Searching For Andromeda - Chapter 106 Dont Play With Fire

Warmth.

Ephraim felt a shawl of heat wrapping around the entirety of his body. First, in his fingertips. The warmth by the end of his fingers slowly transpired to his forearms, crawling to the depths of his bones, until slowlyheat began to encompass his whole body. He still wasn’t feeling wholly awake, and it felt just like a reverie to him still.

The warmth begun to escalate now into something hotter. But it wasn’t burning him; instead, Ephraim felt safe. He felt like he was being cradled by that heat, like a mother’s embrace. He longed to stay with that heat, succumbing his whole body to the flare.

In the darkness of Ephraim’s mind, HE appeared. Ephraim, who was standing in the midst of that same void, stared into what seemed like his flaring reflection. HE, who was set ablaze, looked at Ephraim with a pair of knowing eyes. HE looked exactly like Ephraim, and he felt so warm. The warmth Ephraim was feeling was obviously coming from that flaring boyan exact replica of himself which was an orange hue, scorching blaze.

Ephraim didn’t take yet another step to take a better look. He stayed on his spot, looking at the fiery him over a considerable distance. Ephraim knew he was in a reverie. What else could it be other than a dream? He was seeing something so bizarre. An entire replica of himself, which was set aflame. It obviously couldn’t be real. After all, he was human.

Ephraim remained standing, looking at his reflection who wasn’t looking at him anymore. His fiery reflection was playing with flamesigniting his fingertips, creating small, swirling fires, and setting the ground he was standing with on ardor. The reflection wasn’t wearing anything, but he was shawled in fire. Ephraim stared longerfascinated of what he was seeing.

And then, a distinct memory came back to him.

Heat.

Flames.

Fire.

“Don’t play with fire, Ephraim.”

Joana Hughes told the small Ephraim this. Ephraim, who was fascinated with the bonfire his older cousins made earlier, dismissed his mother’s words with a single nod. Joana, who was busy with cooking stew, went ahead to chop the potatoes for the dinner later.

The Hughes family was doing their camping along with many other families. Joana and Manuel were able to have this chance to go out due to a company discount, and it had made their only son, Ephraimwho loved going outside to discover thingshappy than he had ever been.

The phase would go on like this; they would eat dinner, tell stories, and stargaze. There wasn’t much activity in surface, but children opt to make things a lot better with their crazy imagination.

Ephraim’s blue eyes were looking at how the flames sparkedhow they danced in such a rhythm almost as if they are alive. Ephraim watched, looking at the fire turn brighter and brighter. The heat was warming his face in a pleasant way, that he wondered what it would feel if his body submerges to the dancing fire.

And so, Ephraim leaned to touch the pirouetting flames.

“HUMAN.”

It was the dragon, who had now appeared before Ephraim. He was now out of the scenery of his first play with fire. Now, he was somewhere else. Somewhere far more dangerous. Ephraim soon realized his body was burning. Heat coursed through his veins. Sweat dabbled against his neck.

And he couldn’t utter any word, let alone grunt.

“Human,” bellows the dragon. “Fight!”

**

Jaxon Sparrows was someone who was ambitious enough to abandon all his principles in pursuit of power. He considered himself as smart, intuitive, and above allstrong. He was unlike all those children from that certain, fallen country who had crawled their way back to the slums in search of something called ‘home’ and ‘warmth’. Children, who were much like him from the start, chose to stay as weaklings even when they were given the chance to be more than themselvesand bigger than they could ever be.

“We will give you another arm.”

“Another arm?”

“You lost your arm when one of the palace guards caught you selling illegal drugs on the port. But that wasn’t your fault, was it?” A man, who was shawled in a dark-red cloak, asserted. “It was the one you were serving who made you do it. He was not the one directly doing the dirty business, and yet, he was gaining a lot more than you could ever have.”

Jaxon, who had just lost his arm few days agowas now caught by the organization. He was now in the deepest part of the castle they have invadedin the torture cell, the dungeon.

He was expecting to lose a leg or two, to end up being their punching bag or to die a gruesome death. But no, he was just sitting in a simple chair, with a table separating him from the shawled man. It didn’t look like they were interrogating him. It was the other way around, oddly enough. They were being sympathetic about his situation, and were empathic with his feelings. Jaxon couldn’t point what they were trying to do. Obviously, it wasn’t for money. It wasn’t for Jaxon’s boss, eitherwho was caught by the organization the other day.

Then was it about the fact that he was a slave escapee?

“Jaxon, was it? What’s your surname?” The shawled man asked.

“Just Jaxon,” Jaxon answered in a small voice. “I don’t have a surname. I’m just an infant who was sold to the slave market so I don’t know who my parents are,”

The shawled man tilted his head, but then he gave Jaxon a smile.

“Alright then. My name is Ria. Ria Sparrows,” the man exclaimed. “And right nowfrom this point onyour name shall be Jaxon Sparrows.”

“Jaxon Sparrows?”

“You will work for me, Jaxon.” Ria said. “I will be your mentorI will provide you the organization’s magic ship that is undergoing tests and trials. You will sail the underwater seas.”

“Me? Sail the seas?”

“Yes, Jaxon.” Ria exclaimed. “You will be more than what you could ever be in this rotten world. I will provide you the things you can never have in your lifetime in exchange of one thing.”

Jaxon stared.

“What’s that?”

Ria’s necklace, which was a silver, circled hex with juxtaposing triangle holding an eye in the middle, gleamed.

“Absolute obedience.”

**

Jaxon gritted his teeth as he looked at the two robed men fight the dungeon conqueroror more likely, they were just trying to chase after him. Ephraim, after all, was untouchable at this point. He had burst into flames and was burning what was in his path. The wooden floorboards of the ship began to scorch, spreading the fire even further.

Jaxon stared at his hook. This was what Ria had given him as a replacement for his arm. This hook, which was meant to turn his blood into water balls. Depending on the toxicity of his blood, the liquid that would be shot from his hook would either turn into acid, or just mere water. He could only fire small water spheres, which is why the water from the ocean can aid the shape.

However

“Damn it,”

Jaxon was inside the ship now. He couldn’t just summon water from the outsidethat would definitely destroy the galleon!

“Then there’s no other choice”

**

Ephraim was fighting with fire, but he was burning inside as well. His subconscious was telling him to swing his sword to fend himself from his perpetrators. The two robed companions of Jaxon were continuously attacking him. Attacking him as in to try to get close to him. But they couldn’t, because he was on fire.

“It’s like you two aren’t even trying!” It was Jaxon who had yelled. “I don’t know why the organization sent me two stupid bronze tiers, but they’ll pay for it! Why don’t you guys make yourselves useful and just guard the goods, huh?!”

The two robed companions of Jaxon drew away after hearing his command, making their escape as they took several step backwards before disappearing in the darkness. Ephraim still couldn’t see so much from the fire he was emanating.

His clothes, thankfully, wasn’t burning.

“Your cloths are made with special linen that the tailors in my guild made.”

Ephraim felt his palms were going sore as he felt hotter and hotter. Sweats dabbled across his chin and came out as steam.

“You’re burning my ship,” Jaxon exclaimed, drawing his rapier. “This time, I won’t go easy on you, dungeon conqueror!”

Jaxon charged with an offensive strike, delivering continuous blows to Ephraim. Since he fought with a distance, the rapier pierced through the fire and was able to deal damage to Ephraim.

Ephraim felt his skin being dented by the blade; his right cheek dripping with blood, his shoulder, and his forearm as well. Jaxon was looking at him sharply, and he wasn’t stopping delivering offensive attacks while still keeping a distance.

Ephraim tried to parry the attacks, but Jaxon was just too swift. Ephraim gritted his teeth as the fire grew larger and stronger. Dancing flames resonated around him, enveloping his whole body whilst he dealt with Jaxon’s attacks.

Jaxon aimed several times for Ephraim’s vital spots, but Ephraim was able to parry them with his swordjust barely.

“You’re persistent,” Jaxon gritted his teeth with unforeseen rage. “It’s pissing me off!”

Jaxon then went towards Ephraim, advancing towards himbut then he disappeared from his sightEphraim blinked.

“Looking for me?”

Ephraim’s eyes widened, and the next thing he knew Jaxon was already behind him.

“Human FIGHT!”

Ephraim’s left eye blazed, and thenhis vision went white. He turned in a matter of nanoseconds as he sliced what was behind him in a single sweep.

A rapier flew mid-air, and a young man’s eyepatch fellleaving what seemed like a vertical slice mark in his now-exposed eye. Jaxon Sparrows’ had gone towards his bleeding eyethe slice had spread across his cheek and the other half of his forehead.

Jaxon trembled at the spectacle.

Everything was burning. The ship was set on an orange-colored hue, and the source of that scorching fire was the dungeon conquerora monster made of fire hiding in a human flesh!

“Don’t play with fire”

Jaxon’s uninjured eye widened in fear as he crawled backwards whilst the fire monster approached. His trembling knees tried to stiffen themselves as he forced himself to stand up. Jaxon, with a clenched jaw, stumbled several times as he tried to run away. And without looking back, he forced his way to his quarters.

All the sacrifices, all the efforts he had exerted to rise from being a street rat couldn’t just end here!

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