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The trip to the cavern was awkwardly silent as Erivere was obviously still extremely embarrassed, however it was also mercifully short. As luck would have it the area was littered with smooth weathered driftwood, much of it already aged and dried; and by the time the pair arrived at the mouth of the cavern Gray estimated they had easily collected enough firewood for a single night and probably another full day after that if it was needed.

The interior of the cavern was a roughly eight foot high by four foot wide rapidly descending tunnel that opened into a relatively spacious sandy area measuring out at around a thousand square feet and nearly the whole area was still dimly lit by the sunlight filtering in through the tunnel. The ceiling was smooth and the natural slope would allow a fires smoke to escape out towards the entrance. There was even a ring of blackened stones near the front that appeared to have been used as a fire pit in the past and three larger boulders positioned at uneven distances around it. As far as camp sites went as long as it didn't rain hard enough to flood into the cave this would be about as good as it gets.

However Eri had a strange look on her face as she saw the campsite, prompting Gray to to ask, "Whats wrong? This place looks like an excellent place to make camp."

Eri replied with a small frown, "This is strange, Festid is too close to bother setting up a campsite here. A month ago this place had nothing but sand and a few bats. Those large stones would take several men to move just one, and someone brought three in here."

She then pointed toward the rocks and continued, "Also if this place was used as campsite there should be signs of people here. Foot prints in the sand, ashes from a fire, bones, refuse, really anything. But there's nothing; its like these things just appeared here."

Looking closer Gray nodded slowly, there was nothing but smooth sand on the ground the only marks to be seen where the ones behind them. Further the ring of stones had no ashes or wood in it at all, just more undisturbed sand. Now that she had called his attention to it the whole place seemed unusual, with his hand on the hilt of his dagger he cautiously and carefully explored the dim interior thoroughly. However his diligent search turned up nothing. The place was totally empty.

Still slightly frowning Gray said, "This place is definitely odd, but having only a single way in would certainly make it easier to keep watch. We'll just have to sleep in turns tonight. There are still a few hours of daylight left, lets see if we can scavenge some food. Also is there a water source nearby?"

"The only fresh water in the area is the well in Festid, but I have my waterskins." Handing him a bulging waterskin she continued. "Even if there are two of us they should last for a few days. Once we reach the King's road there are wells every other day or so of travel. I didn't pack any food at all though, I had planned to forage and hopefully get lucky with my sling."

Gray looked her in the eye and thanked her for the waterskin, and after little more than a second she turned away from his eye contact and blushing again murmured, "You get the fire going, I... I'll find us something to eat." Then quickly retreated away from him and towards the mouth of the cavern.

"Wait." Gray said as he blocked her from leaving the cave. "First we have got to take care of this." He held up his hand in front of her chest, preventing her from walking out. "If you run out of here now because your embarrassed and get yourself killed by something after all the trouble..." Gray paused then coughed a bit and continued, "Look... I might not have been overly gracious earlier, but I also didn't take advantage..."

However she surprised him by taking his hand in her own and cutting him off saying, "I know. This place is close to Festid, I have foraged here many times in the past. It is safe during the day. I..." She paused a moment, collecting her thoughts. "I'm not embarrassed because you touched me, or saw me." She is blushing again, but this time she meets his gaze and continues, "I'm embarrassed because you saved my life. Twice even. No one would fight a single Myrk to save someone, let alone three. Then two Arsem and in their own burrow."

She sighs loudly and steps closer, speaking in a quieter voice. "A life that is saved is a life that is owed; this is something my father taught me when I was very young and mine belongs to you twice over. This is a very heavy thing for me."

A dark look crept across Gray's face as the words "mine belongs to you" sunk in. He found himself suddenly annoyed, seriously annoyed. Both with this girl that had just foisted her life on him, but mostly with himself for being pleased at hearing it. His rational mind; formed and molded over his thirty years of life on Earth reacted with revulsion to the idea, but a raw, more primal part of him wanted to own this girl. Two parts of himself warred briefly, but in the end reason won out and Gray spoke. "Your life is yours alone. I can't even be certain I'm going to live through the week, taking responsibility for someone else's life is not even an option. Besides the Myrk would have tried to kill me after you anyway, that was self preservation."

A small smile floated across her lips as Eri whispered, "My life is mine alone you say." Her voice comes back stronger than before and she continues, "If that is so than you have no say in it. If it is mine alone, then its my decision alone to make. You have no right to refuse."

"Like hell I don't." Gray began, but was stopped by Eri again speaking over him. "Gray, we are both likely going to die on the way to Harshe and even if we live I'm only saying that I will help you. If I'm killed doing it, that is fine I should be dead already anyway." The girl leans in even closer, her breath tickling Gray's chin as she looks up with wet eyes into his face and finishes in a tender voice rich with emotion, "Can I not even be allowed to help you?"

Gray was at a loss. "You... You." He stammered then sighed, stepping back away from her. "You are pretty goddamn underhanded, I'll definitely give you that. Its your life to waste I guess."

With a slight smile and a nod she quickly wiped her eyes and left the cave.

After she had gone Gray shaved a few long thin pieces off a piece of particularly dry wood for tinder and then piled some of the smaller wood into the fire pit around the shavings, and sat down on the closest rock to collect his own thoughts. He absentmindedly cast the sparks he had improved upon in the burrow into the waiting tinder. Wait. He frowned as he watched the tinder catch fire. That should not have worked at all.

He recalled the brief lecture on magic the old bastard from Festid had given him. Imagine the concept and force he wanted, then visualize them forming into a disc, then a connecting a thread from his mind to it, and finally channel his power through the disc. But he had just used magic without doing any of that.

Directing his attention to his hand that had cast the sparks out he clearly perceived the disc and thread he had visualized in the burrow. Gray quickly stood back up and trotted out of the cavern and the the edge of the ocean. Focusing on his extended left hand he willed the flames he had used on the Arsem to be cast out. A few heartbeats passed with no result, so refocusing on his hand again he willed sparks to cast again. Again, nothing.

Gray shook his head slowly and allowed his eyes to refocus on the ocean and his thoughts to wander as he considered what he was missing. Earlier he had just wanted the spell to cast and it had. He hadn't done anything particular, it had simply worked. He tried again, willing the sparks out and in a burst a fan of sparks sprayed onto the ocean before him.

A slow grin spread on his face, as a twenty food long tongue of flame burst forth from his palm spreading over the water before sputtering out.

He understood now. Developing the 'setup' for a spell required focus, a degree of understanding both the concepts and forces involved and then condensing them into a visualization. But this was only necessary to initially understand the spell. Once understood, by just letting his subconscious mind do the work the spell was cast again far quicker than his conscious mind was capable of. Well as long as he didn't muck it up by over analyzing the process, which is why he guessed he failed to cast his magic while overly focused on it.

After a few more tries he was certain this was the case, every time he willed the casting it worked instantly, but if he tried to force it consciously, or change anything at all it simply failed to do anything at all. Magic was seriously way to convenient, if everyone could use it why did people of this world even bother with swords or bows? Hell even a child could reduce those lawn grub things to ashes with little less than a thought if they understood how it worked.

When he had first arrived here and discovered his new bodies incredible physical strength, agility, and his strange new danger sense he had thought the best way to survive would be to develop his skill with a blade and bow, then get a hold of some protective gear. But this had definitely changed his plans. A blade couldn't efficiently deal with tens or hundreds. A cascade of flame brought forth with just a thought though... It wouldn't even be that hard to wipe out hundreds of opponents.

A fierce grin appeared on Gray's face as he lowered his arm and continued to stare at the distant horizon, still deep in thought. He considered his 'flame tongue' spell, it was the same concept and force as the simple spark spell but with an upgraded thread allowing more power to be forced through it. He focused again until he could clearly perceive the disc and thumb sized hose in his minds eye, reconstructing the spell form scratch. Then again he willed an increase in the size of the thread in reaction it began enlarging. As it neared the size of the disc itself its growth slowed and when it was the same diameter as the disc it stopped growing.

Starting slowly he pushed a trickle of his power into the the fist sized hose.

A deep sound resonated in the air around him as a fist sized blue flame shimmered into being in front of his hand. Willing more power into the spell the flame exploded outward, an intimidating roaring sound accompanying it. With his current output the tongue of flame reached thirty feet and even the water under it was steaming. One final test, he thought and increased his power output forcing as much power as the newly enlarged hose would allow.

With a shrieking sound reminiscent of a jet engine the flame's color shifted slightly, becoming more violet than blue and then blasted outward another sixty feet, finally sputtering out at over ninety feet from him. The flame didn't fan out either, it stayed condensed like it was actually being sprayed from a hose. The ocean churned and boiled under the flame and a large cloud of fog formed in seconds due to the rapidly evaporating water, but it was quickly dispersed by the wind rushing into the void created by the super heated air in the area escaping upwards.

"Fuck, what could survive this?" Gray thought to himself as he cut off the flow of power into the spell. The heat generated and the range it had covered was bordering on absurd. This spell would be very powerful, however it would incinerate anything before him, friend or foe. It would definitely be useful, but with Eri planning to accompany him for at least the near future he would also need something with a much smaller scale and ideally with a targeted effect, he needed to consider this carefully.

Just then he noticed Eri returning at a run with a look of panic on her face. As she arrived Gray nonchalantly asked, "Any luck finding some food?"

She eyed him cautiously and replied, "I found some tubers and leafy plants but... then I heard a loud boom and then the shriek of some terrible beast so I dropped everything and ran back. What exactly happened here?"

Gray motioned towards the ocean where bunches of fish were beginning to float to the surface, "I was doing some fishing, hopefully your hungry. I got a little carried away."

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No PR this time as he is out for the weekend, so if you notice anything horrifically bad please do let me know. I have a request for you guys this time as well; if you are enjoying the story and haven't yet, I'd appreciate if you would try to do a review. Seeing other stories with less than a hundred views and 5 or 10+ advanced reviews and ours here passing chapter 10 and over 15,000 views with just ButcheredSoul's lone review is depressing (Thanks for that review by the way). Not like its a big deal, but more reviews = more exposure = more views = more comments = more input and feedback on areas I'm lacking in which theoretically will make for a better story in the long run. Ideally anyway, I doubt it will work out that easily but its worth trying.

And finally, as always thanks for reading folks.