Chapter 7: Chapter Six: Anomaly

For the remainder of the night, Valdus, and the others spent their time chatting together about different stories and explaining more to Valdus about what had been going on in Eldoria. Valdus, in return, had explained to them what had happened to him at the time he was nearing his arrival to Eldoria. As the conversation continued, Scarlet took some seeds from the ingredients they had brought back and planted them in the field. She then returned and readied the rest of the ingredients for dinner. The Cardinal Plains were silent, yet beautiful. The wind howled, causing the flora outside to sway. The moon shone across the grassy plain as it accompanied the stunning night sky, and the moonlight vaguely lit up the shack. Scarlet had begun cooking dinner, and an enticing aroma filled the room, while Ace had propped up a lantern for additional lighting in the shack.

“Enjoying some stargazing are we, Valdus?”
Scarlet humoured.

“Yeah. I’ve...never seen a night sky like this before... Back in the realm where I came from, the night sky often gave an...ominous feel, yet this... This is something else.”
Valdus stared awestruck at the sky from one the shack’s windows.

Few clouds filled the sky, and the stars shone far brighter than those of what Valdus had seen before. Some even shone varying vibrant colours. He also noticed a few constellations - the vibrancy of the stars almost painting a full picture of what they represented.

“So, Valdus... I sort of hate to bring this up now, but...about those flames of yours. Do you have any clues on what it may be?”
Ace sounded a little hesitant to ask.

Valdus laughed quietly to himself and sighed,
“I’m not too sure on what it may be, but I have a few theories. And don’t worry, there's no issue mentioning it. I need to get my own thoughts off my chest, anyway. It may have been the portal I came through to get here. As I said, lightning struck my chest as I fell through, and I think it may have given some sort of power. Then again, that was a lightning strike. My powers so far have been fire, so...”

“I see... You’ve got a fair point, but that lightning may then have been what the Essence of your current Affinity took the form of.”
Ace seemed intrigued, soon muttering to himself,
“That, or you’re attuned to the Aer Base Affinity, too.”

“H-hold on, wh-”
Valdus stammered.

“One thing at a time, Ace. We haven’t even explained what Essence and Affinities are to him, yet.”
Cedric huffed at Ace.

“R-right... Sorry, Valdus. We’ll...have to get to that another time.”
Ace apologised.

“Anyway, Cedric and I have no clue either, but we’d like to listen in.”
Lucile spoke up,
“So, got any other theories you want to get off your chest?”

“Well, there is this...purple dragon I know... Think I mentioned him before already. He’s partially the reason why I came to this realm. He somehow managed to bend the reality of my realm, almost sending me insane. That being said... His fire was purple. When I attacked that Raptor, the flame was white...”
Valdus began to sound doubtful of his own words.
“Same with my eye, even...and that strange blue...”

Ace noticed the doubt in Valdus’s voice and sighed.

He then leaned back on his chair and gave a sudden shocked expression, before falling back and hitting the ground with a hard thwack.
“Argh! Tell me I’m not seeing things!”

The others looked toward the entrance of the shack. There, at the door, a Raptor stood. It looked a little worn out, its tongue hanging out of its mouth, panting. A scar ran down the right side of the Raptor’s torso. It had red scales with black patterns across its sides, sky blue eyes, and it looked directly at Valdus. Valdus didn’t know why, but he felt some sort of trust resonating from the Raptor’s gaze. The Raptor then made a strange, loud barking noise, before running straight to the middle of the room and stumbling over. It then made a quick recovery, dancing around everyone else, albeit clearly exhausted. Lucile stepped back, ready to grab his spear, while Cedric growled.

“I-I thought they weren’t playful anymore, and why is it inside the shack?”
Scarlet screamed, leaning away from the Raptor.

“Wait!! I think that’s the Raptor you struck when we saw the pack earlier today, Valdus! Look at the scar on its side. Its scales have changed, as well! That flame of yours must’ve done something!”
Ace sounded surprised, jumping up onto his feet.

“It...uhh... It may seem so, but do these guys normally- Gah!!”
Before Valdus could finish speaking, the Raptor tackled him onto the ground and licked his face over and over, just like a dog would.

“I’ve...never seen a Raptor act like that before... I think he likes you!”
Ace laughed.

The Raptor got off Valdus and danced around again, before stopping to stand in front of him. By now, all Valdus could imagine was that dogs in this realm were just bizarre, hyperactive Raptors. He chuckled, before laughing hysterically. The Raptor panted and licked Valdus again, before walking over to Lucile. Lucile lowered his stance, and Cedric heaved a sigh.

Valdus groaned, still laughing a little as he wiped the slobber off his face,
“Ugh, great...!”

Scarlet sighed as well, then rubbed the Raptor’s forehead, before giving it a cooked mushroom. The Raptor ate the mushroom, grinned, and wagged its tail.

“Well, it seems rather friendly now. Maybe...if I can find out a way to use the flames on the other Raptors without harming them, then I could stop them all from going haywire.”
Valdus suggested.

Ace and Lucile seemed to agree with the plan Valdus had suggested, but they were worried about it too. Valdus then went to pat the Raptor with his left hand, and the Raptor moved its head closer to embrace the affection. His hand suddenly began to burn as it approached the Raptor, and once the Raptor placed its head against his palm, it quickly retreated in fright. It whimpered as the burning on Valdus’s hand grew, and his hand set alight yet again, with blue and white fire.

“Gah! What the-? The flame’s...!”
Valdus staggered back and flailed his hand wildly, expecting the flames to lessen, even a little.

“Again? You’ve got to be kidding me, how unstable is that magic!”
Cedric shouted.

Valdus felt his muscles give way, and his left eye lit up as well. He let out a shout of pain, falling to his knees. In a panic, Scarlet quickly brought over a bucket of water and poured it onto Valdus, but it did nothing. He began to scream of agony, writhing and trying to shake off the flames. The others moved back, away from Valdus, bewildered and almost petrified by the scene. The Raptor already had a fair amount of distance away from him, too. Slowly, Valdus’s screaming began to quieten, soon falling to an almost relaxed panting as he still cried. Moments after that, he got up into a crouched position. He barely mustered a faint, beast-like growl as he tried to endure the searing pain, and tried to shake the flames off again, but still it did nothing to help.

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“Don’t try to fight it, Valdus... Embrace it...!”
A sinister voice spoke in Valdus’s mind.

The hell is it now? ‘Embrace it’...?
Valdus tried to think,
What do I do...? Gah, the hell am I thinking! How can anyone think rationally when on fire? But... Dammit, what choice do I have, anyway? If this doesn’t somehow work...!

Unable to think of any other ideas, Valdus gave in. He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, trying not to shout out again in pain.

“What do we do? If we don’t do anything his hand will-!”
Scarlet was worrying, but she paused when they all noticed the flame had begun to weaken.

The pain subsided as the flame shifted to his forehand, and Valdus reopened his eyes, gasping for air. He fell back, now sitting and staring at the others in surprise, while they looked back at him in shock. Valdus looked back at his hand, and saw the fire forming into something stranger. Once it faded, he sighted a strange mark singed into the back of his hand. The mark was a vertical, sharp oval, with a dot in the centre of it – much like an eye, or a portal. He ran his finger over it and it stung. The mark was fully burnt into his flesh, just like a brand. It gave off a few small, blue sparks and glowed a faint blue. The sparks and glowing soon faded afterward. He then sighed and stood up, still holding his wrist. Scarlet shook her head, then rushed over to him to heal him.

 

A while later, Ace and Valdus were sitting down, chatting again and waiting to enjoy Scarlet’s cooking. The Raptor sat next to Valdus, while Lucile leaned against a wall near Ace - Cedric perched on his shoulder as usual.

“We’re going to have to find a way to get those flames in control, but how...?”
Lucile thought out loud.

“I’m not sure either, but what I am sure about is that we’ll find a way at some point. I’m just hoping that time is soon... Very soon...”
Valdus responded.

“Best to hope for the best.”
Cedric commented.

Valdus then went to pat the Raptor again, and this time nothing strange occurred. The Raptor embraced the pats on its head, making a soothing trill. The conversations continued, and soon after that, Scarlet’s cooking was done.

“The food’s ready!”
Scarlet called out,
“With the ingredients you all brought for me, I’m sure tonight’s dinner will be great.”

“By the way, Valdus, Scarlet’s cooking is amazing! Not much like mine - mine’s horrible.”
Ace gave an embarrassed laugh.

“Haha, well, I think I can only make something mediocre!”
Valdus laughed as well.

“I’m not terrible at it, but my cooking can’t match Scarlet’s - ever.”
Lucile commented,
“You’re a lucky man, Ace.”

“Indeed.
Cedric chuckled.

“All right, you lot.”
Scarlet giggled, placing a plate of food in front of everyone,
“I got food for our new Raptor friend too, so dig in!”

The Raptor panted happily, drooling as it saw the food.

“Hang on, before we do, shouldn’t we get a name for him?”
Valdus asked.

The Raptor gave a slight trill, tilting its head at Valdus. It’s curiosity now was on him, as if more interested in a name, than eating food.

“Why don’t you name them?”
Ace replied.

The Raptor suddenly perked up excitedly. Valdus chuckled a little, then sat silently, pondering about a name to give the Raptor.

After thinking for some time, Valdus spoke up again,
“How about Rex?”

The Raptor returned a wide grin to Valdus and trilled again, before suddenly digging into the food and wagging his tail. The others laughed and began eating as well. They continued to chat together as they ate, though Rex had managed to make quite the mess with his attempt at eating. Once they all had finished, the group decided to finally rest. Valdus had placed his sword beside himself as he laid down, Rex curling up at his side. Everyone fell asleep quite quickly, and as the lantern’s light faded, faint markings began to form across the blade of Valdus’s sword. A dark, purple aura flowed from Valdus’s body and into the markings, lighting them briefly with violet flames.

“Rest, Valdus... You’ll need it...for what is to come... A dark path awaits. Find me...and prove your worth... Find me...and help me...”
A voice, reminiscent of the purple dragon, spoke within Valdus’s dream.

The purple flames then began to fade, and the markings along the sword stopped glowing.

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