Colliding Elements (Original Draft)

18. Reunited... Almost

It was nightfall when Ash, Jim, and the other two arrived at the city containing the fire temple. Orange light set a warm glow on their surroundings, not to mention a pleasant and subtle feeling of warmth touching their bare skin and heating the air around them. Few people could be seen about, and those who weren't visible could be heard hammering away on metal.

"This place definitely feels different from the earth temple..." Jim spoke carelessly while looking around in wonder.

"Of course, it would," Sage stared as he took the lead of the group. The light illuminated his features, giving his skin a look of it being kissed by a star. "Earth brings the feeling of being grounded and one with nature. Fire brings greater emotions and vulnerability."

"It makes me feel like sleeping," Ash commented while closing her eyes.

Jim smiled down at her. "It is that type of warmth for sure."

Sage rolled his eyes at the two before glancing to his left and looking back to make eye contact with Aloysius. "They're strange..." he whispered to the black haired man.

Their walk was soon stopped in place as a huge wave of flames came flying out of one of the close-by blacksmithing buildings. A small boy ran out of the flames at a fast pace, putting out the small fires on his maroon tunic.

Strong cursing came from the source of the flames' starting origin, the person sounding quite upset as they continued bickering and hammering away at a piece of metal.

"What in the world...?" Ash trailed off, still surprised by the sudden outburst of fire.

Aloysius walked forward and into the small blacksmith shop, avoiding the still hot embers scattering the ground. "Is everything alright, sir?"

The tall and stocky man turned around to look at the air wielder, sighing in irritation before tossing his leather-wrapped hammer to the side. "I failed at trying to make a sword for one of my Leo friends. Garnet is quite a troublesome gem to work with..."

Sage walked in as the last sentence was spoken and spoke sharply. "That's why you don't use zodiac stones if you're not good at blacksmithing."

The man gave the cancer boy a glare before turning back to Aloysius. "Was there anything you needed from me?"

"I hadn't really planned on it..." Aloysius pinched his chin in thought. "But I don't know this city well. Some directions on how to get to the temple through here would be nice."

The man knelt down and picked up a broken garnet off the ground. "Continue down this road. The first part of the temple will be a cave entrance in the dead fire mountain."

"Fire mountain?" Ash questioned far outside the tent before glancing up to see orange light illuminating a few of the mountains, some of them not having peaks at the top, but instead, smoke and a faint rumble of something powerful came from inside them.

"They must not have volcano as one of their words," Jim spoke to Ash. He turned to her with slight worry on his face. "Let's just hope this town isn't the next Pompeii and one of those active volcanoes isn't Mount Vesuvius."

Ash nodded in agreement. "It would be a disaster if this world did have a Pompeii..."

Aloysius walked back out with Sage not far behind him, just picking up on the last words. "Pompeii? What is that?"