Two days of mostly flying had come to pass. The four of them finally set up camp so that they could stretch out and stretch out and rest. Leo sat by the fire, staring into its flames. Tiny dancers of light. Flickering at the will of the wind. Twilight curled around their campsite, staying alert while they sat down to relax by the flames.
"Did your father ever tell you of the elders?"
Leo blinked and looked up from the fire at Sateria's voice.
"Elders?" He questioned.
"The riders of an old world," She explained.
"Before Fos'Lorone had its name, this land was known as Aervina.
Its said that the plains to our south were under a giant lake. Well the old stories tell of several riders and their dragons. A lot of people call them the Nameless due to the lack of remembrance to their names.
The Elders were said to hold powers that no ordinary man can...." she took a sip from his water skin as he offered it to her during her speech.
"The point is i wonder if you have anything like that. I think that would be amazing."
Jasper, leaned up against Twilight's haunch crossed his leg.
"He's an elf. It should come naturally," He said.
Leo took this into consideration and looks into the fire.
"What kind of powers?" He asked.
"Are we speaking of elements? Magic?"
"Yeah that is just about the jist of it."
Leo held his hand out to the flame and tried to concentrate on getting it to follow his movements. At first the flames flickered. But nothing more happened. He tried again, this time trying to influence it with his will....
The fire rose higher and the tips of the flames bent toward him.
He stood up and backed away, calling the fire to come with him in an unspoken command.
Jasper watched nonchalantly all the while Sateria stared in what seemed to be a mesmerized trance.
Leo realized that somehow this was easy once he'd figured it out.
He set his free hand into the elongated flame seeing if he can take a piece of it. While the fire went back to normal, the fire still in his hands turned a deep shade of azure blue, dancing above his palm in a ball of light.
He looked at his friends, excited. A smile chiselled it's way across his face.
He tossed it up and set his hands behind his back. He had been willing it this whole time to do his bidding. It floated beside him acting as a lantern.
"Imagine what I could do!" He exclaimed.
Leo spread his arms out, seemingly stretching the flame out. In a final swift movement, he crafted something in the likeness of a spear from the fire and launched it toward a rock face a few meters away. The resounding explosion upon impact shook the ground where he stood.
Jasper and Sateria snapped their heads around, startled before looking back at him.
Twilight himself seemed to be unbothered.
"Maybe, I won't be doing that again for awhile," Leo said with a nervouuncovered.
"Yeh," Jasper said with a yawn.
"We ought to sleep. Who's taking the first watch?"
"I will. Sleep well."
Twilight sits up, his majestic head rising into the sky as he positioned himself to take watch.
Leo drifted into a slumber, his dreams soon filling his mind.
There was a distant cry of a woman. The sound of war in the distance....
A Grey faced man adorned in a black and gold robe...
His yellow eyes with their red irises....
His pupils slitted like that of a snake...
Leo pulled his sword and advanced forward slowly. The man....or demon for that matter turned his head toward him with an awful grin upon his thin lips, exposing his yellowed teeth....
"So you wish to end me, yes? Such a naive boy...I'll murder you and your companions before you can try to cut me with that puny little toy you dare challenge me with."
He vanished only to reappear over Leo's shoulder.
"You won't hurt my friends," Leo replied.
"Because you're a weakling with a false face of power."
The man froze with an audible growl.
"They will die slowly while you watch powerless. Knowing you were defeated..."
"Leo..."
"You will watch as they are stripped of their flesh, begging for mercy. Wishing they were already dead..."
"Leo..."
"You won't be able to do a thing while I carve them like a basted turkey."
Leo leaped forward, quickly opening the distance between them.
"You're not capable of such!" He rushed the man, crossing his blade with the barbed blade of the man. The man chuckles with his twisted smile.
"Ahhh but that is where you are wrong."
"LEO, wake up!"
He snapped up, sweating.
"Hey brother, you alright?"
Jasper and Sateria were standing over him.
"He knows we're coming."
They look at each other in alarm.
"Who?"
"Shaiaro' Kodon."