Chapter 589 - Fake it till you fake it

As if she had been doused in oil beforehand, Sofia immediately burst up in flames. The fire was violent and quite strong, but it seemed content to envelope Sofia’s body, not spreading anywhere else.

“Sofia… You good?” Alith asked, only mildly worried.

Sofia observed her hands through the flames, waving them around and watching how the fire reacted. “I am, yes. Doesn’t hurt at all, it barely feels hot, even, but it does hinder my vision a bit. It’s interesting how it doesn’t seem to spread.”

“Well, good, considering how close we are to the tree. I can confirm that this fire is hot, from my perspective… I am immune to fire though so I can hardly show that…”

“You look a bit sick,” Sofia remarqued.

“It’s… This reminded me of the day I died. Not often that you get to see people get engulfed in flames. Good that I’m not next in line this time…”

“Oh… Sorry, I completely forgot about that…”

“It’s nothing, doubt you could have guessed this is what was going to happen to you anyway. Looks like you’ve got your own fire immunity now… Maybe. Or the fire is fake,” looking sideways, she turned to Pareth, “Why don’t you try- Ah, nevermind, you’ll be immune too since there’s no way it burns for ten percent of your health… Should we call Bookie to see if the fire can burn anything at all?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Sofia commented, “This is a bit weird but I can tell I’m only pulling energy from one of Sun’s essences currently, it feels like I can make the flames stronger if I try to use the rest, but also… I don’t know, this skill is strange. I really do get the feeling that I am stealing power.”

“Well, you got the essences after all, so in a way you’ve stolen the power already.”

“True… Well, so far this is mostly just a fire immunity, I guess, it’s really not bad. Doesn’t cost me any mana either,” Sofia explained, expelling a bit of her mana to see if it reacted to the flames. While it did not, there was something else that caught Sofia’s attention. She looked up.

Alith and Pareth also looked up.

“Felt something? Is Sun about to fall from the tree branches or what?” Alith asked.

“I was just thinking that we’re completely in the shade of the tree right now… But my upgraded regeneration in sunlight is active.”

Alith immediately picked up on what this meant, “Now this is juicy! BOOKIE! GET YOUR BONES OVER HERE!”

“D- did you just use the banshee scream to shout louder?” Sofia asked, astonished.

“Yeah? Didn’t activate any of the effects though, don’t worry. It’s basically just voice-amplification magic at this point,” Alith explained with a smug look.

“I will never get being so proud over inventing new ways to be obnoxiously loud and noisy,” Dopple commented out of nowhere, prompting Alith to ‘punch herself’ in the chest. “Ouch. I suppose that was uncalled for. But I would remind you that you are two weeks late on that meal you promised me…”

Alith started to blush, “I- I was busy! You should know about it! We… We’ll go shopping for a few chestplates later today, alright?”

“Much appreciated.”

Sofia observed their back and forth, still covered by fire. “Is it me or has Dopple has gotten a lot more polite?”

Alith sighed, “We got used to each other, I guess. On the other hand I feel like Pareth has gotten less polite,” she commented with a raised brow.

Pareth’s jaw dropped at the accusation, but he also couldn’t say anything back.

“I see what you mean. He’s not been doing much of the polite bows and gestures lately, but I’m pretty sure it’s just because of his skeleton, his habitual gestures look a bit… Out of place with the hellspawn abomination…” Sofia defended him. And he vehemently nodded in approval.

“That so? I thought maybe he was mad because of the whole date thing you’ve been doing,” Alith casually said with a shrug.

Sofia turned to look at Pareth, completely stunned at the idea that Pareth might have any kind of romantic feelings for her. That was just not something she could imagine. “Is… Is it like that?” she asked, feeling now that this was dangerous territory. Thankfully, she was immediately reassured by Pareth’s visceral denial, his body language couldn’t lie, he was not interested in her like that, but somehow Sofia felt some mixed emotions about that, mostly relief but with a subtle distant tinge of disappointment. “Ahah… See, it’s really not like that. Pareth is more like… Another sibling, at this point? To begin with I don’t think we could make a very healthy couple, considering how we’re linked, and the fact that he can hear my thoughts, among other things.”

Pareth nodded in approval with all three of his heads.

“Also despite his maturity he is technically only like five years old, which, you know, doesn’t mean much for a skeleton, but yeah,” Sofia added.

“Hmm, yeah, fair. Well, maybe if you don’t date him I will,” Alith deadpanned, which was followed by a long silence. “What? He may look like that now but with the draconic shapeshifting he’s bound to be able to become the most handsome guy ever, no? Not only that but, It’d be fine with me because I know you so well and I’m holed-up in my laboratory all the time anyway, but what other girl out there is gonna allow her man to be with another woman all the time? And well, he’s got a pretty decent personality if you just ignore the fact that he can’t speak, so… I’m just saying,” she continued with another shrug.

Pareth disappeared into Sofia’s storage ring.

P- Pareth?

Sofia looked down at Alith, “I think you scared him off… Just between us… Were you serious?”

“When have I ever lied?” Alith answered with a question of her own, before looking far behind Sofia and waving, “Hoy! What took you so long?!”

Bookie was running up to them, his book form under one arm and a bunch of wildflowers in his other hand. Bookie only answered when he got close enough, “I was picking flowers to make a crown!” he proudly answered, showing the blue and yellow flowers he had picked. He then turned to Sofia, “But why is Sofia on fire?”

“This is my last racial skill,” Sofia explained, “Alith called you so we can try something.”

“I thought it’d work by now,” Alith said, “but I guess not, after all it doesn’t look like that fire makes much light so I suppose it’s not too surprising.”

“I don’t really get it, what do I need to try?” Bookie asked.

“Give Alith the flowers for a second, I don’t want to burn them by accident,” Sofia told him.

Bookie nodded and gave Alith the flowers and his book, “You don’t mind?” he asked.

“Of course not, now go out there and give Sofia a hug.”

Bookie looked a bit destabilized by the order. “Is that what you wanted to try? I already hug Sofia all the time!” he answered, but turned around and walked up to Sofia anyway, lifting his arms up in the air for her to grab him.

“Are you not worried about the fire?” Sofia asked as she bent over to be closer to his eye-level.

“It doesn’t feel dangerous,” Bookie answered, sounding quite confident about it.

“Alright then, let’s just try touching fingers for now though, just in case, I don’t want to hurt you,” Sofia continued, extending an open hand in front of him with a smile.

Bookie reached out into the fire and grabbed one of Sofia’s fingers.

“It’s hot but it doesn’t hurt,” Bookie said, letting go of the finger, astonished by the weird fire, taking his hand in and out.

Sofia’s smile grew wider, “Leave your hand in and look at it really closely, you’ll understand what is happening.”

Bookie nodded and did just that, he observed his unharmed hand within the fire. It was hard to see amidst the orange fire, but his hand shone with a faint golden light.

“The blessing!” Bookie almost shouted, “Sofia, you can do Sun Fire?!” he excitedly asked.

“Well… I wasn’t exactly sure but now I am, yes I can,” she answered, before giving Bookie’s arm a surprise yank, “now come here for the promised hug!”

And now to try the other runes!