Arder watched quietly as the fire spread slowly from building to building while soldiers roamed the streets, pushing their way through the fleeing citizens. Zahan soldiers didn't seem to be actively pursuing anybody nor did they seem to really hurt anybody but it was a little concerning that there weren't a lot of soldiers on the Adoss side. He wondered briefly what it could mean. The other thought that enter his mind... if he fought off Zahan, then how much could he make?

His thoughts were interrupted when a man suddenly turned a corner, an axe in one hand and a bow and quiver strapped onto his back. Arder noted his squinted green eyes, a grey vest, boots, and dark short hair. "What are soldiers of Zahan doing in Adoss?" he asked. "Setting fires in Dosia is a pretty underhanded move."

"We don't know want to cause trouble but if you give us trouble while we look for the oracle, we have permission to attack."

"And you used a fire to do it? Where's the honour in that?"

"Personally, I don't care," the soldier answered. "If you're going to stand in our way, then fall to our blades."

The man waited as the soldier attacked, bringing up his axe to defend himself. With what sounded like a sigh to Arder, the man brought his axe into the side of the soldier who attacked. Then he turned to face Arder. "Well, what do you plan on doing? Are you going to fight for Adoss?"

"I suppose. I can't help but to wonder what's going on," Arder answered. He withdrew a brave sword, a sword he could use accurately enough to attack at least twice before any soldier could attack back, but usually, he didn't need two chances. He looked up, noticing the rain that began to fall. It was gentle at first, as gentle as rain could be for water that was falling out of the sky, but then it began to come down harder. Ah well, rain didn't bother him too much.

"Looks like Dosia will be alright after all," the man mumbled. "What's your name?"

"Arder," he answered, shifting his eyes towards the spear that somebody threw at him. Arder dodged expertly and ran forward, slashing at the soldier who threw the spear, ending his life quickly. He smirked.

"I'm Garath," he answered as he turned around. They must have had people coming up from behind them but one of them had to fight the ones in front of them so Arder didn't spare a glance back. Another spear came, going from behind him and hitting one of the soldiers on a horse, making the soldier fall off and hit the ground with aloud thud. They were allies then, or at least temporarily. He didn't focus on them and instead focused on cutting through the Zahan soldiers that dared to attack him. When he saw nothing but bodies in front of him, thanks to him and the three allies behind him, he began to walk away, heading towards the city to square looking back only once, locking eyes with the other axe user. He would worry about payment later, he was just curious to see the extent to which Zahan soldiers tried to invade. Besides, they said they were looking for the oracle, so it wasn't hard to figure out where he should go to get payment.

After all, who would pay for a job that was only half way done? Nobody would pay anybody if there were still Zahan soldiers crawling around. In that regard, he would not fail.

And besides, those soldiers just weren't a challenge, especially when teamed up with three other capable warriors. He shoved his wet hair back, enjoying the rain as he walked calmly to the centre of Dosia.

Saikur sighed. It was a long night and he had no sleep between the worry for his brother and his two children and the worry for Igneous. In some sort divine mercy, rain fell not too long after the attack, calming the raging fires before the fire could do more damage than it had the potential to, sparing his brother's home. In the morning of the disaster, Adoss was still strong, something that made Saikur smile a bit, despite his lack of sleep.

For one, while the citizens were upset about what happened, a lot of the debris was already cleared away. It took a full night of work for it be cleaned up but by the time the sun was up, new materials from the good parts of Dosia were gathered and being allocated. Already, people were keen on rebuilding, busying themselves with the planning and it all happened so fast. Gerben was the one to haul away most of the debris, then helped to bring materials in but he seemed almost haunted by the fact that Igneous was hurt. It wasn't like he was dead though – Igneous would get better. He supposed that maybe, Gerben wasn't too keen on failing.

Tiredly, Saikur moved away from his spot by the side of the temple to the front when Leigh came out to join him. "Saikur! There you are... Did you get any sleep?" Saikur wondered if he looked as bad as he felt.

He merely shook his head.

"Do you want to be the one to search for the two that helped to rebel Zahan off or do you want to stay here and find some rest?"

Right, there were two helpers but they didn't know much about them. One, he remembered, had eyes that Saikur could not forget – a strange aqua colour he never saw before, along with dark brown hair with white highlights. He was sure that if he ever saw that man again, he would recognize him. However, it was odd to Saikur that he disappeared so soon after, mentioning nothing about his name, like he was looking for something that couldn't wait and would disappear if he didn't leave.

The other man that helped was an axe user like Saikur but unlike Saikur, he looked more like an axe user than he did. At least, he had the right build for it. In terms of appearance, he didn't have distinct features like the swordsman did but Saikur could remember squinted green eyes and a vest of some sort. Also unlike the swordsman, the man seemed to act as though he owed something to the city and wanted to fight for it before mumbling something abut Zahan's lack of honour. Something caught his attention, similar to the guy, like he had something to check on and he ran off too, saying his name was Garath and they should meet again soon.

"Why are we looking for them?"

"The head priest wants us to prepare to leave for Vedia for Igneous' safety in the next couple of days. Clearly, Zahan wants him and it's our job to ensure that they won't get him."

"What's the point of leaving Adoss altogether though?"

"It's just the head priest's opinion that we should keep moving. We have to keep the temple safe until we leave."

"I... don't know if that's for the best. The people would need their oracle the most right now while they rebuild – all of the priests should know this! I also hate showing that we're afraid of Zahan when we're not. Overall, shouldn't we be asking what Igneous wants? What he thinks is best?"

"You know that he can't control what he sees!"

"Then that's all the more reason to wait, now isn't it? We should at least try to wait until he sees something," Saikur said with a sigh, suddenly feeling very tired. "Let's exercise caution. We fought off Zahan once, we can do it again and they also need time to recuperate just as we do."

Leigh sighed, pacing around while Saikur laid back against the temple as the silence set in. Fortunately, it didn't last long.

"I'll talk to the head priest and see how long his healer thinks he needs."

Saikur was too tried to even enjoy his small victory over Leigh and his rule abiding nature. He was around because he was told to be around. Surely, he held affection for Igneous and they were friends, but the way Saikur saw it, Leigh cared more about following orders than about Igneous himself. He resented Leigh a little bit for that. Saikur cared about Igneous so much and he couldn't understand why Leigh would still place rules and orders above Igneous. Sometimes, Igneous couldn't get everything he wanted but he was at least willing to compromise whereas it took Leigh a lot of convincing sometimes to even consider it.

"I'll go find those two men as well."

"Alright," Saikur mumbled, slowly pushing himself to his feet. It was almost like he was drunk, stumbling a little on his feet as he made his way into the temple. It was still open, despite the fact that Igneous was resting and not reading because the people needed help. Maybe he could sleep after he checked in with Igneous and saw how he was doing with his own eyes. He made his way past the people that were sitting in the temple eating and talking around sheets of paper before they headed back outside to work on the reconstruction, then slipped behind the curtain and found Igneous' room.

In there was a female with loose, purple hair and dark eyes, dressed in the white and red robes that all the priests and priestesses wore. "Oh, are you his friend?" she asked. "I'm his healer, Elena."

"Saikur," he mumbled. "Uh... how is he?" From what he could see, Igneous was on his stomach, his hair loose and clutching one of his many pillows.

"Tired. He keeps grumbling and I can't help to think it might be about The Barren. I don't believe he's aware that's he talking though. Do you mind watching him for a moment?" she asked as she stood up.

"Sure... but why?"

"Well, I want to see if anything he's saying matches up with what the other oracles said before him. Everything odd or serious about the oracles were written down by somebody," Elena said happily, like she was excited to get her hands on them.

"I didn't know records of that existed."

"Oh they do but they're not available to the public nor are they available to most of us healers here. Unfortunately, they don't help too much with history since it's all rather recent but they're a good comparison tool," she said with a shrug.

"And you have access to those?" Saikur raised an eyebrow as he took Igneous' chair.

"I never said that. If we are all held behind by a few stupid rules, we'll never learn anything. Anyway, I'll be back shortly!" she said, running out of his room. Saikur sighed, fought back a yawn, and straightened himself in the chair. Igneous looked to be at peace, his ankle wrapped up for some extra support, he figured. Suddenly, Igneous woke up, slowly stretching and propping himself up on his elbows.

"Eh? Saikur? What are you doing here?"

"I was just checking up on you," he answered.

"You look tired. Did you get any sleep?" Saikur shook his head at that.

"I'm damn exhausted too, not just from the lack of sleep but from the battle too. You should be happy to know that this part of Dosia is currently rebuilding itself already."

"Do you know how bad it was?" Igneous asked as he slowly sat up, his hair falling about him. Suddenly, he understood why some of the female priestesses stared a little too long at Igneous sometimes. He was very pretty.

"The fire was bad, made about fifteen homes or so uninhabitable and ruined some of the farm fields but that was it. No Adossian casualties, surprisingly. Zahan was only worried about us and you so they didn't attack any of the citizens and everybody got out of their homes," Saikur answered. He failed to mention the two helpers, whoever they were. If Leigh found them, then it was probably better for Igneous to meet them himself.

"Why was Zahan even here? Do you think they got to the king already?" Igneous mumbled as he shot out of bed suddenly. Saikur grabbed his wrist and gave a forceful yank, sending his friend reeling back. He was tired but he was still prepared for anything and could react surprisingly fast when he needed to, even if he couldn't get to the other side of Igneous' room without stumbling a little. Perhaps he could be an efficient drunk but that was something he didn't have the time or will to test.

"Where do you think you're going? You need rest!"

"I feel like I should read people," he mumbled. "I think it's important to try to figure out what's going on."

"What? No, relax! Or better yet, maybe read me," Saikur mumbled, holding out his hand. Igneous' golden eyes went wide.

"Really? You never let me read you before."

Well, yes, that was true. Saikur wanted his personal thoughts to stay personal and there was no telling what Igneous could see in the future which may give him a clue into this thoughts. However, he also thought that maybe reading him and maybe Elena whenever she got back, they could find out more about when to leave. He wanted to know if he was right in making Leigh hold back and wait – it was just what he thought was best but if he was wrong, it could be very bad for Igneous. He was hurt once, Saikur didn't want him to be hurt again.

"I know but..." Igneous grabbed his hand. He didn't know what to expect – he watched him more than once but he didn't know if there was something to feel or something he should expect. Igneous let go. "I don't sense any sort danger. What were you looking for?"

"Leigh said that the head priest wants us out soon and he wants us to prepare but I didn't agree with that and if that was a stupid decision, then I want to know."

"I'm not ready to leave yet," he said quietly. He noticed that Igneous failed to tell him what he saw, just that there was no danger. "I want to see that everybody is alright first, I want to see the new houses go up again... I want to see that everything is normal again. I don't want this to be all my fault."

"But it isn't..."

"But I'm the 'Oracle of Death', Saikur! I'm not nearly as helpful as the other oracles were and it sucks! I couldn't prevent the fire, heck I didn't even tell anybody that I saw it... where's Mira? Is she alright?"

"Igneous, calm down! I don't who Mira is but she's probably just helping around where she's needed, Gerben's hauling stuff and Leigh's looking for two guys that helped us last night. Everybody's fine. You're the only one who got seriously injured so just relax for a while!" He mumbled, pushing Igneous into his bed just as Elena returned to the room, holding a thick stack of papers in her hands as she used her foot to shut the door behind her.

"Oh, you're awake," she mumbled as she put the papers down on Igneous' vanity. "Are you in any pain? You were grumbling."

"I was?" Igneous mumbled, looking bewildered but then he seemed to realize that she asked something else. "Oh, my chest is a little sore."

She raised an eyebrow. "Where on your chest?" He gestured to the region just under his neck but still in the middle, right in between his collar bones. She slowly raised her hand and gently touched him, her face perplexed. "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong."

"Huh... it's not really that painful, but it's like a dull throbbing."

She glanced back at the papers and dug through them quickly. "Apparently, that was never observed in the other oracles. In fact, Igneous doesn't seem to be much like the other oracles – they had little problems, even after their words about The Barren. They've lived rather happily until their deaths before the age of fifty. However, these records indicate that Igneous fell ill more often, particularly with fever, he favours some material goods when the other oracles showed no such interest, and he's predicted death more often than the other two. The only thing to change is the state of The Barren so there might be a relationship here."

"So... is his difference a good thing or a bad thing?" Saikur asked. Was his friend also doomed to die relatively young?

"Who knows? Is it possible that The Barren only grows stronger while the oracle grows weaker? Completely!" Elena said excitedly. Igneous collapsed into his bed with a groan, obviously not pleased with the news. Yes, being compared to Mayon and Vulcan was definitely what Igneous needed the most at the moment. "I don't think there's much I can do about his chest but if it still bothers you, I can find a herb that may help ease the pain."

"It's not that bad," Igneous mumbled into one of his pillows, the same one he was clutching before.

Elena nodded to Igneous and then turned to Saikur. "Were you one of the ones who spent time outside yesterday when it rained a lot?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Aside from your obvious exhaustion, do you feel any different? Being wet like that is bad for your health," she stated.

"No, I'm fine," he mumbled. Sure, he trembled a bit but it was hard to tell which problems came from being wet and which problems came from the lack of sleep.

"Igneous, if you wait here then I'll use a sleep staff on your friend. That should help him sleep."

"Yeah, I'll stay here. Saikur deserves some sleep," he said happily with a wave of his hand. Elena disappeared for a moment and came back with a staff that was not horribly unfamiliar with him. He led her to the room next to Igneous', which had just the essentials – a bed, a place to store clothing, a desk, and an extra chair – and climbed up onto his bed. The last thing he remembered from Elena was her chanting before he was out.

He didn't dream often but when he did, it was more like unpleasant recollections – he was often missing the imaginative side of dreaming that other people seemed to have. He chalked it up to a complicated childhood that for the most part, lacked any sort of fun. The only times he could really recall fun was using the axe and time spent being alone with Igneous, as they both found themselves as social outcasts and that wasn't just limited to children. Adults thought that Igneous was just a dumb, clumsy kid because he did stumble and space out sometimes but that was later revealed to everybody else that it was his gift that made him do that. Saikur's persecution had everything to do with his ridiculous family life and everybody knew it and called him out on it like he could do something about it.

He often recalled his mother in his dreams and he didn't care if she died during the time that he and Sarrel, his older brother, spent away from her. She didn't seem to have the ability to care for anybody but herself and she didn't even care for the home she lived in, leaving Sarrel and Saikur to do all of the cleaning, the cooking, and any other errand that needed to be done. He rarely saw his mother and when he did, she was with a new man he never saw before. In fact, he was pretty sure that he and Sarrel didn't have the same father.

Saikur changed his clothing, then went out in the lobby, feeling a lot better than he did before he slept. The lobby was busy again, filled with people that were resting, others that were circled around a piece of paper, continuing with their planning process where the wind could not bother their paper. Igneous went from person to person, holding his hand out and probably doing free readings. He looked a lot better, with normal colouring and the life that he had in his eyes and body motions replaced the confusion and the exhaustion he had before. Saikur smiled – it was good that they were better.

Igneous noticed him. "Saikur! How are you feeling?" he said, getting up from a kneeling position and running over.

"Better," he answered as he took a peek outside. The pile of materials had grown larger but nothing went up quite yet. That must have been what those in the lobby was planning. Dosia, he noticed, looked a lot better too. The sun was shining and with the debris cleared, it looked like nothing really happened. It was impressive really, how a city could bounce back the way it did but it was probably thanks to all the wealth Adoss accumulated, especially all the wealth that was accumulated thanks to the oracles. That gold alone could probably rebuild the section of Dosia that was affected.

Or rather, that was probably how it was. There was no world from the capital that he heard.

But then he realized that the sun wasn't any higher than it was when he fell asleep it was a little lower actually. He bit his lips. "Hey Igneous, how long have I been asleep for?"

"Oh, you were asleep the entire day. It's been two days since the fire."

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Saikur cried.

"We tried," Igneous said with a frown. "Elena said you shouldn't haven been out that long but because you were so tired to begin with, the sleep staff exasperated what sleep you should have gotten... or something like that! She was going to use another staff to wake you up but I thought you need the sleep."

Saikur mumbled. "Wow, I must have... did I miss any news?"

"Not really and Gerben's been on edge because Mira said that the guy that hurt me said that they would know something yesterday. Nothing happened as far as I heard and nobody here knows what's going on... speaking of which, do you know Leigh went? He hasn't come back."

"He went to go find some people who helped out. Like I said yesterday, the head priest thinks we gotta move and I guess us three guardians aren't enough to defend you," Saikur mumbled.

"Mira's coming too, whenever we head out. Maybe Elena should come, we do need a healer to make sure we get there in one piece."

"Who is Mira again?"

Igneous led him outside and pointed her out – a girl with long blonde hair and green eyes, her expression soft as she danced with a group of children who were more than likely displaced due to the fire. It was a good thing somebody was making sure that the children were busy – they would get in the way otherwise. However, there was another girl there, her hair long and white. Her most startling future were her red eyes, a sort of red that was dark and dull and not at all like Igneous' wild hair. Her dress was white and simple but she had a fancy gold and white corset over it to make up for the simplicity of her dress. She was kneeling beside the children as well, either talking or maybe singing to the children, making them clap for one reason or another.

"I don't know who the other girl is though," Igneous mumbled.

"I was about to ask."

"I know," Igneous said with a cheeky grin. "This is another interesting day with the readings though. You would think that with a fire and the death of a king that may or may not have happened yet, you think that people would be in more trouble but... that's not the case. No deaths again for the second time in a row! If Zahan is really going to invade, they're being relatively nice and I don't know if that's concerning or not."

Igneous suddenly stumbled forward. Saikur caught him before he could hit the ground, just in case he wasn't back in time to stop himself – it did happen where he hit the ground but it was a rare occurrence. Nonetheless, Saikur liked to catch him when he could, just to make sure. A second later, he recovered and Saikur let him go so he could could regain what Igneous referred to as the 'sense of self'. His friend rubbed his temples irritably as soon as he his feet planted firmly on the ground.

"What was it this time?" Saikur asked, raising an eyebrow. That was not a normal reaction.

"I... what was that...?"

Saikur felt alarmed but he kept it out of his expression.

"It was like... like an ursurine but it was like a purple fog too. It was the shape of a bear but there was no substance..."

"And what was it doing?"

"Nothing," he answered. "I just saw it but it looked right at me and I felt kind of... compelled to go to it. It was somehow calling for me, without saying anything, but it was also so full hate that I didn't want to go."

Saikur didn't know what to say. He couldn't calm Igneous down when in reality, he was startled and afraid for him too. His vision could be a metaphor for something but on the other hand, it could be very real and the fact that sometimes it was hard to tell was concerning. "Was it close?"

"It felt very far away... didn't like like any sort of place really so it should be far off in the future," he said quietly and subdued. "I don't like it."

"I don't blame you."

"Let's go talk to Mira and see who the girl is," Igneous said suddenly, changing the topic abruptly. Saikur nodded, only because he suddenly perked up and if indulging in curiosity made him happy, who was Saikur to argue? Igneous ran down the hill and Saikur followed with renewed energy thanks to his long nap but he also realized that it was a long time since he last ate and his energy only came from his excitement of well, feeling awake. He slept and it was amazing.

"Mira!" Igneous shouted with a wave.

"Igneous, hello," she greeted with a smile. "These kids are so cute! It's a shame what happened... I guess you're feeling better though."

Saikur turned to look at the other girl among the children. He felt a mysterious and powerful air around her that somehow put him on edge. There was something off about her.

"Who is your friend?" Igneous asked. He didn't look or sound like he felt what Saikur felt but he had the idea that Igneous did feel it. It wasn't something that he would miss.

"I'm Reina," she answered, her voice surprisingly kind. It was a voice he would have expected if he heard her before he felt that kind of air she had.

"We worked together briefly," Mira chimed in. "I danced but Reina sang until she decided to leave the troupe before we entered Dosia... for some reason." She shrugged.

"I have personal reasons," Reina said softly. "But I did hear what happened and... I wanted to help in some way, even if that something is just keeping the children calm. It has to be scary for them too." A little girl then walked up her and tangled herself in Reina's arms and her chest. Reina patted her head in a soothing manner.

Igneous smiled, then patted Saikur on the shoulder. "Okay you two, I get to introduce my friend now too. This is Saikur!"

"Is he a guardian too? Like Gerben?" Mira asked. Saikur nodded.

"And if Leigh ever comes back, you'll meet the third guardian," Saikur with a sigh. How hard was it to find two people who were essentially right in the middle of the action? Why the heck was it so hard? And why did they have to go away right away and leave Leigh and Saikur nothing to find them with? Perhaps they would come back to the temple? At least that Garath guy made it sound like he was going to come back but then again where was he?

He just hoped that Leigh returned soon, with or without the two strangers.

"Anyway, Igneous, I'm going to go find something to eat. I'm starving," he mumbled, making his way back to the temple.

This is a little shorter than what I usually allow but I wanted to submit another chapter to calm my nervous and this story was giving me a better time than the other. I think I wrote this in two or three days? Ah, the wonders of being at the beginning of the story versus being near the end.

Arder, Elena, Reina, and Garath are all submitted characters. Remember, it's not too late to submit a character from Adoss - becuase we're not done with it yet - otherwise you'll have to have an Adossian wanderer.

And I hope this one is calm enough for you guys after the last one - and not sarcastically. I know last chapter escalated quickly but I also had a hard time planning for more relaxing points prior to the other action. I think I'm better with calming aftermaths, at least that's what I look forward to, so sorry for the rush on the last chapter! Also, fire is a theme of some sorts so I thought it fitting for it to cause some chaos. Even the other oracles' names were carefully picked - Mayon is the name of a volcano that holds the title of 'the World's Most Perfectly Shaped Volcano' and Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and metalworking. Igneous' names also involves fire/molten material. I like to find meanings with names and then I make names like Saikur.