Selene...
Even though Marcus had asked her to trust him, she wasn't feeling especially enthusiastic about putting her problems onto him. The armor cost alone was close to 1700 gold coins, something only a king would be willing to pay the price for.
How does he expect to get the funds for something so outrageously expensive that quickly?
Well, regardless of that, she needed to let Dean know that she is unfit to be serve as the vice-captain for the time being. Though, the thought of having to confront him about that after the years they have spent working together, telling him that she is too unstable to continue her job...it made her nervous. Even as she stood at the entrance of the brotherhood hall, she couldn't bring herself to cross the threshold and make her way inside.
In there, she would be met by the other members of the brotherhood that treated her with respect, even if part of that respect was out of fear, they still respected her authority more than they did Dean's. The way she was right now, she didn't feel that she deserved to have that authority.
She took a deep breath as she tried to calm her nerves and walked inside.
As she looked around, she noticed that the hall was somewhat empty despite the fact that the Contest of Champions was only a little under a month away. On one side, she figured that some of them would have stayed around to make plans for the event as it would last for an entire month as well. On the other side, it made sense that they would be taking more jobs now than usual since people would be coming from all over the world to see it. That meant that people will want their crops and homes to be defended from monsters while they were gone.
Seeing most of them being absent only did so much to ease her nervousness though as it meant that she couldn't distract herself from speaking to him with the sound of rowdy drunks enjoying their booze.
Taking all these details in was really meaningless but she couldn't help herself as she wanted to think about anything else other than having to speak to the captain about her situation. Yet it was a straight shot to him as she spotted him sitting at the bar mulling over some paperwork.
"Dean...?" she tried to say and he turned around to look at her.
"Huh...? Oh, hi Selene. What's going on?" he said as he turned his attention back to his papers.
"I need to speak with you about something, do you have time?" she asked in a meek tone which he noticed right away. He turned his head to look at her once again, and the expression on his face was that of mild confusion.
"I don't think I've seen you act like this before... Is everything alright?" he said as he gave her his undivided attention but it caused her to step back.
"Well...that armor that I've had all these years to keep my power in check, its been destroyed completely and it can't be replaced. Even if the same person who made the original armor had a second set prepared, it wouldn't be able to hold back the other half of my magic. Its too unstable to be kept in check at the moment so...I need to ask you for an extended leave from my position as Vice-captain until I can get it replaced," she said, as firmly as she could without stuttering.
Hearing that, Dean seemed unsure of what to say. He looked back down at his papers and then back at her before he spoke.
"Selene, I understand your concern but I don't think its that much of a problem if you continued to work-"
"Dean, you don't get it! The slightest amount of emotion causes my magic to react. I don't trust myself to work when I'm constantly stressed out, when I'm worried about burning people alive by accident. Do you trust me not to accidentally kill someone just by being near them?"
"Selene...? Can you calm down please?" he asked, his face dripping with sweat and his skin rapidly turning red as if being sunburnt. The ink on the papers next to him started to leak and make a mess of the pages.
"Oh...oh my god. I'm sorry," she said as she took a step back but Dean waved his hands in front of him.
"No no! Its...its fine. Look, take however much time you might need until you can get a replacement for the armor. Don't worry about anything...Just head back home and I'll worry about things here until you think its fine to come back," he said with mild panic on his face. It was clear to both of them that if she had gotten any further agitated, she wouldn't have been able to control herself from nearly burning him to ash.
"I-I need to go...," She said with a slight stutter and left the hall in a rush.
As she was running through the streets on her way back home, she herself starting to panic as her heart started racing and although her clothes were resistant to burning, the road under her feet was not. She was grateful though that she could control her moonlight far better than her flames because then she would have to worry about her clothes being spontaneously torn apart and having to replace her clothes all the time.
All things considered though, if she had the option to trade her problems, she would take suffering from embarrassment over burning everything around her.
As she continued on down the streets, it was almost completely empty as everyone had completely avoided the area. Every step she took caused the stones under her feet to spark from the heat and the sidewalk to soften as it turned to molten rock.
She needed to get out of town but she didn't trust herself to use her teleportation or run the risk of releasing too much power in the process. Instead, she ran into an alley and hid herself inside to try and calm herself.
As she sat down on the filthy ground, the trash and vermin around her began burning to ash before they had the chance to run away from her. She pulled her legs close to her chest and closed her eyes.
She sat there as she listened to the sound of the walls melting and the bodies of insects sizzling but it didn't do anything to relieve the fear in her mind.
As she sat in the alley waiting for the panic to subside, she couldn't help but think of when she first met Dean.
Fifteen years ago...
It had been quite some time since the mysterious woman had appeared in the flash of moonlight and spoke in a strange language before leaving her alone in the forest.
She had watched from afar as her father fought against Malthael only for both his flames and the dragon's to sputter out and disappear. Soon after, the dragon's body collapsed against the mountain face and curled up around it, digging its claws into the ground as if in great pain before going deathly still.
As the dragon fell, she felt elated because she believed that her father had defeated Malthael but the longer she waited for him to return to her side, the more worried she felt that he might not return at all but she continued to wait there.
Days passed and not even the mystery woman had reappeared either. She had left her in the forest only to immediately abandon her there.
She had lost her patience and decided to try and make her way back to Lunaas to search for her father but since she had been left in a forest dozens of miles away, it took her several more days just to walk there. By the time she made it to the front gate into town, she looked like a street urchin covered in dirt and mud. As she was stumbling towards the entrance, hungry and weak, the guards standing at the entrance recognized her and gave her a look of disgust and bitterness that she didn't understand but let her enter either way.
As she walked through the town, she looked around and noticed all the people mourning the people who had died trying to fend off the army of Draugr that Malthael had summoned. The sky above the town was tinted grey from the smoke of all the bodies that had to be burned to prevent any more Draugr from rising. The people that had survived the battle filled the streets as many of them still had injuries that kept them stuck in the town until they could be treated.
Many of those that watched her passing through the streets gave her the same look that the two guards had given her when she walked inside. She had thought that maybe they still hated her for what had happened to the children she had killed by accident but she did not realize that they hated for because her father prioritized her safety over theirs.
It took her some time but eventually she found the missing people's board in the center of town and looked for her father's name even though she was having trouble reading.
"Is there someone you're looking for kid?" a guard said as they walked up to her. He was someone she didn't recognize and it didn't seem that he knew who she was either as he gave her a kindly smile.
"M-my father, Adrian Kiser," she said in a quiet voice.
The guard's mouth opened in shock as he realized who she was but unlike everyone else, he didn't react in anger but rather, gave her a look of pained understanding.
"Alright then. Are you having trouble trying to find his name?" he asked and she nodded.
"I can't read all that well," she stammered and he knelt down next to her before pointing to one of the papers.
"Well..., I'm sure you won't want to hear this but since you're having trouble reading, Adrian's name is on the missing person's paper," he said and she wasn't sure what to do now that she knew he hadn't been found and broke down crying.
The guard gave her a sympathetic look and sat down on the ground next to her and placed his hand on her head as he said bluntly, "You know...most of the guards and the people here hate your father, and by extension, they hate you as well. They are mad that your father decided to protect you rather than them but...I completely understand him for choosing you over them. Honestly..., I wish I had made the same choice. I had chosen to follow through with my duty to defend my home from the Draugr and even though we managed to fend them off, when I came home, I had found a Draugr feasting on my wife and children. If I had chosen to prioritize my duty as a father instead of my duty as a town guard then maybe they would have been alive now."
His words didn't do much to make her feel better but for some reason it stopped her from crying as she looked up at him. Although her father was missing, she didn't want to think about the possibility that he was dead. Listening to this guard vent about his dead family and his regret for not staying behind with them built an understanding between the two of them.
Another guard walked by and told him something quickly and he stood up to leave.
"I'm sorry I can't help you further but I hope you find your father. Good luck," he said before walking off leaving her feeling empty and unsure what to feel. She was too young to understand how to process all of the complex emotions she was feeling, from listening to him and from seeing all the looks that everyone else was giving her.
As the day had come to an end, she decided to make her way back to their old home in town only to find that most of it had been destroyed save for the kitchen and her father's bedroom. With the bathroom destroyed and the pipes not feeding water into the kitchen, she didn't have a way to wash herself and used whatever clothes she could find to wipe it off of her.
Once she was partially satisfied with having cleaned herself, she ate whatever edible food she could still find before she climbed into her father's bed, and huddled underneath the blankets as the cold air filtered into her house and made her shiver.
Feeling immensely lonely and cold, she cried herself to sleep.
When she woke up, the smell of smoke filled her nose and fire burned all around her. As night fell, things became significantly colder and as a response to that, her body reacted to it by emitting flames from her body to keep her warm.
"No, no no no!" she cried as her home had been reduced to rubble from her own power while she slept. The roof above her started to groan and the ceiling cracked as it could no longer support itself. As it was about to fall on top of her, she ran out of her father's bedroom and darted out of the house. She fell to the ground as she barely avoided being buried under the collapsing house, her naked body once again being covered in dirt and mud.
She looked behind her and started to cry as her home was unrecognizable to her now but the sound of drawn swords startled her as she looked behind her and noticed a group of guards had surrounded her and pointed their weapons at her. One of them was the guard she had spoken to yesterday and his eyes widened as he recognized her. His sword arm dropped as he did not want to harm her and took a step back. The other guards though did not share his view on the situation and continued to point their swords at her.
Unable to speak out or defend her, the guard ran off as the rest of them forced her out of the town.
They didn't seem to care all that much that she had come back to town to meet up with her father but when she burned down her house, they figured that exiling her was for the betterment of everyone else's safety.
She was given a new set of clothes, some food, and some money before they forced her out.
Without knowing where to go, she headed back to the forest that she had been left before as it was the only other place she knew about. By the time she had made it back, her clothes had already been reduced to ashes as she had to emit flames from her body to keep herself warm.
As she looked around for shelter, she stumbled across a cave only for a bear to come charging out with its mouth open bearing its fangs at her.
It was at this moment that she first used her magic to kill something on purpose, even if it was just in self defense. She reached out her hands, and as she shouted at the top of her lungs, powerful flames streamed from her hands. It tried to run away from her in fear of the fire but it was already smothered in it and in moments, it was burnt to a crisp.
Relieved that it had died before it could tear her apart, she turned her attention back to the cave only to find two smaller bears inside.
Realizing what she had done, she fell to her knees feeling sick to her stomach and vomited. She had killed these two bear cubs' mother when it was just defending her children and its home.
The bear cubs, after seeing what Selene had done to their mother, they ran away in fear of her and gave their home to her.
After she had calmed down, she walked into the cave and set herself on fire to keep herself warm. As she took a deep breath, her flames entered her lungs but it felt the same as if she was breathing air. She held her hand in front of her with her palm facing upwards. She tried to focus her flames into her hands and a ball of fire levitated above it.
She let out a tired sigh.
She didn't feel like crying anymore and just wanted to be left alone, to which she felt grateful that she had now found a cave to live in.
Several months passed and she had been forced to hunt to keep herself fed. All things considered, it wasn't all bad. Things had been relatively peaceful for her. Even though she couldn't seem to keep any clothing from being burnt to ashes, the constant stream of magic that she was releasing kept people who approached the forest to steer clear of her. Though it did have the consequence of driving off most of the animals as well, it forced her to adapt a hunter's stillness and calm so that she could get her food. This benefited her because it helped her control her magic to some degree.
Due to her constant release of magic, it brought people outside the forest to believe a fire demon inhabited it. To quell their fear of her, they hired the man who had brought down the dragon Malthael to kill her.
One day, while she was cooking a dear that she had killed the same day, she heard the footsteps of a man approaching the entrance to her cave. She stood up and covered herself in flames to hopefully scare him away but the footsteps only became louder as the man drew closer.
Once he was visible and could see her for what she was, he said, "Hold on a minute...I was hired to kill a fire demon but...you're just a kid. Dammit, I'm not gonna get paid shit for this."
Despite seeing her wreathed in flames, he was not really afraid of her, just irritated that he wasn't going to get paid. Either way, she wanted to be left alone.
"Go away," she muttered as she reached out her hand and sent a fireball hurtling towards him.
"Whoa! Hold on! Stop! Let me just ask you real quick, what are you doing here?" he asked as he narrowly dodged it due to how small the cave was.
Her eyes narrowed at him as she didn't feel convinced that the man wanted to help him but responded anyways.
"I was forced out of my home town Lunaas because I burned my house down in my sleep," she said honestly.
He laughed in disbelief but when he realized she wasn't joking he asked, "Really? You burned your house down in your sleep...? Hold on, are you Adrian's girl?"
Hearing her father's name again for the first time in months, her voice was caught in her throat.
"Has he...has anyone found him? Is my daddy okay?" she asked.
The man's face fell as he said, "Uh...I don't know how else to tell you but..."
The realization dawned on her without him having to finish his sentence.
"He's...dead?" she asked and he nodded.
She had already spent so many tears crying herself to sleep that she didn't feel like crying over hearing that he had died and instead stood there silently.
"What's your name kid?" he asked as he tried to walk over to her.
"Selene," she said quietly.
"Well Selene, its nice to meet you. My name is Dean. Now I don't know about you, but I don't think a little girl like you should be stuck living in a filthy cave like this. What would you say to me if I took you out of here and brought you to my home?" he asked as he took off his coat and wrapped it around her naked body.
"You're not going to abandon me too are you?" she asked as she looked up at him with pleading eyes.
He went still for a moment before he gave her a smile and said, "Not a chance."
Now...
As she was thinking back to that time to try and distract herself, she didn't notice as Thalia had wandered into the alley.
"Selene...?" she said curiously.
Surprised, Selene shouted at her, "Don't come near me, please! I don't want my flames to hurt you!"
"Huh?" Thalia said in confusion.
Selene tried to force herself to calm down but the fact that Thalia was wandering around town without supervision made her panic. If Marcus found out that his little sister was walking around town without someone to keep an eye on her he wouldn't be happy about it.
"Wait, what are you doing walking around town Thalia?! You should be waiting back at Marcus's house!" she asked her but Thalia gave her an annoyed glare.
"His house is so boring though! There's nothing to do there and I didn't want to be stuck there for several hours waiting for you or him to come back," she said as she started walking closer to Selene which caused her to feel more panicked.
"S-so...you decided to walk around town knowing that he would get mad if no one was there with you?" she asked and a sheepish expression crossed Thalia's face.
"W-well...I guess but I can't help being bored. What are you doing in an alley though?" before Selene even realized it, Thalia had come within only a few feet away from her and yet...she was completely unbothered by the heat of her flames.
"Thalia...don't my flames bother you?" Selene asked her but Thalia just gave her a confused look.
"No...? I think they look pretty," she said and hearing that made Selene feel something that she didn't understand. No one had ever described her flames as...pretty. It was such a new feeling to her that every other emotion going through her mind ceased to be important to her and all she could focus on was Thalia's words.
But then it turned to panic once again as the hem of Thalia's shirt caught fire.
"Ahh! No!" Thalia said as she batted away at the flames but they only seemed to burn even more as Selene felt embarrassed for having burned her clothes by accident.
"I'm sorry!" she yelped and the rest of Thalia's clothes started to burn even more.
"Make it stop!" Thalia yelped as she batted away at them and before the rest of her clothes could burn away, she teleported herself and Thalia into her apartment which had been fireproofed. She gave Thalia a set of her own clothes that were woven with fireproofing rune formulas and apologized to her.
For the rest of the day, the two of them spent the time talking to each other about everything that had happened since she and Marcus came to this world. Just talking with Thalia and being around her seemed to calm her down to a reasonable level.
The fact that she was neither afraid of her or affected by her flames made Selene feel like she finally found a person that she could talk to without the fear of hurting them. That she could really be herself around her.
"You know, I should really bring you back to Marcus's home before he comes back and panics when he finds you missing," She said and Thalia went pale.
"Yeah..., we should head back," she said with a smile.