Cursed Flames

Fear is Relative

Soon everyone had noticed the isolated island in the distance. Phoenix asked, "Should we go check it out?" Reyna smiled and nodded. Elera and Flaro were still sitting in silence looking at the island. Flaro spoke up. "Maybe... we can rest first?" The girls agreed. Reyna asked, "But what do we use as fuel for a fire? Theres no wood up here other than the nests and those will just burn out within a couple minutes." Flaro stood up and made a large clearing in the snow. The three looked at him, all puzzled. Flaro started to chant something quietly to himself as he started to make strange hand motions. Once he finished chanting, a bright blue ball of fire appeared in his hands. He threw it to the ground with enough force to make the fire static in its position on the ground. He then tossed a few strands of his loose hair into the fire making burn brighter. Eventually the light blue flames had lime green tips and a yellowish orange center. It was so warm and quick that all the snow in a three foot radius was already visibly melting then evaporating. The heat itself wasn't too intense, but the fire was special and somehow made snow evaporate in seconds and left Elera, Phoenix, and Reyna in awe. Once the three broke out of their trance, they joined Flaro by the fire. Reyna was the first to ask, "How did you do that Flaro?" He simply waved his hands around playing with his original fire magic while he answered her question. "Magma wolves know fire magic, but my father always wanted to learn more and expand our abilities as a whole." He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and snapped his fingers creating a purple flame on the tip of his index finger. "He experimented with other elements creating fascinating combinations. Granted fire was still the dominant trait in all his tests. He never wanted to completely mix elements. It was way too dangerous, or so I was told." He sighed and put the fire on his fingers out. "So instead he sprinkled bits and pieces of elements here and there creating the fire you see before you and a couple I have yet to try out." Elera's curiosity started to get the better of her. "So what's this fire made of?" Flaro stared at the flames for a bit before replying. "I believe it's a mixture of fire and life force magic. That's why I had to use my hair to make the flames big enough for warmth." Phoenix's ears perked up a bit. "So wait... you have little bits and pieces of other elements and magic mixed into your fire magic?" Reyna added onto Phoenix's question. "And you could hypothetically use different magic so long as its mixed with fire magic in small doses?" Flaro thought about it for a second. He shrugged. "I guess so, yeah. I mean... can't you guys use more than just your base magic?" Reyna spoke up. "I know I can, but I think it's strictly part of my wolf type. Ultima wolves tend to be more physical fighters, but if they take time to learn magic, like I have, they can use magic to their advantage." Elera kinda sulked a bit. "I can't say the same sadly. I've been trying to learn other types of magic for years, but it all comes right back to my lunar powers." Phoenix stayed relatively quiet and just stared at the fire. Soon everyone had gone quiet. One by one they started to drift away into their dreams. All except one... however. Flaro. He couldn't sleep. He didn't feel pain in his wound, but he knew it was still there. That's not what kept him awake however. He was scared of encountering Cyote again. She had teased him last time, but she clearly didn't want to tease him only to tease him. She's trying to put him in his place, and he followed her orders obediently whether or not he meant to. The only thing he could do to counter her dominance was to fight against her whenever he entered his pocket dimension. "Yeah right... Like I'd ever be able to defeat a demon and kill the demon king." Flaro kept diminishing any hope he could find of escaping his curse of a blessing. "I could barely fight off towns folk, and anytime I fight Cyote I fail miserably, adding more wounds to my body by the second." He looked around to find where he was marked, stabbed, and hit. "The only wounds that showed up are the heart shapped markings in my palms and the cut in my side... but the blood still drains from my body all the same." He stared to feel weak. Nothing had come over him and he was far from sick. He just lowered his self esteem low enough to physically and mentally cause him to feel weaker. As he felt himself get weak, the fire he created started to grow colder and the colors had gone from being vibrant to being worn and faded. Suddenly, Flaro heard a voice calling from within his head. He sighed. "I guess I cant keep her waiting." He layed down on the ground and closed his eyes. By the time he opened them, he was already in his pocket dimension. Cyote was standing ontop of him with a creepy grin on her face and eyes that were filled with... well whatever emotion she was feeling at that current moment. Flaro tried to sit up, but Cyote pushed him back down onto the ground. "Stay." Cyote had demanded him with a bit of a playful tone in her voice. Flaro was twice as scared now. Where was the fighting? Where was the surprise attack? Wasn't that the point of the training? Cyote just stared deeply into Flaro's eyes. She then said, "I've heard a mortal saying that I've taken an liking to recently." Flaro asked attempting to hide his fear, "Which saying is that?" Cyote chuckled and put her hand on Flaro's chest where his heart was and slightly dug her fingers into his chest. "The eyes are the gateway to the soul." She giggled her sadistic giggle after saying this, and Flaro quickly turned his head and closed his eyes. Cyote used her other hand to turn his head back to face her while keeping her knee on his body so he couldn't move. "Oh Wolfie... why wont you look at me? I already own you y'know." She dug her fingers deeper into his chest starting to release blood from his skin. Flaro remained there on the floor, eyes shut tight, mouth sealed tighter. If he gave her the satisfaction of him being in pain, he knew it wouldn't be long before she used it against him. "Your life is mine to control... and your heart is of no use to me. At least... not for now." She giggled creepily while trying to get Flaro to open his eyes. "Can I see your pretty eyes Wolfie? It would only take a second..." She started trying to pry his eyes open with her hand." Flaro was struggling to keep his eyes closed while keeping all the screams of pain trapped within his chest. It was building up so quickly, and he could barely contain it for any longer. Cyote saw the pain Flaro was in and grinned. She finally decided he had enough torture for once. Cyote picked Flaro up by his arm and 'helped' him stand before speaking more seriously. "Consider this a type of warning wolf boy. You might think I'm terrifying when we fight, however I dont take those fights seriously yet. What you just encountered was simple demon behavior. We tend to get lonely in the mind of our summoners and killing isn't always a good way to fill that void. With that being said, I could've killed you behaving like that alone. So dont fear our training battles so much because I can assure you that I will show you more mercy in battle then I will anywhere else." Cyote chuckled sadistically before flicking Flaro in the forehead sending him back to reality. He say up quickly and started to rub his forehead. As he rubbed his forehead, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, and as he went to check what was causing it he remembered. Cyote was practically stabbing at his heart with her fingers. He tried to push the thought away. It seemed to have work for a few seconds. And then it came back. His fear started to bite at him. Not only was he afraid to fight Cyote, but he was also afraid of being around her in general. He once again tried to push his troubling thoughts away. They only came back worse than before. This time with a bit of questions about what could've happened. What if he did scream in pain? Would she have killed him? And why did she find the saying so likable? Did she take what it meant literally or was she really just trying to look into his eyes because of it? Flaro was starting to have a panic attack when he noticed the fire he created. It was freaking out very similarly to how he was. It was crackling and waving around like if it was being attacked by bees. The colors, still faded, were now more of a dark blue and teal. Flaro had taken his attention off of the inevitable to replace his curiosity with knowledge of the situation. He looked at the fire questioning its behavior. Suddenly the flame calmed down almost as quick as he did. It was back to its original colors, yet it was still faded, and the movements of the flames were now more dependent on the wind and strength of Flaro's magic. Flaro, still staying st the flame starting thinking about what might've caused the fire to behave the way it did. Then he realized that he used life force magic to make this fire. The reason it was so chaotic was because he was panicking. Flaro then looked at his hands and thought to himself, "I control the fire with my physical and mental status... which means my father's experiments will be more of use to me in the future." The fire became more vibrant in color as Flaro's hopes were slowly being reignited. He then closed his eyes and chuckled. He sat there thinking to hinself, "I may be scared, but I'm not gonna run from something I can't escape. I'll just have to prepare myself for anything, including my worst fears..." He looked at the girls alls sleeping close together for extra warmth. He smiled and looked up at the night sky where the moon was resting. "After all..." he layed down to fully appreciate the night sky, " Fear is relative."