The Land of Flames

A surge of panic passed through me as the hands yanked me into the dim room. My instincts kicked in and I tried to twist and turn yet the grip was surprisingly strong that I was unable to break free.

I barely had time to process anything before I was thrown against the wall. The impact rattled my bones and left me disoriented.

Before I could react to these events the assilent moved from one to the other end of the large room in a single blink. Her fist immediately connected with my jaw, the force of the punch sending stars exploding in my vision.

I stumbled back, trying to regain my balance, but she didn’t let up. She followed me with a series of rapid strikes, each one more precise than the last. I blocked a few, but she was relentless. A knee to my stomach knocked the wind out of me, and I doubled over in pain.

“Who the hell are you?” she growled, her voice barely audible.

I didn’t answer. There was no time to talk—no time to explain. I had to get control of the situation, but every move I made was countered. I tried to sweep her legs out from under her, but she anticipated it, stepping back and delivering a sharp kick to my side that sent me sprawling to the ground.

The taste of blood entered my mouth. She wasn’t just strong; she was trained, experienced. I could feel the weight of every blow she landed, and my body was already screaming in protest. I pushed myself up on my hands and knees, but she grabbed me by the collar and hauled me to my feet, slamming me against the wall again.

"Answer me!" She growled.

Slowly as her face came into focus, and I finally got a good look at her. She was tall, at least a head taller than me, with a presence that seemed to fill the entire room. Her bright red hair fell in sharp, angular strands, framing a face that was all edges and shadows. The red wasn’t natural—too vivid, too striking—more like fire that had been harnessed and tamed.

Her skin was tanned, almost bronze, glistening with a faint sheen of sweat, and her features were fierce, predatory. Knife-like ears jutted out from the sides of her head, sleek and pointed, adding to the inhuman sharpness of her appearance. And then there were her eyes—cold, calculating, and utterly alien. Lizard-like, with slitted pupils that seemed to pierce right through me. They were the color of molten gold, reflecting the dim light in the room like some kind of cursed treasure.

She tightened her grip on my collar, her face close enough that I could see the scales around her eyes, barely noticeable but there, then it clicked she was a dragon born or something close to that.

I immediately spoke a bit of annoyance and anger in my voice. "Just wait a minute I won't be able to answer you if you keep hitting me."

Without waiting for her reply I continued to speak since this was something I was very good at. "I don't want a fight I just want to find Goda Ricmond and ask him a few questions."

She narrowed her eyes, her grip on my collar loosening just slightly as she studied me. I could feel her breath, hot against my skin, and for a brief moment, I saw a flicker of hesitation in those molten gold eyes.

"God's Ricmond?" she repeated, her voice low and dangerous. "You’re here for *that*?"

I nodded, swallowing hard. My ribs ached, and my head was still spinning from the barrage of blows. But I couldn’t show weakness now. Not when I had a chance to get through to her.

“Yes,” I said, forcing the words out. “That’s all I want. I’m not here to fight you, or to take anything else. Just Ricmond.”

She tilted her head slightly, a sharp smile curling on her lips. “You think I’ll just hand it over?”

“I’m not asking for charity,” I shot back. “I’m just saying, let’s talk. There’s no need for this.”

She released me abruptly, and I stumbled back, my hand instinctively reaching for the wall to steady myself. She moved to the other side of the room, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched me with an amused expression.

“Talk then,” she said, her tone laced with mockery. “I’m listening.”

I took a deep breath, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in my side. I had to choose my words carefully.

Rubbing my jaw I straightened up trying to regain some of my already buried pride. Her expression was unreadable except a single sigh that she released.

Silently I gave the room a look, it was larger then I had expected yet it was very dark since no light was open but I couldn't see any camera hidden here yet I didn't let my guard down since they could already know I was here.

“Listen,” I began, keeping my voice steady. “I’m just here for one thing—the Silver Tear. I don’t care about whatever else is going on. I’m a bounty hunter, not a crusader. You let me get what I came for, and I’ll be out of here before you know it. No trouble.”

From my perspective she wasn't one of the guards here since her outfit didn't look similar enough she looked like a knight rather than a guard.

She raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. Her eyes flicked over me, weighing every word. "A bounty hunter, huh? You don't look like much of one." She smirked.

I ignored the jab. "I’ve been doing this long enough to know when to pick my fights. And right now, I don’t see any reason to fight you."

She let out a short, humorless laugh. "Huh, well I am not I am here to kill Goda Ricmond."

The room went deathly quiet after her words, the only sound being my own ragged breathing. I studied her carefully, trying to read the tension in her body language. She wasn't bluffing.

This made things easier. We could work together.

"You want him dead," I said slowly, watching her reaction. "I want information. Maybe we can help each other out."

She eyed me for a long time her face unreadable, which made me more anxious since I still didn't know if the guards here figured out that the two guards above were not responding.

Finally she gave me a slight nod. "Alright."

I tilted my head slightly while rubbing my still sore jaw. "Good, you can call me... Kamina." I said using one of many throwaway aliases I had made.

She was still looking at me with a blank expression before giving me her name as well. "And you can call me Ember."

I knew this game well enough we both had given fake names, although I didn't know if she was aware of it but I figured it might be the case.

Now that was done both ember and I pushed of the wall and walked towards the door. If she had a plan, I needed to know what it was. Besides, staying in that room wasn’t going to get me anywhere.

Slowly both of us walked into the corridors making sure no one was near yet the 2nd floor was oddly quiet except for the occasional footsteps.

I continued to walk behind Ember making sure to keep enough distance that I could fire a spell if she decided to betray me.

Although the thing that kept me at the edge was that I couldn't really see her weapon so it made me slightly nervous.

Ahead, a faint glimmer of light filtered through the cracks of a door at the end of the hall. Ember glanced back at me, her eyes narrowing in warning. I nodded in understanding.

She reached for the handle and paused, her head tilting as if listening for something beyond the door. I strained my ears, trying to pick up on whatever had caught her attention, but there was only the muffled hum of machinery somewhere in the building. Finally, she gave the door a gentle push, and it swung open with a soft creak.

Inside, the room was bathed in a dim, reddish glow. The source of the light was an array of monitors lining the far wall, each displaying different feeds from security cameras scattered throughout the facility. In the center of the room sat a single guard, slouched in his chair, seemingly oblivious to our presence. His eyes were glued to one of the monitors, completely engrossed in whatever mundane task he was performing.

I silently closed the distance between the guard and I, outstretching my arm as invisible lines went from my hand to the head of the guard. The guard's breathing was steady, but I could feel the magic tugging at his consciousness, pulling him toward a forced slumber.

His head jerked slightly, a sign that he felt something was wrong. I watched as his eyes darted to the sides, trying to resist the unnatural pull of sleep. But it was too late.

He would be feeling his mind getting slower and his body not listening to him. For a brief moment, our eyes met, and I saw the confusion, the realization that something wasn’t right. His mouth opened as if to shout, but all that came out was a soft exhale. His hand twitched toward an alarm button on the desk, but his movements were sluggish, too slow to be of any use.

"Shhh," I whispered under my breath, reinforcing the spell with a final surge of power. His eyelids drooped, and his body sagged in the chair as if the weight of the world had suddenly become too much to bear.

Within moments, the guard’s breathing deepened, his head lolling to the side. The tension in the room dissipated, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Ember came in behind me as she put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a nod her face still expression less.

The cameras showed various parts of the facility—mostly empty corridors, storage rooms, and the occasional patrolling guard.

However before I could look through the cameras Ember spoke silently. "There," she whispered pointing at a specific screen in the middle. "that's him."

I followed her finger to the screen and saw a man, Roxian, pacing back and forth while his antennas were moving wildly showing that he was agitated.

Good it seemed that he hadn't noticed us.

Looking around I immediately pushed the guard of the chair and tried to find which floor that was.

I found the corresponding number on the screen and traced it back to the control panel. "He's on the first floor." I muttered.

Ember stood by the door with her eyes darting between the hallway and the screen she asked a simple question. "Does he have guards with him?"

"Not from the looks of it but I predict that they are hidden somewhere else." I replied glancing briefly at her before at the screen.

She didn’t argue, simply nodded and moved toward the door, her steps as silent as a shadow. I followed her out into the hallway, making sure the guard was still deep in his magically-induced slumber. The corridor was still eerily quiet, the only sound being the faint hum of machinery and the occasional soft clink of metal from Ember's armor.

We made our way down the winding corridors, avoiding the few patrols that passed by.

Finally, after a few minutes we reached the stairway that led down to the first floor however it seemed that it was guarded by a few people.

We paused at the top of the stairway, crouching low behind a concrete railing. Below, three guards stood at attention, their weapons ready, their gazes fixed on the opposite side of the room. They hadn't noticed us yet, but that would change the moment we stepped into their line of sight.

I glanced at Ember, unsure of what to do next. But before I could even think of a plan, she was already moving. A blur of bronze and fire-red hair, she launched herself over the railing without making a sound. For a moment, all I could do was watch as she seemed to defy gravity, her body twisting gracefully through the air as if she were born to it.

Then, there was the rush of wind—swift and precise. It passed so close to me that I instinctively ducked, even though I knew she wasn’t aiming for me.

I blinked, and Ember was already in the middle of the guards. The first man didn't even have time to react before her fist connected with his throat, the impact so sudden that he collapsed without a sound. She moved on to the second guard with such fluidity that it was almost impossible to follow her movements. Her leg swept out, catching him in the ribs and sending him crashing into the wall with a sickening thud.

By the time I registered what was happening, the third guard had raised his weapon, but it was far too slow. Ember was behind him in an instant, her arm wrapping around his neck in a chokehold. His struggles were brief; within seconds, he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

The entire thing couldn’t have lasted more than five seconds, and I barely managed to catch up with what had just happened. Ember stood in the middle of the fallen guards, her breathing steady, not a hair out of place. She turned to look at me, her expression calm, as if this was just another day.

I slowly descended the stairs, trying to keep my cool even though my heart was pounding in my chest. “That was... efficient,” I muttered, keeping my voice low.

She didn’t respond, only gave me a small nod before gesturing for me to follow her again. I did, but now I was more cautious than ever. Whoever—or whatever—Ember was, she was more dangerous than I had initially thought.

We continued down the stairway, stepping over the unconscious guards, and made our way toward the first floor.

As we reached the bottom, Ember paused and glanced at me, her golden eyes narrowing slightly. “Stay close,” she said, her voice a soft whisper.

I nodded and peaked my head out the door to see about two mor guards that didn't seem to have heard the noise probably due to the constant hum it machinery which was masking the noise we made.

This time I was the one who moved first. Blinking behind the guards I put my hands on one each and immediately gave them a small taze enough that it would be able to knock them out.

I paused briefly, making sure the guards were fully unconscious before signaling Ember to move forward. She gave me a slight nod, and together we approached the door at the far end of the corridor.

My heart was hammering in my chest, I hadn't done something like this before.

Ember reached for the handle, but this time she didn’t rush. She hesitated, her hands shook a little before she pushed the door open.

The door swung open with a soft creak, revealing a dimly lit room. At its center stood Goda Ricmond—a Roxian, just as I’d seen on the monitor his form wasn't really imposing as he would barely be as tall as my chest, his antennae twitching with an unsettling rhythm. His eyes, large and black as the void, locked onto us immediately.

“I was wondering when you’d arrive,” Ricmond said, his voice calm, almost amused. He didn’t seem surprised at all to see us, which sent a cold shiver down my spine.

I stepped forward with my hands up showing I meant no harm. "Sorry, but I need answers."

Ricmond chuckled, a low, vibrating sound. "Answers? You barged into my home, fought your way through my guards, and now you think I’m just going to hand you what you want?”

His antennas flicked forward as he took a step toward us, and I instinctively raised my guard.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice you creeping through my facility?” Ricmond continued, his tone dripping with condescension. “Every camera, every guard—every step you took was monitored.”

"You wanted something from us or at least one of us?" I asked to try to buy some time to assess the situation.

"You," he looked at me with a small smile or at least I think it was a smile. "Really have a huge sense of self importance don't you. I don't really care about you. You're just some rubbish that can't understand what he has gotten himself into. Bring him in."

At those words a person jumped down with another person in their grasp. I immediately recognised the sea green skin and alcoholic smell.

It was Revek my guide, he was the one who showed me around this place.

The man was stricken with terror across his face as he tried to free himself but the clocked individual was far too strong for him.

"Revek!" I shouted, stepping forward instinctively, but Ember's arm shot out, blocking my path.

"Careful," she whispered, her eyes never leaving Ricmond. "This could be a trap."

Ricmond's cold smile widened at the sight of my reaction. "Oh, don't worry. Your little friend here isn't dead—yet. But he could be, with just a little more pressure." The armored figure tightened its grip on Revek, and he let out a pained gasp.

I clenched my fists, anger boiling inside me. This guy pissed me off so much that I just wanted to get this over with.

It wasn't that I couldn't do anything here it was just that anything I did would end up killing someone. That was something I didn't like all that much.

At that moment everything slowed down a magical energy immediately set up and designed to heighten my senses and accelerate my thought processes.

Hundreds of outcomes played out in mere seconds, each one a potential solution, a possible escape, or a devastating failure. I could see every subtle movement in the room, from Ricmond’s antennae twitching to the nearly imperceptible shift in the stance of the clocked individual.

Option one: A quick teleport to Revek, disarming the cloaked figure with a paralysis spell. But the instant I made contact, Revek would be crushed. Although that was still hypothetical rather than a fact.

Option two: Distract Ricmond with a burst of energy, allowing Ember to close the gap and neutralize the cloaked figure. She was fast, incredibly so but from what I could see there were at least four more individuals here with the same amount of mana as the individual in front of me.

Option three: I could project an illusion of me and then take the guard out and leave the rest to Ember she could take them.

I cycled through more scenarios—each one slightly different, each one bringing a different level of risk. Yet with each scenario my mind ached, my body struggling to keep up with the sheer speed of my thoughts. But in that brief eternity, a single plan crystallized. One that had the best chance of survival.

There were no traps at least that was crucial to my plan, since nothing was interfering with magic that meant that Ricmond hadn't really done anything to defend this place.

I exhaled slowly, allowing the world to speed back up. Ricmond’s voice was still dripping with condescension as he taunted me. I ignored him, yet I could remember a scene from a book I read years ago that brought a smile to my face.

"Hey, Ricmond have you heard of the new railgun tank?"

I stretched out my hand, fingers splayed wide as I visualized the charge building within the air around me. Electrons danced between my fingertips, crackling with a faint, blue-white glow.

The temperature around my palm dropped slightly as I drew in the static energy from the room, every particle aligning like soldiers ready for battle. I could feel the air ionizing, creating that sharp, metallic scent just before a storm. The charge grew stronger, condensed, until the current hummed with lethal potential.

In a split second, I shaped it into a single, jagged line of electricity, and with a flick of my wrist, I unleashed it. The bolt snapped forward, faster than sound, a blinding arc that tore through the air like nature's purest weapon. It didn’t just move—it ripped the space between me and Ricmond, sizzling with the heat of a thousand suns.

The cloaked figure was fast, but not fast enough. The lightning hit its mark, and the figure convulsed violently, releasing Revek as the shock traveled through its body. Revek crumpled to the floor, gasping for air but alive, and that was all I needed to see.

Ember moved in the same moment I fired the bolt, a blur of motion that was almost too fast to track. She closed the distance between us and the remaining guards in a heartbeat, her blade which I hadn't noticed before already in mid swing, but was stopped by the other guards.

However she didn't hesitate for a single second as she twisted her body in mid air using the wind itself as a platform to perform a flip, In one fluid motion, she took down the first of the cloaked figures, her fist connecting with his throat before spinning around to knock another unconscious with the hilt of her blade.

The room erupted into chaos as the remaining figures rushed us, but I was already prepared. The world around me glitched and I had been teleported near Revek and Ricmond.

I picked Revek in one arm and stole the silver tear from Richmond by the other, Ricmond hadn't even processed what was going on since everything had happened in less than five seconds.

The chaos was deafening. I watched as Ember moved through the guards like a storm, her blade dancing in her hands, slicing through their defenses with precision and power.

But my attention was drawn to the figure I had hit with the lightning bolt.

It was still twitching on the floor, but its movements were unnervingly mechanical. I crouched beside it, inspecting the damage. The black cloak had been partially burned away, revealing a sleek, metallic frame beneath. Its limbs were not flesh and bone but high-quality alloys, a blend of cutting-edge robotics and synthetic skin. There was no blood. No organic matter at all.

Fascinating.

This wasn’t just any machine. Whoever had built these things had access to some incredibly advanced tech. The lightning bolt should have fried any normal circuitry, but this… this thing had survived. I leaned in closer, curiosity overriding my caution. And then I saw it—a small, flashing screen embedded in its chest.

A timer.

My blood ran cold. The numbers were counting down—too fast for comfort. Twenty seconds. Nineteen. Eighteen.

“Shit!” I scrambled back, shouting, “It’s a bomb!”

Without wasting another second, I blinked. One moment I was next to the machine; the next, I stood beside Revek, pulling him up with one arm while snatching the silver tear from Ricmond with the other. Ricmond barely had time to register what was happening before Ember’s blade found him.

She didn’t hesitate. Her blade pierced his chest with surgical precision. Ricmond’s eyes widened in shock, blood trickling from his mouth as he collapsed to the floor.

"Get out!" Ember's voice cut through the chaos, her tone sharp and commanding. She turned toward me, her face set in a grim expression. I could hear the building groaning, metal supports beginning to give under the strain. The explosion was imminent.

With one last glance at Ricmond's lifeless body, she bolted, moving faster than I thought possible. I didn’t wait around to find out what would happen next. Another blink, and I was at the exit, dragging Revek along with me.

We barely made it out before the explosion ripped through the building. The ground trembled, the force of the blast sending debris flying in every direction. I shielded Revek

The force hit me like a freight train, and despite my best efforts, we were launched into the air. The ground disappeared beneath my feet, and for a split second, all I could see was sky and chaos.

Revek’s limp body slipped from my grasp, and I reached for him, but the shockwave carried us both away. Pain shot through me as I slammed into something solid—hard enough to rattle my skull. My vision blurred, black spots dancing at the edges of my sight. I was losing consciousness.

But just before I faded completely, a pair of arms caught me, breaking my fall. The scent was familiar—like ozone and cold metal, sharp and unmistakable. I struggled to open my eyes, but I knew who it was before I even saw the face.

"You're a sorry sight to see Saturn." a calm, steady voice said.

It was Orvox. The Formorian was still in his priest attire and was showing his teeth In a wide manner that would be horrific at any other moment.

The last thing I heard before everything went dark was his voice, low and reassuring.

"Rest now." Yet for some reason this voice was different from before something terrifying.