Saving Soul

"Mmm. I'm going to sleep." Anja stated. She laid down and shivered against the cold stone.

"Me too," answered Adair. No more than a few seconds later he started snoring.

Anja sighed and soon drifted off into slumber as well.

~~~~~

Anja slept through the sunrise.

Adair slept through the sunrise as well. In fact, he didn't wake up until it was almost afternoon. At first he was confused and alarmed, as he didn't see Voltaire or Ava anywhere. Then he spotted Anja, and remembered where he was.

"Anja?" he called.

Anja stirred lightly. She rolled over with a slight groan. There was a pebble stuck to her cheek.

"How are you feeling?" asked Adair.

"Tired." Anja replied without opening her eyes. "And sore."

Adair came over and laid a hand on her forehead to check for fever. Of course he had trouble telling if there was any fever since his own body temperature was significantly above the normal temperature of a human.

"You're warm~" Anja wined. "No wonder the cold didn't wake you up in the middle of the night!"

(Wine - what you drink. Whine - when you complain.)

"That's what happens when you get fire powers," said Adair. "Body temperature goes up. Likewise people with ice powers have their temperatures go down."

Adair heard a strange rustling and squeaking outside. He twirled around and breathed out fire lowly.

(sorry, I can't spell)

Anja sat up. "What was that?"

(it's okay. I misspell 'earlier' constantly. End up swapping the 'i' and 'l' around. Thank god for spell check)

"Stay here," said Adair, cautiously going to the mouth of the cave.

The strange sounds grew louder. Finally the thing stepped out: an odd creation of metal, looking half-way between a duck and a dragon. It spewed out steam from its mouth and joints as it waddled forward.

Adair's expression went from alarm to annoyance.

"What is that?!" Anja asked

"One of 'Taire's little mechanical experiments," answered Adair, as the foot-tall duck-dragon thing came to a stop at his feet. "I honestly don't know how he comes up with this stuff."

The little machine craned its coiled neck and opened its beak-jaw wider.

"Hello dumbass," Voltaire's voice projected with a tinny quality. "Just so you know I'm still alive and stuff. Thanks for not checking up on me Mr. Hero. Anyway, me and Ava have gone into the cave system since we couldn't wait for you all day. Whenever you feel like moving on, meet us at the south exit of the cave system. So, see you...whenever."

The contraption clamped its mouth shut, its message delivered. Adair debated whether he should just smash the thing or not. So Voltaire was mad. Nothing new about that.

"... Whatever it is, its stupid looking" Anja stated. "You should just go with your friends."

Adair sighed, giving the mechanical messenger a lazy kick. It fell on its side and started flailing, letting out angry hissing sounds. Voltaire needed to work on balance issues.

He really did need to move on. The Hero could sulk all he liked, but that wasn't going to make his heart any better. Whether he and Voltaire liked it or not, they had to see this through or die trying.

He was just turning back to go into the cave when he heard a much heavier footstep and a much deeper growling. That did not sound like one of Voltaire's mad robotics.

"Please tell me that isn't a demon. I really don't think I can summon anything right now" Anja stated

The creature that emerged was indeed a demon. It was a hulking, bear-like thing, orange stripes streaking its deep blue fur. It was at least 13 feet tall, at it was still on all fours. Its red eyes glared at Adair, as green saliva dripped from its maw.

Adair spit out a stream of flame at the bear demon, engulfing its face in fire. But when the attack passed the bear seemed hardly singed. If anything, it was angrier as it stomped forward.

Fire-proof fur. I can't take it on by myself, and Anja's not well enough to summon. We have to get deeper into the cave, Adair thought.

Swiftly Adair jumped back from a paw swipe, then scooped up Anja and ran further into the cave. The beast bellowed madly, but could not follow due to its immense size.

Anja gasped in surprise and had no choice but to cling to Adair. "What are you doing? Why are we running?" She asked

"Didn't you hear the demon roaring outside? We're running so we don't get eaten," answered Adair, still dashing forward. The fierce cries were growing fainter, but Adair wanted to make sure there was a good distance between them and it. "I would have just driven it off with firebreath, but apparently it's immune to fire. That didn't leave many attack options."

"You're a hero! what kind of hero doesn't have a weapon?" Anja scolded. "You could have fought it off with that!"

"All the damn swords I get melt in my hands whenever the fighting gets intense," growled Adair. "Weapons are useless if they just burn up."

He eventually slowed and then stopped to catch his breath. He put Anja down and then sat down himself.

"I'm not much of a Hero now, I know."

"Did yo try an old school stone blade?" Anja asked.

Adair thought about it. No, he hadn't thought of that, and now felt somewhat stupid.

"...I suppose that might work," he muttered, looking away. "Haven't thought much about weapons lately, to tell you the truth. Fire powers usually do the trick. The tournaments don't allow any made-made armor or weapons anyway."

"Its still best to be prepared." Anja reminded him.