CH.399 Passion of Flames

CH.399 Passion of Flames

“I wish you luck in your endeavors. And please come again.” Gaia said, as we left her domain so that we could head to the domain of the superior fire spirit, Ninatia.

“Yes. I’ll bring Wilma next time, so you may give her your blessing. If she does live up to your expectations.”

“If what you’ve told me is true, I’m sure she will.” Gaia said.

But we didn’t just leave Gaia’s domain with empty promises, Cailie and I also got a blessing from her. Alice was a bit jealous that she didn’t get it, but one of the greater earth spirits promised that when she was better at earth magic, she could come back and show her skills. And if she is skilled enough, she will get their blessing.

As for our travel plans, what better way to travel than by dragon. And not Lady Janina this time. She might be willing to carry me, and others in emergencies, but I can’t just use her as a taxi whenever I want.

But I have dragons of my own, so that isn’t a problem. In fact, I have five very specific dragons that I summoned for us. Ernus, Nudyarl, Sheou, Lorpar and Tinkhec. My full Dragonmaid squad.

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And while their maid forms are in use daily, I don’t often use their dragon forms. And I’ve never summoned all five of their dragon forms at the same time, so this was a first in that sense.

Lady Janina got the first pick on who she wanted to ride, and she picked Ernus. Though I honestly think it is because she wanted to leave Sheou for me. Alice rode Tinkhec, Lua was on Nudyarl and Cailie was on Lorpar. With all of us on the back of a dragon, our squad took to the skies and we headed towards Ninatia’s domain.

The domain of Ninatia wasn’t what I expected. I honestly expected a volcano or something like that, but what we found instead was a relatively normal looking Aztec temple. Sure it had some nice large flames burning at each of the four corners, but it is still just a temple.

After we landed, a handful of lesser and intermediate fire spirits came to greet us. Oh by the way, the greater water and nature spirits weren’t with us anymore. Neither of them has the best relationship with fire, so they didn’t want to go to the areas ruled by fire spirits. We did have some intermediate wind spirits with us though. I’m decently sure Anemoi called them Cailie’s bodyguard spirits or something like that.

“Hello!” “You can’t come in.” “Lady Ninatia is not home.” “No guests.” The fire spirits tried to turn us away.

“Have you not heard? We are going around waking up the superior spirits.” I told the spirits. “So could we see where Lady Ninatia is resting so that we can sing her a song?” I then asked. I didn’t want to turn the spirits hostile, but this was also the first time we didn’t have a greater spirit with us to explain things, so I decided to take care of that part.

“You are?” “You have?” “Can you wake up Lady Ninatia?” The spirits asked.

“Yes. We’ve awakened Anemoi and Gaia already.”

“They did.” “Sis did.” “Sis and Hero.” The wind spirits said.

“Really?” “Come in.” The fire spirits got excited and flew to the top of the temple. They stopped next to what seemed to be a large fire pit. It looked a bit like a sacrificial altar, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but whatever the spirits prefer.

“Hero, the singer and your companions. You as well, supreme dragon. Welcome to Lady Ninitia’s temple.” A larger spirit was next to the sacrifice pit. She must be a greater fire spirit.

“Thank you. Where is Lady Ninitia resting?” Cailie asked.

“Right here. Under the fire that doesn’t burn.” The spirit answered, pointing at the sacrificial fire pit. “If you can light the fire, she will wake up again.”

“That’s simple.” Alice said. “I’ll just ...”

“Alice.” I quickly put my hand on her shoulder, realizing what she was about to do. “You can’t just magic up some fire. It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?” She asked.

“Because it isn’t power that wakes up the spirits. It is the emotions. ... at least I think so.” I told her. “So if wind is freedom and earth is ... rhythm I suppose. But then again, rhythm isn’t an emotion, so I have no clue. Not that it really matters to this. What do you think fire would be?”

“... maybe power?” Alice offered. “I mean, fire is the most powerful attribute when it comes to offensive spells.”

“If that is how you see fire, then you must be really bad at it.” The greater fire spirit reprimanded Alice.

“... am I?” Alice questioned. “I know I’m not the best, but I’m decently good.”

“And yet you don’t even understand the basics. Who taught you?”

“A few of Brian’s monsters. Flamel was my main teacher. ... but we never talked about the ... emotions of fire.”

“I see. Then this is useless. If you don’t understand fire, you will never wake up Lady Ninitia.”

“Don’t worry, miss Spirit.” I said. “We will figure this out and wake her up.” I promised.

Walking down the steps of the temple, I came up with a plan to move forward.

“I think we should split.” I said.

“Why? Shouldn’t we work together?” Cailie asked.

“It's just... Cailie, do you think Fire is really your attribute?” I asked.

“... Maybe not, but still. Shouldn’t I be the one to..?”

“Don’t take everything onto your shoulders.” I told her. “Alice and I will wake up fire. You and Lua should go to the superior water spirit and wake her. It should be easy for you. Lady Janina, would you take them there?”

“I don’t mind. Just remember that you can’t return without me, so when you want to go back, come find me.” She responded.

“Yes. And after you wake up water, head to light’s domain next. I think we can still deal with her before we need to return to the otherside for breakfast.”

“That is fine. ... but how will you find light’s domain?” Lady Janina asked. “Your spell only finds those you know well, right?”

“Yeah, but I’ll figure it out.” I just told her.

“... are you sure?” Alice asked. “What if ... what if we can’t awaken the fire?”

“We can. Because I believe in you. Like I believe that Cailie and Lua can wake up the water spirit.” I told her. “Besides, I think I have the answer to the question I asked. And if I’m correct, you are the one who has to sing this song.”

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When our lives will finally become one

I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways

Through the fire and the flames, I carry on

As the wedding day is dawning

And the bells echo in the sky

They'll raise their hands to the Goddess above

With blessings in their eyes

Walking forth through the mid-morning light

There's a burning in our hearts

We've conquered the times of the bad ends

And live beyond the stars

In your darkest times, persevere to believe

Our destiny this time

And endlessly we'll all be one, Tonight

And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality

All alone in desperation, that time has gone

Lost inside, I won’t be, lost within my own mind

Day after day my passion will go on

So close by, I wait for the day

When our lives will finally become one

I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways

Through the fire and the flames, I carry on

I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u

I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u

Now here we stand our hands joined as one

I fought so hard, do you understand?

I'll break the seal of this fate because I know that I can

For freedom of our future child

So close by, I wait for the day

When our lives will finally become one

I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways

Through the fire and the flames, I carry on."

As Alice finished the song, the sacrificial pit as I’ve been calling it, was filled to the brim with bright flames. But not raging flames of hate, nor burning flames of might. Instead, warm yet calming flames of passion.

A part of the flames eventually solidified, making a person made of ... solid flames? Can flames be solid? I don’t know, but that is what it looks like.

“Ah. Young love. What a passion to wake up to.” She said, as she jumped up from the pit. “I am the superior spirit of fire, Ninatia. May I know the names of the two that awakened me?”

I looked at Alice, pushing for her to go first.

“... I ...” She muttered a bit at first, but I then took a hold of her hand and squeezed it a bit to reassure her that I was right here. “My name is Alice Mana Watchman.” Alice introduced herself.

“And I am Brian Wood.”

“Thank you, Alice, Brian. You two truly know what passion is. And as a reward for showing me your passion, as well as your wonderful wake up song, I shall grant you two my blessing.” Ninatia said, before she moved to give both of us a kiss on the forehead.

It didn’t burn at all, just felt a bit warm. Alice looked just a bit peeved when Ninatia kissed me, so after I received her blessing, I made sure to take a good hold of my girl and I kissed her deeply on the lips.

“I will be looking forward to getting an invite to your wedding.” Ninatia said, as she giggled a bit. “... Ah. Water must have awakened as well. I can feel her power.”

“Good. It must have been easy for Lua and Cailie.” I said. “... Lady Ninatia, could you point us towards Light’s domain?”