It had been a week since Hanna had obtained the strange red crystal that imbued her with pyrokinesis, but Rob was still troubled by the whole affair. He had tried on several occasions to make Hanna understand his apprehension, and to maybe store the crystal in a safe place instead of persisting in wearing it woven into the double-baldric. But she didn't accept that the crystal was any sort of risk to her. Rob had even thought about stealing the crystal and either selling it, or simply disposing of it where it'd never be found, but he could never bring himself to do that. Not to the woman he loves.
Rob thinks back to the first 'transformation'; a chill runs down his spine. The flaming aura he could deal with. Even the voice change didn't faze him much. It was the eyes. Seeing her beautiful cyan eyes go black as coal. But even that wasn't the worst aspect.
The worst aspect is that Hanna accepts it as normal. Almost as if it's always been a part of her.
Maybe it has. Maybe the crystal is the key to unlocking those abilities. Rob couldn't dismiss the idea completely, but he still couldn't rationalise it. It's not that he dismisses magic as ridiculous; his home city of Shang Tu has always been a mystical and spiritual place, and it leaves an indelible mark on all its natives. But the reason for his leaving Shang Tu originally was to get away from what he felt was the overbearing focus on the mystic arts, often at the neglect of logic and reason.
And yet, Rob has returned to Shang Tu; specifically to the old Kingdom Stone temple. His intention was to find solace, to be alone with his thoughts. Since the Stone's transformation into a swirling skyborne vortex, the old temple had seen a dramatic drop in attendance. The previously omnipresent security force was conspicuous by its absence; with nothing to guard, there was no longer the need for a security force, and its members had been reposted to assist hunting down and destroying the remnants of Brevon's army.
The solitude wasn't working though. If anything, it was making him feel worse.