Vanir watched as the man burning in an intense white flame lunged at Carter. A simple slip of judgment and another dangerous situation like this happened. Why did this child attract these situations constantly?

“Carter, my savior, I finally found you, yes, our warmth, they can finally be together,” the man screamed as he darted toward Carter.

Vanir leaped from the carriage and attempted to run, but he wasn't a warrior - he was a researcher. How could he possibly move swiftly enough to arrive on time? And even if he did, what actions could he take?

Vanir had given up hope of rescuing Carter again. But a little girl with burning amber eyes and puffed checks appeared out of nowhere, swinging her massive hammer right into the chest of the man of white flames. She sent him hurtling through the air away from Carter.

“Why did the man make the air so… spicy? Char does not like this air!” Char yelled with puffed cheeks.

Vanir ran to the little girl huffing out of breath, “Lady Char, thank you for saving Carter.”

“Char is not a lady. She is big, Char is Big Char,” Char demanded, pointing her hammer at Vanir before realizing something was dripping from her hammer.

“AH! Little Hammy!” She screamed, hammering the ground with the melting part of her hammer, trying to make it stop.

“Uh, La… I mean Big Char, please calm down. There will be Smith Race in the Alchemic Race capital to repair your hammer.”

“Its name is Little Hammy,” Char said with a glare.

Vanir took a few steps back, “What is this? This Seedling is emitting a terrifying aura similar to that family, but how?”

The man with molten eyes lay on his back; ash, soot, and embers were all that could be seen around him. The man rose to his feet awkwardly and clumsily, wobbling as he stood.

“You are in the way, yes, for that, I must take your warmth!”

The man screeched as flames erupted, and an intense heat exploded, causing the surrounding grass to burst into flames.

Suddenly, Char started to fall from the sky, “Spicy man should go to sleep!”

While Char engaged the mysterious man, Vanir checked on Carter, “Carter, how are you? You are not hurt anywhere, are you?” Vanir turned around in time to see Char falling hammer-first into the man.

The man skillfully avoided the falling girl and hammer by jumping back. Immediately after jumping back, he leaped forward, grabbing Char by the face. With a wicked grin, the flames around the man intensified, but Char fell backward, her tongue sticking out at the man. What was in the man's hand shattered; Char seeing this, couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Dumb spicy man, that was a stone mask Char made when you reached for Char’s face!” Char laughed while using her hammer to prop herself up, “The elders said not to let weird people touch Char, so Char makes stone to protect Char.”

“NO! NO! NO! NOOOO!” The man screeched with his hand now on his head, flames billowing out of his mouth, “My savior! My warmth!”

The white flames grew hotter and more intense as the seconds passed. Char, who was standing closest to him, bore the brunt of the heat. She attempted to use walls of stone to shield herself from the flames and intense heat, but they melted away quickly, along with her hammer that was slowly melting.

“Little Hammy!”

“La… Big Char, get away from him! He is radiating too much heat, and the flames are spreading! We need to get the others and leave here before anything…”

Before Vanir could finish, the man vanished, only to reappear near the edge of the walls of flames he had created.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Vanir’s eyes grew large as he observed the man vanish and reappear in the circle of flames. “He can change places with the flames, embers, and even the ash. This is even more dangerous than I initially thought it to be. If this is true, then how are we going to escape?”

Vanir’s head whipped around, looking at the embers around them and the ash floating in the air, “The embers are one thing but ash! It could be carried by the wind!” His mind raced as he tried to solve the problem at hand, “There is no telling what this man’s limit in exchanging could be! How much power does he really have? Has he shown it all? Is this the limit?”

“Char!” Nesha yelled, catching Char, that had just been blasted by an explosion, “Get back, Char, Sivie and I will handle him, take care of the other!”

“Yes,” Char said, running to Echo, who was making his way to Carter and Vanir, “Is Little Echo alright now?”

“Still burning, but yeah, I should be fine as long as I don’t use any essence arts.”

“Little Echo, that is not good,”

“I know,”

Nesha frowned at the burning man before her, her eyes exhausted as she watched the man spew flames and howl like a rabid beast, “Today just is not a good day.”

“And it started so well,” Sivie said with a sad sigh, “I blame Echo if he just finished that fight like he was supposed to… Stupid pride,” another sigh escaped his lips as he released an arrow into the flames that instantly evaporated.

Sivie gawked at the sight, “What is this white flame?” he cried.

“Seems that isn't going to work,” Nesha squinted at the scene, trying to think of something as the burning man continued his rampage.

Echo and Char finally made it to Vanir and Carter; the latter of the two stared mindlessly at the fight that was happening a short distance away.

“I hate this! I am not made to run!” Echo said, his hand on his knees

“Little Echo, now is not the time! We need to get Little Carter out of here.” Char yelled as she grabbed Carter’s hand, trying to pull him back to the carriage to leave.

Char tried pulling Carter, but he would not budge; his eyes stuck on what was in front of him like he was paralyzed.

“Nesha, hurry and move,”

“I’m trying, but there isn’t a single opening in these flames to use Autumn Gale.”

“Make one, then! I can only do so much!”

“You know I can only use it once! If I miss, then…”

“Stupid Autumn Race! Stupid essence art!”

Flames kept billowing out, causing the heat and flames to extend further and further from the man, increasing his range of exchange.

Sivie kept using his wind to hold the ash inside the circle of flames, but time was not on his side as the flames spread; his wind was growing weaker.

“SIVIE ARROW!” Sivie heard Nesha scream a sudden gap in the heat and flames, trap or opening; it didn’t matter; Sivie took the shot. The arrow pierced through the man’s neck, sending the motes of green light up like the ash floating about.

The wild howls never stopped, even with the small hole in his neck. Sivie and Nesha watched wide-eyed as the hole closed almost instantly.

“What is this thing?” both of them whispered to themselves.

Just as Nesha focused on the man again, she noticed a small piece of ash falling in front of her nose. She jumped to the side as fast as she could, but it was too late; a burning hand was already almost at her face. Suddenly the sound of a loud crack and when she opened her eyes she saw the man’s hand was bent backward.

“Well, that was almost dangerous. Can’t let a pretty face like that get hurt. Now can we.” a familiar voice said from behind her.

“Arc! You're late! We could have died!” Vanir yelled

“I was asleep when I got the distress signal, so don’t blame me,” Arc said with a yawn.

“Asleep!”

“Hey, don't yell at me! You were not set to be at the Alchemic race for another week, so be glad I got here in just a few moments, Vanir!” Arc glared at Vanir, who was standing some distance away from him.

Vanir noticing the glare, tried to take the child into the carriage, “Just take care of this, so we can leave,”

“Yeah.”

Arc turned to the man that was playing with his broken arm. By the way, it swung its broken arm, Arc could tell that any intelligence this thing had was gone.

“It’s nothing more than a wild beast now,” Arc said with a sigh, upset at what was happening.

The burning man stepped forward, but another loud crack echoed, and the foot moving forward was now sideways, causing the man to fall.

“This is upsetting,” Arc said, looking at the man screaming into the burning ground, “It’s like an execution of a beast or a child… this is not the battle that I thought it would be or that I wanted.”

Arc asked Vanir, “Do I really need to do this?”

“Yes!” Vanir said with a hardened face as he stood in front of Carter, who still refused to enter the carriage.

“Fine,” Arc turned back to the man that was now crawling, “Sorry for this, but…”

“OSIRIS,” The sound of Carter’s scream echoed in the area, causing everything to go silent as the molten eyes of the man turned clear and green.

“Carter…”