"That's a fire dragon, it's native in these parts of the isles." Hunter says hurriedly, as you rush out of the cave.
"Shit, we're not gonna die are we?" You say nervously.
You're too nervous you can't even tell your grip on his hand tightens, you're actually nervous.
"Just stay close to me and you'll be fine. It should go back in it's cave, if we're lucky." Hunter says, also tightening his grip on yours.
The dragon peers it's head through the exit of the cave you both ran out of. It growls as you and Hunter both run off, slowly walking it's way towards you both.
The exit to the cave led to a little desert oasis, you both run towards over there. Hunter pulls you over to the little oasis part and he starts wading in the water.
"Get in the water, we need to blend in." He says.
"What? But my things!" You say.
"Who cares?! It's following us! We need to hide!" He says yanking you in the water with him.
"Stop! I have a better idea!" You say, yanking him out of the water.
"Y/N." He says through grit teeth.
"Just trust me." You say going through your bag and pulling out some glyph paper and a pen.
He flinched when you let go of his hand for a moment.
He watches as you draw some sort of symbol on the paper. He grows confused and starts wondering what the hell you're doing.
"These are invisibility glyphs." You say and give him one.
"O-okay? Then what do I do with it?" He stutters.
"Slap it on your chest and hold your breath." You say.
"What the hell?" He says.
"Once it approaches, and you see it. Just do it, and then we sneak out of here." You say.
"Oh for Titans sake." He says.
"Take my hand so we don't lose track." You say extending your hand out.
He hesitantly reaches out his and interlocks it with yours. Your stomach feels funny.
"Okay... 3... 2...1... now!" You say and slap the invisibility glyph on.
He slaps his on as well. Holding his breath like you told him to. The dragon approaches the oasis, looking around for where you both ran off too, but he doesn't see you anywhere.
You continue walking the opposite direction from the dragon. While doing so, you make sure your grip on Hunters hand is remained strong and tight.
The dragon seems confused and turns to look everywhere. But there is no sight of you guys. Your breath begins to get low, as well as Hunters. You're hoping it will give up and he as back to the cave.
The dragon roars loudly, making you both stop dead in your tracks nervously. You both grip each others hands tighter in surprise.
It then sighs and flies back into its cavern. You watch it as it flies away. It seemed like it was a roar of defeat.
You sigh and let go of your breath, and look over at Hunter who's still invisible.
"You can let go of your breath now." You tell him.
He lets go and sighs deeply, catching his breath. He seems exhausted and drained. It's as if he's about to fall over.
"That was... too close." He says shakily.
He breathes heavily. The sun is in the middle of the sky and it's beaming down on you both. It's incredibly hot out here.
"Titan,It's too hot here." He sighs.
"Well I mean you're wearing long sleeves and a cloak and hood, it would make sense that it's hot for you." You roll your eyes.
"Shut up." He says calmly.
He takes his cloak off and swings it across his shoulder. His hair is now visible, the ashy blonde hair, with the singular strand dangling over his mask.
"Not a word." He says exhausted, and he gently unclips his mask off of his face.
As he removes it you stare at him and observe all his features. He had red Ruby eyes, along with a tooth gap in-between his two front teeth, there was a giant scar across his cheek, along with another one near his eye.
You stare at him longer than you're supposed to and he gives you a weird look. He's actually really good looking, you hate to admit that. At the same time though, he looks familiar, like someone you've seen somewhere before.
He stares down at you. You can't tell if his face is red from the heat or from being embarrassed for taking his mask off. He's sweating a lot, which you don't blame, it's incredibly hot out.
That's when it clicks.
"Wait a minute!" You say standing right in front of him before he continues to walk.
He stops walking and stares at you with a confused look.
"What...?" He says
"You were the guy at the bazaar following me and Rowan!" You point out.
Hunters eyes widen, his face gets redder and he immediately looks away.
"Why were you following us? We both noticed, we just didn't say anything and hoped you were just some random shopper." You fold your arms.
"I was... m-making sure you weren't up to anything bad." He stutters and folds his arms.
"Why would I be?" You say.
"Because you're a wild witch." He says flatly and folds his arms.
You sigh and turn the other way and continue walking.
"Well, you're surprisingly handsome for an idiot." You look back at him and smirk.
"Uh-" He stutters.
His cheeks go a slight pink.
"Thank y... or.. I mean- " He says subtly, but then immediately changes to glare at you.
"Don't say that.." He says.
"I was just complimenting you." You roll your eyes and cross your arms.
His cheeks go a brighter pink, but he looks away.
"Whatever, in the meantime, what are we gonna do about learning this fire glyph I need to learn?" He asks.
"I think I have a better idea." You smile.
He raises an eyebrow.
You both ended up going back to bonesburrow near the woods over there. Hunter cos incredibly confused as to where you are going with him.
"What idea is it that you have?" He asks as you both plop down off your staffs into the forest floor.
"Ever heard of fire bees?" You smirk.
Hunters face goes sour.
"Unfortunately." He says.
"Then come on, we're gonna be studying that." You say and grab his wrist.
"We're not touching them are we?" He says.
"No." You laugh.
"I want you to try writing about the fire the fire bees use." You say.
"But focus only on the fire." You nod.
"Right." He sighs and continues to keep up with your pace.
It doesn't take too long to find a fire bee hive. You smile and put your things down on a tree across from it. You sit down against the tree and yawn. Hunter sits against the same tree as well.
"There, here's perfect. Go ahead and do your research." You tilt your head over at him.
He glances at you and then turns away quickly.
"R-right whatever." He stutters, a little pink faced.
"I'm gonna be laying here, let me know if you have questions." You say and lean up against the tree.
He nods and begins scribbling down his notes.
Hunter POV
Maybe understanding fire through fire bees is more helpful. Probably because it's fire found within nature, the fire torches in the cave I believe had some oracle magic weaved into it.
Y/n was lying against the same tree as me just a few inches away. She was going through her scroll for the first bit, but I guess she got tired and is completely asleep against the tree now. How is she that comfortable to put her guard down with me? I can never fall asleep around anyone or anything.
Maybe she didn't sleep well last night.
I continue scribbling in my notes and study the fire bees. I can't help but think I must be missing something in my notes though. Something that's important too.
Fire usually is known for its dangerous properties, it's the most painful. Would I need to see a glimpse of that?
I glance over at Y/N who is still sound asleep against the tree. I sigh and walk over to her and gently shake her so she can wake up. She grumbles a little.
"Y/n." I say.
"Mmm, leave me alone." She mumbles and shoves my hand off her.
I stare down at her for a few seconds and sigh.
"I need to examine the bees but I don't want them to attack you." I say.
She grumbles and fixes her sleeping position. I sigh and fold my arms.
"Can you get up and sleep somewhere else?" I ask.
"No, I'll be fine." She mumbles.
"For Titans sake, just move behind the tree at least?" I ask.
She grumbles and instead of moving she plops against the grassy floor. I let out a loud sigh and I walk over to her.
"I'll move you my damn self then... Titan." I grumble and scoop her up.
Her eyes open a little, but only for a little and then she closes them again. She seems to care less, if I pick her up. Her body's incredibly warm, it shocks me for a moment because I feel rather cold.
How is she this tired?
My face heats up for a second and then I put her down and lean her up against a different tree. The fire bees shouldn't bother her from here.
...she looks peaceful, I wish I could sleep as soundly as that.
I walk over to the hive and I stare at it. I need to see the fire in action to finally get a grasp of what it is I need to complete for my writing. I grab a pebble and climb up on top of a tree across from it.
I stare at the hive for a moment before gently chucking the pebble at it. I made sure it wasn't hard enough to knock the entire hive down. Just enough to startle them, and it did.
Some of the bees rush out of the hive to see what happened. The fire around them definitely looks more prominent than how they were before. I add that to my notes.
Some more bees rush out and zoom around to see where the pebble came from. That's when one sneaks behind my and I get stung in the back of my neck.
"OW!" I yell and swat it away. I stumble out of the tree and fall flat on my back.
The bees see me immediately. Damn it, I was not stealthy. I begin running to where I placed Y/n down and I shake her awake more violently than last time.
"S-shit what? What the hell?" She says waking up.
"Fire bees are coming, run." I say and grab her hand.
Her eyes widen and she quickly grabs her bag and runs off with me. She notices the sting in the back of my neck.
"You got stung Hunter!" She says.
"I'll be fine." I say, trying to ignore the pain.
"Make more invisibility glyphs or something!!" I shout as they're right on our tail.
"I can't! I kinda have to sit still for that!" She says.
"For titans sake Y/n!" I yell.
"DON'T GET MAD AT ME!" She yells.
"Isn't there a river near here? Let's jump in there!" She shouts.
"I have my notes with me!" I say.
"Okay let's drop our things! We'll come back!" She says.
"But-"
"Drop them!" She shouts.
She drops her bag and I drop my notes on the ground and look back behind me. The fire bees keep chasing us both, I try to remember the spot I dropped my notes so I can get back to it later.
"The rivers up this way!" She shouts and yanks me to another direction.
The bees are right behind us.
"I HOPE TO TITAN YOU'RE RIGHT." I shout.
We continue running. She seems to be running faster than I am, dragging me along. She was dead asleep like 10 minutes ago, why is she so energetic now?
"Down there! Jump!" She shouts running towards the ledge.
We approach her he ledge to see a little lake at the bottom, I try slowing her down because I don't know if that's shallow or not, but she yanks me with her, seeming like she already made the decision to jump.
"WAIT- YOU DON'T KNOW IF ITS SHALLOW OR NOT YOU IDIOT!" I yell just as soon as we both jump off of the ledge
"That's a risk I'm willing to take!" She yells back at me as we both start falling to our potential doom.
"What the hells wrong with you?!" I yell back at her.
She looks over at me and laughs. I just have a look of pure terror trapped on my face. Of course she's this headstrong, she's a damn wild witch.
I look down at the water as it's rapidly approaching us, I squeeze my eyes shut and I feel instinctual to pull her close to me and protect her if any rocks hurt her at the bottom. And just like that we hit the water.
...
The sting of us breaking the water honestly hurt more than I feel hitting the rocks were. Luckily there were no rocks.
I look around in the water and she's already escaped my grasp and is swimming up to the top. I float upwards to meet her.
My head pops out and I turn my head around to look for her. She pops her head out too, behind me and calls my name.
I turn to look at her and let out a sigh of relief.
"You're lucky there were no rocks at the bottom, and damn you this water is cold." I hiss.
"Then let's get out, shore is this way." She says and starts swimming over there.
I make my way over there too. The bees are gone, that's for sure. That would make sense because water would hurt them.
I make my way to shore and she reaches her hand out to help me up. I stare at it for a minute. She smiles at me, why the hell is she smiling at me?
"I-I'm fine." I stutter and get up myself.
She rolls her eyes and helps me fully get out anyway. I stumble a bit at the sudden force of her pull.
"Let me see your bee sting." She says walking around me.
She almost immediately puts her hands on it and I flinch immediately.
"Titan- a little warning?" I say covering it up.
"I said let me see it, you didn't hear me?" She rolls her eyes.
"You never said let me touch it." I roll my eyes.
"Okay, whatever." She says still examining it.
"We need to get back up there, I have something that'll help with that in my bag." She says.
I sigh.
"Come on, let's go." She grins.
We begin making our way up. This bee sting is really starting to hurt.
(This whole fire glyph training is abt to be split into a damn 3rd chapter lmao 😭😭😭)