8) Burning Love

After they finished lunch they released the Star-Rat. Once it found freedom, you’d expect it to run off or something, but this little guy just sat there looking at them as it did the entire time it was in the cage. Even as the party began to march off, it hadn't moved from the spot it was dumped.

As they’d been hiking a bit, they noticed that the Star-Rat had been following them. They made several attempts to make it ‘stay’, as though it were a trained dog or it could understand English, but as you could imagine; it didn’t.

After a sudden shriek from JJ, who was taken off guard by the rat sneaking up on him; Xon had enough. He took the Star-Rat from one of its tail-fronds and like a discus, launched it back the way they came. If the creature survives the trip, it’s unlikely it will return.

Cicilia realized she had feelings for Liam a while ago. She wanted to let the relationship form naturally instead of forcing the issue, but seeing him and Aloe getting along made her feel… sick.

She watched as the pair ahead of her continued to talk as the party continued down the trail. Aloe hadn’t done anything to destress her, but the way Liam was smiling at her did.

…She only wanted him to smile at her like that.

Just then, Liam looks back and gives her a big goofy smile. Cecilia's face goes flush red and she can’t help but look away.

The party stopped for the night and set up camp on a cozy… cliffside path. An insurmountable wall of sheer stone on one side, and at least a 100m drop on the other. The path was more than wide enough for them to rest comfortably, but it was still a little un-nerving. Izzy assured them that this was about as high as they were going up the mountain. Their next target was in the forest below them and the plan was to spend the entirety of the next day observing it through binoculars.

As they finished eating dinner and were winding down for an early morning; Liam was getting some more instruction from Aloe. They were facing away and slightly angled to the fire using it as a light to practice sketching. They were using Xon as their reference. He was sleeping a few meters away. He looked so peaceful; it was eerie.

After a few minutes of sketching Aloe notices that Liam’s technique had improved a bit.

‘You’ve got the basics down. From here it’s all practice.’ Aloe remarks, ’Sketch what you see every day, especially when something really inspires you. And if you want to get faster, just do it faster. It will look rough at first, but as you get used to it your skill will adjust.’

Liam takes a second, finishing a few strokes on the drawing before stopping to tell her; ‘Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some pointers. I really appreciate it.’ he smiles.

‘Of course.’ she nods. ’I’m sorry for being so mean. I still don’t think I’ll take you on as an apprentice, but again, when you need guidance; just ask and I’ll see how I can help.’

Liam pauses to think before asking; ‘Well, do you know much about oil paints? I used them for my pixel paintings, but they were difficult to use. The colours kept running together.’

‘Not often, I have trouble with them myself. But you also made it far more difficult on yourself trying to maintain the sharpness of the squares with oils.’ she says before a pause ‘Why the little squares? They’re interesting, but…’

‘It was an art medium back in my world. But it was far easier over there because---’ Liam does his best to explain pixel art and digital art in general.

From the other side of the camp fire Cecilia looks on at the two. She was jealous. When she was helping Liam brainstorm ways of making pixel art back at the castle she had so much fun, but now she’d been side-lined for someone who actually knew about art. If not through art, how else could she connect with him now? Games? or…Maybe she should just start being more forward…

Still watching, she notices Liam shivering. This was her chance.

Liam feels a warmth roll over him. He could feel a hand on his right shoulder with an arm wrapping around his back. To his left was a blushing Cecilia. She was sharing her blanket with him. The blanket was warm, but there was more to the warmth than just that. She was nervous, but did her best to crack a smile as she spoke; ‘You looked cold, so…’

‘Thank you,’ Liam started kindly, ‘but I’m actually a little too hot with the fire behind me.’

‘Oh, sorry! You just… looked like you were shivering.’ She said retracting the blanket.

Liam takes a second to think before laughing; ‘Hahaha, Really? I was telling Aloe the plot of one of my favorite games; [redacted], and got goosebumps just thinking about it! I didn’t realize I was actually shivering.’

Of course.

Cecilia looks over to Aloe. Her eyes had glazed over. Liam had gone off the rails from digital art which she was interested in hearing about, to video games which she couldn’t really wrap her head around.

Aloe took Cecilia’s distraction as a chance to turn in and Liam decided it’d be best to do so as well.

Cecilia laid there staring at the blanket of stars in the night sky. It had been about an hour since they’d all settled for the night. She was frustrated at her failed attempt and couldn’t sleep, but she suddenly got another idea.

The fire was low, but thriving. It could last another hour or so without additional fuel.

Cecilia reached towards the fire. The flames began to dance before suddenly getting pulled into the tips of her fingers. The fire was out. Cecilia had a small hopeful smile.

Liam felt an arm wrap around his torso and a warmth enveloped his back.

‘Sorry, the fire went out... I’m cold…’ Cecilia spoke softly in his ear as she cuddled him tightly from behind.

‘I-It’s ok.’ Liam responded nervously. It’d been a long time since he was cuddled like this.

But… she felt so warm. How could she have been cold? He was fine with it though, the warmth was pleasant. He rested his left hand on her forearm keeping her in place.

When her heart stopped feeling like it was going to beat out of her chest, she finally started to feel tired. She fell asleep with a big smile on her face.

Liam woke up hearing struggling and muffled cries. He opened his eyes and saw JJ flailing on the ground with something in his mouth. Liam darted from where he was laying to JJ’s side. As he approached he realized it was a Star-Rat trying to force its way down JJ’s throat. Was it the one that was following them? Liam grabs it by the tail and manages to pull it out with a solid yank. He holds it up in the air where it stops fighting. Liam looked down to JJ, he was coughing, but seemed otherwise fine.

Still holding the rat by the tail, Liam felt uneasy.

A shadow envelops him and he looks over to see a giant monstrous bird flying right for him. He didn’t have the time to react. This was probably it for him.

Liam hears a loud crackling sound leading to an even louder pop that was reminiscent of a gunshot. His vision flashes white and he feels an intense heat. As his vision returns he sees the source of the heat; a beam of fire was about 2 meters above his head. It had effortlessly bored a wide hole through the bird's neck and continued far into the dawn. It wasn’t long before the beam just as suddenly fades away.

The bird went limp and just barely cleared his head as it came crashing down.

Recovering from his shock, Liam looks back to find the source of the beam.

His vision was still blurred, but when it came back into focus; He saw Cecilia blowing smoke from her hand.

She noticed his gaze and smiled, giving a gentle wave with her smoldering hand.