Hello again. Today I set a whole bunch of people on fire.

I can't say it was by accident, or that it wasn't my fault. But I can say they made it very easy to make the decision to burn them.

When I woke up I was surrounded by men who tried to look angry and fierce, but just barely managed to look constipated. Swords, spears, and a few hollow-tubes-that-throw-metal-bits-super-fast-and-make-very-loud-noises-when-they-do-so. I shall call them boomers, because they boom and that other name takes forever to write. I didn't much like waking up to pointy metal bits prodding my throat, but out of respect for the way pointy metal bits can really ruin your day I stayed very still.

And hit them with my purple evil eye mojo.

When all the would-be ambushers had collapsed, and I could get out of bed without fear of getting any new and exciting holes in my person I wandered downstairs. To find more men with swords and boomers. These guys freaked out, and I learned exactly what a boomer does. They missed me, thankfully, but the banister and railing of the stairs I was on got torn up. And that sound! One heck of a wake up let me tell you! Very surprising!

So surprising in fact, that my carefully molded spray of tiny fireballs designed to wipe them out without harming the building instead became a firexplosion. Made that word up myself. Pretty proud of it.

Anyway, the firexplosion knocked the inn out.

Blew the walls off of it, and threw the roof high high in the sky. Turned the soldiers into greasy stains on the cobblestones and their weapons into misshapen slag. It also ignited the stuff the boomers throw, which sent a spray of angry semi-molten metal in all directions. Accompanied, of course, by the requiste booms.

Out of the new holes in everywhere I could see more soldiers outside, formed into tidy square and formations, and all gawping at the inn. Then the roof fell on one of those tidy squares, squashing the poor guys flat, and everybody panicked. I sprinted into the thick of it, still trying to figure out what the hell was going on. As I ran I made a few copies of myself out of fire, turned myself into fire, and zigzagged wildly through the formations.

Boomers boomed, and soldiers were cut down in waves as the little metal bits flew through me and my clones. And slammed into the unlucky soldiers behind us. Two squads actually fired at the same time, and wiped each other out. That is some timing right there.

It was all very confusing. Smoke from the boomers cloaked the area, flashes and booms left me disoriented and pretty freaked out. I couldn't see, hear, smell, or breathe. So I decided to clear the deck. I leapt into the air, only a few feet, clenched everything and then snapped outwards. A blasting wall of searing heat and flame fled my embrace smashing into and scattering the surviving soldiers, and lighting the rest of the buildings around me in fire.

Then I started jogging, planning to get some distance and figure out my next move. Unluckily I just kept running into soldiers. Seems like there were more and more just waiting behind every corner. 'Where did they all come from?!' I remember thinking.

I didn't have to wait long to find out. Finally awake enough, and together enough, to think for a few seconds. I flew up above the confusion. Above the town of Freeport I could see the fires I had started were spreading. With no one to fight them it was only a matter of time before the whole town was ablaze. Of greater concern were the armies and fleets.

Yes, plural.

I had run into the Iceni army already, but the Shoto forces were moving inland. Likely looking to claim the town, probably unaware it was on fire. Though how they missed or dismissed the huge columns of smoke is beyond me. Behind the moving troops were ships. Large cumbersome troop carriers dropped their payload on opposing beaches.

Judging from the weather vane on top of the tallest building in town. The Shoto were dropping their troops on the S side of the island. There were a handful of small beaches they were using for that purpose, and the Shoto troops had taken the time to fortify the beaches and surrounding hilly area before moving inland.

Which explained why I hadn't seen any in town yet.

To the N the Iceni forces were dropping the troops off on the docks of Freeport. They had been moving to secure the town when they ran into me, and their plans came under heavy fire.

There were large ships forming slowly moving lines behind the troop carriers on both sides. Gargantuan ships whose billowing white sails made for a tremendous view. A sort of majestic feel to them. They were moving into position to use the hundreds of giant boomers they carried aboard, more on that later.

To the E and W there were smaller ships, manuevering and shooting at each other, the cascading crashes carried to me by the wind. It looked like both forces had moved to secure Freeport at the same time. Talk about a coincidence huh?  wonder if this has anything to do with whatever I did yesterday? Nah, I'm sure I had nothing to do with this.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I had just managed to see all of the troops and ships when a shout can from below me. Looking down I saw a squad of twentyish men pointing boomers at me.

I dove and shifted to my fire-form. Not a moment to soon. The weird sensation of metal rippling through my fire-form at ridiculous speed felt like a grim tickle. So I was laughing when I impacted dead center in their formation. Screams rose and vanished as a corona of flame crashed through the tidy group of tighty packed men.

More building went up in flames as the too familiar scent of cooked person drifted through the area. I don't know what happened exactly, but someone made a stupid decision somewhere. Because the Iceni battleships started to bombard the town. The tow that still had lots of their troops inside of it. Crashing blasts filled the air, shortly before the houses and men around me began to get torn to pieces. Heavy metal balls crushing heads and limbs and walls before exploding, sending shrapnel ripping in all directions and forming craters where they had hit.

Unwilling to be left out of the fun, the Shoto battleships joined in on the bombardment.

And suddenly the Iceni forces and I, who had been trying very hard to kill each other were doing our best to just survive. I huddled into an exposed cellar with a dozen Iceni troopers. They were shaking and I could see more than one looked like they had given up on surviving. Seeing those men give up lit a fire under me. I wasn't going to sit back and hope I wouldn't be blow into pieces. I flew into the sky, taking fire-form and searching frantially for a solution. I needed a plan, and fast. I may be able to turn into fire, and thus avoid most forms of damage, but it is freaking hard, and I can't keep it up for long.

Flying out to the ships and burning them one by ne was certainly doable, but I was determined to save those men trapped below me. Don't ask me why, I don't get it myself. Anyway, taking them out one by one would take too long. I needd to take most if not all of them out in a single sweeping blow. I looked around, hoping for some inspiration. And I saw the fires all around me.

So, in desperation, I tried something I had never done before. I reached out to the fires around me. Blazes not of my making or control. I reached out to them, and called them into my arms. The whole town ceased burning. No fire escaped my grasp, down to the smallest of sparks and cinders.

This was harder than I expected. This fire was not my own, and it didn't much care to listen to me. It merely wanted to grow, to consume, to spread, until its death. Fearless and ravenous, it clashed against my will. Unable to cage it for long, I hurriedly flapped  higher into the sky. I raised the shuddering orb of strange fire over my head, and unleashed it towards both fleets.

Fast, faster than I ever expected streaks of hungry flames screamed towards their destination. I gave them a path to run on, but they ran so much more eagerly and madly than I expected. These flames couldn't care less about my desires. They were hungry, they were determined to feast until their death. And I had dragged them from their meal. So when I gave them a path to a different meal, they nearly stampeded over me to get to it.

The ships never stood a chance. Their proud white sails and bravely waving flags went first. The fire clung to the masts and swept down onto the decks. Small explosions sputtered and spat as the big boomers were consumed, along with their contents, then the fire hit the mothelode. And the battleships blew into splinters. 

Well, most of them. A few managed to fight off the fire. Drown it with water and sand. But their sails were still gone, and they had drifted out of alignment. Unable to fire on Freeport anymore.

I was drained by the experience, and landed back on the ground next to the cellar. Exhausted.

The few Iceni soldiers around me breathed sighs of relief as they watched their own fleet sink in the distance. Then they remembered me. Shifty looks were shared amongst them, and a few looked like they wanted to try and take me. Then their commander started barking orders. They snapped to attention, and started moving. They went one way, and I another. But not before I asked some questions of their commander.

He was terse, but I believe he was honest.

And more importantly he knew exactly what I wanted to know. Where to find one of my friends. Onica, specifically. Or, as he called her, Rear Admiral Onica. She was captain of a small fast cruiser. One who ran blockades and brought her deep into enemy, Shoto, territory. Where Onica worked her special brand of carnage. Her ship is scheduled to return to resupply at a Iceni navy base a few days N of here. 

I set a course based off of the weather vane. If I just keep flying straight I should see that base sometime tomorrow. Right? Well, it is freaking hard to fly in a perfectly straight line. Before long I had to face facts. I am lost, again. 

When in doubt, go with your gut. Thats what I always say, and my gut is saying go thataway! So I went thataway. More ocean, more islands, occasional ships. More and more with the five blue dots of Shoto though. I think I am going deeper into their territory, which means Onica is the other way probably. But my gut says this way, and I honestly have no better way of navigating.

The Iceni flag is a black vertical column running dead centre top to bottom, with a light blue horizontal bar running across the very top. Just for comparison. Five blue dots on a circle, vs. two bars of color. Neither are really great flags to be honest. If I had to make a flag it would be a super sweet white banner, with gold thread outlining flames around a red handprint. So cool.

Dinner was some delicious soup I shared with a nice elderly couple who lived all alone on a small island. They seemed nice. I wonder what it is like, to grow old with somone? To always have them in your life, and too know you will always be in theirs. I guess it depends on who the other person is, right? 

 I wonder who I would be willing to spend my entire life around? I wonder if I will ever find out.

Hm, no use worrying about it I suppose. It'll happen if and when it does, and worrying about it won't make it happen any sooner.

Wonder where my gut is taking me though. If the past is any indication. Then it's probably leading me somewhere horribly dangerous with delicious food. 

I can't wait!

Goodnight.