Astral Odyssey: Dying Ember

World 4.5: Vanora

BaoBao quietly enjoyed the pair's interaction. He found it interesting and amusing. Vlad's quirkiness kept throwing Vanora off and distracting her from her objective. She accepted his help faster and easier than she normally would, she has completely forgotten about his kiss on her neck, and he made her forget about her insecurities. Just as he got comfortable with being the spectator, Vlad's next move alerted BaoBao. Based on his understanding of Vanora, she would not like what he was about to do.

[Uhmm... You might want to look up. Now.]

Vanora sensed the urgency in BaoBao's voice, so she immediately did as he suggested. Vlad's face filled her entire vision. Her heart jumped. Before her mind registered what was happening, her hand instinctively flew up and roughly pushed his chin up.

Vlad looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? What are you doing?"

"You blushed. Do you know how inviting and kissable you looked?"

Vanora sighed exasperatedly. "Please stop doing such things."

Vlad retreated and sat back down properly with his head hanging low. Just as she thought that he was sulking, he looked up at her with large puppy-dog eyes. "I really can't?"

Vanora pursed her lips tightly together. Making such an expression with that charming face he has, she was sure that if it was anyone else besides her, male or female, they would give in to any of his demand. /Is this his skill of lust or something?/

"You can't."

"Ah!" He winced in pain.

Vanora took in a sharp breath. "The hellfire!"

"My heart." He clarified before she could take his arm to focus on the task at hand again.

Her hand froze in motion then it slowly clenched into a fist. She was beginning to feel ticked off. There she was, fretting all over. Yet all he did was fool and joke around. She stood up sharply and intended to walk off without caring about him any longer.

Before she could completely turn away from him, he held onto her wrist firmly. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'll stop playing. I won't make any moves on you too. Please don't leave me." Words flew out of his mouth.

She looked back at him and saw a strange panic in his eyes. It made her anger and irate melt away. /What's his problem with me leaving his side?/

She plopped back down then took his hands into hers to examine them. By now, everything lower than his elbows were reduced to bones. The fire has reached halfway up to his shoulders.

She resumed her train of thought from before he distracted her. /Extinguishing... Reversing the process... Reversing... Reverse... Should I try doing the opposite of what I did?/

She looked at the movement of the hellfire and imagined it as the spiritual energy of this world that was to be absorbed into her body. Using the same way she cultivated in the previous worlds, she called the hellfire back into her body. Gradually, the hellfire calmed down and retreated back into her hands that were holding onto his.

She heard an almost imperceptible sigh of relief leave Vlad's lips. Now that she paid close attention to his face, there were beads of sweat all over his forehead and his lips were a little pale. Vlad caught her staring and immediately broke into a mischievous grin. "Oh? Did you fall for-" He stopped mid sentence when she raised an eyebrow. He coughed lightly. "What do you want to do now? I can bring you to a place of lesser demons and fight there till you're stronger. Or do you want to go into the thick of it and experience the war? I know where the weaker angels are at. Oh, or perhaps you want to experience the spreading of sins? Personally, I find that the most fun and satisfying."