Forest Guardians || Straykids ff

e l e v e n

yeona

I looked at them as they played beside the river. I have been thinking about the ring they gave me. The ring fitted my ring finger so well, which made the little guys happy.

Moments later, I heard someone walking towards me. I looked at the person and saw Elijah approaching me. "Hey." He greeted me and he sat down beside me.

"Mhmm." I hummed at him in response, then I stared at the river where I saw Hyunjin swimming.

We sat there in silence for a few minutes. Then he looked at me. "Should we have our duel?" He asked, which made me look at him. I nodded, then stood up and walked to the place where grandma and I went for my test. Elijah was following right behind me.

I positioned myself as I waited for him to go to his position. "No hard feelings, okay?" I told him, then he smiled at me as he pulled out his wand from his ring. "I was just going to do that!" He yelled, then he dashed to me.

I cast an Earth Pillar below me to avoid his attack. He then dashed upwards using Wind Support, but I quickly removed the Earth Pillar so I was falling down while he was still going up.

"Hey! Not fair!" He exclaimed, then he followed me down. The moment I reached the ground, I cast an invisibility spell on me and Wind Support on my feet so I was floating.

He stopped moving then he closed his eyes. I tried moving around, but his hearing was sharp as he could follow me with only his ears.

I cast a Noise Cancelation around me so it won't make a sound as I move around. That gave him a hard time, which frustrated him. He opened his eyes and pointed his wand up in the air. "Water Slash!" He cast the spell around, seeing if he could hit me with that.

I was avoiding the spell, but one managed to hit me on my leg, but the invisibility still remained enabled. I flew up on the level of the trees, then cast a spell to Elijah from below.

"Arcane Missiles." I calmly spoke, then fire-like missiles were formed below me and quickly rushed to Elijah. He was also quick to dodge it, but some managed to hit him and it exploded at him.

"Hey, it's not fair!" Elijah yelled from below and I saw him prepare a spell. A huge fire ball was going in my direction so I quickly dodged it.  It almost hit the trees, luckily there was an invisible barrier around the arena which protects the surroundings.

I flew down in front of him, then flicked his forehead. "Hey you're getting naughty again. Should you at least show yourself?" He said while rubbing the area in his forehead I flicked.

"Why don't you just do the same? Duhh." I told him then flew up above him. I never saw his reaction after I told him that, but after a few moments, he suddenly vanished.

I tried to look for signs of him, but it was unfortunate. He must be using the same spells I was using. "Thunder Strike!!" I heard him yell from afar, then a thunder struck the ground in multiple areas. I was almost hit by one of them.

"Water Tornado." I spoke then my wand released multiple tornadoes in every direction. I suddenly heard a shout from someone getting sucked by the tornado.

"You're cheating!" He yelled at me after his series of shouts asking for help. He was getting mad at me again.

"No I'm not. It was just an unfortunate event for you." I yelled back which made him quiet. I was trying to figure out where he was based on his voice, but I still couldn't.

Then suddenly, I saw black flames in an area, followed by black lightning like they were released from someone's body.

"Elijah?" I yelled his name as I was staring at the area of black flame and lightning. I revealed myself to him and then the area of flames and lightning were slowly getting near to me.

"Hey, is that you? Reveal yourself please!" I said, but still no response. I thought of an idea and used a spell to reveal the person in that area.

And the moment I did that, it revealed Elijah, his black hair was all pointed up, black flames were releasing out from his hands and eyes, and black lightning was releasing out from his whole body. His eyes were all black and his face was emotionless.

"Hey!! Elijah!!" He couldn't hear me. I didn't want to hurt him, but I don't have a choice.

I cast projectile spells at him as he was still far from me. Nothing worked. I struck lightning at him, and still nothing worked. I splashed water at him, but still the same result.

"I guess I need to use that. Sorry grandma." I told myself, then I positioned my hand that was holding my wand. I looked at Elijah who was like under a certain spell.

I waited for him to get near me, but not that near as he might attack me the moment I was in his reach. Then I pointed my wand at his forehead and slowly chanted the spell. "Tranquil Reverie."

Elijah suddenly stopped. The black flames and lightning slowly vanished as his eyes closed. I quickly cast support below him so he wouldn't hit the ground.

I carried him back at the cottage and saw grandma seated at the porch. She stood up the moment she saw us, especially Elijah who was unconscious and floating on our way back.

"My dear, what happened to him?" I carried him inside, then laid him down the couch. I left him there and went back to grandma outside.

"Even I still don't know what happened. He was like possessed by someone or something. Black flames and lightning were released from his body. His eyes were all black. I thought he was just joking, but then when I called him, he never answered." I explained everything to her about what happened to her dear apprentice.

"I guess it's time now. You really should go on your journey." Grandma said as she made herself comfortable at her seat.

"What do you mean, grandma? I should stay here to protect you. What if Elijah becomes like that again while I was on my journey? What if he attacks you?" I told her, but she shook her head.

"This is the doings of the evil witch. She is watching you the whole time, and won't stop until she hurts everyone around you. She wants you to suffer so you won't seek her. Go, before everything becomes too late." She explained.

"But—"

Grandma put her finger in my lips to shush me. "You can do it, my dear. Only you can stop the evil witch."