The four years old Nueve got her feet tangled and began falling frontward. Before her chin crashed onto the hard floor, a delicate pair of hands intercepted in between, and broke the fall.
The room she was in was lit by a lantern, with fire contained by blurred glass. Its light dimmer than exposed flames, but brighter than glowmoss. Tolerable for little Nueve’s eyes; and enough to reveal glimpses of facial expressions.
‘You’re not hurt, are you?’ Nueve’s mother picked her up, helping her to stand, then crouched and checked on her. Worry was in her tone and expression. ‘Are you hurt?’
Nueve shook her head.
She read Nueve’s expression: eyebrows raised and mouth agape, then smiled. ‘Just surprised, that’s all, right?’
‘Y-yes,’ Nueve answered.
‘Oh, my precious Nueve… It’s alright.’ She gave her a warm embrace. ‘Follow my lead, okay? Breathe out… Breathe in… Good… Breathe out… Now, did that rid your surprise?’
That did calm her heartbeat. ‘Yes.’
‘Let’s continue dancing then. I’ll teach you a new move today; it’ll be fun! Watch.’ Her mother stood up. She took some distance from Nueve, then began humming lively beats with a beautiful voice. She lowered her stance, weaving her whole body left and right to the rhythm. Her refined movement captivated Nueve. ‘It’s called Stingray’s Tail.
‘You turn,’ she demonstrated with a slow; fluent motion, ‘lower your upper body till your head almost touches the ground, hands on the floor for balance, look through the gap between your legs, then swing.’ Her leg created a smooth curved arc, its trail visible to Nueve. ‘Then you continue the weaving movement.
‘Try it.’
Her mother slowly came to a stop, then continued humming and observed Nueve.
Nueve began weaving her whole body left and right to the rhythm; careful not to tangle her legs like before. She turned—a momentary pause occurred as she recollected the steps—and lowered her upper body. Hands on the floor for balance, forgot to look through the gap, then swung her leg.
Unlike her mother’s, hers was clumsy and made a messy arc. She felt disappointed by her attempt.
‘You did well!’ her mother said with a smile, clapping for her. This praise made Nueve happy. ‘I love the way you dance, Nueve. Just now, you were as vibrant as…’ she trailed off; her smile replaced with a grin. ‘I’ll save this one for when you’re older. For when your eyes have developed well enough.
‘Let’s try it again!’
Her mother hummed; and Nueve gave the move another attempt.
As she practiced with her mother, the fire contained within the lantern’s blurred glass continued to flutter.
*
Flamedancer
Chapter 4
A Dance of Flames
*
The Present…
The pendant’s flame fluttered.
Its light pushed away the darkness, creating a sphere—an arena.
On one side was a man with a knife. On another side was a young woman with a gun. Unmatched as those two weapons were, it could not be forgotten that—just like the gun—the knife was a rune weapon.
One which Nueve had never seen or encountered before.
Stealing the initiative, Nueve pulled the trigger of her gun. The barrel began to glow a dim red. A shine that was difficult to spot in the presence of a light, but the enforcer didn’t fail to notice. Nueve aimed and shot a line of concentrated fire.
Zing!
Before the shot had occurred, the enforcer had seen the aim, determined the trajectory, and stepped out of its path.
The shot hit an iron crate, missing.
‘The gun—’ he remarked— ‘is an inferior rune weapon. Two seconds delay, five seconds to charge the next fire. Seven seconds is enough time for an opponent to close the gap when the shot misses.
‘And it will miss. Its glow is a giveaway that the trigger has been pulled; so long as a person can count to two, it’s an easy dodge. No matter how great a shot you are, you’re guaranteed to miss against a skillful opponent.’
Five seconds was up.
Nueve pulled the trigger and aimed again.
She had to keep the barrel pointed at him when two seconds struck.
‘One…’ He counted, then stepped away from the trajectory. ‘Two.’
Zing!
Again, the shot missed.
Shooting him from the front won’t work, Nueve concluded.
‘My turn.’
He lifted his knife.
This knife of his, the rune weapon, had tweaks that distinguished it from a normal knife. First being, that the blade had runes drawn on it. Second being, that under its guard, there was a trigger like that of a gun—that functioned to close the circuit and activate the rune.
He pulled the trigger.
The runes glowed, generating flames that coated the blade.
Despite the distance between him and Nueve, he diagonally swung the knife. The flames left the knife, forming a slanted blade of fire that traveled toward her.
This fire wasn’t instantaneous and concentrated like the gun’s, but it was fast and destructive nevertheless. Nueve lowered her body to the side, till her right cheek almost touching the ground, and dodged the fire. She could feel the intense heat as the blade of fire passed. It hit a shelf afar behind her, slashing one of the metalwork’s legs; causing it to collapse.
Had that hit her, she would have been slashed into two.
Death crept like an insect crawling on the back of her spine. She shivered. Partly from the fear of death, mostly from her curiosity. Her eyes sparkled like stars in the sky as she stared at the knife.
It was a rune weapon that could unleash fire without delay, with no obvious drawbacks.
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I want it, she thought, curiosity overwhelming her fear.
‘I suppose—’ the enforcer remarked at her expression with a slight chuckle— ‘you’d have to have at least a pinch of the crazy to have survived this long.’
He pulled the trigger, swung his knife, then unleashed a vertical blade of fire.
Nueve swung her body to the other side, pressed her hand onto the floor, then evaded with a cartwheel.
The blade of fire roared as it passed by.
Having dodged the attack and landed, Nueve began counting to determine the charge duration before the rune weapon could unleash another fire. In which, she saw him winding up for another knife swing.
Close to no charge duration, Nueve concluded, or none at all.
*
Crash!
A shelf went down, its iron crates falling. The missing blade of fire had damaged the warehouse instead of Nueve.
The enforcer swung his knife, projecting another blade of fire toward Nueve. In which, she dodged by running in circle to him. She was then forced to stay on the move, as he swung his knife again and kept delivering blade of fires.
Crash!
Another shelf toppled down. The crashes began to accumulate from there as she dodged more attacks. That one rune weapon alone was slowly transforming the warehouse to ruins.
No delays, Nueve analyzed, same speed every time, varying lengths and angles according to the swing.
Every rune weapon needed a source of power to generate flames; energy didn’t come for free from nowhere. Initially, Nueve had thought of continuously dodging and waiting for the rune weapon to run out of reserve; but the lack of hesitation from him led her to believe that he was confident the knife would outlast her stamina.
Crash!
Nueve had to bring the fight to a close-range distance.
However, far from approaching him, she found that she was being pushed back and was already inside the darkness. Nueve was getting further than closer.
‘…’ Nueve calmly stared at the enforcer. Inside her crimson eyes was an unquelled blaze.
Crash!
I’ll have to—
Her train of thought was disturbed as the enforcer made a wide swing, projecting a big diagonal blade of fire. This one, unlike the ones before which chased her, was predicting where she was running toward. Thus, Nueve stopped in her tracks, and the blade of fire missed.
Then the barrage of fire blades stopped.
An eerie tranquility hung in the air. Him still inside the sphere of light, Nueve could see a smug on his lips.
Crash!
Another shelf fall, along with the iron crates it had contained. In which, Nueve realized the predicament she was now in.
Whilst it had seemed that the enforcer had thrown the blades of fire on random, he had led Nueve’s escape. The destruction he had created was calculated, and now her running path was blocked by ruins.
The only path that remained, was a straight one toward the enforcer. No longer could she now circle around him. No longer could she dodge the attacks like before, as her space was now limited.
‘“Mercy drops like a gentle rain”,’ the enforcer quoted. ‘I am generous with it. True mercy—lies not in sparing my opponent’s life, but in giving her the death she deserves.
‘I will remember you.
‘As the ashes that remained ashes.’
He winded his body, pressed the trigger on his knife, generated the flames, and delivered his largest knife swing. A large vertical blade of fire traveled toward Nueve, one which she could not dodge.
*
The fire roared, slammed a ruin, and brought forth a screen of dust.
With his arm, the enforcer shielded his eyes from the impact of the blow. The fire blade he had discharged was the largest thus far, which expended most of the knife’s power. An end he thought proper for the escapist.
His hand reached inside his uniform, grabbing the sheath of his knife. He was about to sheathe the blade; but saw a dim red glow from the dissipating dust screen.
Initially, he thought staying too long inside the sphere of light had misled his eyes, but he was not mistaken. That glow wasn’t a product of his mind.
As the dust settled, a figure emerged: of a young woman holding a rune weapon beside her waist. In which, said rune weapon was not the gun, but something else. Nueve was holding a folding fan, with runes drawn on the paper.
Her lips smiled.
Her rune weapon had worked.
‘It seems that I have spoken too soon…’ he said with fascination. Never had he seen a rune weapon in that form before. It was an original rune weapon made by her. ‘More and more, as our fight progresses, you show that you are more capable that you seem to be.
‘Splendid!’
The enforcer threw away his knife’s sheath. He pressed the trigger under the guard and generated flames. Having expended most of its power, the flames weren’t as big as before, but that had to make do.
He swung his knife, discharging a vertical blade of fire.
As the blade of fire traveled toward Nueve, she held her folding fan frontward and let its tip touch the fire. She swung the fan away, the fire following the tip, and redirected the blade toward the ruins.
Slam!
She deflected the attack.
It was a rune weapon specialized in manipulating flames.
Nueve’s smile became more visible; she was proud of her own creation.
‘Ha… Ha-ha…’ the enforcer chuckled. He had found himself a worthy opponent. An opponent whom he must give his all to defeat.
He swung his knife with rapidity, launching a barrage of fire blades with varying angles toward Nueve.
In response, Nueve dashed toward the enforcer. Since the blades of fire were comparably smaller than before, she could dodge them. She weaved her whole body in rhythmic motion as she approached, dodging half of the blades, and deflecting the other half with her rune weapon.
It was a sight which he had never seen before.
The young woman with crimson eyes, pink lips, and original rune weapon, blazed through the blades of fire with a smooth; refined movement, which was elegant to his eyes. As if she was moving with the fire in harmony. As if—
As if she was dancing with the flames.
‘… Flamedancer,’ he uttered with amazement.
*
Finally, with a last step-in, Nueve brought the fight to a close-range distance.
She had overcome the enforcer’s rune weapon. Now, all that was left was to finish the fight in this close-quarter combat. The battle was coming to an end; and this would be the final decisive moment.
With his freehand, the enforcer launched a right hook.
Nueve dodged with a turn, lowering her upper body until her head almost touching the ground, then swung her leg. Stingray’s tail.
This kick, coming from an uncommon position and angle, wasn’t an attack he could dodge without knowledge of the move. However, his instinct had sensed wrongness in her dodge, and he had blindly swayed back, dodging her kick.
He brought his knife up, leftover flames coating the blade, and swung down toward Nueve.
Nueve placed her hands on the ground; and dodged with a cartwheel.
It was an unconventional method of evasion, however, with that very same move, she had relayed to him where she would land. In anticipation, he pulled his knife and headed toward her landing spot, ready to stab her.
To his surprise, she disappeared.
Nueve hadn’t finished her cartwheel. She had stopped midway; and was now standing with her hands. From that position, she brought her leg down, and delivered a kick that hit the enforcer’s exposed nape.
This kick disturbed the flow of blood toward his head. Knocking him out.
Defeating him.
*
When Horizon came to his senses, he found himself inside a room, on a bed. A room lit up by a pendant’s fire hung on the bedframe. Then, he saw Nueve beside him, sitting on a stool, closing the lid of an ointment which she had applied for him.
‘I got my priority right,’ Nueve bragged. ‘I could have inspected the new rune weapon I stole, but I chose to treat your wounds.’
Horizon tried to rise, but his aching ribs prevented him. He believed he had cracked a few ribs after going against that certain enforcer. ‘Where are we? What—happened?’
‘We’re in one of my hideouts,’ Nueve answered. ‘What happened is that you have prepared an ambush for me in a warehouse, stole and gave away my pendant, and I managed to reclaim it back.’
‘You… defeated the enforcer?’
‘Only thanks to you. His movement was hindered because you have wounded him. Had he been in prime condition, I would have lost.’
‘…’ Horizon stared at the pendant, squinting his eyes as he directly looked toward the light. He sighed. ‘You chose to survive in the end.’
‘No.’ This answer surprised Horizon. ‘I chose to live. I’m—planning to fight back. I’ll enroll in the academy and learn runes, then figure out how this undying fire works. I’ll finish this matter.’
‘That’s risky.’
‘I know.’
Silence. Horizon was at a loss of words to say. Deep inside, he knew that his relationship with Nueve wouldn’t be the same anymore. Not after he had gone with extreme measures—essentially betraying her.
‘Horizon?’
‘Yes?’ He didn’t fail to notice that she called his first name in full.
‘Let’s break up.’
Horizon opened his mouth, wanting to utter words that would let him attempt to retain their relationship. However, he ceased. He deserved this. ‘Figures…’
‘I know you did all this for me,’ she held his hand with hers, ‘but I don’t want to be with someone I should constantly be wary of as I fight back.’
Horizon sighed. ‘I understa—’
‘Once it’s all over, let’s get back together again, okay?’
Horizon blinked twice, surprised. ‘You’re still giving me a chance? Even after all that?’
Her lips curved to sorrow. ‘You don’t… want to?’
‘Wha—Of course I want to! I’ll wait forever if I have to!’
Nueve chuckled. ‘I guess we’re both hopelessly in love with each other.’ Her stare lingered on his face, burning her appearance to memory, so she wouldn’t ever forget. ‘See you, Horizon.’
She leaned toward him and gave him a kiss.
‘Bye,’ she said after pulling back.
‘… I’ll miss you.’ He held her hand, not wanting to let go.
‘Same,’ she made a sad smile, then stood up and let go of his hand.
‘Try to stay safe.’
‘No worries! I’m a good escapist you know!’ She grabbed her pendant and wrapped it around her neck. ‘Besides, I’m so good that I got myself a nickname!’
‘A nickname? What nickname?’
Clip.
She closed the pendant and the darkness rushed in.
‘Flamedancer.’