The Oasis was significantly cooler during the evening. It was just windy enough to be considered cold. Silas stood alone atop one of the rocky hills that lay next to the waterfall. Behind him, the flickering light of a campfire burned in the distance, seven shadows around them. Silas had excused himself from the group in order to practice and discover the extent of his magical abilities. He assumed that Axel and Evelynn would leave as well, thinking they were the type to be loners, but even they sat on one of the logs, leaning on each other and engaging in hushed conversation.
Saya was chatting it up with Macy as Rekka paced intensely back and forth over the fire. She didn't need to practice her abilities out away from the others – she was doing so now. She was letting her mind wander while keeping control of the flames. Jasper and Julia were lying on the grass, looking up at the stars and smoke.
Out in the Badlands, without any light pollution, the stars flourished like little white and blue flowers. Julia was just commenting on how beautiful they looked, and Jasper was pointing out how they could be used for navigation. Silas had no time for either of that. While Jasper and Julia were wasting their precious time looking at the pretty little stars like idiots, Silas had work to do.
He was sure he'd been practicing for hours now, experimenting with all types of materials. He tried manipulating rocks, grass, earth, air, and even tried moving some of the water from the waterfall. He had succeeded in drawing the torrent a little closer to him, but he could only last a second before collapsing on the ground, exhausted. He was determined not to be the weakest link of the group. Otherwise they might think him completely useless and leave him to die alone. Or, maybe they would kill him themselves to prevent any secrets from getting out. Silas needed to be prepared for anything. And even if he did end up being the weakest link, at least he could fight back with something.
Silas practiced lifting larger and larger patches of earth for longer periods of time. Then, once he'd gotten down lifting a meter-wide patch seamlessly, he began trying to throw rocks with his magic. He picked up a pebble and tossed it up in the air, staring at it as it hovered. He directed it at the waterfall and it slowly began to float towards it. Gritting his teeth, Silas urged the pebble to move faster, but it simply meandered into the water before getting washed away as Silas broke his concentration.
Suddenly, the ground shook, and a deafening noise filled the air, shattering Silas' thoughts and rattling his brain. A huge bright light followed by an ominous and rapidly rising plume of smoke burst forward from the forest canopy. It billowed, close enough that Silas could see embers floating in the air. The acrid smell of burning metal assaulted his senses not long after.
"Fire!" Rekka yelled the instant she caught a glimpse of it. The shock of the explosion had broken her concentration. The flame she fostered vanished, leaving them all in pitch darkness.
"Silas? Silas, where are you?" Saya's concerned voice sounded over the intense crackling of an unseen conflagration. The night became hot and stuffy. Silas started breathing through his mouth – his nose didn't yield him enough air.
"I'm over here!" Silas shouted, silently relieved he hadn't been forgotten. He made his way down on his knees, feeling around the boulders on the hillside. Desperately, he tried to create a light like Rekka, but only ended up singing his fingertips with a spark.
"Are you hurt?" Rekka barked. Silas replied no as she reached him, torch in hand. It illuminated her face in a haunting yellow.
"Good. Is everyone here?" One by one, Silas heard the voices of his companions, feeling safer now that he knew Rekka had a handle on the situation and everyone was together.
"We need to control this fire. Otherwise, it may burn down the forest. I need to head closer to the source. Axel, Silas, Saya, come with me. We can use your air and earth magic to help snuff out the flames. Saya, you can detect any more potential danger."
Silas felt a sinking feeling in his chest. No way he wanted to get closer to those flames. He didn't trust his magic enough to be confident he could do anything but catch on fire. But Rekka's tone offered no leeway. He had to obey. He ran quickly behind her as her fancy red outfit flapped behind her in the wind.
With each step they took, the ground and air became hotter and hotter. Silas broke out in a sweat, the smoke stinging his eyes and blurring his vision. Everything swam in front of him, rippling from the heat. The atmosphere blistered. He held his arm in front of his hair, but it did him no good. Rekka snuffed out her torch as they came across the source of the fire.
A large grey and orange vehicle lay on its side, its doors mangled and forced open. The explosion had shattered its reinforced glass windows. The bottom of the vehicle was melted, molten steel dripping onto the grass below, which was black and already dead. Flames licked at the tires, bent and misshapen. Silas heard Saya gasp as she lay eyes on two figures lying on the ground beside the vehicle. Their limbs were twisted in horrifyingly unnatural positions.
There was a voxen and a ram, their skin burnt away to reveal their monster skeletons and insides. The ram had a sizeable hole in his stomach that went straight through. Everything that used to be in his abdomen was completely vaporized, leaving hot blood to pour out of his heart onto the ground below. The voxen was slumped against a tire, blood trickling from a massive head wound. There was a great crater in the ground where the explosion had occurred, and cracks ran from the vehicle all the way to where Rekka stood.
"I don't sense anybody else here," Saya said, coughing and out of breath.
"Good," Rekka responded. Without a second to waste, she held her arms out. Her eyes were definitely aglow this time. Silas saw her body shake with the force of her spell. She grit her teeth and growled under her breath. Awestruck, Silas saw the separate fires begin to diminish and disappear into the ground one by one. It looked as if they were orange worms burrowing into tunnels below the earth.
After the last of the flames had dwindled down, Rekka bent over, breathing heavily. She grasped her kneecaps for stability, leaning over with her hair covering her eyes. A little bit of spit hung from her mouth, and her eyes were watery. Axel, without missing a beat, took her arm and propped her up against himself. He helped her get to her feet.
"Thank you," Rekka managed to choke out. Exhaustion ran through every corner of her body.
"You didn't need to do that," Silas said, with an edge of concern in his voice. "You could have handled half of the fires, and we could have snuffed out the rest."
Rekka opened her mouth to respond, but had to take several breaths before then.
"If I can do it myself," she started, then coughed from the smoke. "I'll do it."
"We need to get you back to camp," Silas said, taking the lead. But a yelp from Saya interrupted his train of thought.
"Wait! I sense something!"
Just then, the one-eyed bristleback materialized out of the air, shimmering like flames. Its eyes were murderous, locking onto Silas, who stood in front of the others.
"What is that?" Axel screamed as the bristleback opened its mouth to reveal its nightmarish rows of teeth. Saya screamed.
The bristleback's throat began to glow, the same color as the flames from before. Silas' eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
"It's going to attack! Run!" He screamed hoarsely, trying to move his feet. But he caught the bristleback in the eye, and it transfixed him with its deadly gaze. His feet were rooted to the ground.
No, no, no! I'm not a coward! I can move, I'm not paralyzed, this can't happen to me! Silas thought furiously. Out of all the people to stand frozen in fear, Silas had never thought it would be him. He thought he'd be the type of person to always remain cool in tense situations. However, for some inexplicable reason, Silas couldn't move.
Silas could hear a deep, intense rumble, a vibration that shook him to his very core. His heart recoiled, scrunching up in fear, bracing for impact. His stomach dropped. He stared into the bristleback's throat, instant death staring him straight back in the face. He saw a brilliant, overwhelming flash, and felt the heat a second before the laser hit him.