I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time of the day. Willow had the tendency to wander off and investigate anything remotely interesting to her, and mostly returned with a gleeful expression. She would often show me some of her findings, which were either completely unimpressive, not interesting, or downright disgusting. She seemed entranced over a glossy beetle she found, even asking me to store it inside my Stoke to try and keep it, but was horrified when realizing the Stoke generates heat, sadly dropping it onto a shrub. “Can you stop wasting our time? We have a mission to carry out.” I said.

“It’s hardly a waste of time. I’m scouting for potential resources that we need, with the likes of berries, food, herbs, and whatnot.” Willow replied, still smiling.

“Says the girl who was attacked by a swarm of insects while poking at their nest with a stick.” I snorted.

“Those were termites. They’re a valuable source of protein, vitamins, minerals, and fats, and are largely obtainable and easy to catch. You can also eat them raw, so there is no need to cook them on a fire,” Willow said. I huffed.

“Stop sounding like you swallowed a survivalist journal. Also, I would like to see you eat one of those nests.” Willow’s grin returned.

“Oh, you read books? But won’t you burn them if you so much as step near one?”

“We make scripts using ground flavender and charcoal. They aren’t flammable, not like your ‘paper’. Also, we don’t just spontaneously combust anything that we get close to. It’s like saying Water people will drench everything near them and live in ponds.”

“Actually, some of us do live in ponds. Maybe some of you live in volcanoes?”

“Only some elders that are so old all they do is tell children stories and give others advice.”

“Do they ignite stuff around- wait! I’ll check this out really quick!” Willow bounded over to a nearby bush, grabbing a handful of berries. “These are starberries. They’re sour, but they make you feel refreshed.” She popped a few of them into her mouth, wincing. “Wanna try some?” She grabbed some more and pocketed them.

“I’m not tired. Though you would be, running everywhere like that.”

“I’m just hyped up today, I guess.”

“Yeah, because you weren’t like this the days before. Why today, though?”

“You know what happened today,” Willow said, with a large grin. “About throwing boomerangs.”

“Boomer-what? Oh yeah, that.” We shared a laugh, mine clearly less enthusiastic than hers, before I glanced to my left. “Is that the thing you said earlier, with the leaves for bandaging?” He asked, pointing at a tree with green banana-shaped fruits.

“Oh yes! Those! Plantains!” Willow exclaimed, before rushing over to collect the leaves.

“You could’ve just said plantains and I would have known,” I muttered. I knew them from some that my grandma grew in her yard. She liked cultivating plants, unlike other Fire people. No one knew how she got her Snapper Weed. It tried to eat her other plants, to her horror, but she brought it outside quickly enough, and built it a separate home. She installed lights so it could photosynthesize during daytime and snap up bugs that flew over during nighttime. A scream brought me back to the present.

“Ow!” Willow screeched in the distance, jabbing at something on the floor with a machete while hopping on one foot.

“What happened?” I ran over, cursing Willow for being careless of her surroundings.

“Dammit! It was a rat snake! Now my shoes have holes in them!” She complained. She shook her machete, flinging the snake off it.

“It's not a big deal. Are you sure your foot is fine? Did it draw blood?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“You should probably use some of those plantain leaves to wrap up your feet or something.”

“I’ll be fine!”

“Can you bring me the snake?” Willow grumbled all the while about it being disgusting but complied. She stabbed it with her machete and threw it at me. I grinned as an idea popped up in my mind. I haven’t eaten snake in a while.

“Want the snake to be your lunch?” Willow was horrified.

“No! I’m not eating that!”

“But everything is so rich in protein and vitamins, right?”

“No! Snake meat doesn’t have a whole lot of protein, and it lacks nutrients like vitamins C and D.”

“I still think you should eat it.”

“I’ll make my own food then!”

“Fine, but I’m telling you that snake meat is delicious.”

“I’m not gonna eat it!”

“We’ll see about that,” I replied, already thinking about how to trick Willow into eating snake meat. I could mix it in with other meats, stuff them into others, use herbs to change-

“Also, we’re getting close to Twilight Bay. Prepare yourself for combat anytime. There will be various hostile creatures lurking just by the coast and under the sand. How about we sit down somewhere, and I tell you about the potential dangers?” Willow interrupted my thoughts with a serious comment, looking at me expectantly.

“Sure. I hope there aren’t any more Aquamaws.”

“Oh, there will be. Shame they’re rare.”

“Shame?!”

“Let’s sit down here.” We sat on a relatively clear patch of grass.

“So, one of the main things you need to be aware of are holes in the sand. They are not very deep, but they are quite wide. Large crabs and sometimes snakes lurk inside them, and they can feel it if you step near them, and they will attack you if you do. Crab holes are relatively safe, the crabs usually won’t be able to cut through your shoes. Snakes are more dangerous. Fortunately, they are quite spaced apart, only wandering out at night, just staying home during daytime. There’s also this pufferfish that’s long and poisonous and can fly out from the water at you to try to kill you. They all eat meat, by the way.”

“The ‘pufferfish’ things will fling themselves at us because we are a snack to them?” I’ve never actually heard of something called a ‘pufferfish’.

“Basically. They can propel themselves with air vents out of water, have good navigation, and a sharp horn on the head to stab you.”

“How are we supposed to fight those?” I was never good with fighting things that flew.

“You have a sword. You have an arm. Use them. They’re just fish.”

“Yeah, fish that use themselves as lances.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“Have you never seen a fish before?”

“I’m Fire.”

“Oh. Right. Anyways, if you hear creepy noises, don’t freak out, there are ghosts near the bay.”

“Ghosts?!” As I spoke, cackling burst out from the forest to their left, and I could have sworn I saw a pair of red eyes glare at him from it. “Do they do anything?” I watched as a ghost, clad in a tattered wool jacket and swaying gently with the wind, approach us, giggling. Its trousers flapped in the wind, as if waving at us.

“Normally no, they can’t really interact with anything on the physical landscape. Some of them can pick up stuff, though, but can’t harm us. Weird, I know. Their power gets stronger when it's dark, so they're most annoying during night.” The ghost picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at Willow. “Ouch!” Willow glared at the ghost, who burst into laughter and swaggered away.

“So much for not harming us. They could kill us if they found a knife, you know.”

“Or we kill it first.”

“Kill it? Isn’t it already dead or something?”

“Or rather, dispel it. Poor choice of words. I’ve heard that they’re afraid of fire and can be burnt away to nothing, which is what you excel at.” I lit up my hand with a small crackle and watched the ghost who attacked Willow turn around with a look of fear and hurriedly retreat.

“Then they’re not a problem.”

“Yes.”

“So why all the talk about ghosts when we don’t need to worry?”

“Just so you wouldn’t freak out when you hear a bunch of mad cackling.” Almost on cue, a cacophony of mad laughter rang out from the forest and a group of ghosts floated out, all in different attire. I scared them back.

“Can we go now?”

“Have some patience. There are more things out there that want to kill you. Fanged Shriekers, the birds we fought earlier, may also congregate on the beaches or in the forests near there.”

“I do not want to deal with them anymore.” My gashes had cost me a third of my precious healing salve, the concoction prepared by my grandmother for the regular expeditions into the forests in Fire I would have. I would often dab it into numerous scrapes and cuts, relaxing as the salve soothed the pain and healed it almost instantly. I refocused his attention on what Willow was saying, snapping out of my flashbacks.

“Better be careful this time then, and don’t provoke them. They are territorial birds that live in a flock and will attack intruders violently, like what happened. The attack on us happened because you stepped too close to one, and they like their personal space.”

“What if they attack without provocation?”

“Either they really hate you, or they’re mad. Highly unlikely.”

“Given that I still have some of their blood on my shirt without any way of washing it off, I doubt that they would be happy- OW!” I was interrupted by Willow, who blasted my chest with a gout of water. “Seriously?” I quickly dried it out a bit with a flame, but it still throbbed with a dull ache.

“Sorry. But at least now you don’t smell bloody to animals,” Willow said with a guilty smile.

“And ghosts.”

“And ghosts,” Willow agreed. We were pelted with pebbles and dirt from the ghosts nearby in the forest, who were apparently eavesdropping on our conversation. I threw a flame charge at them, just as a warning to not annoy us. Picking it up, one of the ghosts examined it, curious about what this item was. It exploded with a flare. The other ghosts floated away rapidly, howling in fear, some clutching blemished clothes. I noticed that there was one fewer of them.

“They just melt away like that?”

“I’ve never actually seen a ghost before. The ghosts being afraid of fire was a tale told by our elders. They are certainly interesting beings.” Now infuriated but scared by me, the ghosts fled into the forests, sounding like deer being slaughtered by firewolves.

Firewolves. Riley. My memory drifted back to my time with Riley. When I was ten Rotations old, not yet the age for training, I would regularly visit Riley. We would spend hours out in the wilderness, walking, playing, and exploring. Often, we would leap into geyser pools, relishing the warmth of the pool and each other’s company. On one occasion, after relaxing, a stag wandered into a nearby grove. Riley’s gaze locked onto the animal after hearing its footsteps. The animal chewed on some berries on a tree. Slowly, he began to creep towards it, staying downwind. The stag, absorbed in stripping off berries from a tree, did not notice Riley. He slowly maneuvered himself behind the animal while I sneaked upwind, intending to be a distraction to somewhat help. The wind’s volume suddenly increased, the stag catching smell of me and perking up from its meal. It slowly backed off. Right into Riley’s claws.

With a howl, Riley leapt onto the stag’s back and tore at its neck with claws and teeth, while I rushed forward, trying to do something. The wild beast thrashed and bucked, but Riley gripped its hide tight and locked his jaws onto it. Crimson blood dripped from the animal and splashed onto the ground, hissing. When I arrived, the animal’s strength was waning, but so was Riley’s. I tried to hold the stag’s head while I cut its throat with my hunting knife. The animal thrashed its head, goring me in the arm with its antlers, but not before I stabbed it. It let out a pained bellow, leaped into the air, dislodging Riley, and crashed to the ground, still.

I cut off the stag’s antlers while Riley padded over, nosing my injury. My pain lessened, while Riley visibly flinched. I noticed that the rune on his hand was glowing, bright against the darkening environment. Riley gave me a nudge, towards where we came from, and howled. Clutching the antlers, I ran towards home. I received a heavy load of admonishment from his elders but could keep the antlers a trophy. I did not regret the trip.

“Flint! You there?” I refocused as I was dragged back to the present. “You’ve been spacing out, and your Binding Mark was glowing.”

“Binding Mark?”

“Did you get this rune from an animal or spirit?”

“Yes, from a firewolf.”

“You can summon it anytime.”

“What?!”

As instructed by Willow, I placed my right hand onto the mark on my left, focusing on a picture of Riley.

“Come to me, friend.” With a red glow, Riley appeared next to me with claws extended. He teetered and fell onto his side, barking in surprise, hitting the ground with an audible thump. “Riley! Here!” Riley leapt up at once, trotting over to me and fixing me with a questioning gaze. “We’re out on, well, an adventure. We might need your help with some fighting later one, and generally some company would be appreciated.” Riley then noticed Willow, who was staring at him. “She’s a friend.” He padded over to Willow and sniffed, sneezing and running back to me. I laughed. “He doesn’t like your smell.”

“Probably because I’m water, he’s a fire thing, and he doesn’t like the prospect of being drenched.” Riley sniffed imperiously and snuggled closer. “He’s awfully attached to you.”

“Hence the ‘binding mark’, I guess.” Riley’s deep red eyes met my brown ones, glowing. I felt a steady hum of contentment emanating from the wolf, from a part inside my head I never knew existed. I then realized it was another presence, not his own brain. “Is this- Riley, you can do this?”

A pulse of affirmation. Then a pulse of adoration and joy.

“Is this a mental link between us?”

Another pulse of affirmation, followed by yearning.

“Do you want something?”

I recoiled as Riley sent him a feeling of bloodlust, but then realized what he wanted.

“Ah, you’re hungry. Do you want to hunt?”

A wave of agreement hit me, and I felt slightly disoriented at the power behind the emotions.

“Sure, we can go now.” Only now had I noticed, the rune on my hand was constantly glowing, probably throughout our exchange. Willow noticed as well.

“Telepathy. Interesting.”

“He’s only sending me emotions though.”

“Well, that’s a start. My coyote can do that as well.” Willow summoned her friend, tapping a hidden mark on her wrist to do so. Unlike the coyotes back at Fire, this one had a white pelt. Riley rushed over, eager to meet a new friend, but it retreated hastily, snarling at him. “It’s okay Luna, he’s a friend.” Luna stopped moving away from Riley and her ears perked up. She touched noses with Riley, and both flinched. I and Willow laughed.

“You two get acquainted. Riley, I thought you wanted to hunt?”

“Luna, take Riley out on a hunt in the forest. Watch out for the ghosts.”

“Riley, if the ghosts appear, use your fire to scare them away.” Riley yipped and followed Luna into the forest. “I’m sure they’ll be good friends.”

“Yeah, as long as Riley doesn’t melt away Luna. She’s a snow coyote after all.”

“Snow?”

“It’s like a white powder thing that falls from the sky when it’s cold. Probably it doesn’t happen where you live, because it’s so hot there, but in our place, snow happens occasionally with no regular pattern. We can also make it manually. Let me show you.” Willow’s necklace puffed out a small lump of white powder onto the ground. Being the first time that I ever saw such a thing, I reached over and tentatively poked it. Sharp pain coursed through my finger, and I hastily pulled it back, lighting it on fire. Some of the snow disappeared, with water now flowing down from the pile.

“That’s so cold!”

“Well, it’s basically solid water.”

“Isn’t that ‘Aise’ or something?”

“Yeah, snow is essentially lots of tiny fragments of ice that congregate to form snow. It’s fun to play with. For us at least.”

“I couldn’t do anything with it except melt it away and hurt myself. Hey, how about I introduce you to some basalt?”

“No thanks. I don’t think it has anything to do with salt.”

“We polish lumps of them and throw them at each other in a sport called dodgerock.”

“What if you hit someone on the head with it?”

“We wear armor and gloves. It’s a fun sport despite the potential risks.”

As we exchanged small talk, Riley and Luna finished their hunt, muzzles stained with blood. Willow sprayed Luna with some water that left her shaking her pelt indignantly, while I sent a blast of fire at Riley and singed the blood off him. “If we’re all ready, then let’s go.”