“I wish you luck in your endeavors. And please come again.” Gaia said, as we left her domain so that we could head to the domain of the superior fire spirit, Ninatia.
“Yes. I’ll bring Wilma next time, so you may give her your blessing. If she does live up to your expectations.”
“If what you’ve told me is true, I’m sure she will.” Gaia said.
But we didn’t just leave Gaia’s domain with empty promises, Cailie and I also got a blessing from her. Alice was a bit jealous that she didn’t get it, but one of the greater earth spirits promised that when she was better at earth magic, she could come back and show her skills. And if she is skilled enough, she will get their blessing.
As for our travel plans, what better way to travel than by dragon. And not Lady Janina this time. She might be willing to carry me, and others in emergencies, but I can’t just use her as a taxi whenever I want.
But I have dragons of my own, so that isn’t a problem. In fact, I have five very specific dragons that I summoned for us. Ernus, Nudyarl, Sheou, Lorpar and Tinkhec. My full Dragonmaid squad.
SpoilerAnd while their maid forms are in use daily, I don’t often use their dragon forms. And I’ve never summoned all five of their dragon forms at the same time, so this was a first in that sense.
Lady Janina got the first pick on who she wanted to ride, and she picked Ernus. Though I honestly think it is because she wanted to leave Sheou for me. Alice rode Tinkhec, Lua was on Nudyarl and Cailie was on Lorpar. With all of us on the back of a dragon, our squad took to the skies and we headed towards Ninatia’s domain.
The domain of Ninatia wasn’t what I expected. I honestly expected a volcano or something like that, but what we found instead was a relatively normal looking Aztec temple. Sure it had some nice large flames burning at each of the four corners, but it is still just a temple.
After we landed, a handful of lesser and intermediate fire spirits came to greet us. Oh by the way, the greater water and nature spirits weren’t with us anymore. Neither of them has the best relationship with fire, so they didn’t want to go to the areas ruled by fire spirits. We did have some intermediate wind spirits with us though. I’m decently sure Anemoi called them Cailie’s bodyguard spirits or something like that.
“Hello!” “You can’t come in.” “Lady Ninatia is not home.” “No guests.” The fire spirits tried to turn us away.
“Have you not heard? We are going around waking up the superior spirits.” I told the spirits. “So could we see where Lady Ninatia is resting so that we can sing her a song?” I then asked. I didn’t want to turn the spirits hostile, but this was also the first time we didn’t have a greater spirit with us to explain things, so I decided to take care of that part.
“You are?” “You have?” “Can you wake up Lady Ninatia?” The spirits asked.
“Yes. We’ve awakened Anemoi and Gaia already.”
“They did.” “Sis did.” “Sis and Hero.” The wind spirits said.
“Really?” “Come in.” The fire spirits got excited and flew to the top of the temple. They stopped next to what seemed to be a large fire pit. It looked a bit like a sacrificial altar, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but whatever the spirits prefer.
“Hero, the singer and your companions. You as well, supreme dragon. Welcome to Lady Ninitia’s temple.” A larger spirit was next to the sacrifice pit. She must be a greater fire spirit.
“Thank you. Where is Lady Ninitia resting?” Cailie asked.
“Right here. Under the fire that doesn’t burn.” The spirit answered, pointing at the sacrificial fire pit. “If you can light the fire, she will wake up again.”
“That’s simple.” Alice said. “I’ll just …”
“Alice.” I quickly put my hand on her shoulder, realizing what she was about to do. “You can’t just magic up some fire. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not?” She asked.
“Because it isn’t power that wakes up the spirits. It is the emotions. … at least I think so.” I told her. “So if wind is freedom and earth is … rhythm I suppose. But then again, rhythm isn’t an emotion, so I have no clue. Not that it really matters to this. What do you think fire would be?”
“... maybe power?” Alice offered. “I mean, fire is the most powerful attribute when it comes to offensive spells.”
“If that is how you see fire, then you must be really bad at it.” The greater fire spirit reprimanded Alice.
“... am I?” Alice questioned. “I know I’m not the best, but I’m decently good.”
“And yet you don’t even understand the basics. Who taught you?”
“A few of Brian’s monsters. Flamel was my main teacher. … but we never talked about the … emotions of fire.”
“I see. Then this is useless. If you don’t understand fire, you will never wake up Lady Ninitia.”
“Don’t worry, miss Spirit.” I said. “We will figure this out and wake her up.” I promised.
Walking down the steps of the temple, I came up with a plan to move forward.
“I think we should split.” I said.
“Why? Shouldn’t we work together?” Cailie asked.
“It's just… Cailie, do you think Fire is really your attribute?” I asked.
“... Maybe not, but still. Shouldn’t I be the one to..?”
“Don’t take everything onto your shoulders.” I told her. “Alice and I will wake up fire. You and Lua should go to the superior water spirit and wake her. It should be easy for you. Lady Janina, would you take them there?”
“I don’t mind. Just remember that you can’t return without me, so when you want to go back, come find me.” She responded.
“Yes. And after you wake up water, head to light’s domain next. I think we can still deal with her before we need to return to the otherside for breakfast.”
“That is fine. … but how will you find light’s domain?” Lady Janina asked. “Your spell only finds those you know well, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ll figure it out.” I just told her.
“... are you sure?” Alice asked. “What if … what if we can’t awaken the fire?”
“We can. Because I believe in you. Like I believe that Cailie and Lua can wake up the water spirit.” I told her. “Besides, I think I have the answer to the question I asked. And if I’m correct, you are the one who has to sing this song.”
“A-Alright. I’ll believe in you.”
We then saw off the group that was heading for the water spirits domain, before I went on to tell Alice about my idea.
“I think it is passion. Either that or maybe perseverance.” I told her.
“... why didn’t you say that earlier? We could have done this together.” Alice complained.
“Because of what I said earlier. You have to be the one to sing this song. Think about it. Out of all of us, who embodies passion and perseverance the most?”
“... Lua?”
“Okay, arguably yes. She does have the perseverance, but her passion is different from yours. And as I also said, fire isn’t really her attribute.” I responded. “I mean, think about it. Why did you study magic for years and years, not seeing any results beyond those written in your status? Was it because of your father? Or was it because you wanted to use magic?”
“... I … I’m not sure. Both?”
“No. It is because you were determined to learn magic, no matter the cost to you. At least that is what I think. That if anything is perseverance. And that perseverance turned into passion when you got the tiniest amount of outside help. And that led to the you you are today.” I told her. “Or am I wrong?”
“... if you say so.”
“... Alice. Why are you regressing? Don’t be the one you used to be. How is it that you aren’t afraid when you face a SS-rank monster, but a simple song is an insurmountable obstacle to you?”
“Because … Because I think I’ll go back to the me I was then!” Alice yelled. “The one who tried over and over and over again. For YEARS! For what!? Nothing!” She yelled with tears in her eyes.
“And it would have kept going like that.” She continued more quietly. “If it wasn’t for you. … all I am. Even more so now after I was fused with Mana… all of it. Was made by you. I … Alice Watchman. The one I used to be. She is nothing without you.”
“But you are not.” I told her, as I took her into a hug. “You never were. If you were, you wouldn’t have persevered.”
“But…”
“Just ask yourself this. The day after I gave you access to the Dark attribute, do you remember what happened?”
“... the wyvern attack.”
“And do you remember what I asked you before it happened?”
“... I think you asked if I wanted to come?”
“Yes. And how did you answer?”
“I think I said … I want to come?”
“Yes. You wanted to be on the frontline, well more like the backline, but you still wanted to fight. Despite the fact that just a day earlier you casted your first spell. In that moment, you showed the determination to act, regardless of danger to your own life.” I reminded her. “That is your fire. So just let it out again.”
After a long silence, Alice responded.
“... I … I don’t know a good song.”
That got a huge smile onto my face, so I responded.
“Don’t worry. Because I do.”
We spent some time just quietly playing the song I had in mind. Like with Gaia, I was going to deal with the melody, while Alice was going to be the one singing.
And oh boy was the song I picked something. For me. I mean, was it not for Guitar Hero, there is no way I would remember all of it, but because of that damned game, I recall almost every note. And the ones I don’t, I can fill in.
So after we were both happy, we walked to the top of the temple and we told the greater fire spirit that we were ready to perform a song. I started playing the melody and when it was her time, Alice began to sing.
Spoiler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZyYapMZSec
nro_8
Take the link, so that you don’t have to search for it. Also, I didn’t really plan for it, but I did end up rewriting the lyrics. Sadly I’m not good enough with AI voices that sing stuff so that I could have an AI voice thingy to sing the song with the custom lyrics, but I hope you still enjoy.
Through The Fire And Flames, but Alice version of it.
[collapse]
"On a cold spring morning, in the time before him
In the void of useless eternal reign, I fell towards the end
When the void had swallowed me whole, and the time was running out
The sound his laughter echoed around the world for all
Fighting hard, fighting for his love, through the magic never known
The scattered fates will feel the end, destinies ending in nothing more
On the blackest plains in end’s domain, I watched them as they died
But in the flames and love, now once again, I know
So now I fly ever free
I’m free because of the thunderstorm
On towards the life I want, my quest carries on
Far beyond my hometown, far beyond my dreamlands
Deep inside my heart and his soul
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on
As the wedding day is dawning
And the bells echo in the sky
They'll raise their hands to the Goddess above
With blessings in their eyes
Walking forth through the mid-morning light
There's a burning in our hearts
We've conquered the times of the bad ends
And live beyond the stars
In your darkest times, persevere to believe
Our destiny this time
And endlessly we'll all be one, Tonight
And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality
All alone in desperation, that time has gone
Lost inside, I won’t be, lost within my own mind
Day after day my passion will go on
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on
I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u
I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u
Now here we stand our hands joined as one
I fought so hard, do you understand?
I'll break the seal of this fate because I know that I can
For freedom of our future child
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on."
As Alice finished the song, the sacrificial pit as I’ve been calling it, was filled to the brim with bright flames. But not raging flames of hate, nor burning flames of might. Instead, warm yet calming flames of passion.
A part of the flames eventually solidified, making a person made of … solid flames? Can flames be solid? I don’t know, but that is what it looks like.
“Ah. Young love. What a passion to wake up to.” She said, as she jumped up from the pit. “I am the superior spirit of fire, Ninatia. May I know the names of the two that awakened me?”
I looked at Alice, pushing for her to go first.
“... I …” She muttered a bit at first, but I then took a hold of her hand and squeezed it a bit to reassure her that I was right here. “My name is Alice Mana Watchman.” Alice introduced herself.
“And I am Brian Wood.”
“Thank you, Alice, Brian. You two truly know what passion is. And as a reward for showing me your passion, as well as your wonderful wake up song, I shall grant you two my blessing.” Ninatia said, before she moved to give both of us a kiss on the forehead.
It didn’t burn at all, just felt a bit warm. Alice looked just a bit peeved when Ninatia kissed me, so after I received her blessing, I made sure to take a good hold of my girl and I kissed her deeply on the lips.
“I will be looking forward to getting an invite to your wedding.” Ninatia said, as she giggled a bit. “... Ah. Water must have awakened as well. I can feel her power.”
“Good. It must have been easy for Lua and Cailie.” I said. “... Lady Ninatia, could you point us towards Light’s domain?”
nro_8 Okay. Let me be honest here. I love the custom Through The Fire And Flames. I mean, I didn’t mean to ‘rewrite’ the entire song, but I just enjoyed it so much that I had to. So please, if anyone does know how to drive those AI singing programs, please make one with the new lyrics, because I would love to hear it.
“I wish you luck in your endeavors. And please come again.” Gaia said, as we left her domain so that we could head to the domain of the superior fire spirit, Ninatia.
“Yes. I’ll bring Wilma next time, so you may give her your blessing. If she does live up to your expectations.”
“If what you’ve told me is true, I’m sure she will.” Gaia said.
But we didn’t just leave Gaia’s domain with empty promises, Cailie and I also got a blessing from her. Alice was a bit jealous that she didn’t get it, but one of the greater earth spirits promised that when she was better at earth magic, she could come back and show her skills. And if she is skilled enough, she will get their blessing.
As for our travel plans, what better way to travel than by dragon. And not Lady Janina this time. She might be willing to carry me, and others in emergencies, but I can’t just use her as a taxi whenever I want.
But I have dragons of my own, so that isn’t a problem. In fact, I have five very specific dragons that I summoned for us. Ernus, Nudyarl, Sheou, Lorpar and Tinkhec. My full Dragonmaid squad.
SpoilerAnd while their maid forms are in use daily, I don’t often use their dragon forms. And I’ve never summoned all five of their dragon forms at the same time, so this was a first in that sense.
Lady Janina got the first pick on who she wanted to ride, and she picked Ernus. Though I honestly think it is because she wanted to leave Sheou for me. Alice rode Tinkhec, Lua was on Nudyarl and Cailie was on Lorpar. With all of us on the back of a dragon, our squad took to the skies and we headed towards Ninatia’s domain.
The domain of Ninatia wasn’t what I expected. I honestly expected a volcano or something like that, but what we found instead was a relatively normal looking Aztec temple. Sure it had some nice large flames burning at each of the four corners, but it is still just a temple.
After we landed, a handful of lesser and intermediate fire spirits came to greet us. Oh by the way, the greater water and nature spirits weren’t with us anymore. Neither of them has the best relationship with fire, so they didn’t want to go to the areas ruled by fire spirits. We did have some intermediate wind spirits with us though. I’m decently sure Anemoi called them Cailie’s bodyguard spirits or something like that.
“Hello!” “You can’t come in.” “Lady Ninatia is not home.” “No guests.” The fire spirits tried to turn us away.
“Have you not heard? We are going around waking up the superior spirits.” I told the spirits. “So could we see where Lady Ninatia is resting so that we can sing her a song?” I then asked. I didn’t want to turn the spirits hostile, but this was also the first time we didn’t have a greater spirit with us to explain things, so I decided to take care of that part.
“You are?” “You have?” “Can you wake up Lady Ninatia?” The spirits asked.
“Yes. We’ve awakened Anemoi and Gaia already.”
“They did.” “Sis did.” “Sis and Hero.” The wind spirits said.
“Really?” “Come in.” The fire spirits got excited and flew to the top of the temple. They stopped next to what seemed to be a large fire pit. It looked a bit like a sacrificial altar, so I wasn’t the biggest fan of it, but whatever the spirits prefer.
“Hero, the singer and your companions. You as well, supreme dragon. Welcome to Lady Ninitia’s temple.” A larger spirit was next to the sacrifice pit. She must be a greater fire spirit.
“Thank you. Where is Lady Ninitia resting?” Cailie asked.
“Right here. Under the fire that doesn’t burn.” The spirit answered, pointing at the sacrificial fire pit. “If you can light the fire, she will wake up again.”
“That’s simple.” Alice said. “I’ll just …”
“Alice.” I quickly put my hand on her shoulder, realizing what she was about to do. “You can’t just magic up some fire. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Why not?” She asked.
“Because it isn’t power that wakes up the spirits. It is the emotions. … at least I think so.” I told her. “So if wind is freedom and earth is … rhythm I suppose. But then again, rhythm isn’t an emotion, so I have no clue. Not that it really matters to this. What do you think fire would be?”
“... maybe power?” Alice offered. “I mean, fire is the most powerful attribute when it comes to offensive spells.”
“If that is how you see fire, then you must be really bad at it.” The greater fire spirit reprimanded Alice.
“... am I?” Alice questioned. “I know I’m not the best, but I’m decently good.”
“And yet you don’t even understand the basics. Who taught you?”
“A few of Brian’s monsters. Flamel was my main teacher. … but we never talked about the … emotions of fire.”
“I see. Then this is useless. If you don’t understand fire, you will never wake up Lady Ninitia.”
“Don’t worry, miss Spirit.” I said. “We will figure this out and wake her up.” I promised.
Walking down the steps of the temple, I came up with a plan to move forward.
“I think we should split.” I said.
“Why? Shouldn’t we work together?” Cailie asked.
“It's just… Cailie, do you think Fire is really your attribute?” I asked.
“... Maybe not, but still. Shouldn’t I be the one to..?”
“Don’t take everything onto your shoulders.” I told her. “Alice and I will wake up fire. You and Lua should go to the superior water spirit and wake her. It should be easy for you. Lady Janina, would you take them there?”
“I don’t mind. Just remember that you can’t return without me, so when you want to go back, come find me.” She responded.
“Yes. And after you wake up water, head to light’s domain next. I think we can still deal with her before we need to return to the otherside for breakfast.”
“That is fine. … but how will you find light’s domain?” Lady Janina asked. “Your spell only finds those you know well, right?”
“Yeah, but I’ll figure it out.” I just told her.
“... are you sure?” Alice asked. “What if … what if we can’t awaken the fire?”
“We can. Because I believe in you. Like I believe that Cailie and Lua can wake up the water spirit.” I told her. “Besides, I think I have the answer to the question I asked. And if I’m correct, you are the one who has to sing this song.”
“A-Alright. I’ll believe in you.”
We then saw off the group that was heading for the water spirits domain, before I went on to tell Alice about my idea.
“I think it is passion. Either that or maybe perseverance.” I told her.
“... why didn’t you say that earlier? We could have done this together.” Alice complained.
“Because of what I said earlier. You have to be the one to sing this song. Think about it. Out of all of us, who embodies passion and perseverance the most?”
“... Lua?”
“Okay, arguably yes. She does have the perseverance, but her passion is different from yours. And as I also said, fire isn’t really her attribute.” I responded. “I mean, think about it. Why did you study magic for years and years, not seeing any results beyond those written in your status? Was it because of your father? Or was it because you wanted to use magic?”
“... I … I’m not sure. Both?”
“No. It is because you were determined to learn magic, no matter the cost to you. At least that is what I think. That if anything is perseverance. And that perseverance turned into passion when you got the tiniest amount of outside help. And that led to the you you are today.” I told her. “Or am I wrong?”
“... if you say so.”
“... Alice. Why are you regressing? Don’t be the one you used to be. How is it that you aren’t afraid when you face a SS-rank monster, but a simple song is an insurmountable obstacle to you?”
“Because … Because I think I’ll go back to the me I was then!” Alice yelled. “The one who tried over and over and over again. For YEARS! For what!? Nothing!” She yelled with tears in her eyes.
“And it would have kept going like that.” She continued more quietly. “If it wasn’t for you. … all I am. Even more so now after I was fused with Mana… all of it. Was made by you. I … Alice Watchman. The one I used to be. She is nothing without you.”
“But you are not.” I told her, as I took her into a hug. “You never were. If you were, you wouldn’t have persevered.”
“But…”
“Just ask yourself this. The day after I gave you access to the Dark attribute, do you remember what happened?”
“... the wyvern attack.”
“And do you remember what I asked you before it happened?”
“... I think you asked if I wanted to come?”
“Yes. And how did you answer?”
“I think I said … I want to come?”
“Yes. You wanted to be on the frontline, well more like the backline, but you still wanted to fight. Despite the fact that just a day earlier you casted your first spell. In that moment, you showed the determination to act, regardless of danger to your own life.” I reminded her. “That is your fire. So just let it out again.”
After a long silence, Alice responded.
“... I … I don’t know a good song.”
That got a huge smile onto my face, so I responded.
“Don’t worry. Because I do.”
We spent some time just quietly playing the song I had in mind. Like with Gaia, I was going to deal with the melody, while Alice was going to be the one singing.
And oh boy was the song I picked something. For me. I mean, was it not for Guitar Hero, there is no way I would remember all of it, but because of that damned game, I recall almost every note. And the ones I don’t, I can fill in.
So after we were both happy, we walked to the top of the temple and we told the greater fire spirit that we were ready to perform a song. I started playing the melody and when it was her time, Alice began to sing.
Spoiler
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZyYapMZSec
nro_8
Take the link, so that you don’t have to search for it. Also, I didn’t really plan for it, but I did end up rewriting the lyrics. Sadly I’m not good enough with AI voices that sing stuff so that I could have an AI voice thingy to sing the song with the custom lyrics, but I hope you still enjoy.
Through The Fire And Flames, but Alice version of it.
[collapse]
"On a cold spring morning, in the time before him
In the void of useless eternal reign, I fell towards the end
When the void had swallowed me whole, and the time was running out
The sound his laughter echoed around the world for all
Fighting hard, fighting for his love, through the magic never known
The scattered fates will feel the end, destinies ending in nothing more
On the blackest plains in end’s domain, I watched them as they died
But in the flames and love, now once again, I know
So now I fly ever free
I’m free because of the thunderstorm
On towards the life I want, my quest carries on
Far beyond my hometown, far beyond my dreamlands
Deep inside my heart and his soul
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on
As the wedding day is dawning
And the bells echo in the sky
They'll raise their hands to the Goddess above
With blessings in their eyes
Walking forth through the mid-morning light
There's a burning in our hearts
We've conquered the times of the bad ends
And live beyond the stars
In your darkest times, persevere to believe
Our destiny this time
And endlessly we'll all be one, Tonight
And on the wings of a dream, so far beyond reality
All alone in desperation, that time has gone
Lost inside, I won’t be, lost within my own mind
Day after day my passion will go on
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on
I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u
I love you, I love you, I love You-u-u-u
Now here we stand our hands joined as one
I fought so hard, do you understand?
I'll break the seal of this fate because I know that I can
For freedom of our future child
So close by, I wait for the day
When our lives will finally become one
I feel the passion of the love lost in a thousand ways
Through the fire and the flames, I carry on."
As Alice finished the song, the sacrificial pit as I’ve been calling it, was filled to the brim with bright flames. But not raging flames of hate, nor burning flames of might. Instead, warm yet calming flames of passion.
A part of the flames eventually solidified, making a person made of … solid flames? Can flames be solid? I don’t know, but that is what it looks like.
“Ah. Young love. What a passion to wake up to.” She said, as she jumped up from the pit. “I am the superior spirit of fire, Ninatia. May I know the names of the two that awakened me?”
I looked at Alice, pushing for her to go first.
“... I …” She muttered a bit at first, but I then took a hold of her hand and squeezed it a bit to reassure her that I was right here. “My name is Alice Mana Watchman.” Alice introduced herself.
“And I am Brian Wood.”
“Thank you, Alice, Brian. You two truly know what passion is. And as a reward for showing me your passion, as well as your wonderful wake up song, I shall grant you two my blessing.” Ninatia said, before she moved to give both of us a kiss on the forehead.
It didn’t burn at all, just felt a bit warm. Alice looked just a bit peeved when Ninatia kissed me, so after I received her blessing, I made sure to take a good hold of my girl and I kissed her deeply on the lips.
“I will be looking forward to getting an invite to your wedding.” Ninatia said, as she giggled a bit. “... Ah. Water must have awakened as well. I can feel her power.”
“Good. It must have been easy for Lua and Cailie.” I said. “... Lady Ninatia, could you point us towards Light’s domain?”
nro_8 Okay. Let me be honest here. I love the custom Through The Fire And Flames. I mean, I didn’t mean to ‘rewrite’ the entire song, but I just enjoyed it so much that I had to. So please, if anyone does know how to drive those AI singing programs, please make one with the new lyrics, because I would love to hear it.
