Chapter 591: Snowflakes
The ashes came up to my shins now. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to walk on the ashes without leaving a trace, or sink through, leaving swishing footprints in the grey remnants of life and civilization.
It was cold far earlier in the year than it had any right to be, and I suspected we were in for a particularly harsh and brutal winter. Auri was going to be a literal lifesaver hundreds of times over - without easy access to firewood to burn, with limited reserves, the fact that Auri was a neverending font of controlled fire was going to save the citizens of Orthus Village.
I was going to freeze my pretty ass off. Immunity to fire was great until it wasn’t, and I was seriously mentally debating spending significant amounts of time in my [Tower] just to stay warm. That, or cocoon myself in layer after layer of clothing, then liberally apply [Teleportation] to any and all problems. Ventilating our house so we didn’t breathe all the air also gave passage to the South Wind to attempt murder. Or… I could be a little less of an idiot and just Radiance myself. I didn’t have [Radiance Resistance] anymore.
I made a decision on the ashes, and split the difference on how I’d walk. One foot stepped on the ashes, leaving no footprint, no trace of my passage, and the other thudded deep into the not-snow, giving me a staggered walk, like a lady only wearing one heel.
The thick clouds above me parted, roiling away like the sea in the wake of a great ship, and I’d restrained in myself the instinct to flinch, to cast my eyes up to the sky and expect disaster.
Disaster was in the sky, but it was not coming for me. A full flight of dragons were speeding along, off to commit violence and ruin someone’s day.
A dragon sighting was a rare, once-a-decade experience.
A full flight of them was a nightmare, the normally solitary beasts cooperating only under the worst of circumstances. Part of me wanted to try [Identifying] them, but I remembered how, impossibly, Lun’Kat had been able to tell I’d been looking at her. I wasn’t about to tug the dragon’s tail. The saying was usually metaphorical.
They vanished to the west, and I hurried home. I didn’t speed, didn’t fly, didn’t chain teleports, nor did I dawdle. My hand was on the doorknob when a pillar of volcanic flame erupted far over the horizon.