3 Fire

After resting up in the riverside.

Nathan looked around.

His eyes stopping towards a rock in the river.

On the side of the rock, he could see three pieces of familiar clothing.

It was his clothes.

He felt relieved.

As a practice, he manipulated the water where his clothes lie.

When the water started to rise, the clothes got trapped inside a bubble-like water ball.

After getting his clothes back, he realized that it became dull with only the base color.

Nathan recalled how he saws bits and pieces of his clothes were corroding before.

"Did the water restore my clothes?"

He didn't have the answer. But he thought it was likely.

After that short interlude.

Nathan began to organize his necessities according to his current predicament.

Judging from the position of the sun, it was already past noon. One by one, he listed what he needed to do.

First, find a shelter,

Second, find a source of food.

Third, understand the mystical phenomenon he has been experiencing from the start.

Fourth, if there are others like him out there.

Nathan assessed his current position. Since the shadows got longer and longer, he assumed that the sun is heading towards the west. which is the direction of the flowing river.

To the north, he couldn't see behind the thick and dense trees and foliage. To the south, specifically the southeast, he could see a silhouette of a mountain.

After a moment of deliberation, Nathan moved towards the east opposite of the river flow. With how uneven the terrain is, he felt like he was likely to find something like a cave to stay for the night.

After the increase in his strength, his mind improved by a few notches. He is now able to observe his surroundings better.

Nathan noticed that some trees have weird coils in the middle of the trunk. While some have branches arced downwards as if hanging at the top of the trees like a vine.

He finally realizes what it was.

Snakes.

Hundreds of snakes.

A chill run down Nathan's spine as he realized how lucky he was that he didn't wake up any of the snakes he already passed.

Nathan sneaked towards the forest, afraid of triggering the snakes.

A long while later, Nathan finally saw a cliff from quite a distant. From where he was, the trees he's seeing did not grow taller as it got closer to the cliff.

The chances of it being a cliff and not a path upwards the mountain is high. He then looked to his right and saw that the river is curving away from the cliff.

Nathan fell into a dilemma.

Right where he's at, he could see that the cliff is a little farther than he would've liked it to get to the river. If he were to settle there, the water source would be a little bit hassle for him.

His other option is to remain following the river and look for a waterfall and then look for a cave.

Although it was a big assumption that he would eventually find a cave. He felt like it was better than nothing.

"Sigh, those survival tip memes might have been fake after all." He whimpered.

Instinct? No. Nathan doesn't have that. He had the Internet and the random videos in social media that seem to encompass all sorts of subjects. One of them is about survival.

After thinking about the pros and cons, Nathan decided that he'd rather find a cave. At least he could hide from the sleeping snakes camouflaged within the forest.

As for water, he thought that it'd be better if he can create something like a bucket. Since there's such omnipotent energy available to him. He should use it to its fullest extent.

The temperature was around 24 degrees, and the soft breeze isn't too chilling or warm. Thus Nathan took his shirt off and folded it in a way that the shirt could work as a basket.

Obviously, those memes are beneficial now that convenience is now just a dream.

He would pick the fruits that he had tried before and didn't get poisoned. Without the cleansing water against the toxins, he'd rather eat the stale yet safe fruits.

It's true that the sweeter it tastes, the more potent it was.

Taking his time exploring the path he's taking, he heard a shrill scream.

"AHHHHHH."

Alarmed, Nathan looked towards the source of the sound as he hid behind a tree.

"HELP ME!"

Realizing that the call for help is getting louder, he deduced that the trouble is getting closer.

He then switched his hiding spot in the thick bush beside the tree. He could hide inside it, and the leaves camouflage his shirt.

"GET AWAY! I'M NOT TASTY! SHOO! SHIT"

Suddenly, a man who seems to be a young adult wearing a white jacket with silver accents and grey pants. Red and green lights are blinking on his necklace. He seems to be running away from a snake.

At the sight of the snake, Nathan shivered and gulped. Judging from their direction, they'll brush off the thicket he's currently hiding. He needed to do something.

He wanted to save the man, not because he was a hero, but he was afraid.

"With how idiotic this man seemed to be, I guess I could put him under me."

As for now, resources are abundant, even an entire village wouldn't be able to consume the food for a very long time.

How about the snake?

If there was one thing any living being is afraid of, then that would be fire.

He already did water and air bending, his thoughts are being directed to that he may be the avatar1.

His mind began to speed up as he thought of a way to summon flames from his hands like how Zuko2 does.

In that series, it is said the flames came from emotions such as anger and will.

"Then what is my will?" He began to think, but there was no time. "Fuck it, I WILL summon flames because I am hella scared, and I need a weapon to protect me just in case the other snakes wake up. I hope that's enough."

20 meters away…

"Alright, let's try the simplest fire move, or at least that's what various games say. Fireball"

Nathan placed both his hands in front of him, like holding an invisible basketball. He then calmed his mind and thought of things such as how to produce heat or what keeps the flame stable.

At that moment, his hands began to glow red. Between his hands, the air seems to distort. Glowing particles spun within an invisible sphere as if stuck in an endless tornado.

15 meters away…

"Shit, shit, shit, oh sweet motherfucker, it's working! FUCK! My mana is getting depleted rapidly. I gotta stay focused."

Nathan began to sweat from the heat emanating from the fireball. The leaves of the thicket started to smoke.

A small bud of flame began to flicker inside the invisible ball. The flicker aroused Nathan even more.

Gradually, the other particle within the ball began to flicker and started to burn as well.

The heat is becoming painful to Nathan. But he held on.

Then all the particles burned as well, creating a fireball with a diameter of 10cm.

The heat of the flames became weird. Nathan could still feel the heat coming off from it, but it's not as painful as before. His hands aren't getting burned, but the thicket is turning into ash inside out.

While holding the fireball like a basketball. Nathan stood up and posed, ready to throw the fireball.

"Duck!"

When the running man saw Nathan with the fireball in his hands, he panicked, but he still ducked.

As if seeing its deepest fear, the snake stopped moving as it saw the ball of flame in Nathan's hands.

"Burn, bitch!" Nathan bellowed as he threw the fireball.

The ball flew towards the snake. As it traveled, the flames began to burn weaker. When it reached a meter away from the snake, it shrunk into 5cm in diameter.

*Vwoooom*

A sound like someone firing a flamethrower reverberated.

A small patch of burnt scale appeared to where the fireball hit.

The effects of the fireball had a total opposite of what Nathan expected.

Instead of burning the snake, it only left a few burnt marks on the snake's scale.

And instead of making it run away in fear. It got enraged.

*HISSSSSSSSSSS*

The snake's eye turned bloodshot red and resumed its chase. But, instead of the running man, it went straight to Nathan.

The result terrified Nathan, his legs began to shake as he remained rooted. The other man completely tripped as he crawled upright and backward away from the snake.

10 meters away…

With panic visible in his eyes, Nathan began to think more of other ways or form that fire exists, he then looked up and saw the bright sky.

The sun! The sun is a big fireball! How does it keep its shape, though? Right! Gravity! Due to it having a dense core, The sun's gravity keeps things together so it won't radiate. While the pressure offsets gravity so it won't implode and turn into a bomb.

With this train of thought, Nathan began to cast fireball once again. This time he began to condense mana as the core. When the mana produced the core, Nathan injected another shot of mana. This mana circled around the core as if planets orbiting the sun of a solar system.

Nathan commanded the mana to turn into a ball of flame. The core began to glow red and burned. Then the orbiting particles change its course. Now the particles look like a diagram of a magnetic field.

Nathan's action actually injected a large amount of inspiration on him. Seeing as how the mana is trying to copy the sun, he had a breakthrough. The sun isn't actually a fireball, but due to fusion, the energy it produces contains a massive amount of heat.

A fireball isn't actually made of fire, It's made of heat energy. In his time, there never was a precedent where fire shaped itself into a sphere.

The sun, however, due to having a core with strong gravity, can form itself like an actual ball.

Nathan is loosely replicating a star but on a minuscule scale. Also, the energy used isn't bound by any laws of physics.

This… This is true magic.

5 meters away…

Another fireball appeared between Nathan's hands. This time, instead of burning, one can see the pure heat contained within it. It wasn't just flames burning a core, it was pure heat energy converted from mana.

The fireball was complete, and the ball of heat remained stable. Another surprise to Nathan is that turning mana into a different form of energy is more efficient. Compared to when he tried to make mana physical and burned it. The new spell cost him 80% less energy.

The most significant difference is that the fireball made from heat energy is 5x hotter than burning mana.

When the snake is only a meter away from Nathan and ready to pounce, Nathan threw the fireball towards the snake.

At that moment, a peculiar reaction happened. When Nathan lost his connection to the fireball. The air around the fireball distorted, and signs of oxidization became visible.

With this, the snake understood. Once it disturbed the mana stabilizing the fireball, combustion will occur.

This fireball will explode on contact!

The snake regained its calm and lost the bloodshot in its eyes in an instant. Then a brown glow appeared on its scales. The brown light produced small amounts of the earth. This formed a thin layer of earth armor around its body.

But there's not enough time for the snake to completely the earth armor.

*BOOM*

The earth armor produced was too weak.

The contact detonated the fireball. All the earth armor that the snake built around its skin broke and got blasted apart. Instead of burn marks, some of its scales broke apart too. The snake suffered grievous blast injuries all over its body. It also got thrown away.

But, the earth armor did its job. The snake survived.

Now filled with fear, when the snake reached the ground, it immediately slithered away.

Due to their position, the waves caused by the blast threw them away as they landed on their butts. Thought the only pain they had was when their butts landed on the ground.

When Nathan finally stabilized himself and saw the aftermath of his fireball.

He felt elated. He actually used fireball like the games he played in the past.

On his right, the man who was chased by the snake got up. The event shook him to the bones. He then looked at his savior with a look of gratefulness.

The stranger saved him! The moment he appeared, the first thing the stranger did was to take away the aggro using a fireball. Then he created a more potent fireball and blasted the snake away.

They were both panting due to exhaustion. The man ran for more than 20 minutes already while Nathan only has a bit of energy left after casting two fireballs.

The first one to break the silence was the running man.

"Th… thank you." The man said as he bowed.

"I don't think we're out of danger just yet," Nathan replied as he looked around, he saw some of the snakes hidden within the trees were awaken by the blast.

"Other snakes have woken up, come on, let's retreat for now."

"O… Okay…" the man stood up and walked towards Nathan.

Nathan also moved towards his original direction. All snakes in the vicinity woke up, and while he couldn't sense any kind of hostility from the other snakes. He still rather be on the cautious side.

The two men kept walking until they reached a massive tree without any of the trees where the yellow snakes hid.

Once they both looked around. Nathan and Vin looked at each other and nodded.

"You… are you alright?" Nathan spoke.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The other man replied as he sat down in one of the overgrown roots of the tree.

"I'm Nathan, who are you?"

"I'm… Vin," he replied, still shaken from the fright he got from the snake.

"Why was that snake even chasing you?" Nathan asked, full of curiosity.

"Well…"

Vin then told the story of how he needed to pee. He pulled out on a tall tree. The tree had a coiling bark, and due to him not knowing what is an ordinary tree is, he decided to pee on it.

Boys will be boys. Amirite?

Once he started, the snaked slowly moved. At first, he thought he imagined it, but when the snake opened its purple eyes. Vin knew he fucked up and might even lose his pillar, so he jumped backward and swung his hands.

With the motion, he also thought of the words "go away" and imagined something like a bat to hit the snake with. In an accident, he cast a loose spell of pressurized wind that hit the snake.

The fact was that the snake didn't get mad from the warm liquid that splashed on its scales. It was only curious about the other snake that's spewing liquid. It even felt fear towards the moving tree the snake stuck on. But the wind slap aggroed the snake.

The snake thought that the tree kept the other snake as a captive and wanted to free it.

Vin didn't know it yet, but the animals actually have a high level of intellect. These snakes weren't from his time. It's species evolved to the point where to survive, it needed something more than instinct. Throughout its life, it never encountered the human species.

From where the snake was before it got teleported, the humans were hard and solid like short trees or tall rocks.

And so Vin began to run away. While running, he also realized that he can convert the new kind of energy within his body and turn it into stamina. That's how he lasted for as long as he did.

Nathan was speechless, what an idiot. He thought.

"He he… Well, that's about it," Vin spoke, feeling a little bit stupid.

Nathan laughed. When he finally realizes how ridiculous the story was. He couldn't help control himself.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, hahaha." Nathan continued.

"Ha ha ha fine, it's stupid, I know. How about you though, how did you do that fireball?"

"Hmm, let's see…" Nathan shared his insight with Vin.

"Damn, that's possible too?" Shock visible in Vin's eyes.

"Yeah, I also think that this is the proper way to use this weird energy.

"It really is magic, huh?"

"I know, right!"

"Let me try it."

Vin moved his hands forward as if he was holding an invisible ball. He then thought of how he wanted a fireball to appear by copying the process of how the sun functions. The knowledge they were using was taught on a high school level; thus, he could only replicate it.

Vin understood that the spell isn't efficient at all. It required more mana to actually stabilize the fireball. And that its brightness is only like a small torch.

"I just realized now that compared to the actual sun, the fireball is so weak," Vin complained.

"No shit, besides energy, I don't actually understand the process. I just know a bit, and the mana responded to the way I explained it to." Nathan paused then added, "It seems like mana understood the end goal and filled up the gaps."

Vin nodded. He understood as it was consistent with his past experiences.

"So, where are you planning to go?" Vin asked.

"I was planning to go look for a cave before the sunset. It actually made me think if going to where you came from is safe."

This surprised Vin.

"Oh, I actually woke up in a cave. The sun is only halfway till sunset, we can probably make it before night time if we start walking now."

1. Avatar is a person who can manipulate all four basic elements in the series Avatar.

2. Another character from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

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