Chapter 118: Just a Little Forest Fire, Nothing to Worry About

"Right, so, do I want to try flying through a blizzard or consign myself to hours of walking slowly on the ground. Thoughts Timmy?" asked Kat as she stopped in place.

"Yeah, I guess your right, it is a bit dangerous to fly through a blizzard. Many would argue you shouldn't even walk through one" said Kat flying down to the ground.

Luckily, there was a break in the trees just before the environment shifted to endless frost so Kat didn't need to bust her way through yet more trees.

Landing on the ground Kat braced herself to cross the line that marked the break between forest and tundra. Taking one large stop forward Kat was instantly hit with a wave of wind.

Hail flowed in from all directions, the wind howled and had easily double in speed. Even on the ground Kat felt the need to protect her face. The cold seemed to pervade her senses as she felt her fingers slowly freezing.

Kat looked down at her hands to assess the damage… but found her hands were perfectly fine. Well, they were still extremely pale, but that was normal for now. *What is going on here?*

Kat could feel wherever the pieces of hail had struck her and cold seemed to snake out from those spots, but now that Kat was focusing it seemed that instead of an evenly spreading cold from the impact site, it was only wherever she was struck.

*Hey system, what's going on here?*

D.E.M.O.N.S asks User Kat to clarify the question

*Why do I feel so cold? I can't even see any frost building on my clothes.*

User Kat should be highly immune to the cold due to User Kat's demonic flame and it's unique properties. Is User Kat certain that User Kat is actually being affected by the cold.

*That… shit it's just like the forest isn't it. Wait aren't I immune to illusions?*

User Kat is immune to visual Illusions. Assuming the cold is indeed a symptom of an illusion, it likely has no visual component and thus isn't negated

"Guess it's more mind games Timmy. Though I should be careful just in case I actually start to freeze" said Kat

Taking in her surroundings, Kat saw a winter wonderland. The frozen trees looked like beautiful crystal statues, and the light covering of snow and the ground made for beautiful scenery as it reflected the moonlight. *Wait, a light cover of snow?*

Kat looked around at the very obvious haling and realised there might be a few more tricks going on. Kat crouched and put as much energy into her eyes and hands as she could. Kat waited for the next chunk of ice to fly past. The moment it got within grabbing range Kat snapped out a hand and tried to softly catch it.

Contrary to her intentions though, the hail disappeared as soon as her hand made contact leaving only the feeling of impact and a lingering chill. *Shit, so this hail isn't even real… wait no that also can't be it. If they were just illusions, I'd be able to see through it.*

Ok now I'm even more confused. Kat waited for another piece of hail to get close and once again snatched it out of the air. This time, after the ice vanished the chill didn't even increase it just stayed concentrated on her hand.

So what's the point of this then? Thought Kat, flaring her wings to return to flying at full speed. This however was immediately met by condemnation by the wind as it pulled her sideways. Quickly closing her wings was enough to stop the pull, but not enough to correct her balance

Kat's tail shot out towards the nearest tree and halted her fall into the snow. Now in a rather awkward position half fallen over, only held up by her tail and a Timmy trying to complain by batter her head Kat decided against flying through this section.

Slowly pulling herself back to her feet Kat felt herself getting righted once again. *Ok, new plan… don't do that. Why did I suddenly think the wind was fake just because the snow was.* "Sorry about that one Timmy, my bad entirely" said Kat as she set off into the snow.

Every step Kat took she sunk deeper and deeper into the snow. It wasn't long before it had already reached her waste and it was getting awkward to push forward. "Timmy, any ideas? I can't just keep packing snow in front of me, it hasn't even been five minutes and I've already halved my speed" said Kat

"No Timmy, I don't know how to make snow shoes, plus I think they aren't supposed to be used for snow this deep" said Kat

"Well, look, I understand that maybe they'd be better then nothing, but what about the time loss it'd take to make them" said Kat

"Well, no, just making myself lighter by flapping my wings a bit wouldn't help, we saw what the wind would do already. Surely there is a better way" said Kat.

Kat studied the snow in front of her carefully. The real problem was just that it was so lightly packed. The slightest extra weight compacted the snow, but it required large awkward steps if she didn't want to be pushing through it.

"Ha, if only I could swim through land. That'd solve my problems… Wait Timmy you're a genius" said Kat. Unbeknownst to Kat, Timmy was looking at her like she'd lost her mind, considering they hadn't said a word this whole time.

Keeping her wings closed, Kat pushed demonic power into them with a little in her tail as well for good measure. Diving into the snow like, well, a diver Kat dipped into it… and promptly hit the hard ground.

"Ouch, ok, not to self, whatever my wings are doing they don't just make me light" said Kat as she picked herself up" said Kat.

"Wait, but my fire is ice… can I do something with that?" *Hey system, can I control my fire after it leaves my body?*

User Kat may possess that ability. It touches on Rank 2 territory, but with User Kat's strangely shaped flame it might not be out of the question if User Kat is using it on similar substances.

*Ok, let's have a try then.* Kat let her flame spread out from her arms. Timmy for its part took an unconscious step back as Kat just let the fire flow

Fire poured out of Kat and into the surrounding seen setting it ablaze with an eery purple light. To this point Kat had always kept a close handle on her flame, but now she wanted it to SPREAD.

Kat's fire burned as it coated the nearby Ice and Kat tried to direct it. Nothing happened. *Um, hmm…* Kat tried to imagine the flame like an extension of herself forcing it to move left and right to her commands… but the flames hardly reacted.

Ok, what next? Kat let a little more flame leak from her hands but tried to keep it connected to her physically. As soon as that piece of flame Kat felt herself connected to the fire in the area.

A weight crashed onto Kat's shoulders, like she was trying to lift a mountain. *Shit.* Kat was close, she could feel it, the fire was almost under her control, but instead the weight of it seemed to press down on her.

Dropping the bit of flame that connected Kat and the surroundings she instantly felt the weight lift from her.

*Ok, let's just leave this area a bit.* Struggling through snow and flame, Kat tried to leave the area she'd covered with her fire but found that it had spread a little more then intended. Even after trudging through snow she'd hoped that five minutes away would have been enough to get away from the spread.

*Uh… Did I do this?* Kat looked around and the still 'burning' area around her a little concerned. *This isn't spreading is it?* Kat took the time to enhance her eyes to try and look over the flames to watch it. As Kat tried to look over the flames.

As she looked out into the distance, Kat was pleasantly surprised to see that they only continued for another hundred metres. *No wonder I was having so much trouble controlling it, I released A LOT of fire.*

Walking just a little further to escape the burning hellscape she had accidentally created and was now trying to ignore Kat took another attempt at controlling her fire.

*Maybe I should have started simple, like levitating it a bit above my hand, and not, setting a section of the forest on fire… Is it on fire if it isn't burning*

Shaking her head and making sure not to look behind her Kat summoned a little bit of fire and tried to make it bob gently up and down in a slight motion… What actually happened was that it took off straight into the air before exploding in a shower of purple fire.

*Oh dear… please don't set more things on fire.*