Magia: Eli's Awakening (BxB)

Chapter 44- Flight

The sun had set a couple hours ago, the temperature dropping a bit more, the air far more chilled creating even more need for heat.

Ethan was slowly regaining consciousness and was clawing his way to the warmth that enveloped his body. He cracked an eye open and saw the outline of the tent that he was in and glanced downwards and saw a blanket covering his body.

He tried to move but realized that something had wrapped around his waist. He glanced down again and saw Eli's big black eyes peering up at him.

None of them said anything, the silence becoming tense and awkward as Ethan shifted and realized that he was in the nude which halted all movements on his part.

"Care to explain?" Eli quickly looked away his face heating up.

"No, not really."

"Elijah." His voice had dropped a few octaves making Eli gulp.

"It was the fastest way to get your temperature back down, I took off the wet clothes and laid the blankets over you." Eli said as he pushed himself from under the blankets, leaving a bare Ethan covered.

"You left out you cuddling me."

"That one was pretty obvious." Ethan rolled his eyes at the remark. "My clothes?"

"To your left, they dried some time ago."

Eli opened the tent, and went outside giving Ethan some privacy to get dressed.

He stared up at the night sky, watching how the stars were sprinkled all across it, like paint splattered on a clear canvas. The slight blue tones of the sky reminded him of Javier's eyes, and for the first time since he embarked on this journey, his soul yearned for someone other than Aurum.

"I'm ready when you are."

"Then we leave now."

They packed up everything quickly, putting out the fire that Eli had started and got back on the path to Aurum, both feeling not exhausted but not replenished either.

Yet again they waded through the snow, Eli now more determined to get Aurum so he could go back home.

Home. The Academy was him home now, or better said, the people in the Academy were his home. He loved them all. Without them he wouldn't be where he was now, without them he probably wouldn't be alive. They had saved him and he would remain grateful for the remainder of his life.

As he walked a sharp pain assaulted his mouth, causing him to stop and clutch at it and doubled over in pain. It felt as if someone was forcefully removing his teeth one by one. Ethan ran over to him asking what was wrong frantically.

"Aurum." Was all Eli could get out in that moment, as he removed his hand from his mouth and it was covered in blood.

"It's affecting you physically now, we have to get to him faster. Are we close?" Ethan didn't want to drag out this whole trip and Eli's pain, they needed Aurum and they needed him now.

Eli wasn't sure why he asked but nodded a yes, this was the strongest he'd felt the tugging sensation, Aurum was close by, or atleast that was the feeling he had.

"Then we'll have to go faster."

They had been conserving their magic just incase they got into a fight when they arrived. Their plan was to sneak in and out with Aurum but that was most definitely not going to go smoothly with their luck. Hopefully the little magic Ethan was planning to expend didn't come back to bite him in the ass later.

Ethan hadn't done this spell before but seeing as he did infact use Bio-transmutation once before when he was trying to save Elana, he would give it another go. This was getting more serious and he didn't know how long Eli would remain able to sense Aurum or if whatever he felt could lead to a fatality.

He released a long breath that frosted over once it made contact with the cold air, and focused on the composition of his shoulder blades. There was no sound to distract him, which was a good thing as he could potentially mess up his human composition permanently if he messed this up.

He pictured his bones shifting, growing and so they did. He groaned at a particular sharp shift in his back and he was brought to his knees by the the pain of his bones growing, stretching and reassembling under his magic.

Eli stood there, not knowing what was taking place, only able to see the bones shifting around in Ethan's body as a scream tore through his mouth the same time he sprouted wings from his back.

Eli's mouth fell wide open as he stared at the boy on his knees, wings covered in blood shaking vigorously on his back making Eli put up a shield to protect himself from the splatters.

The snow dyed red with the birth of Ethan's wings and he rose to his feet, feeling a bit woozy and unbalanced as he nearly returned to his previous position.

The beauty of this technique is that it consumed no more magic once the spell was finished, these wings were now a permanent part of Ethan's body composition until he used another spell to return it to normal.

"Let's go."

"No way in hell, you just magically grew wings and you can't even stand straight and you expect me to fly with you?"

Ethan smirked and an evil glint formed in his eyes and Eli didn't like that look at all. "You really have a mouth on you."

He ran up to Eli, eliciting a scream from the boy and clutched onto his shoulders as he spread his wings and with one powerful flap they were off the ground.

"Ethan you dick!" The whole forest could hear the way how Eli screamed his name and all Ethan responded with was a breathy chuckle as he adjusted to how his wings felt in the cold air.

A few moments later Eli was grinning from ear to ear enjoying the feeling of soaring through the air and the freedom that could only be felt once you broke the shackles of the gravity.

"This isn't too bad!" The boy shouted out, regretting having done so when a bug took the chance and became a late dinner.

Ethan laughed as Eli coughed and soon after a bug flew into his mouth as well, and he almost dropped Eli which made them both decide to shut up for the rest of the flight.

They had been flying for about ten minutes when Eli decided to alert Ethan that the tugging increased drastically making them land in a barren land.

There were only carcasses, boulders, and fallen trees in the area covered in snow. The land was long forgotten. It didn't make sense to Eli, Aurum was there, he could feel him there.

"This doesn't make any sense! He's right here!"

"Eli-"

"No Ethan! I felt him here. I feel him here. He's here-" His voice cracked as tears formed in his eyes.

He just couldn't handle it, he had been holding onto the thought of getting the dragon back from the minute he'd lost him. To have always been able to feel him, to know that he was out there suffering and not being able to do anything was killing him.

Ethan quickly took the boy into an embrace, understanding his frustration. To have someone special to you so close yet so far must be torture.

The moment is broken when there's a loud bang in the distance. A rush of magicules permeate the air and alerted both the boys that they weren't alone in this wasteland.

Eli pushed Ethan away, and blinked away the tears, already on guard defend them both. They climbed onto of a particularly huge boulder and looked into the distance where there was now a snow dust cloud forming, and from the cloud emerged two men wearing black armors

Eli didn't need to be up close to recognize the armor they wear wearing.

"They're here."