POV -----> Athena
-{There Are Various Affinities That Can Be Manifested. Earth, Flame, Wind, Water, and Special Scenarios With Affinities For Sound, Chemical, Shadow, And Light, Etc. Affinities Are Like A Physical And Manifested Embodiment Of Your Soul And Its Manner Of Energy Absorption And Flow. Your Energy Flows Like A Flame That Sizzles When Hot And Hisses When Burning. None Need Say More To Make You Understand Right?} I explained the concept of affinity to Azur.
The elemental and 'otherwise' aspects were particularly easy for him to understand.
Azur was once more spawned within 'BIBLIOTHECA' and it was clear that he was really interested in the information I shared with him.
"Fire?! That sounds nice. How do I begin conjuring it?"
-{Not Fire! Flame! You'll Understand This Later. But You Shouldn't Really Try To Conjure Up Here. You Might Endanger The Data. Although It Won't Really Matter. But Still, Watching Knowledge Dissipate In Front Of Me Would Truly Be Painful} I complained.
The feeling of irritation when worthwhile knowledge gets destroyed was something that rubbed off on me from the Original Azur, so I knew I wouldn't be able to take it.
Within another checkpoint on the route riddled with various trials, I had finally taught Azur the actual way to meditate effectively.
There was this almost transparent, restrictive wall that prevented the beasts on the outside from coming into the checkpoint. Azur was sitting cross-legged very close to the restrictive wall.
So close that if the wall failed for less than a second, then his body would be torn into so many pieces that gathering would simply be unfathomable.
Some more beasts, specially crafted by Stein, have joined the Ghoul and Iron Canine mix.
Some of these beasts were what could only be described as slimes, but Stein's twisted up version of them was truly horrifying.
They were like little crumpled up and irritating chunks of human meat and each and every one of them didn't have what could be thought of as simple parts.
A few had numerous mouths; some had numerous disgusting eyes. Mere explanation couldn't explain the horror.
I've seen many weird things with Azur in the past, but these were truly nauseating beings. It actually made me wonder why he chose someone like Stein.
"How do I conjure the Flame now?" Azur asked eagerly.
-{Oh, That's Simple. With A Sorcerer's Flame Circle.}
…
POV ------> Azur (AHZER)
"Sorcerer's Flame Circle?" I asked.
This would be the first time I would be activating a Flame Circle.
The actual Flame manifestation part was one that was actually going to be quite easy to understand according to Athena, but I needed something to distract the single winged being.
She told me quite emphatically that it would be nigh impossible to win against him and that getting to the goal Stein set out for me would indeed be the best line of action.
I sat in the truly weird meditating position that Athena taught me, and I began to channel all the energy that I could muster into just mindlessly spewing my energy to create an overwhelming aura, or at least that was the plan.
By doing this exercise, I couldn't maintain the Levitation that was making me lighter, but with the help Athena offered, I didn't immediately become as heavy as before, but I could even feel my organs moving because of the weight. It should have been more painful, but my body just couldn't comprehend great pain.
"Why is my aura so measly!? I can barely feel anything." I asked in annoyance.
My ambient surroundings were being distorted by my weird, eerie but calm aura, and it didn't seem like something that was too special because it had no definite color.
In fact, it was almost completely transparent and the beasts just outside the checkpoint didn't look scared in any way.
I fell into my habit and I started to wonder if I was doing it right. Then suddenly, Athena began to repeat a particular strange word, 'Huoyan'.
Over and over again, she repeated this word, and then I started to feel warm.
I felt obligated to join in the chanting too.
Some symbols were forming on the ground below me in what seemed to be white chalk.
"Was this Sorcery?" I wondered to myself.
Once the symbols finished inscribing themselves, Athena came to a stop and I followed.
There was a brief silence. Just as I was about to speak, Athena walked over to a shelf within the Bibliotheca.
Even though I wasn't exactly in my psyche, I could still see her and hear her footsteps.
She picked a book off a shelf and instantly flipped through it. She went over to her counter or 'Employees Only' Table and pulled out a weird object.
It was made of wood and had a knob attached to a little wooden slate of sorts. She dipped the weird object in what seemed to be purple ink and slammed it onto the book.
The very symbol that was around me appeared on the book and burnt that page to ash. The events playing before my eyes were actually quite weird, then it happened.
The Circle Of Symbols around me slowly lit on fire and approached me quite quickly.
I was indeed scared. Who wouldn't? The flames eventually ended up reaching me, and before I knew it, it engulfed my entire body. The flame, oddly enough, didn't seem to hurt, probably because of my Pain Resistance.
Until...
-{I Hope You Find It In Your Heart To Forgive Me.} Athena randomly said.
The flame started burning and hurting me, surprisingly.
The tattered sackcloth I wore as a makeshift shirt was burnt to ashes.
It seemed the flames weren't R18, so it didn't burn up my trousers.
"But wait, what is R18?" I thought to myself, but before I could give myself an answer, the flames started burning more fiercely. It burnt into my skin.
The second time I felt pain, I didn't think I should have recognized it. Weird occurrences.
I screamed out loudly as my left arm started getting burnt more quickly than the rest of me.
Then the flames subsided, leaving me with a large burn mark on my arm close to my wrist and a whole lot of other small burn patches on my skin and face.
"What was that!?" I screamed out in pain while clutching my hurt arm.
I was expecting a really good excuse because I honestly wouldn't let this slide if it was a mistake from her side.
I felt like I was sentenced to immolation. If this was how Flame Affinity Sorcerers felt on their first day, then maybe there were quite a lot of people who chose Water instead of Flame.
If it was even possible to choose, I guess the feeling of being blasted with a jet of water would be much more relaxing than the feeling that's close to making you think you were a cow being immolated on behalf of the appeasement of a god.
-{It Was A Simple Activation. You Need To Chill Your Nerves Sometimes. Ahahahahahaha}
She just made a joke about me chilling after she set me on fire and she is laughing about it. She has quite a lowly sense of humor.
The skin that was burned and left the burn mark on my arm began to peel off slowly and it revealed quite the mark.
Something similar to the Symbols in the Sorcerer's Circle below me.
But the symbols were wrapped around my arm over and over. It looked like some kind of tattoo. Was this the mark of a Flame Sorcerer? No, that sounded stupid.
-{This Is The Mark That Denotes A Public Reputation As A Flame Sorcerer. Prior To Humanity's Advancement In Intelligence, Being Chosen As A Sorcerer Meant Being An Outcast And Being Viewed As Generally Evil. Now Anyone Who Can Accommodate Energy Within Their Body Can Learn Sorcery And These Clear Marks That Represents One's Affinity And Its Mastery Are Called 'Stigma'.}
"My Flame Stigma. That's good and all. But that page you burnt, the stuff on it, is it the info that's surging through my brain right now?"
I felt weird knowledge rippling throughout my brain and I could barely think straight, I was so fascinated by the basic things I was learning.
-{Indeed. This Is One Of The Numerous Ways To Transfer Urgently Needed Information To You, But The Unfortunate Part Is That It Only Works When You Are At Least Calm Enough To Hear Your Heart Beating, The Info Should Be About How You Can Use The Efficiently Drawn Flame Circle Below You As A Mid-Long Range Attack Medium}
The explanation behind all of this was quite intriguing to hear, and I felt very triumphant knowing I basically somehow achieved all knowledge in existence, although I still have restrictions.
But that mattered very little now. I stood tall and walked out of the defensive and safe confines of the checkpoint. the beasts rushed toward me.
They didn't even possess intelligence, not even in the slightest bit,
I would run faster than anything if I saw a guy randomly get engulfed in fire and then emerge mostly unscathed, but these guys thought they had a chance, which was funny.
With a flick of my wrist, the Sorcerers Flame Circle (Circle Of Symbols) moved from its position, like it was some sort of cast image that I could control telekinetically.
It moved ahead of me, and once it reached my desired destination and I willed it, flames spawned from it almost instantly.
The loud sizzling and hissing sounds of the beast's bodies getting burnt to a crisp were like a wonderful melody to my ears.