BXBX NOVEL Chapter 681
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Kat soared up into the sky feeling her normal freedom restrictive heavily by the damned bracelet. Her movement through the air was now choppy, changing directions risked dropping a few feet as well. It was simply inconvenient. Kat still wasn’t sure exactly how the bracelet worked, but she was leaning towards gravity manipulation that needed a few moments to catch up to what she was doing properly to keep the effect ‘consistent’ without pulling her off course if she turned or jumped or something similar.
Even with the growing distaste for the enchanted artifact Kat managed to get a good height to look down at the final fire properly. It was immediately more interesting than the other two. The area was a mixed between three, or four distinct ‘zones’ depending on how you wanted to count things. The nicest part was that the whole industrial area was very much separated from the rest of the town with a large wall around it to keep things out, or in this case the fire in.
The first of the four zones were the ashes. Many buildings had already been reduced to nothing and stood completely burned out, with a slight glow from the cooling ash after the fire had moved on. Even that was hard to see because of just how bright surrounding fires were, but it was still evident to Kat, her eyes able to somehow just deal with the drastic difference in lighting. Something to make note of as well.
The surrounding fire was normal... sometimes. That’s where they became arguably two separate zones. The more standard orangish yellow colour that was unsurprising to see... and the dots of bright white flame that would burn a normal pair of eyes just for looking at it. *Hmm... I don’t know if this world has sunglasses... but the others are going to need a few pairs for that I think. The only thing I can hope for is that Thyme will heal the damage looking anywhere near those pillars of light will do to a normal eyeball.*
The final zone was a series of glowing rainbow barriers that shifted and flexed in place. In looked quite similar to a when the sun shone through the edge of a bubble on a bright day. The flaring of strange colours that seemed to twist around the surface and spread out for a few moments before breaking up and repeating the process. These zones were scattered around the industrial complex in a haphazard manner. The largest one was right in the centre, but the rest seemed to be all over the place. Some where next to fires, some were surrounded by ash, and a few were actually surrounded by flames still.
.....
Once Kat noted down everything, even spotting what she thought was Kress and Gareth working together to sort through some of the ash near the edge of the compound, likely because the fire was too intense in the nearby areas with about half of it being white. Still, Kat could see a group of Thymes jogging down the street away from the industrial area with what looked like work uniforms clearly headed out of the town. So it seemed that they did manage to rescue at least a few people.
*So, chemicals making the flames hot, several things already totalled, a good chunk of people saved but more likely in those magic domes. I think that’s everything. I wonder what Nixilei will make of this.* Kat tried to loop around instead of just turning in place but her bracelet seemed to kick in at the worst time forcing her into a barrel role and drastically off course. It took a few further moments to correct it. *Fine. Not to self, no fancy flying at all until I take the damned bracelet off. It’s good, but not actually THAT good.*
Kat flew back to Nixilei carefully, keeping her speed consistent and her angle unchanging. Well mostly unchanging, a few small corrections were necessary. This was to ensure the bracelet didn’t start freaking out again providing the smoothest trip since she’d put the cursed thing on. *Hmm. That’s an interesting question. Does this count as a cursed artifact because it reduces my power? Or just a normal artifact because I’m all but certain the entire point of it is to reduce power. So it’s working as intended. Then again, many cursed items are intended to cause problems if they were cursed during the making. I guess it’s a matter of perspective.*
Kat’s feet touched ground and before she could even start the report Nixilei was already on the ball, “So Kat what did you find?”
Kat efficiently started to explain the broad strokes of what she’d seen before asking if Nixilei wanted to hear about the specific locations of everything. “No that’s fine,” denied Nixilei, “the basic outline is still enough. I think... hmm... I’ll want Earth mages working on the white flames, they’ll be in charge of smother them while the water mages try to rain over the area. I worry that might make some of the fires worse, but I think on the whole it’ll be an improvement. The protection domes sound like panic rooms.
“I’m just not sure how well those barriers will work. Depending on the type it might be as simple as grabbing a person out and carrying them to safety, or they might let nothing at all in and have a supply of oxygen for everyone inside. The first type is a bit more expensive. Keeping just bad stuff out is harder than you’d think. Keeping everything out including fire is actually much easier, if more energy intensive assuming all of the enchanting was done efficiently, which it might not have been I suppose.”
Nixilei started tapping on her cheek as she ran. Mind processing the options she had for this particular venture. “Hmm...” mumbled Nixilei before saying aloud, “Kat, how easy would you say it is to get to most of those barriers?”
Kat made a ‘so-so’ gesture with her hand. “Some of them would be really easy for anyone to get to, they’re just surrounded by a fair bit of ash but I doubt that would be too hot as long as you’re wearing decent shoes,” a quick check revealed everyone was though Tophat’s could have been better, “others are near some intense flames, not always white, and would be a bit of a hassle but with proper care... I can see it happening. Then there’s the ones just surrounded by fire. I think you’d either need to put those ones out or just send me in.”
Nixilei frowned at that, “Sure I COULD send you in but Kat... how are you supposed to get anybody OUT of them?”
“Um... oops?” said Kat with some embarrassment.
“Kat this is a bit of a bigger deal then just an ‘oops’. I’m sure the people in them would be smart enough to worn you Kat... but you really should have seen that coming. I mean, they’re in those bubbles for a reason. What made you think just getting them to leave with you would be a good idea?” grumbled Nixilei
*When she puts it that way I feel like kind of an idiot. I mean, the easy answer is I DIDN’T think. I just knew I was fireproof and I’d go in... and then figure things out. I mean, if the barrier started failing or something surely they have backup plans? Alternatively, I could maybe just throw them through into like some water? Hmm... isn’t there that trick with molten metal and a wet hand? Lily explained it to me once but... that memory is a little fuzzy.*
“I wasn’t really I guess...” admitted Kat after running through her thoughts.
“Kat, it’s fine but just, keep it in mind in the future. For now I think I want you working on the domes close to the edge of the fires. You can rush them out quickly before the heat gets to them, and you can more safely approach the edges or even go in through the sections near the fire if that proves necessary instead. What you need to do, is find out how long that particular barrier can last, if the answer is a while, leave them. If it isn’t long, try and escort them out. Oh and ask them how it deals with water. Some barriers let in rain but don’t let it out. It’s actually a very common oversight in the enchantments and happens all the time. Make sure to check for that. While I doubt Thyme would make that mistake, I wouldn’t put it past them to do it intentionally,” explained Nixilei.
“Ok got it. What will you be doing?” asked Kat
“I’ll be focused on organising the mages and the rescue teams. Making sure they can get to the domes without getting hurt, that the water the mages are pulling is from different areas... and I’ll probably sent the Earth mages over to Gareth. He can lead them,” explained Nixilei.
“Sounds like a plan,” finished Kat with a grin.