The night was calm.
Merlione stood guard near the shelter built by Elios - a simple structure of branches and dead wood assembled in the shape of a tent, with a mat of leaves serving as a bed. A precarious shelter, but sufficient for the nights during his solitary training.
Merlione was lying further away, listening to the nocturnal symphony of the forest.
The smell of smoke suddenly struck her. Her claws sank into the soft earth as panic began to rise.
She knew the dangers of fire in the forest, having already seen fires ravage entire territories in just a few hours.
She saw the red glow coming from where Elios was.
"No... Elios," she murmured, her trembling voice betraying her growing fear.
When she reached the shelter, terror paralyzed her. Flames of an unhealthy red surrounded Elios, already consuming the branches that formed his refuge. The heat was unbearable, and the toxic smoke was thickening rapidly.
"Elios!" she cried, her voice breaking under the effect of fear. "Wake up! You're going to set the entire forest on fire!"
Elios's eyes opened, but it was not the gaze she knew. Empty, cold, they stared at her with a hatred that chilled her blood.
She instinctively stepped back, her survival instinct taking over.
"Beast..." Elios's voice was unrecognizable, hoarse and charged with pure rage.
"Elios, it's me! Merlione!" Her voice trembled. "I'm not your enemy!"
A jet of flames answered her, forcing her to leap back. The heat singed her fur, drawing a cry of pain from her.
Merlione understood that he was having a nightmare and was sleepwalking.
She had to flee, but where? The forest was already burning around them. Branches cracked, leaves were consumed, creating a deadly trap closing in.
Merlione ran, her panicked mind desperately seeking a solution. The smoke thickened, making each step more perilous. One wrong move, a branch giving way, and she would be trapped in this hell.
Elios's heavy footsteps followed her, inexorable. Each jet of flames came dangerously close. She felt the heat burning her back, heard the sinister crackling of the fire devouring everything in its path.
"I must save him," she thought frantically, "but how to stop him without hurting him?"
Her breathing became labored. The smoke... The smoke was the real danger. Around her, panicked animals fled in all directions - deer leaping over flaming branches, rabbits darting between her paws, birds flying en masse in the reddening sky.
A jet of flame rushed towards her. With a fluid movement, Merlione rolled to the side, her fur barely brushing the burning flames. Another burst of fire - she leaped behind a massive tree trunk, feeling the intense heat penetrate the bark.
"Elios... If the smoke reaches him in his trance state, he could..."
A burning branch crashed in front of her, forcing her to make a sudden dodge. Her paws trembled from the effort, her lungs burning. A terrified fox passed her, followed by a family of badgers seeking escape.
She dodged another jet of flames by diving under a bush, singed leaves raining around her. Each movement had to be calculated - a step too far to the left, and the flames would reach her; a leap too short, and she would be trapped.
"Elios, I beg you, wake up!" she said while backing away from the growing flames.
Panic seized her when she realized the situation was completely escaping their control. If someone spotted these flames... "No, no, no!" she muttered frantically. The Beasts, the warriors of Palladium, anyone could detect them. All these months of hiding, surviving in the shadows, reduced to nothing in just a few minutes.
Her mind became clouded, desperately seeking a solution. The clearing? No, they were too far away, and time was pressing. Her eyes suddenly widened: the lake! It was their only chance.
With determination tinged with despair, she guided Elios towards the water body. The flames surrounding the boy reflected on the lake's surface, creating a nightmarish spectacle that only increased her anguish.
"Forgive me, Elios," her voice broke as she created a magic barrier. Guilt tore at her heart, but she had no choice. With a sudden gesture, she threw the boy into the water.
The boy was submerged and his flames seemed to extinguish
But horror only grew when she saw that the flames continued to burn underwater. Her hands trembled as she formed a new barrier, trapping Elios in a water bubble. "I'm sorry," she said, watching her protégé struggle.
After a few minutes, he suddenly woke up and then fainted again
It was at this moment that the flames went out, and at the same time, the flames and fire on the trees went out as if by magic
Then she quickly took him out of the water and checked if everything was alright and was relieved that he was breathing but just unconscious
She brought him back to his makeshift shelter reduced to ashes. She took that night to rebuild a new shelter as best she could.
She laid him on the leaf mat she had remade. Merlione moved away but kept an eye on the boy. That night, she could not find sleep.
Her mind kept replaying the night's events, terrified by the destructive power she had discovered in the boy.
How could they continue to hide with such power? What if it happened again? The questions tortured her.
"I hope you will truly be the one who changes this world and not the one who destroys it," she murmured in the darkness, her voice trembling with worry, looking at the sky.
Early morning, Elios suddenly woke up, disoriented. Merlione, who had barely closed her eyes all night, instantly tensed. The vestiges of the fire were still visible - blackened trees, ground calcined in places, but strangely, nature seemed to already be reclaiming its rights. A few brave birds had returned, singing timidly in the spared branches.
"Ugh, my clothes are wet!" Elios exclaimed, looking at his soaked clothes with confusion.
Merlione watched him silently from her hidden position, thinking back to the night's events. She clenched her fists, restraining herself from intervening as Elios tried to understand what had happened to him. A young deer passed nearby, looking fearfully in their direction before quickly moving away.
"A rain?" he mumbled, inspecting the surroundings. "Hmm, that should have woken me up, and the outside doesn't look wet..."
She watched him touch his clothes, examine the dry ground around him, his face shifting from confusion to perplexity.
"Hmmmm, I didn't pee either, I think," he continued out loud, scratching his head.
Merlione, watching from afar, continued to watch over her young protégé surviving alone in the forest. She knew she should no longer intervene in his evolution, but her heart tightened at the thought of the dangers still awaiting him. The animals returning cautiously to the burned area seemed to share her wariness, observing the boy from a distance while reclaiming their devastated territory.
"May the forest spirits protect us," she whispered softly, before silently disappearing into the shadows of the undergrowth.