Magic Madness™️

Chapter Five: And So It Begins

Word Count: 2,195

Elijah didn't remember his dream. He wasn't even sure he had one. He went to sleep and woke up what felt like a second later, on top of the perfectly made sheets and in different clothes than he went to sleep in. He figured it was a video game thing. He stood up, stretched, yawned, blinked a few times, and looked around the room again. It was so empty, it felt like a house that someone had just begun to move into; there were necessities like a bed and a storage chest, but nothing else. Well, there was a small mirror by the door, Elijah noticed, and it's frame looked hand-carved from wood. He walked toward it, looking into it. He ran a hand through his hair, which was flat and relatively neat, considering he had just woken up. He looked at his clothes, wrinkling his nose. He was in cotton pajamas that were mostly green, with yellow cuffs, sort of like a ringer-tee, but long-sleeved. He thought he looked ridiculous in it, but he didn't quite know how to get out of it. The clothes he had been in yesterday were nowhere to be found.

Elijah trudged out of his room, rubbing his still half-closed eyes as he blearily looked around the house.
"Alex?" He called softly, his voice still groggy and hoarse from sleep.
"He's outside," Said a voice from the kitchen. Elijah stepped out of the hallway, looking over at her.
"What?" Eli asked, sitting down next to Amber at the table.
"He's outside. Joan woke him up super early and dragged him outside, insisting he needed to start racking up experience points as soon as possible. They've probably been out there for a few hours by now."
Elijah was outside before he could finish listening to whatever Amber was saying, nearly tripping on the final step out of Joan's house in his haste. He walked around as quickly as he could manage without shoes, calling out Alex's name until he began to hear something other than the twigs and leaves crunching under him. He broke into a run until he reached the source of the sound, finding the creek he was sure he had heard, and the person he had set out to find.
Alejandro was standing in the middle of a small, circular meadow, eyes closed and hands outstretched. Trees ran around half of the edge of the meadow, the large creek on the other half.
"Hey! Idiot! What the hell are you doing?" Elijah shouted, but Alex didn't flinch. Alex was pretty far away, but Eli had yelled, and he knew Alex wasn't so far away that he wouldn't hear it. Alex was ignoring him.
"Hey, idiot!" Elijah repeated, louder this time, "I'm talking to you!"
"Elijah, shut up! You can stop screaming, I heard you the first time," Alex yelled back, opening his eyes and dropping his stance.
"Alejandro! Focus!" Joan yelled from somewhere Elijah couldn't see him.
"Right," Alex sighed, widening his stance, outstretching his arms, and closing his eyes again.
"This is ludicrous," Elijah mumbled, rolling his eyes. He was still in pajamas, tired, and not at all in the mood to even try to understand what was going on.
"Do you even know what 'ludicrous' means?" Alex asked loudly, eyes squeezing further shut.
"How the hell did you even hear that?!" Elijah shouted, and Alex flinched.
"I told you to stop screaming. I was just joking, God," Alex said irritatedly.
Elijah rolled his eyes again, folding his arms over his chest. There were several seconds of complete silence, besides the soft sounds of the creek, and Elijah looked to the ground as he shuffled his feet. The next time he looked up, Joan was charging at Alejandro at full speed.
Eli was shocked. He wanted to warn Alex, but before the words "Look out!" could leave his mouth, Alex was reaching over his shoulder, grabbing Joan by the arm and slinging him like a ragdoll over his shoulder. Joan landed on his back. It should be noted that, if Joan had wanted to stand his ground, he could have, but that didn't change the fact that Alex still managed to throw someone around his size over his shoulder.
"What the hell?! What is going on?!" Elijah asked, running toward Alex as he did.
"Stay back. We need the field cleared." Joan ordered as he stood up and brushed himself off. Elijah stopped in his tracks.
    "You can't tell me what to do, I don't even know you! Why were you about to attack Alex?" Elijah asked accusingly.
"I wasn't! I was testing his reflexes. If I wanted to attack him, he would be dead right now. Now get off the field," Joan ordered.
"And just why the hell should I listen to you?" Elijah asked, taking a step forward.
"Because I am a part of this game! I know how it works, I know how to stay safe, I know how to access powers, I know how to navigate, and you don't even know how to change your clothes. So I suggest you listen to me for your own safety," Joan snapped. Elijah couldn't bring himself to argue, too frustrated to form a coherent sentence. He stomped off the field, defeated and angry, hands balled into fists. Elijah couldn't remember the last time someone made him irritated just by existing. He didn't stop at the edge of the meadow, he just kept walking until he was back in the forest and on his way back to Joan's house. Once he got back, he pulled the flower up and stomped his way into the house and through the hallway, to the guest bedroom. He couldn't pin why he was so angry, all Joan did was try to keep him safe. He supposed it was because he hated being babied, and he hated being talked down to even more. Nobody ever liked feeling weak, and Joan was good at doing things that nobody liked, apparently.