They had been moving forward, and the mark should be moving away from them.

How could it become closer?

It meant they were moving in circles again.

Himmel Soan suspected it the day before, but they had traveled quite far after three days, so he couldn’t say for sure until today.

To find out why, he needed to investigate more. It was still a mystery.

“Master, are we returning to the same place?” Firey asked.

She had noticed it, too!

Himmel Soan nodded. “Yes. If we keep walking in this direction, we’ll be back to our starting point in three days.

“Therefore, we should walk for another half day and stop there. Maybe we’ll find our answers there!”

Firey agreed.

Solving the problem needed some brainwork. She wasn’t interested in it at all.

She hated this feeling.

Walking in circles made her feel like she had become somebody’s toy.

She was happy to see Himmel Soan solve the problem. She would just follow his instructions and didn’t need to think about anything else.

They turned around and headed south.

An hour later, he felt the mark moving away from them. It proved that they couldn’t keep walking north.

Half a day later, they were back to where they were three and a half days before.

Himmel Soan halted.

“I think this place is the key,” said Himmel Soan.

Firey frowned because she also felt something strange.

This place felt so wrong; she didn’t like it.

“Master, this is a strange place,” said Firey.

Himmel Soan nodded. “It feels like a mirror to me. The north and south sides are symmetrical.

“If we keep traveling in either direction, we’ll end up where we started.

“We must be able to find an answer here.”

Himmel Soan then started his investigation. He determined the axis between the two sides.

The forest on either side was symmetrical. However, he couldn’t find what had gone wrong.

Himmel Soan thought for a moment and investigated along the line.

“We should burn everything to the ground!

“Examining everything is too much trouble!

“I think we should set everything on fire. Then this won’t happen again!”

Firey pouted. She was only saying it out of frustration.

She knew her master would never let her do that.

They were in a forest. If she started a fire, she wouldn’t be able to control it. It was too dangerous.

She was only venting her frustration.

“Maybe your method will work, but we can’t do it now. I need to investigate this place first.

“If we can’t find another way, we’ll have to try your fire.”

To Firey’s surprise, Himmel Soan agreed to her suggestion. That was so unexpected!

Firey was so excited that there was a fire in her pupils.

Himmel Soan ignored her and went on examining the axis.

Time flew by, and half a day soon passed.

Himmel Soan still couldn’t find what went wrong.

He had some speculations, but he would need Firey to help him verify them.

“Firey…”

Himmel Soan only said her name, but a giant ball of fire rose out of her palm. It lit up the trees around her.

“Are we doing it now? Where should I start?

“I’m ready!

“Just give me an order!” Firey said excitedly.

Himmel Soan didn’t know what to say.

“Conjure some fire first. I need to verify my idea.”

“Alright…”

Firey was disappointed that she couldn’t burn down the whole place.

She had been waiting for so long, but the instruction she received wasn’t what she expected.

But she still did what Himmel Soan wanted and turned the fire in her palm smaller.

“Make it smaller. I want to test my theory. Just give me the smallest fire you can conjure,” said Himmel Soan.

“The smallest? Let me try!”

Firey frowned a little. Exerting her full power was easy, but she had to try hard to reduce the fire to the smallest.

The fire on Firey’s palm disappeared.

“I accidentally put it off,” Firey said in resignation.

She didn’t mean to let this happen, but she couldn’t control it. The request was a little bit too tricky for her.

“That’s alright. We can try it again.” Himmel Soan comforted Firey.

“Alright!” Seeing how much he trusted her, Firey became much more serious.

She stared at the fire in her hand and controlled her power.

Finally!

After three failures, she eventually made it.

“I did it! I succeeded!” Firey said happily.

“You’ve improved a lot!” Himmel Soan complimented her. “Put the fire under that tree.”

Firey followed his finger and saw Himmel Soan pointing at a tree on the north side of the axis. There was a corresponding tree on the south side.

Firey directed the fire in that direction.

Himmel Soan watched closely.

The fire passed the axis, but nothing happened.

“It’s not an illusion. The trees on the north side do exist.”

Himmel Soan murmured and kept watching Firey’s fire. The flame soon landed on the spot he pointed at. Just then, something strange happened.

A ball of fire suddenly appeared under the corresponding tree on the other side.

It appeared the moment when Firey’s fire landed on that spot.