Sophia and Dav watched Sophia’s echoes encourage Amy. Amy seemed skittish at first, but it wasn’t long before she figured out they were trying to help her fly. It quickly became apparent that the dragons had the significant advantage of magically-assisted flight, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t help.
Somehow, Dav kept the presence of mind to go ahead and use his Summon Eldritch Fire Bud Ability while they watched the two dragons fly. What came out of the ground was a very colorful tiny bud of a flower with a lick of flame that formed at its very tip and a small sandy stem. The entire thing was no more than an inch wide and Sophia couldn’t feel any heat from it even though she stood less than a foot away from it. She wouldn’t want to step on it, but that was all.
image [https://i.imgur.com/ccmeX1M.jpeg]
The flying show was far more interesting than the minor walking hazard. The dragons moved past simply showing off and started trying to seriously teach as Sophia watched. Amy followed their actions, running a few steps then attempting to launch herself into the air. Each time, she landed roughly before she had her wings fully spread. Both dragons tried to help, but neither one seemed certain how to help Amy manage her takeoff.
“Huh, interesting. It’s warming up.”
Sophia looked down to see what Dav was talking about and saw him kneeling a little ways from the fire bud with his hand stretched out towards it. It was at least twice the size it had been originally and it had opened up in the center to reveal a larger fire. A heat haze rose above it. So far, it seemed like it might make a decent campfire, but Sophia wasn’t sure what the point was. Maybe it would grow more?
image [https://i.imgur.com/04ijiUe.jpeg]
The flower didn’t change quickly, so after about a minute, Sophia turned her attention back to the flight lessons. They’d made progress while she wasn’t looking and now that they had, the division of labor was obvious. The original echo with the feathered wings would show Amy how she adjusted her wings and feathers to achieve different effects, then the larger overcharged echo would scoop Amy up and fly her a few feet off the ground so that she could jump and practice without needing to take off each time. At first, they were little more than awkward glides, but it wasn’t very long before Amy started to add some more use of her wings.
It was interesting to watch, as much for the way the echoes managed to talk Amy through the motions without actually speaking as for the actual flight.
Sophia felt a little warm, like she was standing too close to a campfire. When she looked in that direction, the reason was obvious: she was standing too close to a campfire. The fire bud had quadrupled in size and the fire now covered most of its interior. The flame changed color, as well, but Sophia’s guess was that it was a change in what was burning rather than simply in temperature as the multicolored fire was surrounded by more normal red flame.
image [https://i.imgur.com/FPchG2o.jpeg]
Sophia took a step back, her attention now firmly on Dav’s Ability instead of her own. It was changing quickly now; instead of taking minutes, it seemed like only seconds before the fire intensified once more. It sank a little as the sand shifted under it, but it was still easily a foot taller than mere moments earlier. The flame flickered above it and the haze seemed to hide everything on the other side of it, even though it wasn’t that warm. At least, Sophia didn’t think it was; it was hard to tell when she couldn’t get close to it. Maybe it was smoke rather than just haze?
image [https://i.imgur.com/0QssByY.jpeg]
Sophia stepped back again as the Eldritch Flame Bud seemed to flower in front of her eyes. It was easily as tall as her waist, now, and spread flame and dark smoke dotted with bright flecks far wider than it was tall. She could feel the uncomfortably hot temperature against her skin even though she was at least fifteen feet from the flower it emanated from.
As she watched, she started trying to figure out how to incorporate the slow-growing flame into a fight. It was almost more of a trap than true attack, since it gave more than enough time for someone to get away. At the same time, it started off seemingly inconsequential; she could easily see a monster being surprised and trapped if it was used properly. The other option was to try and anchor the enemy in the area it would grow into, if the anchor would stay. Sophia suspected that her Root Grab probably wouldn’t, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t try.
image [https://i.imgur.com/UH9JC6K.jpeg]
Sophia watched the solid tendrils of the flower, probably its leaves, writhe for several minutes. The fire flower had stopped growing in size and intensity, but it stayed where it was.
“I think it would grow faster if I overcharged it,” Dav commented, clearly talking about his Ability. “That might be useful, but I’m really hopeful about using it with Embody.” He snorted then grinned, clearly amused. “Assuming I’m far enough away from everyone and everything I care about, at least. I bet it would have helped a lot against that giant monster if I could wilt it just by being near it.”
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Dav relaxed a little as he deactivated his summon. The flaming flower collapsed into a pile of sand, once more the same color as its surroundings. Sophia suspected it was very hot sand, but she wasn’t about to go step in it to find out for sure.
Sophia grinned at Dav. She could come up with a dozen different ways bringing a human flamethrower to a fight could go wrong, but she didn’t have to think hard to come up with ways it could also be useful, at least not as long as they were careful. That was why they were in the sand, after all. “Let’s see it.”
“It’s your turn,” Dav protested weakly. To Sophia’s ears, it sounded more like he was protesting because he thought he was supposed to than because he actually didn’t want to try out the combination.
Sophia raised an eyebrow at him. “You haven’t finished the Ability.”
Dav raised an eyebrow and paused for just long enough that Sophia thought he was going to object again, then grinned. The first thing that changed was Dav’s eyes as they brightened and began to glow with red fire. “Shall we spar a bit while it grows?”
Sophia wasn’t about to pass up the chance to see what difference Dav’s Sword Forms and Extended Leap made in a fight, so she eagerly joined him. It was quickly obvious that he needed practice; several times, he seemed to try to move two different ways at once, almost as if his practice and the suggestions of his new Ability were giving different suggestions and he wasn’t quite sure which to follow.
While they were fighting, Sophia felt an odd feeling, like the snap of a magical thread, and called a short halt while she figured out what was going on. A long look at Amy, where she saw only Amy and the overcharged Echo, told her what the snap was. A moment later, the overcharged echo dissipated into bright sparks with the same feeling of a magical link breaking. The summons could stay around for quite a while, but not forever.
Sophia tried to summon another, to make sure she could, but although she could feel the magic pulsing with each step and being stamped into a pattern, each step also felt like she was touching a sore spot that might become a bruise. She persevered anyway, but when she finished the martial technique, she wasn’t rewarded with a small dragon. All she saw was a dragon-shaped puff of magical light, as if the dragon she’d tried to summon immediately dissipated.
Maybe there was a reason the Guide only allowed two at a time. If nothing else, she’d definitely discovered a limit she needed to be aware of. She wondered how long it would be before she could summon an echo again; she’d have to try later. For now, she needed to get back to the spar with Dav.
The two of them went back and forth until Sophia realized she was dripping with sweat and it wasn’t the exercise; instead, it was the wisps of flame and the heat that Dav radiated. She called a halt and backed off; they weren’t going to accomplish any significant progress like this and they’d more or less established how long the Ability took to become really noticeable. It was slow but could matter in a longer fight.
Sophia watched carefully this time. When it began to look like fire he was on fire, rather than simply dripping fire, she had to ask. “Are you sure you’re okay? That looks very uncomfortable.”
Dav shook his head. “It isn’t. If anything, it feels warm and comfortable. Why?”
Sophia tried to send him an image of what he looked like with fire crawling up his skin.
Dav didn’t have a good answer for the image. “Huh. Well, I guess we just have to wait.” He sat down where he’d been standing and looked around. After a moment, he pointed off to Sophia’s left. “Oh hey, look!”
Sophia followed his directions. In the distance, Amy was flying. It looked more like a desperate scramble in the air than the smooth flight of an owl, but even that was a marked improvement from earlier in the day. “Good for her.”
Sophia watched Amy for a moment longer, then turned back to Dav. She didn’t want to miss anything.
The fire crawling across Dav’s skin changed colors, then his skin began to darken into a deep purple. His hair seemed to clump and begin to wave like the Eldritch Fire Bud’s leaves, while the flame seemed to travel inside Dav, then break out from his chest, neck, and head. Some of the flame seemed to solidify into dark whirls that covered his armor, but the armor itself seemed to melt away and turn into flame. By the time Dav was completely engulfed in fire, Sophia would not have been able to recognize him if she hadn’t known who he was.
image [https://i.imgur.com/MVJ4uAX.jpeg]
“That’s pretty disturbing,” Sophia noted as she sent Dav another image. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
“Yes?” Dav didn’t sound nearly as certain as Sophia wanted him to. He seemed to think the same thing, because the fire in his chest almost immediately started to dim, followed by the flames around him. It took most of a minute for Dav to return to more-or-less normal and brush the ash that formed on his armor off. Sophia tried to approach him, but he continued to radiate too much heat for her to get close.
“That was different,” Dav said with a frown. “It felt like I was expanding, turning into fire. I’m not sure I could actually hold my sword at the end. I don’t feel like I’m injured, but…”
“But you think you shouldn’t do it again any time soon, sort of like poking a bruise?” Sophia filled in. “I know the feeling, that’s why I can’t summon anything. Is it your Embody ability giving you issues or the Fire Bud?”
Dav frowned for a moment, sighed, and turned his attention to the sand. A fiery flower pushed its way up from the sand. Dav let it stay for a long moment before he dismissed it and let the sand fall back where it started. “Definitely Embody. The summon doesn’t seem to have an issue.”
Sophia nodded and frowned in concentration as she tried to remember his full list. “Then all you have left is spells, like me?”
Dav shook his head. “Also a few summons. Otherwise, yes.”
Sophia skipped Shaped Growth, since she had nothing to shape. It was the last thing on either of their lists that would take significant time to test out, so they finished up fairly quickly. Sophia’s spells all worked more or less as expected, though she could already tell that several of them would reward clever use; she might well be able to use Attractive Affix or Parrying Presence on someone in between a spellcaster and their target to throw off their aim. It wouldn’t be much, but even a small amount could be useful.