Burned

Chapter 2

"So is every night like this when you're travelling by yourself?" Xander asked him. "Fish and fire are the only things you have?" Isaac stared for a moment before answering quite sarcastically.

"No, sometimes I like to eat a nice steak and potato dinner with a tall glass of red wine." He was about to stop there, but then he kept talking. "Yes, this is what it's like. Did you expect luxuries out here? It's nothing but trees, water, and the occasional animal. If you're lucky, at least. I don't remember the last time I saw a wild animal out here..."

Xander hummed in thought at the response. "Well I guess it's not so bad..." He said. "It could be a lot worse, huh?"

As if to prove his point, rain struck down upon them. Hard. Isaac simply groaned.

"Don't talk about what could go wrong anymore, yeah? We don't need lightning to strike and set you on fire or something." With that being said, the two of them didn't get as much rest as they'd intended. Instead, they spent half the night trying to find a cave to reside in. Finally, when they found one, it was a huge relief. They'd settled for the first one that found, one that had many bugs and an eerie mouth of an entrance, dripping water ever so often, but it was a cave. Enough to hide them from the rain, at least, as well as the possible lightning that could strike them.

About an hour after the two had settled down to rest for the night, there was the sound of sniffling.

"What is it now?" Isaac asked, turning over to face Xander's side of the cave. "Do you miss your village or something?" There was a muffled "yeah" from his side, but that was it. Isaac sighed. "Look, if you really want, I'll take you back to your village..." At that, Xander all but shot up from where he lay.

"N-no! I already left a goodbye letter... I'm not gonna go back to Dalhive, I'll get over it, promise..."

"Alright, if you're so sure. What, did you have a girlfriend or something that you left?"

"No... I just... had really good friends that I kinda wanna see again... But it's okay. I'll get over it."

"If you say so." Isaac turned back around. "Goodnight."

It had only been about 2 minutes before Xander spoke again.

"Did you have a girlfriend when you left Millcreek?" He asked, suddenly curious. Isaac sighed, thinking he would have gotten sleep by now. Nonetheless, he still answered.

"No, because when I was run out of Millcreek, I was too young for romance in the first place."

"What about any friends?"

"Two. That was it. All I needed, but then they turned on me when these horns of mine became apparent. Every pleasant person in that village immediately turned malicious and violent. They really hate witches."

"You're a witch?!" Isaac couldn't see it, but he figured that Xander's eyes had gotten wide again.

"No. They just thought I was. No one's even sure how these horns came about, honestly. Maybe my parents were, maybe I actually am one. Who knows? I, personally, don't care enough to find out."

"Well I do!" Xander's will to even think about sleep was immediately gone at the thought of Isaac even possibly being a witch. "Come on, we might be able to try!"

"Shut up, will you? It's still the middle of the night and I want to get some sleep. We'll try in the morning or whatever..." And Xander was silent again. For now, at least.

Morning came and Xander was up as soon as sunlight shine through their cave. "Isaac, let's go, let's go!" Sometimes Isaac could swear he was travelling with a small child instead of a kid of about 16. Grumpily and quite slowly, Isaac got up. He stretched, and blocking his eyes from the sun as he made his way over to where Xander was standing.

"Come on, we should head to the next village's bookstore, and see if we can find anything on witch magic. I think I have a bit of money I... earned..." He said, looking in his bag. "It might be enough for a book... Come on, let's go while we still have energy!"

"While you still have energy..." Isaac said, still not fully awake. He wasn't used to being awake before noon, honestly. This was a new thing to him, yet here was an ecstatic boy standing in front of him, rearing to go and continue travelling. With a sigh, Isaac got up, and followed after Xander. Eventually, the roles were reversed to where Isaac was leading and Xander following behind, yet Xander was still the cheery one of this expedition to the next town.