“And I’m with you,” Alister whispered in return. He liked the way Evan held his hand, his soft skin against his. Really, he did not think of himself as more powerful than him, or anyone else. He still thought of himself as rather weak, even compared to Evan.
Suddenly, the fog in the area receded with the explosion. The siblings watched with wonder until a sharp feeling moved their hearts, and they both gasped audibly.
”Oh, brother…” Astra seemed to moan. ”Why must your flames be so aggressive… you really have no respect for this place.”
A figure seemed to flicker in and out of sight, with silver eyes and white braid, looking pained. Instinctively, Alister moved over to Noel, bringing Evan along with him, though not in reaction to the figure. He had seen how many others besides Arcanis were once hidden in the forest, and he was worried about what they might do.
Evan nodded at what alister said, he got slightly worried though when he heard both of them let out a gasp as the forest was set on fire. He felt alister pull him closer to him as he moved closer to Noel, though not close enough to be affected by the gasses. He noticed the figure, is that air..?
Kali scoffed at arcanis's words. "Enough of your lies arcanis, it's getting a bit old now don't you think?" She had slowly creating some darkness behind her back incase they decided they were going to charge at the group, if she really needed to she could make the area dark. Though she doubted that would help much anyone besides her.
Ignis stumbled to his knees. His breath shortened, his vision fading. Yet he remained awake and focused. He shook his head, "Astra…that wasn't supposed to…" He couldn't talk, his body rejecting. His hands placed on the seal began to glow. Of course he didn't mean to start the fire, but he needed a blinding distraction. Using his body as a current he called out, "Noel, Alister! Channel your element around me!" Using his magic as a form of lightning rod, he could channel the wind into the seal, creating an elemental specific lock over it.
Arcanis witnessed the fire spread, "Astra! This is what your guests do? They threaten the decimate the entire temple! You watch as your enemy walks among your descendants, leading them with lies! He threatens to open the seal!" He points to Ignis and his spellwork, "He knows that your element is key to opening it! What will you do?"
Before the siblings could react, Astra manifested between the two groups, their head in their hands and shoulders seeming to shake with pain. ”Quiet. They are not my guests. I have no time for this, illusionist. Enough,” they said, letting their hands fall to their sides and revealing eyes glowing with frustration and pain. They raised them, causing a strong wind to lift Arcanis and Ignis into the air. ”Both of you meddle too much.”
The air around Alister had grown cold as his fear increased. Noel’s heart pounded. There was just sulfur dioxide now. She was afraid of losing focus, so she kept her eyes on the seal, even as Ignis was lifted upwards.
Astra now turned their attention to them. I have told you of your task, they spoke into their minds. Protect this place, and the seal. Should this old enemy of mine try to open it, do not hesitate to rip him from the earth and poison his blood. For if it happens, disaster will surely follow.
Gravity took ahold of Ignis, and he fell back to the ground. Arcanis stayed in the air, held firm by the wind as Astra dissolved into fog and rushed to blazing forest, attempting to smother the flames.
Ignis's spell vanished as soon as his body lifted into the air, "Hey! Can't I put the deadlock on this thing or what? Everyone knows it takes the air element to open the air seal. But it takes a prime to open the deadlock." Ignis looked at the forest set ablaze, that shouldn't have happened… the moisture in there should've restricted the flames. How is it even still burning?
Arcanis laughed, "I see your trust falls to them. So let's see if they can even walk straight!" With a flick of his wrist, an illusion was cast over the area, "Lose the ones you love, lose the mind itself…"
Ignis remained focused, yet when he lifted his head to see Kali, she was gone from his eyes. As well as the rest of the group. Go figure they ran.
(since Evan and Alister are holding hands, how would the illusion affect them?)
(their hands grew numb. but since they ARE touching, the effect is less powerful.)
(What would happen in someone screamed in the illusion? Would that be covered up as well?)
(Yes the question of how the illusion affects other senses is gonna come up)
(yes. all senses are numbed. if in physical touch, it'd be numbed but not cancelled completely)
(In the illusion, anyone the person loved or cared for will seem to disappear. Any attempts to call out or search for them, dizziness and confusion will happen. Since Evan and Alster are holding hands, their nerves are numbed to a point they can't feel to well. However the pressure of their hold reminds them they aren't separated. Ignis needed help with the seal, neither sibling are around so he thought they ran. Ignis didn't understand what happened fully so he thought everyone ran.)
(Thanks for the elaboration ^^ will respond soon)
Kali watched what was going on, she heard arcanis start speaking and she started to move towards ignis in uncertainty before he completely disappeared.
"No no no no- ignis! Ignis where are you! IGNIS!" She screamed for him, looking around in desperation for where he could be. All she could see is mostly darkness, she couldn't see anyone else either.
Not arcanis or his monsters.
Not Evan and the two siblings.
"IGNIS!" She yelled out again, before pausing. "Evan! Alister! ANYONE!" she looked around, moving to try and run around and find them, but she couldn't find a single soul. She ran into something, she thought maybe it was tree. Maybe she stumbled over a rock and then fall into something. When she felt it out, all she felt was…a box? Where was there a box in the middle of the forest? It didn't make any sense.
Unless..
They weren't in the forest any more.
no, you can't let him trick you. This is fake. This whole thing is fake.
Despite what her rational thoughts were telling her. It felt so real..
Her heartbeat had sped up In her chest, she was starting to panic.
"IGNIS WHERE ARE YOU!"
She shouted as loud as she could. She shouted for him over and over again, running into more and more crate before bumping into a night stand, or a dusty wardrobe. She felt as if a sharp edge had pierced her skin, and she looked over. She let out a scream, it was a bed side table. With some dried blood on it.
"No no no no- no! No! He's dead! He's long gone! He- h-he can't hurt me! Ignis and I made sure of it! This isn't real! STOP IT!"
She screamed, falling on her butt and holding her head. She started crying as she held her head.
"Ignis please- please come back i need you." She spoke softly. Holding herself.
"Ignis isn't here." Arcanis's words echoed around Kali, "Neither is your friends. You are left alone. Your cries for help suggest more than friendship. Why must you fall for one who doesn't even care about you?"
Ignis let go of the seal, his magic fading from it. The air seemed quiet, lifeless. "Snap out of it Ignis! He is fooling you!" Ignatius's words muffled yet audible. Ignis wandered around, seemingly lost in a void of loneliness and depression. A feeling of being alone for eternity, "Kali…Noel…Alister…Evan…." his eyes grew bright with magic, powerful and immense, "…I will never leave you!"
His words echoed throughout the forest, yet he felt his words weightless, useless. Lost in hatred and fear, a series of cuts appear on his body. Ignis didn't realize at first. His arms began to drip blood as each cut became more deep. Arcanis's lackeys. They're playing with us.
She tried to block out his words, she knew it wasn't her own thoughts speaking to her. It was arcanis.
Still the words managed to snake there way into her brain.
ignis dosent love me..?
She shook her head
"SHUT UP! STOP LYING TO ME!" She tried throw a blast of darkness with her eyes closed, but she didn't feel anything happen and so she figured nothing had happened. She couldn't even get her powers to work.
How useless could she be.
"The others might have left, but- ignis wouldn't leave me! I won't leave him!" She yelled at arcanis. Though what she tried to conceal under rage was blaring insecurities eating away at her insides.
am I alone..? He couldn't be right, could he..?
"Ignis cares for me, and I care for him. More then you could know."
Arcanis laughs histerically, as if to mock Kali's emotion, "Really? Wouldn't you like to know what Ignis is hiding? What he keeps from you? Of course you must've felt it. The world getting colder, the heat that soon will fade. Of course he didn't tell you his element is dying. But how? Why? Wouldn't you like to know why Ignis didn't bother telling anyone?"
Noel was afraid to look back. She had seen Ignis return to the ground. She had seen him lift his head. But after that… he wasn’t there?
She wanted to look back, to see how the others were doing, but she was afraid. A cold feeling clutched at her heart. She realized that she couldn’t feel her brother’s presence nearby. She couldn’t hear or sense their breathing, the air filtering into their respiratory system and collecting in their lungs. Noel’s own breath became shaky. For a moment, she couldn’t speak.
“A… Ali?”
There was no answer. Noel’s eyes stayed on the seal, her expression contorting into something quite difficult to describe. “Ali, Ali, please, please, Ali…” she murmured over and over again, her voice eventually devolving into quiet, incoherent sobs. Then eventually her voice became coherent again. “Just focus on the seal, just focus on the seal, just focus on the seal…”
The gas was still there, forming a shield around it. Was she truly alone? She couldn’t let go of her control, someone she knew might die, or Arcanis would take advantage of the situation.
Arcanis. Of course.
“Please be okay, Ali, please be okay…”
“El, me and Evan can protect you while—“
Alister’s voice died. There was nothing. He saw nothing, he heard nothing. For a moment, he felt himself breaking down as he realized that he was alone. His sister, whom he had tried to protect for so long, was gone. There was a ringing in his ears as tears filled his eyes. Why was she not there? Why did she leave? This was all his fault. He brought her into danger. He brought her into this mess and now she was gone.
“El…” his voice was barely audible. His gaze had drifted down to the grass beneath him. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… please come back…”
Something nagged at him. Was he truly alone? He thought felt something at the edge of his senses. A tingling in his hand.
Evan. Evan was gone too but— The tingling, a sort of pressure was still there. “Evan…” Alister mumbled. “Are you here?” He tried squeezing his hand where he felt the pressure.
Arcanis laughs histerically, as if to mock Kali's emotion, "Really? Wouldn't you like to know what Ignis is hiding? What he keeps from you? Of course you must've felt it. The world getting colder, the heat that soon will fade. Of course he didn't tell you his element is dying. But how? Why? Wouldn't you like to know why Ignis didn't bother telling anyone?"
She clenched her fist as she heard him laugh histerically, she moved to try and punch him but he was nowhere she could see. She let out a yell of frustration.
stay mad, don't think about what he's saying.
She was very much wanting to know what ignis was hiding, but she wanted to hear it from him.
"ignis will tell me when the time is right. Besides, Ignatius already told me his element was failing, I just haven't gotten the chance to discuss it with him yet. That's kinda old news."
Ignis's eyes widened, "We…are not gone…." He lifted his arms, a blue flame emerging from his palm, "Feel the heat…know that we are not lost…use your element. A force of nature Arcanis himself cannot hide." He closed his eyes and focused on the flame, all while he felt himself weaken from the blood that had escaped his body. I can't heal. I can't use darkness enough yet. My flame is…
Noel was afraid to look back. She had seen Ignis return to the ground. She had seen him lift his head. But after that… he wasn’t there?
She wanted to look back, to see how the others were doing, but she was afraid. A cold feeling clutched at her heart. She realized that she couldn’t feel her brother’s presence nearby. She couldn’t hear or sense their breathing, the air filtering into their respiratory system and collecting in their lungs. Noel’s own breath became shaky. For a moment, she couldn’t speak.
“A… Ali?”
There was no answer. Noel’s eyes stayed on the seal, her expression contorting into something quite difficult to describe. “Ali, Ali, please, please, Ali…” she murmured over and over again, her voice eventually devolving into quiet, incoherent sobs. Then eventually her voice became coherent again. “Just focus on the seal, just focus on the seal, just focus on the seal…”
The gas was still there, forming a shield around it. Was she truly alone? She couldn’t let go of her control, someone she knew might die, or Arcanis would take advantage of the situation.
Arcanis. Of course.
“Please be okay, Ali, please be okay…”
“El, me and Evan can protect you while—“
Alister’s voice died. There was nothing. He saw nothing, he heard nothing. For a moment, he felt himself breaking down as he realized that he was alone. His sister, whom he had tried to protect for so long, was gone. There was a ringing in his ears as tears filled his eyes. Why was she not there? Why did she leave? This was all his fault. He brought her into danger. He brought her into this mess and now she was gone.
“El…” his voice was barely audible. His gaze had drifted down to the grass beneath him. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… please come back…”
Something nagged at him. Was he truly alone? He thought felt something at the edge of his senses. A tingling in his hand.
Evan. Evan was gone too but— The tingling, a sort of pressure was still there. “Evan…” Alister mumbled. “Are you here?” He tried squeezing his hand where he felt the pressure.
Evan watched as everything went down, how arcanis was lifted with ignis, and then ignis fell to the ground. He looked between the two of them, and noticed arcanis speaking.
that can't be good…
He was right about one thing.
He moves to say something to alister ans Noel only…they were gone?
Where did they go?
He could they just disapear..?
Why did they leave..? Was he not good enough? Did they decide to leave him because he was too weak? They wouldn't have left him because of that..right?..
"A-ali…? N-noel..?' He almost whimpered when he spoke, his lip trembled as he spoke.
"G-guys…? H-hello…? P-p-please..?" He sniffed, feeling the tears pool around his eyes. He could feel it all crashing down on him, he was alone and on his own. Just like he had always been, nothing had changed.
No one wanted to stick around him.
He was just the disabled kid.
No one cared.
He felt a slight, numbness in his hand. He looked down at his hand, feeling the slightest bit of pressure.
That's right, he had been holding hands with alister….
He decided to squeeze it, even if weakly.
He felt something. At least, he thought he did. Had he imagined it?
Alister blinked, then wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled. Even if it had been imagined, he wanted to cling to the possibility, the hope of it not being so. He squeezed again, to make sure he wasn’t imagining things. He could somewhat feel the air around him, and he noticed it felt cooler now than it had earlier. Alister tried to get in control of himself. He couldn’t panic now. He had been given a job to protect the seal, and of course, his loved ones. Hie squeezed the pressure once again, both out of his wavering worry and resolve to keep himself calm.
Arcanis's words echoed around Noel as well, "Lost…alone…forgotten…."
Ignis's flame flickered as he continued to suffer from unknown attacks, "Come on, come on!"
(Is the flame supposed to spread warmth to the others?)
(Arcanis only made it to where they couldn't sense each other, not the elements they control. The others can feel warmth cause it's natural. they are made to believe they're alone, but they can still feel everything else though like wind and heat.)
