Legends of Nahvra: The Koldryth Beast
Chapter 8: Heat Rises

“You’re welcome.” She told me. “May I ask, where are we?” I asked. “Eh, some random house. No one was here so I made camp. By the way, if you see Varen, let him be. He is... Still processing what happened. You know, with Drakel.” Tarquin replied as he placed down his bag.”

“By the way, when I brought you here, I noticed a symbol on your hand. It was emiting an orange glow.” He said to me. “Huh?” I looked down at my hand and there it was. On the back of my hand was a mysterious symbol resembling a flame. “What the hell is this? I have never seen it before. But why is it so... Familiar?”

“I don’t know but you may want to look into it. Anyways, I grabbed some food for us.” Tarquin then walked over to me and Hanako to give us some bread. It was shockingly warm. As I bit into the bread, I was surprised at how fresh it tasted. It was quite good. I could tell Hanako was also enjoying.

“Thanks, this is really good!” I thanked Tarquin.

“You’re welcome.”

“Well, I am gonna go do some more research. Knock on the door if you need anything. By the way Kazz, I am gonna be over there.” He said as he pointed to the second door left of us. He then walked over to the door. Before he entered the room, Hanako told him that he forgot his bag. “Ah thanks Hanako.” He said as he picked up his bag and went into the room.

“So, what do you think he is working on?” I asked Hanako. “I don’t really know."

"Damn, oh by the way, can I show you something? It's in the book I found." I asked her.

"Sure, why not?"

"Thanks!" I said to her as I opened the book to the first chapter. It talks about the history and abilities of a Flameborn

"Xirn 17th of the 4th Celestial Era, on the year 1309

The phoenix is one of the Arcane World’s most fascinating creatures. They are massive birds emitting a magical fire. Phoenixes are masters of both order and chaos. Despite being one of the deadliest creatures, they are also known for their healing capabilities. While they do live for hundreds of years, when they finally die, they turn into glowing ash that creates more mana for the world.

When a human gains the power of a phoenix, they are known as a flameborn. The flameborn are meant to protect Othania and the rest of the Arcane World. The flameborn has the power to wield fire to both cure injuries and cause them. Some of the strongest flameborns have been able to even summon their own phoenix. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a new flameborn since Sirvann died.

Despite this, his stories are still told. Legends say that to harness a flameborn’s power, you m—"

"The last part of the book is torn and the rest of it is burnt. I wonder... Well, anyways, I'm gonna take a bath if you don't mind." I said to Hanako. She then told me where to go. She showed me outside to a small pool with a water fall. There was also a wall around the pool for privacy.

"Enjoy!" Hanako said as she left. I grabbed one of the towels Hanako gave me. The one I grabbed was a nice orange-red color. It was very soft, almost like a blanket.

I started to take off my clothes until I was fully nude. Then, I stepped into the hot water. It felt great. The water was hot but not overbearing. It was extremely comfortable and relaxing.

As I lie in the water, I began to feel my eyelids get heavy. I began to wonder what all of this meant, the book, the strange symbol, what did it all mean. I thought about that mark on my hand. Why was it so familiar. I hadn't seen it, had I? What did it matter, I had bigger things to worry about. Like the massive koldryth abomination trying to turn the world into it's personal buffet.

That was when it came to me. This symbol... It was the symbol my grandfater had. Before he left, I saw a flame symbol on his hand. But that still didn't answer anything. Either way, It wasn't important at the moment.

Then, the door flung open. "Ah!" I yelled as I covered myself.

"Kazz, I found it! When your done getting dressed follow me!" He exclaimed before he left me their with the door wide open. "Damn it Tarquin." I murmured. As I dried myself and put my clothes back on, I followed him to his room.

"So Kazz, as you know, you are a Flameborn. Well, I found out how you can control your power."

"You what!?" I yelled out!

"So, as of now, it only seems to activate at random periods when your emotions are strong. However, you can train yourself to control this power through concentration. You need to concentrate and focus on both your target and your focus whether it be your hand, a staff, etcetera. Unfortunately, it's estimated that it will take up to 6 months of practice saying you train for 4 hours a day, though you can technically shorten this to 2-3 months and train 8-10 hours a day, your choice." He explained to me.

"I... Thank you, Tarquin. I believe it's best to train as much per days as possible. We dont have time to take 6 months! Hell, I'd say a few months is pushing it but it's probably are best sho. So, when should we start?"

"We should probably start tommorow considering it's getting dark." He told me. "Oh and your welcome." He added.

"Well, goodnight everyone." I said as I got into bed. As I shut my eyes, my mind drifted away and I fell asleep.

The next day, Tarquin woke me up to tell me to get ready for training. "Kazz, come on! Me and Varen are gonna teach you some stuff. While Varen is better and hand to hand combat and weaponry, I will be the one helping you practice your abilities.

Varen then waked in. "Hey Kazz, before we start training, I want to apologize. It isn't your fault Drakel passed. He was a good man and from what I was told you two got along quite well." He said with a sincere tone.

"Thank you, it means a lot." I said to him.

Today was the first day of training and I would be working with Varen to enhance my physocal capabilities. "Alright, first we're gonna do some warmups before fighting. Here are some things you night want ro memorize: First of all, your stance is important. Your feet should be diagonal from eachother, think of a square where one foot is on one corner and the other is on the opposite corner. Got it?" He told me as he gave an example.

I tried to replicate it as best as I could. "Good job on the foot placement. Now, for your back, you want to evenly distribute your weight as best as you can throughout your torso." This training went on and on for a while. The training went on and I began to grow tired, especially once we started practicinf attacks. Despite my fatigue, I had to continue. By the end of the second month, I was able to hold my own against Varen. Varen was a skilled knight, maybe even more than Drakel. Today was the last lesson from Varen, and that was to duel him.

As the fight began, I started by examining his positioning and movement. As he started to swing his sword to the left, I parried his attack. Unfortunately, he saw this coming and countered me. I then pretended to swing to the left but switched tl the right, cathing him off guard, and winning the duel. "Well done Kazz, you improved quite a lot. I am glad to see you make it this far." He said to me to which I thanked him.

I knew that things were going to get much harder. Even I don't know how strong Tarquin is. He hasn't used his magic in front of me, or ateast I don't remember him using it before. "Well Kazz, you can take the rest of today off. Tonmorow we begin training your magic. Does that sound good?"

"Yeah, and thank you."

"No problem. Oh by the way, Hanako is cooking tonight, she thought you would apreciate it."

"That's very sweet of her. I'm going to lay down for a bit until dinner, I am exhausted." I said before going to my room to rest. As I got in bed, I noticed a strange crimson glow coming from outside. I quickly looked out the window to see a massive tear in the sky. As the glow intensified, hundreds of creatures started pouring out. They looked like different types of Koldryth Spawn, some of which I haven't seen before.

"Varen, Hanako, Tarquin! There is an army of Koldryth Spawn outside! We need to get our weapons ready." I yelled out as I swiftly exited my room and grabbed my blade. "On it!" Tarquin said as he and Hanako packed their tools and weapons.

As I waited for the two, I noticed even more of those creatures were outside. "Come on guys!" I yelled out to them. Within a few seconds, they had both came back with their equipment in hand. "Alright, let's get going." I said as we went outside.

“Hanako, you and Varen take the left side; Tarquin, take the right. As for me, I’ll face ’em head-on.”

There were aproximately fifteen of them in front of me, two of which got ready to attack. I readied my blade and swung at one of the creatures. This one seemed stronger than usual. My sword just bounced off of it. "Fuck!" I yelled out as I stepped back a bit.

The creature than charged at me head first. I tried to dodge it however I wasn't fast enough and it hit me. I felt a crack near my chest and it became harder to move. "D-damn it." I said in immense pain. Despite that, I was able to get up. I then got into a defensive position and tried to study the enemy. It seemed smarter than the others. Normally the creatures would just mindlessly attack me, but this one wasn't. It was as if it was waiting.

I noticed that it was covered in a strong, metalic substance. I quickly dashed behind the creature and I stabbed it in the back. It's skin was tough but after a while, my blade went through it fully.

More of them surrounded me as I pulled my blade out of the creatures body. There were hundreds if not thousands of them. One of the creatures lunged at me but I swiftly blocked their attack. The sound of metal colliding dilled the air as my blade made contact with the creature's arms.

As I swiped under the monster to knock it down, it fell face first and I was able to stab through it's neck. The creature's blood sprayed out for a few seconds after I pulled out my blade.

Two weaker creatures then lunged at me however, I dashed behind them at sliced both of their necks, killing them instantly. As I took a second to breathe, a larger monster attacked me from behind and knocked me to the ground. "Damn it!" I yelled out as the creature chocked me.

Then, I felt my fist start to burn and glow a firey hue. "The hell?" I said as I tried to escape from the creatures grasp. I kicked at the creature over and over again however it didn't do much. Luckily, I still had my sword, so I tried to stab it. As my blade made contact with the creature, I could hear the armor crack and I broke free.

By now, both hands were emiting flames. This was familiar, back when I left the group, a similair thing happened. Now however, I have a sense of what it means. I snapped my fingers at the monster and three flames came shooting out at the creature, instantly burning it to a crisp.

"Woah! This is cool!" I yelled out as I ran towards another creature. This one wasn't as large. I jumped above it and slammed my fist down. The creature then exploded in fire. Four more of them came towards me so I readied my sword. I swung my blade at the creatures and a wave of fire shot from my blade. Then I jumped behind them and snapped my fingers, sending out more flames and killing the creatures.

"There's too many of them!" I heard Varen yell out. I quickly ran to where Varen was and saw four of them surounding him. He was disarmed and bleeding from his right arm. "I got you Varen!" I yelled out as I shot a small flame out at the creatures. I then jumped up and slammed the tip of my blade into the head of one of the monsters.

"Thanks Kazz!" Varen said as he grabbed his blade. "Are you gonna be alright? By the way, whre is Hanako?" I asked him before taking a few seconds to breathe.

"Don't worry, I am alright. As for Hanako, she went to go help Tarquin."

"Alright, well thanks Varen. Let's go help Tarquin and Hanako, most of the creatures here are gone."

"Okay, by the way, how did you do that?"

"Honestly, I have no idea." I said as to Varen as we caught up with the other two. "Stay back everyone!" Tarquin yelled out as he pulled out a strange book with a small crystal on it. "I think it's time you have a taste of my magic." Tarquin yelled out as a torrent of magic arrows shot out at the creatures. As the arrows hit the creatures, they seemed to freeze in place.

"Hit 'em with all you've got!" He yelled out as we readied our weapons and attacked the army of creatures. Hanako and Varen teamed up to take out the enemies behind us while me and Tarquin took out the larger enemies.

I tightened my fist and they started to emit the same flames as before. I then sent a barrage of flames, killing all of the frozen monsters.

"Kazz, behind you!" Tarquin yelldd out at me. "Thanks Tarquin!" I quickly turned around and punched the creature, burning it to a crisp. To out surprose, the sky suddenly turned dark and another large tear opened up in the sky. Then, out came the Koldryth Beast.