Warlock - Mel

“You lied,” Mel hissed to his friend. 

“I helped you master your magic,” Llyr snapped back. 

“At the cost of a whole village,” Mel growled, and his anger only grew. Lightning arched off of Mel’s fur to further prove his emotions were going haywire. 

“They were evil,” Llyr insisted. 

Mel snarled at his friend, or who he thought was his friend. 

Adaline whispered, “No, they weren’t.”

Llyr swung his glare to pin the young pink vayron where she stood. He cursed her arrival but recognized her as the pink vayron that escaped from the village they leveled to the ground. The only loose end to an otherwise perfect plan, in Llyr’s mind. Without thinking too much about the consequences, Llyr grabbed the moisture in the air and forced the water to attack the young vayron. Mel was quick to react; a dome of teal and green lightning encased Mel and Adaline. His magic protected them from Llyr’s attack. 

The lightning was still chaotic. The wildness of Mel’s magic could be seen in large bolts of lightning that shot from the dome with no real target. The wild bolts of magic scorched the ground and bounced off crystals around them. 

Llyr pulled the water to his sides to act as a barrier against the wild lightning and glared at the pair of vayrons. The orbs reflected the colours of light from the lightning and the crystals around them. The water acted like disco balls that shimmered. 

Adaline braced herself for the oncoming fight. 

After her home was destroyed by the two vayrons near her, she listened to the whisper in her mind that guided her to the northern region of Vitalus, where she met Eulalia. Eulalia had helped her through her grief and explained what she believed was going on between Mel and Llyr. So, when Adaline returned to the main islands of Vitalus, she sought out Mel. And this is where they were now, moments after Adaline revealed everything Eulalia told her about Llyr. 

Mel glared at the blue puller on the other side of his barrier. He created small creatures of earth and lightning, and he urged them to attack Llyr. 

Llyr wasn’t one to back down and formed the water in the atmosphere into tendrils that he used to whip at the creatures Mel created. He tried to grasp at anything he could think of to placate Mel and try to salvage their relationship. 

“They exiled me,” Llyr grunted as he held the water around him in orbs again. 

Llyr was trying to garner Mel’s sympathy, but Adaline didn’t waste any time.

“Because you were evil,” Adaline boldly stated. “Not them.”

Llyr glared at the pink vayron, “What would you know? You weren’t around then.”

Mel’s magic fed off the chaos and heightened emotions of everyone around him. The lightning cut through the air in large arches. Mel felt his magic course through his veins, and for once he felt in control like the wild magic was in agreement with Mel’s intentions. The lightning bolts curved through the air like snakes in the grass before they formed spears behind Llyr, waiting to strike. 

Despite Llyr’s focus on the pink vayron, he let his water magic follow Mel’s lightning. So when Mel made to strike him from behind, Llyr’s magic was waiting to guard against the attack. 

“There are records,” Adaline continued to argue, unconcerned with the battle raging before her. 

“Destroyed,” Llyr hissed as he urged the water to strike forward toward Mel. 

“Ms. Lia saw to it that they weren’t,” Adaline replied as Mel’s magic attacked again, but this time in the form of arrows of lightning. 

Llyr was momentarily stunned at the mention of Eulalia and even more so at the reverence the pink vayron seemed to speak of her. Then his anger returned because, of course, it was Eulalia that got in his way; it was always her.

“She lies,” Llyr hissed as he forced the water into ice to guard against the onslaught of arrows. 

“She would never,” Adaline gasped. 

Mel was inclined to agree, but he didn’t say anything. With the control he had over his magic, he wanted to try new things. Things he normally wouldn’t have tried. He urged the magic to take the form of weapons. He was showing off his mastery, and it made him feel powerful. The lightning arched into a hammer that smashed down onto Llyr, who was maintaining ice shields. Mel tried again with lightning in the form of whips. The lightning managed to curl around the ice shield, crushing it, seconds before a second lash of lightning struck Llyr. Mel did all this while holding the magical dome, protecting himself and Adaline. 

Llyr felt the lightning burn him as he was sent flying backward into a tree. He didn’t move; he used the clouds of dust around him from his landing as cover while he healed himself with water magic. He kept the healing properties of his magic to himself, so he wasn’t surprised that when he stood, healed, Mel and Adaline looked shocked. 

Mel panted. He was tired, and the use of his magic drained him of his anger. He was feeling numb again. He dropped his head and let the lightning barrier fizzle out. 

Adaline looked around, concerned that she was out in the open. 

“I take it there’s nothing I can say—” Llyr started to say. 

“No,” Mel hissed, “I don’t want to see you again.”

Llyr gave a stiff nod before he walked away. The blue puller disappeared into the dark forest behind them. The crystals in the forest offered the pair little light as they squinted to see where Llyr had gone. 

“I’ll tell—” Adaline began to plan their next steps, but again, Mel interrupted. 

“No,” He grunted, “I don’t want to see you again, either. Leave me alone.”

Mel’s joints were stiff with fatigue. He managed to walk into the dark forest, barely lit by the crystals. He was going to his home, a small cottage hidden by a veil of magic that confused anyone trying to reach him and that was only if they managed to find out where his cottage was. This place of his was a sanctuary that he had told no one about, not even Llyr, who over the years had been his closest friend. 

Adaline stood alone on the outskirts of the dark crystal forest. She didn’t make a move to follow Mel. Instead, she turned away and headed back to where she had come from. The home Eulalia had built in the northern regions of Vitalus. 

[1104]