Chapter 26

Xan's Whereabouts

Having barely survived Sorine's Cracking Sky, Xan and his slave fled Falguard and split up to different places. Xan headed for the Storm Temple, and his slave for the Venom Vaults. The Storm Temple was the Holy Grail of the Stormkings, as it was where lightning magic was first conceived, not to mention it was the place where Sorine was raised. His reason for heading there was unknown, but Blazorus and the army of Falguard needed to hurry if they were going to stop them before more lands suffered the same fate.

Meanwhile, back in Falguard, Captain Madra was on the way to the hospital with Blazorus so he could introduce Sorine to him.

- "Sorine is the Darkblood Stormking who fought Xan." – Madra said. – "She's the only one who can use the full extent of lightning magic to summon lightning bolts from the sky and strike the enemy with them. We call it Cracking Sky."

- "Cracking Sky?" – Blazorus asked.

- "Yes. I don't know much about that ability myself, since I'm not a Stormking myself, but by what I've seen, it allows her to hit the enemy with a lightning bolt summoned from the sky." – Madra said. – "She's the only one who can do that, of all Stormkings."

- "Sounds powerful." – Blazorus said. He imagined how Cracking Sky looked like in battle along with the damage it made to the enemy.

Once inside, they made their way to Sorine's room. A nurse who they happened to run into stopped them.

- "Excuse me, both of you. Might I know where you are headed?"

- "Oh, hello, nurse Taryn." – Madra said.

- "Oh, Captain Madra! How are you?" – Nurse Taryn asked.

- "We were just headed to Sorine's room. Is it okay if we pay her a visit?" – Madra asked."

- "Yes, she is resting at the moment, but you may pay her a visit." – Nurse Taryn said.

- "Alright, thank you." – Madra said, then turned to Blazorus. – "Let's go."

They continued on their way. Blazorus and Taryn exchanged eye contact as they passed by each other and the nurse winked at him. Blazorus smirked and winked back, and proceeded to continue following Madra to Sorine's room. The expression on Blazorus's face said he found her quite cute, like all Darkblood women are. If a nurse is that good-looking, he wouldn't imagine how much more Sorine would be. He decided to ask Madra a few questions about her.

- "So, uhm… How old is Sorine?" – Madra was surprised by his question. She raised an eyebrow, but answered, regardless.

- "Well, she is 83." – Madra paused for a bit. – "It would be the equivalent of 25 to 28 in human age."

- "I see. And you said she learned lightning magic as a young girl, right?"

- "Precisely. That's how she tamed and mastered the fierce lightning bolts of Thunderforge. Through hard training and devotion." – Madra said. Blazorus found it interesting and was really looking forward to meeting Sorine in person, despite being in a hospital.

As they arrived at the door to Sorine's room, Madra signaled Blazorus to hold his position with her hand and knocked the door, which was closed, gently. After hearing Sorine saying to come in, Madra opened the door slowly and took a little peek inside to see how Sorine was doing.

- "Madra, hello!" – Sorine greeted, surprised by her visit. Madra smiled.

- "Hi there!" – She made her way in and then looked at Blazorus, who followed her. – "I'm here with someone!"

As Blazorus saw Sorine for the first time, he was amazed at how majestic she looked.

- "Greetings!" – Blazorus smiled at her.

- "Hello!" – Sorine smiled back.

- "Sorine, this is Blazorus." – Madra introduced, then turned to Blazorus. – "Blazorus, this is Sorine, the Darkblood Stormking I told you about."

- "So, you're the one who fought Xan." – Blazorus got serious. Sorine's smile faded as well.

- "Yes… he was quite tough." – Sorine said. – "I've never fought anyone like him before."

- "When was the last time you saw him?" – Madra asked.

- "It was just as I struck him with Cracking Sky. I don't know where he went afterwards." – Sorine said.

That's when Blazorus remembered his fully awakened Fireborn Essence. Sorine and Madra seemed disappointed in not knowing Xan's whereabouts, but he had a way.

- "There is a way." – Blazorus said. Madra and Sorine quickly turned to him, eager to know what he meant.

- "What!?" – Both said in sync.

- "Xan's power is being amplified by the ring he is wearing. That ring contains the power of my father, Shurpu, inside it and since my Fireborn Essence is fully awakened, I can now sense the Ring and track its location. That is going to be the key to finding him." – Blazorus said.

- "Most impressive." – Madra said.

- "Can you do it now?" – Sorine asked.

- "I haven't had enough time to give it practice, but I'll try." – Blazorus said. He closed his eyes and started concentrating on sensing the Ring. From its location, he could see its surroundings, which helped a lot. – "I see something…"

- "What is it? What do you see?" – Sorine asked. Blazorus was focusing to the max.

- "I see… thunder…" – Blazorus said.

- "Thunder…?" – Sorine said.

- "That means he's still in Thunderforge." – Madra said.

- "I also see… a mountain…" – Madra and Sorine couldn't quite tell where Xan was yet. They waited for more details. – "Dark clouds… covering what seems like… a Lion's head."

- "Sounds familiar…" – Madra said.

- "There's only one place in Thunderforge that matches that description." – Sorine said. – "Thunder, a mountain, dark clouds, a lion's head…"

- "The Storm Temple." – Madra said. – "Is his slave with him?"

- "Slave? What slave?" – Blazorus asked, confused.

- "Xan brought a woman alongside, claiming her to be his slave."

- "A woman…?" – Blazorus asked.

- "Looks like he doesn't know about her." – Sorine said to Madra.

- "In any case, we should make haste to the Storm Temple before Xan does anything to it." – Madra said.

- "Good luck and be careful! Xan is incredibly strong." – Sorine said. – "I'll be going out of the hospital soon, so, I hope to able to catch up with you guys."

- "Alright, Sorine. We'll see you later. Take care of yourself until then." – Madra smiled to Sorine.

- "You too! Oh, and… you, Pyromancer!" – Sorine said. Blazorus turned to her. – "Be extra careful against Xan. If you can't defeat him, no one else can."

- "Don't worry. Even if he has the Ring of Shurpu in his possession, he's still no match for a true Fireborn." – He smiled at her, casting a small ember on his hand to show off his determination. She smiled back and nodded at him. As they made their way out of the hospital, Madra turned to Blazorus.

- "You have left quite a good impression on Sorine. I can see she liked you." – Blazorus was surprised and chuckled.

- "Really? Thanks!" – Blazorus said. – "I hope she makes a speedy recovery. I feel that her help would be useful to us at this point."

- "You don't have to worry about her. Right now, our priority is to reach the Storm Temple as fast as we can."

- "Yeah. Let's go."

They've made haste to the Storm Temple, but they first had to pass through the Venom Vaults, which was where Xan's slave was supposed to be at. The reason for her to be there was unknown. Perhaps Xan wanted her to do something from him, like burning down the whole place, like he did with Falguard. Blazorus wanted to know who Xan's slave is, since he had never heard about her before. As he was pondering about it, he remembered Andesi back in Basani told him Xan had taken Scoria, which led him to wonder if the slave was actually his teacher. Either way, he knew there was only one way to find out, and that was to see her in person.