Lost

Lost Part 4 - The Witch

"Ignis, did you hear that?" James exclaimed.

"You burnt my house down! Why!?"

A woman came running down the newly burnt trail and approached James and Ignis.

"Which one of you is responsible for BURNING MY HOUSE DOWN!!"

Ignis took a step forward, "James down there did that my fair lady, he cast a flame spell specifically for burning your house down. He made sure to pick the most aggressive flame spell their house."

"James was it? I ought' curse you for what you did to my house you little rat."

"But, this dumb dragon is the one that blew fire all over your house," James argued.

"Actually, this weasel is the reason your house is in ruins. He used that little spell book right there." Ignis rebutted.

James and Ignis started to argue between each other. They quarreled about the act of arson and they kept on making new reasons on how they committed it.

"You burnt down the forest with your monstrous breath!"

"You cast one of your atrocious spells and burnt this poor ladies house down!"

"SILENCE! I'll decide who burnt my house down myself! Follow me please."

The mysterious woman jogged back down the charred track with Ignis and James following suit. Two minutes down the track, they arrived ata half-built straw hut that was surprisingly still standing.

"This is my house or it would be if one of you two DIDN'T BURN IT DOWN! I would also have let you in for some tea but no, you had to burn my house down."

"It's his fault!" shouted James.

"No, you have it all wrong really. It was James clearly." Ignis replied nonchalantly.

"I've had enough of you two seriously. Forget about my house anyway, see."

The woman stepped beside her house and began to chant something magical. James tried to listen in, but he couldn't tell what she was saying because she was practically muttering under her breath. At that moment, the house had begun to reconstruct itself in mid-air until the final pieces of straw rearranged themselves into the ramshackle hut.

"Wait out here, I'll be back in a minute."

James realized what was happening. "Ignis, we have to get out of here now!"

"Hmm? Did you say something weasel?"

"Stop messing around! We are confronting a witch here! She's going to curse us!"

"Did you say curse? Don't make me laugh James."

"I'm not kidding; I've been cursed by a witch before. She turned me into a toad!"

"So? Why should I be worried? It's not like I'm some weak human like you."

"Well, unlike you, I'm fixing your wing so we can get out of here!"

James had begun to flick through the pages in his spellbook, trying to find a spell to heal Ignis' wing. As he passed through the book, Ignis got a bright idea. If he could convince the lady to heal his wing, then he wouldn't have to rely on James to do it, the amateur that he is. He decided to do what he should've done a while ago.

"Hey James, guess what."

James looked up at Ignis, "Yes?"

Ignis took a step backward and blew a small flame towards James' spell book.

"Yah! What have you done!?"

"Saved me from your annoying spells. That's what."

"I will use that controlling spell on you!"

"Not if she has anything to do about it."

The witch rushed towards Ignis and James with a spell book in hand. "So, I've decided that you're both responsible for destroying my house and I'm punishing both of you."

"I'd like to see you try." Ignis taunted.

"Sure thing, I'll turn you outside in and use you as my rug!"

"You can't touch me with your pathetic excuse for magic!"

The witch took Ignis' comment as a challenge and clicked her fingers together. An invisible force slashed its way across Ignis' claw and chopped it clean in half.

"Yikes, how did you do that!?"

"It's called magic. You're a dumb dragon, that's for sure."

"How dare you insssult me! I'll cook you for that!"

"Umm, no means to intrude but can we stop this anarchy?"

"Anarchy?! This wicked witch issss the definition of anarchy!"

Ignis was known to have a short temper, in fact, Ignis was so fired up that he was about to burst, "Give me one reasssson I sssshouldn'troasssst you into a pile of assssh!"

"Because I can promise a great deal of pain which will make your little firework show seem like a drop in the ocean!"

"RRAAGH, I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Ignis shouted.

Ignis focused in on his breathing and channeled in on his third lung. He flooded the back of his throat with methane gas and was prepared to fire it at the cocky witch. The witch saw this as a threat and focused on extinguishing Ignis' fire. She snapped her fingers with glamour and Ignis took the unorthodox signal to fire. To Ignis' surprise, all that came out was a plume of smoke that snaked into the atmosphere.

Unsatisfied, Ignis launched himself mid-air and pounced on top of the witch. The witch knew this would happen and played her trump card, her potion. She sidestepped Ignis' pounce and took the concoction out of her jacket. The liquid she held shone a bright green when hit with the suns refraction and she threw the potion into the air. It soared across then smashed upon immediate impact with the ground, sending droplets of crystalized rain around the perimeter.

James took a step back with the initial crash landing but unfortunately caught a powerful whiff of the toxic fumes released. Through James' eyes, he saw fear inside Ignis' eyes which to him was expected since the poison obliterated itself right beside Ignis. Realising he smelled the fumes, his own fear started to welt up inside of him and he questioned what that spell itself was.

"You're not going to like that spell, trust me. Hopefully, it will bring you two together, I'm planning to keep you guys together for as long as possible and, I probably shouldn't be saying this but... the guardian told me to do this."

James spoke up with difficulty, "Huh? But I thought this was another... dimension..."

James felt himself blacking out and saw Ignis' eyes droop as well. James had one thing to say before his fainted, "Who... ar..e you..?"