Elements of Emotion

Chapter 31: Mixed Emotions

"My name is Aran," A voice whispered in the back of Caelian's mind. Caelian repeated the name quietly under his breath. Aran. So that was the toxin elemental's name.

He looked down to the elemental he held in his arms It's sickly neon green aura flickered curiously.

"Nice to meet you, Aran," Caelian said quietly. "I'm... Sorry for how I treated you before. I'd like to try and get to know you, if that's okay."

He heard a sneer. "Why apologize now? Don't pretend you care about us."

"I'm not pretending," Caelian said. "I'm sorry."

"You like Ysel better, anyway. There's no point getting to know me."

"That's not true," Caelian said as he furrowed his brows. "I... I like you all equally."

He heard a snort. "And how much is that?"

Caelian was quiet. He heard a sigh.

"Whatever. Apologize all you want, I don't have to forgive you."

"You're right, you don't have to," Caelian said sadly. "But I know you've helped me before. So, thank you."

Silence.

Caelian let out a sigh as he released the lantern. He watched as it gently floated away, leaving him alone. He looked at the other lanterns, lost in thought. They didn't have to forgive him. That much was true. But if he wanted to keep them, he needed to try and make amends. He needed to accept them.

Caelian reached out towards the icy blue lantern, and was surprised when it moved away from him. He leaned further out, his fingertips just barely brushing the cold metal. With a frown, he hopped up and grabbed it, before falling back down onto the log.

"Let me go," a soft voice echoed. "I don't want to talk to you. Leave me alone."

"Oh," Caelian said. "I... Okay. Can you at least tell me your name?"

"Selkie," the voice said. "Now let me go. You don't like me anyway."

"I'm sorry," Caelain said softly. "I'd like to learn to like you, though..." He released the lantern. It hesitated for a moment, before slowly floating away from him.

He barely even had time to look for the red lantern when he found it suddenly hovering in front of his face. He grabbed it and gently pulled it down.

"You're not getting rid of us, are you?" Ysel asked. "You're not, right?"

"No," Caelian said. "I don't think that I will."

"Please. I don't want to not exist."

"Will you stop existing if I got rid of you?" Caelian asked.

"We're connected to you. We have no physical forms anymore. Where else would we go?"

"But... how did you come to be in the first place? Weren't you just corruptions of my light elementals?"

Caelian was surprised when the door to the lantern opened and the crackling red aura came pouring out. It twisted into a shape, before becoming the body of a sprite. Caelian's initial reaction was to recoil in disgust, but he managed to hold his composure.

The sprite was red, her bat-like wings torn and battered. Her head was nothing more than a blood-stained skull adorned with deer antlers, with small white pupils hovering in it's eye sockets. Bits of flesh were peeling off of her body, and her tail was nothing but bone.

"We're sprites," she said. "We're the leftover embodiment of the corruption your other elementals went through. We took over, but when the gods purged us, is when we really started to exist on our own."