Abandoned cities dot the world, fled from because of war or economic ruin. One such city—whose wounds now festered with overgrowth—found itself claimed by Auntie Chen as her temporary laboratory.
While other warehouses and territories—allotted to them as tribute by grateful allies—were used to manufacture and store equipment, it was here that Chen would push the boundaries of knowledge and science beyond the borders of the sane and arcane. It was here that Anthony the chupacabra was domesticated. It was here that the flesh of gargoyles was revived as armor. It was here that plasma weapons were developed and tested for devastating results.
It is her repertoire of knowledge: knowledge long lost and knowledge never thought possible. The mission to develop a library by bridging the gap between these two points of knowledge is why Todd was requested for. The human understanding of the elements on a material level has far surpassed what our ancestors could imagine but that brings only half the story. The spiritual is just as important.
Rather than fumble in the dark, led by the ramblings of preachers twice as blind, the way forward has been lit by the dawn of a new era.
Such is the case with fire. The material can break down and build up fire from its components and characteristics. The material can read history through how fire burns objects and landscapes. The spiritual can bring hope and despair in equal measure through fire. The spiritual can bring meaning from nothing and return it to nothing through fire. To manipulate fire, to manipulate anything entirely, there must be an understanding of both aspects.
Todd was the one who would enkindle the modernization of pyrokinesis, starting with a rune sprayed out by aerosol cans. Anthony, Chen, Little Birdie, and Lanying made up the audience behind him. The concrete block wall in front of him was his canvas. Lanying was the one who chose the calavera design among those he showed her.
To create the rune, he would use multiple layers of cardboard stencils to give the spray paint its shape. The first layer was outlined to be the silhouette of the skull to give the background on which everything else was to be laid. He taped the cardboard onto the wall, filled up the interior with black, and tore the cardboard down. With the paint still dripping, he loosed a large flame over it. The flame burnt the paint into the wall. What remained was a hazy black skull shape.
The second layer was the white details of the skull: the eye sockets, the cheeks, the jaw, the teeth. All the bone structures that made a skull recognizably human. This time, a small flame was used to cauterize fine outlines for the white bone atop the hazy black. Chen observed his progress with Little Birdie on her shoulder while Lanying gnawed on Anthony’s tail.
The final layer was the pink markings. Pink flowers were planted in the black eye sockets and their roots spread up the frontal bone. This time, the flame rose inside the paint. The markings glowed and convulsed from being fertilized with fire before they settled into a bright sizzle. Lanying dropped the tail from her mouth at the sight. Then she started giggling and clapping in excitement. This test was meant to show Todd’s fine control over volatile chemicals but the real achievement was making Lanying happy. To captivate the heart of children was the true spirit of fire.
“It’s alright if you want to be a pyrographer or something. So, what's the name gonna be?” asked Auntie Chen.
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“I didn’t think of one? Art should be determined by the beholder… or something like that.”
“I meant for you. You kids like your cute little made-up names so I thought you had one already.”
“Oh. No. Sorry, miss— uh Auntie Chen.”
“You can just call me Xiu. It’s weird how you guys call us Auntie and Uncle.”
“Hm? That isn’t supposed to be a thing?”
“Nope. Now that I think about it, they probably overheard him calling me Auntie once and thought that was how this worked. Anyways, I have my own demonstration. Come on.”
Wait, she’s Tyler’s actual Auntie? I feel like that’s pretty important is what Todd thought.
She held Lanying’s hand while the boys followed her to the next destination. They pulled into a building where tree roots broke through the tiles. A hole in the corner of the ceiling provided a skylight. Under that hole was the generator that was connected to two arched metal frames aligned next to each other. Xiu’s computer station was also powered by the generator and whatever she was doing caused the generator to snarl out of strain. Lanying watched with awe as the frames sparked to life and then filled with fog.
“You showed me yours so I'll show you mine. Get in the gate, Toddy,” demanded Chen. With Anthony the chupacabra behind him, he obliged her request. He walked right into one gate and right out the other. A truck of fatigue crashed into him, forced him onto one knee, and had him clutch at his heart as if to stop it from falling apart. “Hey, you alive?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m great, just uh, give me a moment here.” Todd braced himself with his other hand on the floor.
“Cool. I needed someone with more volatile energy to test the gate. It also confirms what I suspected: you may have talent, but at heart, you are still unbalanced. Work on that before you bother with finer attunement.” Todd managed to stand but held onto his heart to stop it from falling out.
“Hey, I’ve been wondering. Who is the boss around here, you or Uncle?”
“Me, obviously,” said Chen as she rubbed Lanying’s mushy cheeks. “Uncle is just a meathead. I am the brain behind this operation. These teleporters are a logistical marvel yet he is more obsessed with the plasma weapons.” A large shadow loomed over Chen. She let go of Lanying. “Well, that’s not to say he isn’t useful. They say logistics win wars but logistics is just about getting things where they need to be. You still need to win the actual battles. And if there is anything certain in this world, it's that our Uncle will always win. The plasma line was an excellent idea.”
“Nice save,” said Uncle Deimos with his mask on. He had a habit of appearing anywhere without notice, which, evidently, is how he can keep everyone in line without much direct management. It certainly scares me.
“but none of that is what matters,” Deimos continued, “Logistics, weapons, leaders, or even warriors, are all tools meant to allow the promise of humanity to bloom. Todd. Lanying. They are our future. Everything else is a means to that end. If you, Lanying, and all our other children have the spirit to make a difference, then we have already won,” Uncle raised his fist to chest level, “You’re going to burn down the old world right?”
Todd looked at the fist for a moment. He swallowed hard and let go of his heart to fist-bump Uncle as an answer. Auntie Chen, who had tried to sneak away, was grabbed by her collar and dragged away by Uncle.
Lanying came to Todd with more drawings. She could not talk yet, but Todd understood that she wanted him to do more paintings for her. Together, under Anthony’s red-eyed supervision, they carved up cardboard and spray-painted while the adults had their adult conversation.