Elementals Book one Light and Shadow

Leaving The Nest

My mom always used to say she dreaded the day when her little bird would leave the nest. Her bird was leaving a few years early and she would never even know I existed. I opened a portal to my house first, Aeolus wasn't quite ready yet. I thought I was, but I hesitated. And it wasn't because I wasn't ready to say goodbye, it was because I didn't know what would happen if they saw me first. I turned to Aeolus

"Having second thoughts?"

"No, I just don't want them to see me before I perform the memory wipe, I don't know if that would affect the way the memory wipe works."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Stasis, you seem to know more about my powers than even I do, do you know how it works?"

"I have a suspicion-"

"Great, better than nothing, I will need to test it on something." Aeolus seemed annoyed for a moment, then his face was full of terror

"No! Not me. I was already your test subject once today. And you need me to help you"

"I know you weirdo, I was thinking of an animal."

"Like what?" I closed my eyes and searched for animal minds around me "Serena- stay out of my mind."

"Shut up, I'm looking for an animal." I sensed the mind of a deer a little deeper into the woods. I sent a thought into its mind, come to me. I opened my eyes.

"Now what?" leaves began crunching in the distance, the connection I still had with the deer was fainter than the one I maintained with Aeolus.

"Now, you tell me what I need to do."

"Fire, water, and shadow all at once."

"Interesting theory. The mind control plus the stalemate that comes with eternal fire and water in one place. I like it. The crunching of leaves got louder, and I tapped into all three of my magics at once, and focused them on the deer. It worked, it glowed blue and orange for just a moment, before falling into a coma-like stasis at the treeline. I approached the deer, it was a young buck, just getting his first buttons. I knelt beside it, laying my hand on his head. "I'm sorry young one, you will be fine, wake up on my command, and forget about this moment, and any other trauma you have faced in your life." I stroked him, he was incredibly soft. I whispered in its ear, "You are a proud beautiful buck, you will be the leader of the forest, you will have boundless energy and incredible strength. You will aid any human in need in these woods, you will be kind and just. Go now, wake and forget your trauma, never look back." Shakily, the young deer stood, and took off through the woods. I stood, and staggered, instantly Aeolus was at my side, steadying me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah." I shrugged him off. "It worked." I smiled. "Let's do this."

"You staggered after doing one deer, are you sure you are ready to do four adults and a kid?"

"Yes, I will be fine. Let's go." I went to the portal and walked through. Coming out in the living room of my house, I decided to try the stasis on a larger level, I focused as Aeolus came through the portal. Instead of focusing my power on just my mom and dad, I focused it over the house, everything glowed blue and orange for just a moment, and in the next room, my mom and dad fell into stasis. Even Aeolus, still behind me, staggered to the couch, trying to fight it, but eventually fell too, half on the couch, and half off. I contemplated waking him up, but decided against it. I rearranged him so that he was fully on the couch. I walked into the kitchen and found my parents. I went to each of them and said,

"When you wake in twenty minutes, you will have no memory of Serena Nelson, Aeolus Gaia, or his family. Carry with you a bit of my power, anyone you see or talk to will lose any memory of Serena Nelson, and Aeolus Gaia. Tomorrow, you will decide to take a vacation. From the time you wake, to the day you move out of this house, you will not see the room at the top of the stairs. When you wake you will not remember falling or waking up." They both stirred, but remained asleep. I walked back to the living room, and found Aeolus still on the couch, in the same position I had left him in, he wasn't even snoring. He looked so peaceful, I almost didn't want to wake him up. I even considered erasing his memories of my parents. But decided against it, in case I ever felt like talking about it. I crouched down next to him,