SECRETS OF ELVENDALE II

CHAPTER XI

"GUYS! I- I SAW SOMETHING IN A VISION!"
Emily yelled as she jumped out from the portal, startling the group that was waiting in front of the portal– sans Azari.

"Hey, where's Azari?" Emily questioned, and Aira sighed before pointing to the treehouse where numerous pots and pans were being clanked, and thrown out of the treehouse in succession.

Azari came out of the treehouse, stomping down the stairs with a metal pot in her hands, and fuming mad.

"ARGH! I can't get my fire to work! Look!"

She sparked a flame in her fingers, but failed to heat the pan, and accidentally burnt her fingers. "OUCH! It hurts oh holy mother of Skyra-"
She dropped the pan in shock, and grabbed a towel hanging off the staircase railing and covered her hand with it.

Emily immediately ran to her friend, rushing up the staircase, worrying over Azari. "Are you okay? What happened?" Emily asked, and Azari led them both into the kitchen, where the fire elf slumped on the wall and sighed loudly. Emily joined her and sat next to her, placing a hand in her shoulder. "Tell me what happened, Azari. We can figure this out together."

"I can't get my fire to work! Not since yesterday, and it was still working fine! Now I can barely light a spark!" Azari whined, and banged her head on the walls of the treehouse in shame.

Emily pulled her friend into a tight hug, and let go. "Don't worry, we can be no magic friends... I guess." Emily tried to console Azari, to no avail.

"Nah Em. You've lived without magic your whole life, but I haven't lived a day without feeling that spark in my fingers, ya know?"

"Come on Azari. We can figure this out somehow. I think something I saw in a vision has everything to do with you losing your magic. Let's go out, yeah?"

Emily lead Azari down the stairs, where Aira, Farran, and Naida were hovering worriedly. Emily sat the four of them down, before repeating the events of the vision she had.

"Well, it seems pretty bad, and it can't be a coincidence, right? Us Elves can't just lose our magic, unless we don't use it for a long time and it sort of fades away– but Azari uses hers all the time!" Farran commented, and the group nodded in unison.

"Yeah, whatever this creepy lady and that weird lion is, I'm sure it's connected to Azari losing her magic. But we don't know for sure if all fire-attuned beings lost their power, right?" Aira mused, and Azari just sunk deeper into herself, hiding her face amongst her thick locks of red hair.

"Just ignore me guys. I'm a total loser without my magic!" Azari groaned, and twirled a strand of hair with her fingers. The three of them looked at each other knowingly. They had to get to the bottom of this, fast.

"Don't worry Azari! We'll find some...other fire elves and see if this is connected!" Naida said, patting Azari's back in consolation. The fire elf simply groaned again, looking away.

"Ugh. Even if the other elves have lost their power, it isn't going to get it back, right?"

Emily sighed and had to agree. Whatever was ailing Azari, and possibly other fire elves, was probably a powerful creature, and with only a vague vision to guide them, there was no way Emily could even find the creature.

But they had to at least try. "And the best thing to do right now is see if other fire-attuned elves are suffering too!" Emily concluded. "As... it's one of the only things we can do right now. And if it IS happening to other fire elves, I don't think Skyra could help– she is an air elf, after all– , but it's worth telling her."

Azari lifted her head, and looked at her friends determined faces.

"Alright, I guess we try this."