9 Burning Heart.

-Auchhhhtttt...- Akin looked to the little cub with a complaining gaze.

His hand was biten again and the little beast was showing him its fangs while growling. In the short amount of time passed since their contract Akin had received more scratchs and wounds than in all his times in the battlefields. Every time he tried to cuddle the little beast this was the reaction he got from it. Maybe the cub didn't liked the physical contact or maybe was just paying back a little of Akin actions from before. Anyways it didn't stopped Akin from caressing the little thing every time he got the opportunity, in self defense he could blame its fur for being so smooth, even better than the silk.

- ...well, how i was telling you, some time before, you had a Madam, no no no a big Sister should be.- His speech paused momentarily and a cold-like light crossed his eyes.- yes, a big Sister should be as you are now my little brother.. Oh! she was so beautiful, and knowledgeable, and powerful, and...

Akin talked to the little cub nonstop for hours, he technically resumed his life for the little cub to know, even though he had would gotten more attention if he had decided to talk to a stone.

- Auuuuuchttt, coul you please no be like that...- Complained Akin again after receiving another bite.

- Thruth! How could i have forgotten? I hadn't named you yet.- Said Akin realizing he forgot the basic of the basic.- That personality of you, being angry for nothing... and that ability of you, being able to hide yourself as if you were everywhere... yes, i think it should be a good name...from now and on you will be...

A strange light flashed in the cub's eyes and even a particular star inside Akin's Soul Realm shined greatly after the name was said.

The duo kept walking, they had do it for some time already, curiously was the cub the one leading the way and Akin following suit. He didn't knew the name of what happened in the exchange of soul marks between him and the cub, but he was sure about its magnitude. The cub put its life in his hand , so he wasn't worried about him being guided to a trap, moreover even though he didn't knew the cub's thoughts, if it had somes, he did knew its feelings.

As they walked through the zones huges amounts of soul remmants appeared again, without the slighty thought about stoping they tracks, as the cub didn't even look to them, Akin controlled the air around to pull all the soul remmants they were finding to themselves, so they could enjoy the banquet while moving. The amount of fire around them also increased greatly as they moved forward, in the places Akin had lived during this ten years there was fire around but there was enough space without fire as well ,so he could to move freely.

But now there weren't too many choices it was like passing from being walking in the prairies to being walking in a road with nothing at the sides, your only choice was to follow the road to wherever it would take you. And as such Akin followed the road with his unkown detours, splits and destiny, to his own luck he had a guide.

After walking for a long time, the sea of fire seemed as came to an abruptly end, as if it was sliced all breadth long, letting a huge space between the fire wall which marked the end of this part of the sea and the one which marked the beggining of the other. After coming out from this part of the sea of fire, Akin had a feeling, a feeling which made him look upward.

Floating mid air, giving off an ethereal aura, there was a river, maybe it wasn't even a river but it was what it looked like to Akin. It flowed nor slow nor quickly and seemed as the flow wasn't constant and even different parts of it were flowing to different speeds, some even inert. The river extended far beyond Akin vision's reach and its riverbed seemed contained by the fringe between the sea of fire.

Being carried away by the river flow there were countless souls but contrary to those in the fire, they were in total silence, just going away with the flow, they looked empty, empty enough as to say they were dead, dead to whoever they were in their previous life. From religions was stated that death wasn't the end,from his talks with Ashtarte he knew that death wasn't the end, unless you were a 'God'. From Habib last memories, of him dying and his existence being washed away in the fire, he understood that the river marked the end, and maybe the beginning of life.

From Akin perspective he just took a glimpse to the river,but in fact he spend a little more than two weeks looking upward. Many things run through Akin mind in those two weeks, and he felt like if he touched upon the boundary of some truth but he just couldn't bring it forward. Retracting his gaze from the river, he shifted it to the his little brother who had a face of 'Why it take you so long?'.

The man and the beast continued they path and after another couple of months of walking it seemed as if they finally reached their destiny. If the the riverbed of the river looked as if it was made by a cut, this time seemed as if the sea of fire opened a glade on its own will. In the middle of the glade, there was a litte bush,a bush totally covered by fire but it didn't burned. The bush looked as fragil as to broke with the passing wind but to the onlookers surprise the wind couldn't even made it shake. In one of the bush's branch there was a fruit, and odd fruit, it looked exactly as a heart and to raise his oddity to a whole new level the heart was beating.

Akin looked to his little brother as wanting to ask about they objective here but he couldn't talk, so his guesses ,and based in the feelings of his brother, was it had to see with the heart-like fruit. He started walking to the bush but when he approached a little the fire in the bush raged and even his shape changed and now was pointing at him. He tried to use his Spiritual Sense to scan the bush, but this was burned down very soon after touching it. The fire around the bush was almost as dangerous as that in the sea of fire.

No needing to think further, his best choice was to spend as much soul power as he could in order to protect himself with a layer of ice, as trying to froze the bush may no work or need more soul power of what he had, and if everything went south, he could relied in the bracelet to protect his life. He disliked the idea of using the bracelet as it was a reminder of how weak he still was but from his brother anticipation and how he bring him here, the fruit should be a good thing.

One step at a time, his pace hastened until he was running. Evrything happened in a moment but it was like years to Akin, the ice taking the form of an armor around him, the fire coming his way, the ice around him melting, the blue-like energy replacing the ice. Akin was looking back while feeling the hearbeats in his hand, so she had to save him again? He was sure that it was more likely to happen that way but still he felt powerless. In the last moment the normally blue sphere turned into an armor replacing his ice armor, after that, plucking the fruit was easy but the cost great as well, another bead of the bracelet darkened and now less than the half remained shining.

Akin looked at the fruit in his hand,it was weird, very weird, some sort on orange liquid was dropping from it as it was bleeding and he could clearly felt that the heartbeats had slowed down a little. Even rare , after he plucked the fruit the fire on the bush didn't give chase instead the bush burned down and between its ash Akin could felt that another one started growing.

With no more thoughts, Akin took a bite from the odd fruit, no in concordance with its shape the fruit tasted extremely good and it didn't take long before Akin devoured it. But then a strong pain invaded Akin,it started in his throat and he couldn't even utter a sound relieving his feelings. Soon the pain took over Akin whole self, it was like being burned from the inside, all and every single part of Akin body felt like scorching. Under the unbereable pain Akin black out, but as his mind was about to step into the darkness, he believed he heard a voice telling him.

-Sleep well brother.

In a glade, in middle of a sea of fire, a human and a cub were lying down, the former with a struggling face, the later curled up besides the former's face.