Chapter Two

A loud “URK!” resounded the room followed by a THUD. Whipping his gaze behind him, Eial noticed an elven guard laying on his back, gripping his upper right arm with his left and wearing a pained expression. Through gritted teeth, the guard lifted his pointer finger and bullets of fire flew through the air in a rush. Eial turned his whole body around and washed his right arm up as if he were wiping fog off a glass window. A barrier of air caught hold of the flame pellets, making them grow in size before dissipating with a shhhh.

The demon, on the other hand, played offence. He immediately started throwing large bolts of dark magic past the air barrier and towards the guard. To his surprise, however, wind magic from the elf deflected his throws.

“What do you think you’re doing?” snapped the demon.

“Don’t hurt them!” retaliated the elf, and then used wind magic to lift the guard up and make him spin with incredible speed. When the guard was let down, his feet staggered and he toppled down. Still conscious, but unable to focus.

“Don’t hurt them?” glowered the demon

“I’ll take you out of here, but don’t hurt them,” the elf repeated, eyebrows furrowed and a small frown drawn on his lips.

The demon scoffed. Was he serious?

After a pause, the elf stared down in recollection and moped, “earlier, I thought you were going to hurt me, too.” He walked over to the confused guard and held his two metal armplates together. “Sorry for misunderstanding you. And thank you for protecting me.”

I was only protecting myself, the demon almost said aloud, but bit his tongue to take in the favor from the elf. Having a moment to calm down, the demon walked closer and responded, “I’m not going to hurt you.” At least until we get out.

The elf turned to look at the demon and, as if someone had clicked a switch, his face changed expression and gleamed. “I’m not going to hurt you either!” he said with his green eyes sparkled and his smooth, pink lips turned up.

The demon immediately darted his eyes away, an uncomfortable feeling settling in him. He then turned his attention to the guard, whose armplates were surrounded by spiraling wind.

“That should keep him from attacking us,” explained the elf, “at least until we leave the room.”

“Leave the room, huh?” The demon looked around at the room that harbored no other presence but themselves and the two immobilized guards. “Seeing that no one else is here for the party yet, I’m guessing they’re all waiting for us to welcome them.”

“Huh? I don’t think they want us to welcome them,” stated in elf, as if the demon was clueless.

Once again being hit with the elf’s lack of awareness, the demon explained, “it’s a figure of speech.” Dimwit, he wanted to add.

“Oh,” the elf pondered for a moment. When he finally made the connection, he let out a long, “ooooooooooh.”

Rolling his eyes, the demon planned, “alright. You know the way out, right? Take the lead and shield me. I’ll attack.”

“Don’t attack. I’ll handle us, just follow me,” Eial commanded as he hopped up and walked in front of the door to the cell room, determined.

The demon had no interest in being told what to do, but, “okay,” he let out, not intending to listen.

Eial stood tall, focused, and conjured a wall of spiraling air with his left hand. “Stand behind me,” he said, his voice steady. The demon looked up lazily and slid slowly behind.

Using his right hand, Eial prepared another stream of air to throw at the door. With a loud BOOM, the door busted open with a gust of wind rushing through. Instantaneously, blasts of all sorts of magic came in return. A spiral of fire mixed with a twist of air. Waves of water and blasts of boulders. Undeniably, the shield of air was a good idea.

Thrown off guard by the amount of beings present, Eial brought his now-available hand forward to join his other and thickened the barrier in front. Unable to stay still, the demon side stepped to the right, outside of the barrier’s protection, and swung his right arm forward, chucking a large force of dark energy.

The demon’s involvement caused Eial to panic for a split moment, but his blast pushed back a second of the attack. Long enough for the elf to swing his arms out and push with pressure. The wind barrier changed form and moved forward, locking all the guards that came in contact with it into a tube of wind. “Now!” Eial shouted and ran forward, looking around to make sure no one else followed.

Right behind, the demon ran past what must have been at least ten guards engulfed in an air tomb. Are these guards really that weak? he thought, dispelling any idea that maybe the little elf was just strangely that strong.

Upon coming to a right turn, Eial stuck his back to the wall and shoved his left hand to cover the demon’s mouth. He looked over slowly to observe the new path in assured silence. In annoyance, the demon decided to slap his hand over the elf’s mouth, returning the favor. Eial wanted to be bothered, but too soon became distracted by the smooth texture and temperature of the demon’s hand. Despite the circumstance, his face started to flush.

Not too long after, the demon himself started to feel the wave of a new sensation in him. Nothing to make him blush. Nothing to move his heart. Rather, he felt as if a powerful sensation had started seeping into him through the palm of the elf’s hand that covered him. He peeked at the elf, wondering if he noticed anything the same.

Soon, rushed footsteps of more guards had sounded its way into the new path. Collecting himself, Eial focused on the hallway once more and noticed another path diagonal to him, perpendicular to the one he was looking into. Carefully, he pointed his index finger towards the inside of the side path. With a flick of his thumb and middle finger, he flung a small ball of dense air, hoping to make a minute noise of distraction and mislead the guards to the other path. However, what produced from his finger was not what he expected.