The vast, endless golden sands of a desert can be a beautiful thing, spreading miles over nothing but inhospitable terrain and vicious beasts. Miles of nothing but the hottest and most desolate landscape a human could ever hope to transverse. Coated and blanketed in nothing but blue sky with an occasional cloud for cover, hell on earth, describes it quite perfectly. Valleys of dark, rich gold bordered to the sides with cliffs created of thick impenetrable stone, standing stalwart against all who dare approach without care. Rocks that would sear and burn your hands to the touch, and for those brave or prepared enough to climb, sharp as glass should the unfortunate fall to a grizzly end. Nature sure had a funny way of preparing such a frying pan, fit to be a deadly mixture of both size and content sure to end many travelers hopes and dreams just as quickly as a skin of water hits the sand and becomes bone dry.
Seeing such a wild sight for the first time will stun a person, and send them into doubt, across any person's mind the sheer weight of this would crush the spirit and remove all hope. Only the most well prepared of travelers and experienced of Nomadic peoples could ever hope to cross such a wilderness of sheer terror with any hope of reaching their destination in one complete package on the other side. Many have surely tried, and those who could have made it also fall prey to predators, both small and large.
Fire-Eyes looked out, scanning the horizon from the top steps of this wild plateau of golden death, brushing some sand across the stone scrollwork atop the stairs leading to the palace. It was quite the perfect place to be left, if you're trying to never be found. Perfect still, is that it's location is priceless when trying to hide and house a fire spirit far removed from the world and protect the powers of the land from abuses that only corrupted men could find. She admired the beauty and irony both of its location, and almost pitied Salamando. For being such a kind and willing spirit, it couldn't have been often that people would come to such a far-flung location simply to pay worship to a deity, and those who tried often paid the price of their life well before they could reach the obstructed temple. Not to mention all the beasts and monsters that dot the landscape, looking for their own next meal.
With her sight being augmented through the powers of Salamando, she could see all these things for the first time in decades without the use of her giant coke-bottle glasses. Without the weight of these spectacles on her face, holding her nose to the horizon and breathing deep, she took in every sight and sound from the surrounding area, creating a picture in her mind of where she was. It was hard to believe, that she was not in Prehistoria or Antiqua, but rather somewhere else all-together. She didn't know how of course, that was up to her Grandfather and Father who ungraciously teleported her here after the apparent failure. With a heavy heart, she turned her nose down, gazing at the beautifully carved stone patterns and running her feet along the ridges in the rocks as she waited for the sun to continue going down and let things cool down slightly before heading out into the vast sand sea of the Kakkara Desert.
"Salamando, I wanted to ask you something…" She said aloud, looking back to the sprite as it danced among the sandy floor. His whisping flames blushing on the sand, giving it a rose tint as he hovered and buzzed along the ground playfully. "Why are you helping me? Aside from as you put it, that I've already tapped your powers?" Fire-Eyes averted her gaze slightly when she asked, placing her hands behind her hips for a few moments.
Salamando paused his frolicking among the sand and turned to her, raising to her eye level. "Because I see something in your eyes I haven't seen in a humans in many years. In fact, it's been since the last Mana Knight came. Rescued me right out of a furnace. Boy was he scared, couldn't touch fire for a week after he saw the fire talking at him!" He laughed and joked, but something about the joke made Fire-Eyes believe he was being quite serious.
Salamando floated down the stairs as they began to depart from the palace and head back towards the desert itself and find a way through it's expanse.
"It's not like I need to let anyone borrow my powers, there are many who have found ways of tapping into it without my knowing or my blessing, however it makes it easier should I choose to lend my energy for someone to do so without using silly incantation circles or blood of anything. Geesh, if I've had one person offer me a sacred cow, everyone has right?" Salamando was only making half the sense Fire-Eyes put to him, and even then it was a bit of a stretch, so she'd have to investigate that more in her own time rather than bother Salamando more in the present about the topic. She sighed and stared ahead as they approached the entrance to the palace's walkup, not remembering the brutal beauty of the desert's expanse as she was still blind when she arrived.
Sinking a slender big toe into the sand, twirling it about a bit, the sand beneath the surface felt cool and she wrapped her toes around a few grains to grip them with her feet. Looking forward, and then to the east, or whatever she could consider east, and tilted her chin up.
"Salamando… is there anywhere close that we may be able to get help or… clothes?" She politely asked as she stared sunward, looking in the direction of the slowly descending yellow orb. The sky was still bright and her hope was to find some sort of shelter or at least a decent place to rest out of the wild cold that would be rapidly approaching. If all deserts were the same as she remembered, she knew she didn't want to be out here for the same reasons she didn't want to be out here right now.
Sauntering forward, Salamando followed her, pondering her question and bobbing up and down on the soft sand, his ephemeral reddish flames flowing down across the sand and pushing grains around in the wind he kicked up.
"I believe we shouldn't be far from the Village Kakkara, they have a few houses there but no thriving market. I don't think they'd turn you away for asking of help!" He quipped finally, spinning up to face Fire-Eyes. "The Mana Knight, he restored the town to its glory. You should have seen it, bringing in the relic that restored water to the desert. I couldn't have done it any better with Undine's help!" He flushed a strong bright red, with pride beaming as he sailed back down onto the sand and continued his original bobbing in the dunes.
Fire-Eyes pressed her fingers against her nose, walking forward over a few dunes as she pieced together the area. She could see no markings that would indicate some sort of village or outpost, or even an oasis at this distance. Though more curious about this "mana knight" that Salamando keeps talking about, she holds her questions, fearing she could be getting in way over her head. She wrapped her arm around her chest, stretching the frail and often unused muscles. It was only now she really stopped to look at herself, more curious about the landscape around her and her surroundings, she only began to realize what kind of a spectacle she was about herself. With the warmth of Salamando bonded into her, it was almost if she was radiating heat. Her body wasn't warm in the sun, yet in the shade, what little there was, she did not chill. She pondered this for a long while, not thinking too deep as she meandered through the desert.
"What is in Kakkara?" she asked, curiously of Salamando. He cheerfully hummed as he turned his ephemeral body around to her.
"It's the oasis in the desert. Out here, most things die. Most things shrivel in the sun and fall to their deaths. Only Kakkara and the 2 palaces survive the Kakkara Desert. Formerly nomads, they set up a small village…"
"Wait… two palaces? You mean there are more shrines here?" Fire-Eyes interrupted, now curious as to how this world worked.
Salamando sighed, slowly realizing that the young lady truly knew nothing of this world he resigned himself to the fate he had unwittingly bestow upon himself. With a quick exhale he spun to her and rested himself on her shoulder.
"The fire palace is one of 8 shrines in this world, each to an elemental like myself. The neighboring shrine belongs to Luna of the Moon Palace. There are elementals that represent all 8 elements of the world. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, The Sun, The Moon, Life and Death are all equal parts of mana and control or combine to affect some part of this world." Salamando chirped happily now, recalling as if he had memories long preceding Fire-Eyes' arrival.
She wondered about his words, reaching out with her arms and feeling the tremendous warmth building within her.
"So… can I, I mean… did I somehow acquire your powers?" She asked, puzzled.
"It would appear as though this were the case, but initially of course, I did not grant them to you. Your power seems… older… than mine. Though I am able to obviously amplify them quite significantly you would appear to be more in tune with Mana than you would have believed." The spirit trailed off, remaining silent for a while as they both traveled deep into the heart of the desert.
Reaching a rather large sand dune, springing up into the center of the sky like an obelisk, Fire-Eyes climbed to the summit, tripping over sand and a few bones to reach the very top. Only a few dozen feet high at the top, and with a steep cliff down into some rocks on the other side, she surveyed through the surroundings. On the horizon, far to the west, was what appeared to be a small tuft of green trees.
"Is that… the palace we came from?" Confirming their prior location with Salamando. He nodded and bobbed, placing himself in front of her looking out to the east.
"The dark sand, the black region far to the west, that is the Moon Palace." Salamando pointed out, his raised flames forming a burning arrow in the air showing the way to the palace adjacent to his own. Pointing just to the east, and a little north there was a tiny patch of green in the vast, open golden sand.
"That's Kakkara?" Fire-Eyes presumed, pointing with her fingers out towards his own indication. The flames burned slightly brighter and confirmed her suspicion, highlighting their path out to the village, and maybe some nice clothes for her to wear.
"I would suggest, to make our trip most effective, we head to the Moon Palace. Luna may be able to assist us in finding a way out of the Desert. It's been several years since the Cannon-brothers made a living out here, leaving no way out past the mountains to the south of the Desert."
"Cannon-Brothers?" Her voice cracked slightly, almost laughing at the suggestion.
"Yes, it was quite an efficient method of travel. However, once the cannons began malfunctioning they became quite deadly. Apparently cavemen don't know enough to repair the cannons, they just enjoyed blasting people from them." With no way to tell if the sprit was kidding or being serious, Fire-Eyes stifled a laugh and held her tongue.
Hot winds blew across Kakkara Desert before them, grains of sand tearing through with the wind and creating wisps of flying golden air, glittering in the sunlight as they spiraled up into the blue deep sky above them. The land itself almost seemed to greet them and invite them to their deaths as they overlooked their path through the stones, gorges and deserts before them. Until now, they'd encounter no other living creatures aside from themselves. The desert itself was alive, but all the creatures had slumbered through the hot of the day, hiding themselves from the rays of the overpowering sun. But now, as the sun began to reach towards the horizon and glow dim with the hues of red and orange, Fire-eyes began to get a strange feeling they were being watched, or worse, pursued.
Feeling as though they were no longer safe, and night slowly approaching the desert, it was time for them to try and find some form of shelter from the elements or get away from what would otherwise eat them for dinner. The vastness of the desert showed its cunning, cruelly beginning to steal the sun in the horizon due to the large stone walls and granite peaks to the west and the horizon, blanketing large sections from sight in a mass of shadow, cooling the ground and removing the hot surroundings that kept predators at bay.
Fire-Eyes had known this since her early days after falling to Pre-Historia, in Antiquity and Nobilia. The Desert and the Jungle were both very deadly in the day, but became extra so at night. She gazed around, taking in the landscape between them and their destination again from the sandy peak before pointing to a point between the two, a clearing in the desert, still illuminated by the quickly vanishing golden sun.
"If we can get to that point, can we make some sort of shelter from the elements? There's a corner in the rocks where two rockfaces meet." Fire-Eyes slowly cascaded down the sand dune, sliding down the coarse, rough grains until she reached stable ground again. Salamando remained atop the dune for a moment before he wisped down the dune effortlessly to rejoin his new companion.
"I think I can manage a feat as this, I'm not Gnome however I should be able to make us something." He bobbed and danced in the air happily, spinning with anticipation. Salamando had not been able to show off his powers in a long time, and for now he would be happy to demonstrate some level of his pyro-prowess to Fire-Eyes.
The pair continued west, passing through large stone passages as the light continued to dim. Their pathways became more treacherous, a few collapsed sections of rock would be difficult for the nude girl to climb over without proper gear. The rocks had fallen in a way that only a rock-climber with gear would be able to scale the pillars of stone that lay in front of her. She stepped forward and touched the rocks with her hands, still warm to the touch from the sun's rays that had only recently departed the stone's face.
"We need to find another way around, is there something we can do to find another path?" Fire-Eyes Turned her head to Salamando. He did not seem content with something and was hovering with spiked flames shooting from his sides. His body seemed… contorted almost. She began to instantly get a gritty texture in her mouth, and a general air of unease swept over her as she waited for the now contorted spirit to respond. Salamando did not move, he stayed very still, his flames still dripping in spiked fashion, spearpoints jutting from him as he hovered near the base of one of the fallen pillars.
"We need to leave, Salamando!" She said, hurried but trying to stay calm.
"It's too late, we've already fallen into a trap." Salamando replied, turning to her quickly and expending little time floating away. "We need to get onto the rock, now!" He cried out.
The ground itself was still sand, but Fire-Eyes noticed a change, the ground was shifting and twisting under the stone pillar, and behind them where they had come from. A Vortex of sand began to appear and a pit, several feet deep almost instantly appeared in the land. From the sand-vortex, came several legs, and pincers, like an upside-down spider, viciously gripping and ripping at the air around it. She backed up, slowly moving away from the growing pit as more legs and its head appeared.
Large, bright orange with long claw like pincers for teeth, the Spider Legs grew from the pit, reaching outward trying to draw them in like flies in a web. They were trapped, unable to move backwards through the sand-pit and unable to go forward. The only retreat was up the treacherously high vertical rock face.
As if the Spider Leg knew it would be there, a second one appeared, reaching up from under the pillar and scraping at the stonework. It was a trap, the clever enemies had devised specifically to trap their pray against the rock that had fallen, and make them desperate to escape. It was a hellishly beautiful trap, capable of ensnaring just about any creature that could not climb to safety and bringing them to their inevitable doom. Fire-Eyes Scrambled for the stone, gripping it and looking for any possible handhold. Her fingers slipped off the smooth rock as she pulled at its face, desperate to pull herself to freedom. Her life was in danger, more than she'd ever experienced in Pre-Historia. Just like the vortex pits in the sands of doom beside her village, this was even more deadly and the sandy craters would be able to do much more damage.
Salamando began burning brightly, his ethereal body pulsing with energy as he charged his body with the powers of his flames, pushing them out into a fireball of moderate size and launching it directly at the Spider Leg behind them. The fireball danced across the monster's sharp claws until being dissipated with a firm lash with its pincer like mouth. It had almost no effect visible and the spirit fell back as well.
"Can you blow something like this up?!" Fire-Eyes yelled out to Salamando, who immediately shook himself.
"No, large stones like this cannot be blown up by my fire. If Gnome were here, he could move it or Syrphid could Cut the stone with his powers, but it would take too much time to melt all this stone with my power. If I exploded it, I would harm you in the process, I'd use too much energy!" He lamented, charging another fireball and launching it at the Spider Legs. Each shot was more preside, but to very little effect. Growing desperate, Salamando charged his body again, hitting the earth itself with heat and trying to boil the ground below the monster and trap it within the heat of his blast.
"The Sand, I can't heat it up fast enough in the vortex to trap him!" Salamando Cried out. Every attack he made was being countered either by the elements or by the resilience of the creature itself. Without any weapons to attack it, and his fire powers having little effect, both companions were desperate to escape.
Fire-Eyes scanned the walls of the canyons, finding no viable paths to ascend out of the canyon without putting herself at extreme peril. Turning to Salamando and a look of terror striking her eyes, she glinted for a moment, her eyes flashing with a red tinge.
Scared.
Fearful.
Powerful.
Strong.
Must be strong.
"I'm not powerless." She thought.
"I am Fire." She said to herself.
Her thoughts became stronger. Her will, her strength. She Had it within her, she just had to harness it, to focus it. Closing her eyes, she focused on her hands. Her body was warm, it glowed almost but it wasn't until now she started to realize why. Salamando's powers had been in her. She didn't have to rely on him to do this, she had the powers he had given her. But how does she use them. This world couldn't possibly work the same way Evermore did. This wasn't Alchemy, it was Mana, it was Magic. There isn't any way she could just use his powers, but then why didn't she burn in the sun?
Fire-Eyes stretched her hands out, concentrating, pushing her body to form… something… anything.
"Help me…" She thought…
The Spider legs clawed out from the vortex of sand, reaching into the sky and trying to skewer or grab hold of anything to drag the girl in. Its gangly claws sprawling across the sand leaving gashes in its wake clear the size of her own torso. Fear gripped Fire-Eyes, as she saw the elemental floating helplessly, its attacks doing nothing to either stop nor deter the creature from devouring her whole. Salamando may be a spirit, but his command over the element of fire was giving them no assistance against this enemy.
She had never seen nor faced anything near this terrifying in her life. During her time in Pre-Historia sure, there were Velociraptors and wild dogs, terrifyingly large bugs and insects larger than full grown men. But never had she seen a beast of such horrendous design. She gripped her chest, fear filling inside as she focused again, pulling every strength of courage within her outward and stretching it out to her hands. The glowing, bright element of fire, coursing across her skin began to form in the palm of her hand. Managing to stay far enough away while Salamando continued to fire blasts and distract the creature, she tried to make it stronger.
With great fear, she looked up and closed her eyes, shutting off her view of the beautiful, blue sky. Her mind sank back and she felt her body pulse several times. Radiating a large wave of heat, she tried to breathe through the pulses, finding her lungs hard to operate. The shockwaves she began sending out were almost sublime, creating ripples and waves in the sand. This was nothing like alchemy the way she knew how to use natural powers. This was something even more intense, and unlike anything she knew.
Fire-Eyes opened her palms downward, feeling the energy course within her body and trying to think of how to use it. Reacting to her body's whims, she pressed her palms against the large rock behind her, and with a though, a flicker of a mental process she thought of a single word. Something simple, something true that would work no matter what.
"Explode!" She finally exhaled, her breath raspy and her exhausted body instantly thrown to the ground via a massive, all defining explosion. Large chunks of fused rock, sand and glass instantly flew out in all directions, striking the canyon walls, ripping currents in the sands and several hitting the Spider Legs sticking from the ground behind her. With a blood-curdling squelch, the gigantic claws receded retreating to the safety of the sands once more as the rocks finished falling. With enough time to finally escape, she pushed her body up through the sand and shakily stood. Knees knocking, feet failing her, Fire-Eyes managed to stand barely and face the newly opened chasm as she ran in an uncertain direction with Salamando in tow shortly behind her.
Collapsing just several feet past the giant rock barrier in a stone canyon, the girl gasped, clutching her bare chest with a fist and holding herself up with another arm. Small channels of blood rushed down her arms and began pooling at her fingers, the ground beneath her sizzling at the drops like acid from the sky.
"Wow… I've never seen anyone quite use my powers like that, or that destructively!" Salamando exclaimed, floating down to her and laying a flame soaked arm on her shoulder.
Fire-Eyes instantly jerked away, and promptly fell over on her side. Tears starting to form at her eyes from the horrifying ordeal she pressed her palms into the ground in futility, shoving herself to the canyon wall and reaching no further than a few feet away before her body gave up on her. She was at her wits end now, and her mind was racing through her ordeals. Stranded, god knows where, with an insane natural affinity for fire magic and now she can blow up rocks?
"What am I?" She looked up at Salamando, her hair draping over her eyes and hiding most of her face in her thick reddish-brown hair as she lay prone on the ground, shaking slightly from the vast expenditure of energy she underwent.
Salamando was confused at her reactions, pressing down on the ground slightly and warming the earth around her to help make her more comfortable. He did not answer, but kept a slight, telling smile on his face that Fire-Eyes took as some form of either approval, or arrogance. Of which, she could not tell, but Salamando kept his work to himself, waving tendrils of living flame back and forth through the air, and letting some of them fall across her arms and legs, healing some of the minor wounds she received from her impressive display of power and magical prowess.
"ANSWER ME! Angel! Demon! Spirit! Whatever the hell you are, ANSWER ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" The girl screamed, trying once again to rise her body to her feet and face the elemental directly, but again failing and falling back to the floor. Her bare skin scratching again against the coarse sand covered rocks and scraping slightly on her hips and shoulder as she lay nearly defeated on the now warmed rocks and sand.
Salamando pondered slowly at his answer, looking down at her and realizing she was in more danger than she initially had appeared to understand herself in and relented.
"As I had said before, child, I am Salamando. I am one of…." He began explaining as he had before.
Cutting him off as he did, Fire-Eyes burned now with passion more than heat. "I know what you are, Salamando. I know that you're an Elemental but what does that have to do with me!"
Salamando finally dropped his smile. Creeping towards her and growing, his ethereal flame body taking a more humanoid shape and burning deeply as he grew further.
"I am the Elemental of Fire, guardian of the Flame Palace and the keeper of the Mana Seed of Flames. Throughout history, since my birth, I have watched over and helped grow those who would use my powers for good, or evil, and bestowed my powers upon them. I am one of the 8 Elemental guardians of this world, both worshiped and feared as a deadly force of nature. You, I do not know who you are or where you have come, however wherever it had been, you have a very strong affinity for the use of Mana and have already been exposed to my powers and my abilities long before your arrival here."
Salamando's exposition meant little for Fire-Eyes, still internally screaming and crying at the same time. She didn't want to know this, not again. She already knew he was an all-mighty…. God… fire or something. She stared up at him, and clearing the hair from her face shot him a look that rivaled his own. A flame, burning within her grew a little brighter as her frustrations revealed themselves and she reached out, arms thrust slowly from the ground and reaching for Salamando and attempting to grasp him. If she could only just… get… one….
Before the end of her thought she passed out, falling limp to the ground and blacking out in the shade of the canyon.
Salamando sighed in slight disappointment, unsure what she wanted to ask but intent on wanting to help. For the meantime however, it would be important to get her somewhere safe as she had been out here for many hours now, and Salamando did not remember if she had been nourished at all since her arrival. She must be hungry and thirsty, but she'd never once mentioned it.
Salamando reverted to his smaller, blobish form and returned to her side once again. His body warming hers and the ground around her, trying to keep her comfortable, it was the least he could do at this point.
"You know… you're even stronger than the companions of the Mana Knight…" Salamando lamented. Thinking back to the Mana War that had been fought, he pictured the face and the image of the girl, the sprite and the boy who had saved the world. Their prowess in Mana was far beyond even his own to that point, but… this girl… He turned to look down upon her, frail looking and extremely vulnerable. She didn't look like a serious warrior, or any kind of a mage, yet her strength in her abilities was unquestionable. Looking to the stone pathway that had been demolished for their escape from the sand dunes of the Kakkara Desert, He looked at the sheer size and quantity of the destruction wrought from that one blast of energy she had released. She was no ordinary human, and Salamando intended to stick with her, and find out if she could be the one to.
"Only the Mana Knights companion was ever that strong… but to be this strong, so soon?" He pondered, keeping close to Fire-Eyes, slowly tossing on the ground. She was going to do great things, but keeping her safe was key now.
To the West, just a few more miles lay Kakkara Village, the oasis in the Desert. A small town for sure, but the people were kind and accepting. Salamando had always had good relations with the village and he was sure they would accept a stranger with his blessing.
Keeping a moonlight vigil over the girl, the colors of the desert slowly faded from the golden white sands to a deep violet and star speckled landscape. Twinkling in the dust like small stars of their own, bits of luminescent rock littered the landscape and lit up the desert. The sky and ground met to create a large vast black galaxy swirling around them. The Temple of the Moon Elemental glowed dimly in the distance, its ever-present blackness speckled with stars would make it appear that the blackest of the night sky was cutting deep into the earth and you would see through to the other side.
Fire-Eyes grumbled and tossed for several hours. Her body had kept and retained its warm orange glow all throughout the night as Salamando kept his vigil over her, waiting until almost morning to even begin to attempt to wake the girl. As he watched he would look at his own tendrils of flame and down to her hand. Reaching down and touching the rock it was arm, almost as if he himself was standing on the ground beside her.
Fire-Eyes, this being from another realm. How did you get here? How is it that you have the same powers as an elemental? How is it that your body is so warm?
These thoughts passed in and out of his head, until just before dawn when it finally became time to try to move on. He shifted back into his impish form, placing a hot hand and rocking her side to side.
"Hey, kid. Its time to wake up, we need to move." Speaking softly, he rested a tendril of his flaming hand on her shoulder and observed. Not moving the young girl snored ever so gently as she rested. Salamando sighed slightly but let his head take a bit of a turn. Looking down, he raised his own hand up, noticing almost a coolness. Placing it back on her shoulder her skin almost felt warm.
Warm? To a fire Elemental? He blinked a few times, withdrawing his hand again and looking down in it.
"What are you, girl?" the thought crossed into his head as he looked about.
The Day-breaking sun was quickly creeping over the horizon and would be bathing the entire desert floor in just a matter of moments. Realizing that they would not have a lot of time to move through the desert and Stoney crags safely, it was time to get this girl up, whether she wanted to or not.
Placing his hands down on the rock he simply nodded his head down and whispered "Boil." The rock shook and jostled violently, the small bits of trapped water instantly vaporizing within the rock along with small pockets of metal. Giving it a bit of a lurch upward into the air and jostling the girl forward.
Fire-Eyes awoke with a shock, rolling forward and instantly stammering to her feet, drawing her hand back and cocking her fist back with her eyes as she blinked, a little delirious and finally perceived the floating elemental. Smiling back at her with a comedically small body he gave a little wave and floated up to her.
Blinking cautiously, she finally breathed, taking in a quick draw of air and releasing her stance of a very crude martial defense pose she'd been taught before.
"Good morning, Sleepyhead."
Looking unimpressed, Fire-Eyes could only manage a few nods as she yawned, rubbing her fist against her eye and clearing her sight a little bit. Cracking her eyes and looking out over the horizon she saw the impending daybreak and the desert floor, its aura of blackness beginning to be pierced like a golden veil, the shimmering sands of the desert calling out to the sun and speckling as the tips of the peaks began to shine brightly with the bathing light of the rising orb.
Morning time. She'd slept hard, harder than she could remember as she turned around to face the Elemental, already heading toward a break in the rocks that was lightly illuminated via his own glow.
"I guess we should get moving." She stammered out, letting her feet start to find their way forward.
"Of course, unless you wish to be eaten by that spider creature from yesterday." Salamando retorted, disappearing behind a stack of rocks.
This got Fire-Eyes to wake up quickly and hastening her steps she quickly traced his path and caught up in a hurry. Not one to want to be eaten in the morning she found a way to catch up without any delays at that point.
A few short minutes of walking would reveal how close they were to the small Oasis town of Kakkara, just off in the distance from the stony crag they had slept, not an hour walk from their location. It gave her a bit of elation, seeing the distance so close compared to where she had landed the day before. It was certainly something of a blessing for them to be there too, because who knows how many other creatures are about a desert like this.
"Salamando, is there anything we can do to keep any of those monsters away if they show back up?" She asked, taking a step off the rocks and her toes finding the sand beneath. Cold to the touch and parting it glowed a gentle orange under her foot pads as she walked across the shifting surface and the mounds of sand broke beneath her feet.
"No. They are quite voracious hunters and will pop up randomly. Our best ally is speed and getting away from here as quickly as possible." He explained in a short manner, floating past her and speeding off into the desert leading the path. The greenery easily visible in the dawn-breaking sun it made for a bright beacon to attract them to it with the promises of Food, Water and CLOTHES!"
Fire-Eyes hadn't really thought much of it but now that they were beginning to approach the city it became apparent that her rather non-existent clothing would become an issue. However, modesty aside, she was happier to at least be alive for the very moment. They could fix her clothing issue as soon as they arrived in town, more than likely there had to be someone doing laundry or hanging a sheet out somewhere. Even a drapery from a tavern door would do. But for now, safety was more important.
She attempted to shove the thought from her mind as they crested another dune and looked down into the darkened valley below. Filled with a black void coating the sand, it was difficult to see how clear the path was.
"We should walk the rim." Salamando suggested, pointing to a narrow path of sand leading around the rim of the large crater in the dunes. The only issue is it was a very narrow path and Fire-Eyes was not confident that she would be able to walk across the dunes without falling. But at this point, she didn't have much of a choice. Letting the Elemental lead and light a small narrow path along the crest of the dune.
"Nearly there… Nearly there…" She mutters to herself, each step bringing with it the challenges of staying upright and centered on a pitched dune of sand. As she walked around on her right, inside the pit she could not see the bottom, and the left, a pitched crag of sharp rocks. Considering their previous evenings events neither was preferable.
"Fire-Eyes… stop." Salamando said, almost suddenly. She wasn't expecting it, and almost ran into the elemental from behind. Looking about she tried to examine for any danger, not seeing anything apparent ahead of them aside from some rocks and a duck, she gazed around looking for legs sticking from the ground, had they been found again?
A few tense moments pass, and nothing happens. Fire-Eyes, getting a little impatient turned around to see nothing behind her either.
"DUCK!" Salamando immediately exclaims, darting to the side. Not having enough time to react otherwise, Fire-Eyes drops down in place, straddling the sand dune and falling to her knees and hugging the dune with her thighs. Salamando darted into the darkness ahead, a small red orb of light surging as he charged up a small blast of flaming light.
Through the air sailed something toward Fire-Eyes, landing in the sand right in front of her. She looked down and it was an… Egg? Reaching down she starts to reach for the egg as it began to glow. Catching her off guard she refrained from touching it, instead looking up for Salamando.
"Get back!" rushing at her, a fireball flew from his hands, aimed directly at Fire-Eyes. With no time to react she drew her hands together to defend herself and was launched back off the dune 30 feet, landing on the edge of the dune's pit side. With sand covering her entire body head to toe, she struggled back to her feet with an angry scowl on her face. Having not taken any damage at all she was angrier.
Just as she began to shout at Salamando, the glowing egg chirped, and exploded with a violent, smelly force, blowing both herself and Salamando in opposite directions.
Landing yet again in the sand dune, this time she didn't struggle to recover from, finding her footing quickly and her anger starting to boil over. The moment raging in her mind, first being shot with fire then exploded by a magical egg, Fire-Eyes looked at rage at the duck. Salamando just getting off the ground she watched the duck start to pull another egg out. Her eyes going wide, she looked around. Weapon… I need a weapon… I need something to fight with.
"No time, nothing but sand.. sand… wait… Fire… I AM A WEAPON!"
Closing her mind and her eyes, she tried, hard… Focus.
Clear her mind.
Think…
Fire.
Flame.
Focus.
Her hand shook, standing there and in the split second that she did, the small, embers within her eked out through the palm of her hand. Unrefined and crude, it was a fireball gathering strength in her hand. She opened her eyes finally to see the flames she held, and it was cool. The Flames didn't feel hot and they licked and wrapped around her hand comfortably. It was a beautiful, gorgeous red flame that danced around her hand as she lost her focus in it for a moment.
"HELP!" Salamando cried out, and it broke her trance on the flames. Looking up, the duck pulled back and was readying to launch another egg when suddenly rushing past Salamando was a great fireball. Catching the duck squarely in the chest it exploded with a force twice that of the eggs it was lobbing, nearly incinerating it Onsight and making it disappear into the sands in a puff of floating feathers.
After a quick moment to ensure he was down for the count, she let in the air in excitement, letting of a brief "WHOOO!" before running to the Elemental's side. Smiling, and seeming no worse for wear, Salamando rose up his fiery body fully intact and unblemished.
"I… I have seen the Mana Knight and his companions do similar feats but never by themselves… and never after no training. You truly are something, my dear." Salamando would praise, giving her a smile and rushing around her quickly and examining the girl's frame for injury. Satisfied he relented, returning to the forest floor and guiding a path forward.
Kakkara, is o
OOC: This is my first writing I am publishing in a long time. Getting my writing back in tune, I hope someone finds this and enjoys it!