Ashton wasn't worried about chasing the dark mage down in a hunt.
He could only think of the people inside of the estate, while the intruders were average, they were still dark mages. Masters of the night.
[The guard of the patrolling knights are always up, mother and father can take care of themselves, but my sisters...]
Ashton was feeling impatient, but despite his eagerness to dash away and assess the situation, he stood and felt his emotions flow. Impatience into curiosity, then into the weight of philosophy.
[Is desire the root in which all emotion returns and is bore? If so, then time is the soil that gives emotions like love time to be born. That explains why, when I think of my family, I only feel the need to protect them. I threw away the "soil" that birthed my love]
FWISSSSH
The pyre hissed into the night, smoke and ash curled into the sky, but it wasn't the Heavenly Flames crackling over the pyre. It was the heat of spellcraft, Judah knew Ashton didn't want to wait around to retrieve the flame.
He felt the urgency in his master's stance. (Master's mana is thundering) He knew what time Ashton was on, as soon and he cast his magic he dove into his shadow.
The ripple of his shadow launched Ashton's mana from molding into combustion.
As he dashed from the forest, the tree line previously eclipsing the moonlight shortened, not to reveal the moon and its illuminance but a red wall of light.
As he stepped onto the concrete walkway, the sight of the colosseum in flames didn't anger Ashton, it hardened him further.
The sight of knights dashing in and out of the blaze, mages firefighting with magic, his confused and burned servants, his father hovering in the air issuing orders.
It all became the pressure surrounding the diamond that is Ashton Whey.
The sound of his footsteps were quiet, unheard by anyone on the scene. Not because of the noise of the commotion.
It was just quiet. Ashton hadn't even noticed.
He crept into the crowd unnoticed.
However, his voice was heard.
"Father..." His voice although quiet, reached out to the entire crowd.
Count Shaun started to descend from his flight, his night clothes wavy in the wind. His shirt unbuttoned as he usually slept without one, danced behind his figure like a cape.
"Water magic isn't working, earth specialist smother the damn fire!" He yelled as he finally touched down next to Ashton.
"How many?" Ashton asked, his eyes were clear, but his heart was on his sleeve.
He didn't ask what was happening, if there were intruders, or even about his family.
The count saw the look written across his son's face. Despite his change, Ashton was still an open book to his father. Count Shaun saw the edge of a general within his son, he knew that he was burying his worries while in the midst of battle.
"We don't know yet. The knights have braved the inferno inside to rescue survivors, but the deeper they go the more reports of victims there are."
Unbothered by the news of the dead, there would be time for grieving and vengeance later after all, Ashton only took the situation in.
[A fire unaffected by water, fascinating. The affectionate and expecting eyes of my people... I have done nothing to earn your respects]
It didn't make sense to Ashton, the reverence of his citizens couldn't just because of his talent, or his noble birth. Their gaze was becoming distracting, an anchor in his mind preventing analysis. Yet it also became a sense of responsibility, the reinforcing of his desire to protect had grown into protect by any means.
And that started here.
[What is this smell...] Underneath the smoke and char in the air, Ashton noticed the artificial must emanating from chemicals.
"Father, this fire isn't magic. It's alchemy." It was an announcement that pressed pause on the firefighting mages, which upset Count Shaun.
"Don't stop just because you can't put it out! We can't let it grow!" The wave of his hand and his angry command, on top of Ashton's disapproving gaze kicks the mages into gear.
Water and earth, even a little bit of ice from a testing mage showered the arena as the count turned towards Ashton. "So that's why the fire can't be put out..."
"Correct, all we can do right now is contain it. The cause of it is burning too hot for water to even touch." Ashton estimates, knowing what he must do.
"Then should we ask Sir Galen for his help?"
[He's still here? Good] "No father, our territory was attacked. We will handle the problem ourselves." Ashton started to run into the entrance of the colosseum, but the count caught up.
"Did you really use blink to catch up with me?" Ashton asked as he dug his feet into the ground. "You're lucky you didn't explode against the arena."
"I am pretty good with eye balling the calculation. Anyways explain yourself, who attacked us?"
"Is it not obvious enough with alchemic fire we are in? Assassins even attacked me in the forest, I threw their corpses into the lions pyre." Shrugging his father's hand from his shoulder, Ashton dashes into the arena unimpeded.
The count, like a puzzle with its missing piece in place, leaps into flight and swoops down onto the back balcony of his home.
Landing in between his three girls and Chamberlain Olaf, the count was simmering in anger.
"Honey, what is the situation? Why are you back already, the fire.." The countess was cut short from Count Shaun's warning "Ashton can handle the situation outside, just keep your sword with you Em. And you, Olaf, come with me."
"What? Somebody dares attack us?!!" Janet, unnaturally realizing the weight in her father's words erupted. "Mom why are we standing here, let's go get active!"
-
It didn't take long for Ashton to reach the source of the fire. A clear liquid burning green at its base, filling the room he is standing in with smoke.
Covering his face entirely with his shirt, trying to prevent the smoke from his lungs and eyes, Ashton can only see through the use of his mana.
[Water can't exist in this room, I hardly can. Without my manas protection not even my bones would be left... how vicious]
The room was like a furnace, only it had all the fuel it needed already, and was its peak in temperature. Any magic Ashton could conjure would crumble from the heat, and its bright hue prevented any shadows from casting.
[I can't drown it, smother it, or even get close to it]
The power of alchemy became vividly clear to Ashton, and the ideology of Sir Galen ringed across his mind.
[Magic cannot grow vertically... Vertical] Looking up Ashton realized that despite its temperature, the colosseum hadn't cracked from the pressure.
Layering his mana against the roof of the room, trying to grasp it but failing.
[I was too hasty... I can't grasp mundane matter with my theory. Think, think]
As he stood amongst the flame, each flash of ember was a thought, burned to its end in a flash. Ashton thought of many solutions, but they all waned.
[I don't even have my own shadow, so I can't call Judah]