Chapter Five

Under the shade of a forest four lost humans bicker. A tall man wrapped in blue robes adjusts his weight on a long wooden staff, adorned with a roughly cut crystal on the end, and looks up to the dwindling light that peeks through the branches overhead, “Lost or not, we should get ready to make camp it’ll be dark soon and I don’t wish to be caught in the dark by the monsters that roam this forest.”.

A much shorter man turns abruptly at the other man’s words, his face red and contorted in frustration, “WE ARE NOT LOST!”, lowering his voice to barely above a whisper he adds, “We just don’t know where we are, but we don’t know where we’re going either.”.

The short man pats on the bronze sword at his side and grins, “ Besides I can take care of anything we come across.”.

The blue-robed man rolls his eyes and turns to a woman with a bow and quiver hanging off her back, “What do you think? You’re the ranger here.”.

The woman brushes her leather hood back, letting her shoulder length red hair to cascade down and lifts her head towards the sky. The red-haired ranger grunts, and thinks out loud, “We should camp.”.

The tall man smiles smugly at the shorter man, who rolls his eyes in turn and stomps off into the woods. Their other companion, a yellow-robed woman with a copper mace hanging from a rope belt sighs with relief, drops to the ground and begins to pull off her leather boots.

“Thank Dorean! My feet are killing me!”, she pulls off one boot and, wiggling her dirty toes, looks up at the tall man, “Why are we out here again?”.

The tall man looks at the woman on the ground as if waiting for a punchline, when one doesn’t come, he groans and rubs a hand over his face and squats down next to the woman. In a slow and measured voice he says, “Because the high-priest of your temple had a vision showing a dark being growing here, and said we needed to stop it before it made its way towards the kingdom and our village.”.

The woman, now with both boots off, nods her head slowly, “Oh yeah! Ha ha, that’s right.”.

Shaking his head, the tall man walks up behind the ranger looking at a hand-drawn map. The map shows their village in the bottom left corner, the mountain range beyond and the surrounding forest. The ranger takes a piece of charcoal and marks their path from their village and marks their current location with a small circle. The ranger places her finger on a small clear spot on the map surrounded by trees, not far from where she had drawn the circle. The ranger looks back at the tall man, “There’s a small elf village there. We could probably make it there by nightfall if we hurry.”.

The tall man rubs his chin and looks at the map then back at the ranger, “Elves all the way out here? Are they friendly?”.

The ranger nods her head, rolling up the map and placing it back in her side bag, “I’ve been there a few times, they’re pretty nice. Just stay away from their temple.”.

“Why’s that?”, the man asks grabbing his bag off the ground where he had left it.

Pulling up her hood the woman informs the man, “They say the spirit they worship lives there.”.

The man scoffs, “The spirit?”.

Not looking back at the man and walking over the woman on the ground she tells her that they are leaving, which earns her whining from the yellow robed woman. The tall man clears his throat, and asks, “Spirit?”.

The ranger looks back with a small smile, “Yeah, spirit.”, turning back around adds, “He’s pretty nice.”.

As the ranger starts walking off the short man returns with his hands cupped, holding small black berries, “Look guys! I found some berries!”.

As the ranger smacks them out of his hand, she says, “Those are poisonous and we’re leaving.”.

Igneous darts around the corner of the druid’s hut in time to see a stream of fire erupt from the tip of the staff, burning a long patch of grass. Upon seeing the effects of her spell, Nelly smiles and yells, “WHOOOP! THAT IS SO COOL!”, then, as the fire begins to spread Nelly’s delight turns to fear, “IT’S NOT STOPPING! HELP! HOW DO I STOP IT?”.

Yasevl comes up behind Igneous and gawks at the destruction. The fire begins to circle around Nelly, who grows increasingly terrified and lets out a scream. At the sound of Nelly’s horrified screams, Igneous rushes forward, flying around Nelly through the fire, adsorbing it as he goes. The flames reach out towards him forming a tip before becoming one with the sprite. With the flames surrounding Nelly taken care of Igneous makes his way towards the rest repeating the process. By the time all the fire is taken care of there is a long black stripe of charred grass and burnt soil marking the otherwise pristine valley landscape. After having his fill, Igneous drops to the ground, his stomach poking out. Letting out a groan, “Ooooh. I ate too much.”.

Dropping his head down to the dirt a small flame catches a piece of partially unburnt grass. Seeing this Igneous pokes his lips out and breathes in deeply, the flame swirls and is sucked into Igneous’ mouth. Igneous groans again, “I should not have eaten that.”.

Igneous closes his eyes and rubs his belly, like he’s seen the elves do when they eat to much. As Igneous lays on the ground rubbing his upset stomach, he hears the worried yells of Nevil and some of the elven guards as they come running up to the scene.

“Lord Yasevl! Where is the danger? Is everyone alright?”, Nevil yells running up to Yasevl and Corma as they comfort Nelly, dropping to one knee in front of his daughter, “Nelly! Are you alright? What happened here?”.

Corma smacks her son on the back of the head and tells him, “Stop your fussing! Nelly here just let a spell get away from her.”, shooting a thumb over her shoulder adds, “Luckily, Igneous over there was able to take care of it before she got hurt.”.

Hearing his name Igneous lifts a hand from his swollen belly and waves at the group of elves, before placing it back on the stomach. Nevil waves off the elven guards and helps Nelly to her feet and fixing a stern, but loving, look his face says, “You need to be more careful with magic. Where did you learn a fire spell?”.

Embarrassed Nelly looks to the ground, not able to meet her father’s eyes and mumbles, “Sorry. I just got so excited about learning new spell.”.

Taking Nelly’s chin in his palm Nevil lifts her head up to look at him, “You are to be the next chief of this village. You must look people in the eye’s when you speak, and you must speak with confidence. You also need to be more careful and be able to admit when you have made a mistake.”.

Nelly looks into her father’s eyes and breathes deeply through her nose before letting it out through her mouth, “Yes, Father. I am sorry. I behaved recklessly and put not only myself, but our home at risk. I will be more cautious in the future.”.

Placing a broad hand on Nevil’s shoulder, Yasevl asks, “Don’t you think you are being too hard on her, old friend? She still nothing but a child. Barely twelve cycles.”.

Nevil shakes his head and looks up to Yasevl, “I mean no disrespect my lord, but she is my daughter and I need to teach her what she needs to know for when I pass and join those that came before me. She is more than just a child, she will one day, hopefully not any day soon, will have to lead this village. I can not have her being this reckless when that time comes.”.

Yasevl takes his hand back and nods, “Of course my friend. My apology.”.

“Thank you, my lord, for understanding.”, Nevil says turning to Corma, “Now, Mother, why would you teach her such a dangerous spell?”.

With another smack to her son’s head, Corma tells her son, “I did no such thing, but she will have to continue practicing until she can control it,”, at these words Nelly’s face brightens before Corma adds, “Without the staff and only if Igneous is willing to watch her while she does it and makes sure she doesn’t burn down the whole forest.”.

Nelly hangs her head, and hands the staff over to Corma, “Fiiineeee.”.

“Good. Now go make sure Igneous is up for it.”, Corma tells Nelly before turning to Nevil, who has a confused look on his face, “What do you mean you didn’t teach it to her? And why did she have that goblin’s staff?”.

While Corma begins to explain to Nevil the events that lead up to the fire, Nelly walks over to Igneous’ prone form. Squatting next to Igneous, Nelly gives a small smile, “Sorry you had to save me, but do you think you’re up to eating some more?”.

At these words Igneous’ stomach begins to rumble, and he feels a pressure building, “Oooh, what now?”.

The pressure moves from his stomach and up to his mouth. “BUURRRPP!”, with a loud burp accompanied by a thin ring of fire coming from his mouth, Igneous’ stomach grows smaller, returning to its normal size. Igneous sighs and pats his stomach, looking up at Nelly, Igneous smiles, “I could eat.”.

A wave of darkness and flame clash on a grass field, devouring life. Around the conflicting forces lays a battlefield, blood watering dead grass, bodies strewn across a meadow, some of elves with brown skin, some children, and others human and goblin. A woman in a yellow robe holds a hand to her stomach, a red stain spreading. With her other hand the woman reaches out to a figure only she can see.

The high-priest shoots up in bed, the midday sunlight caresses his pale face, and his mouth tasting of ash. He inhales deeply, having trouble catching his breath. The smell sweet and rotting things feels the room. Wiping the cold sweat from his wrinkled forehead, the priest climbs out of bed and kneels on the uncharacteristically cold stone floor of his chambers and prays, “Please lord Dorean! Watch over your people, heal our wounds and the wounds of the world. Show mercy and guide us through coming days of evil. Please, god of healing and diplomacy, watch over us.”.

A knock on his chamber doors startles the man, causing him to recoil and begin to fall backwards, grasping for something to hold on to, and grabs the sweat-soaked sheets off his bed. Hitting the floor with a thud, the high-priest tries to get up, becoming entangled in the sheets. Another knock comes followed by a young voice asking, “High-priest! Is everything okay? It is time for lunch!”.

The high priest fights his way out of the sheets and pushes himself of the ground with cracking knees. The knocking continues as the priest makes his way to the door and swings it open, leaving a young man in a yellow robe holding a closed fist midair, as if ready to knock, standing with his mouth hanging open, before he is able to stutter out, “I-I-I’m-mm sorry-y to bother you high-priest, b-but you told m-me to w-wa-ake you from your nap when lunch was ready.”.

Waving his hand through the air as if trying to sweep away the words, the high-priest grabs the young mans shoulders and looks into his eyes and says, “There is no time for that! Go tell everyone to head to the temple, I have had another vision and we must pray for the future.”.

Seeing the younger man stand there in shock the high priest shakes his shoulders, “NOW! GO!”.

“Yes sir!”, the young man says running down the hall towards the dining hall where the priests and priestesses had gathered to for their mid-day meal.

Grabbing a yellow robe with white trim from a nearby chair, the high-priest follows after the young man. Slipping the robe over his head, he whispers to himself, “I just hope Dorean hears them.”.

Igneous spent the day watching Nelly practice her new fire spell, which was more of a string of fire without the staff and would swoop in and gorge himself anytime Nelly would make a mistake. The two only took a break around midday, when Nelly had used up too much of her mana and had to stop and wait for it to replenish. During their break they had lunch with Corma and the group of children she was teaching about magic. During this time, much to Igneous dismay, Nelly had promised to teach Corma and some of the kids the spell after she had gotten the hang of it. After lunch it was right back to training. The sun was now setting, and Nelly was out of useable mana. Nelly panted and wiped sweat from her face leaving behind soot marks, “Whew! I am tired, but I think I’m getting the hang of it of it. Don’t you think Igneous?”.

Look up from the ground, the lethargic and bloated sprite scoffed, “You set dirt on fire! DIRT! I didn’t know that was possible. If we kept going, I think I may explode.”, groaning while sitting up, Igneous sets his gaze on the young wood elf, “Then I’d have to deal with the resulting fire.”.

“Way to ruin my fun.”, Nelly says with a mock frown, sticking out her tongue before laughing and giving the sprite a toothy grin, “Thank you for helping me today.”.

Igneous smiles at and floats slowly into the air. Swiping a hand through the air joking says, “Yeah, yeah. You just want to use me for my body.”.

Nelly blinks and then says flatly, “Well, duh. I can’t eat fire.”.

“Whatever, I just hope you get the hang of this soon. Though I do enjoy the meal.”, Igneous says smiling, then tilting his head back and lets out a blech, shooting a fireball from his mouth into the air. Nelly laughs and says with astonishment, “WOW! That was a good one!”.

Igneous joins her laughter when Corma walks around her hut and yells out to the two, “HEY! HURRY UP AND GET CLEANED UP! DINNERS IS ALMOST READY! AND WE HAVE GUESTS!”.

Igneous groans, “Oh, I don’t want to eat!”.

Giggling at Igneous, Nelly yells back to her grandmother, “OKAY! WHO’S THE GUEST?!”.

Corma smiles and yells, “NORA!”.

At this name Nelly becomes excited and begins to jump up and down, “I’LL BE RIGHT THERE!”.

Igneous looks to Nelly with confusion, “Who’s Nora?”.

Nelly ceasing her jumping and looks to Igneous with a smile plastered on her face, “She’s this really cool human that comes around every now and then. You’re going to love her!”.

Nelly runs off towards the hut with Igneous calling after her, “WHAT’S A HUMAN?”.