Set the World on Fire (SSoDI-G)

[ColArana]

After the.... eventful meeting at the church, and Percy's second disappearance, Ranuen had gone out to get some air, and look into this whole matter with Cults trying to end the world. ...He hadn't gotten far. He was not the investigative type. Diplomacy? Ranuen had only scratched the surface of that, back during his work as a blade for hire, when it came to negotiating price and measuring out the kind of clients he was okay working for. Not that he was entirely abysmal at social interactions, but.... they weren't his forte. So he'd turned up exactly zero information.

What was he good at then? Well, he could take a hit, and he had his fire magic, and his swordsmanship. Both honed skills he'd been developing his whole life. And yet... It seemed that wasn't enough against the adversaries they'd be facing. He needed to find a way to get stronger still. That was his goal afterall. To grow in power and eventually get strong enough to break the spell on him. 

But where  would he find a way that was more than he'd been doing so far? 

In his search for any intel on the cult, Ranuen had wandered into the Void City Cemetary, where he abruptly noticed something very strange. Dying embers of pink fire.... That looks.... familiar.... Ranuen thought quietly, his thoughts now disrupted by this new phenomenon. Pink fire... hadn't... one of the people he'd met in the Church been able to do that? Ranuen looked around and focused. As a magic-user himself, he was able to detect strong magical signatures, and quickly honed in on a very active source of magic. The swordsman took off, sprinting and vaulting over graves, closing to the point he was sensing. It wasn't particularly hard, as there were periodic pink flames to remind Ranuen he was on the right path. After a small obstacle course getting there, Ranuen finally landed into view.

"Hey. It's.... Leanne right?" 

[DanteMGalileo]

"Oh, shit guys! I saw Mr. Mercury last night! He said to meet him in the cemetery for magic teachin'!"

"Uh, Leanne, we kinda need to find Percy..."

"He can handle himself! 'Sides, I'm gettin' tired of his reckless shit!"


And that was how Leanne Lowe found herself in the cemetery, showing no fear. The haunted house back in Linber was worse. As was the hydrangea swamp in Ode. "Oh, that's cute. Looks likes they don't have them stupid graverats 'round here either." Said the pink-haired girl upon passing something labeled the Dimensional Island Memorial.

At last, she saw a man with white hair in purple. "Yo, Mr. Mercury! I'm here! So, how'd that li'l thing you had to do last night go?"

Lark stood up from the gravestone he was sitting on, greeting the girl with a wave. "Oh, pretty boring. I didn't even get to do anything fun. So, it's time for lesson twenty-six of four-thousand nine-hundred ninety-seven!"

"At this rate I'm gonna be here forev... Hey, that number went up! What gives?!"

"Glad to know you're gettin' better at paying attention. So, when we left off, we were practicin' those Rank Three fire spells. Did you remember to do your homework this time?"

"Duh!"

"Including the written portion?"

"Screw you."

"I'll let ya off, but you gotta know, your homework grade is abysmal."

"Can we just get to settin' stuff on fire?"

"Leanne." His pale blue eyes looked directly into her red ones. "All good mages know the value of research. It lets us learn from the past. It tells us what not to do."

"Nyeh."

"All right, let's get to it." The pair took a few steps away from each other. "Show me your practice on Magma Burst."

"Oh, yer about to get bursted away, teach..."

There was a blast of pinkish fire, followed by a wall of earth collapsing around Lark with a swing of his hand. "I'd say that was more of an explosion."

[ColArana]

Leanne hadn't seemed to have initially noticed Ranuen. Depending on how engrossed she was in her studies sometimes ones awareness of the outside world completely faded away entirely. But the person with her.... Wait... wasn't that...? Ranuen rolled back through his memory. Hang on. That was Lark!? Why was Lark h--

Ranuen's thought process was summarily interrupted by an explosion of pink fire, courtesy of Leanne's attempt to perform the Magma Burst spell. Ranuen quickly stepped backwards, narrowly avoiding the blast. "Uhh... hi." He interrupted. "I'm probably interrupting something but... it's Leanne right? Why are you and Lark out here!?" He asked in utter confusion, glancing between the two.

Last Ranuen had seen Lark, hadn't the sorcerer been doing stuff in the town square? It didn't.... seem like he was entirely against him. Then again, the mage's feud with Seeker was also why Ranuen was here. Or... was that Seeker's feud with Lark? Was it two-sided? One-sided? The swordsman shook his head. The pink fire all around seemed to suggest something...

"Wait... is this a practice session?" He asked, suddenly having the piece click in his head. Another doubletake. Did this mean that Leanne had learned her magic from....?

[DanteMGalileo]

"Whoa!"

And there came another burst of flames, followed immediately by a protective wall of earth. "Leanne, that's not how you greet our guest."

"I didn't mean to, sheesh! Antsy just startled me!" Huff.

"Well, clearly you're not lacking in attitude." The white-haired man turned to face Raunen. "Greetings, greetings, Raunen Sendo. Oh, don't be surprised. I probably know more about you than you do about yourself." A chuckle, followed by Lark sitting down on a tombstone. "Including your condition. Yes, I could cure it, but where would be the fun in that?"

"Oh, so he's not just a size-shifter?"

"Nope. But as it's rude to point out somebody's curses... Yes. Leanne learned her magic from me. I'm a mage of extraordinary talent, see?" Leanne tossed a pink fireball at Lark's head, to which the white-haired man responded with a snap of his fingers, causing a ball of water to materialize and extinguish the flames. "Some have even called me extraterrestrial. But enough about me. What brings you here to our little lesson?"

[ColArana]

Ranuen's left eye twitched just slightly at Leanne calling him 'Antsy'. Was he just gonna have to get used to that? It felt like such a demeaning nickname! And then Lark turned to him, stating his name and several other points. Ranuen's face flushed in slight embarrassment at Lark's assertion of knowledge about him. And then Leanne pointed out that she'd assumed him to be a size shifter. Well that was... encouraging? Maybe? That the nickname hadn't just been a jab at his height? To the average onlooker that much was probably obvious but for Ranuen, it was a little less so.

"N-no... Unfortunately not. This is supposed to be my normal height." Ranuen noted in an embarrassed tone to Leanne, given that he was currently at his human size.

Thankfully, Lark switched the topic fairly quickly, noting that he was her magic teacher. Ranuen could definitely feel Lark's power in magic-- hell, he'd seen it firsthand on more than one occasion now. The teleport spell back at the Club, the teleporting them off the mountaintop, and finally the battle with the monster in the plaza. Ranuen's own magical ability was considered reasonably high tier where he was from, but his fire attacks had barely managed to annoy the beast. He could clearly see that Lark outclassed him in magic.

"I can feel it as well..." The swordsman added. "Actually, I got lost on the way back to the group, and noticed the pink fire... so I came to check it out." He noted. He pondered. "If you're willing.... Since you're this powerful, do you have any tips? I've been mostly self-taught my whole life, and well.... in the trials that are on their way, I don't know if that will be enough." He paused a moment, glancing at Leanne. "Err... once you're done with your lesson, of course. I didn't mean to interrupt anything."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Ooooooh. So yer naturally tiny?" Poke, poke the Raunen.

"Leanne, it's not very nice to poke people, didn't your brothers teach you better?" Lark removed Leanne's hand from Raunen, sparing him from further poking. "Yep. I'd say I'm pretty goshdanged powerful. Not to brag, but I'd say even some demigods are afraid of me."

Beat.

"So... self-taught? See? This is why I don't bother with all that readin' crap! Experience is the best teacher!" A smug grin from Leanne.

"Remind me the tale of Scruffy, who was so ignorant, he cast Loki's Flames without even bothering to master Fireball. Oh, right. He went splat." As Leanne sulked, the smug expression went to Lark. "Hey, why don't you stay and watch? Consider this a way of encouragin' my student to not screw up and actually do her homework!"

"MR. MERCURY!!"

[ColArana]

"I... er.... well, kinda yes..." Ranuen grumbled. "Right now anyways..." He added, half as an attempt to save face.

Lark claim about being stronger than demigods gave Ranuen pause. "Never met a demigod, so I can't say I have anything for reference there, but you're definitely more powerful than anyone I've met." Or at least that he could measurably assess, as Lark shared a distinction with the mage who did this to him, of possessing so much magical power that Ranuen couldn't actually sense exactly how powerful he was.

Ranuen looked at Leanne, who noted about the reading crap. "I mean to be fair, I had to read to get started.... Magic theory was still needed to figure out how everything worked...." He admitted. Ranuen did have a natural talent for both his physical augmentation magic, as well as his fire magic, but not to the extent of some who intrinsically could cast magic before they even knew how to walk. While his progress was unquestionably fast for most, in his chosen field, Ranuen was only a genius in it at best. Not a super-genius like some.... Which might include Lark, come to think of it.

"If I could watch that'd be great! I've never seen a magic class with someone of your caliber before!" He'd certainly seen magic classes, but in his world, most of the mages that had time to teach, instead of devoting time to their own studies were third rate mages at best. The top mages were constantly improving, and while they might take an apprentice or two, running full, regular classes was generally not a thing that happened.

Ranuen hopped back to a nearby gravestone to try and watch. "Nah, I'm curious Leanne!" He said, in response to her outburst. "And I haven't seen what you can do yet either!" Sure she'd summoned up a few pink flames in the Church, but nothing beyond that, so Ranuen was eager to see more.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Alright, Leanne. Consider this as a motivation to not screw up, and to make a good impression on your new classmate." A wink as Lark took a few steps back, clearly acting as the test dummy. "Oh, I'll be fine. I've got magic defence up the wazoo, and besides, I know a few healing spells."

Leanne clenched a fist and inhaled, trying to concentrate. "Alright, Leanne, you got this... Just... gotta make the magma go burst..."

There was another blast of pink fire around Lark, who summoned a wall of earth to guard himself. However, a vein-like pattern had formed on the ground between the pair. "Oh, shit. I ain't gonna get this, am I?"

"Actually, look!"

"Is that...?"

"Yep! Volcanic veins mean you're startin' to get it!"

[ColArana]

Even if Lark hadn't made the claim about possessing high magic defense, Ranuen wouldn't have been surprised. This was obviously the best way to judge someone's ability anyways! Swordsmanship, magic... whatever. Throwing it in a vacuum was well and good, but the best way to see if what you knew worked was to hit someone else with it! Though Ranuen did take mental notes on Lark's comments. That earth elemental magic, plus healing spells and teleporting.... Normally, in Ranuen's experience mages generally had one branch of magic they were good at, and stuck with it, with sometimes additional spells for utility. Lark had already showcased an expansive spell list by all accounts, and it felt like he'd barely scratched the surface.

Ranuen raised an arm to shield himself slightly from the blast of fire that ensued, though he felt it was slightly unnecessary, and more a precaution than anything else. Firstly, he doubted he'd get hit on the sidelines, except if a spell went VERY wrong, and secondly, his own fire magic training had granted him a decent resistance to fire damage. Not perfect, granted, but high enough that an errant blast probably wouldn't cause too much damage to him.

So it was that Ranuen could stay close enough to observe the pattern laying out on the ground, and looked closely. A magma blast attack spell? It sort of looked that way... Or one in progress. Ranuen had never actually seen magma magic, but it certainly matched the description he was familiar with. But there were a lot of oddities to it. From Ranuen's perspective anyways. This didn't feel like the magic he used. It was definitely different. Ranuen was no scholar (hah!), no... not by a long shot. Magical theory beyond the basics was beyond him, and it was definitely beyond him to read into the intricacies of how Leanne was casting her spell. Even so, he could notice the different "feel" of Leanne's magic compared to his.

"Nice job Leanne!" Ranuen complimented. He half wanted to hop up, but he didn't want to either get in the way, or stand on top of what could be a delayed blast spell. "Your magic feels different than mine..." He noted. "Is that normal for people coming from different worlds?" If this was a different type of magic, maybe it was possible for Ranuen to learn it as well! ...If so... it might begin to resolve some of the problems he was running into, lately.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Eh heh heh... I'm gettin' there... Still got a long way to go... But hey, I can make volcanic veins! ... Even if they're vanishin', is that normal?" Leanne removed her cap and wiped some sweat off her brow- it seemed like the new spell was draining her energy. "Phew, it's hot in here all of a sudden..."

Reaching into his cloak, Lark pulled out a crystal goblet, and with a snap of his fingers, it was filled to just below the brim with water. "Here ya go. Dehydration's a bitch, especially when you're performin' fire magic. Be glad you're not doin' water magic today." As Leanne took a sip from the goblet, Lark turned to Raunen. "Oho? Are you interested in our type of magic? Because lemme tell ya, if it decides you ain't worth it, it'll burn yer soul to tiny little pieces."

"Oh, now look what you've done!" Leanne paused between gulps of water. "You've done got him started! Hope you're ready for a lecture!"

"Now now Leanne, just because you hate studying, doesn't mean he does." A cough to clear his throat. "Now, let's see... Fire magic. One of the four common elements, hot and dry, summer. Fire is associated with rage and impulsiveness, which is why Leanne here is so in tune with it." Another fireball to the head, this one simply dissolving with a snap of Lark's fingers. "If you can't control it, it'll try to burn everything around it. Which includes your friends. Which includes you if you're unlucky enough to not have immunity to your own flames. Now... If it's hot and dry, it'll be at its strongest, but the cooler and moister you get, the more it'll fizzle out. It's strong against wind, which it can absorb to grow... And weak to earth, which smothers it without risk of burning itself."

[ColArana]

Ranuen nodded in agreement with Leanne's statement. It wasn't like magic he'd seen before, so he was a little bit hyped. Studying wasn't really his thing. Ranuen learned by doing. And by "doing" we mean "getting himself hit in the face until he either died or figured it out." Leanne's dehydration was a little surprising to Ranuen, but as Lark continued to explained it made some sense to him. It wasn't something Ranuen was familiar with, but then. He practiced a different style of fire magic, it seemed.

And then Lark informed Ranuen about the consequences of their brand of magic. ....Unfortunately, his description of the magic style only made Ranuen more interested. "Really!? But that's the best KIND of magic!" Magic that you had to be so careful with, like that, usually produced amazing result. Can't get something without nothing afterall, right? Leanne seemed to despair about Lark beginning a lecture, and although Lark mentioned that "just because Leanne hated studying didn't mean Ranuen did... well"

"Nah, I hate it too." He said. "Maybe it's a thing with fire affinity people, but we don't have the time to sit down and read. I only did it originally to get me started. But frig, listening to someone explain it is better than having to read it." He added.

So far a lot of Lark's explanation made sense. Rage and impulsiveness. YUP! Sounded about right. Especially the impulsiveness bit in Ranuen's case. Potential of losing control? That was also similar to Ranuen's expectations. Burning others was not appealing to Ranuen, as a risk, though he didn't mind burning himself. "I..... always saw fire magic as directed devastation. Like wrangling some monstrous creature, and less controlling it, but more... pointing it in the direction of the people you want to use it again." He admitted. Some might see wind as the element of freedom, but Ranuen saw it as fire. Because fire could never truly be tamed, even by its casters. Directed? Yes. But fire would always be fire, and always had to be managed with care. The information about earth and wind weaknesses.... that was new.

"However.... couldn't a powerful enough fire mage destroy even earth?" Ranuen asked.

[DanteMGalileo]

"Oh, hypothetically, yes. A large enough fire could destroy the earth. So could a sufficiently large fist. So could a sufficiently enormous and angry duck. It's not special, and besides, if I can't make a fireball that large, the chances of someone making said hypothetical giant fireball are practically nil." Lark sat down on a tombstone, crossing his legs. "Yes, a giant star speeding crashing into a planet would kill it. And it would probably kill a lot more than just the planet. A tiny sphere of iron stands little chance against something like that." He shook his head. "But as I said, the chances of said fire existing are practically nil. For more conventional-sized flames..." Lark stood up and picked a leaf off a nearby tree, wilted brown. "Dead organic matter catches fire easily."

With a snap of his fingers, the leaf caught fire, burning in Lark's hands to just ash. "But if there's even a little bit of life left in it, whatever's on fire will fight back. Why do you think burning to death is one of the most painful ways to die?"

Leanne had finished drinking her water, wincing a bit. "Um... because it's really hot?"

"... Yes. But, oh, I've seen people burn to death. It's not pretty. Eventually they reach a point where they beg to die. Sadly, that's often when you have to do it for them."

[ColArana]

Ranuen sighed. It hadn't been exactly what he'd meant. He'd been more referring to Lark's explanations of the elements and how Earth trumped fire. However, what Lark said after that worked too! "Heh. Then maybe I'll be the first." He commented with a confident grin. Hell, his magic reserves might be able to handle it one day! If nothing else, Ranuen's reserves grew at an astonishing rate, due to having to expend them just to maintain everyday life. If he could one day throw off Brandish's spell he'd still be left with an absurdly abundant reserve of magic.

Lark continued his lecture, and Ranuen frowned slightly. "Is that how you see it, huh? That life instinctively fights against fire?" Hmm... that felt wrong to him. Somehow. But perhaps that was because of his personal affinity with the element.

"Then it'd be important to master the element as fast as you can, so you can burn them away instantly." Ranuen suggested. "I'm a swordsman.... a fighter, a warrior before I'm a mage. Letting someone suffer as they die... It doesn't sit right to me. I'll kill my enemy sure, but I'd rather just cut them down and move on. Unless they've done something really terrible, there's no need to draw it out." Well, at least as a spellsword class, Ranuen was well equipped to end someone's suffering quickly.

He pondered for a moment longer. "If.... Leanne doesn't mind.... what's the most basic spell in the fire magic's repertoire, and would it be possible for me to learn it?" 

[DanteMGalileo]

"Aw great, now I gotta sit through this beginner crap again, thanks a lot, Ant- Raunen!" Sulking into her goblet, the water began to bubble and create steam with Leanne's touch. "I already finished this crap years ago... It's like dealin' with that retarded kid in regular school..."

And then the water splashed the pink-haired girl in the face following Lark's finger snap. "The hell was that for?!"

"Not everyone is a magical prodigy, Leanne." The white-haired man gave Leanne a disapproving look. "Nor is everyone else here from our world. Besides, I recall that you almost flunked your tests with me. Clearly, your aversion to studying is going to be a problem."

As Leanne made an undignified "hmph!", Lark turned towards Raunen. "The most basic fire spell available is the humble Fireball." Without so much as a twitch, a red fireball appeared, struck a tombstone, and vanished. "Now, why don't we start with Holy Hellfire Level One Hundred? Well, for starters, the ultimate fire spell is called Loki's Wrath, so no such spell exists... But the main reason is because of a lack of control. This is common with all magic, but the grim elements- fire, earth, and shadow- tend to be more capricious than the bright elements- water, wind, and light. You don't want Loki to smite you because you couldn't control his wrath. That's why we start with basic fireballs."

[ColArana]

Ranuen's face flushed with embarrassment at Leanne's chastisement... though he wasn't certain that Leanne's new name for him, was a slip of the tongue, or if she honestly intended to call him Ant-Ranuen now. It was.... a slight improvement on Antsy he supposed? "I didn't mean to set your own studies back Leanne!" He exclaimed in a little apprehension.

His gazed focused. "Then I've gotta advance as quickly as possible so I don't hold you back!" He decided.

Fireball was the most basic spell. Well, that was true enough even for Ranuen. Fireball was, while not the spell he started with, certainly the spell he got the hang of first-- there had been.... accidents, when he'd tried to jump the gun and start with his flame augments. "I see....." Ranuen answered, studying Lark closely as he did so. He extended his arm, and created one of his own, a modest-sized red-orange fireball that shot out and hit another tomb. The fireball wavered and flickered-- unstable; Moments before it struck the tombstone and engulfed its upper half in flame, as Ranuen tried to apply alien concepts to his own magic-style.

"You said something about fire magic burning your soul to tiny pieces... is that the source of your magic?" Ranuen asked. Trying to work out how and where to begin focusing on drawing strength from.