Hugh did not dream well that night. He was back in that room, secured to a chair with tubes sticking out of his arms and surrounded by red dust along the otherwise pristine floor. But strangely, he felt nothing; no externally instilled anger, not even the complete calm that had washed over him at the end. Void.

There was a child on the ground next to him that he had not noticed before. Actually, now that he took a proper look, the red on the floor was not dust. It was blood. Or fire ? An amalgamation of both, it seemed. He stood up and walked around. He felt… Disconnected, somehow. He knew the scene around him had significance, but he felt strangely passive.

The boy on the ground burned. Hugh woke up in a cold sweat.

----------------------------------------

In general, Hugh had enjoyed the previous evening with Joanne and Cerule. They had played cards and talked about nothing in particular. It was comfortable. And yet, he was restless. Not just because of Saffron, not just because of his dream, not just because he was expected to give answers he could not remember. It was all of that, and more. His confrontation with Verdant was still fresh on his mind, but that was not what really bothered him. It was that boy on the ground amidst the flames. That image had come up again and again recently. He did not know why, or who the boy was- but he recognised him.

“Hugh ?” Joanne called. “Care for breakfast ?”

He felt a pang of worry and sudden alertness. Had he overslept ? What would Verdant think ? He calmed down, realising his situation, and got dressed. Verdant lent him a change of clothes, which was a bit on the larger side, but otherwise fit well.

The kitchen smelled of eggs- slightly burned, maybe. She was evidently not close to the cook that Jade was, but Joanne seemed to be enjoying the process. Hugh quickly got to work setting the table.

“Good morning,” Cerule said as he entered the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow at Hugh. “In a hurry ?” He asked.

Hugh froze. “I uhh… No. Force of habit.”

He continued, more slowly now, but equally deliberately and efficiently. Cerule still seemed surprised, but did not comment further. They had breakfast after that, which was nice. At least, it was until, inevitably, the question came.

“So, Hugh. Did you happen to remember anything more after a good night’s rest ?” Cerule asked. It was clear he did not intend to be confrontational, and was simply, desperately, hoping for answers.

Hugh half-choked on a piece of bread. He washed it down with some water. Then, he opened his mouth, but hesitated. Finally, he began;

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I tried, I really did, but… There’s just nothing.”

Cerule visibly deflated. Joanne hid it well, but he could tell she was disappointed too- or maybe he was imagining that.

Hugh continued, trying to salvage the situation somewhat. “I did have a dream though. It might not tell you much, but I was back in that room, stuck to the chair, although I did not feel anything. Then…” He hesitated. “Then I woke up,” he said. He did not know the significance of the boy in the flames, but he knew it meant something. Before he knew what, he wanted to keep it to himself.

Cerule did not seem to think much of it, but still thanked him. They ate breakfast mostly in silence after that. Hugh complimented Joanne on the eggs - he did not mind the slight char. When everyone had finished and everything was cleaned up and put away, Verdant turned towards Hugh.

“So, Hugh. I’m still working out the details and contacting some folks I know that can hopefully help us out; but it seems that we’re going to a military camp soon. Now, I hope that we can extract your friend using stealth alone, but that has never been my greatest skill, and military settlements tend to be monitored quite well. That means that there’s a chance that we’ll have to fight, and that means you need to be able to defend yourself.”

Hugh swallowed. He knew where this was going.

“So, if you would please follow me,” Cerule continued. “Then we can start teaching you some Chromancy.”

He was led downstairs to an empty cellar with a thick wooden door. It was dark save from the light coming from upstairs, and had a very eerie atmosphere.

“Joanne ?” Cerule asked. She grinned and stepped inside the cellar, casting out her hands to the sides. Immediately, the room burst alight, twinkles of yellow reflecting in the air and filling the room with a comfortable glow. The light seemed to come from everything and nowhere simultaneously, bathing the cellar in completely diffuse light. Hugh stepped in as well, and Cerule closed the door behind them.

“It isn’t quite a military training ground,” Cerule began, “but we should be able to experiment a bit here without breaking anything.” He fished a twig out of his pocket. That threw Hugh off a bit, and he had to restrain himself from laughing. Did he often carry twigs around  ?

The man placed the twig on the ground. “Now, could you try to burn it up please ?”

A bead of sweat crawled down Hugh’s forehead. He did not want to, it felt too dangerous. All his life he had been avoiding any strong emotion. He breathed in, shuddering slightly. Did he need to fear this ?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned his head to see Joanne standing there, giving him a reassuring smile. “Take your time. Chromancy is an emotional thing. It’s alright if it doesn’t go right the first time. Heaven knows, it didn’t for me.”

He nodded, thankful, if still unsure. He picked up the twig- it seemed safer than trying to target it from a distance. Then he closed his eyes.

“Search for any hint of the emotion you associate with Red,” Cerule said. “For most, it’s anger, but that’s not the only option. Then, when you’ve found something, expand it. Fuel it until you feel it strongly. Then channel that feeling towards that stick in your hand.”

Easier said than done. Still, Hugh was thankful for any advice. He did as instructed; he dove deep within himself, searching for any anger he bore. Towards the people who had taken him prisoner ? But those were faceless, unknown. Difficult to visualise. The guard then, maybe ?

But no, there was only even one option that made sense.

Verdant’s image appeared in his mind’s eye, clear as day. In his hand a glowing hot poker, in his eyes a message; that he stood so far above Hugh that looking up was heresy in itself.

Hugh felt a spark of hatred towards the man. He could use that. He set aside his fears- or tried to, as much as he could. And he stirred up the flame. Everything around Verdant caught fire.

“Yes, you’re doing great!” Joanne called, temporarily throwing Hugh out of his imaginary world. He did not open his eyes, but simply nodded, quickly regaining his balance and continuing his attempt.

Verdant burned and Hugh looked on, stoking the fire hotter. Everything around him caught flame. Then Verdant was gone. Hugh would have blinked, if this whole scene had not been a mental construction. On the ground where Verdant had stood, in the centre of the blaze, was that boy he had now seen countless times.

Immediately, Hugh panicked. His breathing quickened, his heart raced. His mind swam as he watched the flames build.

No, no, no. He thought. He could handle this. He had trained himself to over the years, inadvertently. He pushed down the feeling, extinguished the flames. This was a wound he could not heal- he could only do all he could not to reopen it.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The flames died out, and he blanked his mind. He breathed in, steadying himself, and breathed out. He visualised a slow river, a calm lake, a quiet sea all around him, separating him from the world and protecting him from it.

He noticed he was clenching his fist around the twig. He heard something snap. But his eyes remained closed, his world remained calm.

He only opened his eyes when he heard Joanne and Cerule gasp.

The twig had… Crumbled. Not burnt; it felt slightly warm, but nothing more than that. It was as if the stick had collapsed in on itself, folded itself up into a broken knot. Blue particles were floating down through the air, the ground coated in a multicoloured hue. Joanne’s mouth was open, Cerule frowned.

“How… You’re a red Chromancer, aren’t you ?” Cerule asked.

Hugh nodded. “I think so. Well, I’m quite sure. I used fire to…” he stopped. He had not told them about Verdant yet; they might have heard something, and he was not opposed to them knowing, but he did not have the heart to explain the whole endeavour. “To fight when the Pristine Guard came to get me.”

Cerule crouched, drawing his thumb over the ground. “There’s some red in here I think. Some yellow, from Joanne’s light. But certainly blue. Compressing that twig like that, that might be doable with red Chroma… With extreme precision and years of experience. Using blue for that same purpose would be trivial.”

He looked at Hugh inquisitively. “Tell me exactly what you were thinking of just now.”

It was not phrased like a question, and did not feel like one. Cerule had not sounded forceful, but this was clearly a command.

“I tried to think of things that make me angry, and it started to work, but then it… It overwhelmed me. So I pushed it away, and then…” he pointed at the crumbled stick. “That happened.”

Cerule shook his head. “That shouldn’t be possible. It shouldn’t.” He was silent for a moment. “You, Hugh, have just become a lot more interesting. Now, do it again,” he said simply.

Hugh blinked. “Uhm, okay,” he mumbled. He was not sure he could, but Cerule’s tone left little room for debate. He closed his eyes again; that seemed to have helped before. He tried to conjure up the feeling he had had before. Not the anger- he felt it lurking somewhere, and he was afraid of it. He knew if he approached it, he would return to that now all too familiar room with that enigmatic boy on the floor wreathed in flames.

No, he distanced himself from that. And from everything else. He meditated, a practised ritual, blocking everything out until all that was left inside him was a peaceful calm reverberating through his soul.

He thought about Cerule and Joanne. He was happy to have found a comfortable place to stay, but he was anxious as well. It seemed like they were happy to have him, but maybe that was just because he was useful. What would they do when he was not anymore ?

“Hey, cut it off!” Cerule yelled. His voice rumbled through the cellar and seemed to physically impact Hugh, throwing him off balance. He was shaken awake from his trance and his eyes shot open. Joanne was on the ground, staring at him with surprise. Cerule steadied himself with a hand against the wall.

“Now do red,” he said. Joanne got up and stepped behind Cerule.

Hugh felt awful. “Are you okay ?” he asked, looking at Joanne. She nodded but said nothing.

“Use red Chroma, show me,” Cerule said, his intonation harder this time; not aggressive, but assertive.

He swallowed, clenched his fist. He breathed in deeply, and breathed out. He closed his eyes again. And he reached through the fear towards that corner of his mind. He felt the heat, felt it build up.

And then he was in that room again surrounded by orange flames and staring at a boy crying on the ground as the fire crept towards him.

Hugh opened his eyes, sweating, panting.

“No.”

He looked towards Cerule. “No, I can’t. I won’t.”

Strangely, Cerule smiled. “That’s alright,” he said, pointing towards the floor where splotches of red dust were now clearly visible. “You’ve proven to me that it’s possible. We can get back to this later- for now, it’s actually better if you don’t use two types of Chromancy. You already had a big target on your back for escaping the Iridescent; it has just grown tenfold.”

Well, Hugh thought, that’sthought. That’s just wonderful.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to make some notes. I’ll talk you both through the new plans afterwards, and see if you agree with them. For now, I have to write this all down. You,” he nodded towards Hugh, “have just proven something I have been trying to figure out for decades.”

Hugh was unsure what he should make of that. It had all gone pretty quickly. But at least, he could be pretty sure that Cerule and Joanne would not be done with him so soon.

—

He talked a bit with Joanne after that. He told her how he knew Saffron, and about their lives working for Verdant- but he left out how his last evening there had gone. She did not ask. After a while, their conversation settled into a contemplative silence. Joanne was looking down at the ground, a departure from the energetic nature she had shown him thus far. As for Hugh himself, he kept catching himself fidgeting, switching positions every other minute as he waited for Cerule to return and announce his new plan.

After what felt like hours- and could have well been-, Cerule stepped into the room. Joanne immediately looked up. He sat down on a large chair from which he could look directly towards both Hugh and Joanne, and revealed a set of scribbled papers. They looked illegible to Hugh.

“So,” Cerule started, articulating loudly and clearly.

“If both of you agree, then I would like to plan as follows. I’ve made a short list of the military encampments which I deem most likely for your friend to have ended up in. We’ll first go to camp Citrine, stationed a decent way from the front. They’re primarily a backup defence camp, and as such a good spot of new recruits to be trained. If we don’t find him there, we can go to Cirise or Ochre, which are likely candidates for similar reasons, although Ochre may have moved recently or will do so soon- my information is too old to tell.

“Not only will it be good to help you find your friend, but it is not a bad idea to get you out of the city anyway- and, to be honest, the same might hold for us. It’ll also provide us more opportunity for training, which you,” he looked at Hugh, “desperately need.”

Hugh nodded. He was not keen on the concept of training further with Chromancy, but he could not deny the utility of doing so.

“And after that ?” Joanne asked.

“Well, we need to find a way to stop Gray’s Essence harvesting, first and foremost. It’s inhumane. We’ve tried exposing them to the public, but that… It didn’t go well.”

He looked down when he said that, his fist clenched and his face portraying pain. For a second, he swore he could see the same expression on Joanne- but then it was gone again. Cerule paused for a while, before regaining his composure and continuing his explanation.

“That means we need a different way of stopping him. To make it impossible to continue the practice; and I’m pretty sure there’s a way. There are many things not known about Chromancy- at least, not to most. But Gray has done a lot of research, and I happen to know more about it than most. Maybe we might find a way to produce Essences, and strip away Gray’s political power. We’ll try what we can do. In any case, there are few places better for studying Essence than the battlefront. Few places as unsafe as well, but there aren’t a lot of safe places for us left.”

Hugh winced. He had not meant to put a target on their backs, of course. But he was glad to share the burden. He wanted to ask how Cerule knew all this, but left the question unspoken- at least for the moment. There were many things he’d love to know, but right now that did not have priority. He’d have plenty of time to question his new companions later. For now, the faster they were done here, the faster they could depart and the quicker they could find Saffron. For a second, he considered the possibility that Saffron was already sent out in the field- he had been there for two weeks already, after all. He felt his heartbeat quicken as scenarios flashed through his mind. But he quickly banished the thought. They were going to be on time.

“So,” Joanne interjected. “In short, we find Hugh’s friend, rescue him from the military, do some research on Essences and figure out how to ruin Grey’s monopoly, and all will be well in the world. Sounds great!”

Hugh could hardly believe someone was that upbeat about a plan that involved frequent violations of the most basic human rights- but so far, it had seemed Joanne had a particular talent for that sort of thing.

He nodded at Cerule’s explanation. “So,” he said. “Shall we get going then ? Any plans to get out of the city unseen ?”

Cerule grinned. “We’ll pack some supplies and head right out. And sure, of course I have a plan! Unfortunately, I’m not sure you’re going to like it.”

Hugh’s face went bleak. “You mean…”

Joanne took a step forward. “Time for a nice run!”

“Exactly,” Cerule responded, laughing. “In terms of leaving the city- straight through the gate seems unwise. Luckily, we’re Chromancers! And don’t worry,” he added, turning towards Hugh. “I’ll do the heavy lifting for now. But once we’re out of the city, it’s time to get you up to speed- and see what a combination of colours can do.”

As Cerule indicated, they quickly stocked up on supplies and packed some bags; and then, they were off- towards places Hugh had never been, with dangers he had never faced, and companions he had only known for days. This, he thought, was going to be interesting.