Project cosmos: The Golden Ring

Travis Sets Himself On Fire

Later that day...
"Isabelle!" I heard someone cry out my name in the late evening. They were running towards the cabin, with someone running behind them. I recognized the voice. It was Travis. And I'm assuming it was Jimmie following him. Travis kicked the wooden door open and pulled me from my bed.
"Travis?! What are you doing?! A girl needs her beauty sleep!" I yelled.
"I don't care!" Travis yelled back.
"If you don't put me down right now, I'm gonna slice you with the magic that is Shirubaburedo!"
"What?"
I pulled the shiny sword from its harness, which I'm never without. I pointed the blade to my friend's face.
"Put. Me. Down," I said sternly.
Then my body fell to the ground. Travis had let go of my arm.
"Thank you," I said.
I followed Travis and Jimmie to the campfire.
"Jimmie told me to try again, but with you watching. Summer Solstice is almost over now..." Travis explained.
"Then what are you waiting for? Stick your hand in that fire!" I said.
Travis didn't hesitate. His hand was in the fire before I could even blink. But this time was different. When Travis tried to grab the fire this time, he didn't get burned. Instead, the fire turned from a bright orange to a golden yellow.
"Jimmie, go get Siv," I said, not taking my eyes off Travis.
Jimmie ran off to the Staff Cabin, quickly returning with Siv.
"What's going on? Aren't you kids supposed to be sleeping?" Siv complained. She didn't really look tired to me, but she made it look convincing enough to trick Jimmie and Travis. I still had things I wanted to ask her, but I know I couldn't.
"Look at the fire!" Jimmie cheered.
"Travis! I think you're being claimed!" Siv said.
"Is he gonna be in my cabin?"
"I think so..."
Then the fire grew twice its size, lighting up the whole camp as if it were day. The entire scene was beautiful. Golden flames dancing gracefully off the wood, twirling around Travis.
"This is so cool!" Travis yelled.
Then, just as the fire went out, the air stayed hot, just like a hot summer afternoon.
"Congratulations, Travis! You have been claimed by Saffron, the god of summer!" Siv said.
"Now you can go on a quest with us!" I cheered.
"Well, good luck with that. Children of Saffron usually don't play the best role in these quests," Jimmie said, his tone changing completely.
"What do you mean?" Travis was concerned now.
"The last camper from Cabin 31 who left on a quest, still hasn't come back yet..."
"I'm sure they'll come back soon..."
"You don't get it. That was five years ago,"
"What?"
"And the rest of the campers on the quest came back, crying,"
"No..."
"The kid died out there... he was only 11 years old!"
Travis looked over to me.
"I won't let that happen again," I said sternly.
"You can't predict the future, Isabelle. It's not that simple..." Jimmie said. It seemed like he was close friends with that other kid...
"But I can protect Travis. He's my friend. I'd do anything to protect people I care about!" I yelled back at him forgetting that many campers were still asleep.
"Then you'll be the one who doesn't come back," Jimmie told me that as he walked back to Cabin 31, taking Travis with him.