MLTP Part 5- "Playing With Fire"

"Playing With Fire" is the fifth Part of "Miracula Luxia: The Prequel". It was released on 06.01.2019.
== Plot ==
It is time to be adventurers!
Aleks, Seiko and Kayla have to find Paris once again, so Seiko can give birth to her son.
A mission with great risks which promises great rewards at the end of the trail. But not monetary or materialistic rewards.
No, they will be more different than that.
But now it's time to think about the mission at hand. Our heroes have a three weeks time to get to the city, almost no food and lots of dangers block their way. They mustn't give up hope if they ever want to go there.
Onward!
== Story ==
After picking up some supplies (which were still insufficient for a long journey), Aleks, Seiko and Kayla began their adventure to the fabled safe city of Paris.
A long adventure, filled with excitement and danger at the same time.
And roads. Lots of roads.
They had to stop at some checkpoints to rest and get more supplies for the journey.
The first checkpoint wasn't far away, but it was abandoned by the militia. Inside, our heroes found a bunch of walkie talkies, some ammunition (which they looted quickly, knowing that they didn't have a lot of it) as well as a moderate amount of food in the drawers (which they took eagerly).
Once the place was cleaned of everything takeable, our heroes left the checkpoint and continued looking for roads leading to the city of Paris.
One week passed, with no dangers blocking their way. Fortunately.
However, in the beginning of the second week of their explorations they found a strange cave they had to go through as there was a huge mountain range blocking their way and they could not climb it, no matter how hard they tried to.
Inside, they found some pests. Rats, bats and some cave lizards. All of them tried to attack them and all of them perished to Aleks's superior sword skills.
After defeating the vermin, Aleks found a strange button. It was glowing in the dark, in a beautiful green light.
The button reminded Kayla of the time when she and Aleks were back at the giant area. However, she also realized that there was something wrong with this button.
She tried to warn Aleks, but to no avail. He pushed it out of curiosity and springed a dangerous flame trap which nearly incinerated him, were it not for Seiko who managed to pull him away in time.
"Good job, smart guy."- Kayla said- "Now what do we do?"
"Maybe I can push the button again."- Aleks suggested.
Seiko looked at him angrily.
"No! This is pure suicide! You can't just go there and push the button! It doesn't work like that!"- She yelled at him.
An idea came up in Aleks's mind. He motioned for Kayla to give him his bow, so he can use it. She nodded and did as he asked.
She also gave him an arrow, as requested.
He aimed the bow at the button.
"Steady... steady... "- He mumbled as he aimed the arrow at the button.
And, after a moment...
*ptew!*
The arrow landed right on top of the button. Suddenly, the ceaseless flame trap (which was active only a moment ago) stopped working and allowed our heroes to go through the passage.
Relieved, Seiko and Kayla patted the brave Aleks's shoulders and moved on.
After leaving the cave, they found themselves at the end of the mountain range and near a lush green forest.
It was spring, so the trees's leaves were green and healthy. In a beautiful way, mesmerizing to the human eye.
As our heroes entered the forest, they noticed that something was wrong with this beauty, but continued looking at it and walking along a suspicious path, unable to comprehend what they were getting into.
Until they got to the end of the trail of dirt.
A strange creature was waiting for them there- Part Human and part Wolf.
That's when our heroes noticed that the lush green forest was just an illusion, created by the creature to trick them into coming towards it.
The forest was actually made of withered trees with no vegetation or wildlife whatsoever- a grim testimonial to what happened many years ago.
Meanwhile, the creature tried to perform a surprise attack on our heroes, but it failed, thanks to Aleks's quick reflexes.
Kayla picked up her sword and attacked the creature, striking it in the chest
It looked at its fresh wound and, after a few seconds, it was healed completely, leaving no trace of the inflicted wound.
The creature laughed, as if to mock Kayla's inability to kill it.
Kayla wondered what to do as Aleks figured out that the creature was temporarily protected by a sentry (which was providing it with invulnerability and quick healing).
"Seiko, stay there."- He said to his girlfriend and pointed at the exit of the woods- "We will handle this."
Seiko nodded and moved there.
"So, what's the big plan now?"- Kayla said to Aleks- "Please, tell me that you have one! I'm really worried now."
Aleks looked around and saw a small black orb, planted in the ground.
"Cover me. I will try to take that black orb down."- He responded.
Kayla nodded and jumped on the creature's back.
As it tried to get her off, Aleks tried to break the orb.
Unfortunately, he met massive resistance. The orb tried to push his blade away from it with pure, malevolent energy.
"It's strong!"- Aleks said to himself- "But I have to destroy it! Dark objects like this one don't scare me. Not a single bit!"
He continued aiming his blade at the orb. It tried to push it away.
Finally, after three minutes of doing this, Aleks managed to plunge his blade into the weakened orb. It squealed in pain and its life energy faded away.
He also heard another scream behind him. It was that of the wolf-human-like creature which attacked them earlier. After a few seconds, the screams ceased and the creature turned into ashes.
Aleks looked at the ashes as Kayla looked at the woods.
"You know what they say... "- He said to her- " "When the ship goes down, the captain goes down with it". "
"And the creature was the "captain", I suppose?"
Aleks nodded.
"Correct. Quite a fearsome one as well."
Kayla looked at the ashes.
"So. It's not coming back, is it?"
"Certainly not. Anything that turns into ashes remains ashes."
Kayla sighed in relief.
Seiko approached them and looked at the ashes.
"Serves him good! Nasty fella!"- She exclaimed.
"Yes, honey. Thank you for listening to me."- Aleks said and kissed her on the forehead.
Seiko smiled and blushed.
"As I always say, sweetheart- I always listen to you when it comes to hard decisions like those. You're the boss and I'm your sidekick. Like a Batman to your Robin!"
"Actually, it's "Like a Robin to your Batman"."- Aleks corrected her.
"Oh! Yeah... like that."
"Alright, lovebirds."- Kayla said- "I saw something in the distance. Let's go see it."
"Hold on!"- Aleks stopped her and picked up a jar from the ground. 
He inspected it and realized that it belonged to the creature.
"I have no idea what it stored there."- Kayla muttered.
There was nothing in the jar and there was no indication of what might have been stored there previously.
Aleks looked at the ashes, then at the jar. Then he opened the lid and started pushing the ashes into the jar.
"What are you doing?"- Kayla wondered.
"They might come in handy later. I'm picking them up and storing them in the jar, just in case."
"Oh."- Kayla said and continued looking to the north of where they were as Aleks collected the ashes and stored them into the jar.
"Okay. I'm ready. Let's move on."- Aleks said and the three of them walked to the north of the withered forest.
There they found another lush green forest, filled with wildlife and greenery.
"This better not be a trick!"- All three of our heroes said at once as they approached the forest.
They found it to be a completely normal forest, untainted by the dark powers nearby. They also saw a hunter sitting on a fallen log.
He smiled and motioned for them to approach. Seeing no other choice present to them, the heroes did so.
Then he motioned for them to sit and looked at them.
"Adventurers, I suppose? Yes, you must be. I can see it in your eyes."- He began.
"Welcome to this isolated bit of beautiful green land. What brings you here?"
Aleks decided to trust him and told him of where they were going.
"Paris, eh? Well, you still have a long way to go. Why not rest for a while before going ahead? The sun's goin' down and it might not be a good time to proceed."
He gave them each a piece of roasted meat and showed them three comfortable spots to sleep on the grass.
"Oh, don't look at me like that."- He responded to Aleks's troubled look- "I see that you have a pregnant girl and that she needs a bed to sleep on, but this ain't your regular town. Or village. Or anything close to that."
"Me and my wife used to sleep on the grass a lot when we didn't have a home, back when she was pregnant with our son. Now that we do, she stays safe at home while I hunt out here for us. So, appreciate what you have now and don't throw it away. Value it as much as you can!"
Having said that he sighed. He noticed that all of them had fallen into a deep sleep and smiled.
"That girl... she reminds me of when my wife was pregnant. She used to say how our son would grow up and become a great hero who would help people in need. Judging from those two, it seems like they are heroes. Or maybe former heroes. That describes their clothing. Maybe the girl's also expecting her child to become a hero. Who knows?"- The hunter said to himself and left them alone, but not before writing a message on a peace of paper and leaving it on the ground next to Aleks and Seiko, who were hugging each other tightly for warmth.
They didn't notice him leaving and they also didn't hear his footsteps as he left the campsite.
"I think that I'll leave the campfire turned on. They still need some light and warmth for the night. As for me, I will make sure that they are protected from hostiles."- He said to himself.
Satisfied with his noble choice, he left the safe confines of the camp to find some foes to fight.