It had been an hour since the griffin had flown away with Eian.

They had followed it's general flight direction and crossed the stream.

Sarah decided running was stupid, since monsters were everywhere.

If they tired themselves out, they'd fall prey to the predators.

Sarah had her two fire-balls ready and told Alex and Jess to deal with the heat, it was too dangerous without them.

There had been a few animal noises about and some movement, but they had not encountered anything as yet.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction?" Jess.

"I don't know. I couldn't see it after it flew over the trees." Sarah.

"So it could have doubled back and we're just looking in the wrong direction!?" Jessica

"Let's calm down Jess. Please." Alex.

"I don't want to get lost in this monster-infested forest! Eian could be dead!" Jessica.

"We just need to find high ground, or climb a tree. We're marking the trees we cross as well." Sarah.

"See Jess? Calm down." Alex.

"I just don't want to run into another one. What if there's a nest of them?" Jess

"What will we do if there are more of them Sarah?" Alex.

"You'll have to distract it till I kill it. They're too big for a swords to do damage quickly." Sarah.

"For it to carry him off!?!" Jess.

"We don't have much choice Jess. Don't worry it caught us by surprise last time." Alex.

"I already have fire-balls ready as well. Hopefully that will help." Sarah.

"They didn't even help last time!" Jess.

"Yes they did! They were a lot more help than you were!" Sarah.

"UHH!" Jessica recoiled as if she had slapped her.

"Sarah!" Alex chided.

"She's here saying I'm not helping! She just insulted me! To my face!" Sarah looked at him in disbelief.

"She's stressed Sarah. Cut her some slack." Alex.

"We are all STRESSED! We're in the middle of a monster-forest with Eian MIA." Sarah.

"Yes, but what will arguing do to help." Alex.

"Nothing! She's the one complaining, it's annoying! UGH! Never mind. Let's go." Sarah.

"Who put you in-charge anyways!?" Jessica shouted.

"What?" Sarah was shocked at her outburst.

"Jess....calm down please. We have to find Eian." Alex.

"No! She's here telling us what to do all the time. We should all decide together!" Jessica.

"So do you have a better idea?" Sarah was getting seriously pissed at her attitude.

"........I'm sure we can think of a better one." Jessica.

Alex sighed.

"For now let's go. If you think of something better let us know." Sarah

"Alex?" Jessica pleaded.

".....*sigh*......I think we should do what Sarah says for now. Finding Eian's the priority, we can talk about this later. Please Jess." Alex clearly looked conflicted.

"......fine." Jessica looked upset he hadn't agreed with her.

Sarah seriously doubted Jessica could think of something, even if she had ten mind and another hour.

Sarah was paying attention to the general vicinity for signs of monster animals.

They continued a while until they heard howling.

"BE READY!" Sarah.

"ROGER!" Alex.

"R...right" Jess.

Five dire-wolves appeared from all directions and charge-attacked them.

Sarah instantly focused, aimed and shot both her fire-balls at different wolves.

Both wolves stumbled backwards, partly aflame.

Alex killed one quickly and Jessica was struggling with the other it was gashing it's teeth at her, it was bleeding.

Alex went to help Jessica obviously, hopefully they'd take the last one that she couldn't see.

Sarah threw a flame-thrower at the nearest, it howled in pain and ran away completely on fire.

She dosed the other on fire as it ran to her, it stopped on its tracks and retreated on fire as well.

Something collided unto Sarah from behind, her heart almost stopped as her staff went flying out of her hands.

'This is it?' She felt fear, she didn't want to die.

"AHH!!!!" Sarah yelled as it bit her arm and thrashed, pain blinded her completely.

She felt her upper body shaking vigorously.

Her arm-socket popped, indescribable agony tore through her.

"ROOOooo!" The wolf biting on her whined and let go.

Sarah saw a sword stab it's neck, it was now gurgling in death-throes.

It went still, through a haze of pain Sarah saw Alex pull out his sword and hurry over to her.

He healed her quickly, she felt the socket pop back in place, thank-fully it hadn't torn off her arm.

"You alright?" Alex.

"NO! I had two and the other must have sneaked unto me!" Sarah.

"Sorry." Alex looked properly chastised, though Sarah wouldn't forgive him that easily.

"I needed more help!" Sarah.

"Yeah I didn't see it I'm so so sorry, it's just Eian usually guards your back, so I'm not used to it. Sorry." Alex.

"Ugh! Fine, keep a better eye out, remember you're the only one with all that armor." Sarah.

He also had the only shield.

In total she had killed two, Alex two and Jessica one, she hadn't even needed Alex's help.

Which made Sarah all the more miserable, her cloths were soaked in blood.

Her arm also twinged with imaginary pain, reminding her of her ordeal.

She grabbed her staff and they continued onwards.

Their route led them to an field of tall grass, it went up to over their heads and it led to what seemed like a small hill a bit farther up.

They decided to keep going straight, they had no other leads to Eian and the hill might give them some much needed orientation.

Alex began cutting the way through a patch of particularly large grass, Jessica was widening it for her.

Sarah had to be extremely careful and hold her fire-balls, one she stretched upwards from her staff, the other directly in front of her.

The last thing they needed was a grass-fire.

About a few minutes later, she thought she heard the grass move up somewhere ahead.

There was tall grass everywhere, it was impossible to see clearly.

"Stop! Something's coming!" Sarah was worried about a forest-fire.

"I heard it too!" Jessica held her long-sword out.

"ROGER!" Alex took up a combat position.

"GRRRRRRRRTTTRRRRRR" Cat growling.

"Watch out!" Sarah.

Suddenly the tremendous hidden beast leapt from the grass and collided into Jessica, Alex hadn't managed to hit it.

Jessica and the monster both went into the grass.

"AHHH!!!" Jess.

Sarah froze her guts clenching, it had been larger than a dire-wolf.

"JESSSS!" Alex ran towards followed them.

Sarah snapped out of her short-surprise.

There was work to be done.

It was difficult to see through the grass, but Sarah saw Alex swing at something.

"GROOOOOOO!" Cat.

Sarah saw Alex stumble backwards and landed on the floor.

She got a clear look at it's face, as it had turnt to swipe at him.

It favored a bob-cat, Sarah had no choice she had to throw both fire-balls at it, she was afraid it would jump her.

Both blasts collided unto it, sending it burning into the grass.

"GROOO!" The beast was howling constantly.

"JESS!" Alex went to check Jessica, as she lay on the ground sniveling pitifully.

"LATER ALEX! Grab her and let's go!" Sarah could still hear the beast moving through the grass.

Alex had been paying Jess too much attention and had turned his back on the beast.

The grass was beginning to catch fire all around the area where beast landed, it was spreading quickly.

Sarah saw it leap at Alex's back seconds after she spoke.

By then it had caught fire over half it's body.

-'Shit! They'll burn at this rate!' Sarah thought, as the beast trashed attempting to gorge Alex.

Sarah saw Jess swing from the floor to the beast, it ignored the chop to it's side.

The beast was spreading flames all over.

Sarah had no other weapons but fire.

-'SHIT! I hope this works!' Sarah realized now this could potentially kill Alex, she couldn't focus to control the grass-flames or the beast could kill Alex or Jess.

She desperately channeled a flame-thrower at the beast.

"GROOOoooo." The cat ran away, fully aflame into the grass.

All around them had quickly caught fire.

"HURRY DAMN IT! FOLLOW ME!" Sarah began to create an opening among-st the flames.

"...*cough*.....*cough*...*cough*...Les go." Alex got up with Jessica's help.

Jessica was coughing up roughly as well.

Sarah let them through the fire, Alex and Jess cut down the burning grass and Sarah ensured it didn't burn them.

Sarah knew she couldn't burn, but she didn't know about smoke, though so far it hadn't done anything to her.

They had to take a random direction to flee.

They eventually managed to outrun the flames, though it was clearly visible for miles above.

They exited from the grass area into a part that was thinner with grass, but sported many tall thin trees, with a few different ones thrown in.

"...*cough*...*cough*...*cough*....'resh air." Alex.

"*cough**cough**cough* yeah." Jessica.

"Move it, there's still a lot of smoke around here." Sarah was glad the smoke wasn't affecting her lungs.

They kept moving.

Once they reached a clear area, Alex and Jessica sat down to recover their breath.

It took about five minutes of fresh air for their full recovery.

"Which way do we go." Alex.

"If I'm not mistaken I remember that the bigger sun followed the smaller sun, so they set that way, lets call that west. The griffin went north." Sarah.

"NO! We're completely lost!" Jessica.

"Calm down, Jess." Alex was stern.

"This is all her fault!" Jess.

"Jess, please calm down. Now's not the time, we have to find Eian." Alex.

"How! By wandering about till we burn or die?!" Jessica.

Sarah breathed in deeply, to evade angering herself.

CALM, PEACE, ICE-COLD LOGIC.

Alex had a point: arguing with her would not only be counter-productive, but childish as well.

She had seen such arguments often enough.

"I did what I thought was best, Alex was getting attacked and you were on the floor, potentially hurt. We still have to find high ground or climb a tree." Sarah.

"I agree with Sarah, I had a life-link with you Jess, but she couldn't know you weren't hurt. We couldn't even see it, Jess does have a point though Sarah, we could be slightly off-track." Alex.

"Exactly!" Jessica.

"Then let's all climb a tree, we can try to get better visual from there. We have to find a tall easy one though." Sarah.

"Why all of us?" Jessica.

"How will we fight if only some of us stay down here? A large pack of wolves or something else could kill the ones that stay. Safety in numbers." Sarah wondered if she was an idiot or just didn't think it through.

"I can't climb with all this armor, I'll have to remove it. Shoes too barefooted will probably give more traction." Alex.

"That's fine. I don't know if many animals can climb trees. Jess that means us too." Sarah removed her armor and footwear as well.

"Fine." Jessica.

"Alex, you go all the way up and try to look for a large hill or something that could show us Eian.

They chose what looked like a huge tree with many branches, some dipped very low, as if the tree were made for climbing.

It went up perhaps four stories approximately.

Sarah and Jessica stayed on lower branches since they weren't good climbers.

Alex was the fittest and climbed his way slowly.

He stayed up there surveying properly for what must have been five minutes.

He came down slowly, and they all got down and re-armed.

"Alright I see a large hill that way from here, it looks much taller than this tree and much taller than that hill we were going to. I can also see the fire burning from here." Alex pointed north-west for the large-hill and north-east for the fire.

"That could be a problem, we'd move away from our initial route that way." Sarah.

"We don't even know if we were going the right way." Jessica mumbled, causing Sarahs brow to twitch, Eian must be an angel to put up with her shit.

"I'm sorry Sarah, but she's got a point, the bigger hill might give us more info, than randomly hoping the monster didn't change directions." Alex.

"I know I just said it might be a problem, not that it was. If nothing else at least we can find other hills to guide ourselves from. Landmarks to not get lost." Sarah.

"I know no-one wants to hear this, but what are we going to do if we can't find him? I think it's been at least a few hours since it took him." Jessica.

"............" Alex was silent.

"I think we should spend at least a few days looking. There's plenty of wild vegetation we could eat, Alex can heal poison and theres water nearby." Sarah.

"I agree, we can't abandon a friend simply this easy. I would do the same for all of you." Alex.

-'More for her probably.' Sarah thought idly, though truly she didn't care, Alex clearly had a thing for Jessica.

"I'm not saying just give up now, but I want us to think over it. Please this forest is huge and dangerous." Jessica.

"I will think about it. Alex you should too, it's definitely possible he's dead. It could have just flown very high and dropped him." Sarah sighed.

"He's supposed to be super strong, he could survive a high drop. He could be hurt out there as we speak." Alex insisted.

"You're also right about that. That's why we should keep looking." Sarah.

"Roger. Jess try to stay optimistic. Eian's tough." Alex.

"I know. It's not like I want him dead." Jessica looked subdued.

"Let's go then, the faster we get to high ground the better we can orient ourselves." Sarah

"Okay." Jess seemed to have fallen in line.

"I also think we should go around tall grass from now on." Sarah was kind of feeling bad about that, in retrospect it was a lousy idea.

"YES!" Jess, she was really testing Sarah's patience.

"Jeeess. I'm with you on that though Sarah, you're the strongest and the grass hinders everyone." Alex chided Jessica and complimented Sarah.

"Good." Sarah.

They kept going.

'Wait did those things die?' Sarah quickly checked her tattoo's.

They were glowing.

"I'll be right back." Sarah told them.

"Roger, we need you as strong as possible." Alex smiled.

Sarah readied herself and selected spirit, which was at six.

The world washed away.

*****

"Hello my little spark. It is wonderful to see you again. I hope you are in no immediate danger?" Adara purred.

"Hello Miss Adara. Not immediately, but I'm in a forest right now." Sarah.

"A shame, I would have wanted some innnnntimate time with you. Alone." Adara purred, causing Sarah's belly felt like worms wriggling.

"Why are you always speaking to me like that?" Sarah had wondered why she was always so pushy and weird, not a creepy bad weird, but still weird.

"Hmmmm.....Dragon's are by nature, very obsessive little spark." Adara explained and Sarah could feel the smile in her voice.

"But...but I haven't done anything." Sarah.

"Haven't you? I wonder?" Adara purred.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sarah was anxious of the answer.

"Another time, you are in a forest yes?" Adara deflected the question.

"You're not going to answer me, are you?" Sarah sighed.

"Hmmm....Insightful. Hahahaha." Adara laughed lightly.

Sarah collected her thoughts.

Adara obviously wasn't going to speak more about that, so she should get to more immediate concerns.

"My friend got separated from us. Is there some way I can find him?" Sarah.

"Hmmmm......Is he alive?" Adara.

"I don't know." Sarah.

"You're fire-sense could see him if he was close by, even through stone. It tracks body-heat as well you see. Apart from that you'd have to learn some deeper magics." Adara.

"What types of deeper magics? Can I learn it now?" Sarah.

"....Deeper magics will drain you faster than your elemental magic, but yes, you could use some, if you had the knowledge." Adara.

"Can you teach me something to help find Eian right now?" Sarah.

"If you had plenty of time perhaps, though you said you weren't safe. Be prepared next time and we shall begin. Ensure you are completely safe for at least three hours." Adara explained.

"Is there truly nothing you could teach me now?" Sarah wanted to quickly find Eian, at least his corpse.

"It is not that simple little spark, usually it takes years to become truly competent at deeper magics, I will give you a brief course and have you focus on teaching simple things you could benefit from immediately." Adara.

"Is it truly possible to find Eian with deeper magics?" Sarah.

"Yes, hard, even dangerous but possible. Invocations are what you should use, summoning could work as well, but you are weak yet." Adara.

"Invocations?" Sarah.

"Yes. I will explain, but briefly. Invocations allow greater beings to aid you in some way. Priests tend to have strong connections with their gods and ask for their blessings. There are other greater beings of course, like demons, djins and other spirits." Adara.

"How could that help me find Eian?" Sarah.

"Demons excel at tracking and information gathering, Djins tend to grant wishes within their powers for a fair price and many other spirits have all sorts of beneficial powers. I could go on and on, but truly I could take years, as I said. I will equip you with some knowledge. I will warn you from now. DO NOT under any circumstances experiment outside of what I have taught you, these beings could steal from you at a whim and you could end up praying for death." Adara lectured sternly.

"Oh." Sarah was queasy when she heard the word demons, every idiot knew not to mess with them.

"Relax, little spark. As long as you do exactly as I instruct you will be in no danger. Demons are usually a last resort as well." Adara seemed to have notice her reluctance.

"Right. I'll be ready next time Miss Adara. Thank you." Sarah.

"Not a problem. Shall we begin?" Adara.

"Yes. Thank-you." Sarah.

"Very well, before we begin, you should focus on the plane of fire. It's where your fire comes from." Adara.

Sarah closed her eyes.

Adara had taught her well and she intended to learn as much as possible from the dragoness.

She instantly felt the connection, to what she assumed was the plane of fire.

It was distant, yet close and connected to her in some way.

"There are many applications to fire. Focus on a different version." Adara.

She focus and searched, there were other forms there she felt, but those were out of her reach at the moment.

She felt another fast excited energy.

It reminded her of a shock, similar to touching a zapping feeling.

Lightening? Electricity?

"It is the lightening. It will penetrate armor and even stun enemies. Perfect for armored foes. It is also faster than regular fire, but has a lower chance of setting the targets aflame. It is also imprecise at long distances." Adara.

Sarah focused on the lightening bolt and willed it to form.

It leapt, uncontrollably frightening her, forward.

Sending currents flowing through her body.

It didn't hurt, it felt as if her body had gone cold.

She opened her eyes and was back to her friends.