Joseph and Jaye save Autumn part 4 of 4

When Joseph Stephens and Jaye Williams arrived to the source of the heat they found Ignitious laying on a beach chair and a giant fire ball, which he conjured, was floating in the sky above the trees acting like a second sun. “I was expecting a forest on fire, not a flame elemental enjoying an extended summer” Jaye joked. “Both are equally bad. This isn’t the summer land, this is the Autumn land” Joseph said with a low growl. “Ok big guy, lets ease off on the demon juice. We just gotta whack this guy a couple of times with the ol’claw hammer and we can go back to drinking coffee in the cold breeze like a couple of weirdos” Jaye said as he patted Josephs arm. Joseph turned to Jaye with a sad but sincere smile “Yeah, I am just getting a little worked up. It will be ok” Joseph said, nodding several times as if to try and convince himself.

            Ignitious spotted the two friends walking up. Jaye had his pumpkin sword drawn and Joseph had his magic staff ready. The humanoid fire spirit let out a quick laugh at the sight of the two. Tiny flames spit out from his mouth when he laughed. Ignitious’ laugh caused Joseph’s anger to burn hotter. “This isn’t a laughing matter. You are about to be destroyed. We spared your brother, you wont be spared, not after we saw what you two did to Patches” Joseph shouted with his teeth gritted. Before Ignitious could reply a ten foot tall whirlwind was launched from Joseph’s staff. The whirlwind tore a path through the ground and struck the flame elemental before he could get out of his beach chair.

            The whirlwind shook in the place where Ignitious previously sat. Flames erupted from the whirlwind in every direction until the whirlwind was dispelled, leaving a very angry flame spirit in its place. Ignitious had flames raging all over his body, with his core form made from a searing magma substance. “I was just going to make this into a second summer forest because I felt bad for old Patches but since you attacked me so rudely, I am going to burn this forest down to ASH!” Ignitious shouted then shot straight at Joseph with incredible speed and force. Jaye saw Ignitious lunge across the battlefield and barely had enough time to summon his golden leaf. The leaf created a wind barrier just a split second before the giant fireball that was Ignitious hit Joseph. The flame spirit was repelled by the windshield and sent backward but the force of his attack shut down the shield and made Jaye stumble backward slightly. All of the magical items they had, took their energy to use and Jaye was already feeling tired from repelling such a large attack.

            The two friends prepared to attack but Ignitious was relentless and went into another attack. Jaye spotted a large hollowed out log, it was large, sturdy and looked like it had been there for a hundred years. “Follow me!” Jaye shouted as he ran for cover. Joseph ran right behind Jaye. Ignitious was fast and was quickly gaining on the two. The flame spirit turned into a fireball and launched himself forward. The two friends jumped into the hollow log just in time. Ignitious sped by the log and hit a tree ten feet away. “Your luck will not last!” Shouted the angry spirit. “This log is pretty great! Maybe we could just camp here until Ignitious leaves” Jaye joked. Joseph half smiled.

            Ignitious was tired of his enemy surviving his attacks and decided to go all out. “You dared to bring out my wrath, now try and survive it” Ignitious shouted. He stretched his arms up into the air and summoned flames. Fire floated in the air above Ignitious, the collection of fire was bigger than Ignitious himself. “Your father was a matchstick!” Shouted Jaye, who was poking his head out of the log. “and your mother was an easy bake oven” Joseph shouted, still in the log.

            “Enough!” Ignitious shouted as he shot all of his summoned flames at the two. The intense fire it the ancient log, fire burst out in every direction upon contact with the log. The surrounding area was burned and turned to ash but somehow the log stood, old, stubborn and sturdy. “The log protected us!” Joseph said in amazement. “The log provides!” Jaye cheered. The giant log was blackened and smoking but it protected the friends.

            Ignitious was furious but couldn’t summon another attack right away without injuring himself. “Hey, he’s outta juice!” Jaye cheered. “Right! Then lets smoke this turkey!” Joseph said with a determined expression. Jaye pulled his claw hammer from his jacket, used his magic pumpkin to cover him in armor and then charged out from the safety of the log. Joseph took a swig from the warm liquid in the water flask, because it tasted good, then charged out holding his magic staff.

            Ignitious saw the two charging and tried to throw a few flame attacks. The half hearted attacks were easily dodged and the friends were left unhindered. “I’ve been waiting for this! Clawww Hammar!” Jaye brought his hammer down and struck the fire elemental in the chest, knocking him back. Joseph followed behind then summoned earth tremors and whirlwinds from his staff. Joseph’s anger still boiled inside of him and he was determined to bring down Ignitious down, even if it meant killing him.

            The ground shook around Ignitious, the whirlwind pulled loose rocks from the ground as it went and the multiple whirlwinds filled with rocks and stones hit Ignitious. Ignitious was wounded but still standing. He charged up a fireball and threw it at Joseph.

            Joseph hadn’t let up his attack at this point and continued to charge forward casting magic. Jaye jumped and knocked Joseph out of the way of the incoming fireball. “You aren’t suddenly fire proof are you?” Jaye asked with a smile “No” Joseph replied shortly then stood up and began charging his energy into his magic staff. Joseph was determined but also blinded by his singular goal to defeat Ignitious.

            Joseph’s anger had been building for a long time, every time July the fat spirit of summer, Old Man Winter or any other troublesome spirit tried to disrupt the Fall. Joseph didn’t try to invade summer land to make the season shorter, he didn’t go out of his way to fight Winter so Autumn lasted longer. Joseph was peaceful and waited all year for his favorite season and yet someone had to try and stop him from enjoying it. He suffered through summer, getting heat stroke, heat sickness, headaches, dizziness, sweating through his shirts, and yet he suffered through it without trying to conquer anything. Ignitious treated Patches worse than anyone yet and the attack from the Fire and Ice brothers was the final straw.

            Joseph had been charging magic into his staff then unleashed it on Ignitious. A giant wall of stone rose up from the ground then rushed forward like a tidal wave, whirlwinds flew at Ignitious, each whirlwind was bigger than usual and streaked with lighting. Electricity flashed and sparked through the air. The rock tidal wave, the electrical mega whirlwinds and just pure bolts of lighting blasted forward at super speeds. Ignitious was fast but he couldn’t manage to escape this onslaught in time. All of the magic attacks struck Ignitious. The flame elemental shook and convulsed in place, the flames that made up his outer body pulsed and flared out in every direction at random intervals. When the attacks died down Ignitious was left with only his core magma form and was more vulnerable now, like Glacious in his cracked solid ice form.

            Joseph had spent most of his energy with those attacks and now gasped to catch his breath. Ignitious was defeated and fell to his knees “Alright, I give up. I won’t bother Patches or his land again” Ignitious said, his voice was weak and hollow. “No forgiveness, he wont get mercy” Joseph said between breaths. Jaye winced “We’ll spare him like we spared Glacious. Let me handle this” Jaye said to a barely standing Joseph.

            “We spared your brother and we will spare you. Whatever grudge or debt you think you have between patches, is over. Enough fighting, try to do something useful for a change” Jaye told Ignitious then shook his claw hammer menacingly at the wounded flame spirit.

            Ignitious vanished in a ball of flame leaving a small scorch mark on the grass where he knelt. Jaye turned to Joseph “Glad that is settled. Now you need to relax with all of that ‘no mercy’ crap. Lets drink some tea or something and calm down. We should probably check on Patches as well” Jaye shrugged then walked over to collect his injured friend.

            The two friends saved Autumn land and thus had saved the season itself. When they reached Patches hut they found the Autumn spirit sleeping soundly with a small sprout budding from his torso. This sprout would grow into a new pumpkin head, returning Patches to his former glory. Joseph was starting to calm down now that autumn was saved. The friends didn’t get a reward for their help but they did get to keep their new weapons, at least until Patches remembered that they were missing.

            The real reward was a new autumn day on the horizon, the exciting frights of Halloween, the chilly Fall mornings, the harvest of food and the time to reflect.

            Joseph and Jaye never made it home though, before they could reach the portal to home, they were whisked away onto another adventure. But that is another story for another time.