13: Flame Guardian.

Looking at the young man who was lying half dead on the ground, only one thought ran through his mind, " what could he be?"

The rain began to pour down heavier and he was being forced to leave as soon as possible, but the water would only make the man's wounds worse.

He slowly bent down and placed his hand on his chest, closing his eyes as flames began to gather around his palm. They spread all over the hybrid's body, healing most of the minor injuries he had.

" I stopped the bleeding, but that won't be enough to guarantee his survival." He thought, reaching out his hands and slowly lifting him off the ground.

He continued to walk forward with the hybrid in his arms, strolling through the rain without giving care to the chilling breeze that flew by each minute.

He was using his flames to warm up himself and the victim he had in his arms. Enabling him to go so far without any problems, but there was one thing which had him worrying.

Among all the races across all realms, beasts were a special case that crossed all boundaries, not minding the inhabitants. They hid mostly during the day to avoid being killed by the realm inhabitants but ever since the arrival of other-worlders, they had become more rampant.

Their meals were now easy to catch and they were frequent, almost reaching out towards the central city. It wouldn't be a problem for him, but if all the mana he felt back at the building were all doing the same thing he was at the moment, then their deaths were most likely guaranteed.

The heavy rain quickly began turning into a storm and the wind became stronger and more frequent. Making it to the forest the trees were being tossed from side to side and some of them were even breaking off from their stems.

" Damn the nature of this storm." He mumbled as he looked around, trying to find a place to shield himself from the rain.

The hybrid was soaked wet and dripping with water and it was clear that his condition was only declining. Leo stared at his face as he continued to breathe heavily, barely clinging to life.

After a few minutes of walking, he finally arrived at a cave which he quickly ran into without even thinking twice. The person in his arms was dying and he was determined to stop it no matter what.

Upon entering, he was welcomed with nothing but darkness, and the sound of rocks falling off from the walls of the cave. A ball of flames rose in front of him, lighting up the cave as he slowly moved forward.

He lay the young man down slowly and stared outside for a while, thinking of what to do next. He slowly reached and called out, " Ashburn."

Violent red flames quickly began burning in front of him. An ethereal figure began to appear and after the flames died down, a figure completely originating from flames was left standing in front of him.

The firespirit looked at him and around his surroundings before asking, "Why exactly did you call for me?"

Leo chuckled nervously, reaching for the back of his neck with his right hand as he returned the spirit's gaze, " could you do me a grand favor and look after this young man."

The fire spirit slowly turned its gaze towards the man who was lying on the ground, the person whom Leo had pointed at.

" Hmmm, quite a magnificent sight I'll say. Where exactly did you find him?" He asked, looking at the man who had just summoned him, only to see that he had already left, " I see now, just as always."

With his summoner gone, the flame spirit sat right next to the young man lying on the ground and quickly began to inspect his body. His ears seemed to be the most captivating of all parts of his body and were the places which he focused on the most.

Stroking, pulling, and pushing, he continued to do all sorts of things to the body which lay before him while keeping in mind, the fact that he was only a few hours away from death.

He slowly pulled open his eyes to reveal that they were red and dulled out. His skin was fairly yellow as well which didn't seem unusual, to him at least.

While he sat there playing, he began to hear creaking noises coming from the deeper ends of the cave. It continued to get closer and closer, forcing him to instantly light up the entire cave.

A bright hue of red livened up the entire place and after a while, a creature that seemed to be bent backward on its limbs slowly emerged from within the cave. It had fingers that were bent towards all sides of its hand and continued to wiggle flexibly as it slowly crawled toward him.

He slowly turned towards the odd-looking creature, gazing at it blankly while not moving a single inch from where he had been originally standing. He didn't consider the creature a threat and it seemed that it was weary of him as well.

He immediately sent a ball of flames flying towards it. It hit it hard on its body and had it screeching in pain as it began to slowly move backward and back into the cave where it had just come from.

He heaved a sigh and slowly turned back to his newfound plaything when he felt an overwhelming presence behind him. He quickly turned around to see the beast standing behind him once again and it was slowly standing up.

Its limbs continued to twist and turn in an attempt to get him into a good standing position. It twisted around, leaving its horrifying face which contained nothing but razor-sharp, shark-like teeth. Its limbs continued facing opposite ways as it slowly approached while its mana continued to flow around its body, fluctuating its presence around the room.

" It really had to be now of all times." He thought with a sigh as he slowly stood up from the ground.

*****

Back in the forest, Leo continued moving forward until he began to feel the presence of his good friend once again. Fred was somewhere nearby and it wouldn't be long before he would find him.

He arrived in front of a cave where he could feel multiple presences coming from inside it. He slowly walked inside and caught sight of the fire that lay in the middle of the cave.

The next that caught his attention was sobbing noises coming from his side. He slowly turned his gaze to the location to see a young lady leaning against the wall and crouched up while she covered her face with her hands.

He knew from her mana that she was an other-worlder but decided not to approach. Right by her side was Ciara who seemed to be consoling her and she was completely frozen in place as soon as she laid her eyes on the young man.

" No need to worry about me." He assured her, slowly walking towards Fred who was lying on the other side with his right hand on his abdomen.

Ciara didn't utter a word and simply continued to watch as he slowly approached Fred. The injured kept on groaning in pain, so much pain that he didn't even realize when Leo came up to him and placed his right hand on his forehead.

An overwhelming feeling of warmth circulated throughout his entire body and after it settled, all the pain he felt instantly vanished.

" I see that you're far better than you were just now." He said, taking away his hand from Fred's body.

The young man instantly sprang up from the bed and turned around. He was astonished by the voice which just spoke to him, Leo was finally here and completely drenched in water for reasons unbeknownst to him.