ORIGIN

Quiet. It was so quiet. Oh, how joyous that was. No annoying barking canines. No annoying felines. Just him and his explorations. He had done a lot of that over the past cycle. He was growing up, no long carrying the muddy brown coat. Instead, now the red was starting to darken and his paws were growing blacker by the day. HE was quit proud of his coat! His long tail with it's now dark ring bands marking through it swayed as he walked. The red panda cub was on his way to Pisces. To get a nice fresh drink from the ever flowing river there and then continue his exploring. He had nearly completed his travels, keeping away from the other gembounds that lingered within the areas. He was not yet in the mood to mingle with others, but he knew eventually he would have to. Especially with all the crazy beasts that kept popping up.

The ice was particularly cold on his feet, but it wasn't enough to give him to much problems. However, it was still annoying and he knew if he was here much longer his poor pawpads may get more cold than he wished. An idea suddenly hit him and a dark grin spread across his features. Now would be a spectacular time to test his skills! He stopped in his tracks and turned his gaze down to his paws. He proudly studied his gem studded paw, pieces of it jutting out from beneath his skin and in turn his very claws were made of the sharp gem. It made for a nice piece of armor, if he could call it that. Shaking his thoughts he concentrated, willing the fire to pull towards his paws...

The heat quickly grew in his paws, but not in a way Zorrak had wished. A low, pained hiss escaped the panda as he nearly whined from the burning his paws were now feeling. How annoying. Failing such a simple spell as that! The ice, of course reacted to the heat from his paws, but it did nothing to ease the sudden burning in his now charred paws. He growled to himself, stomping his now wounded paws against the slightly melting ice. "Stupid fire!" He shouted angrily, his tail twitching around quickly. Though...when something caught his attention, fiery eyes shifted from his paws to scan the area. HIs eyes narrowed suspiciously. Had he actually seen something? Or was he just seeing phantoms...

The ever glinting shine of something continued to grasp at Zorrak's attention. Slowly the red panda skittered over towards it, eager to see what would be causing the strange sign. Coming upon that of a puddle his ears quickly perked up. His nostril's flared, taking in the scent of the dirty water and could only sneer in response. "Gross..." He grumbled as he shifted the way he was standing. The strange item within the water was what kept him close to the puddle. He circled around it, studying the obviously nasty water before greedy eyes turned towards the silver metal.

He needed to get those. Whatever they were, they intrigued Zorrak and he would now find a way to get them. He didn't want to just reach into the water however. The stench of it told him better than to just jump head first. There was something wrong with the water. His long tail flicked side to side as he pondered thoughtfully of what he could do. Boil it! He could heat it up with his paws! With this realization Zorrak pounced towards the water and studied it even harder. Soon he turned his fiery eyes down to his paws, studying the gem embedded left paw before he tried to focus. All he had to do was get the first to his feet and then place that fire paw into the water and it should do the trick... Right?

Shaking it off Zorrak quickly focused. Urging the fire to be summoned to his paws. When nothing happened but a small dull flicker of his stone a snarl slipped from his little muzzle. His tail flicked back and forth, now with agitation as he stamped his paws around on the ice. He would try again.

Annoyed that his spell did not work once again, Zorrak bared his little teeth in display of his emotions. Continuing to stomp his paws about for a moment, Zorrak tried to figure out why it didn't work. Finally when the little red panda cub calmed down he took a long breath and brought himself back over to the puddle of water. He would not give up. He would get it right no matter how many tries it took him.

With a grunt Zorrak once again focused upon his paws, willing the fire to come. For a moment it seemed like he was just standing there and when he was just about to give up the gem upon his paw suddenly flickered to life. A wide grin spread over his muzzle as he saw the flames lick up from beneath his paws. It left a warm sensation running up through his paws. Now was his chance! Quickly, and very slowly, Zorrak moved once single paw towards the water and held the smoldering paws just barely into the surface of the water. He watched expectantly, hoping his idea would work. It was only at this moment that he noticed another glinting of metal. HIs eyes turned up, studying the other piece of metal that dangled high above his head. He would focus on that one later, for now his gaze turned back to the water, urging the water to heat up like he had planned for it to do.

A grin set upon his features as he pulled his paw away from the water as it began to boil. He sat back it and watched it for a moment. The gauntlet came into full view, but a frown quickly marred Zorrak's features as he noticed the sudden change in the gauntlet. It was starting to take on a light red tinge to it. Well that definitely changed his plan entirely. He tapped his clawed gem against the ice he now sat upon. Quickly he pondered on how he wanted to handle this. Sticking his paw in and grasping the gauntlet would surely burn his paw and leave him wounded for a few days. He wasn't sure he wanted that. The other option was to face that nasty murky water again or find something else he could possibly manage to do to get the gauntlet free.

Gritting his jaw Zorrak knew he did not want to stick a paw into nasty water like it had been. He was running out of time. Eventually that water would not be boiling. He needed to make up his mind quick. When he finally decided he 'tsk'ed thoughtfully before he quickly moved, he swiped his paw into the scalding hot water. Pain instantly shot up from his paw and it was all he could do to not cry out or yank his paw away. The moment his paw grasped onto the boot he flung his paw back out of the water and the gauntlet went flying from the water. Instantly Zorrak began shaking his paw around, desperate to get the painful water from his paw. He soon pressed it to the ice, hoping it would give some sense of soothing to the burning sensation, but it seemed to only make it worse so he quickly picked his paw up from the ice and held it up.

He growled, glaring at the water before he turned and wobbled over towards where the Gauntlet had been sent in his hurry to get his paw out of the painful water. He eyed it as the ice began to melt away from it, but he dared not let it melt into another puddle lest he wanted to relive that same scenario. So, he turned around and nudged it across the ice with a hind paw. He followed it instantly. He did this a couple times until the Gauntlet no longer held the heat it had once had, finally cooling down to rest atop the ice without melting it. He sat back with a huff, pulling the metal piece closer to him to inspect. He turned it over a couple times, studying the thing as much as he could. Soon though, his attention rose back up to the similar gauntlet that dangled high above him. A matching set. He would definitely need to find a way to get that one down.