Slice of (magic) Life

Chapter 13 - Axle

That was insane. Axle had one of Elaine's arms around his neck, carrying her to safety with Mist supporting the other side.

Monique had ripped out a big chunk of earth from somewhere in the forest preserve, turned it into the shape of hands, then squashed the rest of the shadow creatures flat. When they all disintegrated, she returned it back into the ground, just as she found it.

During his entire time training with his father, Axle had seen a lot of powerful magic. He even got to learn a few from his training sessions. But that was only supposed to be used for emergency situations only which, Axle thought, was from the time his school was destroyed up until right now as he hastily ran along the roofs of buildings.

Elaine had fainted all of a sudden when the shadow monsters were right behind them. Axle's only guess was that she was so afraid that she passed out, but he doubted it. Elaine was one of the bravest people he knew next to his dad.

"This way." Monique ushered the teen's and Axle into a small break between houses. She slipped into it gracefully, followed by the twins whom Axle still couldn't tell apart, and then Mist. "Here, I'll hold her, you get down there."

Axle carefully eased his side of Elaine to the older kid. Mist ended up carrying her in a bridal style. Axle didn't hesitate. He peered into the space between the two buildings and found Monique and the twins already there drawing a circle big enough for all of them to fit in.

Axle hopped down on an air conditioning unit jutting out of the building he was on. From there, he took his time jumping and falling to lower and lower placed machines and loose bricks. He was so focused on getting from one landing to the next that he didn't realize he was already an arm's length away from the ground.

"Oh," he awkwardly chuckled at himself and jumped down, landing behind the three.

Axle looked up worriedly at Mist and Elaine. How is he gonna get down here? As if to answer Axle's question, he saw Mist casually descend like he was inside an elevator. He was using compact yet wavy layers of water as it flowed at his command while he held Elaine firmly.

The descent wasn't as graceful as Mist neared the ground. Axle noticed that the teen's eyes were closed and his jaw was set. Oh, right. Axle thought. He's not using his hands, only his mind.

Not waiting for his water platform to reach the ground, Mist hopped down as soon as it was low enough. Axle took hold of Elaine while Mist shook his arms around to return the sensation, then drew in the water platform into a ball. "Wow... I've never seen anyone manipulate water before." Axle said, mesmerized by the bobbing movements.

Mist moved it around himself. "It's tricky. Even though I am a Water Element Mage, water itself tends to go wherever it wants to. You need to be able to learn how it behaves and anticipate where it will flow next."

Axle watched as Mist changed the water's shape into a long thick strand, then slowly drew it into a bottle made of glass that had intricate patterns made of metal surrounding it for extra durability. "Have you always had that on you?" Axle asked curiously, referring to the bottle that hung on Mist's waist.

"I only have my weapons on me when I'm out on work or missions." He replied plainly. Axle gulped nervously and followed Mist to where the others were waiting. He knew water could sting if it was hit hard enough on someone, or when you didn't dive properly, but Axle never considered it as a weapon.

Once they were all standing inside the circle, Monique instructed, "No one move, I need your total silence and cooperation for this to work."

Axle and the rest of them kept their mouths shut as Monique closed her eyes and held her hands forward with her palms facing them. Gradually, the Luminary leader's hands glowed an orange color. First lightly, then it quickly brightened and turned a darker shade. The light of her magic surrounded them all and lit up the alley they were hiding in.