Zalia watched in awe as stone grew oh so slowly up from the floor around Ember’s boots. It sped up, beginning to flow more than grind its way into shape as it formed to the plate armour Ember was wearing.

The glow brightened as the stone grew hot enough to turn a deep orange.

All the while, Ember kept eye contact with Zalia, showing no sign of pain at the considerable heat now emanating from her.

The stone began to cool, solidifying and turning to a dark glassy obsidian, the glow diminishing with the dissipation of heat.

The armour was glossy and dark, not rough but sleek and form-fitting with jagged, pointed spikes growing from the shoulder pads. The joints were perfectly crafted to slide smoothly allowing a wide range of motion and barely visible lines of glowing lava flowed through the armour like molten veins.

Still, despite noting all of this, Zalia kept the eye contact that Ember had held throughout the process.

“You look good in that armour."

Ember stretched out, testing the range of motion she could now attain.

“I know.”

Glemp walked up and tapped it in a few places.

“Yes, very good armour.”

Their voice had returned to normal and Glemp made no comment on the fact a spirit had just spoken through them.

Zalia noted the familiar look of absence as Ember read through the notifications that must have swarmed her vision and used her own abilities to see what she could about the armour.

Flamekeeper Plate (Heirloom) - Bronze rank.

She also noted the feeling of excitement and appreciation that filled Ember despite her relatively calm exterior.

Zalia walked up and poked Ember in the side of the head.

“Now you gotta bond it!”

Ember shook her head.

“Nope."

“What do you mean ‘nope’?”

Ember smiled, her eyes flicking up to focus on Zalia’s face.

“Nope, looks like the process of the blessing already did that for me.”

Zalia chewed her lip thinking about it. She couldn’t really call that unfair as both of her heirlooms had formed a deeper bond upon receiving their blessings.

“Well, what does it do?”

“Well, other than be an extremely strong suit of regenerating armour? Have a look.”

A little screen popped up in Zalia’s vision.

Flamekeeper Plate (Heirloom) - Bronze rank

Tin - You can choose to leave prints of fire behind you as you walk.

Iron - While the prints of fire are active, you may stomp your foot to cause a small eruption of flame on a nearby surface.

Bronze - While the prints of fire are active, you are surrounded by a halo of flame that burns your enemies and heals your allies.

“Woah."

It was pretty impressive, certainly a more combat-capable set of abilities than her own armour. She was a little worried about what exactly leaving behind prints of fire would mean for Ember when fighting in a forest but it was something that Zalia herself would be able to both contain and make use of if it came to it. She would always be able to regrow anything Ember burnt down.

Besides, the abilities fit very well to Ember’s own namesake. Zalia liked that and even thought the abilities fit to Ember as a person somewhat. She certainly was as protective of her friends as Zalia tended to be. She was protective and helpful to anyone in need really. It was part of what Zalia loved about her.

Zalia looked back towards the lake of lava.

“Thank you for providing this blessing!”

No reply came.

Glemp stepped up beside her, looking happily over the lava.

“They of Heat and Stone has returned to their slumber."

“Give them my thanks if and when they wake up next then would you?”

Glemp looked up at her with those red eyes.

“That may be a very, very long time."

“Surely they can’t sleep that long."

“This is the first awakening to be recorded in a few hundred years."

Zalia turned away from Ember to look at Glemp.

“I stand corrected.”

Ember poked Zalia back.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“We really should be going soon, I’m sure Boreal and Aylie would be ready by now."

Zalia turned around.

“Yeah, we should."

Then she paused for a moment, thinking.

“Though, while we are here I would like to go up and see the ritual site further up the mountain."

Ember looked at her in surprise.

“That… is actually a good idea."

“Why do you sound and look so surprised?”

“Remember when you thought it was a good idea to reverse Juniper's ritual and get yourself sucked into Cormaine?”

“Yeah?”

Ember looked at her blankly.

“You don’t think it was a bad idea to do that?” she asked pointedly.

“Nope, you’re not the only one that gets to sacrifice for your friends and the kingdom as a whole."

Ember didn’t argue that, knowing that Zalia was definitely right about that one even if she didn’t like it.

“Up the mountain we go then.”

“We can fly up, it won’t take too long,” Zalia suggested.

Ember basically jumped in excitement.

“I would love that!”

Zalia smiled, eyes twinkling.

“As would I."

“Quite interesting, yes, very,” Glemp muttered.

“I'm sure you wouldn’t be interested, what with you being a person of the stone and all."

“No, actually, it would be an interesting experiment, yes. Unfortunately, I have not the time to waste, no,” Glemp corrected.

“I still think we could have flown the entire way here,” Ember said.

“That would have drawn the attention of every other flying creature and demon in the area and it takes a lot of mana for me to sustain that on a lot of people at once,” Zalia explained. Again.

Ember muttered a little.

“Well that makes some sense I guess."

Perhaps she had been hoping for an easy method of travel back to the war camp.

Zalia started moving quickly up the stairs.

“Sorry to disappoint darling, let’s go!"

“Darling?” Ember asked, her tone teasing.

Despite the tone, Zalia could practically feel Ember’s heart skip a beat, a combination of her ability to sense vibration and the bond they now shared. She stopped for only a moment to turn and give Ember a sly smile before continuing her quick pace up the stairs.

“Hey, now that isn’t fair!” Ember called after her.

Zalia heard the sound of heavy footsteps as Ember clanked up the stairs after her.

Smiling to herself and her own heart beating faster than it should have, Zalia led Ember on a chase towards the surface, purposefully staying just ahead of the significantly slower Ember.

Up they went, until Zalia burst out into fresh air and snow once more. Ember came out behind by only a few moments, stumbling over a patch of thick snow.

Zalia caught her by both arms, Ember grabbing onto Zalia’s arms for stability and regaining her balance.

She found herself standing close to Ember, both of them holding the other. A little bit too close, not because Zalia didn’t want Ember in her personal space but because she found that she did want Ember there. A little bit more than she realised.

Zalia stepped back, brushing down her clothes with a cough.

“Hmm, right. Let’s go find the other two then shall we?”

Ember smiled at her and nodded.

“Sure."

Zalia could feel her face was flushed, because of the cold obviously, and yet found that Ember was completely at ease. Damn confident, intelligent, beautiful…

She turned about and walked towards Zen’s house, completely aware that Ember could feel her emotions just as she could feel Embers.

“Boreal come out here with Aylie please,” Zalia pleaded.

It was but a few seconds before both Boreal and Aylie exploded out of the house in a puff of snow. Boreal slid to a stop and Aylie bumped off of her to get ahead, running towards Ember and Zalia.

As the other two approached, Zalia called out.

“We’re going to fly up the mountain, get ready!”

She began channelling the wings of air ritual, using Hunter’s Mark on herself and the other three so that the ritual targeted at herself would affect the others as well.

Just before she took off, Boreal looked Zalia up and down, her ears aeroplaning a little bit and a thought of amusement drifting over their bond. Even Boreal was teasing her now?

She jumped into the air, her wings strong where her legs were feeling weak.

“Come on, you two!” Zalia called down, watching as Boreal took off.

Aylie jumped and attempted to control the wings, only barely managing to stay airborne yet getting better by the second. Ember on the other hand, didn’t even manage that far.

She looked up nervously and tried to fly up but failed, falling a short distance back to the ground.

“I.. I don’t know if I can do this,” Ember called up.

“You’ve got this!” Zalia called back down.

Ember failed once more so Zalia flew down and landed.

“Just think of them like extra limbs, limbs that can make you fly. Flex them, flap them and join me in the sky,” Zalia explained.

‘You’re going to have to carry me,” Ember said, her tone final.

Zalia looked at her nervously.

“Carry you?”

“Mhm, I can’t do this in a short time and we need to be off soon. Just carry me up. Here, I’ll even store my armour to make it easier,” Ember added, her armour vanishing.

Her bonding had given it its own storage space, something Zalia’s armour didn’t even have despite another of her abilities allowing her to do something similar.

“Should be easy enough,” Zalia murmured.

Her heart was beating wildly but she steeled her nerves and scooped Ember up.

Before she could question her own sanity, she flew up and began to travel up the mountain, going slowly as to allow Aylie a little more time to adjust.

Ember clung to her, arms wrapped around Zalia’s neck and her face pressed to her shoulder. Every point of contact sending little fiery beams through Zalia as if the blessing Ember had received made her hot to the touch.

Zalia managed to maintain their course, however, as controlling the magic was an almost subconscious action to her now.

She wasn’t particularly worried about running into any of the Bronze birds that flew about, knowing full well that the three Bronze ranks in their own party could easily win that fight.

They flew up for a long time, Zalia managing to settle her nerves and just enjoy the flight with Ember in her arms, before they arrived at the place she remembered the ritual to be. She made sure to keep Aylie warm with a little magic on the flight up.

They landed and looked out at the ritual site to find that… absolutely nothing had changed.