Chapter Five:
Fire and smoke.
The sun was now high in the sky with large white clouds drifting by making for great shade as it crossed the grassland. The air had a nice cool breeze coming from the north. Now and then they would pass Charr and humans alike heading towards the Capital. Tall brown and yellow grass swayed in the wind making it look like rolling waves.
A lot has changed since the Charr retook their land from the humans. Mainly due to an ignorant human king and his lasting cruelty to his own people.
Forts have been made as well as small towns scattered across what use to be war torn plains. The land itself has began to heal at the touch of the Charr. No longer did they blindly follow the Shamans that forced false gods on them. They have grown much, though there are some that still practice the old ways and worship the new so-called gods.
Hours had past since their morning meeting at the range. Their mission was an important one with a long trail in front of them. Menlorr was proud for his Warband and even through the moans and groans, he knew his team was happy to finally be doing something challenging and different. With the success of this mission, they would be able to be taken into consideration for more off wall missions. Always had he tried to get his Warband picked for more rewarding or more glorious operations, wether they knew it or not. This is what he had been dreaming for them, and one day to be remembered in history along with the other famous warbands before them.
"He's been awfully quite this entire time" Kullra whispered to Tylaa, who was just thinking the same thing. "Probably just thinking about the mission, and how to get there. You know how he is, always likes to think ahead." She said after a short pause.
"Smoke in the distance. Maybe it's a sign to finally stop and grab a bite to eat." Granger announced.
The group all looked up at the sight. Not to far from them was a black and grey trail of smoke coming from around the bend.
"Odd, I looked at the map earlier and that's where the statue of Prye Feirceshot is. I don't think anyone would be cooking with that dirty of a smoke cloud." Menlorr said as stared at the sky. "And I haven't heard anything special going on today. We'll find out as we get closer.
Tylaa silently agreed with what Menlorr said. The smoke looked to heavy and thick. A cooking fire would be more light grey and thin. How had she not noticed that earlier as it looks like it's been burning for a while.
The closer the group got to the fire they could hear shouting. The smoke now was all black and didn't seem to be stopping. At once they all knew something was wrong.
"Pick up the pace, seems like trouble. Be ready." Shouted Menlorr.
A few minutes later they came to a scene of destruction and flaming mayhem.
The once tall and seemingly indestructible statue of the most well known Charr hero was torn down and broken into several pieces. Huge wood and wicker lay over it and the surrounding area burning high into the air. The heat was so hot that the grass ten feet around it was burnt to a crisp.
Charr were running all around trying to put out the fire. Orders were being shouted to bring water from the lake faster and to stomp out any flames. Buckets were being poured and refilled as fast as possible, but it seemed to do little.
"Why are you all standing around with your mouths open for?! You looking to catch flies?" Barked a Charr in grey and tan robes. "Hurry and help get this fire out!"
Everyone realized they were frozen in shock. At once they all dropped they're equipment and started helping.
"You know any good water spells Granger?" Menlorr asked in a hurry. "If you do, now is the time to show us."
"Not my fortay really, but I know a few." Granger answered quickly, as he was thinking the same thing.
Granger got closer to the flames and pulled out his wand in one hand and his dagger in the other. He brought his wrists together in an upwards motion while mumbling something to himself. A faint blue aura began to materialize into a large bubble around him. The heat that was around him faded and a chill took its place. Granger began to walk toward the roaring flames that came off the giant wooden structure. At every step he made the bubble moved with him leaving a trail of frost. With each advancing move the grass and wood that was on fire turned to embers then was covered in frost as if a light snow had fallen. Once he got to the middle where the flames were at their hottest, he out stretched his arms as wide as he could and closed his eyes straining. The frost bubble began to slowly grow, over taking the flames.
Granger could feel the push from the flames, these flames were to strong to be normal, they had magic in them. He bared his teeth from the strain to keep pushing against the flames, he could feel his mana draining. He opened his eyes and could see that he managed to get at least half the flames out and in the distance he could see some Charr still throwing buckets of water while others looked in awe. He managed a smile at the attention he was receiving. Granger sucked in a deep cold breath and let out a growl as he pushed harder to douse the enhanced flames.
The bubble grew to a height three times his own and nearly wide enough to engulf the whole area. Onlookers stepped back as the frost grew in size. The area that was once to hot to get close to began to chill as if winter had arrived. Once the bubble seemed to reach full height, it disappeared.
Granger took to his knee as he felt faint, that spell pulled more out of himself than he realized. Luckily with the enchantments he bought, he would recover faster than he normally would. Whoever made these flames where strong in flame magic.
"It couldn't be a normal Elementalist. No Charr in their right mind would destroy Fierceshot's statue." He thought to himself.
Granger felt a large paw on his back that broke him from his thoughts.
"You alright Granger?" Kullra said as he crouched down next to him. "That was impressive, didn't know you could do that."
"Yeah I'll be fine, we got bigger problems." Granger said coming to a stand. "That wasn't normal flames I took out. Those were conjured flames. Strong ones."
"Magical flames? Who would conjure flames to destroy a hero's statue?"
"The only Charr that hate him for freeing us." Granger said narrowing his eyes. "Flame legion scum"
"You're correct, unfortunately." Menlorr stated as he approached them. "While you were wowing the crowd I was getting answers. A small group of Flame is holed up not to far from here with a shaman."
"Makes sense. Shamans are the strongest in terms of fire magic. Looking at it now, it was definitely an effigy that did this." Granger said. "They need to be removed. Or things will get worse."
"Agreed. We can help with some clean up and remove some cowards from their hole." Menlorr stated.
"Sounds like fun. Need to test the new gear out." Kylaa happily said as she approached. "Time for a history lesson."