There was a flurry of questions, of course, because no one drained a Cinder without becoming an Ember, but in the end all they could do was scratch their heads and move on. A shocked disappointment settled over Lyle, and a single question of his own pervaded his thoughts—how could he have failed? He’d been so sure that, since his father and brother both became Embers, he would too.

He’d been wrong. The Emberflame did not burn within him.

After a couple hours, DOER let him walk, though not before informing him that they would be in contact if they had any additional questions. They seemed as flummoxed as he was in trying to explain what had gone wrong, or why the Cinder was drained and he remained so utterly powerless, but there was nothing else to be done.

He stepped outside into the brisk air and late afternoon sun with a depressed sigh. He looked up and closed his eyes, feeling the warmth on his face and hoping it would wash away his failure.

He stood like that for a minute before beginning the walk back to the bus a few blocks away. He was waiting at a crossing for the light to turn when he heard a shout behind him.

“Hey! Daisy, wait!” shouted the voice. It was a man, and Lyle turned to see what he was shouting about.

A black and white bullet of fur was sprinting across the sidewalk towards Lyle, ears flopping back and mouth lolling open to reveal smiling teeth and a bouncing tongue. The dog couldn’t have been more than fifty pounds, but she was quick.

“Stop her!” the shout came, more frantic now that Daisy was about to leap into the street, and before Lyle could consciously decide to act, he leapt into the dog’s path.

Daisy swerved, easily avoiding him, but she dragged a leash behind her, and Lyle dove for it. He stomped down on it, and Daisy yanked it tight, but Lyle held it fast. The dog yelped as she tripped and somersaulted into a pile of fur.

Lyle picked up the end of the leash and hurried over to the dog. She looked like a Border Collie, and she was already getting back up and shaking off her tumble.

“Sorry, sorry,” Lyle said to her softly, getting a good grip on her collar and scratching her head. “Are you okay? Didn’t hurt your neck or anything?”

She looked up at him, her tongue still lolling out of her mouth, and he thought she was smiling. His mood improved a bit as he pet her. Mischief-maker.

“Oh my God, thank you so much,” the man said as he jogged to a stop. “She likes to play like this. I should know better than try to take her for walks in the city, but I just don’t have time to drive her places. Super clumsy of me to drop the leash like that.”

Lyle smiled and handed the leash back to the man. He had short black hair and his extraordinarily blue eyes hinted at a piercing intelligence, and his chest rose and fell evenly despite the exertion of his sprint. He took the leash gratefully while Lyle continued to pat Daisy.

“No problem,” Lyle said. “Happy to help. She’s really beautiful, by the way.”

“Thanks,” the man said with a laugh, and Daisy pushed her body into Lyle’s leg to ask for more pets. “But don’t compliment her too much. I think it goes to her head. She’s Daisy, by the way.”

“Yeah, I gathered,” Lyle said with a laugh. “Could you hire someone to take her places to run? City’s pretty cramped for a dog with that much energy.”

“You offering?”

“Ah, no, sorry. She’s very cute, but I don’t even live in Saint Paul.”

The man shrugged. “I’ve thought about it. I guess it’s time to think about it some more. This was a close call. I really owe you one.”

“Hey, it’s no problem.”

“Still, here’s my card. You might have actually saved her life, so if you’re ever in Saint Paul again and want to get lunch or something, it’s on me.”

Lyle took the card and thanked him, then waved goodbye to him and the dog. He couldn’t help but smile—he didn’t have to be an Ember to make a difference. There were constant little opportunities like that to preserve the good in the world. That didn’t mean he didn’t wish he could do more, but he promised himself he would do what he could, and then turned away.

Unfortunately, his smile didn’t last. He looked at the card, which was black with white writing on it. Daniel Freemason, it said. Shadow Vandal Guild Representative. There were two phone numbers and an email.

Suddenly the weight returned to Lyle’s shoulders. The man he’d just met was an Ember, and not just any Ember. He was a representative of Shadow Vandal, one of the most successful guilds in the Twin Cities.

The light turned, and he crossed with a sigh. His phone rang in his pocket, and he pulled it out to see the name Emily. He considered for a second, then answered it on the fourth ring.

“Hey, Em,” he said brightly. Or, at least he tried for an upbeat tone. It came out pretty forced.

“Hey, Lyle,” she said. “I—um, just calling to say hi. What’s up?”

“I’m just leaving the Bunker.” His voice fell. “I’m… not an Ember.”

Silence greeted his words, like she wasn’t sure what to say, and when her reply finally came it was pitying. “Lyle, I’m sorry.”

It’s—it’s fine. How’s your day?”

She took a moment before answering again, like she wanted to say something else, and when her words came, there was a hint of nervousness to them. “It’s good. Got home a bit early from work. You know Andie? She—”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Lyle kept the phone at his ear, but he wasn’t really listening to her story of workplace drama and the unexpected boon of a half day off. He was without a job now, and he hadn’t been Kindled. Really, he knew the three paths before him. He could go back to DOER, perhaps talk to the regional management to go over Thomas’ head. They might be able to help him. He could also look for a job elsewhere, be it at a guild or just something to pay the bills until he wasted away. His final option was to go back to school. That was the path closest to his heart, he thought. He could become a civil servant of some kind if he did that. He wouldn’t be following in his brother’s footsteps, but it seemed like a reasonably fulfilling vocation.

He sighed. He wasn’t ready to move on so quickly. Lyle paused his walk at the top of a sunken outdoor amphitheater. A band was playing below, and people were watching happily. Some were singing along. Couples sat close and held hands, smiling. The world kept on turning.

He kept walking, his thoughts still in turmoil, Emily’s voice droning in his ear with occasional pauses. They’d been together for a few years now, and he was happy to just let her talk as much as she—

“Lyle? Hello?”

“Hey, sorry, what were you saying?” he asked as he returned to the present. There was a pause before she spoke again.

“I… I think we should break up,” he heard Emily say, and his eyes flew wide.

“Wait, what?” he said immediately, coming to a stop in an alley between an apartment building and the outer wall of one of the newer skyscrapers. His breath had caught in his throat and his mouth went dry.

“We should—we should break up,” she said again in a rush.

“Em, I—why? Why would—”

“You’re so distant,” she interrupted. “I just… it’s not working. I’m sorry, Lyle. I don’t mean to hurt you, but I feel like you’re ignoring me.”

“Em, we can—”

“No,” she interrupted again. Her words were still coming quickly, and Lyle realized that the nervousness he’d heard minutes before had been her trying to work herself up to this. “I’ve already decided. I’m sorry.”

“Can’t we talk about this a little?” he said, feeling panicked. This is terrible timing. Why, Em?

She’d been his pillar for years, since the death of his brother when they’d been sophomores in college. Had he not appreciated her enough? Had he been so self-centered that he’d made her feel alone?

“I don’t know, Lyle. I… think we can, but I’m not going to change my mind. You’re a good person, but you haven’t been in the right place for all this time. Emotionally, I mean. I can’t—I don’t think I can get past that. I think I need to move on.”

Lyle’s shoulders slumped. He loved her for being there for him, but perhaps she was right. As much as it might hurt him to break up, how could he push her to stay when he wasn’t making her happy?

Could he change? Maybe. No, he was certain he could, but he didn’t want to always wonder if he was paying her enough attention, and he didn’t want her to be afraid she didn’t matter to him.

“I… understand,” he said finally, with difficulty. Emotion welled up inside of him. “I’ll… stop by in the next few days. To get my stuff.”

“Okay,” she said, her tone sad and guilty. “If you—”

She was cut off as electricity from his phone shocked his hand and his head where skin touched the lightweight metal and glass. He let out a yelp of pain, and yanked it from his face. He cringed as he reached up to touch his tingling cheek, and he stared at his now blank screen. The buttons did nothing to revive it, and he soon gave up and slid it back into his pocket. There hadn’t been much else to say, anyway.

He let out a depressed breath. “She’s going to think I hung up on her.”

Then reality before him twisted and writhed, like light moving through a slowly rotating prism. A chill entered the air, obvious even in the shade of the alley.

“What now?” Lyle asked the air dispiritedly as he cautiously backed away, wondering what was going on. The wispy light reached a good six feet across and stopped growing, and Lyle suddenly knew what he was looking at—a Tear, a portal to a dangerous pocket dimension. They were much like the liminal spaces on each floor of the Towers, but these weren’t tied to the enormous structures. They were highly sought after despite how dangerous they were, because they nearly guaranteed powerful Tokens. If he reported its presence, he could get his own bounty from a guild or DOER, depending on who got there first. Too bad his phone had just electrified itself into an early grave. On the other hand, maybe he could go inside himself. No, that’s just suicide. Things aren’t… that bad.

He wasn’t sure he was convinced.

“So you’re him,” a voice said beside him, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He turned to find a young woman—probably a couple years younger than him—standing only a few feet away and watching him. Her shoulder length blonde hair was pulled away from her pixie-like face by a braid on each side. She was incredibly cute, and Lyle had a sudden urge to get between her and the Tear in case something came out. She was scowling at him, though, her elfin face twisted into an expression of disdain.

“Me?” he asked, glancing around behind him. There was no one else. Why was she looking at him like that?

He turned back to her and studied her more closely. She wore two Tokens over her dark red jacket, indicating she was an Ember. One hung from her neck, a small fox statuette that was so detailed it almost looked alive. The other was a stained glass butterfly pinned onto one of her braids. Lyle might have suspected it was just jewelry if it didn’t shift its inanimate wings when he glanced at it. He had to do a double take to ensure he wasn’t seeing things. Sure enough, its wings flickered and moved once more.

The woman looked from him to the Tear, and Lyle gestured for her to take it. Tears most often only allowed a single person inside before they collapsed in on themselves until the entrant was either finished or dead.

“I’m not an Ember,” he said, a hint of bitterness in his voice. He tore his eyes away from her face. “You can take it.”

“Very kind of you,” she said drily. She pointed at the center of the Tear. “Look closely.”

His lips turned down in a frown of consternation, and he looked where she was pointing. Light swirled and refracted off of seemingly nothing, but he didn’t know what she was talking about. He took a step forward, putting him within a few feet of the portal.

“What am I looking for?” he asked. Lyle hadn’t seen a Tear in person before, but the pictures online looked much like this.

“Power? Purpose? I don’t know,” she said from behind him.

Before he could process her words, a hand touched his back and pushed. Irresistible strength flung him headfirst into the depths of the Tear.

“Shit!” he shouted as he pitched forwards, hitting the ground and rolling. He immediately jumped to his feet and looked around wildly, but Saint Paul was gone. He was surrounded by brown-gray rock, and a single torch illuminated his surroundings. Perhaps eight feet high and six feet wide, the round tunnel ran in only a single direction. Behind him was a wall of rock, preventing any retreat. No hint of the Tear remained.

Lyle let fly a stream of curses in a whispered panic as all his doubts from moments before fled. He did not want to be here. To escape from a Tear alive, the entrant had to find its source and somehow disable it, which meant fighting through any monsters he might encounter on the way.

“I’m fucking dead,” he said in disbelief. Unless this is the easiest Tear that has ever existed, there’s no way I can finish it. Did that woman just kill me? Why!?

He leaned against the wall, paralyzed. What could he even do? The path forwards disappeared into darkness in a couple dozen feet, leaving him with no idea of what he would face if he moved on. But if he didn’t, the Tear wouldn’t simply reappear. He had the choice of being eviscerated by monsters or dying of dehydration.

He shook himself. Giving up without even trying was the coward’s way out. At least if a monster killed him, it would be fast.

He hoped.