy tails. Like the Pied Piper and Tinkerbell." She shrugged, looking to the ground. "Some of the older folks and little kids believe them, but unless you're someone's grandmother, you kinda outgrow the belief, you know?"

"Well I am not someone's grandmother but I'm about sixty-five, maybe sixty-six percent sure there is something very not normal with that guy." he nodded to the path Ignis had taken. "And the glowy." He nodded at the circle.

As they conversed, the seal began to crack. Unleashing a beam into the night.

Sage nodded. "I know. The situation reads like a weird adaptation of what my grandmother would tell me." She said, looking at the circle. "But I never heard anything about a glowing circle." She jumped back as the seal cracked. "Or that."

"Frik. That doesn't look good. Run." Marlin pushed her ahead of him, "Come, on faster please!"

Sage turned once she got over her shock, running, heels digging into the soft dirt, kicking up leaves and slipping and stumbling on ash and sending birds into frightened flight and she wanted to join them.

Trish couldn't believe what she had seen, simple as that. She'd remain unseen during the events that had taken place in the forest but she had seen it all. The fire, the magic, the strange people.
Trish trailed behind the two people, eager to avoid the man who had caused the original chaos, she listened closely to their conversation.
Elementals. She hadn't heard that word in a long time, but she knew what they were. What she hoped they weren't anyway.
A twig snapped by her foot, directly behind the pair and she held her breath.

Marlin ran behind the girl, away from Astra, away from the seal, and the bright light. Where was he going? He needed to get them both somewhere safe, that was his job. Get the girl to safety, then he could go back and take a look at the circle. And maybe find Ignis, who at least seemed to know something he didn't.

Sage glanced behind her, hiking her skirt up and speeding up. All she wanted was to get back to her family's flower shop, get back to her room, and hide under the covers until this was confirmed to be a really weird and bad dream.

Aria climbed up another tree, prepared to remain up there for as long as she had to. She had some food on her, and her sister wouldn't wonder where she'd gone for a few days.

"Hey, do you know the way out of here?" asked Marlin running up beside her. "Because I have absolutely no clue."

Sage nodded. "To that giant pine tree, turn left, and then keep running!"

"Great, are you going there too? Or do you have a small cave you live in? I don't know anything about forests and forest people." he said, still jogging along beside her.

"I'm going back to my family's shop." She said, breaths coming out in short pants.