Theo stood before a stone circle, raised from the ground. Peeking in through the hole, he could see his reflection. It was water alright. Though it was black, resembling water during the night. That could be explained with the lack of a sun hanging over it, as it was nearly evening.

It truly was an interesting concept.

Trapping a river in a hole. If he had thought of it back at the village, he’d surely be named a genius, and rise to an elder, though that came with age, not smart. It also explained the lack of any source of water in the close proximity, not to mention there were several of them in the village, as Lisa said.

Now Theo wondered how these things survived a rain. It had a nasty habit of turning the water black and that would taste very… ashy. Maybe that was the reason the water was black, but then again, the elder said there were places where it didn’t rain.

“Can you get a pail of water from there?” Lisa asked with a serious face. Theo shook his head. He didn’t even know what a pail was. She shook her head, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She proceeded by grabbing a bucket held by a rope and threw it in. Soon after, she dragged it out, filled with water. Lisa held her hand out, opening and closing it several times. Theo nodded, handing her the iron bucket he had brought.

Lisa poured the water in, and handed it over to Theo. He grabbed it, his eyes widening for a second.

It was light.

He tried lifting it up and down several times, the weight never increasing nor decreasing. Still, it was only as heavy as his canteen, which he always kept on himself at all times, even while hunting. Theo could run a thousand miles with this insignificant amount of weight hanging from his hand.

Lisa led the way, back to her house. Theo noticed several strange gazes, aimed at him. He waved at them with a smile on his face. These people wanted to talk with him, and Theo remembered a few faces, meaning to talk to them later.

He hadn’t seen the house in its entirety the night before, and only now Theo noticed it was rather well-kept than the others. Mainly due to the stubborn white color persisting on the walls, whereas some others had been peeled.

The light of the sun at dusk colored everything red, the clouds and the houses, even more so on a white texture. Theo looked to the back, noticing the sun. It was settling behind a mountain, and did so ever so slowly, as if not to sit on a prickle.

He chuckled, walking into the house. Even if everything else changed, the sun still remained the same. Truly a delightful reunion.

The sound of hooves clanking on a hard surface resonated through the village as Theo quickly grabbed at his back. He had taken off his club the night before. A bad mistake. He opened the door, notifying the girl.

“What is it?” Lisa asked as she turned around.

“Boars.” Theo said, sprinting to the direction of the noise. He’d make do with his fireballs. Of course that was considering there was only one of them there. If there was more than two, then only the sun knew what would happen.

The weird glances had turned to surprise, staring at him running through the street in a hurry. Theo jumped above a smaller house, and hopped onto a bigger one, covering the top of his eyes with one hand and clenching his other fist tightly.

He wouldn’t let what happened to Maku’s family happen to any other. That was enough accidents. After what seemed like a minute being unable to locate the noise, a slap on the back of his head awakened him from his stupor.

Theo looked backwards, noticing Lisa. She was drenched in sweat, gasping for air. She must’ve run a lot.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” She shouted.

“I don’t know. I definitely heard a boar.” Theo said. “But I can’t find it anywhere.”

“They’re called horses.” Lisa said, shaking her head and pointing to several four-legged creatures. They were lean, muscular, and of various colors. Brown, reddish brown and white were only a few. Most of all, they had hooves. That explained why it could be heard.

Now that Theo looked down, some people had appeared below the house, looking up at the pair. Lisa scowled, grabbing his hand and climbing down, with a ladder. Theo wondered where she got it, or if it was here from the start.

They had travelled a long distance, as she relentlessly dragged him into the house, Theo not bothering to resist. That would only weaken their friendship. He had to know when to say sorry.

“I’m sorry.” Theo said.

“For what? Shaming me?” Lisa asked with an irritated voice, a fist connecting with the top of his head. He closed his left eye, about to reel from pain when… nothing happened.

The punch was so weak he couldn’t even feel it.

Even Chakk, the weakest of the village, could do better than that. Theo chuckled. She was merely gesturing.

Still, to think that there were creatures with hooves other than boars, truly a surprise. His kind was truly surprising, to tame such a creature. It was impossible to stop a boar, let alone reason with it. Taming was impossible.

Lisa closed her eyes tightly, as if wishing it never happened, and walked away. Without anything else to do, Theo walked back to the room he had spent the night in.

***

The sound of hooves awakened Theo from his slumber. It was morning.

A blanket had been placed on him, a thick fur, one no worse than his own. Thankfully, it was overcast today and the sun couldn’t penetrate through the thick clouds, never falling on his face. That also gave him a full night’s sleep.

The time couldn’t be measured, as the sun was gone.

Then a sweet aroma entered his nostrils. It was food. He had eaten one the day before, in the afternoon, and that was simply perfect. It had flavor far better than meat, but the refreshing feeling wasn’t there. Theo wondered why. Everything back at the village tasted like that. Even the fruits.

He stood up, rubbing his eyes and grabbing his fur coat. The bigger one was annoying to keep around. Theo wondered, just what would happen now. Would everyone hide in their homes and wait for the storm to pass?

Theo walked out the room, appearing in a hallway. To the left was the study of Paul, and to the right was the kitchen. Of course, he took the right. Remembering the positions were easy if anything for someone who could remember a tree he saw twice perfectly.

The form of Lisa cooking, with a piece of cloth hanging from her neck, protecting her clothes underneath could be seen as Theo entered the kitchen. She stood before a curious metal frame, in the shape of a quadrat. A pole could be seen penetrating through the roof, connected to that. She held a wooden board, some strange fruits chopped into pieces, that were inserted into a pot placed on the metal frame. It was filled with fruits, meat and water.

Theo tilted his head to the side.

He simply couldn’t see this becoming a food. No. It was more along the lines of why she was doing it. That was simply irrational. Meat and fruits were supposed to be eaten separately. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided not to. Surely she knew what she was doing. And if it was as good as the one from before, Theo didn’t care how she did it.

So he watched it. Very closely.

His nose almost touched the metal frame, warming his body. It was scorching hot here, but he preferred hot over cold. After all, Theo was used to it.

She added a pinch of white dust, similar to the dust created by his fireballs. He created one, squashed it on the ground and pinched some of it, and added that to the pot. Theo then proceeded by hiding all evidence by absorbing the dust, as per Paul’s suggestion. He said leaving these things everywhere was bad habit and he mightn’t want to do that. Theo theorized it was due to Paul’s laziness of not wanting to clean the place, but he didn’t really mind that. He shouldn’t make a mess everywhere he went.

Theo sat on the table, his knuckles supporting his chin as he awaited the food patiently, if not boringly. The sound akin to bubbles popping entered Theo’s ears, perking it up in an instant. It would be a bad storm.

Theo created a flame in his hand, trying to warm himself up.

The flame did just that, the gentle blue light washing over the room and warming him up tremendously, even better than the metal frame. Then he destroyed it. He shouldn’t make this a habit, lest he be chased down by bad people.

What Theo estimated an entire day passed for the food to be ready and served. A strange gooey substance bathed the meat and fruits, and Theo took a small bit of it with what his kind called a spoon.

It was delicious.

That was the one thing he could place his finger on except the fresh taste, just as it had been back at home, if not lacking a bit. He chugged it down in mere seconds, giving Lisa his bowl before she even took a seat. The girl grabbed the pot from the handles and placed it on the table, on a metal plate with a round hole on it, just like the metal frame.

Theo then noticed it.

The flames dancing out of the stove, catching his eye in the process. Theo stood up instantly, walking towards it with wide eyes. Then he looked at the flame. It was beautiful, even more so than a blue one.

This was yellow, red sparks occasionally flying away. He put his hand over it with a smile, dragging it away after a few seconds. It was strange.

The flame was hot, much like the rain. However, the flame he used was colder. Not unlike water on a cold day, a refreshing, yet painful feeling. But this was… pure pain.