Warmth. It was a strange sensation to wake up to, even more so when it happened to be the second day Clarisse had done so. The form of warmth being a roaring fireplace mere metres away from her didn't bother her as much as the mere feeling of warmth did, and she feebly pulled on the blanket lying across her shoulder to cover her neck.

The realization that she was covered by a cozy blanket instead of the freezing snow she remembered being buried in was what jolted her awake. She rubbed her eyes open, before suddenly pausing at the sound of another voice.

"È sveglia!"

"Chiedile perché è venuta qui."

"Eh... lasciala almeno riprendere il senno."

Clarisse immediately scrambled, sliding her back towards the nearest wall, which happened to be right next to the fireplace. Her heart was pounding, and a sharp pain in her chest made her wince and gasp, unable to focus on the voices in front of her. "Wha- who are you!?"

"Ti brucerai!" Came a warning from one of the voices she had heard, before she heard the sound of many feet shuffling towards her. Suddenly, the warmth she was feeling from the fireplace was replaced by the harsh cold she was now familiar with as the fireplace died out.

"Ti abbiamo tirato fuori dalla neve. Stai bene." The voice spoke again, and Clarisse finally looked up to see a pair of individuals with specific features - sandy red skin with a pair of white stripes running down their faces. It was the beige highlights on their ears, snouts and the bushy striped tails swaying them that told Clarisse all she needed to know.

"Naturals." Clarisse acknowledged to herself, catching her breath as she stared at the pair of red pandas standing before her. "Come sono arrivato qui?" She managed to ask once she had gathered her thoughts, though the pain in her chest remained.

"C'era una bufera di neve. Ti abbiamo trovato nella neve." One of the pandas replied, although there was a tinge of exasperation in his voice this time.

"Grazie…" Clarisse thanked them in a sheepish tone, feeling embarrassed for nearly dying out in the snow. She had wrapped her arms around her torso tightly to ease some of the pain when her inventory came to mind. "My bags! Dove sono le mie valigie?"

Both pandas looked at each other, before one of them left the room. "Li abbiamo qui." the other reassured Clarisse, before focusing his attention on the now empty fireplace. He raised both his open palms towards it, leaving the redhead confused for a few seconds before a small fire sprang up in the empty space - miniscule compared to the one which warmed her before, but a fire nonetheless.

Clarisse let out a tiny gasp, surprised at witnessing the spontaneous combustion next to her. She had heard of Naturals being able to cast magic before, but they tended not to readily use it for humans from experience. "Grazie." She said once again, facing her palms towards the fire to warm herself. "Mi chiamo Clarisse…. Dove siamo?"

The panda simply looked at her for a few seconds, contemplating his answer before slowly speaking. "Questo è il monastero di Kitori. Cosa ci fai qui, Clarisse?" He phrased his question with both curiosity and concern towards the outsider.

"Kitori... sto cercando un guerriero sulle montagne, per compiere la profezia!" Clarisse piped up, being reminded of her mission. The red panda bore an incredulous expression at her statement, almost to the point that she wanted to inquire further before the other red panda from before showed up again,

There was a moment of unintelligible dialog between the pandas before he disappeared again. "What happened? Are my things okay?" Clarisse asked, dreading the worst when the panda accompanying her also walked towards the door.

"Clarisse, mi chiamo Tano. Seguimi." The panda spoke to her, making a hand gesture to make sure she got the message before leaving. He had an incredibly concerned expression on his face as he left, talking to his friend in whispers.

"Wait!" Clarisse called out, scrambling to untangle herself from the bedding she had sunk into while sitting there. The pain in her chest flared up as she tried to get up and walk, but she ignored it as she stumbled towards the door as it was closing and pushed it open.

Many pairs of eyes fell on her the moment she left the warmth of the room, including the two pandas who had been watching over her just then. Looking around, Clarisse saw about a score of naturals - mostly red pandas, but also a leopard and a few who seemed to be avians. They were all dressed in similar garb no matter their age, or what task they were doing - simple outfits consisting of flowing robes and garments in light hues ranging from plain white to a shining ochre.

Confused at the sudden change in environment, Clarisse looked around to see that the room she had been in was more of a rural hut made of stone and dirt and supported by bamboo beams throughout. Her gaze then went towards the mountains behind the hut, and she realized in a quick turnaround that there were many other huts of similar architecture nearby. It looked like a village in itself, situated deep within the mountains and surrounded by them on all sides.

Hushed chatter picked up soon after Clarisse had decided to reveal herself to the monks, and though she couldn't discern what they were saying from their collective voices, a sentiment of unease was clear to her. Wrapping her arms around herself, the redhead retreated back towards the door she had walked out from, away from the curious and leering eyes.

. . .

Life went on as usual at the monastery once Clarisse was escorted to one of the fancier structures in the settlement - a massive, ornate stone hallway with naturals meditating on either end from the entrance all the way towards an alcove at the far end of the building. Clarisse loosely followed behind Tano and his companion, taking in the scene around herself.

It was a completely closed structure, showing signs of architecture from many years ago. There were no windows, but designated gaps in the ceiling let sunlight into the populated parts of the interior. There were crude paintings and earthen sculptures which all looked nearly the same on the adorning the walls and pillars, which supported the sturdy beams running across the ceiling. The bamboo supports to the beams suggested repairs had been installed on top of the existing infrastructure.

At the end of the hallway, there was the alcove, where about a dozen monks sat in a semicircle, all facing a singular, large painting placed squarely on the centre of the wall. There were also some earthen idols on either side of it and in between all of them, a massive plate with all sorts of offerings - black and red garments, fruits, nuts, leaves and incense. At the moment there also seemed to be an addition to the offerings, which happened to be her gada.

Clarisse broke rank from the formation of monks in front of her as they neared the alcove. "I brought that with me-"

"sì, porta il marchio della nostra setta." One of the monks replied, gradually shifting his gaze towards her. While all the other monks wore identical yellow and white robes, this one wore red and white instead, and looked noticeably older than the rest. "Dove l'hai trovato, bambina?"

"È una lunga storia... C'era un eremita che mi disse che mi avrebbe guidato fin qui." Clarisse replied, looking at the monks standing to either side of her for any input from them on if she should continue.

"Siediti e continua." The panda clad in red gestured for the others to shift slightly so that she could take a seat.

. . .

Clarisse tried to keep the retelling of her journey as brief as possible, but it was evident from the reaction of the monks that the gada was definitely something special. Once she was done, the elder began speaking in murmurs to his disciples, occasionally throwing a glance in her direction and bringing her attention back to the present moment each time.

"Hai fatto un lungo viaggio ma..." He finally addressed the redhead directly with a pitiful stare. "non ci sono guerrieri tra noi qui."

"There has to be someone, at least one person…" Clarisse asked again, her expression slowly becoming dire as she recounted that everyone she had seen on her way there had been clad in the same garments.

The elder shook his head profusely, before one of the disciples muttered something that caught his attention. "Non parlarne qui!" he scolded the youngster, who shrank away with a sullen expression of shame. That same expression was worn by the other monks as well, many of whom made a gesture and bow towards the picture of their god on the wall.

Clarisse caught onto the sudden shift in the mood, but a deep, ringing sound interrupted her. It sounded like a large bell was being rung over and over again. She looked around herself with raised eyebrows, to say she was confused by the reaction of everyone else in the monastery was an understatement when most of them immediately got up from their meditation and began to walk or in some cases run out. "What- What's the bell for?" She asked the abbot, her heart beginning to beat faster as she prepared to follow the others in quick fashion.

"La bestia." The elderly abbot muttered, gracefully getting from his meditative pose in a single smooth motion and passing by Clarisse. His entourage of disciples were right behind him, and the entire group headed towards the source of alarm in a double file behind their leader.

Clarisse was even more confused by their collective actions, smooth as clockwork yet as cryptic as everything else so far had been. She decided to pick up the gada and break into a brisk jog, breaking rank from the monks to see what was going on.

She heard it before she was able to see anything - a piercing, guttural hiss made Clarisse stop in her tracks as soon as she stepped outside the central monastery. It had come from above, though soon a giant avian shadowy body would swoop down towards her at breakneck pace.

Clarisse panicked, holding the gada up in front of herself in a desperate move. A moment later, she heard the impact of a massive creature right above her. Opening her eyes, she was both relieved and horrified to see a gigantic bird clawing at her mere inches away from her body, the only barrier between them being a sizzling hot dome.

She looked behind herself at the source of the shielding - the abbot, who stood with both hands raised to maintain the shield. "Vai adesso, devi trovare un riparo!" The elderly panda spoke with urgency, leading Clarisse to nod back in a moment of weakness. At the abbot's direction, a vulture subordinate blew a shadowy cloud towards the aggressive avian, buying them precious time.

As soon as the flame barrier peeled away, Clarisse ran through the smokescreen and emerged on the other side. The beast was still occupied with the abbot, though Tano and the vulture were right behind her. As they ran towards the series of huts, Clarisse felt the ground shake under her feet and tripped over herself. Looking behind, another shadowy bird had dug its talons into the snowy landscape between them and the central monastery.

"Barocco, proteggi il popolo col tuo fumo!" Tano called out to his companion as he pulled Clarisse up to her feet and then continued to flee, yanking her along for a few steps before letting go. Shortly after, another veil of smoke appeared, creating a path for them to follow.

Clarisse hesitated, resisting Tano's pull until he let her go and ran by himself. Standing there, she realized that none of the other monks were following behind them - it was just them three who had been sent away. Gripping the handle of her gada tightly, she walked away from the direction of the extending smokescreen.

She was meant to save and protect people - that was what she had come all this way for - Clarisse told herself. She let the smoke subside and took in the aggravating scene - the abbot and his disciples had arranged themselves around the monastery in a circle, all forming a flaming dome around the structure. Both birds were right on top, attacking the dome with their claws, wings and talons all at once.

One of them then ascended using its wings, remaining relatively above the dome, but creating an opening where Clarisse could slip through. She took the opportunity, only to gasp at having her leg grazed by a sharp shard of ice. Many more shards of similar size were soon to follow, assaulting the barrier and by extension Clarisse with no quarter, the only defense against which she had was to duck and hold the gada above herself.

One of the monks holding the barrier noticed Clarisse stuck outside and made an immediate decision, diverting their focus from strengthening the barrier to temporarily extending its range. "ENTRA!" The panda called out, breaking formation to reach Clarisse.

Still reeling from the initial shard of ice stuck in her leg, Clarisse could barely manage a roll into the safety of the barrier in time. Behind her, the monk gradually retreated back into formation and returned his focus on securing the dome. "WHY ISN'T ANYONE FIGHTING BACK?" She called out, the sound of the wailing hailstorm outside calling for a shout to get the sentence across.

"Noi siamo Kitorasa. Non dobbiamo combattere!" She heard a barely audible reply from one of the monks, though she couldn't distinguish which one from the group. It was then that Clarisse realized why the other monk had been running - the abbot's disciples weren't a cell of those who stayed back to fight, but merely a distraction to keep the beasts occupied and protect the monastery while the others found shelter.

Her heart was pounding in her chest as she cursed herself, pulling the icicle stuck in her thigh out and slowly managing to stand up. Above her, a pair of beasts were sieging a barrier which who knew how it would hold, and with her were a group of pacifists who knew nothing but to shield themselves. The only weapon she had access to was resting in the snow beside her, though she doubted it would be any good against creatures of that size.

When Clarisse reached down to pick up the gada this time, a strange feeling overcame her as soon as she laid hands on the weapon, as if she felt a connection to it. In the heat of the moment, she dismissed it as nothing in particular and looked up, trying to figure out how she would fend off the beasts.

Yet again, one of the birds backed away from the shield, which Clarisse recognized as an ominous sign. Her suspicions were well-founded, and yet she wished she had been wrong when the shadowy beast let out a gut-wrenching caw, and an orb of ice and snow began forming high above its head. Clarisse could only watch in horror as the sphere grew larger and accumulated more ice to its core, so much so that she didn't notice the etchings on her gada shine with various patterns in quick succession over a few seconds.

The other monks also noticed the creation of the icy comet meant to strike them down, and soon murmurs of hesitation, doubt and fear could be heard among their ranks. "MANTENERE FEDE! KITORI CI PROTEGGERÀ!" The abbot announced to his pupils in as loud and sagely a voice he could muster, though his reassurance did little to even convince Clarisse of what was to come.

The birds challenged the abbot's claim with a roar of their own, followed shortly by the frozen meteorite being hurled at them. The impact was both loud and forceful, raising a cloud of snow and debris all around them in an instant as the icy ball struck the incendiary dome at full power.

Clarisse had been knocked off her feet, finding herself partially buried in snow when the dust finally cleared. She desperately grasped at her gada, noticing the shining letters running up its length but not questioning them in favor of the immediate danger.

The barrier had fallen, and so had parts of the monastery behind her - broken debris from the meteor now lay within ruins of the monastery's entrance and there seemed nothing left to keep the shadowy vultures at bay from their prey.

Before she could lock her sights onto the danger, she heard a painful cry from across the debris. Her eyes opened wide as she watched one of the birds dig its curved beak into a monk on the ground, staining the snow crimson as it cut through his flesh. "NO!" Clarisse yelled out desperately, digging herself out of the debris and running towards the vulture with gada brandished in front of her. Before she could make it to protect the maimed monk, the second bird blocked her path, its empty, dark eyes peering at her with curiosity and hunger. It let out a threatening grunt before striking with its beak.

The instinct to fight back and drive the bird away rose up with Clarisse, far surpassing her body's innate desire to dodge and save herself. She swung the gada in retaliation at the bird, smacking it squarely across its beak with as much force as she could muster. The beast looked confused as it reeled back from the blow, used to having its prey either hunker down or accept its fate.

Clarisse was equally as surprised at the effectiveness of the gada against the megafauna, and moved towards the other bird which had attempted feasting on the monk, who was still lying there in immense pain. "I won't let you hurt them again!" She declared, standing stalwart despite her shaking legs and pounding heart.

The birds adjusted their positions to stand oblique to Clarisse on either side, sharing a glance with each other as they co-operated on taking down their new prey. One of them took to the air again, forming dark arrow-like spikes around itself before launching them at her. The other jabbed at her in quick succession with its beak, trying to overwhelm her.

Clarisse wished she had been as experienced as she was brave in that moment, holding the gada in front of herself and shuffling backwards to either block or dodge the projectiles flying at her. She stayed barely out of reach of the bird after her until suddenly stumbling on something and then finding herself stuck. Looking down, one of the arrows had pierced itself into the ground in her shadow, and somehow was keeping her from moving.

Sensing her moment of weakness, the other bird attacked her again and managed to grab the gada in its beak, yanking it away and throwing her only means of defense far out of reach. Clarisse let out a cry of fear as the birds came closer, spreading their wings as they jumped closer to her and pushed her to the ground with the afterwind of their massive wings.

Clarisse held her hands in front of her, partly closing her eyes as she realized she was going to meet the same fate as the other monk had - merely food for the monstrous birds of the mountains. In the next few seconds, her life began to flash before her eyes as a great regret welled up in her chest. If she had just listened to her Dad, or even just dissuaded herself from the ramblings of that senile old man… if she hadn't forced herself to believe in the fantasy that she wanted to hear, perhaps she could have led a much longer life. Most of all, she wished that she had said a proper goodbye to her parents before leaving on this pointless venture-

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Suddenly, a brightness enveloped her closed eyes, followed by the pained cries of the birds. Clarisse opened her eyes to the sight of both birds being crushed against the debris of the monastery by a great stream of flames originating from behind them. She raised her head to look at its source, but all she could make out from the blinding light was a source of the flames which seemed to be getting closer. The birds shrieked, flapping their now flaming wings as they attempted to take flight and escape.

As the fire died down, Clarisse caught a fleeting glimpse of her savior. The figure could only be conceived as a blur, breaking into a sprint as soon as their fire had died down and scaling the debris. Somehow, Clarisse felt the same strange tinge as she had when she picked up the gada earlier upon witnessing the figure scale the debris and leap into the air, landing on one of the birds' wings as it attempted to escape.

The bird they had landed on subsequently lost balance and crashed, slipping to a gradual halt in the snow before a blazing explosion engulfed the bird's entire body. Clarisse gasped aloud, concerned for her savior though simultaneously noticing that she was free to move again - the arrow attached to her shadow had been dissipated at the same time as the explosion. Quickly bringing herself to her feet and finding the gada, she began limping towards the battle.

Overhead, the remaining vulture didn't seem too pleased by the turn of events. It screeched at the burning remains of its companion, circling the scene once before deciding to take a dive at its new target. Still obscure among the flames, the figure simply stood in place for the vulture to get within reach before making a move. In a deft action, they caught the beast by one of its legs and held it there, giving it mere moments to elicit panic before barraging it with an incendiary stream at point blank range.

Clarisse witnessed it much clearer this time as she made her approach with the gada in hand, flames borne directly from the figure's forearm and palm tearing through the beast like a hot knife through butter and spreading across its form even as it tried flapping its wings and flailing wildly to free itself. Even as the bird fell limp to the ground, there was no mercy until every essence of its body had been burnt, leaving only a charred skeleton behind.

The gada caught her attention again, this time a much stronger feeling emanating from it. Clarisse squinted at the weapon, feeling perplexed at being able to read the glowing portions of the highlighted letters among the inscriptions on it. "L- Lanciafiamme? Fuoco- " Clarisse tried her best to read the rapidly changing words as they flashed past on the weapon's surface along with an accompanying series of characters which thankfully changed much slower. "Pianissimo… Presto?"

She had no clue what the words were supposed to signify, but for some reason the gada was glowing with them, and that glow only grew stronger as she limped closer to the skeletons of both beasts. "Hey! Thanks for saving- " Clarisse tried to call out, before she spotted a flaming hand pointed in her direction and paused, unsure how to proceed.

From the distance, the light emanating from his hand was helpful in identifying who- or what exactly the figure was. It looked like a human with dirty-white, ashen hair for the most part, but strangely also possessed the same kind of ears she had seen on many of the monks, including Tano and the abbot. A red panda-? Unlikely, Clarisse thought from the lack of naturalian characteristics and the absence of a tail on the figure unlike any of the other pandas she had seen that day. Clarisse couldn't clearly make out a face on the person, but his clothes were tattered and burnt in many places. Through the ragged attire he looked like nothing but skin and bones, and yet somehow he was capable of great destruction with that alone. "I- I'm not trying to hurt you! I need your help!" Clarisse called out, realizing that her gada might have been a significant contributor towards the misunderstanding and lowering it.

And yet, the pyromancer didn't seem to relent. His steely gaze remained in her direction, as did his flaming hand, at least up until both of them heard another bird call from behind him - it seemed to come from the other end of the settlement. Clarisse took a sharp breath, realizing there was at least one more of them somewhere in the settlement, going after the rest of the people. Before she could say another word though, the mysterious fighter was off again, much faster than she had thought was feasible to move on the snow.

"Wait- gah…" Clarisse groaned as she slowly limped behind him. The inconvenience gave her time to think about the strangeness of finding someone like this though - the monks weren't supposed to fight according to their religion, and it got her mind working on who it could have been. It seemed equally questionable for the person to be a human, since as far as she knew it wasn't possible for a human to cast magic like that. Questions in the same order kept popping up into her head as she slowly made her way towards the next conflict, which she could easily spot from the bird's size and the pyromancer's flames.

Remnants of shadowy wisps and sparks billowed around the scene amidst the falling snowflakes as Tano's shield spell crumbled under the impact of a recently launched icy spear by the gargantuan vulture. The bird was about to swoop low to snatch its prey, before its attention was arrested by a much stronger rhythm source nearby. The pyromancer now had flames enveloping his entire upper body, the resulting incendiary carapace melting the path ahead of him as well as any snowflakes which dared to fall within his purview. It quickly moved forward a few steps, spreading its wings in an intimidating show of both size and power towards the tenacious fighter.

With faded silver hair gleaming under a canopy of fire, the pyromancer showed no hesitation in the face of the vulture intimidation tactic as he continued to close distance between them. This bird seemed more wary of him than the rest, choosing to take to the sky rather than test its strength directly. As soon as it left the ground, the figure pointed both his arms at it and began unleashing a searing blast of fire.

As it rose high into the air, the bird of prey created a downward draft of wind which kept the flames at bay from burning it, at least for the moment. Unlike its roasted companions, this one seemed content with staying in the air for a little longer, letting out a guttural hiss as it formed icy spears in the sky around its flight trajectory. Once they were all prepared, each icicle homed towards the pyromancer in quick succession, throwing up snow with each strike.

Clarisse's eyes grew wide in concern as she watched the bird launch icicles down at the monastery's sole fighter, halting in place with her breath held as she realized that she wouldn't have been able to dodge any of those attacks in her current condition if she was in his place. As the snow settled from the initial icicles, she spotted the illumination from the fighter's fiery carapace and breathed a sigh of relief. With hope still burning in her heart, she limped faster towards the side of the conflict, where Tano and the others were sheltered under the entrance of a cave leading into the mountains.

"Tano! Stai bene?" Clarisse shouted as she got closer to the cave so that her voice would reach the wounded panda through the commotion outside. He was leaning against Barocco, who was focused on maintaining a thin, shadowy veil between the sheltered naturals and the battle taking place outside.

Tano replied with a nod despite his dishevelled, weary frame riddled with bruises. "Sì… migliorerò." He confirmed once she had walked inside the radius of his Barocco's cloud.

Clarisse leaned her back against the snow-laden side of the mountain, grateful for the opportunity to catch her breath and remain in relative safety. "Chi è quello!? Pensavo che i monaci non combattessero?" She inquired, confused about the pyromancer's presence at the scene.

"Mezzo." Tano replied with a single word, his voice morphing from an anxious tone into utter distaste as his gaze shifted towards the agile fighter who was weaving in between a constant rain of icicles and shadowy bolts. A tangible shiver ran through his body as the word left his mouth, and he quickly averted his gaze, instead focusing on his people on the interior of the cave.

Clarisse's brow furrowed, confused at the descriptor. "Mezzo?" she asked the natural to elaborate using an upward inflection in her voice.

Tano's mouth curled into an uncomfortable frown at being asked to explain himself, so much so that he dove into his limited conversational skills in her native tongue, hoping that it would sate her curiosity. "Cripple. Half-naturale, half-human. It does not follow our ways."

Clarisse stared back at Tano, her mental image of the kind monk being tainted by his brazen description of their savior at the moment. Peering through the shadowy veil, the confrontation outside seemed very different to her - she saw a person putting themselves at risk for the lives of others, people who perhaps shared Tano's sentiments.

The darkened vulture swooped low towards the half-breed, opening its beak to unleash a powerful stream of water at him. A great cloud of steam erupted from and behind him as the water made contact with the pyromancer, whose searing flames had melted all the snow nearby, creating a humid arena all around them. The beast showed no intention to flinch, however, and dove into the cloud of hot steam with talon outstretched under it.

Seeing only a vague silhouette of the beast flailing in the steam, Clarisse's heart skipped a beat. When she didn't see any clear retaliation from the half-panda fighter in the following seconds, she grew even more concerned. "This isn't fair… He needs our help!" she looked back at Tano and Barocco, fingers gripped around the glowing gada tightly.

"È lui il motivo per cui le bestie sono qui! Maledetto storpio innaturale…" The mostly silent avian natural snapped, raising one of his arms to put it in front of Tano to block him from stepping forward. "Umano sciocco."

"Fine, I'll do it myself then!" Clarisse glared back at the two naturals with gritted teeth before marching through the veil of smoke, determined to make a difference. As soon as she left the safety of the magical smoke, she was first hit with a strong gust of wind, followed by remnants of the steam smokescreen around the scherzando and half-breed.

The steam brought Clarisse a moment of much-needed warmth in the frigid weather before revealing the scene to her. The vulture towered over the silver-haired fighter, relentlessly pecking and clawing at him with its talons and beak. While he moved with supreme agility – strafing and jumping constantly to stay just out of reach of the corrupted creature – the previously incendiary presence of the fighter had gone dark, reduced to repeatedly sputtering flames that failed to catch on. Instead, he was forced to find openings each time the beast presented one and retaliate with physicality.

Clarisse flashed a confident smile upon seeing the warrior hold his own as she got in ever closer to the clash, but kept being pushed away by virtue of the strong drafts borne from the vulture's wings. She kept closing the gap slowly until the vulture raised its head and its plumage extended into an array of spikes – Clarisse barely had time to bring the gada upwards before an arrow glanced off it, making the weapon knock against her head.

Reeling back from the knock with an annoyed shake of her head, Clarisse saw the vulture descend into a series of jabs and pecks with its beak. What worried her was that the dextrous fighter had suddenly stopped dodging, or rather, that he was no longer able to. Spotting an arrow stuck in his shadow just as it had been in hers near the monastery, Clarisse broke into a run to his aid.

The pyromancer's flames still seemed to be a sputtering mess, coming to life one instant and dying out the next in sporadic fashion. In a desperate attempt, he crouched onto one knee and focused his flames, flashes of light flickering in and out right before the beast's curved beak caught hold of one of his arms.

The beast's beak was acutely curved at the tip, made for tearing into flesh and ripping it into digestible shreds with ease. This strike was no different, its sharp edges slicing into the silver-haired fighter's arm, before jerking its head upwards and throwing him into the air. The bird held its beak open, preparing for him to fall right back into its vice-like grasp, before its balance was suddenly thrown off from below.

"Hi-yah!" Clarisse wound back her gada for another swing, aiming for the vulture's legs. She lacked the raw strength to make a meaningful impact from a strike alone, but a well placed hit was still capable of throwing the bird off. She quickly backed away when it spread its wings and raised a foot towards her, just in time to escape a pinning step from its sharp talons.

Beside her, the bird's head suddenly crashed into the ground from the weight of the fighter, who had caught onto it as he fell back down. The next few seconds could only be perceived as chaos for the redhead with the bird flailing and hissing wildly around her and bright flashes emanating each time the fighter's punches rained on the creature. Within the chaos, Clarisse suddenly felt a winding force hit her squarely in the gut, sending her skidding across the snow a good dozen metres away from the fight before she slid to a stop.

Panicking, Clarisse sat upright and held the gada in front of her with one hand for safety as she clambered to her feet. The pain in her chest from before flared up, this time in a far more agonizing fashion as she tried to make sense of the snowy scrap in front of her. Before she took another step forward, the pain quickly reminded her that the creature was far stronger than anything she was ready for.

On the other side of the conflict, the monastery's defender faced a much more immediate problem - in its moment of panic the bird had managed to free itself and after a second of wind-up, began blasting icy-cold water at him again. There was no more fire billowing from his body to turn it into steam this time, nothing but his bleeding arms to protect him as he stood his ground.

Clarisse couldn't see how he was faring from where she stood, but a strange feeling overcame her once again, coming from the gada. Approaching the beast was out of the question, but she still wanted to do something to help. She glanced at the words glowing on the gada again, still confused about their purpose. It held a new phrase this time - Respingere. The phrase disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by one which she had seen before.

"LANCIAFIAMME PIANISSIMO!" Clarisse cried out, holding the gada with both hands in the direction of the beast as she called out the incantation. It wasn't an action she could explain, borne purely out of instinct. At first nothing noticeable happened to the gada, which confused her. She was considering calling out the incantation again, before she felt a sudden sap in her strength.

The space around the fighter suddenly combusted into flames, disseminating the stream of water into a cloud of steam yet again. Clarisse felt the hit to her energy reserves at the same time, nearly being brought to her knees. It was a strange feeling, as if her intentions had bridged the physical gap between them to deliver her strength to something far away. For a moment, she felt a connection before it went away. Looking up, her face lit up as the fighter's flames had returned to the battle.

The fighter examined his burning hands with a degree of confusion followed very quickly by acceptance as he lunged forward at the bird, sliding to one side to dodge its incoming attack before blasting its side with newfound firepower, though the flames ran out just as quickly as they had reappeared.

Even from where she stood, the ebb and flow of the flames was noticeable to Clarisse. She adjusted her hands over the gada and spoke again, this time in a more focused manner. "Lanciafiamme, pianissimo." Her eyes grew like saucers as she watched the fighter's hands glow alight again, scorching the bird trapped in his grip while it tried desperately to fight back.

The vulture tried once more to escape by taking flight, but it failed to take flight this time in lieu of its missing feathers, replaced with a pair of singed of appendages. It instead then lunged at the fighter once more, tilting its head and attempting to bite him through the middle.

Closely strafing past its final jab, the fighter went for its neck and dug into it with his claw-like nails, tearing it open now that the bird had no way of escaping. The beast let out one last deafening hiss before its body went limp, bits of its shadowy carapace strewn around the fighter like ribbons.

The redhead held her breath, partly in disbelief and partly in excitement of what had just happened. They had survived - the monks were likely safe for the moment if that was the last of the creatures which had attacked the settlement. But even more than that, she had somehow helped him cast magic! A rush of adrenalin filled her veins, prompting her to lower the gada and approach the fading carcass of the gigantic bird.

"HEY! Are you okay?" Clarisse called out to the mysterious hybrid, who seemed preoccupied with his bleeding hands at the moment. She picked up her pace as she got closer, eager to finally talk to him. "We made it!..."

The silvery, charred fighter swiftly turned around with a bloody arm raised towards her, flames flickering from the open wounds as if threatening to smite her if she got closer.

"Whoa- It's okay! I'm… we're on the same side here." Clarisse's attempts at diplomacy were met with a few seconds of tense silence from the ragged pyromancer before he shifted his steely gaze towards the entrance of the cave, where Barocco had finally lowered his smoke spell so that he and Tano could check the surroundings.

"My name is Clarisse- "

"Stay. Away. From. Me." The fighter finally broke his silence with a gravely, harsh voice. With that sole warning, he turned and began walking over the deteriorating skeleton of his previous kill. He didn't seem to be headed in any particular direction, merely away from her and the dispersing crowd of naturals behind her.

"Huh…?" Clarisse's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she watched the half-panda make his way down towards the remains of the main monastery structure in the distance. A wave of relief filled her when she shifted her gaze in its direction and spotted the figures of the abbot and some of his disciples who had managed to recover from the rubble and were helping others do the same. Despite his warning, she decided to follow the fighter at a loose distance towards the monastery.

It was an understatement to say that the abbot was upset by the fighter's presence - Clarisse could hear his fervent scoldings towards the hybrid even from afar, though it seemed the recipient didn't seem to mind at all. Clarisse watched the silent and seemingly indifferent man climb up the rubble of the monastery.

"Hai tolto la vita a Dhan e ora ci stai derubando!?" She heard the religious leader shout at him right before he disappeared inside through a gap in the rubble. The name caught her attention, recalling what had happened moments before the fighter had arrived. Before she could ask anyone, she caught the scene out of the corner of her eye - a pair of monks carrying a cadaver of their fallen companion, blood and guts on the verge of spilling out of the tear across his torso.

Clarisse froze at the sight of the corpse, unsure of what to make of it. Her instincts told her to look away, and she did. Still, there was something off about everything which was happening. The naturals' unwillingness to fight and their reaction to the fighter's arrival bothered her.

"Sporco mezzo…" She heard the abbot muttering as she walked past him, standing before the rubble. "He helped us…" the redhead mumbled to herself as she climbed up the mound of debris which had been the primary entrance to the structure. Near the top, she spotted a hole large enough for her to slip through, though the landing was strewn with sharp rocks just like the exterior.

Taking a deep breath, Clarisse let herself drop through the gap and landed at the bottom. A e stinging pain shot up her left leg as it shared the brunt of the landing, reminding her of the icicle which had struck her thigh. She was still reeling from the pain, struggling to stand straight when she spotted the fighter, this time clad in the red-black outfit the monks had laid out for Kitori. The rags which made his previous outfit lay to one side, bloody and torn.

The hybrid had also felt content with helping himself to the other sacred offerings in the alcove, ripping into one of the apples with his claws and feasting on it in a matter of seconds before reaching for another from the plate. He seemed preoccupied enough to ignore Clarisse's landing and approach, at least until she spoke up.

"Hey- uhm…" Clarisse tried to catch his attention, prompting the silver-haired hybrid to snap around in an instant with one hand held up, glowing ready to burn her while he held the apple in the other. Bothered but looking past his threat, Clarisse tried to hide her lingering pain by taking support by leaning on the gada. "Can I know your name?"

The hybrid's cold exterior slowly broke apart at the question, starting with his stern expression fading and his arm being lowered. He seemed confused by the question, as if he needed to think about it for a moment. His eyes suddenly became unfocused, searching for the answer as if it was written on her face. He gulped down the bite of fruit remaining in his mouth, licking his lips clean of the potent juice before responding. "Nikolas."

"Nikolas." Clarisse repeated, a smile lighting her face at the progress made. "I'm Clarisse, and I think you're the person I've been looking for. I need your help-"

"No."

"There's a great ev- what?" Clarisse paused, unsure if she heard him correctly.

"Not interested." Nikolas said, keeping his gaze trained on her while he fumbled with the offering plate until he found another apple and shoved it into his pocket. He let the plate clatter to the ground and walked past the confuddled redhead.

"But there are people out there who need your help! Our help!" Clarisse exclaimed, shocked by his callous reaction. "Just like this monastery, there are a lot of places where things like those birds appear!"

Nikolas's eyes scanned the wall of debris in front of him, and then the walls on either side. "And when… did that…become MY problem?" He spoke in between deft jumps from one foothold to the next, using the rivets in the wall to scale it. By the time he was finished speaking, the silver-haired hybrid was already at the top, grabbing the broken edge of the ceiling to pull himself up to the outside.

"You can't say that- Hey- wait up! How am I going to get out of here?" Clarisse began protesting before realizing that he wasn't going to offer her a hand up. Walking up to the wall, she considered scaling it the way he did for a moment before realizing that it would be far harder with the gada in hand and her existing injuries.

Nikolas squatted at the edge of the rubble, looking down at her with a blank expression. "You got yourself in there, you can get yourself out. It's not breaking down anytime soon."

Clarisse let out a frustrated sigh, attempting to keep her cool with him. "Nikolas? Listen, I know I felt something back there- when I called out that chant, you were able to shoot flames again."

"You shouldn't have tried to interfere with that fight." Nikolas replied, neither confirming nor denying her question. "I can handle myself just fine."

"What, was I just supposed to watch you get hurt?" Clarisse snapped back, anger escaping her normally calm person as she recalled Tano and Barocco. "The naturals hate you, and I don't care why- that was just plain wrong!"

Nikolas got onto his feet silently, staring her down for a few seconds before turning away and heading down the mound of debris even as she called out his name in a vain effort for help.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.