Sirius walked slowly, trying to not overstrain the leg. From time to time he would sit down to rest and have a snack, but he never stopped for too long. At night he made a small campfire, using the circle diagram to extend the fire lifetime. It came a long way since Inquisitor gave him a hint on its shortcomings. Each time Sirius made it, the diagram came out unique, more refined. This time Sirius employed what he found out from Friend, making the diagram 'breathe' with mana. Separating the times of taking in fresh neutral mana and expelling unsuitable cold one prevented mixing, which gave brighter and hotter flames. Seth coiled besides the campfire, attracted by the heat and fell asleep. Overall Sirius was happy with the progress, just like the manasnake was happy to finally relax. There was only one itch at the back of his mind.

Fire was elusive. He somehow managed to improvise the most complex spell he ever created. He used principles under exploding ice lance - a shell of mana, containing the entirely different spell inside isolated from the outside world. When the lifespan of the shell expired, it was released, allowing for multistage spells. That time he also used the raging mana from the 'leylines' to feed the spell, completely ignoring the powering of the circuit. The moment his flare entered the droplet in the sky, all that mana powered the simplest circuit imaginable, creating the fireball. But without knowing the underlying principle Sirius failed to replicate it.

He watched the dancing flames under the pot, as hungry light devoured the dry twigs underneath. Mana prolonged the life of the fuel, tinting the fire purple, but Sirius could not stop the fuel consumption, despite all his attempts. In his mind he replayed his interactions with fire spells: the inferno of Inquisitor, a huge wall of fire after the attack of ice pillars, fireballs yesterday... Something was amiss, but he could not figure out why, and it annoyed Sirius. Tired from thinking, he finished eating his soup and went to sleep in a hastily made crater in earth, leaving Seth on guard.

...

Sirius woke up on sunrise and, after a quick breakfast with remaining food from before, covered his traces and left south. Friend didn't say anything about how long he had to travel, and even if he did, the slower pace would throw-off any estimates. Travelling with crystal meant that he left no traces, allowing Sirius to experiment on his travels.

Seth slept in Sirius' cape, completely ignoring random spells Sirius would cast from time to time, while commenting on their effects. Replaying previous battles gave Sirius idea of his shortcomings. Thinking aloud was his go-to method to retain sanity on his lonely travels.

"The ice is not sharp enough." Sirius commented on melting spike lying on the ground. "Needle is still the sharpest construct I made out of ice. I think it has something to do with its structure. Now that I say it aloud..." Sirius began making a thin sheet of ice resembling a snowflake. "Too thin. Ugh, if my knife breaks I will have nothing sharp on me, just needles. I can't mould metal, can I? I think no. And if I do, where would I find it? I can't just shoot mana inside the earth until I feel the resistance, am I right? How would I even smelt it?"

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Seeing that Seth didn't listen to him, he waved his hand. Sirius looked ahead into the distance and noticed a thin strand of smoke a bit out of his way. Interested, he adjusted his direction and headed towards the sign of people. As he crossed over the small hill, a sizeable village entered his view, surrounded by vast red fields. When Sirius got closer he could see the crops being similar to wheat, but with bigger grains, and strange colour. Fields were filled with huge boulders, with people sitting atop of some of them. Sirius walked on a threaded path to avoid trampling the plants, when he was startled by the sound of rocks shifting. The boulder he passed by cracked, lifted from the ground a little and opened its eyes, towering over Sirius. due to surprise Sirius fell to the ground, face to face with a beast, that slowly unfolded from its sleeping posture, revealing hard rocky hide and sharp horns across its head. Beast made a step towards Sirius, but suddenly stopped.

Seth bared his fangs and hissed, putting himself between Sirius and the beast. Small snake floated in front of the huge animal, twitching its long body and eyeing the mountainous creature. The beast stood still for a second, but moved forward again a little, huge snout sniffing the air in front of Seth, who refused to back down.

"Damn it, Tuff, go back!" Sirius heard the voice of a man, who was running towards him. Man's strange accent made his speech sound more like a song. "Shoo! Tuff, stop that! Don't scare people!"

Sirius watched the beast cower with a hint of fear and back down, retracting his horns and lowering its head closer to the ground. Finally boy looked over to the man who saved him. He had bushy black brows and a short beard, adorning the olive skin of his face, unlike the pale skin of people of Kingdom he was used to. The clothing was also unusual, a little baggy underneath, covered by a short dark-blue cloak, barely reaching his waist.

"Sorry about that, traveller. Rockhogs are usually timid..." Suddenly he stopped and his wide smile melted away. "...but he saw a new face..."

"Sure. Can I stay in your town for a little while?"

"You..." The man suspiciously eyed Sirius getting up from the ground.

"Yes, I injured my leg, so I wanted to find a place to recover. May I?"

"How should I address you?..."

"My name is..."

"I don't want your name!" The man sounded irritated. "What is your title?"

"Title?..." Sirius thought about titles of druids he knew. "I don't have an official one yet..."

"Ugh, fine. I'll walk you to elders. Follow me." Man turned around without saying a word and walked in the direction of city centre.

Sirius hastily hidden Seth under his cape and quietly followed in man's wake. Something in his behaviour unnerved him, but Sirius couldn't get a hold on what exactly. Among a glint in his eyes and sudden hostility, the whole interaction was rather disturbing. As they went deeper, Sirius felt as if he was back at Rivervale, with houses made out of stone, and people mingling around. The only difference was the amount of animals, magical and not. The streets were also much wider, able to accomodate the mountainous rockhog.

"Mom look!" Sirius heard to the side of him.

"Don't stare at him, little one."

"What is wrong with him?" Kid continued to shout, but was shushed by their mother.

Whenever Sirius went he would feel the warmth drain from people's shining eyes, multicolored glints coldly following his movements. He could say he felt unwelcome, but even that was an understatement.