A tale as old as our people.

A tale of fire, hot enough to melt stone

Melt it to the very core of our world

A fire so strong it turns the very element of fire to its will. 

Bending it, mending it, turning it blue

A folk tale, told to every child, throughout every generation

A tale of legendary Fauns angering the holder of the blue flame, making him turn on us

Unleashing his anger and fury, turning all to ash.

And now I’ve seen it, the blue fire

It has painted the sky in a deep blue, making all Fauns cower in fear.

There was a gathering

Something that has not happened in centuries

And in that gathering, it was decided that we would send out the bravest of warriors

Mightiest of us all

To scout, to get a grasp of what was happening

Sent out to die.

I’ve been chosen, I’ve trained my whole life

Trained to get better at training

I’ve gained so much strength, that my horns have grown taller than even those of legends.

And with that horn, I’ve crafted my very own bow, a bow strong enough to destroy the sturdiest stone

I’ve trained to fight

Trained to get strong

To be the strongest

But I never thought I would have to fight

Never.

Now, me and three others shall venture out, searching for death, hoping to gain knowledge.

I pray to the gods for a successful mission

After travelling for five days, with neither a sign nor sight of our target, we’ve finally found where we believe the source of the flames sprung up from, or at least near it

We made camp, to recover lost energy, hopefully fully rested when we meet the creator of the blue flame.

No talking, everyone dealing with the severity of the mission in their own way.

I sit by the fire, idly watching it, letting the heat wash over me.

Staring deep into its core, seeing the embers dance and flames lick the air.

Just trying to picture how the blue flames would engulf these pitiful red ones

It would be like watching a human fight a giant

An overwhelming victory

Something I’ve seen coun-

A loud yell

All of us quickly turning towards the voice, bows at the ready

And at the distance, we see a lone human, bow on its back and waving

Walking slowly towards us

We quickly tumbled around, not ready for this surprise attack

I shouted at the others, quickly making order out of chaos

Then we aimed at the human

And it stopped.

We started running towards it, sweat pouring down our flanks.

If it’s the one we seek, we are already dead

Then the human did something surprising

It raised its hands in a sign of surrender.

This made the situation confusing.

Hastily talking amongst ourselves, I found that most were eager to just shoot and move on

I quickly reprimanded them, telling them how shameful they were to even suggest killing

We should always seek the peaceful solution first.

They should know that.

I got an awkward look in response and a sorry for their lack of self control.

But I can't blame them, this is a very stressful situation.

With that, it was decided that I would try to talk to the human, telling the others to stand back, ready with their bows.

As I got close, she remained still, hands up with a big smile covering her face, looking a bit forced.

The human seems to be female if her exposed nipples and nether region are any indication.

Her clothing is almost non-existent, burnt to a crisp

Strange, if she is the one we’re seeking, why would she burn her own clothes?

Is the magic too strong for even her to control?

“Why are you here?”

Smile turning brighter at my question, reaching her eyes.

“Hello! I’m here to meet the fauns.”

Meet us? Why would she seek us? I don't believe flor a second that she does not know we are Fauns

This sounds fishy

“Meet the fauns? Why?”

“To heal my leg, I heard that fauns are accepting of humans.”

To heal your leg?

Looking down at her, I could see that she has, indeed, been walking with a walking stick. Explains why she was walking slowly before

But why us Fauns?

Why not a human settlement or a human city

Too many questions

Not good.

“Why should we heal you?”

The girl seemed surprised at my statement.

Arms falling down towards me

“ARE YOU THE FAUNS?”

Aiming my bow quickly, eyes bulging, sweat forming

“Oh, sorry for screaming, I mean, are you fauns?”

Her hands went up again, an awkward smile forming

A few seconds passed

I slowly let my bow fall down again.

Maybe she is innocent?

Her reaction seemed innocent enough.

Let’s see her reaction to why we are here.

“Human, you see... We fauns do accept trade from humans, and glady soo... But, something came up, a great disturbance.”

“A what?”

My eyes narrowing at her, focusing

She seems confused, it’s easy to read.

But it could be an act, an act she’s playing expertly.

“Yes, about five days ago a great pillar of blue flames painted the sky, our people, are scared... And the only thing we know that could potentially get that powerful, are human wizards”

My grip on the bow tightening, brows furrowing.

She seems confused.

No

Contemplative

“You human, are you, a wizard?”

A step back, making myself ready for her reaction, for anything she might do.

But she stayed silent, deep in thought.

Does not even look like she noticed my question

...

“Human?”

This is bad.

This is really bad.

I’m not good with human magic, but I think most of their powerful spells take time

Time where they channel their mana to power the strong spells

And time is what I’ve given her

Another step back, bow going higher, imbuing my own mana into the arrow

Trusting my strength and training

Then she spoke

“Huh, I did not know it was that strong.”

It’s her!

It can't be anyone but her

We must act quick

We must eliminate the threat immediately.

Aiming my bow in a split second, I let the arrow loose.

Flying true to its mark

But missing

The human moved slightly to the side, making the arrow miss by only a few centimeters

Such skills

Years of experience

The arrow hit the ground behind her; The explosion making her tumble forwards to the ground.

I must trust my training.

I need to trust my comrades.

Three other arrows flew past me, flying over the human's head

Darn it!

I jumped back, hand on another arrow, imbuing my mana into it

The human had taken her bow out faster than anyone I’ve ever seen

Faster than even me, even after considering her wounds and that she was laying down

Then she aimed straight at me

But nothing came

A mistake

Has to be

Giving me the second necessary to aim my bow

And let loose another arrow.

It flew true once more, shots that few could make in such a stressful situation.

But missing, once again.

The human had been waiting for my shot, rolling to the side just in time for it to miss

But I had taken this into account, making my shot more explosive than the last, aiming at her feet rather than her body.

And the explosion rang loud, making even me stagger back

The human looked worse for wear, bleeding from every orifice

Eyes closed, tears of blood streaming down, legs separated from the rest

Yet, she still aimed, aiming where I had stood but mere moments earlier

I stood still, frozen in fear.

Then she shot

Arrow flying faster than my eye could perceive, hitting exactly where I had stood

An explosion louder than anything I’ve ever heard, blasting my eardrums to smithereens

I would hear no more

Then I flew, the shock-wave sending me back all the way to my comrades.

Flying past them, hitting the ground hard.

Adrenaline high as I tumbled around

But in my confusion, I had but one thought

What have I done?

Then I saw the sky

A brilliant blue

A perfect blue

Such beauty

Then pain came, immense and terrible

Bones broken in more places than one

Bleeding from every opening

Eyes shut, but I could feel someone near me

No sounds but the ringing in my ear

Yet, I still knew I had to do something.

Something crucial

Fix a mistake made

“Save her! Heal her!”

Repeated multiple times

Not sure how many.

Save the human

She is not the one we seek.

We’ve made a terrible mistake.

A terrible

Mistake

Pain lessening as I got healed,

Trying to push the culprit away, but strength leaving me,

I waited for the healing to do its course.

I hope we’re not too late.

We must save the human