ELEMENT

Chapter Two: A Life Interrupted

"Can you tell me what the hell this means?"

Elix waited a moment before answering. She could hear her heart beat in her throat, in her ears, swelling up inside her.

She saw her sister in Sage. And holding the Light Emblem, it was even more so. Standing next to Daniel, Sage gripped the necklace harder, eyes pleading for an answer from her aunt.

And the day Elix had dreaded had finally come.

"Language, Sage." Elix's eyes fell flat again, stepping forward.

Daniel sputtered. "Is that seriously all you're going to say?"

"No," Elix reiterated, taking a breath. "Give it to me, Sage."

"No." Sage pulled it away. "You're going to tell me. Right now."

"I know!" Elix took the necklace anyways, with a startled response from her niece. "You just... I was going to tell you today, but I didn't think--"

"Tell me what?"

-

Elix sat on the couch, sitting up straight in front of Sage and Daniel who were on the ottoman next to her. Her hands were folded in her lap, and there was an obscenely uncomfortable aura surrounding the room.

"Your parents died when you were a baby." Elix stated bluntly, knowing the topic didn't bother Sage.

"Yeah." They nodded quickly. "I know this already."

Elix nodded back. "I never told you how. Just that they passed."

"Get to the point, please." Sage tsked, her hands tightening in anticipation.

Elix's face scrunched. She'd dealt with Sage's attitude before, but she had every right to be annoyed now. She was about to learn she'd been lied to their whole life.

And her hands waved in the air, creating yellow and golden visions of objects. One like the Light Emblem, and one of two people standing next to each other. The second person, the woman, looked hauntingly like Sage.

Daniel took a breath in. "Is that... Light magic?"

Elix didn't waste any time answering. "Yes. It is."

"Oh, my God." Sage muttered under her breath, her heart stopping as she turned to each vision.

"Your parents and I were Light Elements." Elix stated, waving her hands to add an image of a younger her to the side of Sage's parents. "We didn't exactly rule the kingdom together, but I was meant to be second in line if your mother should abdicate or die. Someone else had the first spot."

"Mom and Dad were..." Sage repeated out loud, knowing the answer to their question.

Elix didn't answer, because she could tell the question was rhetorical. "However, when your parents died, it wasn't exactly... of the best circumstances. They knew you were the one to fulfill the prophecy, though. You were the princess, and the prophecy was meant to be fulfilled in fifteen years."

The vision waved away, showing the cottage that Sage, Elix and Daniel were currently in.

"I took you here," continued Elix, "because it was no longer safe at the castle."

"What made it unsafe?" Daniel pressed. "What happened?"

The uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a moment, until, as her hands quivered, Elix looked down. "They were overthrown and murdered." And the visions glimmered above, almost like a video.