Purpose:

Upon going outside again, Hyōen could for once enjoy the weather in Hargeon. He was taken by surprise after the serpent chaos ruined his arrival and all, but things cooled down for now. All he had to do today was to go out and take a look at the town, because Hargeon was a very sought place to visit. There were tourists many places, and already when going out of the building, Hyōen stumbled into elders wearing shorts and exotic shirts. He didn’t think about equipping the same wear himself in order to get into the atmosphere and all, but that wasn’t on his mind today. The weather was hot as ever, even causing the Fire Mage to sweat a little. He held a hand up over his forehead, while looking towards the lower rays of the sun that shone across the lands. “Have I ever felt such heat back at Woodsea…” he mumbled a little, noticing that Coda was absent while he did that. He turned his head back to the building and slowly looked up to the window that lead into his room, the room where Coda seemingly rested. The bird would only leave his side in cases like slumber or recovering, and if he recalled correctly, the giant butthead that he and three other mages had slain earlier seemed to target her a lot. Poor Coda, being picked on by larger animals like that; it didn’t suit the occasion well that she was a bird, a being of the air and the sky, while the bully was adapted into living in the oceans...



Speaking of oceans, Hyōen had never seen the ocean before; Worth Woodsea had its lakes, water holes, small ponds and rivers, but the water wasn’t as salty and blue as the water that he spotted stretching far over the horizon. His mind was set, then; it was time to take a dive! So, being the first time that he would ever even touch saltwater, Hyōen quickly went to the port and took his time inspecting sailors that came by. He wanted to see if there was any certain person that wouldn’t mind an extra passenger, but given the fact that they were all strangers to him, it would feel weird and awkward to just go and ask everyone, one by one like a little child. Obviously, hiding above tents, poles, under the docks, that felt much more mature, right? Well, it also got him into quite the issue later on when he suddenly found himself under a dock, holding onto the wood to prevent from falling down to the water. There was surprisingly a good distance to the water, and he wasn’t psychically ready to experience that yet. He had tried swimming in the water holes back at his cottage, but that was a totally different experience, so he kept his caution high here...



Once he made it right beneath a person that sounded like a rather young lad talking to his father, Hyōen began listening to their conversation in order to gain any indications:

“The sails look fine from here, though…”
“No, no, no, the front one just… it looks too tilted to be right. Perhaps it’s gotten a little uneven during our last journey.”
“Are you sure, Pap? From here, it looks to rest in the same angle as the other sails…”
“Well, try and take a look from here, boy. Can’t you see it? It looks obviously crooked from the middle and to its left side. If you don’t notice that early and take care of it, then it might affect your next tour.”
“… Uhm, if you think so, why don’t you climb up there and check for yourself?”
“Oh, don’t give the old man such a hard job! Come on, use your power of youth and do your Papa a favour for once..!”

It kind of turned into a buzz of arguing between father and son, while they took care of the issue. Hyōen wished that he had fallen down to the water before hearing all that, because it just felt so insanely awkward to have witnessed something like that. It was completely unnecessary to hear all that, and it even made his head a little dizzy. Unfortunately, that also caused his hands to lose the grip and when spotting that, he was already meters from the water. “N-No..!” he spoke out loud, pointing his palms down. It was a mere hunch, but he ignited a jet of fire that he mainly used to speed up; however, it helped him to hover over the water… but only for a brief second. He returned to falling straight into the deep ocean, and even though he was still at the docks, the depth here was enough to make his entire body disappear…

WC: 801

The sea water itched and stung a little on his eyes. Hyōen could barely see anything for a good while, until his body floated over the surface of the water. There, he just looked straight up, wondering about the salty feeling that he had right now. “…” It was the first connection between his skin and saltwater, “… Not bad.” From that point on, he paddled himself across the waters using his arms and remained on his back, slowly swimming around the docks. The water felt great, and due to the temperature, it was also warm and almost cozy to float around. He dipped his head down a few times, feeling refreshment cover him every time, until he thought about the stunt that he pulled earlier. “That wasn’t ordinary… I don’t remember having bounced using fire before.” Thinking about it, something told him that he was improving, perhaps progressing in his magic as he thought. That gave him spirit to try and go a little further, in order to see how far that he could go with his magic now. Upon diving into the water, Hyōen looked around as his eyes slowly accustomed to the salt that the sea water contained. He couldn’t see any fish nor any other marine animals here, so he was free to train. Now, he was underwater, so his fire would most likely vapor the water as soon as it makes contact. It was logical, but if he was capable of it, then… perhaps he could vapor so much that an empty space would be left around him, giving room for fire to manifest itself properly. That also depended if said space had any kind of oxygen, but now that Hyōen was holding his breath, he could suffice with that. He crossed his arms and concentrated, feeling the liquids around him boil slowly. However, eventually, he felt the lack of air in his lungs and quickly swam upwards to get some fresh air. When he did that, Hyōen quickly grabbed a few words into his ear from the father and son that he heard earlier. Fearing that more of their family issues would get stuck in his memories, he dove right down again and repeated his earlier attempt.

It wildly began boiling underwater as Hyōen held his arms in a cross before his chest, trying to see if his little experiment would work. It didn’t appear to make any progress the next 15 minutes, but at some point when he was about to lose breath, giant bubbles appeared around him, indicating that the heat was far stronger than the density of water around him. Now, he didn’t know if that made any sense, but progress! Without hesitation, Hyōen went a little further when it came to mana burn, causing a large wave of water to spread away from his body. He mumbled some words underwater, sounding like ‘Just a little more’ or something, but he could feel the heat knock back the saltwater like some kind of moving wall. It was unreal, but when he opened his eyes, saltwater didn’t itch it. Space… an open space and water around him. Obviously, it didn’t last long, because as soon as he opened his mouth in wonder, the water closed back and left him holding his breath again. The Fire Mage quickly swam up to the surface and breathed heavily, confused but a tad satisfied with what he was capable of for now. Fire and water were definitely not friendly together. Hyōen hoped that he would find any way to prevent people in the future from using that weakness against him…

WC: 801 + 604 = 1405

He took his time enjoying the water a little more to save up some strength, before he returned to the coast by climbing up on the docks again. The father and son that were present had left a long time ago, so when Hyōen made it up on the docks instead of surveying beneath it, they weren’t present. Thank god, their stories and conversations could now be kept between those two alone. “I wonder if Coda is doing fine…” he mumbled to himself, worrying about the little animal yet. However, staying around the beach, he also had to check out some more of Hargeon, so he continued to dash across the warm sand in order to find a place to eat. It was calm and warm for now, but Hyōen couldn’t quite find a place to get a little food. Now, given he was at a beach, he didn’t really expect something great… like raw fish. The waves out in the sea made it all the way to his feet, though, and that prompted him to check out the sea itself for food. He did find a van, though, and quickly made his way to the line of people that were all wanting a fresh, cold drink. That wasn’t really what he was going for, but when he thought about it, he was a little thirsty. He wanted to try out this drink that the seller was pouring into these deep bowls, in which he quickly stood in line. There were approximately 10 people before it was his turn, so it was all about patience for now.

At some point, a group arrived behind him. He assumed them to be together due to their clothing and hair styles, which were more than similar to each other. Were they twins? Upon listening to their conversations, it didn’t sound like that. Their voices were different from each other… but they sure had some cocky tone in it. And as Hyōen was only 3 people away from the drinks, those bastards just jumped in line and cut off Hyōen, suddenly surrounding him. He looked around them with a rather dry face, saying: “This isn’t how you get in line, folks.” The boys looked at him with suddenly changed faces, full of intimidation. It was as if Hyōen dissed their parents, that was how angry that they looked. It would be a waste of time to deal with them now, but Hyōen’s temper was getting the upper hand. Some of the people in front of him actually felt like leaving, in which it was finally Hyōen’s turn. However, the gang just walked up past him and took his spot, completely ignoring him. Even the seller saw through their bull, not wanting to sell them anything. That was when he grabbed one of them and pushed him back, making space for himself. “Oh, you dared, eh?” the lad replied, but he was a little slow as Hyōen had already got his drink. Annoyed, the gang approached him from behind, and with the veins on top of his head, he really wanted to chase them away. He could use his fire… but he didn’t want to hurt anyone too bad. Besides, people were all around him; he just wanted to leave the group behind him… he could try and scare them. As they made it just close enough to appeal any kind of threat to him, Hyōen bowed down and proceeded to use that spell from earlier. It didn’t exactly turn out to be the same, because when his mana erupted, it only left a trail of fire backwards and not all around him. The gang, however, saw the fire spreading and quickly made their way from it. Looking back at them, Hyōen sighed and moved away, mumbling: “Are there always people like them in every city..?”

Upon returning home, he took a look at Coda, the bird who was surprisingly absent. “C-Coda..?” he called for it, but without answer, “Coda, you here?” He began checking corners and boxes, the windows, downstairs, but… Coda was highly absent. “Don’t tell me…” he mumbled in worry, quickly making it to the outside as he was searching for the raptor. She never did this before, so it really surprised him. Upon calling for her name in public, he found himself at a little park, imagining that Coda could’ve gone here to get some fresh air. He looked up at the tree crowns, spotting different birds, but no Coda. It really worried him now, and he began chasing around the park, searching for that girl. What he didn’t know was that at the top of the building from where he came, Coda was looking out of her binocular eyes to search for the absent Hyōen. Being fully recovered, all she wanted was to be by his side like always, but the boy left her at the house without warning. She nuzzled her feathers a little in annoyance, feeling like pecking him a couple times when she would find him. It was pretty disrespectful to leave the bird out of all the action…

WC: 1405 + 852 = 2257