Forging The Fire

16 ⚔️ Inferno Poison

"Yeah... " Diato said, not interested in sharing it. "So I reached the Troll Tog, and there I saw a bald guy. I threw my butterfly knife but it folded up midair and the handle struck the man's head. My heart sank for a while but I was pleased to know that he wasn't the dragon. The dragon, however, saw me and ran away on his motorcycle. I followed him and punctured his tire with my arrow. But I fell into the crash too. Then I had a little fight with him. He was kinda powerful though. Then he grabbed me with his gigantic hand and... Then... I don't remember anything else. The next thing I saw was the ceiling of my room with bandages on my hands and stuff"

"Yeah," Max continued Diato, "he was found unconscious next to the dead body of an S-Ranked dragon-"

"-And he was naked" John added, "like, Butt naked"

"You don't need to add that," Diato said with his jaw clenched. Diato wished John didn't go around mentioning that he was found butt naked.

"Yeah, that's really unnecessary," Max said, shutting John up.

"No," Terra said, "it is necessary. Were his clothes near him somewhere?"

"Nope, they were nowhere to be found" John replied.

It struck Terra, It must be the inferno seed! It struck Diato at the same time, She knows. She turned to Diato with her worry visible in her eyes.

"Did the dragon feed you something?" She asked Diato to ensure her that her doubt was a reality.

"No, he didn't," Diato said with his teeth.

"Don't lie, Diato" John said, "she'll help you." He turned to Terra, "Yes, the dragon fed him some sort of poison seed or something. He felt that he was poison but he is alive."

"Okay," Terra spoke as she curled her legs straight and jumped out of the bench, "we're heading back to the organization. Now" She ordered Max.

In an instant, Max also jumped to his feet and followed Terra outside. Diato felt a need to stand up but if she did further investigation, he'd be caught. He didn't want to take the risk. John was still sitting beside Diato. Thankfully, he had brought the Inferno Flower book with him. So he was sure that she wouldn't find it in the library or his room.

"I'll be right back," Diato said as he jumped on his feet.

He walked on the bridge and went to the circular path. John knew diato didn't go to the washroom but he couldn't tell where he'd gone. He decided to patiently wait for him to return, and in the meantime, he'd use his phone. Diato reached the centre of the spiral path. He saw that second adventure cave and sat under a tree behind the cave. No one could easily spot him from the outside because of the dense amount of trees.

He felt the breeze on his spine as his body hair experienced cold creeps. He dug out the book of Inferno flower out of his T-shirt. He was hiding it under his T-shirt which was tucked into his pants so it was hard to notice he was carrying a book. He relaxed himself and continued to read the book.

*****

Max and Terra reached the organization. Terra instantly called the elevator and they reached the ground floor, from the basement. She strolled across the corridor, straight to the library. Max was struggling to keep up with her. He didn't know if she was going to confront Lailah or talk about Diato. But he had to follow her across the corridor. It was an order. She was like a strict elder sister to him whose orders couldn't be declined without punishment. She wasn't that bad if you followed her orders.

The glass door slid open as she strode inside. Max made a little jog to catch up to her. It still wasn't enough. Though, he didn't want to crush his personality in front of Lailah. He stopped trying to catch up to her. His feet fell slowly and slowly came to a halt near a shelf. The library was the dark part of the organization for Max, which he never liked to visit. The velvet books, high ceilings and the constant smell of raw planks irritated him. The only scent he liked was of vanilla essence and he preferred rooms with short ceilings. Not that short, but not many high ceilings either.

It felt like he was entering the library for the first time. The library was circular, with a ceiling that tapered to a point as if it had been built inside a tower. The walls were lined with books, the shelves so high that tall ladders set on casters were placed along them at intervals. These were no ordinary books either - these were books bound in leather and velvet, clasped with sturdy-looking locks and hinges made of brass and silver. Their spines were studded with dully glowing jewels and illuminated with gold script. They looked worn in a way that made it clear that these books were not just old but were well-used, and had been loved.

After a while, he saw Terra coming back, with her gaze down than usual. He knew she wasn't expecting something. He waited for her to speak.

"The book of the inferno flower isn't here" She spoke, as he gaze shifted to the shelves and then back at Max's eyes. Her gaze froze at his eyes and she continued, "Diato must've taken it. That means he knows about it. Why is he hiding it?"

"What are you talking about?" Max raised an eyebrow.

"The inferno seed." She said, as her voice dropped to almost a whisper, "The S-Ranked dragon had fed Diato the inferno seed that turns him into a dragon. But he'd die after twenty-four hours of it"

"Oh." Max's eyes grew wide, "he might be afraid we would hunt him down. His mission was just this morning"

"Max, please don't tell anyone, but we'll have to help him as soon as possible."

"Why are you so worried about him?" He said as he strode out of the library with Terra,

"You see... I was shocked when I heard his name the first time but I didn't want to reveal myself."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember Timmy? The girl Diato talked about... She was her best friend and then she didn't talk to him after he fought with her brother?"

"Yes...?"

"Well, I am Timmy," She said as her voice trailed off.

*****

Diato slammed the book shut as he got up on his feet. The sky covered itself in the blanket of darkness as the last of the sunrays were killed by the coldness of the dark. The clouds drifted apart from the moon, as it shone bright in the sky, like a beautiful marble with dark spots. It was just a matter of minutes for Diato to finish the book. John, tired of waiting for him, decided that he'd go back to the organization. He pulled out a pen and a small piece of paper. He wrote:

I am leaving. Grab a taxi or something to come back.

-John

He left the paper on the bench. He strode away, disappearing in the dark shadows. Which were lit by streetlights on the outside but no light source was seen inside.

I am a fricking dragon! Diato thought. He had finished the book, and it said that the seed turned the consumer into a dragon until he died. Which was twenty-four hours. He held out his hand palmside up, and slightly curled his fingers against the sky. The book says I would turn into a dragon... Then I should be able to create a fireball. He thought as he tried his best to generate fire out of his hand. Little did he know, he wasn't prepared for it.

Sparks started to appear out of nowhere on his palm. The sparks even touched his palm but he couldn't feel the heat. It felt like he was now heat-resistant. The sparks multiplied, again, and again. They slowly lit Diato's palm on fire but the pain of the warmth was nowhere to be found. He stepped forward with his eyes cold. He could feel the fire's warmth in his chest. His full concentration was on the fire. He moved his palm slowly but the fire didn't want to extinguish. He shook heavily now but the fire won't extinguish. He didn't burn his hand but he wanted to figure out how he did it, again. So he could do it on command.

No matter how heavily he shook his hand, the fire didn't extinguish. He thought of wrapping his arm around his T-shirt, but that would probably set the T-shirt on fire. He decided to finally rub it on the tree trunk. He pushed his hand near the trunk and rubbed his palm as hard as he could. He retrieved his hand back. The fire wasn't extinguishing no matter how hard he tried. He stared at the fire, thinking of what to do.

Suddenly, a dry leaf fell from the tree. Diato moved his hand away in time but the flame set the dry yellow leaf on fire. Before Diato could realise it, the leaf fell on the grass and spread the fire further. The flames spread on the grass like dense oil spreading unevenly on a smooth marble floor. But oil wouldn't be so warm. Diato felt his stomach crumbling into a tiny ball of fire, as he saw fire spreading into the garden. He was barely learning to control it when it had to burn a whole garden.