14: Awoken By Flames.

He held tightly onto the person who had just healed him, his eyes darting around the room as he tried to comprehend everything which was happening. His head was still throbbing slightly but the mixed feeling of relief and shock he had from seeing Leo had it overwhelmed.

" Leo, what are you doing here?" He asked, slowly releasing his grip on the young man.

" You sure haven't called me that in a while." Leo said, grabbing hold of his hand, "Why don't you take these two back home, get back here as quickly as you can."

He gasped slightly in shock as his recent memories came back to him and he looked to the side to see the two ladies leaning against the other side of the cave.

" Are the others safe?" He asked, coughing slightly.

Leo didn't understand what he meant by his words but had to hurry so he quickly stood up and said, "You should take them with you quickly, I have a few things to attend to."

After that, he turned towards the ladies and nodded his head slightly before heading towards the exit of the cave. The rain was still pouring hard but he didn't mind it in any way.

As soon as he left, Fred slowly stretched out his right hand, creating a dimensional gate in the middle of the room. Although he had been completely healed, his general body performance was still lacking. He had to hold on to the wall in order to stand up and to help himself keep standing.

" We should get...." He stopped mid-speech, coughing violently once again, " going."

Ciara began to slowly get up from the floor while the woman next to her ignored everything that had just been said. She didn't want to leave yet, not when her loved ones were missing and with a group of people she had just met.

" You two can go without me." She sobbed, pushing her face deeper into the palm of her hands.

Ciara turned towards her with a sympathetic look on her face. She slowly began to stretch out her hand towards her when she heard Fred's voice.

" And what exactly do you plan on doing once we've left? Ciara, who is she? And where is Tristan?" He asked, his gaze fixed on the floor.

Ciara paused for a moment after the questions were thrown at her. She didn't have an answer to any of them and didn't know what to say about them.

" I don't know where Tristan is and I found her in a building south from here." She said, quickly.

" Let's talk once we're back at the castle but for now I need to make sure others get to their destination safely. If you were in the building then you must have been with the blue-haired man I met earlier." He said, slowly walking towards them, "if so, then I can assure you that they are safely in my custody."

She gasped immediately after hearing those words, slowly lifting her face up from her palms and staring deep into his eyes as she asked, "Where are they? The children, where are they?"

Fred simply pointed towards the gate he had created. He was completely void of energy and was barely managing to keep up the conversation with them.

Without hesitation, she stood up from the floor and ran straight towards the gate. A new light of hope shone brightly inside her and the sudden joy on her face couldn't be mistaken.

Ciara quickly followed behind her and the gate instantly vanished right after Fred crossed it as well, leaving nothing behind but the empty cave.

*****

Back inside the cave, the young man was awoken by the intense heat swirling around him. He slowly opened his eyes to see intense crimson flames burning to his right.

It was only through the corner of his eyes but the flames were so bright that he immediately turned his gaze towards it. Then he caught sight of a grotesque creature that immediately charged straight towards him.

His eyes instantly widened in shock at the sudden movement of the beast and quickly began to roll towards the opposite direction.

The beast was swift and closed the distance between the both of them and as soon as it did, sent its claws descending towards him at speeds of up to five meters per second (5m/s).

He barely managed to roll out of the way before the beast's claws could reach him and just as it was about to twist its head and bite down on him with its razor-sharp teeth, it was pulled up and flung towards the other side of the cave.

Most of the bones inside his body were still in terrible condition and the fact he was able to move was a miracle. But still, his legs were permanently out of commission for the moment.

Still looking in the direction where the strange beast had just been flung, all he could see was a creature born entirely of flames standing before him.

It stood approximately at a height of one hundred and eighty centimetres with two horns that stuck out from both sides of its forehead. The horns bent around its forehead and right below the base were its bright crimson eyes.

It had the physical build of a human being but had flames burning throughout its entire body. It was nonetheless menacing but it didn't seem to have its attention on him.

[A spirit, and of flames of all elements of nature. I wonder who summoned it]

" You could at least be grateful that I'm still alive before admiring a beast that might unalive me any moment from now." He said, slowly rolling towards the exit of the cave.

[Not so eager to die again are you?]

He didn't say a word to the question as everything that had recently happened to him was still clearly embedded into his memories.

As he reached the wall of the cave, he slowly reached out his hand and held onto it, staggering up from the ground. His entire body was shaking uncontrollably as he slowly got up so much that he fell back to the ground.

[Seems like your thighs suffered greatly from the building collapse, your resilience is quite impressive if I was to say. A lost hand and arm and getting completely crushed by concrete. You've been quite lucky until now but I would advise you not to push yourself too hard."

" And be killed by the fire demon."

[It's a spirit, not a demon and also, if a spirit is here then it's either guarding the cave or was ordered by its contractor to guard it. So it will only attack those who try to hurt the cave in any way, the very reason why you're alive right now."

"Ohh... then how did I even get here in the first place?"

" Sorry, but I remember saying that my consciousness is tied to yours which means my senses are limited to yours."

He didn't try to do anything else after that and simply stared blankly at the ceiling with his back against the dusty cave floor.

The bright flicker of flames, indicating the battle going on to his right was clearly evident on the side of his face. The heat wasn't as intense as before but either way, he was too tired to spectate the battle.

<Soul link has been cancelled>

<All soul energy has been temporarily lost>

He quickly raised his hand in shock and began to quickly touch his neck. His necklace had gone missing and he had forgotten to take back the necklace which had been given to Ciara.

Any later he would have to master and improve his soul-based abilities from the start once again.