Hello again. Today was full of new experiences.

I have never tried drinking lava before. But when inside an awesome fire forest do as the locals do. So when a crimson deer with antlers of sparking bone took a sip from a lava pond I did as well. Shifting back the ashy grass and nudging aside a blooming fire lotus I dipped my head into the red pool, and took a big gulp of the viscous red fluid therein.

Delicious!

It tastes like sunshine got squeezed into a liquid and then set on fire! Really good stuff. Lena tried to try some, but I guess its just to hot for her. Onica flat out refused, and Fen doesn't have a mouth. He did try sparking some. I still can't tell if he was joking about being able to taste things that way or not.

Julius and I just stuffed ourselves today. The fruit on the trees? Black apples with glowing red veins running across their skins. Grey berries that feel warm to the touch. Crimson and gold potatoes. All delicious, and nobody, except maybe Fen, was willing to try them. Julius and I had a whole forests bounty for ourselves!

We made sure to share with the local wildlife of course. Wouldn't do to step on any toes after all. We are strangers, in a strange land. We must be cautious and polite in equal measure. Just kidding! Everything is so much fun! It would suck to get kicked out before we are ready just becaues we pissed of a forest full of hotheads.

Interestingly enough our fire does have some kind of transformative effect on the flora and fauna hereabouts. The effects vary, and there is no pattern as far as I can see. Sometimes a bee will grow a longer torso and stinger. Sometimes it will shrink and get barbs on its carapace. If we both hit something at the same time the effects are much greater. Like that mega-bear we barely beat yesterday.

We both flamed a possible pine tree to see what would happen. Its red needles turned gold. It nearly doubled in height and girth. Its sap turned a brighter shade of red, and its bark started to glisten like glass.

Very pretty.

Not sure exactly what is going on, but it is certainly entertaining to watch.

Lena, Onica, and Fen are having trouble adapting to the heat. Lena can barely squeeze any moisture out of the air. What little she has made she turns to ice and cuddles. They are sweating like crazy and are super irritable if you mention it. Fen is fine for the most part, but he has to be careful and concentrate on surrounding himself in that funny air from yesterday in order to not burn. So he has been mostly quiet today since he was busy with that whole, not burning thingy.

Another fun thing is that we got lost. Yeah, we don't know where we are going, or where we came from. I don't get why that is such a big deal to the others honestly. Its not like I ever really know where I'm going. Hasn't slowed me down any. Still, I flew up every now and again today. Using the pine tree we changed as a landmark and pointing the way out of the woods for the others below. Then they start walking in circles.

Seriously. According to them they were walking straight where I was pointing. As I saw it the were just idly wanderering about. Walking here and there, and pretty rarely headed where I was pointing.

Something is screwing with their sense of direction. They were still making progress though. Just in the wrong direction. They wanted to go to the edge of the forest. But once they started walking they swung around and headed towards its center. Kinda. Like I said they were all over the place. Still, progress was being made.

I guess we will find the culprit at the center? Seems logical right. If I were the most important part of a forest thats where I would be.

Hm, I wonder what it would be like to be a forest. Could I feel everything inside me? Am I some kind of free drifting conciousness, or am I a physical form. Tied into everything inside of me by some invisible strings? I hope I would be a animal. Trees are cool and all, but standing still for to long makes me twitchy. Hmm, a twitchy tree. That'd be fun to see!

Worst case scenario we just make a big bird out of tinglewood and rocket out of here. I am enjoying myself enough to stick around for a while yet though.

Tonight for dinner we had, fish from a lava stream, magma apple pie, and some steaks for the less adventurous majority of our crew. Julius dined on a plate of mixed greens. All the greens were red though. So is that a plate of mixed reds then? Doesn't matter I guess.

For tonights shelter I made a giant dog out of tinglewood. Then I had Iver bury itself deep into the soil. One we got about ten feet down the surrounding dirt cooled significantly. Pipes extending from the nose and tail of Iver allow for fresh air and the temperature difference with the surface means we always have a steady draft coming through our sleeping area.

Lena set up a shallow pool in Ivers head and she and Onica are chilling there now. Down here Lena can rustle up more water. I will ask her to fill some tinglewood casks for later use tonight. If we hadn't stored some water from the mountain lake with the dragon, well, I doubt today would have gone so well. Dehydration is a serious problem. Onica told me all about it anytime I mentioned her sweatiness.

Tomorrow looks like a promising day! I wonder what awaits us in the center of the Everflame forest?

I hope it is tasty!

Goodnight.