Alto looked at her with surprise.
Her hair was once again a mess, her eyes seemed dull, and she looked at him, expressionless.
"Why did you follow me?"
Alto's voice sounded concerned. With a hint of anger.
"It was cold."
"What?"
The young girl looked down.
'She can form short sentences now, what an improvement.'
"I… lied."
She turned away in guilt.
'Oh you have got to be kidding me!'
She can't be serious right? She may be some kind of monster who looks like a light little girl? Alto quickly ran through multiple possibilities in his head.
"What did you lie about?"
The young girl didn't dare look at him.
"My mom… she left, because I'm cursed."
"Cursed?"
The young girl's eyes began to tear up, as she looked into the fire. She began to mutter.
"I'm going to die."
'What?'
Alto stared at her with a perplexed emotion. On one hand, she really shouldn't have followed him into the middle of the woods. On the other, she's going to die?
He really didn't know how to respond.
He continued to stare at her. She had tears flowing down her cheek. She was sobering with her eyes closed.
"Don't cry, it's fine."
Is it fine that she is going to die?
"I meant like, it'll be fine. So don't worry one bit."
Alto was waving around his hands, bizarrely.
She opened her eyes and continued sobering. She couldn't really see anything because of the water in front of her eyes. She couldn't stop her shuddering breaths either.
'What to do, what to do.'
Alto thought for a moment. What were things that children liked? In a happy tone he shouted.
"Want to see something cool?"
She got slightly quieter.
Alto started dancing in front of the fire.
It quickly erupted into a full blown cry.
He quickly paused and stared at her, bewildered.
'How was I supposed to know?'
"I'm sorry, please stop crying."
It took a while. Eventually she calmed down and sat by the fire. She still seemed upset about something. Though, she was no longer bawling her eyes out, at least.
Alto watched her across the fire, he didn't dare to say anything more.
"You.. shouldn't be close to me."
"Why not?"
"My curse, it's why mama left."
Alto was silent for a few moments, he didn't want her to cry again. He also didn't want to say something he shouldn't.
"What curse.. Do you have?"
"...dragonblood."
'Dragonblood? How is that a curse?'
Alto was very hesitant about asking her anymore. He felt embarrassed already and didn't know how to go about it. Eventually he put on a smile.
"Let's go back… alright?"
She looked up at him in surprise.
The young girl must have been freezing. She didn't have Alto's internal flame either. Alto would have to come back later for his quest. Right now, getting her back safe was all that mattered.
"But.. my curse."
"It will be fine, don't worry."
Alto then pointed his hand at the fire. The fire began to shift and move. Floating up into the air. Then the flames spread into a wall. Becoming less dense and allowing one to touch it without being burned. Some of the flames flowed onto his clothes. While the others flowed onto hers.
The flame was conjured originally by Alto's magic. So he had some control over it. He assumed that there were limitations to the size and amount of fire he could control. It also used a fair amount of mana to manipulate the fire.
It was fine though, Alto had only needed to make one stop to replenish his mana. He had also rested long enough for it to become full once again. He grabbed the little girl's hand then began walking towards the village.
There was one limitation that Alto quickly learned. It was the distance in which he could manipulate flames. They had to be in very close proximity to him. Which is one of the reasons he grabbed her hand. The other was simply because she seemed scared. A long time ago when he was scared. Someone did a similar gesture.
Two dim lights glowed in the dark forest. It may have been dangerous, if any monster creature saw them then they would most definitely attack. Alto was only slightly worried. He had not seen any abomination's on his way here.
He stared into the darkness, waiting for anything to pounce.
Then something did. Alto quickly pushed the young girl away. Time seemed to slow down. Half of her flames died out. As if she crossed some invisible barrier. The furthest the flames could reach, under Alto's control. Since they were not hot enough to burn. They immediately vanished into thin air. She crossed the invisible line. Vanishing into the darkness.
Alto gripped his sword with both of his hands. The flames around his clothing illuminated a small stretch of land.
A large black beak was reflecting its light. The end of the beak was sharp. Alto had no doubts that it could pierce his skin with ease. Two red beads were right behind the massive beak.
Alto quickly sidestepped the lunge. A dark figure crossed inches away from him. Then came to an abrupt stop near the edges of the light.
The creature was on all fours, if it stood. Then it would have been as tall as Alto. The black figure had two large paws for its back legs. Human arms and hands for its front legs. It was cloaked in dark feathers, it had red glowing eyes. The creature stared at Alto with bloodlust.
Alto shuddered a little as he stared. He could run, though that would mean leaving Maya behind. That simply wasn't an option. A resolve burned in his eyes. One of his palms was pointing at the creature.
A ball of flame seemed to manifest itself out of nothing. The color of the flame turned to cherry red. Before shooting forward.
A small explosion of flame enveloped the creature. Then Alto gripped his sword firmly and used slash. The red hue collided with something. Alto put even more force into it.
The creature got sent flying into a tree. The blade failed to slice the creature in half.
Even worse, Alto could no longer see it. He slowly backed up to where he had pushed Maya. Watching the darkness for another ambush. He quickly glanced over at the small girl huddled in the snow. She seemed alright.
Then Alto began to send dark flames into the darkness. Illuminating a small stretch of land before fully dissipating.
'Where is it?'
He continued to shoot more flames into the darkness around him. There were trees and snow that got illuminated for a mere second. The creature was nowhere to be seen.
A sinister smile appeared on Alto's face. As he paused. Then his sword suddenly began to glow with an orange hue. Stabbing senselessly right above him.
A dark figure was impaled on the sword. It had scattering black feathers mixed with red burned skin. Alto cut straight through one of its openings.
The feathers were tough, Alto doubted that he could cut through. Luckily the flame seemed to burn many of them away.
The creature was silent, it didn't make a single noise throughout the whole ordeal.
{You have slain a Messenger}
{You have gained 4896 XP!}