[Astylind Name: Fire Iguana]

  [Astylind Level: Level-13]

  [Astylind Grade: Grade-D]

  [Anima Affinity: Fire]

  [Gender: Male]

  [Description: Natives of Firecester. They boast a thick skin, high defense, and resistance to fire, yet their affinity with the element stays on the bottom rung (Recipient).]

  ….

  Fireballs cannoned the hills, lava splattered about, and the last struggling lush of the isle gave up and went up in blaze. Lance fronted the battle, donning his Redboon, his scythe culling the nuisance around—the weaker iguanas who fought for their king—while his shield kept the crowned in check, breaths of fire splitting from his defense.

  Stigma: Negative!

  Sindra: Wrath Inferno!

  Wildfire!

  Ewan cast, his overcoat fluttered with the distorted heat wave, his Spellcrown boosted his spell and his Ryvia, and a blistering field of blue fire engulfed the scorched isle, the waves steaming and bubbling when they broke on the beach. Save the five, as the mystic spell veiled them with its negative mark, the ring of fire erupted on anyone’s touch, incinerating all in its way. The spell controlled while it torched, the effect warranted its cost in triple digits.

  Yet, the crowned Fire Iguana resisted its burn and hissed, howling a breath of fire, pillars of fire rising from the thump of its step, cracking the parched ground.

  “Maintain distance,” Ewan said, drifting back a few steps, easily evading the incoming attack. “I don’t think…it can fly.” They’d bombarded the iguana for minutes now, Lance even taunted it with a bash of his shield, yet it only shot at them from the charred ground, its spells barely reaching them—and when it did, they pulled away. “My test for is done, what do you guys want to test next?”

  “Let me test my three,” Nana said, sending out her three Astylinds—Luna, Lime, and Biscuit, all attuned to the water element now. “I need to test their limits.” Her Runecube rolled around her, its runes glowing a serene cerulean, humming to support her Astylinds if the need arose.

  Luna flew up high, beating her wings, and rained a frigid drizzle on the isle below, and the chilled water fizzled against the field of fire. However, her blaring chirps from the past, the tweets that pestered Ewan all his afternoons, were no more—she hadn’t uttered a peep since she woke up.

  The rain fought the fire as it hindered the Fire Iguana, the heavy steam paving the isle, and when it gained the upper hand, Luna brewed for a minute and fashioned a boulder of leaden water, dark as the depth of Morinfair, dwarfing its creator. And she hurled it down with a flap.

  The Fire Iguana roared at it, wisps of fire snaking around its ginger skin, and on its command, they charged at the boulder. Each wisp exploded with furor, gouging a chunk from the boulder with their deaths, but they still failed, and amidst the iguana’s howl, the boulder crashed onto the isle, snuffing the last rage of fire, and crushing a crater into the earth, kindling a quiet pond.

  “Pull her back,” Ewan said, and Luna flapped back to Nana. “Try Lime or Biscuit next.” But before Nana could hum a yeah, Lime dozed off again and plunged for the ocean—she caught him with practiced moves. And when she turned to Biscuit, he’d already rioted with his roar.

  The now Water Elemental, though still retaining his stone shape albeit in azure, hauled a towering wave from Morinfair and flooded the isle, drowning all in its way. And as the last sizzle of the spell hindered his rampage, his non-existent eyes glared at Ewan…

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  “No!” Nana yelled and triggered her Dekoth.

  But Ewan stopped her from interfering. “It’s fine, let him come, you’ll hurt him if you force the recovery,” he said, readying his Rainwarden and Spellcrown. Biscuit’s case was same as the skewed result of his spell, and though his Astylinds never bit back, he had practiced his spells in case the day ever came. “You guys deal with the iguana, test what you want, it’s a good chance.”

  “I’ll try my and ,” Stefan said, and as his lantern flickered and the runes on his new blindfold—Soulgaze—flashed a golden hue, he aimed for the crowned iguana and hummed the cast. The first was the marking spell he and Ewan had worked on—they derived it from Ewan’s spell but could only add the positive version of it—and his hum brushed the iguana and stained its soul. “Just in case it fails, brace yourself, Lance,” he said. “Souldrain,” and he muttered, reaching out, the flame blazing in his lantern.

  The Fire Iguana growled and wobbled as the buzz of Stefan’s voice caressed it, its legs trembling under its weight, and the spell tugged at its soul. The fire dimmed around it, its breath fluttered, and it collapsed, gasping for air, its eyes hazing up, reflecting its scorched home. Yet, the tensed Lance floated in the air without a flinch, and he heaved a sigh of relief, his shoulders loosened.

  “Don’t kill it yet, Stefan!” Ewan hollered, slitting his wrist, and when the blood spurted out, as Biscuit charged at him, he ended his cast—Spellcrown flipped its pages, and the spell’s leaf saw the light of the day after long years.

  Blood Rein!

  The blob of blood split into soft threads on his command, waving around, and netted the Elemental. Biscuit howled as the blood threads entangled him, and hurled bombs of water from the ocean at Ewan, struggling in the net.

  Repulse!

  A wave of Ryvia burst around Ewan and killed the incoming bombs, drops of water pattering against his Varos. And as Nana fretted, looking at Ewan, he sent more blood threads out and covered the wresting Elemental, almost blanketing it.

  Siesta!

  Rainwarden—his staff—clicked to the mystic element, the crystal orb on top glinting silver, and its Anima cheered around Ewan, frolicking about; they flooded his spell circuit as it glimmered in his soul space.

  “It’s alright,” he said with a soft breath, the mystic droning with his voice, and he eased the taut threads around Biscuit but weaved some more—even if he molded them softer than usual, their stretched limits could still hurt the Elemental. “You’re safe now, go to sleep little guy. She’ll be here when you wake up, you won't be alone.”

  Biscuit rumbled a howl but soon it became a dim cry and a groan, and as the flood he triggered settled down and receded to Morinfair, he dozed off, wrapped inside the blanket of Ewan’s blood.