"Bannnnng! Bannnng! Bannnng!"
"Finally… We're out of the swamps… That place was something."
Stannir pushed through the destroyed gate and smiled as he felt the rays of sunshine on him. He turned and smiled at Salina. "How does that feel being out of those tunnels and swamps?"
"It does feel great. But you also must admit it was a great place for training. Look at yourself. You're brimming with energy and strength."
Stannir looked down at his body and nodded. "Yes. I do feel stronger after all that. My steps also feel lighter after having to walk through the sinking mud."
Stannir looked at his hands and saw steam rise from them. He frowned and looked at Salina. "What's going on?"
He saw Salina's smile. "Relax… Your body is about to push through another level… You're about to become stronger. You need a place to circle your energy as soon as possible."
Stannir nodded and looked around at the mountains around him frowning. "There doesn't seem to be a place here where I can." He turned and looked back at the tunnel. "I can do it in there… It's quiet enough and no one is going to come looking anytime soon."
"You're right… I'm just glad there's no more mud around. I'm glad that I won't be ruining my clothes walking in that terrible place."
"Don't forget. You said that we'll have to return in the future when I'm stronger."
"I haven't forgotten that… Maybe by then I can be waiting outside while you go in there yourself?"
Stannir looked at her in surprise. "I thought you wanted to be with me always."
He watched her put her hands on her shoulders. "What do you expect… I don't like getting my clothes ruined. It's not like you would carry me."
Stannir looked at her with a slight smile. "If that's what it takes to bring you with me, then yes I would carry you through the entire swamplands."
He watched as Salina's face started to turn red and he sighed as she turned away from him and looked at the mountains around them. "Good answer… I hope that answer will never change in the future… No matter what happens."
Stannir smiled and walked back into the tunnel and closed the entrance with small boulders. He looked around in the familiar darkness and sat against the tunnel wall closing his eyes. "Let's start becoming stronger…"
He started circulating the energy inside him and felt the energy from around him being sucked into him. He focused on continuing circulating the energy as it entered his body. He frowned. "There's a lot this time. I don't know if I can push it through my body before it hits the ocean inside."
He clenched his teeth and tried to increase his pace forcing the energy through. He opened his eyes and looked at the mouth which was open and eating the energy pushing it into his body.
"Salina… I need help. What should I do?"
"Take control… If too much energy enters your body that has not circulated through the path it can cause serious damage to your body."
"Is there anyway to purify it before it gets there?"
"Not that I'm aware of… Focus and figure it out… Our lives are at stake here."
Stannir nodded and closed his eyes focusing once again at the large torrent of energy entering his body. He cursed and calmed himself. "I can do this. Just like everything I've face I was able to get through. I can get through this as well."
He clenched his teeth as waves of pain coursed through his body. He looked at the paths in his body frowning. "The energy doesn't want to obey and instead it's fighting back."
He floated above his body and looked at his hands starting to turn red. "I need to control the energy…" He smiled. "I can use fire to control it… Create some heat to make it go the way I want… Fire can burn away the impurities of the energy."
He settled back in his body with a smile and started to ignite the energy causing waves of heat to come of his body. He covered the ocean of energy and the crystal floating above it in layers of fire. Then he made a ball of fire and started to push it through his channel from the mouth and forced the energy through the path that he wanted. He smiled as he watched black specks melt into nothingness as the heat from the fire within him purify the energy.
He felt another wave of pain hit him. He clenched his teeth and kept pushing balls of fire into the paths controlling the large amounts of energy.
"It's… working… painful… but working…"
He looked at the paths and watched as the fireballs started to strengthen them. "The flames are helping me… It seems there's more to these flames of mine then I first thought."
He then looked at the mouth and noticed it was covered in flames. He smiled. "That's your fault… You wanted me to fall to the energy, however it's made me stronger. I should say thank you for that. In future if you want to eat energy it's because I say so, and not whenever you want."
He watched as the mouth started to close over his heart. "I thought so. I'm the fire eater. Not you." Stannir let the fires die down around the mouth and focused on the remaining energy being pushed through his body by the fireballs being purified in the process.
He then looked at the flames protecting his ocean and floating crystal watching drops of energy fall over his ocean and crystal. He smiled the energy in the ocean started to solidify and the top of another crystal was starting to rise out of it.
"It's working Salina… I solved the problem."
He floated around the ocean watching as the third crystal started to take shape. He watched as the ocean level slowly dropped until it was once again empty.
Stannir opened his eyes and slowly stood up listening to his bone popping loudly. He stretched his arms and legs with a smile on his face. "It worked Salina."
"What did you do?"
"I set the energy on fire. It also purified the energy as it moved through my body. Also, the third crystal is larger than the first two."
"How much of the energy ocean was left?"
"It's empty at the moment, but I can feel it slowly filling again."
"Empty? Let me see."
Stannir nodded and closed his eyes and stood floating around the second crystal. He looked at Salina. "See what I mean?"
"This crystal took all the energy in the ocean… I've never heard of that before… Don't you feel tired or anything?"
Stannir shook his head. "No. I don't feel tired. I just feel very hungry."
"Then let's look for food and than you feed."
Stannir nodded and moved the small boulders out of the way and crawled into the sun again. He looked up at the morning sun and turned to Salina. "How long was It forming the second crystal?���
"It was about three days… A little longer than usual, but the size of that crystal explains it."
"Is the size of the crystals important in the future?"
"Those crystals contain pure solidified energy. When you are strong enough. They'll merge together into one crystal and then condense itself into a tiny ball."
Stannir nodded as he listened to Salina. He stopped and looked at her in confusion. "Why are you walking? Don't you usually float?"
"Finally, you notice. My body is almost a physical. Still others can't see me yet. I think if you improve your strength a few more times, and then I'll be physical."
Stannir smiled. "That's great news. That means we can walk and fight together. Protect each other and all the other fun things people do."
"Fun things?"
"Yes… You know how I feel about you, and I know how you feel about me." He watched as Salina's face turned crimson and shook her head. "It sounds nice, but also there's another thing you'll want to be thinking about. When my body becomes physical my memories will return."
Stannir looked at the mountains. "Ohh."
"Just ohh?"
Stannir looked at her. "Your memory coming back to you can be a good thing as well. It doesn't have to be bad."
"What if my memories show me to be a monster or something worse?"
Stannir stopped walking and stood facing her lifting his arms. "Do you see me going anywhere?"
"No…"
"Do you see me looking afraid of what's to come?"
"No…"
"So, stop worrying. Whatever happened in your past with your memories is in the past. What we need to look at is the moment right now. Which is you and me together. Don't let the past or memories control you."
He touched her shoulder. "I'm here, and not going anywhere. We've been through a lot and we've come out through it. In the future we're going to face a lot more, but I know with you by my side we can get through it."
He watched as a tear fell down Salina's cheek and wiped it away.
"How did you get so wise?"
Stannir smiled. "Must be the company. Now, come here." He opened his arms raised and walked towards Salina. He smiled was Salina walk towards him with a smile embracing her. He felt her heart beating against his body. He took a deep breath smelling the perfume of her hair.
He let her go and took a few steps back holding her shoulders. "Shall we go and get some food to eat?"
"And a bath."
Stannir looked at her with a hurt look. "What's the supposed to mean?"
"That you… need to have a bath… You stink of swamp and dry mud."
Stannir looked at his body and sighed. "Yes… It does seem that I'm carrying a lot of swamp with me."
He looked around. "We'll we're around mountains so I'm sure we'll find a stream of fresh water or something around here."
He took a step forward.
"Thud!"
He looked down and circulated his energy in his body. He looked up and rolled out of the way of arrows digging into the ground. He stared up at the masked warriors standing around him and frowned. He raised his hands and stood up.
"I'm sorry if I trespassed. I just came out of the tunnel there."
Stannir pointed to the tunnel entrance. "It starts in the swamps. I came from the north."
He watched as the masked warriors jumped down on the ground and walked up to him. He saw the warrior's eyes through the eye slots of the white mask.
"You stranger… From plain?"
Stannir shook his head. "Not from plains. From north… From ice."
"Ahh ice man… We don't like ice man."
He listened to them whistle to each other. He took a step back when he heard a bow tighten.
"Why don't you do something here?"
Stannir shook his head. "I entered their lands… I��m the one at fault."
"Still you should defend yourself or something." Stannir shook his head. "If I did that, they would think I'm attacking them."
"So, what do you plan?"
"Enter back in the tunnel and take another exit out."
He heard Salina curse. "I don't want to go back in that stinking hole. Wait…"
Stannir followed Salina's gaze up to a perched bird staring at them. It cocked its head and started to whistle. He watched with an open mouth as the masked warriors lowered their weapons and stared at him.
'Why you say you ice man? You are fire dancer…"
"Fire dancer what is that?"
"It means you are a warrior of fire."
Stannir looked up where the voice came from and saw someone covered head to toe in a cloak. The hood covering their face.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your savior for now. I'm sure you don't want to return to the swamps, and you clearly need a bath. The warriors here will take you out of these lands quickly and safely."
"Thank you… What do I call you?"
"Names have no use for me… What is it with people and names. It seems that everyone from the plains keeps asking for a name?"
Stannir nodded. "Okay… I understand. I didn't have a name for a long time in the north… I was just called fire eater."
"Fire eater… What a strange name. Do you eat fire or something like that?
Stannir smiled. "You could say that."
"Fair enough… In future you should know these are holy lands, and if you wish to return here, then you need a warrior or a priestess to lead you through these lands. If not, the next time you'll not be so lucky."
Stannir nodded and saluted the cloaked person standing above them.
"Fire dancers are weird sometimes… Go follow the masked warriors, they'll lead you to safety."