Nyal panted from the intense heat that surrounded him, sweat dripping from his skin. The inside of the barn was much worse than the outside. It had been filled with hay, which burned quickly, the smoke billowing around him. It suffocated him, invading his lungs and causing him to cough and splutter. He wasn't even sure if the daughter he had been sent to save was still alive.

He could hear the creaking and crackling of the barn and he knew it wouldn't be long before it collapsed. All he could see was charred black wood and smoke and the dancing orange flames. He needed to move quickly.

He dropped to the ground, bringing an arm up to cover his face. He still had water with him and used it to put out the fire around him. Luckily the door of the barn had been left open, allowing him to gather water whenever he needed it.

"Hello!" he cried, listening for the sound of a voice over the crackling and raging fire. Nothing, he heard nothing. "Hello! Little girl? Are you in here?"

The sound of choking reached his ears. He turned towards it, finding it on the other side of the barn, past collapsed wooden beams covered in deadly orange flames. He cursed, jumping up from the dirty ground.

He pulled rain in from behind him, barely letting it gather into a proper ball before he sent it flying towards the burning beams. The flames weren't completely out before Nyal was leaping over, looking around wildly for the person he was meant to save.

A little girl sat curled up on the bare wooden floor, coughing violently. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were tattered, illuminated in orange light. She glanced up at him, eyes wide with fear and her face bright red from the heat. She looked maybe five years old.

Nyal breathed out a sigh of relief, inching closer her to her slowly so that he didn't scare her. She looked skittish, terrified, it was understandable really.

"Hey there," he said in a soothing voice, staying low to the ground. "I'm here to get you out. I need you to come over here, please."

The little girl shook her head, looking past and around him, watching the flames dance jump about. She moved backwards, only to find more flames behind her.

"No! Wait, I can get us out of here!" he cried. "Watch." He concentrated, pulling at the rain that was now bucketing down. It moved into the barn in a steady stream, flowing like a river. It circled around them, putting out the nearby flames.

The little girl sat up, staring at him as the smoke billowed around them. He gestured, beckoning her forward, an encouraging smile on his face. "Come on," he said. "I can help you."

They needed to get out of there now, before the whole barn collapsed on them. He could hear it groaning and creaking, and he knew that not even his powers could save it. All he could do was get the little girl out.

She inched towards him slowly, reaching out a hand to him. "Come on," he said, trying not to show his impatience. He understood the girl was scared, but they needed to leave. She came within arms reach and he grabbed her, ignoring the noise she made as he drew her against his chest.

He grabbed more water from outside, using it to make a path through the flames. He tried to stay low to the ground, while also trying to rush out of the collapsing and burning barn. He needed to save this girl.

He coughed loudly, breathing in black smoke. He heard a loud snap next to his head, one of the supporting beams of the barn. He cursed, not caring that the child could hear him and stood up. He gathered more water, holding it above their heads as he ran as fast as he could.

He could hear the barn crumbling around him, beams and planks of wood covered in flame falling down around them. He panted, his throat burning, his whole body burning from the intense heat that surrounded them.

He let out a cry as he burst through the open doors of the barn just as the roof caved in, the barn falling completely into a pile of burning wood, somewhat resembling a messy bonfire. The flames and embers throwing themselves on the dirt path. Men rushed to put the fires out with their buckets of water, while the mother ran for Nyal.

"My baby! My little Ruby!" she cried hysterically, her arms waving. Nyal put the little girl, Ruby, down, letting her run for her mother. "Oh, my sweet thing, are you okay?"

The little girl nodded, while Nyal said, "She's a little burnt, but I can fix that." It didn't take him long to heal the blisters that were forming on the girl's arms. He was honestly surprised the girl's injuries weren't that bad, considering where she had been.

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" the woman cried, embracing him tightly. "I don't know how to repay you."

"There's no need, ma'am," he replied. "Just doing my job."

"Still, thank you so so much," the woman said. "I'm heading into the city to find somewhere safe, you should do the same."

"No, I'll stay and help as best I can."

The mother nodded. "You're a very noble young man, the city needs more people like you," she said before turning and taking her daughter by the hand. They ran off together, heading towards the more populated part of the city, where Nyal could see guards emerging from between the buildings. He hoped they would be able to help.

Hearing more cries of distress, Nyal turned and ran, making his way further into the dying farmlands. The ran was pouring down now, helping drastically in the extinguishing on the fires. There was nearly no hope of salvage for most of the crops and buildings, but the flames needed to be put out.

Two men slowly shuffled past him, one of them being held up by the other, burns on every piece of skin that was visible, burns a lot like the ones Nyal had sustained when he was fighting Azel. He stopped and made his way back to them.

"Wait, I can help you!" he called.

"Sure you can," the less burned man snarled in a thick eastern accent.

"I'm a healer!" The man said nothing in reply, but did slow his pace. "I can help you."

"Let him," the burned man grunted, his breath coming out in pained gasps. "Please."

The man was laid down on the ground and the remains of his clothing were removed. He groaned at every movement, the skin was blistered and had peeled away, bleeding profusely. It had turned the dark brown colour of dead crisp flesh. His friend stayed near him the whole time, telling him that he would be okay.

As far as Nyal could tell, it was everywhere on the man's body. He used the water that was falling around them as well as the drops that had stuck to the man's skin. He covered the front of his body completely. He tried to think of what it would look like, but not knowing what the man looked like before the burns made it a lot harder. He instead concentrated on the skin itself and what it looked like, allowing it to form under his hands.

The man gasped and laughed when he lifted up his completely healed hand, tears leaking from his eyes. "Almost done, " Nyal said. "I just need to do your back. Think you could turn over for me?"

The man did as he was asked and rolled over with a groan. Nyal quickly went to work, fixing the disgusting burns that covered every inch of his skin. Soon enough the wounds were gone and the man was back to normal. He sat up and touched his face, a bewildered grin on the newly healed flesh.

"By the Gods," he muttered, looking at Nyal like has something sent to him by Yararanje himself. "Thank you so much!"

Nyal only nodded, getting up from his place on the damp and muddy ground. The rain was working well to dampen out the fires, but it would need some extra. He could still see buildings and plants burning fiercely. "I have to go."

He didn't see the bewildered look on the pair's faces as he ran off towards the nearest building. Only some of his guilt was relieved by the people he helped, part of his still felt responsible for the huge fire that had spread. His first and probably only visit to Fiume and it had ended in complete disaster.

He pulled at the rain, forming a ball about the size of one of the farmhouses. He manoeuvred it so that it sat atop one of them, before moving it slowly down the flaming building. The men and women putting it out turned to stare at him, some looking back and forth between the now drenched and charred building and Nyal.

It went like that until the sun rose high into the sky, basking the land in a pale orange light not that much different from the small flames that still littered the destroyed farms. He had spent the night putting out fires, rescuing people from their burning homes, and healing those with deadly burns.

The guards sent from further into the city had helped him greatly, listening to anything he told them to do. It was almost as if he were in charge of them all, the leader of a group of firefighters.

He was running completely on adrenaline, had been for many hours before the sun even became a slither of light above the horizon. He didn't want to stop, knowing that if he did he would collapse from sheer exhaustion.

Elora hadn't shown back up at all during the night, and Nyal hoped that it was because she was dealing with the dragon. It could also mean that she didn't find him, but he didn't want to think about that.

He hadn't thought about that since he started fighting the fires, he didn't want to, there was enough stress in helping the dying and injured people. It only got worse when there were ones he couldn't save. He didn't get to them in time and they burned in their houses or died of their wounds no matter how hard he tried to heal them.

Before the Guild and Elora, it was rare for him to lose someone he was trying to help. Maybe once a year it would happen, and only because they were sick with something Nyal hadn't run into before. Now though, he had lost more people than all those years combined. The sounds of the screams of grief and loss echoed in his ears constantly.

It was no longer raining, the pouring water dying down about an hour beforehand. It had really helped, giving Nyal a constant source of water and putting out whatever he couldn't reach.

The number of times he had been thanked during the night was nearly incomprehensible, he had never been thanked that much in his life. He had never seen that many tears of sheer happiness either. It did help to relieve his guilt, which he was sure he felt more than his exhaustion.

Lost in his own head, he found himself in the middle of burnt crops, putting out a small fire that could easily spread. There was no way the crops could be saved, and only the Gods knew how much had been lost during the night. They would need to restart everything. They might not even have enough to last the year.

That would mean they would need to get resources from their enemies. And who knew how the war would affect something like that. It could be that the war for the east would end a lot quicker than everyone expected, and all because a dragon set fire to the farms.

"Mister Belthorne!" a familiar voice called.

He turned to see Queen Astor standing by the edge of the crop field, surrounded by guards and her rude advisor; Nyal couldn't remember his name anymore. She wore a dress of purple satin, covered by a thick wool coat, her gold crown sitting on the beautifully curled hair that framed her made-up face. He couldn't help but think that she seemed to overdressed for such an occasion. However, it was not his kingdom or his queen, so he couldn't say a word.

"Your Majesty," he replied with a bow, putting out the smoking embers and making his way over.

"I've been hearing tales of your heroics all morning," she told him, looking around at her burnt kingdom. People wandered slowly past, not even paying attention to their queen. Some carried belongings, buckets, wounds. "I don't know how we are meant to make it through the year, but without you so much more would have been lost. Thank you."

"It's what I do," Nyal said. It may have been the truth, but it felt like he was lying. "But you're very welcome."

She smiled sweetly at him, but he could see a lone tear running down her cheek."We still aren't sure who caused this," she started. "But we think it might be one of our many enemies. And we were just starting negotiations too." When Nyal shook his head she said, "You don't think so?"

"No, your highness, Elora and I believe it was the person she spoke to you about last night," Nyal answered.

Astor frowned deeply, almost as if she were lost in thought. "We'll have to talk about this later," she said. "Now, where is the Keeper? I must thank her too."

"I don't know where she is," Nyal replied. He hoped she wasn't in danger. He couldn't help her if she was. He didn't feel she was in trouble. She could hold her own against anything.

"How-" the Queen started, only to be interrupted by a strong gust of wind that blew her hair into her face.

Nyal looked to his side, chuckling lightly. It was as if the demigod heard her name being called. Elora was landing in the blackened ground, her wings beating against the air slowly. The came to rest along her back when she landed. There were leaves in her hair and mud coated her billowing cloak. Despite her messy appearance, she looked as intimidating as ever.

There was no dragon with her, and it felt like a stone had dropped in Nyal's stomach. "Did you find him?" were the first words out of Nyal's mouth, even though he was sure he already knew the answer.

Elora shook her head and Nyal felt dread pool in his gut like a weight in his stomach. The dragon was gone.