Chapter 125 - Firemane (4) : Little Bastard, Old Bastard

A/N: I am changing the Extra chapter from SDW 3:1 RSTUM to 1:1. I feel like I want to write more RSTUM.

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"Hey, Uncle Tyr! What is wrong with this place?"

"The Fire Garden? This place was here before father decides to settle in this land!"

"I mean, there is no volcano or anything under this land, right?"

"... No! This place was formed since a long ago. Mother says it has something to do with the eruption of the Red Mountain."

"... Does everything have to do with the damn Red Mountain nowadays?"

"Beats me! Anyway, your father, you can find him in there!"

"Well, good for him... or what is left of him!"

"Hehe! You are one arrogant prick, he'll like you."

"I am not asking to be liked. Why are you bringing me here anyway?"

"... To bring him our, of course!"

"... Why would I want to? I am not some crazy dragon knight who bathes in fires or whatever."

"... Don't you want to see you father?"

"He'll come out when he gets bored! And it seems like Hilda will give him an earful."

"Pffft!" Tyr started laughing.

A few minutes ago, Tyr told me to come and see Old Jon. I was a bit surprised later to learn that Old Jon, the one I met in Dawnstar nine months ago, is actually Jonrad Firemane, my father!

I was surprised but not too surprised like Tyr thought I would be. First, I was raised as an orphan so I didn't have too much faith in parents thing. Second, my mental self is 40 years old so I won't be shaken like the 16 years old I look like. So Uncle Tyr was taken aback most of the time by my cold attitude towards my father and all that.

Anyway, after followed Tyr outside the fort and also went away from the town, we arrived at a crater surrounded by high walls. It was called the Fire Garden for a very good reason. It is a burning place filled with lava. It wasn't like a lake of lava or anything, it was just a place with too many small ponds all around the crater.

The mysterious thing about the place is that these small ponds don't cooldown no matter what. The place also is very hot that even the Firemanes can't go deep to the center of the crater.

It's said that the only people who reached the center of the crater were Grandfather Ve Firemane and my father Jonrad Firemane.

"So, you think that this handsome me will go through this piece of hell to see someone that he never met before just because that is his father?"

"... Now that you put it that way! I guess you are rig..."

"FUCK YEAH!"

"... What? Excuse me!"

"I am going in!"

"... Are you sure?"

"Like hell I am sure! Still, I am called Jon Dare for goodness sake! If I don't go in there because I am afraid, what do you think people will call me? Jon-Not-Dare?"

"I know you got excited but don't think of this place as something you can go through easily, you are not some sort of a Flame Atronach. Also, don't go in there witho..."

"Flame Atronach you say?"

"Hm? Did I say something wrong?"

"No! I just thought why not go in there with a style?"

"... I know that look. My sister always make it when she is about to do something very, very wrong!"

"Hehe! I think I will enjoy this one!"

"Before you go in there, be careful with the fumes, they are poisonous and really are not a thing I want to get near to."

"Fine! Anything else I need to be careful with?"

"Don't get yourself hurt, of course!"

"Yeah, sure!"

I went a bit to the back and cast a spell. A Flame Atronach Hawk came out!

"That will do the trick!"

"Whoa! I think you are going to do something really bad!"

"Come on! I'll go to the heart of this garden and get out."

"Don't forget to tell Jonrad to come out!"

"Well, I'll ask nicely!" I said as I jumped on the Flame Atronach Hawk and flew up on the edge of the Fire Garden.

***

The place was vast! I could see all the Firemane domain from this altitude and I must say it is a nice place.

On one corner of the glade, there was this large fire crater that was formed due to unknown reasons but it is a place that had a lot of fire energy. Still, the energy was very wild. I tried to absorb some of it while being on the Flame Atronach Hawk and it felt like so aggressive yet I managed to control it in the end.

After some thinking, I realized that the energy is not coming from the fire in the area but it is what keeps the area on fire.

If I managed to cultivate my energy in such a place, I might get a lot of benefits but I still need to do some tests.

This swap of inferno or fire garden or whatever is sure something that made me curious.

I was still flying on the edge to gain enough altitude and get a better scene of the inside of the fire garden. The problem is that the more I go up, the more the fumes get thicker in the air so I need to get in from a lower height.

I chose to fly because the area down there will be super unbearable to walk into. I may face a problem in landing but at least I can turn back anytime as the Flame Atronach Hawk will not be bothered by any kind of heat at all.

After a minute or two, I saw a good place to go into the fire garden from, it will be dare-ish but hey, who am I?

"Okay, nice and easy."

I made my mind and directed the Flame Atronach Hawk into the Fire Garden.

It started to get hot the moment I passed the edge of the Fire Garden. It was as if an oven was spewing its heat out.

Truly marvelous! But it was not enough to put me down just yet.

I navigated left and right while making the Flame Atronach Hawk fly as slow as possible. After a few seconds, I reached the point where breathing was something painful.

Sigh! This won't end well at this rate. Next time, I will make a Flame Atronach Power Armor. Well, I tried once and it didn't work.

After a minute, I finally saw a big rock in the middle of the garden, it was as if this was the thing that made the crater or part of it.

I cast 'Flameskin' and unleashed the 'Aura of Fire' that I developed to get a better resistance to fire as I was already getting near my limits. They cooled things a little bit but only a little bit.

'Land there slowly!' I gave a mental command and the atronach did the work on its own. Good things these creatures have a fairly high intelligence or it would have been impossible to command them that way.

Anyway, the Flame Atronach Hawk approached the rock and brought its talons on.

"Fuck! This is so freaking hot! I am on the verge of melting." I started complaining the moment I got down. Still, the rock is still much nicer than the lava wamp under the big rock.

I really needed to practice some frost magic or a frost aura to deal with this place. My limit in this place is two more minutes.

"I think I reached the center by this, no one here though! Never mind, I'll just go ba..."

"Well, isn't that one way to reach the center!" I heard a voice coming from the side.

I turned and saw... "Daaaaamn!"

"Hahaha!" That bastard started laughing.

"I will look like this a few years from now then?" That was the first thing that came to my mind.

"Come on! You are my son still you can't get as handsome as I am."

"Hah! In your dreams. I already surpassed a hundred like you!"

"A hundred? If half a person as handsome as me excited then I would have torched them to as a long time ago."

"You Firemanes and your arsonism!"

"Tch!" Here I face Old Jon once again. I have never seen his face clearly last time and he had a beard but it seems that he shaved. Still, when we stood face to face, it felt like I am looking at myself in a mirror that showed me a little bit older. I am more handsome, of course.

"Did you just think that you are more handsome than me, you little bastard?" And he can read my mind.

"I am more handsome than you, no argue about that, old bastard!"

"Huhuhu! Looks like these sixteen years made you catch some bad habits, little bastard!" He said as he evoked flame at his hand.

"I caught what I caught! You can't judge the son you just met, old bastard!" I replied as I called the lightning.

"Look at you using some lightning! Do you think the true power lies anywhere far than the flames, little bastard."

"Lightning is the densest sort of Destruction Magic, old bastard!"

"You think so?" He looked with sharp eyes. For some reason, I lost some confidence but I knew I was right. "Receive my attack then." He said and cast a fire spell on me."

I put a ward up and received the spell but...

"Arrrghh!"

Too heavy!

I don't know what spell that is but it took a chunk of my Magicka. It looked like a whip made of flame.

So formidable!

"Oh! You can block that?" He looked a bit surprised for some reason.

"What the! Old bastard, did you just cast a spell at your son knowing he wouldn't block it?"

"Hah! So you choose to be a son when it suits you, little bastard?"

"".....""

We kept silent for a while looking at each other to assess the situation. He is strong. Beating him is impossible to the current me, Fire Magic won't even harm him, Frost won't work too, only Storm Magic and the other tricks can work on him.

"Retaliation time!" I said as I made a hasty plan in mind and cast fast Lightning spells.

He only smiled and made the flame whip in his hand dance around to block my spells.

"I don't look so smug when I smile!" I said.

"Hah Hah! You have a big mouth!" He said as he took a strange position. He took a deep breath the open his mouth and...

"Fuck!"

He breathed flames out of his mouth!

Only one thing came to my mind.

"FUS RO DAH!" I used the Thu'um to counter-attack him.

My shout obliterated his fire breath and he jumped away from its way.

Thank goodness my only redeeming feature worked.

"Damn! I thought I almost got you there you little bastard!"

"Old bastard! You are seriously getting on my nerve!"

"Ready to go one more time?"

"Fuck off! One more second here and I will get a tan! I am out."

"Look at you escaping on your little bird!"

"Nope! I am going to bring Hilda! See how you act cocky that time!"

"H, Hey! That's cheating! Wait, I am coming with you!"

"Go away!"