Elementals Book one Light and Shadow

Playing With Light and Shadow. Warning: Don't try This at Home.

That night, I dreamed I was running through the woods, it felt so real, I could almost feel the earth beneath my feet. Suddenly, a dark shadow covered me. I felt my shadow magic trying to erupt, but in my sleep I had no control over it. And I couldn't wake up. Then, I realised that I was no longer running on two feet, I was running on four, and they were black as the night around me. Except they weren't, they were made of shadow. Barely visible in the darkness. Too small to be a panther or some other cat, more like a large dog. A wolf, I realised. Suddenly the dream shifted and I was laying back in my tent. Still a shadow wolf. I awoke to a muffled yell of fear. My head bolted up. There, sitting at the front of my tent was Aeolus, his hand over his mouth, and his eyes full of terror. He seemed in better focus than usual, I could notice small details that I would have had to strain to see before, without a second thought. The small birthmark on his collarbone, the same spot as mine, in the shape of a cloud over a mountain. Mine was a water droplet over a flame, mine was darker to symbolize my shadow magic, while Aeolus' had a sun behind the mountain, to symbolize his light magic. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but all that came out was a small yip, I looked at myself and realised I was in the form of the shadow wolf from my dream. I jumped up, terrified. And as I did, I felt the form start to fade, my eyesight losing the focus it had before. Aeolus' hand fell from his face, but there was still terror in his eyes.

"Serena! What. Did. You. Do you?"

"Nothing, I had a dream that I was running through the forest, then I felt my shadow magic erupting. I was asleep and couldn't stop it. And I couldn't wake up. Then I was in that form, the weird wolf thing. Running through the forest, and then back here in my tent, in the same form, then I heard a yell, I'm assuming that was you?"

"Yes it was me. And I don't think you were dreaming about running through the woods." He pointed to my feet, which were covered in dirt. Luckily, I had kept my clothes through the form changes. Otherwise that would have gotten weird.

"But- how? I was definitely asleep, and how did I get back here? I didn't see that part, just the running, and then I was here."

"I don't know, but you got to practice your shadow magic, now we can drop the subject and we never have to talk about it again."

"What? No way, dude all it did was change my form, and by the way, that was not practice, I didn't even mean to do it. I still wanna figure out exactly what my shadow magic can do."

"Serena, that is my point, you didn't mean to do it, the elders were right, these magics are too unpredictable, this was a bad idea, come on, let's go home." He turned to pack up his stuff. But I said

"No."

"What?"

"I said no. You can leave if you want, but I am staying here." I got the familiar feeling of my shadow magic building up, ready to come out, but I was too busy arguing with Aeolus to think about it.

"Serena, it's too dangerous, your shadow magic could overtake you. Do you even know how you changed back into human form?" To be honest I didn't. But I didn't want to admit that so I continued to glare at him, not saying anything "Exactly, what if you get stuck in a different form and can't turn back, you won't be able to go home, and you can't stay here. What if you get hurt? There is no cell reception out here, you can't call for help. That trail was too long, nobody would hear you if you yelled for help. Everyone thinks this trail is overgrown, they won't try to hike it. You don't know, anything can happen. It's best we just head home now." My Shadow Magic erupted. The clearing, which had been bright with early morning sunlight, was now dark, all traces of the earlier sunlight gone. I began to float off the ground on a cloud of shadow. Aeolus' eyes once again were filled with fear, which suddenly switched to anger, his eyes began to glow white, and he too started to rise off the ground. I couldn't see any emotion in his eyes, they were too full of light. I wondered if mine were black with shadow. I began to grow scared. Balls of light, like small suns, began to form in his hands. Even without seeing it in his eyes I knew he was more angry than he had ever been. More angry than I thought anyone could be. He lifted his left hand and flung the orb at me. It struck me in the chest. Immediately, the clearing brightened and I fell from the air. Landing hard on the ground. I felt something snap, and I couldn't move. I lay there, paralyzed and in pain, watching as Aeolus lowered to the ground and walked toward me. One of the small suns was still burning in his right hand. Except it wasn't. The orb wasn't hot, it wasn't burning, it was simply bright. Of course, right now, I am describing this very calmly, but as it was happening all I could think was MY BEST FRIEND IS ABOUT TO KILL ME! OH MY GOD I DON'T WANT TO DIE! He stood in front of me, I knew that this was it. He raised his hand to strike. The light in his eyes faded a bit, just enough that I could see that there was no emotion in his eyes. They were vacant, no emotion, no nothing. But as the light faded a bit more, there was something, concern? Buried deep within. Like it was trying to come out but couldn't, it was mixed with desperation. I didn't know if it would help, but I yelled

"Please! I'm sorry! We shouldn't fight. You are the best friend I have ever had. I shouldn't have pushed this. You are the only person I feel like I can talk to when it comes to all of this magic stuff. You are my best friend. Please, don't do this." The light in his eyes and the small sun both faded, and he collapsed. I tried to move toward him to see if he was okay, but I still couldn't move. He had collapsed near my feet, so I mustered enough strength to move my foot and nudge him. He groaned and I sighed in relief. He was alive, that was a start. I said his name while nudging him a few times, and eventually he turned towards me and opened his eyes.

"Serena?" he asked, his voice weak. He tried to stand, but couldn't so he crawled over to me. "I'm so sorry-"

"It's okay. It was light magic." I coughed and pain flooded my body. I groaned.

"Are you okay?" The pain was too much, I needed to rest. I closed my eyes, but Aeolus shook me. I winced, "No, don't you die on me."

"I'm not dying, you dummy. I'm just tired. Something is broken, but I'm not sure what. I can't move."

"It's probably your back. He ran for the magic first aid kit. And brought it over. He tried to turn me over, but I cried out in pain.

"Okay so we are not going to do that. Wait, if you can't move, how did you wake me up?"

"Magic." I said laughing, which I immediately regretted.

"Come on, don't laugh." He desperately searched through the first aid kit. But even I knew that there wasn't anything in there that could help me. "Nothing, there isn't anything in here." he began to cry. "I don't know what to do. I'm so sorry Serena. If I hadn't have tried to leave this wouldn't have happened, now you're hurt and I can't do anything about it."

"No," I said "it's not your fault," I could feel my consciousness starting to fade. " I shouldn't have pushed the whole light and shadow magic thing."

"No, I'm glad you did, both you and the elders were right. The magic is dangerous, we both know that too well now, but it's not as dangerous as the elders say. Mine amplifies the emotion that activates it. I was a little angry and then, all of a sudden, all I wanted to do was hurt you. I'm sorry."

"I wonder if I can change the way my-" I couldn't finish my sentence as I finally passed out.