Oops this took a while. Sorry guys! Also, um. Did I mention this was going to be a huge crossover with different fandoms and shows? No? Then you guys are in for a treat! And I'm sorry that my characterisation might be off. But I'm really trying, you guys.

The snores in other rooms began to die down and eventually stop as people began to wake up, the snores replaced by heavy footsteps and voices that carried on along the rooms and the corridor. They were lucky to have actually been able to drift off to a somewhat peaceful sleep. Yugi sat back up in his bed with no real protest from his body; in fact, it only welcomed the action. He was finally doing something. With a sigh, he got up and out of the room which, unlike his first one, was on the ground floor, making it much easier to leave without bumping into people awkwardly. Not too far away from his room was the front desk, where Ryou had already taken post for the day. The morning crowd must have woken him up.

"Oh, good morning, Yugi," he greeted with a smile. "How did you sleep?"
"I don't think I managed to get any," Yugi said.
"No, I didn't think you would," he sighed, leaning against the counter. "But then again, that's the issue with your class, isn't it?"
"My class?" he cocked his head to the side a little.
Ryou nodded. "Everyone in the world we live in has a class. Whether they master it or not is their choice. Not everyone wants to be, say, a priest, or a lumberjack! But that one isn't really a class. Each class has unique abilities, rules, strengths and weaknesses."
"Then, what's mine?" He felt like a small child with all of the questions, but Ryou did not seem to mind this at all. In fact, it was almost refreshing to be the one able to answer questions, or so it seemed. Either that, or Ryou just loved curious people.
"Well, you use black magic, so you're a black magic-user. Or a black mage, to be precise," he said thoughtfully. "You don't look like the warlock type, or the wizard type."
"So that's what Jonouchi and Honda were talking about," Yugi interrupted before he could elaborate. Ryou nodded.
"Maybe I gave you the outfit a little too soon. But I never expected this much commotion. I'm sorry. If I knew this was going to happen, I would have waited until today. It wasn't very fair on you."
"You keep apologising, but really, I'm okay," Yugi pointed out. Ryou only gave him a sheepish smile.
"Well, it's true. I can't help but feel a little bit responsible for what could've happened. Anyway, back to your class. As a black mage, you have control over the twelve black elements," he said as he pulled out a book from under his desk. The cover seemed to be aged, but barely opened, as evidenced by its spine.. Perhaps he had no real need for it. Was he a master of remembering the classes? That would have been amazing. He opened it up, and showed Yugi one of the pages. On it featured what he assumed to be the stereotypical black magic-user; fitted with dark features, and around him swirled a purple aura, with the symbols of twelve different elements dotted around the edges in a circular shape. They seemed to be fire, wind, metal, ice, time, shadow, water, thunder, earth, body, mind and light. The opposite page was similar. However the magic-user was clad in white robes, with a golden aura around them. Just as their dark counterpart, they also had elemental symbols; cloud, healing, emotions, status boosts, life, light, space, plant, animal communion, status ailments, death and shadow. The only reason he knew that was because it was written underneath the picture. "But, as you can see, one of those elements is also used in white magic," he explained as he pointed. "The white and black users traditionally oppose each other because of religion or cultural differences, which is why it's not often you see a white and black mage in a party, or even anywhere near each other. But, if they're together for long enough, well, I guess you can call it a reward. A white mage can learn shadow magic, and a black mage can learn light magic. But it won't be as powerful as if the correct user masters it."
"That's pretty weird," Yugi replied, reading the pages and trying to remember all that he could about his class, and his 'opposing' class. "But thanks! I'll remember that."
He closed the book, and slid it over to Yugi. "You should take it. It's gathering dust in my desk."
"It's not mine to take," he pushed it back to him.
"I insist! Really, I won't need it anymore," he slid it back over to Yugi.
"Thanks, Ryou," he smiled.

The young mage took the book in his hands, which weighed a considerable amount to him. Then again, it was quite thick, spanning at what seemed to be over a thousand pages. On the cover, in golden writing, the words 'A Child's Guide to the World' had been etched on. Yugi had a lot to catch up on in this world he resided in. He had the knowledge of a child, it seemed. Which was quite depressing, considering he was nearing the age of an adult, even if he didn't appear to be. The book began to lighten on his palms, and he watched it shrink into a more manageable, pocket size. It was obviously enchanted, due to its target audience.

"I'm sure you'll find it useful," Ryou assured him.
"I think I will. Thanks," Yugi nodded, placing the now-tiny book in a pocket of his robe. "I should probably get going. The other two are probably waiting."
"I'll see you again soon, I hope!" the innkeeper replied, waving at Yugi as he left the inn.

Yugi squinted as the bright, summer sun beat down on him, and burnt into his retinas once more. He used his hand to try and shield his eyes from the harsh Sun. The heat enveloped him in a tight, suffocating squeeze as the heat did its job of concentrating on the darkness of Yugi's robes. Summer months were a pain with dark robes, and the young mage had just begun realising just how terrible they were. He raised the hood over his head as he walked, stealing glances around the town. There wasn't as much fire damage as Yugi thought there would be, but there was still a significant amount. The guilt had slowly lifted from his shoulders; he was certain it wasn't him. He was sure it was the mysterious Bakura, who had introduced himself as a king. They were sure to cross paths again.

Thankfully, there was a use for the burning sun, which was causing him to perspire a little more than he was comfortable to admit. It allowed Yugi to know exactly where he was going, without getting lost, unlike the previous night, where he was clueless. Plus, he had found his way there before the previous day. It couldn't have been too challenging. It wasn't as far as he thought it was, either. When he looked up, he could see the fountain, the statues in the centre, and the building, where he had met Bakura for the first time, and certainly not the last. However, he saw Jonouchi's looming figure close to the fountain, waiting. He caught Yugi's eye, and gave him a grin.

His armour wasn't the same as yesterday. His armour has been replaced with something much lighter, due to the demand of having to move, become agile and be swift enough to take on an ambush, which came with the job of adventure. He wore a black undershirt, with what seemed to be the outline of chainmail underneath a slightly dark brown tunic. Leather gloves protected his hands, and would prevent him from hurting himself from holding his sword too long. A dark brown belt separated the top half from the similarly-coloured bottom half, where the bottom had been tucked neatly into his leather boots. His sword, too large for any sheath without it grazing against ground, was strapped to his back. But he took it in stride, and stood up normally with it on.

"C'mon, Yugi, we've gotta get going," Jonouchi called.
"Yeah, sorry," he smiled nervously, approaching him. "Wait, where's Honda?"
"He's saying goodbye to a 'ladyfriend'," he gave a snort at the thought as he made air quotations, an in-joke Yugi wasn't part of.
"Will he be back soon?" Yugi asked.
"Eh, maybe. He'll only be gone another hour," he joked.

A good few feet away, a couple stood together, holding both of each other's hands. After a bit of squinting, the male was easily identified as Honda, due to his impossibly-forward hairstyle. The woman in question donned white robes, with a hint of cream to them. Her head hung low, and her long, blue hair had covered the sides of her face. Carefully, with but the tips of his fingers, he brushed away her hair behind her ear, before pulling her in a tight embrace. His gaze cast off to the side, before catching his other two party members watching him. The couple broke off the embrace, with Honda planting a soft kiss on her forehead, before making his way over to the snooping pair.

"Ready to go yet?" Jonouchi asked. "Or are we gonna have to try and hold the contents of our stomachs for another hour?"
"You're really unromantic," Honda replied, rolling his eyes.
"Love's romantic, yeah. But I don't think a proposal right before you go is," Jonouchi replied. "Don't deny it, I saw it!"
"Can we just go, guys? Arguing won't help anything."
"Yugi's right. C'mon, Honda, before you change your mind," the blond told him, starting off the walk to the town gates.

Yugi followed the two travelling guards to the town gates. Honda's outfit was similar to Jonouchi's but, as he walked, it seemed a little more rigid. His clothes were longer-sleeved, with the usage of tougher material, which had instead of being dyed brown, was a dark green colour. Unlike Jonouchi and his sword, Honda carried his axe, and slung it over his right shoulder as he walked. His tunic had padded shoulders, which made the axe a bit less wearing on him, as well as less tedious to carry and less prone to injury.

"Hey, who was that girl, anyway?" Yugi asked.
"Miho Nosaka, the town's priestess, devoted to Ra, and all that stuff. Meaning she's bein' a little sneaky with Honda over here," Jonouchi gestured to the man on his right.
"We haven't kissed, so it's fine! You just don't get love," Honda replied.

The pair grew deathly quiet. Romance would be a subject that Yugi would remember to never bring back up, or at least not with that pair. Was it touchy? It probably brought back bad memories or something. They didn't know each other too well, so prying would be a terrible idea. Besides, with those weapons, they could easily pulverise the young mage. Whilst Yugi's ability extended to setting inns on fire and getting himself hated by a town, which was not a good ability to have. Really, he needed new spells. Spells that he could have found in town, in some shops, if they had any. Oh, God dammit. Or was it Ra dammit? Silly little technicalities. This world would be a pain to get accustomed to.

Once they had reached the gates, the large metal doors had been opened for them. And, once the doors had opened, it had revealed the outside world, a place not often visited by residents of Premiantis, for their own safety. So, of course, Jonouchi and Honda reacted like children during the Summer Solstice festivals. They had run out of the gates, leaving Yugi behind, confused, but eventually decided to follow them.

What was laid out before them was what the two warriors liked to think of as 'freedom'. To Yugi, and anyone not from Premiantis, it was a simple large field of grass, which was stretched all around in front. In the background, what seemed to be a small forest was dotted, the dark green leaves contrasting against the lighter green grass. It would take a while to travel to there, judging from the distance alone. But it was plausible to get there in a rather short amount of time.

"Who's ready to go find missing royalty?" Jonouchi grinned mischievously at the other two.
"As ready as ever," Honda replied, though not as enthusiastic as his friend.

They journeyed for a while without rest through the field, where the temperature slowly began to suffocate the new heroes. It slowed them down as they realised they were not as prepared for this as they had thought, or really assumed, as would be the accurate word to use. They had silently agreed to head for the forest; it would provide some protection against the weather, be it rain or sun. Plus, the leaves would provide some sort of shade from the sweltering heat, which had made their bodies drench themselves with sweat and their lungs fill with what might as well have been cotton.

Their steps were sluggish, each was a valiant effort. They just had to keep pushing themselves. The forest wasn't too far, they told themselves. Yet, with every step, it seemed to retract another mile. It was becoming ridiculous. They were strong men, who could lug themselves to some forest with no effort. Well, except for Yugi, but he was making a damn good effort by not dragging the team down with him.

It felt like hours until they reached the entrance to the forest. The inside contrasted quite shockingly with the outside world around it. Shadows loomed inside, and threatened to devour any soul brave and stupid enough to enter inside its leafy prison. Yugi was about to turn back; he wasn't a coward, but he knew when the time was to let something go, cut his losses and turn away from danger.

He only wished Jonouchi and Honda were that careful. Or maybe, he wasn't as blindingly brave as they appeared to be. Yugi wasn't sure, but he didn't think he wanted to find out.

"Is this really a good idea?" Yugi asked as he followed the pair inside the forest.
"No, but it's better to be sure, right?" Honda replied. His hand gripped tighter onto the axe that he had slung over his right shoulder, his muscles tensing up with possible fear or adrenaline, but ready.
"Isn't it better to be safe than sorry?" he retorted, pulling down his hood. Jonouchi took this as an invite to ruffle his unnatural hair.
"Are you scared?"
"What? No! I don't like the look of this place," he said with a slight shudder.
"It'll be fine. C'mon, we've gotta move as much as we can before nightfall," the blonde replied, once more walking in front of everyone else, if only by just a couple of inches. He liked to take on the leader role, Yugi noted. He didn't mind, he wasn't much of a leader, personally.

Even through the tall trees, only small, sparse flecks of sunlight managed to pierce through the thick shielding of leaves and branches above their heads. The trio needed to squint to see what was around them, careful not to bump into another party member, or a tree.

Instead of making this an awkward situation for everyone involved, Yugi put his hands together, again letting enough space in between for a ball of fire to form in between. Despite it feeling easier and more natural, it still took a considerable amount of power to be able to do it. He was careful with the ball not to set anything on fire, especially as they were in a forest. However, at least they could see. That was the only thing keeping the other two from objecting.

Even with a light source, there was still something that seemed to loom over him, snarling at him, teeth bared at him. It was just a silly thought, he assured himself. Even so, Yugi could almost feel it. In his mind, he could sense its breathing on the back of his neck as it sniffed its tiny prey, wondering whether this tiny snack would be worth the effort. It would drool as it eyes up its potential meal, realising it would be worth the effort. Yes, he was mostly bones, but it would have been the flavour that attracted it. Its long, sharp teeth would slowly open as thick blobs of saliva ran down the corner of its dark mouth, anticipating the first chew, the first scream and plea and cry for help that would never save him. This thought had begun to unnerve the young mage. He could no longer walk and pretend that this was not a thought that sent too many shivers down his now-frozen spine. He took a glance behind him, and he swore he caught the gleam of white, long, sharp fangs. He took another look.

His imagination was correct.

Behind him, a large, four-legged beast stood, ready to pounce. Its black fur blended in perfectly with the shadow around it. Its yellow eyes glowed in the light of Yugi's fire, igniting them with not only emotion, but bloodthirst as well. Its mouth hung open, about to grab him in its strong-looking jaw, before realising its prey had noticed. It hissed at him, recoiling a bit, but only for an instant. Most of its weight shifted to its back legs, steadying itself before making the pounce. All Yugi had time for was to let out a short yell to his party to actually notice trouble was afoot. The pair turned just in time to notice the creature, before it had the chance to attack, or even harm Yugi.

Jonouchi, without a moment's hesitation, gripped onto the handle of his sword, unsheathing it and as careful as ever not to cut his head, or the back of his neck in the process. With both hands, he slashed at the beast, which although did not harm it, it backed away from Yugi with a backwards leap. But it was prepared, always prepared, as it dashed for him again, its feet thundering across the ground as its mouth hung open. Yugi looked down at the ball in his hands, realising what he could do. Like a regular ball, he tossed it at the charging beast and, by some miracle, he hadn't missed. A patch of its black fur was alight with flames, causing it to scream from the burning pain that was spreading fast along his fur, the scorched fur only adding to the pain. With a sharp, heavy swing of his axe, Honda lodged the heavy, sharp end into the beast's skull. A sickening crack as the metal entered, but it was not enough to fully slay the beast. As it stumbled, confused and now trying to escape, Jonouchi took the opportunity to stab his sword inside of the creature's chest, essentially piercing through its heart. It let out an eardrum-shattering scream.

The beast's legs began to give way as its knees became weak. It flopped against the ground heavily, chest heaving as blood barely visibly poured out of its chest. Its bright, piercing yellow eyes closed as it let out one, final shaky breath, accompanied by a pathetic whine. The pair removed their weapons from the beast. They both cleaned their weapons, the bright red blood instead staining the dark green grass and mud on the forest floor.

"You okay, Yugi?" Jonouchi asked, putting his sword back in its usual, rightful place.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, guys. I'm really sorry that I'm being kind of a bother right now," Yugi apologised.
"No worries. We're a team, that's what team mates do," he said, before continuing to walk once more.

The trio treaded more carefully. They became aware. They were not alone in the forest. They should have guessed as much. But it seemed the place was much darker than they had anticipated. But, at least, it was not filled to the brim with creatures like that. They were silent, ears tuned to the sound of snapped twigs, rustling leaves or low growls. Yugi lit another ball of fire in between the palm of his hands which, as the previous one, acted as more of a light source rather than combat preparation. The latter was just a handy little bonus.

Even though the light from above was already very dim, it was still enough to see that nightfall would be coming shortly, as the sparse enough light was beginning to fade from the sky. They decided to set up a small camp in an area not too crowded with trees, with enough space for three people to sleep around a fire. Honda was placed upon wood-gathering duty, whilst Yugi perused the area for any kind of edible-looking fruits or wildlife. As Jonouchi offered, he could easily kill and cook right then and there, the moment Yugi found it. Whilst the other two were busy doing work, Jonouchi was back at the camp, simply waiting for their return with supplies.

When Honda and Yugi returned, Jonouchi was laying on his back, so close to being fully asleep and completely relaxed. He was also completely unsuspecting, as his best friend realised the moment he spotted his close-enough-to-asleep friend, which was perfect.

On the very edge of his toes, Honda treaded carefully, not snapping a single twig or crunching a single leaf in his path. Jonouchi was drifting off more and more by the second. It was obvious by his breathing, which was gradually getting heavier and more relaxed. With an arm full of twigs and small logs, he stood by the dozing swordsman's side. His arms let the wood drop down onto him, particularly aiming for the stomach area. Jonouchi let out a sharp gasp, not from pain, but more from the shock of the things dropped on him, dragging him from his soft dreams of not being in a forest and back into the hard reality that he was in a forest.

"What was that for?" Jonouchi asked, sitting up and throwing a log at the back of the laughing brunet's head.
"For making us do all of the work!" he replied, starting to gather up the wood to build their fire.
"Did you get enough?"
"You're the one who felt how many logs there were," he replied, trying not to show his smugness to the still partially-asleep blonde.
"Are we good on food?" he asked Yugi.
"I could only find fruit. I hope you guys like fruit," he replied, showing the fruit he had contained in his robes.
"Just fruit?"
"You should've helped," Honda said, having gathered the wood pile into the middle of the poorly-make makeshift camp.

Yugi tossed a fire ball onto the pile of wood, setting it alight nearly instantly. The trio sat around the fire - even though it wasn't cold and it may have been a little too hot to sit around a fire, it was still nice. They each shared the assortment of food, but they were all silently daring each other to eat the more dangerous, bright red fruit when all the others had been eaten. It could have easily been poisonous. Neither of them really wanted to find out. The pressure was shifted onto Yugi. The other two stared at him, expectant, silently demanding and daring him to eat the dangerous fruit, not them.

Yugi picked up the red fruit. They were just small berries. But, they were also unidentifiable and strange. They were too soft in his fingers, with little to no form when he pressed on them with his thumb. But they did not burst. The skin was smooth and it felt fragile, but it was tougher than it seemed. He looked up from the fruit, and into two pairs of brown eyes had been staring at him, still as expectant as they had been just mere moments before. No words were needed. It looked like he was the designated food tester. It wasn't fair, come to think of it; he had gathered the fruit, Honda gathered the firewood, but Jonouchi only succeeded in napping for a little while.

He placed the all too soft fruit on his tongue, which he slid back into his mouth, and chewed slowly. The moment his teeth pierced the skin, the juice flooded into his mouth like an acidic wave. It stung his tongue, but the kick of sweetness laced within the juice helped to soothe the sudden sourness of the fruit. He continued to chew, his face thoughtful. It tasted rather pleasant, once the acidity wore off a little. He ate another one, and another, and soon they had all gone, with Yugi having a happy and satiated stomach, which gave a low, contented grumble.

But it all changed when he gripped onto his throat with all of his strength as if it would help solve something, his violet eyes wide open. He looked at the other two, and mouthed 'help'. His fingernails began to dig inside his throat, desperate, his chest no longer rising and falling in time with his breathing, or at all. His eyes closed as he flumped down onto his back with a hard thump. He did not move. He did not breathe still.

"Yugi? Are you okay?" Even though it was a silly question, it was all Jonouchi could think about saying that would be appropriate. He moved closer to the unconscious figure, nudging him and slapped his cheek enough to startle him into consciousness. Or, at least, what should have been enough.
"Check his pulse!" Honda exclaimed.

Jonouchi followed the instruction. He took his index and middle finger and pressed them against the mage's neck, searching for the area where the pulse was, or where it could and should have been. They searched frantically for a pulse, for some sort of feeling of life emitting from him. There was nothing. Jonouchi was not ready to give up.

"Let's try the kiss of life."

He cupped Yugi's face in his hands, who was still lifeless and still did not react to his voice or his touching. He hesitantly brought his face closer to his, eyes screwed shut. He tried to imagine him as a pretty girl, which was easier than he thought it would have been. Their lips almost touched. He stopped. This was weird. But, he had to. Otherwise, Yugi might not live-

"I'm awake!" Yugi exclaimed, pushing his face away and shuffling from the blond male.
"Don't scare me like that!" Jonouchi replied, rubbing the aching spots on his face where Yugi had pushed him away.
"The berries didn't kill you?" Honda asked, to which Yugi shook his head.
"No. I was only joking. They're fine to eat," he smiled at the pair, who looked uneasily at the bounty of red fruit.
"I think I'll pass," Honda said.

It wasn't long before the two warriors became tired, due to the commotion caused by one sneaky magic-user who just wanted to ease some sort of negativity. He told them he wasn't tired, and after having to assure them that he would not try another prank, and that they would not wake up to him dead, the two had gone to sleep, leaving Yugi alone and awake.

The lack of need to sleep didn't bother him as much as the first time. He supposed this was permanent. But why was he not tired? Why could he not sleep? He was nearly certain it was only his who suffered, which was apparent from the way Honda and Jonouchi were happily asleep, snoring rather loudly and obnoxiously. There had to be a reason someone like him could not sleep. He wished he could have the luxury of sleep in his grasp as he had before. Unless he had not slept before. He didn't know. But he assumed that there was a time when he slept. There just had to have been.

At the very least, Yugi wasn't completely alone. He had the friendly creatures of the forest around him, as well as his sleeping friends. Or were they simply companions? He hoped it was the former; it wasn't nice travelling with people who felt neutral about him. He lied down against the harsh ground, a root digging into his back a little, but he didn't bother to move. It kept him alert, stopping him from getting too comfortable. He shouldn't have been thinking that way, but after earlier, he would rather not take chances in this forest.

He looked up at the sky, which was hard to distinguish through the dark leaves of the trees overhead. He watched the white stars, which gave him some sort of comfort, like a guiding light to reach. Even though he was alone, time seemed to speed by. The stars began to disappear and be engulfed by the light of the Sun, as it rose up into the sky, slowly providing the world with its light, albeit very minimal within the depths of the forest.

By the time Jonouchi and Honda had risen once more from their slumber, Yugi had the time to go and pick some more fruit and, included within the picked menu was more of the red berries that had 'poisoned' Yugi. It was partially for his own amusement, but mainly because they really were pretty nice. With enough encouragement, the other two managed to man up and eat the strange berries. Perhaps it was due to desperate hunger, or they had realised that the berries were harmless, and were just nice. Either way, it had satisfied them, which was more than enough.

It was time to set off through the forest once more. They abandoned their camp, where only a long-extinguished fire remained. Birds chirped their morning song happily, bouncing from tree to tree. Although it was beautiful, it was also rather frightening to the party. It could have been any sort of beast, from a large creature that could crush them with just a twitch, to a small one who would be harmless. But every noise was just another bird.

The rest of the journey was relatively peaceful. There were no more beasts trying to kill either of them. But, then again, they had become stealthier, which was probably why. The only times when the peace was disrupted was when Jonouchi and Honda argued over something trivial and stupid, which Yugi would have to mediate, before they murdered each other and potentially harmed any others in their pointless bickering.

It took a couple of days, but they were nearing the edge of the forest. They could almost smell the freedom, and see the light beginning to shine through around. There would no longer be so much humidity from being encased within a forest. It would all be smooth. However, nightfall had already arrived. It was best to set up camp where they were before venturing off into uncharted - to them, anyway - land.

The duties were shared as evenly as possible; Honda gathered the wood, Yugi gathered the food, and Jonouchi set up the firewood in a formation suitable enough for a campfire. The three of them had set up camp near a clean-looking river, which was convenient for them. They ate a quick dinner of berries and other fruits Yugi had found, which were getting kind of boring. They missed other foods, but there were none around the forest. None that didn't require a dangerous solo hunt.

Soon enough, Yugi found himself alone again, as confirmed by the other two's snores. 'There's gotta be something I can do,' he thought to himself. He looked around him. There wasn't much todo around him. If he had a sword, he could have practiced fighting. Then that would be a productive use of his sleepless nights. All he had was magic.

And, in that second, it had dawned on him; he could actually do something of use.

He stood up from the ground, and snuck away from the sleeping pair to a place just far enough to not disturb them, but enough to keep an eye on them, in case a creature or person snuck up on them. He kept glancing back at them, worried. Was this even a good idea? He could have done some serious damage! But, it was better than being completely useless, as he had been for the past few days. And he was determined not to become a burden on the adventure.

His hands cupped together, as they had done time and time again. The ball ignited faster than all of the other times. Yugi couldn't help but smile; he was finally getting somewhere with this magic thing. He was getting the hang of it. Slowly, but very surely, he was finally getting the hang of this one particular spell, at least.

When he was done making one ball, Yugi made a sort of target practice game to hit certain parts of the river, watching it fall and, with a hiss, disappear from existence. He silently cheered when he hit a certain area, but was only a little disappointed when he did not manage to hit the correct spot. He would get it next time, he was certain each time.

Yugi carried this on, even past sunrise, never letting himself take any real, long breaks. Sometimes, he would take longer to get a proper feel for the fire that he held within his hands before throwing it off into the lake. He carried on until his mana levels had completely drained from his body, and he had kneeled against the ground, worn out but proud of himself.

By the time he was done, the rest of his party had awoken.