"The will of the fire is the force of nature that controls natural fire. It directs the flas as it burns. Seeking out anything that it can consu. As it is the nature of fire to consu," Aquis replied. "I've only just thought of this, but Im wondering if those abominations are like the will of the fire, except for the fact that they don't behiave like natural fire. At tis what they decide to burn almost seems capriciously determined."
"In other words, like a kind of dark fire?" Elmo asked.
Aquis looked at Elmo for a minute before giving a slight nod. "I suppose that would be one way of looking at it. That the abominations are made up of the darker nature of the flas, " Aquis answered, sounding rather thoughtful. More than he had before and Elin wasn't sure this would be a good thing.
For her, the dragon had seed like an imposing figure that was dangerous. Now it almost seed like it was just like one of her tutors. Much different of an impression than she'd had from the dragon a few minutes ago.
The difference made her feel rather uneasy. Like if they got too complacent around the dragon, that it would turn on them, much like the flas that they'd been talking about. It really didn't sit well with her.
"You ntioned about how the fire dragons will burn things in an almost capricious manner," Jonas remarked. "How is that different from regular fire?"
Elin wished they'd let these things go. She wasn't interested in them herself, but it felt like everyone else around her was treating the dragon like he was a servant that they could make a simple request and expect it to be fulfilled. Not like he was sothing that could decide to attack them later on for reasons only known to himself.
"Regular, or natural fire will only burn what's around it. However, a fire dragon will start fires and move on, with no ans to predict where it'll end up. Then when it does land, it will begin starting new fires, and will continue on without any reason."
Elin couldn't put her finger on it, but there was sothing about what this dragon was saying didn't make sense to her. Almost like he was rely making so of this up as he went along. Which she couldn't understand why she was the only one who seed to realize sothing wasn't right.
"Is the dark side of the fire natural or is it, like the fire dragons, unnatural?" Elmo asked.
Aquis nodded his scaly head. "Indeed it is," he replied. "It is twisted from what flas naturally are and will sotis give them a small amount of intelligence. However, no one has ever been able to create more than a small fire comprised of dark flas." Aquis again looked out towards the horizon that ended in the foothills of the mountain range. "Any more than that, the flas will start to feed on themselves and burn out. Which is why no one understands how a fire dragon is made. They just appear and then disappear without warning."
Elin started to wonder if she should just head back down the slope when her hands accidentally bumped into sothing she hadn't realized she had on her. A since MP potion. Which she had take to keeping one with her, just in case she might need it at any point since it had beco an option when it had co in with the supplies during the issues with the devourers. Not that she rembered she had it half the ti.
She couldn't say if she'd need it now, but it was at least nice to know that she had it. If only to ensure that she'd be able to use it if sothing happened that they weren't expecting.
"So, you're saying that dragons can't control fire dragons, but the creatures running the competition that we're in sohow can, but those sa creatures can't control dragons themselves?" Jonas asked, his words sending an alarm through Elin's mind, making her quickly look to Kim,
Kim looked like she had the sa alarm go off in her mind. Though, other than what she saw in Kim's face, Kim didn't have any other reaction.
"Careful with your words, human," Aquis growled warningly. "Those sound like they could be an insult."
"My apologies, then," Jonas replied. "I didn't an to insult you. I'm just wondering about the discrepancy about that matter. It just feels like there's sothing missing that I don't know about."
Aquis let out a breath in a dragon sigh. "Yes, I think I can understand what you an," the dragon acknowledged. However, think of it like this. Those who run that competition of yours can't move a dragon because we're intelligent enough that we can refuse to let it happen. However, those abominations can only think about what they want to burn. They're not capable of the reasoning required to prevent anything from transporting it away or just sowhere else."
"So, in other words, the fire dragons don't realize what's happening until they've been moved, right?" Elmo asked and Elin suddenly realized part of what Aquis had just implied with his stant.
That they didn't have the reasoning to prevent those running the competition to keept them from moving them without their permission. Which in a way was a kind of insult directed towards them.
"Yes, that's an accurate way of putting it," Aquis replied, idly scratching the claws of his front right foot on a nearly rock. "They don't even realize what's happened to them. They rely continue on like nothing had happened."
"So, in other words, they can't exactly control them, just rely move them around and let them create havoc and mayhem as they will?' Kim asked, her tone friendly still, but her eyes looked like she was evaluating sothing that Elin couldn't see.
Elin glanced at Aquis, but couldn't tell if he noticed any change in Kim or if she was imagining it herself. Still, she hoped that the others had realized sothing wasn't right about Aquis. Not that she could say what it was either. Just that it was like an itch that she just couldn't scratch. A feeling that wouldn't go away, no matter how she tried to reason it out.
Almost like sothing inside her was saying sothing that she just didn't understand at the mont. Maybe later she would, looking back on it, but at the mont, it might as well be understanding those in Kim's army.
"Would fire dragons get hard by water?" Elmo asked. "Or ice?"
"Really?" Aquis asked in response, like Elmo should already have either known the answer or realized it himself. "Those abominations have their fuel source inside themselves. What that fuel source is, no one's been able to determine. Even when they are sohow defeated before they consu their own fuel, whatever it is disappears with that abomination.
"So, if you make it fall in a lake or river, or even sohow dump the lake or river on them, it's not going to do anything other than waste your ti and energy."
"Why wouldn't the water have any effect on them?" Elmo pressed. "Is it like an oil-based substance? Or is it just too hot for the fire to reach it to have any effect?"
Aquis didn't say anything right away, and Elin wasn't sure what kind of response she'd expected from that question from Elmo, nor was she really sure that she understood what exactly it was that Elmo had actually asked. Only that what Aquis replied a couple minutes after that wasn't sothing that she expected either.
"Yes," was all that Aquis replied.
"Huh?" Elin heard the sound, but it took her a minute to even realize that she was the one who had made it. Of course, it helped her realize it when Aquis turned his attention on her.
"Was there sothing you didn't understand about that word?"
"Uh, no..." Elin hesitated, not sure how best to respond. "It's just... that... your answer seed a little short for what Elmo had asked."
Elin wasn't sure she was able to state her reasons in a way that would be understood, since she couldn't really explain them very well to herself. She only hoped that it wouldn't create more problems for her.
"Don't worry about that, I'll explain it to her later," Jonas interjected, making Elin jump. She'd sohow forgotten he was still there. "I just thought of sothing that I should have thought of sooner. Is there a way to see from a distance where a fire dragon might be?"
Aquis shook his head slowly. "The abominations only burn things. The fires they create can give off smoke that you might be able to see from a distance, but if it's too great of a distance, then you wouldn't likely be able to distinguish the fact that it is smoke. Otherwise we'd be able to stop those dragons the mont they appeared," Aquis said.
Then as Kim opened her mouth to say sothing else, Aquis yawned, or at least Elin assud he had. He opened his mouth wide, as if he was stretching his jaw muscles in the dragon yawn.
Aside from the many sharp teeth in his mouth, Kim couldn't help but notice what looked like a darkness at the back of Aquis' mouth, where his throat started. She also only saw it for a brief mont, so she wasn't confident that she actually saw that. Nor was she sure what a dragon was supposed to look like, even in their mouths. So, she didn't think much about it.
"I'm sorry, but all this talking has worn out. If you would be so kind, give until the morning so I can sleep. I'll continue answering your questions then."
"Alright," Kim said instead of whatever she was about to ask. Elin was confident in that fact.
Although, she welcod the chance to walk away from Aquis. She couldn't say why, but she had a bad feeling about him. She hoped that Kim, Jonas, and Elmo did too, even though she wasn't sure if they did or not, or if she'd rely imagined it.
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