Hello again. Today was a good day.

Last night after I lay down to go to sleep I spotted a light in the distance. A really huge light. A section of the nights sky the size of a mountain was as brightly lit as daytime.

This bright section was in a totally different direction from the towers we had decided to go towards last night. But it is my opinion that any plan you can't change should be abandoned entirely. So we headed towards the interesting and unusual thing. Any old place can build massive towers that seem to pierce the sky. But what kind of place rejects the night itself? An Interesting place I hoped.

And my hopes were realized.

After we jumped off a cliff, forded a river, scaled a different cliff, creapt along a precipice, bridged a crevasse, slid down a slope, and wriggled our way through a narrow gully we started to get the feeling something special was up ahead. The temperature had started to rise. Julius and I relished in the heat. Feeling energized and excited to find its source. Lena and Onica were less enthused about it.

They huddled next to a chunk of Ice Lena had made in the center of a spider themed Mirage the blue wood with its corsucating light blue rings gave the normally creepy critter an air of the impossible and ethereal. Making the massive chunk of ice in its center seem almost like the shrine of a long lost god of the tundra.

Fen seemed fine with the heat, He claimed that all he had to do was move some kind of special air around him and he would never burn. Julius and I took that as a challenge.

Sure enough. When he is surrounded by a bubble of the special air he cannot be set on fire. It also makes my voice sound really high and squeaky.

Lena laughed so hard she lost control of her spider for a minute and crashed into a boulder. This seemed to inspire the devilish hat and soon we were all squeaking and laughing. The sound of squeaky laughter from the others only prompted more from us. This vicious cycle snatched the breath from our lungs and blinded our eyes. We were crashing and stumbling into each other with frankly sad regularity. I swear at one point I felt a gust of wind push me. Just as I was regaining my balance another hit me behind the head sending me sommersaulting directly into Onica. 

Have we created a prank monster out of a gentlemans hat? 

Shortly after we all stopped squeaking and crashing into each other and our environs we crested a rise and spotted the source of the light and heat.

A Forest on Fire.

Or so it appeared at first glance. A second one told the true story. This was not a forest on fire, but a forest of fire.

The trees had slow flowing lava instead of sap. The leaves and pine needles were sparking and dancing flames. The bark was black with the thinner gaps between the bark plates glowing reds and golds. Flowers bloomed from the scorched black and bright red soil. Vibrant displays of all the shades of red in the world. All their petals were flickering fires, and they sent the occasional puff of sparks drifting up and out of their golden centers.

Red and black striped bugs buzzed and bumbled through the woods. Gathering the oddly long lived sparks and bringing them back to obsidian hives. A maybe bear made of smoke and ash smashed in one of these hives as we gawped. Seemed like there were some muscles under the covering of choking black smoke the creature had in place of fur.

The bugs in the smashed hive roared to life, sending stingers made of obsidian into their titanic foe. The bear-thing was mostly undisturbed by their barrage. It just happily dipped a sooty paw in the slow flowing golden lava that had dripped from the crushed hive. It blissfully licked the delicious looking marvel off of its paw until the bugs focused on its exposed tongue and nose. With a muffled roar it exploded. Only to reform from the scattered smoke ten feet distant.

Thats a neat trick. I wonder if I can do that?

A long tailed and fluffy animal with crimson fur darted past the distracted bugs and with a deft leap snatched a chunk of honey(?) comb before vanishing into the firey underbrush. A distressed screech overhead drew my eyes to a flametailed hawk that was being harrassed by dozens of darting and daring redwinged blackbirds. The diminutive birds were brave indeed to attack a bird that easily could have crushed any single one of them. They used their superior manuveurability to avoid the sharp talons and smashing wings to the hawk. They flew out of sight quickly.

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On the trunks of some trees chunks of black obsidian fungi protruded. Red capped shrooms and some black toadstools with red dots smoked and smouldered in the shade of boulders and along fallen tree trunks. Squirrels with stubby tails darted about the branches. One saw our group and chattered the usual racket and challenge at us. When it did so its short tail exploded into a crimson plume of flame behind it.

Everything in this forest was on fire, and judging from the glow we saw last night these flames of life never go out.

So I named this place the Everflame Forest.

By now the sun was already well into its descent. Not that you would think of it by all the light here. Eager to get some exploring done before bedtime Julius and I plunged happily into the firey chaos that is an entire ecosystem made of fire.

Only to discover something obvious and terrible. Our usual brand of 'burn everything, ask questions later' was useless here. We uncovered this obvious factoid when another smokey bear took exception to us running through its territory and charged us. Both of us hit it dead center with a blast of fire. The bear paused for half a heartbeat before giving out a deafening roar, igniting, and exploding.

When the smoke cleared it had nearly doubled in size and its claws gleamed with the lustre of volcanic glass. Black fangs long as my fingers bit deep into the meat of my shoulder before its thick and powerful forelimbs came crashing down on my chest and ribs. It smashed me into the ground, and as I fought to draw back the breath it had knocked out of me it reared overhead. As its shadow blocked out the sun a blur of crimson fur rocketed into the side of its head. Knocking it off balance and onto its firey furry butt.

Julius had cannoned into the thing and saved my life. I gave him the Tyrant from my satchel, and as he reformed it into a pugilistic hare I made a longsword out of the Ivers Dream. A good longsword is shaped almost like an elongated diamond. It is good for crushing slashes and penetrating stabs. Normally used to cripple people in heavy plate armour I figured it would work equally well on a ten foot tall bear made of fire. 

I was mistaken.

It lacked the reach I needed. Before I could get a decent slash into the bear it could already smack me over the head with its dinnerplate sized paws. Blood filled my left eye in a flood of stinging red. A blur of red and black swarmed over the bear. Buying me time to get up off of the ground, and pull more tinglewood out of my satchel. I remade my longsword into a spear, and stabbed the bear in the right side of its throat. Julius' giant hare was distracting it with a brutal flurry of punches and kicks from hard wooden paws. Enraged by the pain the bear knocked Julius' Tyrant back on his ass and swung around towards me. I hurriedly retrieved my spear from its neck, and with a small explosion from my planted left foot made some distance between me and the bear. With a snort the behemoth beast dropped to all fours and charged me. I braced the butt of my spear against the ground. Making a spike on the end of the spear shaft to help. I held the shaft under my right arm, and angled the head towards the charging bear.

The massive beast slammed into my spear. The impact nearly ripped the spear out of my hands, and It drove me back a good dozen feet before finally exhausting the momentum the bears sheer bulk provided it. My arms were sore and shaking from the impact. The reddest blood in the world ran down my spears length and stained my torn hands. The bear had skewered itself on my spear. As I watched it breathed its last with a bloody misted chuff and passed away.

I collapsed. How long had it been since I had really felt such a rush of danger and adrenaline? Not since the Not-nots and Ravagers so long ago. My whole body was sore. I was bleeding from my head, neck, and shoulders. Cuts and fresh bruises ran along my ribs. My legs trembled from absorbing the impact of the bears charge. My arms ached from the same. I was a bloody mess.

Did our fire in particular cause such a massive change in the bear? Or is that just how every animal and plant here responds to being set on fire even more than usual. Either way, my fire is more of a bane than a boon here.

Julius carried me back to the others while I focused on healing. We moved much slower and much more carefully this time. After seeing my condition the others decided to retreat out of the forest for now. We searched the area before deciding to camp at a small pond. Old trees with hanging and swaying branches surrounded the pond and our camp was shaped like a spider tonight. Suspended over the calm waters of the pond by eight spindly looking legs.

Soft winds whispered through the draping leaves, and wound around the legs of Camp Ivers Dream. Telling tales of distant places and events to those who can hear them. Not that I can of course, but I like to imagine it.

We ate the bear for dinner. It was very delicious. It had fought well. It is the last respect I can give such a mighty creature. To savor it well.   

Tomorrow we will be going back into the forest. This time we will give it the respect it deserves. It is a beautiful place, and it is a dangerous place. 

I wonder what will await us in its center?

Goodnight.