The Magical Elements

A few hours passed since the incident in the forest, and the group had already moved quite far from the place.

It was around four in the afternoon, and Luna had calmed down.

Along the way, as soon as the princess was calm, the group talked about what had happened.

"Raymond, do you really not know how Luna's power was sealed?" asked Sariel.

"Not really, but it's possible that His Majesty secretly hired someone to seal her power to prevent her from being detected by the Council."

"That seal was too powerful to be done by just anyone, after all, it managed to fool all of us," the traveler explained. "Contacting such a powerful specialist would be extremely difficult."

"But it's the only explanation! I don't see any other alternative to that."

"Could Elise possibly use magic?" Luna asked.

"No... She had little magical power..." Old memories flowed through Raymond's mind. "She was forced to seek shelter during the angels' invasions. She would have died if she had tried to fight."

"Have you considered the possibility that even Geoffrey didn't know about it?" Shiina brought up another hypothesis. "Anyway, thinking too much about it now won't lead to anywhere, we can't confirm anything."

Everyone agreed, but that didn't stop some, especially Luna and Raymond, from continuing to think about the matter.

The group focused their attention on the path ahead, when they decided to take a short break after a long time.

So, everyone dedicated themselves to a specific task, such as giving water and food to the horses, resting, and, in the case of Sariel and Raymond, teaching Luna about magic.

"Well, let's start with the basics, like teaching the twelve different types of elements." Sariel didn't want to waste time and wanted to teach her quickly after the seal was broken.

"Okay." Luna was visibly excited. "But didn't you say that the Council has a member for each element? Why are there only ten Pillars?"

"Because there are two specific elements that are more difficult to find. As far as I know, the Council was still looking for them, right, Aegreon?"

The Pillar of Conjuration looked at the traveler briefly and then agreed with a murmur.

"Very well, let's continue then."

"Okay."

At that point, although she was still afraid of her own power, Luna still wanted to learn more about it to prevent the same incident from happening again and, maybe, use it for good and show everyone that she was not who they thought.

"The elements are, in total, twelve, and are divided into two subgroups: Combat magic, which has greater offensive power and consists of the elements Ice, Water, Wind, Thunder, Fire and Nature; and support magic, whose elements are Alteration, Illusion, Conjuration, Protection, Sealing and Reanimation.

"The Sealing element allows you to seal a person's magical power, as was your case, but what this element can do goes far beyond that, such as combining with other elements and creating mechanisms, magical traps, battle golems and many other possibilities.

"When a person has their magical power sealed, they become unable to use magic, which makes it seem to the senses of any specialist that this person has almost no magical power. In addition, Sealing is an extremely sneaky and difficult element to detect, even more so than Illusion."

"And how did you remove the seal from me?"

"I have a little of the Sealing element. Although it's not much, just knowing how to decipher a seal will make it possible to break it."

"How can you use so many elements?"

"A person can be born with several elements. In fact, it's the most common, but I'll explain more about that later."

"And how did you detect the seal?" Raymond, knowing that Sealing magic was difficult to detect, was curious about the discovery.

"With Alteration magic. This element can do many things too, but one of them is to detect magic. Even so, depending on how powerful the seal is, the more difficult it is to detect, sometimes it's even impossible."

"If the seal was as powerful as you said, how did you notice it?" Raymond was still suspicious.

"Well, the seal spread throughout her body, except for one part, her right shoulder. Because of this incomplete part, she was able to use a minimal amount of magic, which made me suspect a seal."

"A missing part... So, the specialist who made this seal couldn't complete it..." Raymond stated.

"Wrong, the missing part on her right shoulder was destroyed when the conjured angel hit her with the spear in that village."

Luna and Raymond didn't understand at first what the traveler had said, but they soon remembered the moment she was injured in the necromancer's attack.

The bodyguard quickly connected the dots about how that ended up helping them.

"Wait, you mean that angel destroyed part of the seal with Conjuration when he injured her, weakening it enough for you to detect it?" Raymond asked.

"Exactly. Thanks to that, we were able to discover the seal, otherwise we would still be in the dark about it."

"Wait, but... why did that damage the seal?"

The bodyguard, upon hearing Luna's question, quickly looked at the Pillar and the traveler.

"Conjuration... is an element that seeks the destruction of everything and everyone, including those who carry it." Sariel glanced quickly at Aegreon. "It is capable of interfering with other elements, including Sealing, and corrupts both the body and soul of any living being."

Everyone stopped what they were doing, paused for a moment and said nothing.

Except for Luna, everyone there had terrible experiences because of this element, things they would, if they could, forget forever.

"So, my bad luck turned into good luck?" The princess didn't notice the strange atmosphere.

"Haha! Basically."

After hearing that, Luna remained silent as she pondered the incredible sequence of events that led the traveler to discover the truth. They were in the right place at the right time, and she was even injured with the only element capable of destroying it.

"Maybe this way you won't feel so guilty for not being able to protect her, Raymond." Sariel looked at the bodyguard. "If you had done your job, you would have gotten in our way."

Raymond felt conflicting emotions at that moment. He was frustrated and irritated that the traveler had "praised" his incompetence, but he also felt happy to have "failed".

"But why is Sealing so hard to detect?"

"It's its nature, that's all. Each element behaves in a specific way."

"And what did you mean about me having the power of someone from the Council?"

"When I broke your seal, I could detect your magic with Alteration, and you're as powerful as I am. In fact, you have a bit of the Alteration element too, so you'll be able to understand how it works."

"Can you show me how it works?"

"Sure, pay attention to the white part of my eyes." Sariel pointed to his own face.

Then, the white part of his eyes glowed a brown color.

"With this, I can see the magic of living beings from a distance of a few hundred meters, so nothing in this radius can escape my vision. Over there for example there are some wolves, over there there's a hare running away from an eagle..." He pointed to various random places. "Alteration is not limited to sight, but can also function as a sixth sense, almost as if you could "see" all the magic around you."

Luna looked at each place he pointed to and only saw vegetation.

"Over there is a fox lurking to catch a wild rat, and over there..." Sariel continued pointing in random directions.

Suddenly, however, he fell silent, and his expression immediately became serious.

Without warning, he jumped quickly, stood up and launched dozens of ice spikes the size of swords in the direction of the forest.

Startled by the traveler's sudden aggression, Shiina, Aegreon, and Raymond approached Luna and stood on guard.

"What are you doing?!" Raymond drew his sword and faced the traveler.

"I know you're there! Reveal yourself!" Sariel shouted towards the middle of the vegetation.

A few seconds passed as everyone remained attentive and expectant, not knowing what the traveler had noticed.

There was a deadly silence, broken only by the sound of the winds rustling the leaves, distant animals, and the slow, but gradually accelerating, breathing of the group.

Then, sounds of branches and leaves being crushed began to echo from the forest, approaching calmly and menacingly.

And, from the middle of the woods, emerged a man wearing a demonic face.

His eyes were red and seemed about to pop out of his face, such was the bloodlust contained in them.

His mouth was open, showing his huge teeth with very sharp canines, demonstrating his hunger for flesh.

All the muscles of his face were contracted in an expression of eternal rage, as if he hated and wanted to destroy everything in front of him.

It didn't take long, however, to realize that it was a mask, and the real face was below it, hidden.

This man wore long golden, white, and reddish robes. The shoulder pads, belt, and chest plate had decorations and shapes of a blooming lotus flower.

That figure walked calmly and confidently, which, due to that scary mask, caused an immediate feeling of fight or flight, most likely the latter.

Upon seeing that man approaching, Aegreon instantly drew his scythe and attacked Sariel, who reacted in the same way and blocked him with his sword.

Both blades clashed, producing a metallic sound.

"You bastard! Why the hell is he here?" Aegreon's face was equally or even more furious than the mask of that mysterious man.

"Playing dumb? That's why you wanted to get close to Krimisha?"

Raymond and Shiina also drew their weapons, but didn't know if they should focus their attention on Aegreon and Sariel, or the man who was approaching.

"What's happening?" Luna asked, scared.

"HAHAHA! Relax, both of you, neither of you is responsible for my presence here." The man's confident, booming laughter made everyone take a step back.

"What are you doing here, Indra?" Aegreon stepped away from Sariel and pointed his weapon at him.

Upon hearing that name, Luna finally understood what was happening, and her heart froze in a way she had never felt before.

"In-Indra?! The Pillar of Thunder?!"

"So, you're the angel who's been causing so many problems..." Indra looked at the princess, then turned his face to the Pillar of Conjuration. "When they told me you might be involved with her, I thought it was a lie, but you really went crazy... What do you plan to do with her, Aegreon?"

"Enough of your chatter, Indra. We both know why you're here." The Pillar of Conjuration's body began to burn in purple flames.

"Well, we haven't seen each other in years, and when we meet you treat me this way... No wonder no one likes you."

Ignoring the provocations of the Thunder Pillar, Aegreon began to approach him while holding his scythe firmly.

"Well, it seems you don't want to talk... So be it!" With a grand movement, Indra unsheathed, from his waist, a huge longsword, whose blade was golden with strange symbols engraved in a violet tone. The hilt was white, and the handguard had the shape of a lotus flower.

Both approached slowly, but Indra stopped suddenly, while Aegreon felt something touch his shoulder.

After turning around, he saw Sariel with a serious expression.

"I'll deal with him."

"Don't interfere." Aegreon made a brute movement and pushed the traveler's hand away.

"You sure?" Sariel's eyes moved slightly upwards, but the Conjuration Pillar immediately understood the meaning of that.

Black clouds began to form, charged with electricity and ready to strike the earth with lightning at any moment.

After thinking briefly, Aegreon decided that, if Sariel fought in his place, it would be a win-win scenario. If the traveler lost, he would die, freeing him from his presence, and if he won, he would be weakened after facing a dangerous opponent, allowing him to be killed later.

Without saying anything, Aegreon stepped aside and allowed Sariel to approach.

"Watch this fight carefully, Luna." The traveler looked at the princess briefly. "You'll learn a lot from this."

Then, Sariel and Indra stared deeply at each other, ready to attack at any moment.