Magic - Eulalia and Mel

Mel was standing by himself, feeling buzzing beneath his fur. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he had an idea. His two friends, Llyr and Eulalia, had both discovered their sparks so he imagined this is what they felt like. Except when he talked to them about it, they described something else. They both described a soothing feeling, soft, gentle, and fluid. However, for Mel it was feeling chaotic, wild, and out of control. It made him worry for the moment it was released. 

Llyr walked up next to Mel and said, “Do you want me to help you try to coax it out?”

“What does that mean?” Mel questioned. 

“Put you in situations that give way to high emotions.” Llyr explained, “My parents said they learned their spark when they were in danger. We could try that.”

Mel thought about it for a moment, but his pink-haired friend popped into his mind. He could practically hear her talking him out of the idea. Llyr watched his friend and could almost see Eulalia around them, telling them off. However, the apparition didn’t stay long.

“Don’t think about Eulalia,” Llyr insisted, “She’s boring.”

Mel scoffed, “You didn’t think that when she ran across the floating path, you were too afraid to cross.”

Llyr rolled his eyes, but couldn’t deny the statement. The pair stood in silence while Mel contemplated the idea more. He and Llyr were always doing dangerous, adrenaline pumping dares. However, after the last time with Eulalia coming to his rescue he was actually hesitating. The only thing that was persuading him was Llyr, the vayron had a way of bringing out the worst in Mel. He made bad ideas seem not so bad.

Eulalia wasn’t far from their position. She kept herself hidden on purpose to see how her magic was progressing. She was attempting to learn the mentalist path, so she was trying to conjure an illusion of herself to dissuade them from whatever they were talking about. It took a lot of energy to maintain the form, and even then, it was a weak projection. She huffed, frustrated, but also exhausted already. 

Llyr’s eyes sparkled with glee when Mel finally agreed to try putting himself in danger to force out his sparked. At this point in time, all three vayrons were teenagers, barely adults. Some would think these bad decisions were just a part of growing up. Allowing them to learn from their actions but no one expected these two would constantly push their boundaries. 

When Llyr and Mel walked off, Eulalia quietly followed them, intent on practicing her magic. The three vayrons wandered up a spiraling rock path. There were small rocks floating around this oval-shaped island in the sky. Veins of glowing crystals rippled along the surface of the large rock island, keeping the shadow side lit as brightly as the side that was hit by the sun. The further they walked up the path, the fewer reoseans they encountered. At this point, Eulalia wouldn’t be surprised if the pair caught her, but they didn’t once look behind them. 

The top of the island had no foliage, it was just rocks and crystals. Eulalia crouched behind one of the largest rocks, hoping it would be big enough to cover her from view. Llyr and Mel stood on a portion of the island that was flat and clear of any rocks. The grey surface was cracked ever so slightly, but not enough to be concerning. 

“How should we do this?” Mel asked, ready to get his magic. 

Behind them, Eulalia was already concentrating on her projection. 

“Hmm,” Llyr hummed while he thought, “We could throw you off the edge.”

Eulalia was horrified by the idea and even more so that Mel was even considering it. The fear pushed her to funnel more energy into her shape. Llyr and Mel jumped and then blinked a couple of times. Eulalia was standing next to them, glaring. They both thought they were going crazy. 

“You see her too, right?” Llyr whispered

Mel swallowed and nodded. 

‘Don’t you dare jump off the edge of the cliff,’ Eulalia forced her mind to connect with Mel’s as she spoke to through his head, ‘You have no idea what your power could be.’

“Do you hear her too?” Mel whispered, looking around. 

“No, I think -” Llyr was about to suggest they had gone crazy, but a new thought entered his mind that stopped him from talking as he sorted it out. He had seen all the books Eulalia was collecting about magic and mentalism. It had to be what was going on. Llyr stared at the flickering apparition and only grew more certain. 

Llyr stepped closer to Mel and whispered, “I think she’s messing with us. Practicing her magi path.”

Eulalia watched them whisper and was shocked that if she focused enough, she could hear bits of the conversation through Mel’s mind. She watched them scheme and knew they figured out what she was doing, at least in part. So she moved around the rock to confront them in person, but as she did so, Mel leaped off the cliff. She froze, horrified. 

Mel felt the air rushing past him, but the fear he was expecting to feel wasn’t there or wasn’t as strong as he expected it to be. He was just falling, and he was fine with it. Somewhere in his mind, he knew Eulalia would help him, and that was why he was so careless. 

‘Moron… I can’t help you!’ Eulalia's voice screamed, scorching his mind. ‘My magic doesn’t have a physical form anymore. It literally can’t grab you like it did before!’

The air was still whipping past Mel as he let the words sink in, and then the fear he was expecting took over. The buzzing under his fur burst out in wild streaks of teal, yellow, and green lightning. He would have been impressed if he wasn’t falling to his death. Eulalia was right, as always, his power couldn’t help him in this situation. 

“Llyr, I swear to Empyria, hell, I’ll swear to Oris, if you don’t have a way to help him, I’ll become your worst nightmare.”  Eulalia hissed in her physical form. 

Llyr had the decency to look fearful, but Mel was still falling. 

“There’s nothing I can do,” Llyr whispered painfully. 

“Use your magic, Llyr.” Eulalia had spoken out loud, but also in his head to really make her point known. 

Mel thought of a lot of things while he was falling. He was both grateful and horrified that they were so far from the ground. It gave him more time to think of something, anything, but he couldn’t think of a way to save himself. Lightning certainly wouldn’t help, though he tried. He sent out the odd bolt of lightning, hoping it would do… something. Eventually, Mel let a sense of peace wash over him, accepting his fate. That was when tentacles of water rushed to catch him. The chilled water created a circle around him and then he felt the massive form of water rise with him in it. 

‘Did he catch you?’ Eulalia’s voice whispered in his mind. He could hear her fear for the answer. 

Mel wasn’t sure how to reply; if he simply thought the word ‘yeah,’ would she hear it?

The answer to his question came quickly as she replied, ‘Oh, thank Empyria.’

Llyr was staining his magic to bring Mel back to the surface. The journey upward would take a hell of a lot longer than the fall did. However, after what felt like hours, Llyr’s water magic dumped Mel at their feet. All three were exhausted from the ordeal. 

“Congrats, Mel,” Llyr wheezed, tired, but still trying to make light of the situation. 

Eulalia clicked her teeth together before she walked away. Mel watched his friend vanish down the spiraling path as he tried to collect his breath. 

‘Congrats,’ Eulalia’s voice grumbled in his head even though she was out of sight, and Mel smiled despite the whole situation. 

[1344]