“He’s still following you,” Erin whispered into Lindyss’ ear. It was a whisper, but everyone around the fairy queen had heard her, including the person she was talking about. Lindyss turned around and frowned at the red-haired man trailing behind the group. He was standing just within the pocket of space formed by Gaegukja Yeol’s radiating heat, following the group from behind.

Upon seeing the group staring back at him, Kax Ammer slapped his belly and let out a laugh. “What a coincidence,” he said. “It looks like we’re all going in the same direction. You’re heading to a specific clan to join them, and I happen to be going to the same clan.”

“What clan are you going to join?” Erin asked the red-haired man.

“The same one as the rest of you,” Kax said and beamed. Loud laughter rumbled out of his stomach. “But don’t ask Kax for the name because Kax don’t know yet.”

Erin nodded at Kax and slowly turned back towards Lindyss. “You’re going to let him follow you like this?”

“What’s the harm?” Lindyss asked and shrugged. “I told him to do whatever he wanted while he was still alive, and if this is what the man wants to do, who am I to stop him? He’s not harming anyone.”

“Hasn’t harmed anyone yet,” Erin said, raising a finger. “There’s something wrong with him. The way he speaks and acts, it’s weird.”

Lindyss rolled her eyes. “Oh, yes, because the people around me right now are the most normal, not-weird, nothing-wrong-with-their-heads people. God forbid a weirdo tags along.”

“Hey,” Tafel said, looking at Lindyss. “What’s wrong with my head?”

“Nothing,” Lindyss said. “Your head looks very nice; it’s neat, and everything’s proportional.”

Vur’s head turned to the side, but before he could make eye contact with Lindyss, the cursed elf added, “Your head looks nice too, Vur.”

Vur blinked and nodded, and Stella’s upper half appeared from behind Vur’s shoulder. The fairy queen made eye contact with Lindyss. The cursed elf smiled back at her. “Stella,” Lindyss said. “Avoid mirrors.”

The fairy queen blinked, and her head tilted to the side. “Avoid mirrors?” she asked, muttering to herself as her forehead crinkled. A second later, her eyebrows pressed towards each other, and her head snapped upwards, her posture straightening. She pointed a finger at Lindyss and asked, “Are you calling me ugly?”

Lindyss beamed at the fairy queen. “No.” She turned her head to the side, and her smile faded from her lips. “I assume we’re here?”

“We’re here,” Gaegukja Yeol said, stopping in front of a burnt-out fireplace. There was a dark expression on her face as she raised her fist. Flames burned into existence, lighting the darkened coals of the fireplace in front of her. A crackling sound roared as an explosion occurred to the side of Gaegukja Yeol. The light and fire from the explosion faded, revealing a table made of obsidian with a pure-white man made of flames curled up and asleep, hugging a crystalline bottle to his chest. Gaegukja Yeol stomped her way over to the table, but her feet didn’t make any sound. “Deowi!”

Gaegukja Yeol’s hand slammed against the table, slapping the glossy material less than an inch away from the man’s head. The man let out a shout and sat up, flinging the crystalline jar from his torso as he did. It spun around and made sloshing noises, but surprisingly, no liquid fell out. The jar tumbled towards Tafel, but it curved midair and flew in an arc towards Vur who half-heartedly raised his arm. The neck of the jar slammed into the webbing between Vur’s thumb and index finger, and his fingers closed around the jar before it could bounce away from the impact. Vur brought the mouth of the jar up to his nose and sniffed. His forehead scrunched up, and he took another, deeper sniff.

“What’s wrong?” Stella asked. “Does it smell bad?”

“No,” Vur said and raised the jar up, bringing the mouth to his eye level. Stella gasped when liquid rushed towards the mouth, but instead of falling out, the liquid was stopped by an invisible barrier. “It doesn’t smell at all.”

“Break it open,” Stella said, her right hand clenching as a grin appeared on her face.

“Let’s not break it,” Tafel said, grabbing the jar and sliding it out of Vur’s grip. “At least, not now.” She raised a finger to her lips before pointing and gesturing with her eyes at Gaegukja Yeol.

The flaming woman was standing next to the obsidian table with her hands on her hips. “What do you think you’re doing? I put you in charge of one thing, and this is what you do? Put some clothes on!”

The flaming man, Deowi, looked around before grunting. He tensed his gaseous flesh, and a second later, crystalline armor grew out of and formed around his body, garbing him in an attire similar to Gaegukja Yeol’s. When he was done, he raised his head to meet his sister’s gaze. “Yeol,” he said and grinned. His gaze landed on Vur’s group. “And you’ve successfully recruited some followers.” He slid swung himself off the table and patted Gaegukja Yeol’s shoulder. “Good work.”

“Yes,” Gaegukja Yeol said. “I did good work, but what work did you do?”

Deowi stretched his arms forward before extending them towards the sky. “I did the work of an explorer; I rested when I had time.”

“When you had time?” Gaegukja Yeol asked, her expression darkening. “Look at the recruitment center. Look at how many people there are over there, and now, look at how many there are over here.”

Deowi shrugged. “What’s the problem? If anyone was exceptional, you’d have found them. Isn’t that why you paid to be the administrator?” He stepped to the side, ignoring Gaegukja Yeol’s fuming expression, and waved at Vur’s group. “Hello, hello. Welcome to the Extreme Heat Clan. My name is Deowi, an explorer of the clan. You’re the newbies Yeol gathered up?” His flaming, red eyes twinkled. “Do you want to spar?”