SUPER EXPLODEY AWESOME TRIO OF FRIENDS!!!! (Open)

[Deleted]

Merric had been traveling the world for a bit now. It had led him to Ilia, Lycia, and- well that was it actually- But now he was coming back south to his home village. Over the rolling Sacae plains he could see the grasses blow in the wind and feel the cool air against his skin. It felt good, it had been far too long since he'd gone home. But, he felt he was returning a failure as well. He didn't do much against the dead other than make things worse and sure he helped some kid but at what cost?

He looked down at his fire tome and its tattered pages and bent spine, oh it was horrific. At least the bandits paid for what they did. In the distance he could see his home. It was a small village on the outskirts of the border but he was still a Sacaean no matter what another would say. He picked up speed and began to run not wishing to waste anymore time before getting back. That was when he saw it, the fire. At first he thought it was nothing more than simple chimney smoke, it was lunch hour after all but then the flames grew to his horror. He began to sprint to get there. He ran well over a mile before getting to the village.

He ran in through the front gate and brandished his tome calling fire to his hand. "Where is everyone!?" he cried out hoping for an answer but the village was quiet save the crackling of flames. "No, no, no, someone! Anyone!" still no answer. A burning beam fell from a roof landing just shy of the mage. Covering his face from smoke he quickly scoured the village the best he could before getting out. As he got away he hacked and wheezed gasping for air. Something happened here, and he would find out the truth.

[Solomon]

Fire? Huh. Why would people build a village on fire? That didn't make any sense. Wouldn't that make it hard to live there? Well there was no one there so obviously. Solomon wasn't dumb, he's seen fire before. He knew it was hot, and he knew he shouldn't touch it. It was different from the fires he's seen though. Those fires were used for heat in the night, or to cook food to make it taste better. They were tiny, like little fire dancers, swirling around rhythmically to some unheard music. It made him was to dance too, the dinner dance Mrs. Kali liked to call it. This wasn't like that though. The fire was big and mean like some kind of hungry bully eating at the wood of the homes and burned with passion like an army of fire soldiers. 

Solomon stood in the middle of the burning town, the heat of the fire didn't bother him much. He was always kinda cool, like he had a built in icebox all around him. He reached out hesitantly and tried to touch the soldier of fire. "Ow!" He said with a yelp pulling back, rubbing the small burn on his hand. He frowned at the flames, they were mean and bit him. Why would anyone want so much fire? Where they making a really big bowl of soup? He didn't see a pot in the sky above him, so it's kinda hard to cook that soup. Who would need that much soup anyways? Was there a lot of dragons coming to visit? Dragons ate a lot, he knew he did. He thought for a moment, how would you make a pot that big and keep it in the air? It was weird. 

No one lived here anyways, so that couldn't be it anyways. He stopped by on his journey to go everywhere and anywhere and anyeverywhere, but it wasn't very fun. It wasn't the first time he's come across an empty town, but it's the first time he's come across one on fire. He never thought that'd be a thing until now. The thought of setting a town on fire never crossed his mind, afterall why would anyone do anything like that? It was just a waste of perfectly good soup.

It was really smoky here, it made it kinda hard to breathe. He coughed a few times as the black fog entered his lungs. It was starting to make him feel light headed. The little dragon covered his mouth and fell to one knee. Alright he didn't like this, time to get out. 

[Sonneillon]

"A village on fire..."

The shaman crusader walked slowly through the abandoned streets, his power rippling beneath his skin like bubbling blood. His ire burned as hot as the flames he was surrounded by. What savage could do such a thing? At least he saw no dead or injured...

Wait! There! A noise!

Running and turning the corner, Neil stopped when he saw a young boy, probably nine or ten years old, kneeling and coughing.

"Stay there! I'll come and -- Aeternis tenebris, circumda tibi nectens tuum sit!"

A tendril shot up and 'caught' a falling beam, the shaman moving it to the side before cutting off the magic and running up to the little boy.

"Are you all right?! Come on, let's go. You've got to get out of here!"

Grabbing the boy's arm, Neil tried to pull him along towards the edge of the village, where there was fresh air and safety from the flames. What kind of awful was this? A kid, just wandering in the flames alone?

[Deleted]

Merric caught his breath and analyzed the situation, the village was lit up in flames and yet no one was there. As well the village was emptied of all the belongings. It was odd to say the least but, it raised questions that needed answers. That was when he heard it, shouting from within. There were still people there!? Merric didn't waste any time Coming to the rescue as best he could. "Hey! If you're in here follow my voice!" Merric was being licked by the flames and it didn't do well for his mood. "Dang it! Hurry!"

That was when he saw them, two kids in the middle of a raging inferno. Calling upon his power Merric pulled the wild flames before him into an orb above him that he redirected elsewhere to clear his path to them. Getting close he saw that one was a shaman and the other a mere child. Were they strangers? Or were they left behind? He didn't recognize them after all. It didn't matter introductions needed to wait.

"Come on you two! Force your way!" Calling forth the flames he absorbed more than his share into his attack. It began to burn his hand and the heat his face. It was brutal but upon release he watched as it incinerated the buildings and village wall that stood in their way. "Gaah!" He dropped his tome and it too lit. "NO!" No time to dwell, it was torn to bits anyway, but so many notes were lost so easily. Regardless, Merric cleared the way and now they could get out alive.

[Solomon]

Solomon didn't say anything, he was too busy coughing because of the smoke. He never realized smoke was so bad. Sure it was kinda gross and lame, and usually meant you burnt your food, but this smoke was almost like it was attacking him! Sometimes smoke smelled good, like when you toss fresh logs onto a campfire, but this smoke was gross. It smelled like... Well it also smelled like burning wood actually, but there was so much of it. It overwhelmed him and made his head feel dizzy. He heard someone yell, but what they said was kind of muffled over the crackling and burning of the fire. It filled his ears and made it hard to hear anything else, the fire hissing and snapping like some kind of turtle-snake. He closed his eyes as the smoke started to make them sting as he slowly walked forward, only to be 'grabbed' by something. His eyes snapped open as he looked around worriedly at what had snatched him up, please don't be a monster, please don't be a monster... 

It was a boy. He thinks. He looked young. Maybe about 20 or 30 years old. Maybe 50. Solomon wasn't good with human ages. They lived, like, a hundred years right? Of course he was a human, or maybe a dragon. He could never tell if someone was a human or a dragon since they looked exactly alike. Mr. Palenax was a dragon, and she just looked like some lady, who's to say this kid wasn't also a dragon? Maybe coming looking for some soup? Sorry Mr. Dragon, no soup here. 

Solomon felt a little better now that someone was helping him, even though he probably didn't need it in the first place. Or maybe he did. The fire didn't really bother him much, it was all that smoke. He coughed heavily, bringing a small fist to his mouth as the other boy grabbed him by the arm and tried to... lead him? Drag him? Get him out. Whatever it was, Solomon was feeling a little guilty. He knew he could simply stop this fire relatively easy, just dragon out and freeze it. Or whatever. He couldn't though, humans can't know he's a dragon. They'll... 

Another person showed up, shouting and stuff too, once again the little boy dragon couldn't understand. It was like he had soot in his ears. There was something about fire, and the fire got a little less fiery around them. For like half a second, he didn't know what happened but it was nice of the other person to do something. 

[Sonneillon]

Neil charged through the flames, head down as the heat scorched him. Finally, there was a respite, as some other kindly soul was able to help clear the way. Finally making it to the edge with the kid, who seemed to be wholly unaffected by the heat as he followed along.

"I..."

Neil fell to his knees coughing, breathing deeply and getting the smoke out of his lungs before flopping on his back.

"Well, that sucked."

There wasn't much else to be said at the moment, so Neil sat up, took off his cloak, inspected it, and then put it back on. However, while it was off, the others would have been able to see a strange blue teardrop shape embedded in his right arm. The skin around it had healed, and it was now thoroughly a part of him. He'd never had someone comment on it, though, so he didn't realize it was exposed.

Checking his spellbelt, he made sure his Flux and Eclipse were unharmed. Smiling contentedly, he then looked at the two others. A young boy and a young man. The man was a mage, from how he handled the fire. The boy was, well, a boy. It was strange to find a kid wandering in a village on fire, though.

"Hey, thanks for the aid back there. I'm Gressil. Are you all right, guy? I know I grabbed you to get you out, I hope you're fine. What on earth were you doing in a burning village alone, anyway? Did bandits attack or something?"

[Deleted]

Merric was doubled over gasping at all the fresh air he could. To them he must have looked like a fish out of water gaping like an idiot. The charm did not go unnoticed by Merric. The insertion must have been painful and revealed a lot to him. Oh great, another superstitious dark mage. Just what he wanted to find out here.

"I see you are a superstitious one." Merric could not help himself but to point out his disdain of such actions. "Looks painful." Merric stood straight seeing that this shaman was fine. He could not help but feel suspicious of him. Shamans were a filthy breed of mages. They attacked a man's soul too cowardly to fight within the physical realms. At least that is what he was always taught about them. His disdain was hard to mask when he spoke but he tried.

"You're welcome. My name is Merric, Merric La Fay. Yes, this WAS my village before SOMEONE burned it all down. I don't know who it was but I will ensure they NEVER DO IT TO ANYONE ELSE!!!" His last words grew in volume until he was shouting in pained rage. He was not going to assume them dead yet but he was still angry.

Merric remembered there was a child here and he went to check on the young Solomon. "Are you alright kid? Where are your friends or family? Do you know of anyone around here that can help you?" Merric had spent a lot of time with the younger villagers as a senior mage teaching them things here and there but this was still out of his league.

[Solomon]

Solomon just kept coughing, it felt like the smoke filled his lungs and pushed out all the air so now he couldn't breath right. It was annoying, also it made him sort of tired, but he couldn't go to sleep now with the way he was coughing. Though the fresh air finally hit his face and filled his body with deep gasps of air, falling to his knees with sputtering coughs and greedy gulps of air almost interchangeable with one another. After a few moment, he flopped onto his back, arms outstretched and legs spread as he laid sprawled out on the earth. His breathes began to slow, grow more even, calm, as he he smelled the sweet sweet smell of... well the first nearby. It smelled like burning wood though, it was a nice smell. Though it wasn't very nice the village was on fire. Someone must have forgotten to put out the stove. 

The people were speaking to him, and suddenly he remembered that oh yeah he was still alive and living people talked to other living people. What a world, eh? "M... Me....?" He said, still recovering a bit from the smoke inhalation. He never wanted to see smoke again as long as he lived, and he would live a loooooong time. Maybe for infinity. No one knows how old a dragon can be. He thought for a moment, sitting up and crossing his legs. He crossed his arms and tilted his head back and forth as if it was a metronome, the thoughts bouncing around in his head. "I was... lost." He said, it was true. He didn't know entirely why he walked into the village, he was probably being dumb, he was dumb sometimes. Fire never bothered him before, so he didn't think it'd bother him this time. Of course it bothered humans so he couldn't just say that, or they'd be all confused and stuff. That's no good. "I saw the fire and wondered what was going on, I thought I saw someone inside and went to help them, only nothing was there. I went to leave, but the fire stopped me, and I got stuck." He lied, Mrs. Kali told him lying was wrong, but sure she'd understand this exception right?

The other guy looked really... angry. Like really angry, Solomon sort of cringed at it. Like he thought the guy was yelling at him, which he wasn't, but he didn't like it when people yelled. He said this was his village, which was sad. "I'm sorry Mr. Lafey." He said in a solemn quiet voice. "I don't.... have any friends and I don't know where my family is. It's a long story." He tried to explain. "I'm not from around here." He added, frowning. It was a line of questioning he got often, it was beginning to become routine to answer. This is the first time it was yelled at him though. "I'm alright though, thank you. Oh thank you too. Thank all of you and everyone. I'm Solomon."

[Sonneillon]

"Superstitious? Hah. Isaac's tears are not superstition. Isaac's tears are a font of power. A well of wisdom. A fountain of courage. Isaac's tears are not for you. Isaac's tears are for the strong. The pain is pleasurable."

As the poor guy started ranting and raving, Neil listened, eyebrow raised, until he finished his tirade.

"Well, then, Merric. I am Gressil. And I would caution you against such a strong tone... My power is formidable. I will brook no uncivilized assaults on my art."

Turning to the little one, Neil smiled.

"Well, you're in good hands here. How did you ever come to be lost in such a place? I can't imagine how awful it must be. I'm glad you're all right."

[Deleted]

Like it or not the shaman spoke poetically on his charm. It was interesting that such a brutish breed was capable of it actually. Still, his innate hostility must have shown through as he was returned in kind with off handed insults. No, that tear was not for him, but the implications of being weak angered him as well. The shaman must think himself high and mighty. Merric scowled at him in return.

Solomon appeared frantic as he explained himself to the two mages. Merric gave him a look of understanding to try and ease the lad. He did not believe his story in truth, it sounded too odd. Why would a boy as young as he be out here in the middle of nowhere and why would he go TOWARD a burning village. Do not most people run away from that sort of thing? Let alone an already lost and scared child.

Merric placed his hands on the boys shoulders and looked him squarely in the face, "I don't know how true that story is but I will believe it for now. If there is anything you want or need to say, do not hesitate to ask me. I will help however I can. We should head for a nearby village. If there are survivors they will be there. Also, your parents may very well head there if they haven't already." Merric smiled at Solomon trying to look like a trusty big brother. It typically made the younger villagers relax to view him as such. Good thing they did nit know he was a coward.

Turning to the shaman he rolled his neck letting it crack. He did not like him or trust him but... "I don't know who you are and you're every bit as suspect as anyone else but you tried to save the kid so... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt."

[Solomon]

Solomon stood up, putting his hand on his hips and puffing up his cheeks a bit in a childish pout. "It's not very nice to say a person's lying right to their face. At least wait for me to turn around or something." He wasn't really upset, he really couldn't be because he was lying, but still it's not very nice to say something like that. He crossed his arms and scrunched up his face, but his grumpyness died just as quickly as it arrived and he sort of laughed nervously. Looking at the one guy, then the other guy, and then the first. He began to wave his hands in front of him with a worried look on his face.

"Hey hey, no fighting." He said, trying to calm them down. They didn't seem to be getting along, which was funny, since they sounded like they didn't even know each other. Why would you dislike someone you didn't even know? That made no sense. You should know someone for, like, at least a few minutes first. Otherwise you're just jumping to mean conclusions, which were the worst conclusions. You should jump to nice conclusions instead! Like he was jumping to the conclusion that these guys were pretty neato! After all they went to save him and everything from that dirtbag of a fire. That's not something mean people did. That meant they must both be nice people. Nice people get along well with other nice people, right? So he was sure if they just talked, they'd be best friends forever and ever and ever. At least three evers.

"I'm looking for where my parents are. They left home a long time ago, and haven't been back since. So I left to find them... but Elibes a lot bigger then I thought it was. Did you know this WHOOOOOLE place was just like grass? I've been lost forever!" He explained, Sacae was really big and a lot of it looked like itself. It was kinda hard to tell which way was which. He ended up visiting the same little camp thing like five times. Or maybe they were five different camps? They looked a lot alike at least. How many people camp out in Sacae anyways? Do they hate houses?

That one guy who called him a liar, Mr. Lafey, said that his parents might be in the nearby village. He didn't believe him though, however it still made him a little excited cuz WHAT IF THEY WERE?

[Solomon]

Solomon left with the duo, and while they stopped fighting they did grow rather quiet. Their journey was a short one, there was a village nearby the city. Solomon parted with the two after they arrived, after thanking them over and over and over for helping him like only a little dragon could. He looked around for his parents, but as always he didn't find them. He was rapidly approaching a point where things were starting to feel... well... impossible. No, no Solomon, don't lose hope. You'll find them, one day. Right? Or you'll just wander elibe until you were a thousand years old. That thought made him sort of sad, he liked Elibe though. It was a weird place, he's seen snow, the ocean, and lots of people. All of them were humans, but humans were interesting. They had such short lives, but they did so much with them. One human who has lived not even half as long as him was liable to have done a hundred times more with their time. It made him feel super lazy. 

After his failure he let out a sigh, before leaving the village. He had the usual people fawning over "oh look it's a child all alone where are your parents?" which was a phrase of questioning that was reaaaally getting old. Is that what EVERY human thought when they saw him? If he KNEW where his parents were, he wouldn't be on this quest in the first place. He didn't get mad though, it's not their fault, they didn't know. They couldn't know. It just made him sad, since everytime he heard it, it just reminded him of what he didn't have. 

That night after leaving the village he sat by himself. On the top of a tree, his small dragon wings outstretched and free, as he stared up at the stars above. The night was littered with light, it was beautiful. It was the first time he's seen the stars so clearly since he left home. He would sneak out to the roof everyone once in a while just to look at them back in Arcadia. Every time he did, he thought the same thing, the same thing he thought now. "I wonder if they're looking at the same stars?"


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