A.N: Sorry for the late update, things got a little backed up here. Time to get this story rolling again.
I don't own Elena of Avalor
Chapter 3: Burn
Purple and green light reflected off the cave walls as Esteban trained against Zopilote. The man teleported away as the birdman shot flaming purple light in his direction. Esteban found himself only a few meters from where he once stood but had to teleport again to avoid another barrage of fire. "Teleporting away all the time isn't going to win you a fight, Esteban," Zopilote said to the man as he popped up a couple of meters to his left. "Try something else," Zopilote ordered before throwing a flame the size of an ollabal. Esteban tried to think of what else to do but what else could teleportation do besides move him around.
When he appeared behind Zopilote, that's when Esteban got an idea. He grabbed the staff with two hands and swung it towards Zopilote's head. But the Malvago knew he was there. He ducked, letting the staff swing past his head before jumping into a summersault over Esteban. While doing so he grabbed the staff from Esteban's hands, letting the man stand there wide-eyed. As Zopilote came down to land behind Esteban he kicked the man in the back. Still in shock, Esteban was easily knocked off balance and he fell to his hands and knees. Before he knew it, the obsidian tip of his staff was aimed right at his neck as Zopilote stood over him. "And dead. Again. For the fifth time today."
Esteban could only narrow his eyes as he grabbed the staff from the top of the hilt and yanked it out of Zopilote's grasp. As Esteban stood up, Zopilote walked away with hands behind his back as he said, "As I said, if you want to win a fight you can't keep using the same power over and over again."
"But that is all I know I have."
"You'll feel something different in your magic and when you do, use it."
"Shouldn't we be trying to figure out what other powers I got from the well instead of you being cryptic about how magic works and constantly throwing fire in my direction?"
Zopilote stopped, turned, and brought one hand in front of him with a finger pointing up. "Magic is reactionary, so the only way to figure out what you have is by doing just that." a small purple flame appeared over his finger like a candle, and with a quick flick, shot it so that it hit Esteban in the knee.
The man slightly panicked and quickly patted away the flame with his hands. Seeing it left no burn mark on his trousers, Esteban sighed and then asked, "There has to be a less… physical way at least to find out."
"A week ago you said you were all for learning to fight with magic," Ash cut in. Zopilote and Esteban looked to see her sitting on a boulder that jutted out at an angle from the ground. "Or are you going to go back to the lame excuse of 'I'm civil, I'm not cut for battle'" She finished with her fingers up in air quotes and her tone low to try and mimic Esteban's.
The man pressed his lips together. Esteban was still somewhat reluctant to fight with magic, much less learn magic and how to fight. But after what happened last week he realized it wasn't worth trying to run away from his new abilities. Run away from this place and back home. Esteban's grip on his staff tightened. No, not home. According to Elena, not anymore.
Esteban began to march off towards the entrance of the cave. "And where are you going?" Zopilote asked.
"I need a break," Esteban answered and then added in a whisper, "From you two."
Ash called out after him, "Don't go teleporting to the jungle again because this time I will not go looking for you."
Esteban smiled and slammed the bottom of his staff to the ground. His next step was on the muddy banks of a river, trees and silence surrounding him. Esteban hoped his staff would take him to the Jungle. After all, during training, he didn't know exactly where he was going. He just hoped for the best that he wouldn't get teleported off the cliffside. He didn't have much of a handle on it yet but looked like he was making progress. "No thanks to that old buzzard."
As he walked along the river bank, Esteban looked to his right just above the treeline. He spotted the tip of Las Garras and kept a mental note it was in that direction. He didn't want to get lost again, but he had no intention of getting back any time soon. Especially since the reason he wanted to get out for a while was cause he was reminded of what happened a week ago. Esteban stopped and turned to look down at his reflection in the river.
He still didn't understand why, but during his first day of training, he was teleported back into the flower garden at the Palace. He knew for sure it wasn't him since he appeared without his staff and the entire garden was in midair with a gust of wind circling. By the time he realized his cousins were in the garden with him the entire place tipped over almost causing them all to fall off. But when everything righted itself again, Elena was there standing over him.
Esteban realized this was the doing of Elena's new magical abilities as soon as she put her crystal scepter in its holster. Her long brown hair tied back came to rest as the wind died down. Everything froze, but the garden remained in the air as her normally red dress remained orange. Elena's face held back pain as she gave Esteban a serious frown and said his name.
Did this mean that even with everything that happened before she was still willing to talk to him? Esteban jumped to his feet to try and get the first word out but Elena let her feelings known first. Of course, she was saddened and angry, she had every right to feel that way considering his actions lead to the death of her parents. But Esteban tried to make her see that the end result wasn't what he wanted. He wished there was a way he could go back and fix it, he even said sorry. But when he called her Prima, what Elena said next made him see he was never coming back.
"As far as I'm concerned, you are no longer familia."
Once again, Esteban's fist clench, skin turning almost white. Green sparks emitted from the obsession tip but without his knowledge. He was too busy replaying those words over and over again in his head, just like it had been this entire week. He had been disowned by his own family, they would never give him a chance. Now he had nowhere to go. Even after Elena somehow teleported him back to the caves where Ash and Zopilote were waiting, those two Malvagos could never fill the hole in his heart. He was going to learn to fight with magic, but that was the end of it-
What's that smell?
Trace of burning wood was what brought Esteban out of his thoughts. He looked but couldn't spot signs of fire until a low roar behind him made him turn. The sight of green fire engulfing a tree made Esteban jump away from the sight and straight into the middle of the river. Yes, he knew he would only be kneedeep, but that's where he felt safe at the moment as he watched the fire burn every inch of the tree impossibly fast before embers jumped and started to burn the tree next to it.
Esteban held the staff in both hands, looking between that and the fire in a panic. Did he do that? If so… how did he do it and why was the fire growing so quickly?
As more and more trees began to burn alongside the riverbank, Esteban stepped back and looked around. He needed to get out of here before he became trapped, but the problem was the wall of green fire blocked his way back to Las Garras. Esteban teleported but found himself again facing the fire. All his magic did was send him a few meters to the left. "Figures." He tried to run downriver to get around it but the fire grew faster than he could run.
Suddenly, the water below his feet began to rise. He stopped and watched as a massive amount of water rose into an arch over his head before coming down to douse the flames. "What?" As more water moved on its own, the ground below Esteban's feet shook. A large rock jutted out of the ground of the muddy bank and hovered over the remaining fire. It crumbled in several pieces, becoming clots of dirt that settled on the branches and cut short the flames.
Esteban looked around seeing no one. This can't be all him. What's causing all this? All these elements being moved around on their finally made Esteban scared enough to run away. In the opposite direction. That's all Esteban felt he could do. Magic was crazy but this jungle was pure chaos.
He looked down to make sure he wouldn't trip over anything as he ran through the thick brush of the jungle. In doing so though he started to trip over anyway. Then he heard it. The sound of someone running nearby but hidden within the shadows of the jungle. He looked but could only see a silhouette of something. Was it a person? A low growl confirmed his suspicion. It was a creature. No sooner had he figured it out that the creatures and jump out of the shadows and towards Esteban. The man wasn't quick enough to react, so all he could feel was him and the creatures rolling into a tunnel before coming to a stop in a clearing.
Esteban was pinned down but he held his staff up with both hands as he kept the creature on top of him at bay. For a second, he thought he was seeing a Jaquin. Teeth bared and ears folded back. But there was something about it that wasn't a Jaquin but Esteban couldn't tell right away. A menacing growl coming deep from its throat was enough for Esteban to stop thinking and instead try and escape.
He got an idea and pushed his left arm up so that the obsidian tip of his staff almost sliced across the creature's cheek. It was enough for the thing to step back on its hind legs, giving Esteban room to land a swift kick in its chest to force it completely off him. The creatures stumbled back but scrambled quickly back on all fours.
As Esteban sat up, he finally got a better look at his attacker. Like a Jaquin it was feline-like, but its yellow ocre pelt wasn't as vibrant like a Jaquin and black rosettes took place of a unique pattern. As it began to stalk around Esteban, the man noticed its giant paws were built to land a heavy blow and not lean enough to land after a flight. In fact, it had no wings or tail feathers to fly with. What it did have were scars on its upper arms and chest and a massive burn mark on its lower back. When it stopped to look at Esteban with slitted hazel eyes, the man finally saw the most unusual part. It had hair, human hair. Long and brown growing out of from near the back of its head and it was tied around several times in a bright green ribbon.
What kind of creature was this?
The animal took the distraction and jumped towards Esteban. On instinct, Esteban held his staff as he crossed his arms in front of him to hopefully shield his face from any damage. But a flash of green came between the two. The impact of the creature hitting whatever it was caused the sound of the clash to echo and for both man and creature to be launched across either side of the clearing.
Esteban felt himself rolled on the ground again and drop his staff. When he finally came to a stop, he let out a moan of pain but forced himself to stand up. He wasn't going to give this creature another chance to attack him. Using a tree to support him, Esteban looked to the creature across the clearing. It must have gotten hurt badly cause it sat upon shaky front feet and shook its head of delirium. Maybe Esteban could take this moment to grab his staff laying in the middle of the clearing.
Before he could rush over to grab it though, a bright flash of green and glyphs caught his eye. Esteban stood up straight and gasped. The creature had… changed… and in its place was a woman.
A.N: I'd thought I'd finally update today cause Onyx Equinox premiers! An anime show based on Mesoamerican myth and culture. Even though I don't officially introduce my characters until the next chapter, I highly give Onyx show a chance. The tone of my story will be lighter than Onyx but culture-wise you can get the feel of where I'm going with this story.
Anyway, no fun facts again but we're a little past Dreamcatchers episode and seeing where Esteban's mindset is after THAT! And I'm starting to play around with Esteban's "hidden" abilities as I like to call them. I'll try and update next weekend. Until then I'm KikaKatTIOI, peace out!