It had been two hours since Lierin had left Kram, it had been a hellish time while riding, sitting on a black horse in mid-summer heat and while wearing plate armour on half of her body it makes it feel twice as hot as it should be so after the two hours after she had left, she had run out of water, the crazy thing was she packed two days' worth.
After she stopped to check her supplies, her face darkened as she now knew that she was completely out of water and if she wanted to continue, she would either turn around and return to Kram to resupply her water or have to make the trek to Nova City without water and risk not making it.
As she was going to make the obvious decision and return to Kram to resupply her water, a shadow crossed her face as something covered the sun for a moment, she looks up to see a small bird, a falcon in fact. As she observed the falcon, she noticed that on the tips of its flight and tail feathers where dark in colour whereas the rest of it was a light grey.
She looked away to mount her horse, as she straddled the horse, she looked up to try and see the falcon but to her surprise it had disappeared, she turned the horse around and when she started to head back, she saw the falcon perched in a tree a few meters from her and the horse, as she looked at the falcon again, she finally knew of the origins of the bird.
It has a dark band across its eyes like it was wearing a mask, its beak is a dark grey, though it had many distinct features the fact it had dark wing tips and mask she knew that this particular falcon is from the north, well more specifically the Northern Elf Tribe, the fact that it was following her had many thoughts running through her head, but the one that kept repeating was that the only people she knew from the Northern Elf Tribe down here in the south were the Major General Waw and Anthem.
She knew that Waw's falcon has been out of action for a long while, like himself, so the only plausible person the falcon could belong to was Anthem, but why would Anthem's falcon be following her? Didn't Anthem say herself that she didn't want anything to do with her.
"That girl is a true mystery." Lierin mumbles to herself while leading her horse back towards Kram. As she began to trot back to Kram she heard heavy steps rushing towards her, no not steps but hooves.
As she identified that someone on a horse was coming towards her and as she looked towards the horizon, she could see the horse that was on a straight course towards her. It took her a few minutes to recognize the person on the horse, but she did it sooner with the help of her voice.
"Lierin, wait for me." She shouted into the distance between them, a smile broadens Lierin's face as the voice matches the voice she has been waiting to hear since she left at breakfast, "I'm sorry for leaving this morning."
"Well, you better hurry up and get here," Lierin replies as the smile widens further, "I might die of thirst first." Her voice is thunderous causing the falcon in the tree to flee and perch itself on Anthems shoulder.
"Lierin," Anthem starts as she pulls up next to her, "I am truly sorry for leaving you like that, it's just that the markings on my neck are a sore subject for me, and I don't like to talk about it, but I will tell you when I'm ready and when I think you are." She smiles slightly as Lierin looks at her with consoling eyes.
"It's alright Anthem, I understand." Lierin smiles slightly, "So do you have any water? I ran out not too long ago."
Anthem just smiles as she hands over the canteen strapped to her saddle.
***
It had been two days since Anthem had caught up with Lierin, and with the help of Anthem they were only a day's travel from Nova City, it undoubtably would have been longer if Lierin had just gone there by herself.
Though they have been together on the road now for two days, the words spoken were next to none, it has been mostly awkward silence between them and when they did speak it was only during meals.
"So," Lierin begins, "What were you planning after we arrive?" She asks as she never once questioned her reasoning until now.
"I haven't really thought about it that much." Anthem replies, slightly smiling as it was the first time Lierin had engaged her into conversation, "I wasn't really thinking about anything when I decided to come for you. But to be honest if it wasn't for Queen Katrina visiting me, I probably wouldn't have come."
"My mother went and saw you?" Lierin says sounding perplexed, 'So that's where mother went when she disappeared.'
"Yes, it surprised me when she suddenly appeared in the reception of the Dirty Mind, but then she explained a few things to me, like how apparently, I was your only friend, I didn't believe her of course since you're the heir to the Nova Kingdom and…" Anthem stops as she looks over towards Lierin to see that her face is flushed and has an irritated expression on her face, "What's wrong?" She asked not realising what she said.
"What my mother said is true." Lierin says bluntly, "You are my only friend, Anthem, being a princess isn't all it's cut out to be." Lierin looks over at Anthem, she sees how her face is slightly red and her eyes are becoming glossy, "Being an heir, well just being their daughter has been rough for me, no one thinks I'm human, since, well, you know." Lierin gestures to herself before looking Anthem dead in the eyes.
"I'm sorry I don't understand, what do your parents have to do with this?" Anthem asked as she wasn't sure what Lierin was going on about.
"So, you haven't heard what they are?" Lierin says as if it was common knowledge, "My father, the King, is the result of an experiment of the anti-religious organization known as The Order of the Crimson Ring, which made him a weapon capable of killing the Gods, and he has done so, I believe it was the Light and Fire God that he managed to defeat in battle."
Anthem looks at her with wide eyes as she couldn't believe what she was hearing, "And what of your mother?"
"My mother," she pauses for a moment before continuing, "my mother is the daughter of the Light and Fire God, so that makes her a Demi-God." Anthem whistles in disbelief as Lierin says, "So that makes me the God-Slayer, the true God-Slayer, exactly what the prophet in Eluiychester said, 'Be the day that fire freezes over, a warrior of purple flames and descendent of the gods will destroy the realm of which they stand,' which by standard definition, is me." She finishes as she looks over at Anthem to see she is in a slight daze, from all the information overload.
Anthem soon snaps out of her daze and looks at Lierin, "But how could it be you, you don't wield purple flames, do you?"
When she finished talking Lierin held up her left hand and a moment later it bursts into a ball of purple flames, it the first time since she had activated her flames since she lost control of them back at Kram, Lierin looks at them and notices small flickers of black within the purple, either her flames are more powerful since she last used them or they're evolving along with her.
Anthem was at a loss for words as the only thing she said after a few minutes was, "Hey, it getting late let's find somewhere to stay for the night."
Lierin looks at her confused for a moment before nodding and dismounting her horse.
***
Night quickly took hold of the sky as in a matter of minutes after dismounting their horses and finding somewhere to sleep the night away.
Anthem was busy with gathering some kindling for the fire they would have to eventually build as with sweltering days comes bone chilling nights. While Anthem collected the kindling since she was brought up in a similar way that they find their selves at the moment, Lierin was inspecting her flames once she saw that her flames that have been purple for most of her life begun to change.
Though the change was slight and easily ignorable, Lierin still didn't want to take the risk on the off chance that her flames run rampart and turn black, the hottest flame known to mankind as we know it. As she snuffed out the flames that she had dancing around her finger tips Anthem came around a tree and tapped her on the shoulder.
"Lierin I've gathered all the wood and things we need for a fire." She says as Lierin turns her head slightly to see her, "But it seems I didn't pack some flint so, if you wouldn't mind."
Anthem smiles slightly as Lierin rolls her eyes and walks over towards where she had set up camp. She arrives to see a pile of sticks fashioned in a tepee shape, Lierin walks over to the sticks and sits on a log that had been dragged over by here prior to Anthem went to collect the kindling.
Lierin allows a small flame of silver dance around the tip of her finger; she tosses the little flame into the sticks and after a few seconds the pile of sticks lit up with a golden radiance.
Anthem looks at Lierin for a moment before asking, "How do you control the colour of your flames?" Anthem sounding generally intrigued.
"It's not the colour I control, just the temperature. I can change the temperature of them to anything below the base temperature of them." Lierin answers explaining how she did so, "Since my flames are purple, the second hottest flame, below black, I can control the rest of them."
Anthem nods, "So how do the flames work? So would that mean you would know all flame tiers below purple?"
Lierin nods slightly as she says, "Well it's kind of common knowledge that white is the coolest flame out of them all right?" Anthem nods, Lierin changes her flame to white, "So after that is the yellow flame," it changes again, "and from that is orange, this dull red, a dark blue, silver, gold, crimson."
"The crimson flame looks a lot darker and brighter than the red one from before." Anthem cuts in, "If that even makes sense."
"It does slightly, the flames my father control are these crimson ones, but that only happens if he succumbs to rage and losses all sense of reasoning." Lierin adds, "Though I have heard from mother that if he uses those flames one more time, Great Grandmother Phuheia will collect her debt from him."
"Great Grandmother Phuheia? Phuheia as in the Goddess of Life and Death?" Anthem asks sounding so confused it made Lierin doubt herself.
"Yes. I am a descendent of Phuheia and Aas." Lierin confirms as Anthem continues to listen, "And this flame," her hand turns a transparent blue before the pale blue flame emerged from her hand, "This is the flame of my mother, the so-called Goddess of Light and Fire, it is within the top five brightest burning flames in existence," her hand now turns a pale yellow as a flame of the same colour took over the pale blue one in her hand, "this one here is the third hottest flame and the brightest burning flame, The God of Light and Fire, Aas' flame."
Anthem's eyes light up as she looks at the flame in Lierin's hand, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen, no the second most beautiful thing after Lierin, "So your flame is still hotter than that of a god?"
Lierin smiles and nods, "Like I said, I only control the temperature of the flames not the colour, I wouldn't be able to hold this flame if mine wasn't more powerful, and last but not least of the ones I can control," the pale-yellow flame is snuffed out as a purple mist gathers in her hand before bursting into a bright purple flame.
"Wow," Anthem can't help but say.
"And if you look closely, you can see specks of black throughout these flames and the ones that I am showing you are the hottest I can manage," Lierin explains as Anthem looks at the flame with a little more urgency, and indeed she saw the black flickers that she was talking about, "I'm not sure what's happening to them but I have to assume that they are evolving."
Lierin looks over at Anthem to see that her eyes are drooping slightly as her explanation of the flames of power did take them late into the night, the moons were already high in the sky. A few minutes later Anthem had fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow she had packed, Lierin looks at her for a few moments, she smiles slightly and shakes her head, "What made you come after me, lets hope it's something we can both benefit from."
Lierin had perched herself in a tree before closing her eyes, she didn't know when she had fallen asleep the only indication that she did is when she woke up the next morning