The strongest

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I look in the face of an irritated Joshua.

I shrug my shoulders. “I dunno..” and I act if I don’t care. The truth is: the more I discover, the less comfortable I feel. For every answer I find, they raise two new questions. And I’m sick of it.

I turn around and I’ve trouble keeping my eyes dry. I feel a hand on my shoulder. “I know you do care, pumpkin. And so do I. We need to find answers. I’ll help you with that.”

I let my head rest against his chest. He knows me. Although we’re not official girlfriend and boyfriend, we act like it. Well, he always did, and the more I’m with him, I do too. Of course we kissed before, we kiss all the time. But first I wanted to be like ‘friends with benefits’, you know? I wasn’t ready to commit. I’m so young! Joshua is even younger… Joshua said I’m his fated mate, but because I’m human, I don’t feel the invisible bond like he does. I have to say, when I see Adam and Eve, I’m quite jealous. You can see how they are pulled to each other, how they feel more comfortable when the other is around and they can feel each other's emotions. It’s more difficult between Joshua and me. I look at him. “Thanks Joshua, that means a lot to me.”

He deserves better. He deserves a she-wolf. The connection between two mated werewolves. And although I do have feelings for him, I mean - I’ve never felt anything for anyone like this before - I want him to have the same experience like his sister has. I know how it works, I know about the marking and the bond between two fated werewolves. And I will never be able to mark him as mine. The bond will never be completed when I can’t mark him back. We can’t mindlink, he will never be complete. I sigh.

“Pumpkin? Don’t worry about it. We will find a way, I promise..” I hear his voice again.

I smile. It’s cute he thinks I’m worried about the lack of knowledge about my true self. If he knows where I was thinking about…

I kiss him on the cheek. “I know we will. But, don’t promise something you’re not sure of if you can fulfill it.”

Joshua looks serious. “But I am. By the way, that sounds familiar, don’t you think?” And he points at the book on the table. “Do not light a fire you can’t extinguish..”

I chuckle. “That was a hint..”

“Alright, let’s ask Luna. Dig into the library and the internet. There has to be something…” Joshua is getting all excited.

I need to stop him. “No, Joshua. First: I want to find out how to read this book. There has to be clues in thát!”

He frowns, “Maybe you’re right.” and he grabs the book. “Is it just me, or do I only see weird combinations of letters and words? This is not even an actual language…”

“No, it’s not only you. I’ve been there before. Trust me, I’ve tried hours to unlock that weird book. But I’m not what to do anymore. It has to be a code or something.” I say, frustrated.

“Why? Why do you think it’s a code? The book looks very old, maybe this is an old language too. A language you and I don’t understand, but mages does. Or other ‘old’ creatures.”

Joshua has a fair point over there. I’ve studied in the library for hours, trying to find a code to unlock those letters. Those combinations. But none of the codes I found, matched. Maybe there is no code! This can be a language!

“That’s it! That would explain why I couldn’t fix this code. It is not a code! But why did they give it to me; Cerise and Flint? Why would anyone give someone a present they can’t understand? I don’t follow…” I’m thinking out loud.

“Maybe it’s part of your journey; understanding this book.”

Ugh, I hate those kinds of suggestions. “Oh come on, Joshua. I hate it and you know it. That’s just lame…”

Joshua chuckles. “No it’s not lame, you’re acting lazy. Come on. Take the other book, try to find any clues in that one. I bet Cerise and Flint could have known that if you wanted to find information about mages, you would find the book we found before. That was pretty easy to find. It’s a start..”

I hate it when he’s right. I walk over to my bookshelf and grab the first book about mages. “But I’ve already learned anything in this book!” I mumble, annoyed.

“Really? Anything?” Joshua asks.

I roll my eyes. He knows I didn’t learn anything. “Well, the most important looking stuff. The fun stuff. I can teleport, blink, make portals and play with fire a bit. That’s enough for me.”

Joshua crosses his arms. “I’m not leaving this room before you’ve tried to look for clues in the first book.”

I look at Joshua, he’s dead serious. I sigh. Joshua is an enormous man, although I can teleport away, I would never be able to pass that big posture blocking my door. “Alright, big boy. Look: I’m already searching, you see?” And I’m pretending like I’m reading.

“No, you’re not. You’re just pretending.”

“Darn it. Well, at least you can help me.”

Joshua smiles and walks over and sits next to me. “Where do we need to start?” He asks.

“Well, you’re the expert. You tell me…”

“Sometimes you’re just a 10-years-old girl, trying to have more candy. Give me that..” and Joshua grabs the book out of my hands. He starts reading and I lean back and rest on my lower arms. I wiggle with my feet, impatiently.

-10 minutes later-

It doesn't look like he’s finding something soon. “You want something to drink?” I ask Joshua.

“Hmmm, hmm.. The useall..” He mumbles. I jump up and make us some tea. Although I like coffee, I think a hot tea can help my mind relax.

“Crissie! I found something! Look, this chapter is explaining more about the elements. Yours is fire, right?” Joshua says enthusiastic.

“Well, obviously…” I answer, while I light my hands with fire.

“Have you read this chapter before?”

“Why would I, I knew my element, right? I had no desire to read it all…” I say.

“Oh Lord, you’re a smart woman. But if you’re able to skip reading, you always will, don’t you?” Joshua answers.

He’s right, I hate reading. It takes so much time! I’m more of the ‘try-fail-try-again’ method.

Joshua continues: “Anyhow. This describes the elements in a special order. In fact: there is an order of strength.”

“Really?” I ask, surprised, while I put our tea on the coffee table in front of us. “Tell me more..”

“Well, besides the order of strength, it explains every element has their own weakness. In order to keep it all balanced, everyone gives birth to an element that’s the opposite of their own or a weaker kind. In that way, no family would be overpowered, compared to others. There always will be stronger and weaker elements. But all with their own strengths and benefits. It’s very informative, you should read this chapter!” Joshua says.

“Alright, that ís interesting. But what has it to do with me?” I ask him.

“We already know you inherit your powers from your father. If you’re a fire mage, your father must be your opposite: ice. You mentioned you have found information about Fire, Ice, Earth and Dark magic - right? But if you look close at this image, you can see more elements described by little symbols. Here. This must be fire, that’s a little flame. And here: ice, a snowflake. Dark magic: that must be this purple eye. And earth: brown mountains. But there are 2 other elements: a symbol that looks like a swirl and wings. They must be opposites of Earth and dark. What do you think?”

I walk over to Joshua and must say: this is incredibly interesting. I take a look at the symbols and he’s right. I see a swirl and wings. “Uhhmm.. If Earth is an element, the other can be Air? What about wings? All I can think of is Angels..” I say.

“Angels… That’s it! Of course! Dark and Light. The last element is Light. There are six elements of Magic: Fire, Ice, Earth, Air, Dark and Light. Amazing…” Joshua answers, completely amazed by this information.

“That’s amazing, indeed. But how is this helping me further, again?” I ask.

“Crissie, if you’re a Fire mage - you’re father must be an Ice mage. But that’s not it.. Fire..”

“Wait!” I interrupt Joshua. “.. First of all: Ice mage sounds terrible. If you can change names, I can too. We should call it a Frost mage, you know: frost - ice. That’s kind of the same, right?”

Joshua rolls his eyes. “Alright, Frost. So, your father is a Fróst mage. Now we know that, it's easier to look for him, right? BUT!” Joshua kept silent for a few seconds. “... Fire is the strongest one.”

“What do you mean? I’m the stronger element between me and my father?” I ask, confused.

“No. Yes. I mean: not only. Yes, you are the strongest element of the two of you. But also of the others. Look! A flame is on top of the pyramid of the order of elements!”

Holy smoke.