Chapter 22-Elemental Essence: Part 2- The Market

                                    

                                          
Chapter 22
•Alex's P.O.V•
Nobody told me that resource gathering would be as gruelling as it was. 
Soon after me and Axel got the list of ingredients needed to create each of the elemental essenses, the two of us set off to find each of the listed items around the school. 
We found the dragon scale in the dragon stables, thankfully without waking any of them this time. Coach Beast found us a Terramaw claw, a Thunderbird feather and a Shadowfang tooth in the sanctuary, while professor Vinyl got us the Gaia Lily, Arcadium roots and the Wind-rush leaves we needed from his greenhouse. We snagged a few more vials of arcane ash from Ms. Blair's class, and a vial of the Liquid Ionum from professor Blitzz's lab. 
Yet, with how much we already collected, we barely had half of the items that we needed. 
Axel and I, already pretty tired from spending our afternoon running across the school to find the various items we collected, took a break on a bench in the school gardens. The sounds of chatter from the other elementals filled the air. 
I let out a tired groan as I turned to Axel. "So, what do we have left?" 
"A lot." He replied, looking at the list with wide eyes. "Like, two thirds of the list left." 
"What!?" I shot him a look of shock and disbelief. "But we looked around the entire school! Did we seriously only find a third of the items on the list!?" 
"Looks like it." Axel sighed. I groaned loudly. 
"Well great." I muttered, resting my chin on my hands with an annoyed groan. "There's still so much to find, and we've already looked around the whole of Arceus. Where else are we supposed to look for these?" 
Axel and I sat in silence for a moment. Then, Axel's face lit up. 
"I know a place." 
"You do?" I asked. 
"Yeah." Axel nodded. "Like you said, my dad wouldn't give us a project we couldn't complete, and my dad knows that I know about this place." 
With that, Axel stood up and walked towards the back of the school buildings. I followed him curiously as he looked around every few minutes, as if to check is anyone was watching. I wanted to ask what it was that he was up to, but figured that my question would soon be answered. 
And, soon enough, it did. 
Axel took one final look around. The two of us were practically alone, standing in the shadow of a giant tree. He then sparked a flame at the tip of his finger and turned to the outer wall. He drew a large circle of fire into the brick. He took a step back, his eyes glowing bright, and held his hand out towards the wall. The air around us started to swirl and blow past us from the wall, blowing through my hair and past my jacket and shorts. The flames began to spiral inward, illuminating the shaded area with a bright orange glow. 
"Voyage." 
With that, the ring of flame shed a bright red light. Inside of it, an image appeared; that of a sort of marketplace or a busy street from a semi-medieval setting with a bunch of stalls and buildings similar to what I'd see in a few of the old wizard movies I used to watch as a kid. My eyes widened. Axel shot me a proud smirk. 
"Pretty cool, huh?" I was too stunned to speak for a moment. 
"You know the flame portal spell?" I asked in shock. 
"Shh! Not so loud!" Axel hushed. "Yeah, I know how to cast flame portals, it's a handy spell to know, okay? Sometimes I just conjure up one of these and chill in some part of town for the day. But it's against the rules, so I prefer to keep it secret."