Elementals Book one Light and Shadow

Great, More Magic. Just What I Need Right Now.

A figure slowly emerged from the darkness. I summoned a ball of fire.

"Who are you? What did you do to me?" The figure stepped forward and I could make out her features, and I stumbled back. She looked just like me, older, but every feature in her face was identical to mine. The collar of her emerald green dress was low enough that I could see her mark, a dark flame under a water droplet.

"Serena."it felt weird to hear her say my name. As I continued to look her up and down, I saw gold, swirling patterns in her dress. "I think you know who I am." I did, but I didn't want to admit the fact that I was talking to the ghost of my former life. "I am not quite a ghost. I am the part of your past self that is still inside you. You have done well, your army is powerful, and so are you. But in order to win this battle, you will need to reach your full potential." She held out her hand, and I instinctively backed away.

"What do you mean?"

"Your friend, Aeolus."

"What about him?"

"His past self visited him a little while ago, although Rexton told me he had- less than ideal timing." I realized what she was talking about

"Less than ideal?! We were in the middle of fighting a demon! It scared me half to death!"

"Apologies. For Rexton's timing, and for the consequences of this."

"What consequences? What is going on?"

"You need to reach your full potential, and to do that, you need all of your power." She held her hand out again. "Take my hand." I took it, and felt power like no other I had ever felt before rushing into my body. It lasted for about ten seconds, or maybe it was minutes. The rush of power was so intense, that when she let go of my hand, I grew lightheaded and fell. She offered me her hand again, but I scooted back and stood up, shakily, on my own. I looked her in the eyes and noticed that she was beginning to fade as knowledge flowed through me. I learned how to do things with my magic I never even knew were possible. Names for the things I could do. Memories from my past life were no longer someone else's, they were my memories, they were a part of me. As she faded almost completely, my past self's name took over my mind. Morgana Torres.

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I opened my eyes and blinked at the harsh sunlight. Two faces, in shadow because of the sunlight behind them, were looking down at me. But I somehow knew it was Aeolus and Reggie. "Serena? Are you alright? What happened?" I considered what to do as I looked up at the sky. The moon was almost to the sun now, we didn't have long. A seagull flew overhead, I needed to talk to Aeolus but we needed to get to the battle before the eclipse. We needed to be fighting during the eclipse, when light and shadow magic would be at their strongest, and take down the elders when the eclipse was total. The flapping of the seagulls' wings slowed and it froze, mid flight. I lifted my arm and waved it in front of Aeolus' face, and then Reggies, but they didn't react, although I saw something in Reggies eyes, I wasn't sure what it was. I sat up, and looked around, it seemed as if the whole world was frozen. The constant sirens and honking horns of the city were now silent. I hadn't even tried to do a time freeze, and I didn't feel quite like myself. I felt more powerful, more confident. I needed to talk to Aeolus, I was about to unfreeze him when he said

"Serena?" he was looking right at me, he wasn't frozen anymore, had it happened just by the power of my thoughts? "Serena what happened, you just fell, it's been an hour. Are you okay?"

"Yes, maybe, no, I don't know."

"You are aware that those are completely different answers,right?"

"Yes you Idiot, I know that. I'm just confused."

"Well you did hit your head when you fell," he stood and walked over to me, trying to inspect my head for an injury. "Maybe a concussion?" I swatted his hand away.

"No, not like that, I'm fine.it's what I saw after I fell that confuses me."

"A dream? Or a vision?"

"I'm not even sure. But I need you to tell me what you really saw, that day in the clearing, with the demon, before we destroyed the portal, when you were frozen. I know you didn't tell me everything."

"She came to see you, didn't she?" He looked at the ground and shook his head. And quietly said, "Rexton said she would come see you. But now? Terrible timing."

"So those really were-"

"Our past selves, yes."

"You do know that this is all insane right?"

"Which part?"

"I did say all, right?"

"You did." It was weird to be in New York City and not hear anything except the person I was talking to.

"What did Rexton say to you? What did he do?"

"He told me I needed to reach my full potential, he gave me more magic, then he started to-"

"Fade, and as he faded you learned things?"

"Yeah, is that what happened with Morgana?"

"To the letter. I think I know what happened."

"You do?"

"I think that part of their souls are now in us. You've been different since that day, and I feel different now too. I know you can feel it. Why didn't you say anything?"

"I- I don't know. You already had a lot going on and then things escalated so quickly with your parents and River then all of this. There wasn't time." I raised an eyebrow and he sighed "I didn't want to freak you out, I know you don't really like the idea of the whole past lives thing or the guardians. I- didn't want- I was trying to protect you."

"Yeah, well you don't need to. Let's go, we need to get to the battle."

"Serena-"

"Let's go." he looked like he wanted to say something, but he just hung his head and nodded. I needed to undo the time freeze so we could go through the portal, wherever it led. I heard a screech and looked up in time to see the seagull dive towards the water below. I needed to be careful, with my magic controlled by thought now, I needed to watch my thoughts, or I could really do some damage. Reggie was looking at the ground in confusion, and everyone else wore similar concerned expressions until they saw me and Aeolus. At that moment their concerned looks were replaced with relieved ones. "Come on guys," I looked up toward the sky, luckily the moon hadn't moved much, but we still needed to hurry "We need to go." I saw determination in everyone's eyes, although there was regret in Aeolus'. I looked up at the flame of the torch, wondering where we would go through the portal, when a swirling black void appeared in place of the door in front of us. "Well then, who wants to walk into certain death first?"