Horrors of Fire and Skulls (Mystical Warriors book 2)

MORE PROBLEMS AT THE TEMPLE

After dealing with a great temptation of Årvondor's dark powers, Vaskàr headed back to the Temple with a big, proud smile on his face. Conquering over the dark temptations of Årvondor was the biggest achievement he ever did, and it was fighting not with a sword but with words. Refusing to rule the planet with an ancient deity watching and controlling him with two beings controlling fire showed Vaskàr he was strong enough to resist temptation, but it felt like it was more than a resisting. It felt like it was a trick. Vaskàr felt he saw a hallucination of Årvondor and not the evil being himself. He just couldn't tell what it was at this point.

Landing at the Temple's front entrance, Vaskàr landed with ease and strolled right in. Inside, the alleys of the scrolls were packed with tons of people. Different people of races and sizes were crowed in the bookshelves of scrolls.

Vaskàr flew over them and landed in front of the tombs of his ancestors, his mother, and Octavo. "I have prevailed over Årvondor's powers of temptation, Rin," he whispered. "But I felt like it was more than resisting. I felt like it was more than something; I felt like I was in the presence of another person. I can't tell what it was or if it was Årvondor in the form of a ghost. The feeling wasn't mutual.

"But the presence felt somewhat cold. I knew Årvondor was cold, but I felt a different kind of coldness I never felt before. The feeling felt like a fire, but a cold fire: fire that burns with an ice cold temperature. I just hope it is just a mirage of my own fire, not Årvondor."

Vaskàr turned to see some people taking pictures with digital cameras and cellphones. Some teenagers were taking selfies of themselves with the scrolls in the background. Some older people were just reading the scrolls dating back millennia. It was just another day of Vaskàr and his Temple.

Suddenly, loud engine sounds roared outside the Temple and echoing in the Temple. The people stood still. More loud sounds roared and the people just stood, curiously listening to the sounds of roaring engines.

This type of sound Vaskàr knew would be coming. Vaskàr ran through the crowd and outside the Temple. Four bulldozers, tractors and a few other construction engines came rolling ahead. About a dozen construction workers rolled in dozens of pipes, barrels, and other necessities of construction working. An entire crew of construction workers were at the ready for tearing down the building and building more buildings. A single firetruck with firefighters walked with the construction workers. The business men Vaskàr chased away were with the firefighters and the construction crew.

"There he is," said the first business man. "It's that boy with the fire machine."

Fire machine, Vaskàr laughed. Of all the titles I have, this guy calls me Fire Machine. That's awesome.

The firetruck rolled forward and the firefighters ran towards Vaskàr with hoses at the ready. In seconds, icy cold water was sprayed at the armored warrior.

Vaskàr Kasai tolerated the cold water as he did always before: Haira would always dose him with water. He was used to it. After thirty seconds of intense icy coldness, Vaskàr walked toward the water hoses being held by the firefighters. Easily as taking candy from a baby, he plunked a finger into the hose's hole where the water was coming out.

The water hose was plucked up by Vaskàr's finger, which sparked a surprise for the firefighters.

"If I were you guys, I would turn off the water, get on your trucks, and never come back. Do you know what happens here at night? Fire spews everywhere. Fire too hot for water to put out. And do you know the hardest part about after putting out the fire? The hardest part is cleaning up afterwards."