The Ring of Luck (Book 2)

Chapter X - A Pyran's Tears

They were all drawing out their weapons but the pyran kept sluggishly approaching, looking as if they were about to pass out.

Fraeya slowly lowered her hands once the view of the pyran had gotten clearer. Something was clearly different about him.

"Hey, why aren't you attacking?! Chickened out, much?! Eh?!" boomed Constance's bold voice.

Fraeya quickly turned towards her. "Don't provoke them!" she whispered quietly.

The pyran's eyes widened slightly as if they realized something important, and stopped dead in their tracks.

An arm was raised, then a blast of flames dashed through the air moving towards Constance at incredible speed and precision.

Constance was like a deer in headlights, oblivious as to how she could defend herself.

Eiran pushed through and shot a blast of wind towards the traveling fireball. The fire swelled in size for a brief moment, but died off a second later.

The pyran was slightly startled, but shot another fireball out of its hesitant hand. Eiran blocked it once again, panting.

"Damn..." he exhaled heavily, "he's strong..."

It was at that moment when the pyran had fallen to the ground, as if it had fainted.

Constance stared at it and muttered, "Weak."

Fraeya approached it carefully, and saw something she had never seen before on any other pyran she'd seen so far.

She turned her head away from the unconscious pyran and towards the group. "It has no fire on its head!"

The rest of them approached it too, looking at it with curiosity and intrigue.

"Strange, I've never seen any pyran without fire on its head." said Fraeya.

Eiran replied to her, "Perhaps it was born that way? Like some sort of birth defect?"

"That's very likely." she replied.

Eden and Donovan were looking at it together as if the flameless pyran was some sort of otherworldly being.

"Never knew pyrans could faint that easily. Didn't Thonor say that pyrans had higher resistances to temperatures? Look at us! We're still alive!" said Constance proudly.

Fraeya turned towards her. "There's no need to be harsh. Sure, they're naturally hostile, but it gives you no right to be like that."

Constance nodded.

"I'll give it some water." said Fraeya as she walked away and cupping her hands into the oasis.

Eiran turned its body over and Fraeya poured the water gently into its mouth.

A few minutes passed and the pyran began to regain consciousness. Its eyes started blinking and its glowing yellow eyes were frantically looking around until they landed on Constance's face in the distance.

It gasped in shock and was ready to strike again, but Eiran held its arm tight, restricting it from aiming towards her.

"Hey! Don't hurt her, alright?! We just saved you, so thank us first." he said defensively.

And to their surprise, the pyran started crying. Its cries were loud, as if it were a wounded child. What could be heard in its sobs were incredible amounts of painful anguish and stress.

Everyone was silent except the crying pyran. Eiran thought it was his fault because he was being a little harsh on it.

"U- Uh... I'm so sorry... I didn't think you'd be so sensitive. Um, please don't cry." he said worriedly.