Catching Fire

I looted the unconscious thug to see if I couldn't find anything, ending up with nothing more than a few knives and a couple of modest coin pouches that I decided to take. I mean, he did try to kidnap me so fair was fair.

"You aren't the only freak around here you know." A low grumbling sounded from down the alleyway as a man holding flames in the palm of his hand stepped forward.

'There he is! It really is kind of like a boss fight.' I squinted to get a better look at him, but unfortunately, he wasn't wearing any cool gear I could take after beating him. 'Maybe I'm getting carried away. I really do feel great though now that my blood's calmed down I almost feel like I could fly.' At the thought, I felt the strange sensation tingle through my back again.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to come quietly, or I'll burn you to ashes."

"Ha, well there, you asked, but if you're so afraid you should probably just turn around and walk away."

He let out an annoyed groan. "Always so confident!" He yelled, throwing a huge burst of fire right at me gushing out like a river shattering a damn.

I covered my whole body in a layer of thin ice so cold that the fire didn't even evaporate it, my dress still staying a little damp. Although to him, I'm sure it looked like I was protected by divine intervention.

'It wasn't even hot… I should be happy this is so easy… I mean, my life isn't in danger like last time… But honestly…' I let out a long sigh. 'This is just so disappointing…'

when it hit me it didn't even feel as bad as accidentally digging into a meal before it properly cooled off.

He stared at me, completely dumbfounded. "Y-you're kidding right?" 

'I didn't even take damage…' "That's it? That's all you got?" 'Well, I guess comparing him to a demon was bound to be a stretch, but I thought he'd at least give me a bad sunburn or something…'

I checked his stats to try and figure out why. They weren't necessarily all that low, it's just that his magic wasn't great. 'That makes sense, it's probably hard to practice in this nation.'

I let out another disappointed sigh. 'It was still pretty cool to see people use it though.' Taking out one of the knives I looted I hurled it across the field and into the man's leg. "For the record, I'm not a very confident person… The fact I was sure I could beat you says a lot more about you than it does about me."

He was groaning in pain, but with a knife hilt deep in his thigh, he wasn't running anywhere. Not that he could have outrun me anyway. "This helped boost my ego a lot though, so thanks," I said, quickly knocking him out with a quick jab to the side of his head, ducking under what must have been his poor excuse for a punch.

'Now, I have to figure out what to do about them… Oh, actually, they had some rope. Well– I– guess they were trying to kidnap me–- so that makes—' I raised a hand to my head as my headache returned stronger than ever before as if the fight brought it on.

Taking the rope I tied them all together, and using my magic to enhance my strength, I picked them up and carried them away. 'Let's see, the castle should be… This way…. right?'

My perfect memory and the 3d layout of the city I had formed in my head were both hazy. With the crazy way I fled from where I was, it seemed almost impossible to retrace my steps, and even if I did, how I got there was hazy as well.

'So what now… My head…' I stumbled and dropped the bandits on the ground, hearing a noise that made me pretty certain at least the one guy wouldn't be running away, even if they did somehow get out of the binds. 'I'm so tired…'

Sitting down against the wall, I lowered my head into my hands, shielding my eyes from the light, but that only made me want to sleep even more. 'I really wish someone would just come and find me, but I'm alone again… Aren't I.'

"Siya?"

'Or… Maybe not?' I raised my head up to see Zu and Finlo chowing down on some meat skewers. Finlo seemed like he couldn't care less, but like always Zu seemed overly concerned.

"Hey!" He snapped his fingers in front of my face, forcing me to shoo them away. "Ouch!"

"I can hear just fine…" I mumbled. 'Ouch, is he joking? I barely touched him?'

I heard some vague mumbling, quickly followed by Finlo suddenly grabbing my hand and jerking me onto my feet. Before I knew it I was on his back. "Hey, Ogre, grab those men and take them to one of the guard posts, have them be detained till we figure this out."

"But why would the guards listen to me if I don't have a reason for why they're tied up?"

Finlo didn't even bother slowing down to respond. "Show them you're junior knight crest. Or just come up with excuses I don't care."

Their conversation turned to vague muffled sounds again as my stomach started to twist and turn. "Fin…"

"I know, just hold out a bit longer."

My insides started to feel like fire, I tried to cool off, but my manna just leaked out instead of flowing properly, as my eyes rolled back and my body lost all tension, melting into Finlo's back. As he walked it only got worse until I belched a cloud of dark smoke right past his ear, causing him to speed up his pace slightly. 

'What's happening…' "sorry… I–" I let out a long embarrassed groan through the pain, having to pause and bite my tongue to stop it from happening again.

"Some idiot set your blood on fire. You're more or less turning into a dragon. Belching is fine, but if it feels stronger than that you have to hold it back alright?"

'How is he so calm…' "I feel like I have a fever… I really high one…"

"You're body temperature is probably high enough to boil water right now. So that makes sense."

'He usually talks so fast… Why is he so calm right now…' I rested my forehead on his shoulder and closed my eyes. 'How does he even know what's going on…' I felt something spark inside of me sending chills through my insides and making me burp again, but as I tried to hold it back the dark smoke came out my nose, just as audible as before sending a whole new wave of sensations through my face that made me almost pass out. 'I feel like I'm going to throw up… Wait, what did he say again? Right… I can't do that… But why not?'

I started gently hitting my head against his shoulder, groaning again until I finally sneezed, sending another wave of pins and needles through my sinuses, making me shake my head like a dog trying to get away from someone teasing it with a feather. When I looked down… I noticed his pauldron was on fire… His metal pauldron…

He just brushed it off with his bare hand. "Don't worry, We're almost there."

'I don't understand anything anymore…'