Hellfire Lion

The Cub (Part 2)

She walked through the market, cloak still on, not wanting to deal with people. She was almost through the market when she sensed something small with a bit of magic power not enough for the average person to sense, even Mereoleona had some trouble picking up on it. But two things were strange about this presence. One was that she had never felt mana like this in her life, and she's felt plenty. And two...

It was about thirty feet above her.

Curious she decided to follow the small creature, of course, she was already hiding most of her mana to do this mission, rather, in favor of Julius, but she hid it more just to be safe.

Without looking up, she followed whatever it was back to some bushes near the edge of the market. She kept a respectful fifteen-foot distance between her and the creature. The only time she looked right at it was when it flew down into the bushes.

All she saw was a small black blob with what looked like maybe horns diving into the bush, anyone less would have hatched it out just to see things. Mereoleona waited a bit, seemingly reading a map before she heard movement in the bush again.

It was a kid, well she assumed it was one judging on their height. She played off having a realization that she was going the wrong way so she could tail the kid.

The kid was pretty short, she guessed around nine or ten. They wore a cloak over their heads and held a bunch of fish on a string over their shoulders. She could sense that eerie presence in that kid. Albeit small, it was there.

The kid stopped at a fish stand, although Mereoleona found it strange that they had passed five fish stands already. Once they arrived the kid threw the fish on top of the stand Mereoleona was currently about thirty feet away on the other side of the square. It was pretty late so most of the vendors packed up shop for the night leaving the place nearly desolate, still... Something just seemed off to her.

Seemingly out of nowhere a bunch of villagers, including the priest from earlier, rushed out with literal pitchforks and torches. They kept ranting things like 'just die you damn monster' or 'demon!' while they threw rocks and bottles at the kid. Mereoleona was quickly making her way over to knock some skulls when suddenly, she felt an enormous demonic aura that almost made her hesitate, almost. What stopped her was the explosion of that same eerie mana she had felt earlier. When she looked back at the kid their hood was off and she could see him clearly.

A kid, he was no more than ten years old. He had short messy black hair and hazel eyes. But what caught her attention was the large scar that ran from just above his right eye down past his jaw and the look in his eyes, that fire. The kind of fire that just screams 'get in my way and die!' He was surrounded by a flame that was a dark crimson red with black mixed in as well.

What the hell is this fire?

Even with Mereoleona seeing pretty much every type of fire magic you could think of, mainly from snobby nobles trying to kiss ass, this was new to her.

"Leave me alone."

His voice was cold as ice as he went to a nearby stall and picked up a blanket, he paid for it and walked off into the forest. As he left he put up a wall of that red and black fire behind him to deter anyone stupid enough to follow him.

Of Course that didn't apply to Mereoleona, she didn't exactly have rational reactions to much of anything, and now she was itching to see what this kid could do in a fight.

After about half an hour of searching later, it was already dark out when she saw a blue light coming from a small beach near the river. 

(A/N: not all Chapters will be this short, all spell descriptions will be at the end of each chapter.)