Affinity:Chaos

"Thanks." Grey replied before stepping down from the platform.

Alec kept his eyes on Grey all through the time he was walking back to his seat.

"How is this possible?" The Faction Leader muttered while standing close to the Elders.

The Elders all had shocked faces as well, stunned by what they just witnessed. They all knew of Grey's domain, and the fact that it mainly gave off heat. They weren't new to seeing an icy fire, so it wasn't a surprise to them. However, if a Fire Elementalist has icy flames, there's no way they would be able to use flames that gave off heat. However, Grey seemed to be able to use both icy and regular heat flames which was something usually seen as impossible.

Grey's figure suddenly blinked and before Alec could even speak with him, he vanished.

He appeared in a secret cave in the Faction. Looking around, he had a sense of familiarity with the place. It was where they came to meet with the Faction Leader before heading for the competition.

"Kid, what's up with your body?" The Faction Leader asked the moment Grey placed his eyes on him.

Beside him were a few Elders, and all of them were present at the competition where Grey used his domain. These were the Elders the Faction Leader had complete trust in.

Grey looked at the Faction Leader for some time and kept quiet.

"You don't have to be afraid, I have no intention of harming you. Nonetheless, this is a very important matter. If others were to find out about this, then you would be in for a whole lot of trouble. I can't help you if you don't tell me how to." The Faction Leader told Grey his intentions.

Grey looked at him for some time and couldn't help but curse at the flame that was still in his body. The reason it reacted on its own was that Grey still hadn't completely absorbed it, and given the strength it had, it could react on its own sometimes.

These special flames tend to grow a certain type of consciousness when they get to a certain level.

Grey thought about the situation a little longer before finally telling them about what happened when he went out for a mission. He also told them of the part where he was chased by a necromancer. Not forgetting to mention the corpse that used icy flames and how the teleportation tunnel almost broke apart before it miraculously fixed itself and he was transported to an island where he acquired the icy flame.

The Elders, as well as the Faction Leader, were a little stunned by the story. A mixture of coincidences helped Grey obtain a very powerful treasure. The part they were more worried about was the bit with the necromancer.

For a necromancer to chase him that much meant two things, either he had something of theirs, or he was marked. The former had the highest possibility while the latter with the lowest chance, but it still couldn't be ruled out.

The Faction Leader thought about Grey's story and couldn't help but think of a certain person he found when Grey joined the Faction. If his guess was accurate, then the man was the one who helped Grey fix the broken spatial tunnel.

"Hmm, come." He stretched out his hand.

Grey froze for a few seconds, unsure of what to do.

"Don't worry, I won't pry more than what you allow." The Faction Leader reassured Grey, he could already tell that Grey had an issue with trusting people, and he didn't find it odd or bad. Anyone who has been in the world for long knows not to trust people they're not familiar with. Even when you're familiar with a person, trusting them is also not something that is advised.

Grey nodded before approaching the Faction Leader. The reason he agreed to do this was simple, given the strength of the Faction Leader, he could easily hold him down and search his entire body, but he didn't, giving Grey the choice to allow it or not. This was something that was not common in such powerful people.

Grey's respect for the Faction Leader saw an increase because of this.

He gave him his hand and heard the Faction Leader's voice in his head, 'lead the way.'

Grey let his spiritual senses lead the way for the Faction Leader, taking him to only the place where the place was located. He was particularly happy since the flame was located in his head. If it were close to his core where the orb was also located, things would've been a little difficult for him.

The Faction Leader studied the flame for some time before withdrawing his spiritual senses from Grey's body. He didn't even try to check on other places in Grey's body. To be honest, he wasn't really interested in doing that.

"You're lucky it acted out now." The Faction Leader spoke when he opened his eyes.

"Oh, is there something wrong?" Grey asked.

"It's starting to gain consciousness. If it had reacted another time, you would've left it alone. Had it gained consciousness completely, you would've been in serious danger." The Faction Leader explained.

Grey sucked in a deep breath when he heard this. He couldn't believe that the flame he absorbed was on the verge of gaining consciousness. This was a very serious issue. He already had the orb in his body which had a very dominating personality, the chances of both of them starting a battle in his body would've been bad for him.

The orb would win, no doubt about that, but he might be injured since they would be contesting for his body.

"I'll subdue it so you can slowly absorb the rest of it. Only after you get to the Sage Plane will you be able to absorb the rest of it, so take your time." The Faction Leader made a few hand seals and an array appeared mid-air and sank into Grey's body.

"I know you're very adept in arrays, you can work on it as well so you can use the flames abilities at will." He added with a smile.

He had been keeping his eyes on Grey, when he found out Grey used more than half of his points in exchange for books on arrays, he couldn't help but shudder at the obsession of Grey and arrays. He took Grey for someone who always wanted to learn, hence he placed this array in his head as a means of letting him learn.

Grey bowed to thank the Faction Leader for his help.

"Wait." The Elder who brought Grey into the Faction stopped him before he could leave.

Grey turned to look at him.

"Take these, you'll need them when next you head out." The Elder threw over twenty talismans to Grey.

Each of the talismans gave off an aura that was superior to the one his Teacher gave him.

'These should be talismans with an Elemental Venerable power. This Elder should be above that Plane, right?' Grey thought internally.

"Thank you, Elder." Grey bowed and gladly accepted them before turning to leave.

He soon left the Elders and the Faction Leader alone.