“Is that little thing supposed to impress me?” Phisola asked mockingly.

“No. This little thing doesn’t do anything you can’t already do yourself. The way it’s working is what’s going to impress you.”

“Oh?”

“But first, here. Take it in your hand so you can feel how light it is,” he said while taking her hand gently and putting the thing on it.

“You know, males don’t usually brag about how lightweight it is.”

“But I do. I don’t want to have a heavy thing in my pockets.”

“Most males do.”

“I don’t like straining my clothes. But bad jokes aside, isn’t it much lighter than what you’d expect it to be?”

“Hmm …” Phisola tossed it in her hand for a while before answering: “I guess it is. But that’s probably because there’s some liquid in it.”

“It’s not a liquid, it’s a gas. But that’s not why. It’s light because it’s made from unnatural material. From material that doesn’t exist in nature.”

“Yes, that’s what unnatural means.”

“Ok, fine. I can tell you’re mocking me, so I’ll just skip to the good parts. But first,” he took it out of her hand without asking, “its job is to light a fire.”

A tiny flame came out from the top of it.

“How did you do that?” She asked.

“Do what?”

“How did you tell it to give you flame?”

“Ah. I didn’t tell it. I just pressed this button here, see?” He pointed at the edge of the thing while pressing it once again.

“Really?” A look of disappointment spread across her face, “That’s so anticlimactic. You almost had me impressed because, for a moment, I thought it read your thoughts somehow.”

That made Eric smile: “No. We’re working on such technology, but it’s not available yet. This is just a simple switch that triggers an igniter. And it’s this igniter that’s impressive. Well, not to anyone on Earth, but I bet it will impress you.”

“You know, you’re glorifying it so much and are acting so cocky that someone would think it’s a gift from a god. You’re getting really annoying with it, like some peddler who doesn’t know when to quit. If it fails to impress me after all this puffery, I think I have a right to break you a rib or two.”

“But, to get the igniter,” He continued unfazed, “I will have to destroy it. I’d never do that if I were on my own since it’s a damn useful tool, but having you by my side makes it kind of redundant. So this isn’t just me trying to impress you, this is me showing you some serious trust.”

“Oh, I’m so honored!”

“Now, the gas inside of it is very reactive, and it will react violently in case of a strong impact. I’m going to smash it on the ground, the gas will react to the pressure and explode, sending the casing everywhere. But it’s not dangerous since the casing is made from lightweight, unnatural material, meaning its pieces won’t be heavy or sharp enough to cause injury. It will just cause a loud bang.”

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you about to tell me not to get scared?”

Eric smiled widely: “No, of course not. That would be dangerous.”

She gave him a single nod with a serious stare, “Good.”

“But I will do it some distance away, just in case. Not to scare you, of course, but to make sure nothing is damaged in the process.”

“If you break anything in here, I will break you.”

“Don’t worry, it won’t be destructive.”

He walked to the middle of the large room, raising his hand up and throwing the thing to the ground as hard as he could. A loud bang echoed, making Phisola jump up involuntarily a little bit.

“That was loud indeed,” She said while doing her best to pretend nothing had happened.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“And no damage was done.”

“Hmm …” she looked around, “… looks like it … good for you.”

“And more importantly,” he picked up something small from the ground with his two fingers, “I got myself an igniter.”

“That’s very small. Much smaller than I expected. You can’t even wrap your hand around it and have no other choice but to use just two fingers.”

“You know, for someone who claims she is very experienced, mature, and educated, you certainly use teenage humor quite a lot.”

“What? Do you have some issues with my allegory? Did you find yourself there?”

“Your jabs would make more sense had you waited a little bit instead of pouncing on me right away, because now you already know such jokes on my account are meaningless. But let’s get back to the igniter. I understand my presentation has been boring until now, but that’s about to change.”

“That better be the case.”

“But before the final reveal, just a little more teasing. Now, fuel is the gas, I’ve already explained that. But what do you think is used to light the fire? Just fuel isn’t enough. Something has to produce a spark and ignite it.”

“No shit.”

“What do you think that is?”

“The most logical answer would be magic, but you claim your world doesn’t have it.”

“Nope.”

“Other than that, sparks are produced when two stones hit each other. Or when two sheets of metal rub against each other with plenty of force.”

“That’s true. But look at how small this thing is,” he placed it in front of her face, “There is no way it can hold any of it. Or rather …” he started looking up, at the ceiling, “… hmm … I think the other kind of lighters do work like that. The ones with the spinning wheel … I forgot what they’re called … but I digress. Although you’re right about it, this one doesn’t work that way. This one uses a natural force.”

“A force?”

“Yes. It creates something that exists in nature. Now, what can be found in nature and is extremely flammable?”

“There are too many things to count, idiot.”

“I said the force. For example, is wind flammable? No. Is rain flammable? Absolutely not. But there is a highly flammable force out there. One I’ve already talked about. One that our entire civilization is built upon.”

“Get on with it already,” Phisola sounded far more irritated than impatient.

Eric grabbed the writing tool he used not so long ago with his other hand, putting its sharp side close to the igniter.

An audible click followed.

“Did you see it?” He asked.

“Do it again.”

The igniter clicked again.

“Did you see it now?”

“Do it again.”

“Don’t tell me you can’t see it,” He looked at Phisola with a mixture of worry and fear in his eyes.

“I said, do it again!”

CLICK!

“Do I need to do it again?”

“Yes! Keep doing it until I tell you to stop!”

Clicking sounds filled the room. Phisola just stared at Eric’s hands without doing anything else.

“It’s much easier to see it in the darkness. Should I put some cloak over my hands so you can see it better?”

“It’s fine. You can stop.”

He shook the hand that did the clicking: “Look, I’m not messing with you. It’s much easier to see in the darkness. I can see it like this too, but if …”

“Shut up!”

“All right, all right.”

She stared in the distance while holding her chin in her hand. She just stared at one point without moving, looking perfectly still, like a statue. The only thing interrupting her perfect stillness was her breathing.

And while her unexpected reaction had a visible impact on Eric, he didn’t dare interrupt her. Not even after some time had passed.

Her silence lasted so long that he almost missed her words when she broke it:

“How does it work?”

“Huh?”

“How does it work?”

“Well … I just press the button and …”

“That’s not what I’m asking, you idiot!” She yelled aggressively at him, “What happens inside of it when you press the damn thing!”

“Whoa, whoa, relax! I don’t know! I’m not the one who designed it! And you have no reason to be upset. It’s not dangerous, not at all. Here, let me demonstrate.”

He brought his hand close to it instead of the writing tool this time and clicked it.

“See! I’m perfectly fine. Ok, it does sting a little bit, but it’s not harmful.”

“A little bit?”

“It will hurt a little bit, but it leaves no lasting damage. Here, let me do it again. See?”

“Then why is your hand spasming from the pain?”

“It’s just involuntary movement. The electricity stimulates the nerves, which contract the muscle in response. But it’s only temporary. See?” He extended his hand towards her, moving all of his fingers in unison, “My hand is perfectly fine.”

“What stimulates the nerves?”

“The electricity. Ah, yes, you probably don’t have a word for it. It’s this … tiny lighting you saw.”

“So, it’s a special kind of lightning?”

“Yes. Uhh … you could say it’s refined lightning. Natural lightning is very unstable and, as such, isn’t very useful, but electricity can be controlled however you want. You can do all kinds of things with it, although my knowledge of it is quite limited. It takes a special kind of scholar to talk about it.”

“So, there are different kinds of lightning?”

“I’m not absolutely sure, but I think it’s the other way around. I think lightning is just one kind of electricity. But, then again, it’s the only kind of electricity you can find in nature. Well, at least the only high-intensity one.”

“Where is that device taking the energy from? It has to take the energy from somewhere and convert it to … this …”

“Electricity?”

“Yes.”

“No, it’s not taking any energy. There are some components inside of it that react with each other. Their reaction generates this tiny bolt.”

“Like … alchemy?”

“Yes! That’s more like it! It’s alchemy, not magic.”

“Huh. I’ve never heard you can create a natural force with alchemy.”

“Can you create water with it? Or can an alchemical process create water as the side effect?” Eric raised her brows at her, “If you can, then why not?”

“Hmm … it’s an interesting concept. All right, I do admit that this is interesting. You won’t lose any ribs today.”

“I’m very relieved to hear that.”

“But still … it’s just stupid.”

“What?”

“Out of so many other things you could use to light a fire, your people chose lightning? That’s… that has to be the height of stupidity.”

“Why?”

Phisola stared him in the eye for a while.

“If I have to explain why, then there’s no point in trying to explain it at all.”