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It was another day, the blazing sun hanging overhead, the heat tolerable for now.
Slace was very much awake. Kneeling at a shrine within the fire kingdom, he seemed to be praying.
Vira and Kisei were there but were outside the shrine; well, that was the case until Vira tried to walk in.
Slace finished praying and glared at Vira, causing her to step back out of the shrine.
"You don't even intend to give praises to the ancient dragons, so why come inside?"
Vira just stood there thinking for a minute; she then spoke as monotonously as ever.
"I don't know, I just felt like it."
Slace got up, sighing; he was annoyed as per usual. He then walked straight up to Vira and reprimanded her.
"This is a shrine of the ancient dragons; if you have nothing to say to them, don't come inside."
He then suddenly took a tight grip of her arm, pointing out even more.
"Look, your hands aren't even clean, dipshit, and you also didn't even bring an offering."
Slace let go; everyone was looking, but they actually agreed with Slace. Vira said nothing, simply understanding.
That's when Kisei's voice perked up in curiosity, asking a question. They hadn't spoken in a while, but as per usual, they were the same.
"Why, why? Are ancient... ancient dragons important? And what... what... happ-happened? Well, we were we were we were gone."
Slace looked around, deciding to leave since everyone was technically watching now; he didn't like the attention.
"Ugh, I'll tell you just follow me."
Kisei and Vira followed as the group walked through an isolated alley.
"The king found out who I was." He irritably scratched his head. "And an ancient dragon will be joining us."
That's all Slace said; he left out everything else.
Vira and Kisei didn't seem surprised, but that's just who they were as people, but Vira did ask a question showing slight concern.
"Are you sure it's fine that he knows who you are?"
They walked for a while through the alleyway before Slace simply nodded, not saying anything else.
Vira and Kisei could tell Slace didn't want to talk about this topic anymore.
They kept walking, with sweat dripping, the noise of stepping against the ground, and the occasional breeze of wind.
Then Slace broke the silence, speaking with an objective; they had wasted too much time here.
"Let's leave this kingdom soon; if we keep dragging our time, we'll never get anywhere."
Vira and Kisei simply nodded as Slace whipped out his wallet, looking at his Fiarials.
"You two get everything from the inn; I'll buy rations for the trip."
They both understood leaving Slace to his lonesomeness.
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A few hours later they arrived at the gates of the castle, the exit gates to be specific.
Slace carried a bag of rations, while Vira and Kisei carried what little stuff they had in the inn.
The gates opened as they left the fire kingdom, and Iml was just waiting there, laid down in the sand.
Iml perked up, making a loud whooshing sound, sand flying everywhere as he sprung up.
"I am grateful you let me participate in your journey, Slace."
Slace simply nodded, maintaining an aspect of respect within the relationship, as I was an ancient dragon after all.
Slace then made a request of the ancient dragon.
"Could you please carry our luggage?? We will be walking for quite awhile before we hit the nature kingdom."
Iml nodded; it wasn't that much luggage after all, and ancient dragons could carry a lot.
"Thank you." Slace said, bowing before putting the luggage on Iml and wrapping it around. his body with strong string.
With that, the dragon flew up as the group began to walk. Slace remembered to remind Vira and Kisei about the deserts.
"One step off the trail and you'll get lost, so stay close to it at all costs, dumbasses."
Vira couldn't help but feel a little jealous (despite her cold demeanor) of the fact that Slace respected Iml more than her and Kisei.
"Why do you respect that dragon so much more than us?" Vira asked, curiousity driving her.
Slace didn't even look back at the two as he spoke offensively of them.
"Because unlike you two, Iml is an ancient dragon; he deserves respect for just being in that species."
Vira quickly backed out, just agreeing, "I guess you're right."
"We especially can't leave that idiot alone either." Slace noted, clearly talking about Kisei, who was digging their nails into their head, doing whatever the hell they were doing.
With that, they continued on their journey to the nature kingdom, and as they did, a deep seed started to sprout within Vira.
A sprout of fuel towards unleashed hatred.