===Pyre===
Pyre and her new companion started on their way to the training grounds. Of course, she was familiar with their surroundings as she had to spend most of her life in the castle and its surrounding. But, of course, at the time, she and her sister were in charge of their people since their father left them since they had the chance to travel around, mostly to meet the leaders of the other races.
It was nice not having guards following her around for once, but she was certain that they would go back to that soon, so she had to spend this 'freedom' of hers as much as she could.
They reached the training grounds in a few minutes, as it wasn't too far from the castle. She was still within the range to benefit from her bond with her new minion. But the benefits were just a bit weaker cause of the distance.
As they stopped and Pyre was ready to ask Aislinn to show her what she could do, she detected someone's else presence. It was somebody nearby and seemed to get closer, but she couldn't see anyone even if that person should be visible.
'It definitely is a human. And he seems to use some way to make himself invisible, but it feels unnatural. Could it be what they learned from their experiments on us?'
She couldn't become invisible but could join the shadows and hide within them and move between them. But others had these abilities, especially the Unicorns, who had the Light Element, which was the opposite of their Dark Element.
Her Father also could use his Dark Element to become invisible within dark or dim lighted places, but Pyre hadn't reached that point. So even after her Father let her sister and her in charge, they both couldn't fully use the Dark Element.
"Who goes there?" she shouted toward the invisible individual.
The person froze in place.
Pyre started looking left and right, making it seem like she didn't know where he exactly was.
"I know that someone is here. I heard you step on some fallen branches."
It was true that the person did, in fact, step on some branches but wasn't so close for an average human to hear them. Still not impossible.
"Quite impressive senses you got there. May I learn your name?"
Pyre could tell that her passive Charm captured the man, meaning that his willpower wasn't strong. Nevertheless, she enjoyed talking with humans like that, especially when she wanted to gather information.
"Why don't you come closer first. I don't want to shout for the three of us to have a conversation. I promise we don't bite."
She actually wanted to charge at him and drain all his blood, but he could be more useful for gathering information. Since she didn't have the ability to erase memories anymore, she had to be careful.
The person, who seemed to be possible near his early twenties human got closer.
Pyre noticed Aislinn seemed to be a little tense when seeing the person getting closer to her, but she was trying to hide it. Still, Pyre's senses were top-notch, and she could notice these minor details.
"So may I learn the name of those beautiful ladies?" the man asked as he got closer.
"I thought a gentleman would first introduce himself before asking our names," Pyre responded.
The man's eyes widened a bit as he realized his rude ways, and he gave a little bow towards them.
"My name is Larris. Sorry for my rudeness over there."
"So… Larris. What are you doing here, and why we couldn't see you before?"
Pyre had used her Vampire Charm ability, which fortunately didn't need a Power Shard to work, but it was a bit weaker than it should be. She knew that losing the Throne wouldn't affect her as much, as her Vampire Bloodline was pure and didn't need the boost of the Throne, but she still had some Power Shard of abilities that were boosting her Vampire Charm, so since she missed those it wasn't in full power.
Still, it was more than enough to handle the person in front of her.
"I am a researcher… a person of science. I came here to test my later creations. My camouflage suit is one of them. But I have more to show you, if interested."
Pyre could read his excitement to show what he had, and she was interested in checking out what the human had made. She had seen the technological feats of the humans in the past, but none that could use the Elements as his suit seemed to do.
"Fist my boots."
And as he said that, he jumped, and as he was in the air, he made a motion to jump again, as the air blasted out of his boots for a split second with enough force to push him upwards to make a double jump. So he made the same motion again, and the same thing happened as he got higher.
But then he landed, but his landing wasn't the best as he fell on his face.
He stood up and cleared himself from the dust that gathered on his clothes.
"It is still work in progress…. Next comes my gloves. Those are more interesting."
As he said that, he snapped his fingers, and a small ball of fire appeared in his hand.
But it disappeared soon enough.
"I can make some fire and maybe even throw it, but it doesn't last for long. So I came here to test them and adjust them as they can get the work better."
One could clearly tell how excited Larris was as he was showing those creations of his.
"Can I test the gloves?"
Larris seemed surprised by the question, but he removed them and gave them to Pyre. With her charm active, she could order him around easily.
She put them on and could feel her control over her Element to get stronger. She had encountered nothing like that in the past.
She created a ball of fire in her left palm, which was twice the size that Larris did, which was also a bit larger than the one she could make without the gloves.
Larris eyes were wide after seeing the difference between her using it and him using it, as also a few seconds passed and the ball of fire was still there.
"Amazing…. are you also a researcher?" Larris asked her with a tone full of excitement.
"You could say so. I have some experience working with those things. Do you mind if I keep those?"
Larris face changed into one of having a debate of what to do.
"I don't expect to get it for nothing. I can reward you for it… especially if you can bring me your future versions of it."
She had her charm once more at full power as she got closer to that person.
"Re…reward? What is it?" he barely said those words as his face turned completely red.
"How about a kiss?"
She got closer to him as he was a few centimeters from his face.
"From my cute friend," and she got some distance from him once more.
"DEAL" Larris shouted, with a higher tone than it was necessary.
"Good. Then how much do you think you will need to make them even better?"
Larris thought of it a bit before giving his response.
"Possible a week. If you can use them a bit more, their inner sensors will keep any useful information I can use to make it work better. Any feedback and tips from you would be useful."
She progressed using the gloves to create balls of fire and throw them at nearby training ground dummies. Unfortunately, they weren't strong enough to set them on fire, even if they were mostly wooden.
She also used it to create a firebat, but not a familiar since she couldn't summon one after losing her Power Shard, so she had to move it herself.
The body wasn't perfect, and its movement was far from realistic, but it was still an improvement from what she could do without the gloves.
It impressed Larris and seemed to have been lost in thoughts even after Pyre ended with what she could demonstrate.
"I think that should be enough for now. So I will see you in a week here. You can be on your way."
Larris took his gloves and turned to leave, but then he turned towards Pyre once more.
"What about my…."
"Are you going to demand a kiss from someone you just met? Give her at least some time. We will see you in a week."
Larris said nothing as he turned and left.
Pyre knew he would keep the end of his deal, and she would keep hers as far as Aislinn was ok with that.
Maybe they could play with that human in more ways. Time would tell.