0028 A.R (After Alchemies Return) New Weyard Calendar
Spark Forest, just outside Kalay
Tyrell
The three of us have always been together.
All born in Kalay, we instantly became best friends. We were always told our parents were Warriors of Vale and that they're adepts that had saved Weyard through the Golden Sun event. Thus at an early age we were told we were special, children of the Jenei, and masters of the four elements. Like my dad I was born a Mars adept, hot-tempered, but loyal beyond compare.
This was one of my first lessons of alchemy.
"How much further?" I grumbled
Out of the blue in early fall, Karis had decided to drag Matt and I off into the forests outside Kalay. She managed to lure me out here with the smell of cinnamon buns and promises of an amazing picnic; however, my feet grew tired from the effort. We'd been walking for some time now, the tree trunks were starting to grow thick and the sunlight now barely skimmed through the branches.
Matt didn't seem to be bothered at all by the foliage as he calmly walked beside me. He glanced over with a smile as Karis marched in front of us,
"Tired already, Tyrell? I thought fire adepts were supposed to be full of energy…"
I stuck my tongue out at him in a lazy manner as he chuckled. This walk wouldn't have been tolerable if I didn't have my best friend, Matthew, at my side. Aunt Jenna, his mom, was a fire adept like me. I love how she always serves us hot cocoa on cold days, and how she would yell at my father when she was angry.
Yet, also like his father, Matthew was born a Venus adept.
"Suck it up, princess, we're almost there!" Karis interjected. She was always bossing us around and telling us what to do. Today she seemed to be on her high horse.
I sighed and kept waking. For a second I saw Matt struggling with the bag he had brought with him. It looked like he was trying to tame a wild animal in there.
"Yo, umm,…Matt? " I whispered, "What's up with your bag, man?"
The earth adept crossed his arms and answered nervously, "What are you talking about?" he then lowered his voice as he moved closer, "Shh! Just pretend you didn't see anything."
His bag began going crazy again and started swinging around his body, "Dude!" I yelled.
Karis turned around and stopped. She stomped down her foot, "Hey! Just because I can't read your minds, doesn't mean I can't hear your whole conversation!"
We both froze. Matt's bag acted like a normal bag.
I scratched the back of my head. Karis had been acting on-edge all day. She wasn't usually this irritated.
"Calm down, Karis. What crawled up your as-" Matthew hit me as the wind adept's eyes went wild with lightning, "-I mean, yeah, almost there!"
Matthew and I waited in fear as Karis slowly turned around and started walking again. We followed after her from a safe distance.
The Jupiter adept led us into the eye and heart of the forest. There we came upon a clearing that was filled with sunflowers. The sky above us was clear and blue, the clouds dared not touch the sun, and the land before us a soft yellow.
We all threw our hands up as we stretched our bodies. Karis laid down a picnic blanket and we took our seats. Matthew helped her unload the picnic basket: fruit, bread, and salted salmon. My mouth watered in hunger, although, Matthew held me back in order to let Karis take the first serving. I mumbled in annoyance, but respectively waited. It was her idea to have a picnic, after all.
The morning sun slowly reached its place in the sky as we continued our afternoon with small talk. When the meal was finished, I helped Karis clean up the dirty dishes and by eating any left-overs. When we were done, Matthew had his crazy bag out. Karis and I looked at him first in confusion.
"Happy birthday, Karis!" he sung happily.
Matthew then opened his bag and a Jupiter djinn flew out. The djinn known as breath immediately flew around Karis and kissed her lightly on the cheek. The elemental's long feather-like head tickled her playfully and she giggled.
"Oh Matthew! Thank you so much!"
The djinn cuddled up unto her lap and began drifting off with a cute sigh. He seemed content to be free of that small bag. Karis and Matthew turned and looked at me.
"…...it's your birthday today?" I answered slowly.
A sweatdrop rolled down the side of Matthew's face as Karis jumped to her feet. The Jupiter djinn went flying onto the picnic blanket.
"Tyrell! Are you saying you forgot my birthday? How could you!" She was now pointing at me with a deadly angry expression on her face. She was obviously offended to the extreme.
"Whatever, I just forgot, not like it's important or anything…"
Wind formed and began blowing around Karis, "Not important! Then why did Matthew remember? He even got me a present!"
Now I was standing. The two of us fiercely pointing at each other, "So what! Is this about presents now! Are you angry I forgot to get her majesty a gift?"
"That's not what I was saying at all! How can you be so ignorant? You're pig-headed sometimes, Tyrell, you know that?"
We were screeching at each other by this point, and Matthew's attempt to calm us down was failing horribly.
"Pig-headed! Well, you're an air-brain!"
She gasped, " Air-brain! Oh yeah, well…well,…you're practically a ginger!"
"What!" I screamed, "Well, guess what! I wish you were never born at all!"
Anger and frustration took over me, and I let a fireball form in my palms. The heat was so immense that I shot it, just missing Karis, and at the wild sunflowers.
Silence.
Everyone was quiet as Karis bit her lip and the smell of burning flowers reached our noses. Behind the green-haired girl, a roaring flame began consuming the forest.
"You're a jerk!"
Not letting Matthew and I see her face, Karis ran by us and away from the fire.
Away from this forest, and away from me.
I turned and rounded on Matthew, "Why didn't you tell me it was Karis' birthday!"
Matthew picked up Karis' discarded items, "I thought you knew! You even agreed to come on this picnic."
I slammed my fist into the ground. I was still furious, but Matthew and I soon came back to reality when we realized the fire had really picked up. It now roared on all sides of us and there was no way of escape.
"Damnit! We can't use douse psynergy! We're stuck here!" I fretted.
As usual, Matthew was calm and down to earth, "Karis was able to escape the flames using her wind abilities. Hopefully, breath can help us escape…"
The Jupiter Djinn waved up at us from the ground, "I'd love to help!" it coo'd. We then let the djinn push the flames and guide us out of the burning forest. Our clothing got burnt, and ash covered our skin, but eventually we escaped.
As we cleared the edge of the forest, and saw Kalay in the distance, we also saw another group running towards us. Approaching fast, Aunt Jenna, Uncle Ivan and a blue-haired woman came to our aid.
They appeared to be moving twice as fast as Matt and I, because they instantly got to us. Aunt Jenna hugged us in relief that we were OK, and then hit us both lightly on the head. Which she usually did when we both got in trouble. The blue-haired woman kept running and began using psynergy to clear the wild fire. I recognized her barely, I remembered seeing her around Kalay before with my dad.
"What were you two thinking!" groaned Aunt Jenna, "Tyrell, you know what we've taught you about using fireball psynergy. Especially around flammable objects, like trees!"
We both had guilty stamped across our faces.
"Where's Karis?" Matthew asked in a worried tone.
Uncle Ivan turned to us, "She came running home just a few minutes ago. I saw the burning forest and came here," Karis' father looked over at Aunt Jenna, "Let me take care of the boys, help Mia contain the fire so it doesn't spread."
Jenna crossed her arms and sighed as she smiled weakly down at Matthew and I. She almost had this look in her eye, like she had seen two foolish young boys do this before.
"Of course. Tyrell, you're lucky Matt was here today to help you out of the forest. My little man, just like his father, scarf and all. Unfortunately, it seems Tyrell is just like his father as well," she chuckled and shook her head. Aunt Jenna then ran off to the edge of the forest.
Uncle Ivan watched her meet up with the blue-haired woman before he turned back to us. Uncle Ivan has always looked the youngest out of our parents, even though he had extended life as well due to the Golden Sun. His blonde hair was pushed back and his jaw-line was sharp, although still remained youthful. Work goggles were on his head and a utility belt was around his waist. He must have been at his workshop earlier today, perfecting his wind inventions. Light blonde stubble grew on his chin and spectacles sat on the bridge of his nose.
"I don't need to Mind Read to know what happened here today, " the older wind adept told us, his purple eyebrows together in thought. As long as we've known Uncle Ivan, we've known that he possesses the ability to look into our minds. Lucky for me, Karis didn't inherit this power, and Uncle Ivan has refused to Mind Read. He said it was a burden he never wanted his daughter to bare.
"Karis was very upset upon returning home. With this burning forest, and the fact that today is her birthday, all the evidence points to…."
Uncle Ivan and Matthew were both staring at me.
"Shoot!...Alright, I confess, it was me. Not like I can hide it anyways, it was a fireball after all."
Matthew tried to cover me and help take the blame, but to Uncle Ivan it was all too obvious.
"Tyrell, I wish for you to go and apologize to Karis." I fidgeted and scratched my head. It was embarrassing apologizing to people, especially Karis.
I didn't have an option as this point, "Yes, Uncle Ivan," I lowered my head in shame. Uncle Ivan left with Matthew to help with the forest fire and I walked back to Kalay. I wasn't in a rush as I shrugged and kicked a random rock. Karis always made a big deal out of everything and I knew that as soon as I saw her, she would start yelling at me.
And so I went to Karis' house.
I knocked lightly on the door but there was no answer. Slowly I opened the front door and called out, "Hello? Anyone home?" but there was still no answer. I thought that maybe I walked into the wrong house for a second, but I could clearly see Uncle Ivan's origami Lemurian airships hanging from the ceiling. "Karis?" I called out again.
"Go away!"
Opening the door to Uncle Ivan's room, I found Karis huddled up in her father's bed. She quickly began wiping her face, and when she looked up at me I could see the tear stains under her amethyst eyes.
"Go away!" she yelled again. She then whimpered, "I don't want to see you ever again…"
I bit my lip as she covered her face away from me. Her short pony-tail was a mess and her hair stuck out of it from all angles.
"Karis…I'm….I'm-"
She didn't move, and neither did I.
"Spit it out, already! It's not like I can Mind Read…"
I saw her fingers squeeze tighter around the purple sheets.
"I'm sorry."
Silence.
I moved over and sat beside her on the bed. She recoiled from me at first, but she let me put my arm around her while she kept her face buried in her knees. I removed her pony-tail and started combing her hair carefully with my fingers.
"I'm sorry, Karis. I didn't mean anything I said earlier, I just got angry. I don't think you're an air-brain and I'm sorry I forgot about your birthday. I was being a jerk."
"You were…" she mumbled.
"The fact is, I'm glad you're my best friend, and that you were born into this world. This world, with Matthew and I. I only said that it wasn't important because, well, the truth is I cherish every day I have with you."
Karis peeked her eyes up at me. They still looked drained and worn from crying, but that wind adept sparkle remained, "You…you are?"
"Hell yeah!" I grinned, which got her to smile and laugh lightly as she lowered her knees, "So, is my apologize accepted?" I asked.
She used the back of her hand to wipe her eyes again. She sniffled, "Of course, Tyrell, you're my best friend too. However, you have to leave now."
I retracted my arm and blinked down at her in surprise, "What? Why?"
She pushed me away from her, "I look horrible! No one ever looks good when they cry,…"
I shook my head and met her with my light blue eyes, "Nah, I think you always look beautiful."
She blushed, "Y-you're just saying that!"
I shrugged and pulled her against me in a hug. I smiled, "You know, I forgot to give you a birthday present."
And with that I kissed Karis softly on the lips.
"Happy Birthday~"
