"What Sorcery affinities do you two possess?" Zane broke the silence just as it was about settling in.
"I'm a Flame sorcerer and she has none." I replied.
Just by saying this I was greeted by a nicely balanced and braced fist to my right cheek bone from Anastasia which managed to successfully return me to the surface of the soil that I despised so much.
I only fell because I was still recovering from the last time, I depleted my energy.
"You make it appear as though I am weak." Anastasia said as Whitlock returned.
He met me on the floor and unexpectedly helped me up.
His grip was tight and his palm was rough with calluses, wielding a spear seemed to be quite hard.
Athena stopped her random crowing after she noticed I didn't seem to be paying attention to it much and then she came to my shoulder and dug the talons of her crow into me.
It was painful. Much more painful than anything I expected.
I held in my pained screams by biting my index finger, Athena was acting like a real pain for some unknown reason.
"We all have Wind affinities. But we could use the help of a Flame sorcerer, care to help us out and maybe your child can help us too. a Dragon Volition is quite rare actually."
Making such a request to random weird people you encountered in the woods without knowing of their circumstances, instances or intentions felt like a bad decision.
But for some reason I felt like this Whitlock figure knew that we had nowhere else to go and knew the exact words to use to bait me.
His words made me feel like a chance for me to learn more about this world.
A chance to learn more about this Sorcery junk was right in front of me.
I had never wanted to join a Party in the short time I have been alive but it became an idea that I was basically lusting for now.
"Ch-Child!?!? I'm an independent Subject!" Anastasia verbally retaliated to Whitlock who we were now following.
It was quite funny seeing the one who tries to ride a high horse be ashamed in such a way.
"I would like to do whatever you intend for me and I'm sure my colleague would do the same." I said, trying to silence Anastasia.
I looked straight at Anastasia giving her a look that would hopefully convey the message "Shut the hell up."
…
We arrived at what seemed to be a campsite of sorts and I saw Ashford sitting near a tent throwing rocks into a campfire.
He seemed to be over his past humiliation, but he made sure to steer clear of me and Anastasia.
There were two humanoids, but hardly sentient beasts tied somewhere and there was a wagon nearby as well.
It wasn't as prestigious as Stein's facility, but it was great.
Athena had finally gone back to my psyche and silence had returned.
I sat on a log for a while and then I saw Anastasia leave saying she wanted to move about and that Dragons weren't used to being in one place for too long.
I actually hoped she would return and then night finally fell.
The moon's light evenly shone on the spot of their campsite; it was a site well chosen.
Then Zane stepped out of what I thought was his tent.
He initially entered there with Whitlock but he came out individually and then as suddenly as possible I heard Athena subtly speak.
-{Best To Watch Out}
it was like she didn't want to say it. The reluctance in her voice hurt my feelings a little.
She really wanted me penalized for ignoring me from before but she couldn't neglect her supposed duty.
I immediately tumbled from my log and rolled away trying to dodge whatever was coming for me.
What seemed to be a forcefully shot gust of wind slightly scraped my face and blood dripped.
It didn't take my purple eyes long to focus on my assailant.
Zane may have just woken up from a siesta late and chose violence.
I never noticed until now that my tail wasn't really exposed due to the attire Stein gave to me.
I felt like I could almost hear his voice explaining the reason why.
"I don't like tails that look like yours and I guess you don't like them too. So, you just cover it."
It even sounded as arrogant as he'd actually say it, I only noticed this because I was feeling my tail squirming around in my clothes after I was injured.
Zane didn't want to speak or explain, so I was silent as well.
This would mark my second battle with another Affinity using Sorcerer.
Zane wasted little time and he just rushed towards me.
The winds looked like they spun around his feet and made him a bit lighter and hence faster.
I wished I had an ability like that. 'Bibliotheca' made me much heavier than I was used to so I was significantly slower.
He braced the side of his palm in a horizontal chop.
I put my arm out as well and defended against his attack, it was quite painful since I wasn't even Enforcing but it didn't even match up to the pain I felt from battling Bezeth.
I decided time didn't need to be wasted any further, I proceeded to enforce myself with Energy and then my Flame Stigma proceeded to shine a bright reddish-orange and the symbol shapes were quite clear even from the outside of my attire.
My palm then lit on fire and the flames shot towards my assailant in an attempt to inflict similar damage on him.
He managed to jump away almost as quickly as he had approached me for the first attack.
It was quite amusing watching him leap around at such speed even though he was merely manipulating the wind.
Athena started saying the odd word again in regular succession.
-{Huoyan}
I felt like charcoal were being chugged into the flames I was conjuring although slow and almost unnoticeable, the flames were getting a bit fiercer.
Both my hands were ignited at this point and me and Zane were exchanging quick blows, melee and elemental.
It was quite the rally, but it was clear he was getting as exhausted as I was.
I felt as though Athena was holding back on how fierce she could make my flames and it felt unfair.
I needed to reconcile with her as soon as possible.
[A/N: how did that saying go again: "behind every strong man is a woman." Bro isn't even strong yet and he is proving that.]
Then it was like Zane entered some kind of advanced state.
Cyclones were forming around his arms and he was spinning them around like a mad man.
The tents shockingly remained intact.
Well, it was kind of expected since they were a party of Wind users but the swings were much more powerful than I had anticipated at this point and none of us had tried to talk since this battle began.
I was dodging and counter-attacking as much as I could but I was barely holding out against the cyclones with the attacks and Flame combos I knew but my Brio was getting depleted.
He finally managed to land a solid blow and I stumbled onto the floor which I had started encountering a lot.
The azure blue eyes he shared with his brother glowed brightly and he approached me as I was recovering from my forceful stumble.
He seemed to have thought he was about to end it and once more his assumption was wrong.
I blasted a quick shot of flames at his face at an unsuspecting moment and it managed to connect squarely and it clearly did some damage.
It was quite a triumphant moment for me, I finally managed to push him back.
After my first strike I kept on with that method of attack, I kept on blasting away at his face.
Pushing him back ever so quickly till I managed to cause him to fall on the floor.
He happened to want to end it because he was already exhausted, I liked the idea and I went with it.
There I squatted and grabbed onto his face while letting my palm signal that I would fire at point blank range if I needed to.
But this was a mere empty threat, I was also exhausted from this rather short battle.