Ray's pov

When the fire died down, I blinked a few times. I could taste ash in my mouth. Did that… did I… that fire came from me. Nothing like that had ever happened. Just what did this old man do to me?

I looked down on the deck. They looked afraid. Why were they all so afraid? Well, that wasn't a very tough question to answer. I had just exploded with fire. My eyes had to adjust, I had been temporarily blinded by the brightness of my flames. Many of the people lying on their stomachs had the backs of their clothing singed. I did that, but I didn't do it on purpose. I did not will it to happen. So then, why did it happen? Thankfully, the ship didn't have any serious damage… or any damage, really. Why wasn't a wooden boat burning? Was it magic or something? Probably.

"Perhaps… we should take a break." The old coot said, getting up off the floor. I coiled myself back so I could be closer to the floor. What just… what just happened? I wanted an answer, but the old coot just walked off, leaving us alone on the deck. Several pirates scrambled out onto the deck. What strange behavior, to go toward the proverbial… and in this case, literal, fire, instead of running away. That was just the kind of people they were, I supposed. The old coot said a few words to them that I didn't understand, and they shuffled back down. There was nothing to see here.

"Uh…" Emerald grunted, pulling herself up off the ground. I saw that the fire had completely burned through her clothing at some parts, and reached her skin. Oh no… did I hurt her? That wouldn't do at all.

"Are you ok?" I asked. She pulled herself up to her feet slowly before answering me.

"Yeah, I think so. My back hurts a bit." Emerald laughed a little, then knelt down again, in pain. "That was amazing, though! How did you do that?"

"No idea." I said, I looked at her… the condition she was in. "Maybe you should go see the medic."

"Yeah… maybe." She said, motionless. "Can you, um, can you carry me. Sorry, just-"

"No problem." I picked her up and carried her gently downstairs and to the medical station.

"I heard what happened, put he down on the bed. I have some salve that will clear that right up." The medic said. He looked pretty concerned, but I had no idea why he felt that way, he hadn't known Emerald very long. Maybe he just loved everyone like that? Who knew, I certainly didn't feel like asking him. But… something concerned me, how did he hear about it so fast?

"How did you know she's be coming? It was two minutes ago." I asked.

"Your teacher came and told me." The medic said, although his voice was fading out, he was very focused on what he was doing. That made sense, this medicine thing was something like magic, and that took a lot of focus, too.

"Do you know which way he went?" I asked, but he was gone, already completely absorbed in his work. I guessed I would have to go looking again.

I didn't have to look far. I turned around, and there he was in the doorway. I jumped back, startled slightly. I didn't expect him to just be there, not at all. He looked so grim, too, so serious. Was something wrong, was something… worse than I thought it was?

"What happened?" I asked. He seemed to completely ignore my question, and instead walked over to Emerald. He peered at her for a long while. It was just a little bit awkward, but at the same time, I didn't want to interrupt him… whatever he was doing.

"She will be alright. The burns are minor. She'll need a new outfit, though." He said.

"Good, I'm glad."

"You, on the other hand… are in a bit more trouble, lad." He said, peering at me, now. "That fire… that destruction… it means you are getting worse." His voice was deadly serious. My heart sunk. What… I was getting worse? What… what did that mean, exactly? What was wrong with me. No, no, I knew that, I knew what he was talking about… the affliction. This sickness inside of me, this dark energy consuming me… it was getting worse, huh?

"That wasn't supposed to happen, was it? The fire." I asked.

"Nope." The old man replied. "Can't be sure exactly how unlocked energy will manifest, but the fact that it was something that destructive means that darkness inside you is growing. They really gotcha good, didn't they?" He cracked a grin. "Might be beyond me to help. I can send ya back to the trial of the soul but I don't know if that'll do much of anything, might even consume you entirely if you do that. Not worth the risk right now."

"Is there anything… I can do?"

"Nope." The old man says said solemnly. Well, that was just great. Now I was a liability, liable to hurt someone… They were right to tie me up before, weren't they? I should have just stayed tied up. Actually, I should have just stayed in my own dimension. There would still be these problems, but they wouldn't be my problems, and I wouldn't be here making things worse for this world.

"So what can I do, what can we do, I mean?"

"Hm… There is a person I know, a specialist who may be able to help you. I don't know where she is these days. Perhaps I can ask the captain or crew to ask people on the ground about her." And then he just started walking off. What, that was it? Well… fine. Emerald… I hurt her, by accident this time. I felt a little bit of pain myself, that was right, we were connected. It wasn't bad, though. Of course, my pain tolerance was much higher than that of a human would be.

Well, now what? I guessed I would just watch this guy heal her? But he couldn't heal me… some woman would be able to heal me, though… if we could actually find her. Even if we did, there was no guarantee that she could actually do anything for me. The old coot said he could heal me, and he couldn't. Or, more accurately, I couldn't. This was my failure. I could have beat him when I had the chance. Now it was getting stronger.

Maybe I should have isolated myself below deck somewhere to keep other people safe? There had to be some sort of dungeon on this thing, or rather, I was pretty sure I had seen one somewhere. I couldn't be of any hindrance that way, couldn't hurt anybody accidentally. Well, actually, I could probably break out pretty easily, or rather, that shadow of myself. I didn't know if it was actually me, or another side of me, or something completely foreign that just happened to take my form. Did it really matter what it was? It was dangerous and wanted to get rid of Emerald, or wanted me to get rid of Emerald. Anyways, the point was that I could probably get myself out of any prison they had on board, so what would be the point of locking myself up. Unless there was some sort of magic binding… that might have been what the ropes were. I should have been able to get through those ropes the first night we arrived here…

I sighed heavily.

"You worried about her?" The medic asked, shaking me free from my looping thoughts. Oh, right, Emerald was right there, laying down, salve on her back. That salve must have felt really nice, because she was asleep, now, and it looked very peaceful. I was glad she was able to rest, now. I was sorry I did what I did, even if I didn't mean to.

"Yeah, I am." I said, even though I hadn't even really been thinking about her at all. I felt bad about that, too. We'd get out of this situation. I would make up for all the bad ways I treated her, but I wouldn't let her walk all over me, either. We would be partners in order to get this world taken care of and send me back to mine. I really needed to apologize for throwing her into the ocean that one time.

There was nothing to do now, unless the old man was willing to teach me without Emerald, unless there was something else to be done? I didn't know… I didn't know.

Lol that's all I have til I write more, and I stopped writing quite a while ago. I plan to start up again soonish, have a good day