Chapter 6 – Life 3 – The Mutant

As time went on, we learned the strengths and weaknesses of my strange power. It worked very differently compared to my father’s, or any of the other warriors’, for that matter. For one thing, the fire I absorbed didn’t need to be magical in nature. I could stand in a man-made bonfire just as easily as I could take my father’s burning spear. The wounds from the spear would still exist, of course, but the burning effect that gave my father his name, The Inferno, was completely absent.

As a downside, my energy was limited, unlike the warriors, whose energy came back over time naturally. There were also limits to how much energy I could hold at once. I once stayed an entire day in a large fire, and while I felt like perhaps my energy had gone past its limits, there were serious… what was it Amir called them? Diminishing returns.

Amir had told me in secret that he disagreed with my father’s order to set up my possible demise. He was also my greatest supporter in finding out how my ability worked. Eventually we began to live together, using my flames and his metal to carve a home out of the wreckage of the old-world city. He was only a bit older than me and was often complementing me on how I felt ‘wise beyond my years’. I didn’t really feel wise, but he continued to be my best friend… and eventually, something more.

My father wholeheartedly supported the marriage. He considered Amir his most powerful warrior, save perhaps for me, and our working together had killed many monsters. Our main strategy, where Amir would use a metal fire-starter to ‘charge’ my abilities had let us literally melt through quite a few monsters. Our main problem was finding enough flammable material to keep fires going, as well as making sure I didn’t completely ruin the hides and meat of my kills.

I eventually bore him a child, a young boy. Nasir, we called him. My father’s name, before he took on the name Inferno. Nasir was endlessly curious about everything, which made him endearing to us and perhaps a bit of a nuisance to everyone else. Amir made him many metal toys to play with, but he was always losing them. It wasn’t until we saw one disappear before our eyes that we realized what was happening.

He had inherited the metal side of things from his father, but my side of things in how the power worked. I was just glad that we could find that out without subjecting him to a highly dangerous monster fight. Nasir was eventually put to work as a blacksmith. While he could only create metal after absorbing some from the ruins, he could create it with both faster speed and higher quality than Amir could manage.

Others were also found who had similar absorption powers. Chief among them was Fatima’s husband, who spent his time absorbing the air currents she made and then releasing them in sudden bursts. There was also the Water-Maker, an older man who could take large amounts of sea water and absorb it, leaving behind a vat of salt, then create drinkable water as the result. It was far more efficient than the few people we had who could make water from nothing. It was with his help, alongside a young girl who could create fertile soil, that our farming efforts began to work in earnest. No longer did we have to rely on the dwindling resources left behind by the old world.

One day, our warriors sent word of strange lights dotting the desert, only visible at night. They didn’t know what to make of them. The lights were the color of fire but would disappear whenever someone got close. My father wished to investigate immediately, but while he had grown in power, he was also getting older. I managed to convince him that Amir and I would go in his stead, but he insisted that I stand in a fire for many hours beforehand. A strange method of ensuring safety, to be sure. We also brought a large collection of daggers, swords, and spears, all made by Nasir.

Stolen novel; please report.

The lights were near Flame Monkey territory, which was interesting. One’s first assumption would be that the lights were from them, but their disappearance when looked for made no sense. Monsters had never been known to run from humans.

We got to the area at night, and sure enough, there were orange flickers atop many sand dunes. We marched as fast as we could, but the flickers would never stay in one place. We did encounter a few Flame Monkeys, of course, but they were just as simple to kill as the first, if not easier. We made sure to give the final strikes to Amir, since he could gain power from the death of monsters.

With less resistance than expected, we made our way closer to the Flame Monkeys’ crystal. The wind had kicked up, scattering sand around. I wished we had brought Fatima and her husband, for they were an effective counter to high winds. We heard a commotion behind one sand dune in particular. It was strange, like many monkeys chattering at once… and one overshadowing the rest by far. The dune also had many flickers of white light, but these ones didn’t disappear as we got closer.

Eventually, we crested the dune. There were at least 20 Flame Monkeys scattered below, along with one that was deeply strange. Not only was it massive compared to the others, but it also had a thicker coat of white fur mixed with the standard red. Was this some sort of… higher form of monkey? Monsters colored white typically had a connection to the White Watcher, but this one still had some red coloration… surely it couldn’t have a connection to two Watchers at once? Anyone who had tried to split their training between two elements at once found themselves failures at best and slowly going mad at worst.

But despite all my hopes, the wind swirled around the larger monkey as easily as the flame… and there was something else, too. Every so often, the flames would cut out, the wind would halt, and a formless white light would appear in mid-air. Sometimes one of the lights would disappear when new ones were made, but each newer one would hurt to look at just a bit more than the last.

This had gone on long enough. I nodded with Amir, then sent a burst of my hottest blue flame at the large monkey. The reaction from the others was immediate, but the one that was actually hit only cried out in anger, rather than the cries of pain I was used to. Amir began to throw his daggers at the surrounding monkeys, killing several. But the central monkey just looked at me with intense anger in its eyes.

Suddenly, bright lights began to appear all around me. Not only did they hurt to look at, but when I stumbled into one, it burned! I hadn’t felt the sensation of burning in years! I ran away, but the lights started to move through the air, following me. I needed to end this, now. I brought out my spear and made for the central monkey. Several times I had to dodge the burning lights, but as I got closer the monkey howled and began to clutch its head. All the lights vanished at once. I took the chance to run it through with my spear. Several of the other monkeys were furious with me, but they were too busy being picked off by Amir’s daggers to attack. With my help, we soon finished off the crowd of monkeys.

We returned home with the information about what we found. My father was angry with himself that he didn’t come and help. He was also angry that the monsters could, apparently, gain abilities beyond what their species normally had. I didn’t feel the need to bring up that, by all accounts, humans didn’t used to be able to wield the elements like we do today.

After retiring to my and Amir’s home, I began to wonder. That monkey had harnessed the power of two elements to make something… more, than what the two were alone. The lights could move in a way that fire couldn’t but burn in a way that wind couldn’t. Not to mention it could also burn me, the girl who was immune to flame.

Could I achieve such strength?