The fire soon faded as it had never happened. Life was barren from the place where the fire took place, leaving burned trees and grasses. The healthy soil of the forest has been covered with ashes and the dead bodies of burnt carcasses. A place where beauty resided soon turned into a mournful graveyard.
The team walked around, trying to find something from the area.
"This is --," Maeje couldn't continue speaking as she witnessed the horrible result of the fire.
"Who could have done such a thing? I don't think these creatures can create fire on their own." Alex said, who also witnessed how tragic the fire was.
"Noel, have you encountered such species that can emit fire?" Kent asked Noel, who also roamed around, looking at the result of the fire.
Noel moved his head from side to side, "No. I have never seen such a thing," Noel said.
Kent tried to think of possible reasons why the fire started. Wildfire? We already confirmed that the grass and trees weren't that dry to naturally start a fire. "What do you guys think? Do you think this was caused by a natural factor?" Kent asked everyone.
They looked at her and tried to think what could have happened in the fire.
"I don't think so," Ivan said.
"Me too," Matt added.
"This could not be a work of a natural wildfire," Maeje said.
"I don't think so too. So, let's try to separate and try to look for clues. Let's meet again here after an hour or so." Kent suggested as she immediately went to the sky and looked for clues.
The team separated after hearing it and followed Kent's suggestion. Alex returned to reroute the river back from its original course. He used his powers to manipulate the soil at will.
Belle also went back to collect the clothes scattered in the area to avoid being tracked, for they still didn't know what the creatures in the forest were. It's better to be safe when trying to invade a place for the first time, she thought.
Alex returned from rerouting the river, and he met Belle.
"Where are they?" Alex asked Belle.
"I don't know. I collected the clothes and buried them in the ground. I haven't seen them since." Belle replied.
"Let's try to wait here since this is our original rendezvous point," Alex suggested.
Belle nodded and transformed back to her human form; Alex did the same too.
An hour had passed when they saw each other again, coming out from different places at the same time.
"What have you found?" Alex said to Noel, who was walking toward them.
"Nothing," Noel said. "What about you?" Noel said to Ivan, who was now beside him. Ivan just moved his head from side to side, and they already understood what it meant. Matt, Kent soon arrived after. They both said nothing when asked what they found.
"Where's Maeje?" asked Kent after seeing Maeje hadn't returned yet.
"I saw her minutes ago, and she told me to just go on." Matt shared.
After hearing what Matt said, Kent immediately flew towards where Matt came from and looked for Maeje.
The team couldn't stop themselves from being worried. Anxious but hopeful for their friend's safety, they both moved where Kent went to help look for her.
"I didn't notice how big the fire was," Ivan said as they walked.
"Me too. When I looked for some clue for a reason for the fire, I hadn't thought about how far the burned area was. When we tried to extinguish it, maybe we had so much adrenaline that we circled around with ease." Matt shared.
"Guys, there they are." Belle pointed in front of them, where they saw both Kent and Maeje attending something that they hadn't quite seen yet. Since they aren't that near to them.
Ivan ran towards them, and everyone followed. They saw a creature they hadn't seen before, "What's that?!" exclaimed Ivan as he witnessed a four-foot-long creature who lay unconsciously on the burned ground.
"I don't know," said Maeje. "I just know that this creature needs help," Maeje added.
The creature looked like a human only if his skin didn't look like dried soil. There were cracks on his skin which made you feel uneasy when you looked at it.
"It looked like a child," Alex said, looking at the creature lying on the burned ground.
"Where did you find this, Maeje?" Matt asked.
"Just here," Maeje answered.
"Wait, what?" Ivan said in confusion. "We're in the middle of the fire!" Ivan said in disbelief.
"I know! That's why I'm confused too. How did this thing survive the fire in the first place?" Maeje argued.
"Enough questions. Maej? Can you help him?" Kent asked.
"I think I can. Matt, can you elevate his feet? Elevation can let the blood flow quickly to the brain, therefore helps with fainting." Maeje pleaded.
Maeje tried to look for clothing from the creature's body, but she couldn't find any. She needed to loosen the clothes so the creature could breathe air without difficulty, but since she couldn't, she just went to her pockets to look for something.
Maeje grabbed a vial made from hardened nectar from her pocket and put it near the creature's nose.
Everyone was amazed by Maeje's knowledge of medicine.
"Wait? Did you just make your own version of ammonia?" Ivan asked in amazement.
Maeje smiled, "I can't do much, so I have to do this much. This was made from the skin of that fruit."
"arua?" Asked Matt, busy elevating the creature's feet.
Maeje nodded, "I saw some useful use from that foul-smelling thing since it's a waste to just throw it away," Maeje explained.
"That's – That's really genius of you, Maeje," amazed Kent.
"I know you already know that I'm not very good at fighting or any other forms of combat. Since I also grew up with limitations to physical abilities due to my bone structure, I have to make up something that I can confidently contribute to the class." Maeje shared as she attended to the unconscious creature.
"You are special, Maeje. We wouldn't have gone this far without your help. We're really thankful for that." Kent said.
A hacking sound interrupted the team as the creature coughed harshly. "Are you okay?" Maeje said to the now conscious creature.
The creature opened his brown eyes and looked at the person in front of him. Suddenly, he removed Maeje's hands from his body and kicked Matt forcefully, which made Matt take his fall unbalanced.
"What the? – ungrateful sh –" Matt almost cussed as he lost balance due to the kick of the creature.
The creature backed away from them and looked at them, trembling.
"We're not gonna hurt you," assured Kent.
"What happened to you?" Maeje added.
The creature just sat there, with his anxious face and trembling body.
Kent signaled everyone to back away for a moment, trying to gain the trust of the terrified creature. Everyone immediately got what Kent meant and backed away.
"We're not gonna hurt you. We found you unconscious in the area where the fire started." Kent said calmly.
The creature moved his head from side to side with haste. "I did not start it. No! I didn't!!!" the creature shouted, and he then sobbed, his tears were rolling down his cheeks.
Kent tried to move toward him, where she hugged the crying child, trying to give him comfort. "It's okay. You're safe now," said Kent.
The child hugged her back and continued to sob. He buried his face into Ken't body while he continued to cry. "Please. Get me home." Cried the child.
Kent thought that the creature was indeed a child boy. He almost felt like a human with his manly voice and child attitude.
"We will," Kent assured the crying child as she let him stand up and asked where his home was.
The child pointed to the giant tree not too far from where the fire was. The tree was not anything like any other tree. Even from a distance, they can see how massive it is compared to the others, making it the most enormous tree in the forest.
Kent signaled everyone to follow her while Matt was still grumpy about what the child did to him.
"Child – 1, Matt – 0," joked Ivan as he laughed and pointed to Matt.
Everyone just chuckled while Matt still couldn't forget what the child did to him.
"Oh, c'mon, man, forget it. It's just a child, after all." Ivan continued to joke, still laughing.
Matt gave him a "stop joking around look," but Ivan seemed to not care and continued to piss Matt off it.
Not long when Matt decided he had enough and threw ashes from the ground at Ivan. Ivan just dodged easily and continued to point his finger toward his friend.
Matt couldn't resist himself and gave out to laugh too. Ivan looked at him, and they both laughed at Matt's experience with the child.
"I'm going to kick that child so hard he forgets his name." Matt planned.
Ivan laughed again, and everyone started laughing, too, except Kent, who was taking care of the child at the front.
"Did you just plan something horrible for the child?" Maeje asked in disbelief but still laughing.
"Who says you can't smack a child in here? Child abuse does not exist here." Matt reasoned, smiling.
"Yeah. How I wish I could also smack children who were throwing tantrums in public places in our past world. Whenever I hear those children scold their parents fr not buying something for them, I just wanna kick them so hard their souls leaves their bodies." Ivan added.
"To revenge," said Matt to Ivan as he threw a bro fist at him, waiting for Ivan to throw one too.
Ivan looked at him with such passion you would forget they were joking, "to revenge." Or so they thought.