Chapter 6: Chapter 6. Alone in the Desert

The quiet night of the desert was abruptly interrupted as a man dropped out of the sky from a small spatial tear. Alexander dropped unto a soft wool before rolling to the rocky ground. The family of sleeping guanacos whom he had landed on quickly woke up and began snorting in a rattling, guttural pitch. Unable to identify the danger in the darkness of the night, the guanacos regrouped and sped off into the distance. As Alexander began to dust himself off, he sat in wonder. I’m alive! But where even am I, and what should I do now?

With no real answer, he figured surviving the night was a great first step. Straining his eyes, he was able to barely make out a rocky wall a couple feet away. Alexander briefly considered using some of his matches to search for a good place to set up his tent like a cave but decided making light in unknown territory in the pitch-black night would be a mistake. Plus, his matches were limited. While Alexander was prodigious in his application of the white flame, his lacking affinity with fire mana prevented him from making the flame leave his body. At most he could make his palms glow slightly, but even this gave off less light than a single firefly.

Believing the family of guanacos would have chosen a relatively safe place to sleep, he walked towards the rock wall and placed down a metal cylinder from his backpack against it. After he clicked the button on its top, it began to neatly unfold itself into a tent. This was one of the gadgets Dr. Hernandez had prepared for him. Once the tent fixed itself to the ground, Alexander stepped inside, set down his pack, and rested his head over it, using it like a pillow. The tent closed itself as he drifted away into sleep, the gravity of the final hour spent with his mentor weighing heavily on him. I hope you’re safe, old man.

 

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Trickles of sunlight made their way through the fabric of the tent, rousing Alexander from his sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he stretched and made his way out of the tent. The previous night had been too exhausting, so he had simply decided to sleep- a hazardous decision as he did not know the lay of the land. Looking around the outside, he noted he seemed to be at the bottom of a cliff, his tent set against a 300-foot rock wall. Taking a compass from his backpack, he spoke to himself. “I guess that rules out going south. What’s everywhere else.”

Deciding to explore the area to ensure he was safe, Alexander walked away from the cliff’s shadow and surveyed the land. The ground was arid and sandy; a few patches of dry, orange grass lay intermittently near several small, rock outcroppings. More frequent than the grass were several groupings of prickly cacti. He was in a desert- a mountainous one at that. The immediate vicinity was a plain but, out in the horizons, he could see terraces appearing like high-rise buildings as each subsequent one was taller than the one before.

Guanacos seemed to be main inhabitants of the plain as Alexander could see multiple herds munching on the grass. Apart from the camelids, a few desert foxes, rodents, and small birds could also be observed sharing the territory. An abnormally large 6-foot-tall guanaco lay in the center of the plains making a ball of sand fly around to play with its young. He must be an earth affinity animal! With him around, I should be safe to organize my things and plan for the future. We packed too fast, and I don’t know all I have. But, first, time to check out my goodies.

Sitting down inside the tent, Alexander unclipped the black box and proceeded to analyze it. It was made of the same black metal as the cylinder that contained the tent; no indentations were found anywhere save for the top which had a handprint. Assuming this was the mana reader, he pressed his right palm unto the outline and began to heal the box- this was the only way Alexander knew to secrete his mana. *Clink* The box opened and revealed a note laying atop the rest of the gifts.

Hello, Alexander. I guess if you’re reading this you survived. Congrats! To be honest, outside of medicine, you’re pretty goofy. I had your odds pegged at around 10%. A few lines below, the letter continued. I hope my joke helped you settle your nerves, son. Now, let’s get right to it. Below this letter, you’ll find three items: a book, a small notepad, and a portable stove top. The first book is a journal with a glossary I hurriedly compiled for you. From what you told me, your training with Director Li never quite went over certain things Elementalists treat as common knowledge. It’s not much, but I’ve included information I figured would be helpful to you. The second item is a notepad with the steps needed to learn one of my self-made techniques. The nobles of Agni are battle maniacs. I don’t expect your training to have covered any elevated ways of using your white flame, but I know you’re a healer at heart. Now that you’re an Apprentice level Elementalist, you can give this a shot. If you are compatible, the technique will be invaluable to you. Use it well. The last item was your original gift. After hearing you rave about how fun culinary magic was, I traveled to Asla to have an old friend custom make you a gift. This stove has been created to use white flames as its fuel. Once you power it on, it will expand to have two additional burners and an oven below; it also has 8 compartments around the sides of the stove which will maintain the temperature of an item to a range you can choose.

Turning over the letter, Alexander continued reading the note. Each of these gifts is meant to help you with your new life. Go out there and find things you love. If you love cooking, travel the lands in search of the rarest ingredients and create the most amazing recipes. If you want to continue healing, improve your techniques, and help those in need. Learn everything you can. You spent a whole lifetime dedicated to succeeding at Ignis, but you’ve never even left the city. Be free, son. Travel the galaxy, meet new people, and find things you love. Don’t waste a second of your precious life moping about the past. Always proud of you, Iker Hernandez. A few tear drops dripped unto the letter. His mentor had shown him more kindness than he thought possible, and he would be sure to follow his advice.

 

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After reading the note, he had made a list of all his supplies and hidden away the box in the deepest part of his backpack, deciding to use it as a safe to store the doctor’s note, the white flame technique, and his Agni bracelet. Following the itemization and organization of the contents of his backpack, Alexander realized the doctor had accounted for all his necessities. He had his aforementioned gifts along with a tent, clothes, a compass, a fire mana powered flashlight, cooking utensils, food, water in a temperature regulated flask, and money. He was ready for anything.

Several hours later, Alexander began his hike at noon, using his compass to head North. He had seen several groups of animals move in that direction as the temperature began to rise with the day and figured there may be water in that direction. Fire Elementalists could passively absorb mana from sunlight, making noon a great time to head out. He had thought about leaving earlier, but this desert was unusually cold. Even at noon, Alexander still felt the temperature was a little chilly compared to Fausto.

He enjoyed the first hour of walking thoroughly. He felt connected to nature and most of the topography he was seeing was novel to him. The pictures in old books from high school were surrounding him now, but after another hour, he grew bored. While still beautiful, the never-ending desert and terraces were monotonous. To ease his boredom, Alexander decided to practice the technique the doctor had imparted him with. He had already read through the instructions while he waited in the tent earlier, and since the technique only required him to focus the white flame on his eyes, he was able to find some success.

As the glossary explained, the color of an element ruled over the attributes it could display, but the way Elementalists used each color varied widely. For example, one of the color’s Dr. Hernandez had an affinity for was blue. While it was typically used to outright strengthen the body, Elementalists from the earth planet of Robusto had invented a way of transforming the properties of the body into their respective element. The doctor’s smoke transformation was one such application. However, once he became adept at turning into smoke, he lost the ability to use the blue fire to directly enhance his strength or speed as most people did. On the other hand, there were many people who were unable to turn their bodies into smoke at all. Techniques, if compatible, would guide Elementalists into already charted pathways for using each color, but certain paths were irreversible.

Researchers hypothesized people had three affinities: one to an element, a second to the colors within that element, and a final one to the specific applications of each element. The 9 colored flame was considered a divine item because it blessed its inheritors with affinities to all 9 colors. Every other noble clan technique only provided their practitioners with 6 elemental affinities making Agni have a distinct advantage, but more colors did not equal more strength. The application of colors was probably the most important measure of fighting power, which was why Tlaloc, the noble clan of water, was widely recognized as the strongest of the clans.

Following a few seconds of focus, Alexander’s irises turned white. The scope of his vision expanded. Focusing on a nearby armadillo, he saw a bright red light which he intrinsically knew was its vitality. Staring for longer allowed him to see its underlying muscular system. He subsequently removed the white flame from his eyes and began eating a bagel from his pack. It seems like a fantastic diagnostic technique, but the mana drainage is not too sustainable for me yet. It’s about the same as healing a fractured leg so my mana will last about ten minutes currently. Alexander continued to eat his mana recovery snack while he pondered the potential future applications of the eye technique. The doctor had written how to use the technique, but the cheeky old man left out the pathway to more advanced executions, writing that the discovery of how to improve was half the fun. Logically, I should be able to eventually filter through each organ system. Though I wonder if there’s more to it.

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Snapping out of his thoughts, Alexander turned to the left as he heard a whimper. By this point, he had hiked out of the desert plains and was well into the terraces. Hastily climbing to the origin of the sound, Alexander found a grayish, orange fox surrounded by 3 cubs scratching at a boulder. As he approached a little closer, he noticed there seemed to be another cub who was trapped under the rock. It must have been a rock that fell loose as they were climbing.

Alexander walked forward slowly and decided to help. He moved into the line of sight of the mother fox so as to not surprise her. She stepped in front of her cubs and bared her fangs, tail pointed up. Instead of backing away, Alexander focused his white flame unto his palms. He held them raised near his shoulders in the hopes the fox would feel the nurturing energy and allow him to help. After a few seconds of wariness, it seemed to work because the fox stepped away from her trapped cub and stared at Alexander.

He responded by carefully lifting the fallen boulder off the cub; he quickly used the white flame to heal any bruises the cub may have incurred. It jumped up, excited to finally be free, and after staring in wonder as its injuries healed, it ran to its family. Alexander watched as the family squealed in joy at its reunion. Happy to have been able to help, he prepared to descend back to his original spot when he felt fur rub on his hand. Looking down, his eyes met the mother fox’s.

She quickly rubbed his hand again before bounding off back to her cubs. After a few seconds, she turned to look at Alexander and squealed. Right when Alexander turned to descend again, she squealed again. Does she want me to follow her? Well, an adventure with a fox is better than hiking aimlessly so why not. Alexander jogged towards the fox family and followed them until they eventually reached a small cave. The fox mother ran to the entrance of the cave, squealed one last time, and proceeded to trot away with her cubs.

Figuring the foxes had decided to bless him with some sort of treasure trove, he eagerly walked in. The glossary mentioned rare natural treasures that could purify people’s mana and help them advance in rank. Alexander smiled widely as he let his imagination run wild on the possibilities this cave held. I hope it’s a buttload of fire crystals. Then I’ll shoot straight into Master level and skip the Senior apprentice level entirely. No, no, no. Those foxes looked wise. My biggest problem right now is I can’t protect myself. I bet it’s a dragon egg. Wait no, this a cold desert. Is it… an ice dragon’s egg?

Eventually, he reached the end of the cave where he found…. a mountain of cacti.

Are they at least magical cacti? Alexander picked up a cactus from the pile and broke it open, seeing only a normal cactus. Turning on his scan, as he had decided to call the visual white flame technique, Alexander analyzed the rest of the cacti in hopes of finding something special about them and special he found. Behind the pile of cacti was a collapsed person.

Alexander rushed over and began to inspect the body. It was a fair-skinned young man of about 20 with short black hair. He was wearing a dirty, blue leather tunic with black pants and boots. Upon observation, Alexander noticed the man’s eyes were sunken and his lips were cracked. Opting to use his new technique, Alexander could see nothing out of the ordinary except for a dim, green light surrounding the body, but as he focused and poured more mana into his eyes together with a quick medical checkup, he realized the man was not only severely dehydrated but also totally out of mana. Alexander healed the man to return some vitality to his light before wetting his lips with water from the flask. He repeated the process several times while using the remainder of his bagel to maintain his mana reserves at appropriate levels before the man finally began showing signs of life.

His fingers started twitching, and he let out a small groan.

“Hello?” Alexander tried to speak with the man. “Can you hear me?”

The man continued to groan.

Shaking his body, Alexander called out again. “Do you know who you are or where you are?”

The man slightly opened his eyes and shifted his legs around. His blue eyes seemed foggy as if he was still not fully conscious.

Grabbing the flashlight from his pack, Alexander shined it into his eyes. His eyes are responding appropriately. I wonder if perhaps he hit his head. “Sir, can you hear me?”

This time the man muttered some incomprehensible words instead of groaning.

Excited to finally be able to communicate, Alexander continued. “I didn’t quite catch that. Can you speak up? What are you trying to tell me?”

The man opened his eyes even more and whispered. “Don’t… Don’t take my cactuses.”

Ahhhh, now it makes sense. So he’s a cactus addict.

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