Journey of the Elementals RP (Pm if Interested, Started)

[Mr. Omega]

Drew had been cautiously sticking near the back, watching what had been going on when he noticed Seth in front of them. "Huh. So Seth decided to try his luck as well." he muttered. We all seem to be converging into the same trial. Maybe that means we'll run into Fei soon... He then took a moment to consider her in the current situation While being able to use lightning here would be nice... he shuddered at the thought of bringing her into a battle with other mages and demons. However, he shook his head to get rid of any hesitation he had. NO. This isn't real. These aren't actual demons. The mages are constructs for the sake of the trial. Don't worry about it.

Back to his normal self, he slowly drifted towards Cale and Seth. "So, you're here now. That's good. What exactly brought you here? Maybe a different perspective can give us a clue into how these trials actually work..."

 

[blaze96]

Alexander decided to try thinking back to his shadow to see if maybe this was a two way system.

"Other than these wounds and a troubled mind I am alright. Both of which will heal in time. I would heal my body myself but for the moment I am a bit low on energy.

As for who I am, you are correct. But if you are my shadow it would stand to reason that you are an extension of myself. Which would make you me too, though a different kind of me. Though I can see this all becoming somewhat confusing.

Though I should ask how you are and what you think of all this." He didn't ask about being better equipped since his shadow had already saved his life once. He also wondered if he should tell his shadow that it was free to do as it felt best. He wondered if the others with shadows would see what he now saw or if they would see the old shadow. Or if at this point they would see it at all. For now though he would simply try to get to know what now thought and talked in most definite ways, perhaps even see what and if it could interact with.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Let's let the other Apprentice try, okay?"

"Alright..." Gabriel hesitantly answered, turning his attention to the bowl of water. Just moving its contents around was easy stuff, well within his limited capacity to perform magical acts. However, when he reached forwards and tried to stir the water as Fei had done, it barely rippled under his command. "It's not working..."

"Stay calm, Apprentice. Go back over your notes if you have to," Alaina instructed.

Well, that's just not fair. Stunt my already average abilities as well as my age. Annoyed by this stage of the trial, Gabriel played along anyway. As he pretended to look over a page of notes on his desk, he began to question why this particular memory was revisited. Where was the challenge in reliving the past? Where was the... well, the trial, in this? He didn't understand.

He turned back to the water in front of him, and attempted to move it around again. This time, it didn't even budge.

 

[Lambi]

Whatever demons that tried to attack Silvana were swiftly dealt with as she used the darkness to attack and counter them in various ways, stabbing through them with spikes made of darkness, grabbing them and "devouring" them by having them disappear into the darkness on the ground, shooting darkness beams at them and if she needed to, holding them down with darkness tentacles and draining them of life by putting her hand on them, leaving them a dried out corpse. All the while, she kept a sadistic grin on her face.

Once she reached the point where Cale and Nydia were, she noticed the Pyromancer she'd met before they had entered the Trials. Seth, as she believed she remembered his name to be. But he hadn't entered with them. Was this just a part of the trials? Was this the real Seth or a fake created by the trials? Whatever the case was, he didn't seem like he was about to fight them, but she felt it was better to keep her guard up. She took a good look at herself, what she could look at without a mirror, and saw that her robes showed some signs of combat, since some of the demons had managed to attack her. But thanks to her life draining ability, she didn't feel fatigued from the battles. Her heart still pounded in her chest, her mind still in battle mode, but for now, she just wondered why Seth was there with them.

 

[UnusualStranger]

As all the mages seemed to pause at the sight of Seth, the guard that had traveled with them growled in disgust. He clicked his crossbow, and then drew out his sword as well.

"Goddamned lazy bastards. THEY are the reason for the damned demons. LOOK AT THIS GODDAMNED MESS. KILL THEM." The guard shouted, pushing past Drew and Cale to fire a bolt at Seth. As he did this action, other humans arrived out of the canyon behind them, lightly armored but heavily armed, they were slightly bloodied but prepared for a fight, and upon seeing the gathering of mages and the ritual going on, wasted no time getting ready to charge at the three guardian mages while all the other fended the demons off around them.

Seth and the pair of mages wasted no time reacting to the aggression as the humans began arriving into the small opening that they had. Seth didn't even worry about the bolt as the woman beside him grabbed the bolt out of the air with the winds, and launched it back. Meanwhile, the Earthshaper wasted no time transferring the rocks in his fists and energies towards causing a quick earthquake, tossing all but Silvana into the air. It was a short quake, just enough to toss everyone off their feet, but it was all Seth needed as he stepped forward letting his flames consume the man who had fired first. The man shouted only once and was dead in a moment, and Seth spun his fiery blade as he grimly smiled.

"Seems we are not here with the same objectives...." Seth said, turning towards Silvana. "...If you dare, of course."

The pair that had stood with Seth assumed he could handle that, and stepped instead to take care of any additional humans coming in, as well as those who were already there, and not dead yet. The Airshifter began firing her arrows, being methodical about the shots as she did so, and the Earthshaker once again brought the stone to his arms, prepared to defend his arrow flinging companion.

[hr]

Alexander's shadow tilted his head, somewhat concerned as Alexander spoke about being wounded in different ways, and thus needed some assistance. He approached Alexander and reached out, the suns on his sleeves giving off a glow.

"Your wounds are my concern as they were before....or is that now? No matter. Healing must be done. Remain.....calm...." The shadow's thoughts echoed once more as the glowing engulfed Alexander, and the Prime Minister and Joseph both stepped back, exchanging a glance as they did so. It was obvious a lot had happened. While the Prime Minister turned his gaze back to the other workers to see they went back to work...which they did as he looked.

Joseph, on the other hand quickly became fascinated, taking down as many notes as he could as he stared, hoping that he was getting every detail. He noted in particular that Alexander seemed less...burdened, if that was the correct word? Yes, less burdened. Perhaps it was a new type of healing that was happening? Or perhaps....a possession? Most fascinating.

After the few moments, the shadow stepped away. Alexander's wounds were gone, though the shadow seemed to be much more transparent as he stepped back. Looking Alexander over for a moment, he nodded in satisfaction.

"Good....Now, you are...correct that this is all odd. I would hope you to offer more answers for me than questions I have. But this is not the case....But I can tell you I am very grateful for you....doing whatever you attempted to do. It has given me....soul? Existence? Life? I lack the word to know what it should be. Or perhaps the emotional understanding."

 

[blaze96]

Alexander immediately felt an easing of both his body and his troubled mind. But he also noticed the transparency of the shadow. That caused him some amount of worry.

'Thank you. You have done much for me already, but I'd like you to promise me something. That you try and avoid making your own situation worse as well. You seem to be fading out, and whatever you are or aren't can be figured out in due time, but as a healer I'd still appreciate you trying to minimize harm to yourself as you aid me.

Unfortunately I have few answers, the two other men in this room wanted to see an effect that the crystal I hold might have on someone already with a shadow. You are the result of my touching it. As for your feelings, I think given time and experience you will find the words or emotions. Even though you look older than me you are only mere minutes old. We can both feel the separation of our consciousness still. We will both have to explore what we can do and the effects it might have. Though tell me, you know my name, but do you perhaps know my past? Or perhaps more personal information about me?' He had held up the crystal to...himself he guessed as he mentioned it. He then turned and spoke to Joseph.

"My shadow has gained a kind of sentience. We can communicate through thought and it just healed me, physically and mentally. Though it became more translucent to me as it did so. Right now we are both trying to sort out our thoughts, feelings, et cetera. Neither one of us knows what happened specifically though, just that it happened."

 

[Lambi]

Silvana didn't care much about the orders the man gave, as she wasn't about to let him tell her to fight someone she'd previously had a kind encounter with. But then the Earthshaper that was with Seth made the earth quake and Silvana was the only one who stood in front of the three mages as Seth seemed to challenge her while the other two mages started to take care of any other humans around them. Silvana chuckled as she held out her palms facing Seth with her arms down along her sides. "I may not like fire or its users, but it's still more manageable then those damned Light users. If it's a fight you want, then I'm sure as hell gonna give you one."

She started by spreading some darkness across her on the ground, covering enough ground so that she could keep a good distance away from Seth. She didn't know how well he could fight or how much control he had over fire, but any precaution was necessary against anyone who provided light in one way or another. For a moment or so, she just looked at him, measuring him and his blade. "A mage who uses physical weapons. An odd choice, certainly. It'll never be as good as magic though, I'm afraid." With that, she sent a blast of a darkness beam towards him, seeing how good his reactions were.

 

[UnusualStranger]

The shadow only shrugged as Alexander mentioned is lessened...existence. It looked itself over, and didn't bother to try and do anything about the situation, for it likely could do nothing about the current issue. An idea seemed to strike the shadow suddenly, and he waved an arm towards Alexander, and instead of touching him only passed through. The look quickly changed to one of realization as he realized his own existence seemed to dawn on himself.

"I can promise very little, Alexander. You know as a healer that the task is to ease the suffering of others, and save all those who we can. I will attempt to...not fade away, if there was a way for me to tell."The shadow's speech even seemed to be more faded, and their minds also seemed to crash much less with much less around.

"So then a crystal, and I am only ten minutes old? An...interesting dilemma. Though, now that you mention memories....I remember blades, trinkets, and other things of iron and bronze....Perhaps a smithy? Maybe an army, or a noble? It is all very....fuzzy. I am not sure if they are your thoughts or my own. A lady, perhaps? Dressed in white, with dark hair which went against her golden shine? Perhaps..." The shadow paused, obviously now lost in thought as it stood trying to sort out what it was.

Joseph, in the meantime, was writing faster than he had ever thought he could write before, taking down anything and anything he could about Alexander and what he said, how he said it, and how he would at times seem to just stand there and do....nothing. But it seemed to be directed? Pointed at some...thing in the direction he was facing?

The Prime Minister was much less inclined, and stepped to Alexander. Looking him over for a moment, he nodded.
"Seems that you are...better now, so I imagine that is...your shadow as well? I saw the light, but I do not believe I see his presence any more. Is there anything else? Do you need to go somewhere, or something needs to be done?" The Prime Minister turned again to look at the other creators, who seemed to be all heavily at work now, though sometimes some would stop to look over at them.

"Perhaps it would be best if we went elsewhere before you attempted anything else. To be honest, I trust these inventors but not that much."

[hr]

As Silvana attempted to strike at him, a strange thought crossed Seth's mind as he watched the blast fly towards him. Perhaps he should allow himself to be hit, and see what happened. Was that how it should end? Perhaps he should let things just go? Maybe his own choice of death would be a fitting end.

......NO. Seth slid to the side in a single instant before the blast of darkness struck him, the thought still echoing in his head. He knew it was not his own, and glanced at his shadow which had gone in the other direction. The shadow seemed....Angry? There was something more to it now, and it brought its flames around itself as well. Seth grinned, and then began his steps towards Silvana, deciding to be a bit more diplomatic rather than warrior.

"You know, you could help me instead of working with these humans. Seems like they intend to do a good killing, and I would hate for this fight to lead to both of our deaths." Seth began to run, and let a few flames fly towards Silvana, much in the same way that Silvana tested him. Perhaps this would be a different way to bring about the end. He hoped that the ritual wouldn't be long now...holding off a gathering amount of humans as well as mages was a plate perhaps too full for himself and his current allies to handle.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Before Cale could speak out once more, an earthquake brought him to the ground along with the rest of the mages with the exception of a few. He rose to his feet as quick as he was brought down. This fight was going to become ugly with the rest of the humans quickly if they didn't resolve it. Cale needed to work fast.

Cale closed the distance before the Earthshaper could let loose another earthquake and whipped his sand whip to test his defenses. At this range, he would be telegraphing his attacks very clearly, leading Cale to read his moves confidently. The man blocked his attack, bringing a stone arm to cover his midsection. The sand crackled against his arm but then wrapped itself around it. In one quick motion, Cale pulled the arm towards him for a split second but it was enough. Cale put his momentum forward on top of the large man, leading with his rear shoulder and rolling off his back into the Air mage behind him. Cale made the earth sink beneath her feet, making her fall into the twin holes up to her knees before getting swatted aside by the Earthshaper. He was sent rolling a few feet back but recovered successfully. He wiped some blood from his bitten lip and formed an earth shield, anticipating another attack.

 

[NeoAC]

As the harsh glow faded into the background, Raven's recently-acquired confidence seemed to return to her. I got past it. I...I conquered it. Yes. Light's got nothing on me! I master my own light! She had to stop to remind herself that there were still a couple more orbs to go around. The air master was going on the monstrosity they were unleashing, and that made Raven a little leary as to what specifically this ceremony was about, but still everything was going well. Surely whatever emerged from this circle would be controlled by the masters present as this time. The Light master would be her presumed weak link, but this Air guy was sounding shaky as well.

She put the doubt out of her mind for the moment and moved onto the final orb, the Water orb. Seemed slightly out of sync not being across from the fire orb, but who was she to judge? It was beautiful though, the shimmering waves reminded her of the nicer part of her childhood. The ocean. There weren't many trips to it during the proper seasons due to the chores that had to be done on the farm, but the rare occasions that they did get to the beach were most enjoyable. She didn't even go out in the sun, but staying under the canvas tent and just watching the water move in and out, it was one of the few times she could remember being at peace.

"May the students be protected from the doom that is unleashed."

Wait, what?

The Water master's chant was just as dire, if not more so than the Air master's. Now Raven was worried. Now there were questions. What the...what are we doing here then? Why are we doing this? Are we ending the world? Should I be thrilled? How many times have I talked about ending the world and this could be it! I could have a direct part in it! This is..... do I want this though?

She looked over in the direction where Seth and the other battle mages were. There was a commotion, magic was flying, they were fighting. It looked like things were getting rough.

I don't know..... I just don't know anymore. This isn't even the unknown from before, it's not the how. It's the why. I... I don't think I want this.

As she came to this realization, it was at this time she came face to face with a pair of eyes looking just as worried as she was. Her shadow. Were... were those blue eyes always there? They were clearly visible now, darting from side to side, as if to try and find an escape to anywhere but here. It... she? Whatever, doesn't want to be doing this. Why am I doing this. I don't need to be doing this. I shouldn't be doing this. But the time for that revelation was not now. With Raven coming within a breath of her shadow, that meant that the circuit of magic was now complete.

 

[Lambi]

Silvana raised a few walls of darkness, having a little trouble with the flames due to their brightness, but she held them off while Seth was talking to her. Sure, it sounded like a good idea to work with him than to fight him. But could she trust him? She'd only just met him earlier, and true, he did seem friendly enough. But she still had some doubt. "You bring up a good point. But can I be so sure that you won't go behind my back?"

A bit more testing was needed, she felt. She spread darkness across the ground towards him and as it was spreading, spears appeared out of it. The darkness was spreading quickly and if he could dodge it, she'd be impressed. If not, then it was a shame, but she'd move on.

 

[Mr. Omega]

Drew had been hovering when the ground shook, increasing altitude to try and avoid an attack. "Ok. Powerful stuff. Remain in the air..." he said, starting to work a strategy. Ok, so I've got a good eye on the situation and a decent idea of who can do what. All I need is a way to work what we've got to counter what.........wait a minute. Maybe I don't know everything I need to know. He started heading towards Silvana and Seth, noticing Silvana's attack. "No time to say anything. Earth's softened up from all the shaking. Sorry, Silvana..."

He focused a small whirlwind around Silvana, trying to pick up enough dust and gravel to distract her from striking. He floated above her, in front of Seth. "Ok... now before we go any further, perhaps you can fill me in on a couple details. You said we're not here with the same objectives. So do tell: what is your objective?" These folks we're working with seem about as trustworthy as a back alley salesman, so maybe we're on the wrong side here... I wouldn't be surprised. Still, perhaps his allies don't have our best interests in mind either He held his crossbow out in front of him, but kept it down.

 

[SkyeNeko]

While Gabe tried in vain to move the water, Fei was deep in rambling thought.

Memories... I aced this class, years ago! Am I supposed to remember what I did in this class? I remember everything from it! Like when Lisa taught me how to make bubbles, or when Ms. Sandi gave me a B because I couldn't get all the water out of my clothes... it was hard! So why are we still here? Am I not remembering things right? Am I forgetting something?

"GABRIEL!" Fei suddenly shouted, disrupting what little movement he had made, and upsetting the bowl of water. "I'm forgetting something! What is it?! I'm imagining everything right, all our classmates are here, you aren't very good with water yet, but I am, because I study all the time, but I'm good at it, too, because you know, it's not all you know, but there's something inside, that you're born with it, so you can do magic better than others, but my brother helps me sometimes too, it's easier if you have someone to practice with. Maybe if we practiced together, I would be better, and you would be better too! Because, because 2 are better than one, especially when they're helping each other and stuff..." She rambled for a while.

"Maybe there's something I need to remember? A memory, but not a memory? What do I remember from history class? Um... hm... the most recent event... um... the establishment of the school? The... the... it has to be something that happened here, since I'm at the Academy. What else happened here...? Gabriel!" Fei snapped her fingers in front of his face. "Gabriel, in your opinion, which of the wars involving where the Academy was built is the most important? I personally think that the Battle of the Seas, in which the North and East divided up their shipping routes was pretty important, but the island wasn't really involved, since we were pretty much an Eastern territory. The North didn't really have any reason to fight here, we were a big supplier of weapons though... but there's also the Silver War, or the Ciralean War..."

 

[CounterAttack]

Gabriel kept quiet while Fei rambled on about memories and wars and their magical abilities... she sounded like she was trying to remember something in particular. Maybe that was what was causing them to jump between her memories: the fact that she was remembering them.

"It has to be something that happened here, since I'm at the Academy." Trying to figure out what she was saying half the time, Gabe flinched when she snapped her fingers at him. Talking in her child voice wasn't helping matters.

"Gabriel, in your opinion, which of the wars involving where the Academy was built is the most important?" Wars, eh... Gabe couldn't recall much about old conflicts off the top of his head. He looked around to one of the other pairs of students, but they were engrossed in their own conversation. He tried listening to them, but all that was coming out of their mouths was a jumbled mess of words and background noise. He and Fei were practically on their own.

Think back. Which of the old battles featured Hydromancers in important roles? Not many of the stories put their element of choice in the spotlight. Though there had been the Hurricane War, in which Hydromancers and Airshifters worked together to create colossal rainstorms that had wrecked dozens of fleets. That had been centuries ago though, maybe even a thousand years. Gabe had no idea how Fei would remember something that had happened before she was even born.

Again Gabriel worked up the courage to speak up. "C-Could it have been the... the Hurricane War?" Again with that damned stutter. He mentally slapped himself. You aren't going to make any progress if you can't get your speech under control.

 

[SkyeNeko]

"The Hurricane War? I don't know... it was historically significant, but... no. Maybe? No. Something... bigger... oh yeah! How about the Defense of the Chasm? Remember? It was the first time that the elements fought united against a threat! The first masters did this super awesome secret ritual that combined all the different magics and sealed the forces of evil! Or... or is that from that storybook... no, no, that's right. It was between the mages, some non magic people, and some monsters! Remember? My mummy used to tell me stories about it. It happened right here I think. Some of the island formations are even from that battle." Fei put her arms around her knees, running her hand along the rim of the bowl. What little water was left started spinning again.

"I heard almost everyone died. Well, obviously, they all died, but I mean, I think a lot of them died in the fighting. What if it happens again? I mean... people still don't really like mages. What if we have to fight in a battle, or a war? Like earlier kinda. Maybe that's what's happening to Kerbones? They need our help because there's people that don't like them... or so that there's not a big war again?"

 

[UnusualStranger]

As Cale prepared himself for the strike that was no doubt coming, the Earthshaper couldn't help but laugh at his attempt to ultimately take him and the Airshifter down, who was quickly freed with minimal effort. He slammed his foot, launching a wave of rolling earth towards Cale, slamming into the shield and hitting a few of the human warriors behind him. The ones that continued standing fired their arrows, only for the Airshifter to collect the bolts, and then launch many of them back, but taking one in particular to charge with its own spinning force, and launched it at Cale and his rocky shield, sending him spinning and rolling to the ground. She then turned her attention to Seth's opponents, and noted the second airshifter Drew flying about.

"Try your winds against mine!" She challenged Drew before launching a small tornado of her own towards Drew, blowing him backward from the more personal battle. Her intention was to give Seth a chance to simply deal with the Nightshade, which he glanced at her for a moment, but decided to take what he could get.

Seth didn't even bother trying to dodge the attack, and instead decided to just rip through the attack itself, launching a large wave of fire, the light burning away the darkness as it attempted to approach him, and also came at Silvana as well. While Seth did not notice, his shadow had assisted in this particular flame, and seemed to grow more warlike and involved as the fight went onward. He now bristled with armors, with distinct flame signs on the armor, and the flames encircling itself seeming to grow more furious as they fought. He couldn't help but grin at Silvana as they seemed to have a nice back and fourth as the battle worked forward.

"I can tell you that I won't be screaming at you to kill those whom you have stood against, and that I wouldn't strike down someone who stands upon my side." Seth said, noting Drew being launched backwards and instead deciding to focus more on Silvana as an ally rather than worrying about Drew being...inquisitive.

[hr]

As Raven finally arrived back to her shadow, the line which she had been drawing was pulled towards the master of Shadows. It seemed that it was something that was being mimicked across all of the elements now, with the Masters taking the rings that had been made and seeming to take the now pulsing orbs of energy and push them all forward and together. As Darnell began, there was a slight pause to address Raven directly. While the tone was still largely emotionless, it seemed there was deep meaning behind these instructions.

"Gather those whom you care for, student of the shadows. Otherwise...there may be no tomorrow for them. Help them, and get them here. Go." And with that, Darnell seemed to focus all energies towards moving the ball of energy forward, along with all the other Masters doing the same, with the students from before all seeming to turn their attention to different things. Some went to the defense of stopping the demons from climbing over the walls, others made their way to the entrance to stop the charging humans from coming forward and firing more bolts. With humans now in the mix it seemed like a full out war would break out here.

The sky above seemed to respond the worst to the now gathering of mages, the winds beginning to pick up around the canyon, with the storm now in full swing and the rains starting to fall, with the thunder starting to rumble. The humans still shouted and fought with some demons as they tried to get to where the ritual was taking place, but with more mages it seemed that a full on war was now happening. Demons burned, or were swarmed by the earth, or humans crushed.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

The ground... no throwing...no launching...just the ground...

Cale picked himself up again, throwing a body of a human aside that laid on top of him. They could laugh all they want but Cale was ready to go as far as he could to defeat these people, even Seth if he had to. Cale launched a medium-sized boulder at the Earthshaper.

The experienced Earthshaper chuckled once more and grabbed the boulder mid-flight. He hurled it back at Cale but Cale ran forward and used the boulder to jump off from for his attack. Cale brought his fists back over his head and back down into the ground, creating a controlled cascade of shifting earth towards the Earthshaper.

 

[blaze96]

'It sounds like my life. My parents were metal-smiths and I spent a good portion of my life with them, and the woman in white could be a teacher or classmate. As for being a healer, think of it like this. As a healer we can do more existing than we can when we don't.'

He noticed the continuing fade out from his shadow and looked at the crystal just in case it would show any sign of what might be happening.

"He's continuing to fade, but our minds are separating more. I can more easily tell which thoughts are mine and which aren't. But the visage and even his voice are now fading. The crystal may be fading or it may have used too much energy, I can't say for sure." He then looked to the prime minister.

"If you feel this is best conducted in private, lead on."

 

[Mr. Omega]

Drew found himself slammed against the stone closest to him, managing to stop himself from falling. "Sonuva..." he muttered, looking at his new challenger. Ok... straight-up fight might not be the best approach here. She's probably as good as I am, if not better. Plus I'd have to deal with the Earthshaper, and maybe even Seth. And the peanut gallery I'm working for might try and 'help'... He started gaining altitude "Fine. You wanna go? You're gonna have to catch me first." he said, blasting another stream of dust in her face to give him a few seconds to get a head start.

He started looking around the terrain around the canyon. He noticed a nearby forest. That might work. Need a suitable amount of branches. Thick canopy. Better than flying into the canyon and risking running into one of her friends... he started heading towards the trees. Try and stay near enough to the ground. Debris and dust could work as distractions in case she catches up. I need a couple seconds with her off my tail for this to work...

 

[Lambi]

Silvana had to bring her arm up to her face to block out the light from Seth's flames. They might as well have burned her for what they did to her darkness and how bright they were. "You may have a good point there, but I'm still not entirely sure I can trust that you're the real Seth. You could be tricking me into trusting you. I only just met you right before the trials, and even then I barely know much about you aside from your name and which magic you use."

More testing, although by now she was probably just being stubborn and wanted to keep fighting since she rarely got a chance to do so against proper opponents, especially when she had the disadvantage to challenge herself. She focused and brought up two hands made of darkness on each side of Seth and had them grab him tightly. She was sure he would use his flames to keep them at bay, but she wanted to see just how well he would do when she focused more than usual.