Chapter 47 – Elemental Magic
••• Aleena’s POV •••
Just as I crossed over the portal and saw the Elven Kingdom, a huge force descended on me. It was like all the emotions I felt during the fighting with all the four elemental beings and all the physical pains inflicted on me at one go – the fear, confusion, tiredness, hopelessness, even the suffocation while underwater, and slashes and burns on my body.
“What is… happening?” I gasped as I felt all the pain. It was the worst pain I had ever felt in my entire life.
I couldn’t do anything but succumb to the pain and darkness that followed.
***
I opened my eyes slowly as I felt a breeze of wind blowing through my face. Looking around, I found out that I was on the bed in a place with only white curtains around me. As the wind blew the curtains open, I saw the beautiful scenery outside and knew I was still in the Elven Kingdom.
“You are awake,” Witch Lily appeared from behind one of the open curtains, followed by Queen Neia.
“What happened?” I asked them as I sat up on the bed.
“You fainted after you stepped through the portal,” Witch Lily told me.
“I felt like being crushed by an unknown force. What caused it?” I asked both of them as they stood next to my bed.
“It was just an accumulation of the pains you suffered in the other realm. It always happens whenever someone comes back. It was my fault for not telling you about it and letting you prepare. I’m sorry,” Queen Neia said apologetically.
Ohh… So, it was just a usual occurrence.
“Don’t worry about it, Queen Neia. I’m feeling fine now,” I smiled at her to tell her I was okay.
“How long was I out?” I saw that it was daylight outside and hoped I didn’t faint for too long.
“Just a little bit over an hour,” Witch Lily told me.
That news relieved me. I didn’t want Kyson to worry since I could not contact him.
“Aleena, you really are brave and special. I heard all about your fights from Witch Lily. You completed all the challenges in under thirty minutes. No one had ever managed to fight all the elemental beings, much less in under thirty minutes,” Queen Neia spoke.
WHAT?! Under thirty minutes? I was there until nightfall. How could it be less than thirty minutes?
Queen Neia chuckled and explained, “The time passed inside that realm was faster than ours.”
Ohh… It was a simple yet clear explanation. What else could shock me about that place if I had witnessed how the grounds kept changing and even the elemental beings were not something I thought I could encounter in this lifetime? Nothing seemed shocking now.
“So we are still on the same day as when we entered the realm?” I asked just to be sure.
“Yes, we are, and it’s not even past 3 p. m. yet,” Queen Neia said.
“Umm… When can we start our journey home? I want to see Kyson…” I blushed after saying those words. I sounded like a love-struck teenager who didn’t want to part from her boyfriend.
Queen Neia and Witch Lily let out soft laughs.
“Don’t worry, Aleena; it won’t take you that much time to get back to your mate. You can portal back directly to your pack after you’ve finished your business here,” Queen Neia spoke.
We can portal back? Then why did we need to take a week-long journey just to get here?
“You can portal back, but you can’t portal to come here,” Queen Neia said as if she could read my mind.
That made sense, seeing only a few knew of the Elves’ existence.
“Umm… We have finished our business here, right? So, we can go back now?” I blushed again. I sounded so desperate to see our mate, and it was getting embarrassing.
Queen Neia chuckled and said, “We will first need to teach you how to use the magic you have obtained before you can return.”
I felt excited at the mention of using the magic I had obtained.
“We will train first?” I asked with anticipation and excitement.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
“A little bit. Witch Lily told me you could use it, but I need to see it with my own eyes first,” Queen Neia said, and added, “Before that, you and Witch Lily need to have lunch first. You must be starving.”
Now that I thought about it, I was indeed starving. “Okay,” I accepted Queen Neia’s invitation to have lunch.
“I’ll ask someone to bring lunch to you here, and you can find me in the garden after that.” Queen Neia stood up and left, leaving only Witch Lily and me in the room.
“Witch Lily, are you okay?” I asked her. I felt guilty for letting her care for me and not asking about her condition after the fight with the lava creature. I seemed to recall that her clothes were tattered. Those creatures must have wounded her.
“Aleena, you don’t have to feel guilty about me being injured. I have a healing spell,” she chuckled.
I looked at her and saw the same motherly gaze as before. She was still young, but I found her to be very maternal at this time.
“Witch Lily, can I hug you?” The question came out of nowhere, and I was embarrassed about it. I never got motherly love, and somehow, looking at Witch Lily now made me want to feel it.
Instead of answering me with her words, Witch Lily sat on my bed and gathered me in her arms.
“Mom…” I said softly and nearly teared up. How I wished my mother was alive at this moment.
“Silly girl,” she said as she rubbed my back.
“You can call me Aleena from now on,” I said with a blush as I pulled back.
“Alright, Aleena.” She patted my head like I was a small child just as lunch arrived.
We ate our lunch in comfortable silence and quickly went to find Queen Neia in the garden.
Queen Neia was sitting in the same spot as usual, still surrounded by tiny, colorful birds.
“Aleena, how did you use your magic? You didn’t use any chants, did you?” Queen Neia asked as we stood before her.
“No, I used the energy from this object.” I willed the moon-like object to my palms and showed it to her. Now that I saw it clearly, the moon-like object had a swirl of red, grey, blue, and green other than the usual yellow-gold color.
“Can you show me?” Queen Neia asked, and I nodded.
I stood a distance away from them, afraid of harming them accidentally, and closed my eyes, using my mind to move the rocks, wind, and water I saw from the small fountain in the garden to make whips.
I was pretty stunned when I opened my eyes. Small rocks were floating in the air; there were also tornadoes and, of course, the water whips. It was more than I had expected.
“Can you attack that wall using elemental magic?” Queen Neia asked and pointed to a solid wall of rock.
Attacking was easy. I willed the water whips, rocks, and tornadoes to move, and they moved according to how I wanted them. They hit the wall, and the damages my magic caused were quite substantial.
I looked at Queen Neia and Witch Lily and saw them nodding.
“Can you use those to protect the people around you?” Queen Neia asked.
Protect? “I can try,” I answered her and willed the magic to surround Witch Lily.
The tornadoes and rocks floated to Witch Lily, but the whips didn’t. I tried again but couldn’t move them to Witch Lily. An idea came to my mind. I closed my eyes again and imagined tiny water beads instead of whips.
When I opened my eyes, Witch Lily was surrounded by floating rocks, small tornadoes, and tiny beads of water.
“You are more powerful than I imagined,” Queen Neia smiled at me. “Other than attacking, you can use them as defensive spells, too.”
“I can use them on my pack members? To defend them?” If that were the case, it would help significantly during the war with Andre.
Queen Neia suddenly stood up and threw some daggers at Witch Lily, and my heart nearly stopped. Her movement was fast, depriving me of time to protect Witch Lily, but my mind shouted to the elemental magic I had created to protect Witch Lily, and they moved, blocking all Queen Neia’s daggers from harming Witch Lily.
“Yes, you can,” Queen Neia and Witch Lily said at the same time with smiles on their faces.
Wow… I really could use them to help defend my pack members!
“Do you feel tired?” Witch Lily asked me.
Tired? “No, I don’t,” I told her, not knowing why she would ask me that question.
“Your energy had been stored on the object and combined with the energy from the elemental beings. Now you don’t have to transfer or use your energy anymore when you want to use your elemental magic,” she explained.
Ohh… I used to feel tired when I was using it to activate the pack members’ defensive spells, but now not anymore. This was great news.
“I think it’s enough now. I can’t teach you anything anymore. You have everything figured out,” Queen Neia said to me.
“Are you ready to go home, Aleena?” Which Lily asked me.
Home? Goddess, I was more than ready.
“Yes,” I nodded and felt the excitement of meeting my mate bubble up inside me again.
“Alright, let’s get both of you home.” Queen Neia stood up and went to another wall. She placed her hand on the wall, the wall parted, and a portal appeared just like before.
“Queen Neia, can I tell Kyson about the Elven Kingdom?” I asked with hesitation. I didn’t know if she would allow me to let Kyson know of their existence.
“You can, and I’ll be waiting for you to visit me in the future with your mate,” Queen Neia said gently.
“Okay. Thank you, Queen Neia. I will visit you with Kyson.” I was happy that she allowed me to bring Kyson here.
“Ohh… The dagger.” I took the dagger still with me and returned it to her.
“You can bring it with you as a souvenir. It will turn into a normal knife once it leaves this place,” she informed me.
“Oh, okay then. Thank you again, Queen Neia. I will see you soon. Bye,” I bid her goodbye and waited for Witch Lily to do the same.
After that, we stepped into the portal, and I was surprised to see that we were transported to the border of the Crimson Blood Pack straight away.
“Kyson, I’m back,” I quickly mindlinked my mate.
“Aleena, you are back?” His reply came straight away.
“Yes, I’ve arrived on the border of the pack. I’m going back to the pack now,” I told him.
“I’m at Colton’s pack. I’ll come back now,” he said and closed the mindlink.
I walked Witch Lily back toward her but thanked her for helping me for the past week before returning to the pack’s main house.
I went straight to my bedroom and shed my clothes to shower.
“Can’t wait to tell our mates about our adventure!” Celia’s excited voice suddenly sounded in my head as I was standing under the shower.
I laughed. “Can’t believe we actually defeated those elemental beings and acquired elemental magic,” I responded happily.
“I know, right?” she asked, and we chatted about our near-death experience when suddenly we heard a loud bang behind us.
I turned around and saw Kyson. I was happy, nearly jumping into his arms, but he looked furious.
“Ky… son? Why… Why are you angry?” I was scared. Did I do anything wrong?
Before I could think of reasons that made him angry, I was pinned to the wall behind me and felt his lips ravage mine.