The Homeseeker: An Elemental Adventurer LitRPG

Chapter 02 - A Fiery Friend

Zalan shut his eyes in fear, all but certain his life would end right now, without knowing anything about what was transpiring. Suddenly, he heard something thud in front of him. He opened his eyes and saw a young man with short black hair in a fading red tunic with his arms planted down on the swelling earth just as it erupted. Rather than exploding, the flame was directed out to the side, like a pot emitting steam from only one end. It arced sideways, blasting Zalan with the heat of the flames enough to leave his face a hot pink and burn his eyebrows clean off. Zalan was fine with the slight damage he took so long as he could still breathe. He watched the explosion dissipate with eyes wide, then looked toward his savior.

"You certainly should not be alone at a time like this," the stranger said nervously. Without looking away from the creature, he grasped Zalan and pulled him to his feet as he stood up.

"Who are you?" Zalan asked, both ecstatic and stunned.

"That is a Flamestriker. I suspect you are not nearly at a high enough Level to take it on. Make sure you do not let its explosive light touch you," the young man explained. He looked to be about Zalan's age, and he twitched and fidgeted as he watched the monster move.

"I asked who you were," Zalan mumbled, looking past his new ally and keeping focused on the Flamestriker before it raised a claw again.

"Right, sorry, umm, my name is Rep," the ally replied, with a cringe-induced grimace. "We need to rush around the Flamestriker."

"Rush around it?" Zalan asked, concerned. The beast slowly began raising its arm, its eyes locked on the two of them.

"Its pointing explosion is rather slow. If we wait for it to get close to us, we can split and run at it. I will unsheath my sword to draw its attention toward me and strike. That should give us time to get to Oriton," Rep gestured to the town on the other side of the creature.

"I don't know what's going on! Are you sure—"

"I am not! But we have to move!" Rep said as the orange light raced toward them, preparing to explode.

Zalan waited for Rep's signal, sweat rolling down his neck.

"Now!"

Rep pulled a sword from a sheath at his hip and ran to one side while Zalan stared, frozen in fear. The light continued to slide gradually toward him and Zalan grunted in frustration he forced himself to rush the other way. He made a wide berth around the Flamestriker while the place Zalan and Rep stood earlier shook as the explosion erupted raccously. Zalan looked away from the blinding light, then looked up at the Flamestriker to see it stalking toward him quickly, ignoring Rep on the other side of it. Rep's eyes went wide in trepidation, and ran straight for the Flamestriker.

"You said it would follow you!!" Zalan screamed in fear as each of the Flamestriker's shuffling steps closed the gap between him and the creature.

"Keep running!" Rep shouted, straining to catch up.

Zalan had no plans to do otherwise and carried himself as fast as his legs would move. He was stunned to see how fast he could handle himself, having felt so awful only moments ago, but didn't have time to think about it. He chanced a glance backward and saw the Flamestriker's ghastly wide smile as each earth-shaking step drew itself that much closer to Zalan.

"Hurry!" Zalan shouted, keeping his eyes fixed on the town ahead. He wasn't sure how much difference it would make to hide in the town with a monster of this size behind him, but at this point he was willing to try anything to get away from the thing.

"Turn around! Get away from there!" Rep shouted in a panic.

Zalan had no idea what he was referring to until he saw the orange light ahead of him, cutting him off. He shouted in fear and frustration, then twisted himself midstep to run parallel to the city as the earth he was running toward shattered and flung flame and dirt in all directions. The Flamestriker emitted a low growl of glee while it scraped the soil with the claws on its feet, making longer strides to catch up to Zalan. At this rate it was only a few steps away from him, even running as frantically as he was.