Chapter 14: Cool it, both of you!

"I wonder how long until the purification ritual is done…" said a young man with long braided hair.

"The priestess will take as long as needed to cleanse the world," said another young man with a sword strapped to the side of the waist, "Be patient."

"Easy for you to say…" said the braided young man, "It's not your fiance who's in there."

"I would refrain from using that word when it hasn't been confirmed yet."

"Stuck up…" he mumbles.

"Whiner…"

The young men grab each other's collar by the throat ready to throw their fist into the other's face. A fair voice called out to them causing them to stop.

"Are you two fighting again…?"

Their fist froze in the air. They turned around and saw a fair lady smiling at them dressed in a light dress that was wet from sacred water. She walks towards them and grabs both their hands.

"This is the sacred ground of cleansing," said the lady, "I will be sad to see you both hurt each other."

"My apologies Eair. It will not happen again."

Gear slowly opens his eyes as though he just woke up from his dream. He can't remember what it was, but it felt nostalgic and tugged at his heart strings. He wished he could just remember everything instead of waiting for the number on his chest to reach 50. Memories that he will dream about vanish into thin air the moment he wakes up.

He gets up from the ground and places his hand against the wall of the cave. Gear recalls entering the dark cave that was later lit up by a ball of fire. The next thing he knew, he woke up here at the center and deepest part of the cave. He wondered why he blacked up and only woke up until now. Gear rubs his head and gets up from the ground. The ball of fire sparks out of the blue in front of him once more. It giggles at Gear and wonders around him.

"What are you…?" Gear asked despite knowing it's just a fireball that couldn't answer him.

It wiggles at his words and dances around him. The fireball suddenly danced faster and faster until it took on a small figure of a child around the size of a palm.

"You're… Blaze…" the moment Gear said that to the fireball, it giggled at him again.

Blaze snuggles against Gear cheek, "G… Ear… Ge… Ar… Happy… Alive… Happy…"

"Gear?" a voice called out from outside of the cave, "Gear are you in there?"

It was Luna calling out to him. Just how long was Gear inside of the cave for Luna to come looking for him?

"Lu-"

Blaze suddenly turned burning hot and hostile. It was glaring at the direction Luna was calling out from. Gear looks at Blaze in alarm.

"Blaze…?"

"Grr…!"

"It's alright Blaze, she is a friend of mine," said Gear to reassure her.

Blaze shakes its head as its size increases to that of a basketball. This fireball was hostile to any stranger and princesses once it caught wind of their scent. It led Gear to this cave because it thought that the stranger was threatening Gear to bring him here. A place that he had long wished to forget. That was the only explained reason why Gear came here at all. Blaze had no idea the Forgetting Curse was placed on him.

"Gear…?"

"Don't come in here!" Gear yelled back.

"...!" Luna's eyes widened in shock.

She heads straight into the cave ignoring his warning. Knowing Gear, even if he was in danger, he would put her safety first. There's no way she could stay put after hearing him say that in such an alarming tone. Gear hears Luna coming into the cave. Panic arises inside of him as Blaze becomes a brighter red color. This was getting out of control. Luna arrived at the deepest part of the cave and saw a large fireball spirit next to Gear. She pulls out her weapon and charges in, "Get away from Gear!"

"Wait, Luna!"

"GROWL!" Blaze also charges in.

<Oh no!>

BOOM!

Magic wasn't rare in the world, but it wasn't used very often. This was because there was no point in using magic. When magic is used, the user becomes extremely tired and burns out the next day. With such risk, people started to use less magic and depend more on daily tools to help their everyday life. Those who do use magic more often were those of royal blood. Strangely, those with royal blood could use magic without much repercussion. Those who aren't and aren't afraid of the repercussions use it without hesitation.

"Barrier!" Luna shouts out.

An invisible wall forms around Luna as Blaze smacks heads on. Blaze burst into millions of sparks from the impact. It gathers itself back together before ramming back into Luna's barrier. The more it rams in, the more it creates cracks on her barrier. It wasn't long until her barrier shattered into pieces. At the same time, Blaze started to lose its strength and stamina. It gathers itself together and charges in for one last time to burn her into criss. Luna forms an aura around her blade to cut Blaze up. Just as they were about to attack each other one last time, Gear jumps in between and blasts them away with a strong wind.

"Cool it! Both of you!" He yelled out.

Luna picks herself up from the ground and glares at Blaze. It also glares back at her before furiously shaking at Gear for blowing it away. Luna marches up from the side and tries to attack it again, but Gears stops her.

"Enough Luna," said Gear.

"Why are you stopping me?!" Luna asked, "That thing is dangerous! It's a fire spirit!"

"It's an old friend of mine," said Gear to reassure her that Blaze meant no harm.

"An old friend of yours?"

Blaze flares out at Luna, but is blasted away again by Gear. It shrieks at Gear, completely shocked that Gear was protecting her.

"I said to calm down," said Gear, "She's a friend of mine Blaze."

Blaze stops squirming and stares at Gear. It turns its gaze back to Luna and shakes its head. It cannot believe him. Gear sighs out, "She's really a friend. Do you really think I would bring a stranger here to this place?"

What he said made sense to Blaze. Even if this was a place he didn't want to return, no matter how much he was threatened, he wouldn't bring anyone here without a good reason. Blaze's red flame slowly fades back to its normal color.

"What's going on here, Gear?" Luna asked, "And how do you know this fire spirit?"

"This is Blaze, the fire spirit guarding this ruin," Gear answered, "Blaze thought I was being blackmailed into bringing you here, so Blaze took me here for my safety."

Luna blinks at Gear before turning her attention back to Blaze who was nodding its head at her. She gave out a heavy sigh and crouched down.

"I thought that something horrible happened to you when I couldn't find you…" said Luna who was slightly embarrassed after finding out the real reason why he disappeared.

She was worried over nothing. Blaze crosses its arm as it reassumes its small human figure. He glances at Gear, "Friend… Not enemy…?"

"Yes."

Blaze stares at Luna with doubt in its eyes, "Friend… Friend… Friend… Friend?"