Ice Queen in Another World V1 [Completed]

[23] Flickering Flames

There was a grotesque figure that begged, "Please...kill me..."

He had been eaten alive. His legs were missing, his hands gone, and his stomach opened to reveal missing organs, tissues, and intestines. He was a tortured soul, yet, there must have been something keeping him alive.

"As long as my heart isn't broken....I can't die..." He laughed, his face was hallowed and left bare nose up, there was only a moving mouth.

Fieth solemnly unsheathed his blade and walked towards the man,

"Thank you." A solitary voice fell.

Fieth nodded and stabbed down. What couldn't even be termed a body jittered once before finally stopping for good. There was a smile on the man's face.

The Hero of Heart turned around, swinging the blood off his weapon, sheathing it, and stepping back out of the crude wooden house. This one had just been like the others, grotesque figures filling it, a place of blood and gore.

"I'll go scout ahead for a bit, make sure we can be safe for the night, and come back...you can all settle for the camp, Aura should everything you need." With those words, he departed from the area.

Claire sighed, nodding, and made her way back.

"Where's Fieth?" Aura asked, pouring water into cups and laying salted meat onto leaves.

Claire shook her head, "He went out to scout the area...you carried all that with you?"

The bag had been opened. There were two small leather tents already set up, a pile of small chips of wood in the middle surrounded by what appeared to be three flat logs.

Aura nodded matter-of-factly, before turning back to preparing.

'The heck is that bag made out of? Does it have its own dimension inside or something?' Claire pondered speechlessly.

"Let me nap on your lap!" Alicia rushed towards her with a smile, her fangs showing.

Claire frowned, looking at the bloodied girl, "All right, but only after I freeze the blood away from your body."

Aura thought the two were strange.

"Oh flames of the goddess Ishtar, grant me your powers and burn my enemies away, <Fire Ball>." She whispered silently to herself, although shaking slightly.

A small ball of flames shot out from her palm before igniting the piles of wood. Aura carefully maneuvered around the campfire and sat on one of the farther logs.

Claire watched all this with interest.

"You know magic?"

"I taught Fieth most things that I know..." Aura dodged further questioning, her ears twitched, "...but I try not to use it."

------

Claire gently stroked Alicia's hair with a small smile, the flames before her flickered, dancing in shallow winds.

"You're afraid of fire aren't you?" She suddenly spoke out.

Aura shuddered and she hastily spoke, stammering, "N-no, I'm not."

Her ears twitched.

"Don't lie to me." A sharp voice caught her off, water jittered from the cup in her hand.

Claire continued.

"You shook when he summoned the <Fire Orb> and he had to pacify you. Not only that, you're still shuddering quite a bit, surrounded by these flames and the campfire. Even just starting a fire of your own caused you to jitter."