Fiery Magic

Chapter 4: Vitae

I could finally just settle down for a little bit. These type of moments were always hard to come by. It was definitely nice. I was finally given hope that Agnus might be back to being Ignus, and I would actually have my real friend back. The one that wasn't always depressed and sad. The one that wasn't stuck in this amnesiac curse. Finally, Consti's power was weakening, and Ignus might actually be able to remember what we tell her. "Where are we going next?" I asked.

Mae spoke up, "Let's head to Cae's base in the clouds, it'll be quicker before Ignus wakes up."

"Okay... How are we going to explain all this to Ignus again? I mean, what if it doesn't work this time either?"

"Then, you know, we'll just do it again like the other times, until she can actually remember..." Cae took a long pause. We had all started to give up hope. Though it seems to be more abundant these days. Maybe the great Elemental group of four could actually be a group of four again. Maybe. A big maybe.

I turned toward my best friend next to me. I looked at the red streaks that weaved around in the sea of dark hair that she had, at the course hands that had to do all the work themselves, and at the closed eyes that were normally awash with boredom. They suddenly flicked open.

My poor old friend was almost having a panic attack. "Whoah, whoah, Agnus calm down!"

"Where am I? Who are these people? Why are you helping them?" she didn't look for answers before she was already trying to open the car door to jump out, "Why are we flying?"

"Ignus, you are going to have to calm down a little for us," Mae said from the front.

"Why are you calling me Ignus? I'm Agnus!"

"V, what happened back there?" Cae almost shouted, turning towards me. Ignus wasn't supposed to wake up before we got to my home.

"And her name is Carter, not V! What is going on here? Give me answers now!"

"Agnus, calm down we can't answer them if you keep giving us more," I had a calm voice, she always liked that.

"Who are you, people? Especially you, Carter!" she said hastily. I closed my eyes for a second, here came the hard part. It was always hard. "For the last few months, I've been lying to you. You've been calling me Carter, my real name is Vitae, V for short. It is Latin for life. That's because I am part of an ancient group called the Elementals and, so are they," I pointed to Cae and Mae. "Their names are Caelum and Mare. And, Agnus... so are you. Your real name is Ignus."

"What? How? This doesn't make any sense!" I could tell she was a bit overwhelmed by that. "Okay, Ignus, remember all those stories that we read about people that could control their own element of the world? Well, those types of people are real. Each one of the elements that they control has a sort of group leader. Those group leaders form a kind of team, and Ignus, we are that team. We each have different powers. Mae can control water, Cae can do something with air, I am earth, and you, Ignus, have the power to control fire." That was the best way I could describe things.

"No, this is not true! Show me if it's true!" I looked her dead in the eye and formed a ball of dirt and vines in midair. Caelum, in turn, moved his hand in circles, the ball doing the same. Mae flew streams of water around it as it spun. Ignus had the biggest eyes you could ever see, "Wha... If this is all true, how can I not remember all this?"

Mae took over in talking for me. Thanks, Mae. "Well, you know how fire would be a natural enemy of ice and the cold? There's a guy named Constringitur, Consti for short. Ice is the sub-power for water, and he is the group leader of it. He thought he could show his small group of Ice Benders that he was powerful enough to take down the major group leader of fire, you. He dabbled in amnesia magic so he thought he might use it on you. He completely replaced your memories with sad stories just for the fun of it," her voice had a slight pang of anger.

"Wait, does that mean I'm not an orphan? I have parents?"

"Actually no, none of us do. We were all born at the hands of Mother Nature. Her real name is Naomi."

"Oh... okay. That is definitely not strange at all... Well, if Consti can control ice, why didn't he just take me out that way? Why am I having to live this life?"

"He tried that, but you were too powerful to stay down for long. You would have to be extremely weak in order to be frozen for more than a minute. Amnesia was the perfect way to take you down without doing much work. For the past couple of months now, every time we even told you, you'd forget. Every time you used your powers, you'd forget."

"I can use powers!" Her face was so surprised, it was kind of funny.

"Yeah, I'll teach you. Stick your hand out, and think about what you want to do." Ignus took a long pause, but then a small ball of fire formed above her hand.

"Yay! Our powerful little Ignus is back!" I cheered. She was somehow more powerful than normal with that curse over her. Maybe Consti's curse actually was weakening. Ignus opened her eyes, and they were surprisingly even wider than before. "Huh? Huh! Huh... huh..." she was speechless! The flame diminished in her hand. She stared at me, "Am I going to forget?" She had that sad look in her eyes again.

Mae continued on as Ignus stared, "The reason why you can actually remember now and why we're taking you to Cae's base, is because Consti's curse is weakening. He's been using it for too long, and now it might actually be catching up to him. We are going to need you when we place an attack on his home tomorrow night. We need to stop him from ever being able to do this again."

"We're almost at my home, guys," Cae was looking forward at the house that was suspended among thick clouds.