A large crow pecked at the ground. Its glossy black feathers reflected the mid-day light as it gobbled up the small bread crumbs scattered across the ground. The bird had only a moment to enjoy the food before a shadow eclipsed it from above.
I released the rope holding up the tarp we had salvaged from the mercenaries’ supplies. The bird was startled by the sudden fabric falling around it and took flight, but the only direction for it to fly was towards the waiting crossbow. The bird crumpled to the ground and the smell of burnt feathers filled the air.
“That makes four!” Charly shouted excitedly as he quickly moved to pick up the slightly charred bird and reset the trap.
“We still need to adjust the trap a bit. I think we need to try something else. The birds have too much time to react, when we drop it on them. Maybe we should try something that draws them in instead,” I said as I helped Charly hoist the tarp back onto the side of the mansion.
Charly nodded as he pulled on the tarp, stretching it out over a new location. “Maybe we should ask the mercenaries for help. One of them might have some experience setting traps.”
“While you are at it, see if you can trade one of our birds for their portion of hardtack. We will run out bait before the day is over at this rate, then you will be back to trying to shoot them out of the sky.”
While Charly and I were discussing new traps while resetting the tarp, I saw my dad walk out of the mansion. Breathing hard and covered in sweat, he looked completely exhausted. My dad practically collapsed as he sat down on the front steps of the mansion and took a long swig from his waterskin.
Motioning for Charly to continue by himself, I ran over to my dad. “You look like you are about to pass out. Did you spend all morning training?”
My dad nodded as he took another long drink of water. “Not much else to do in this place but train. It has been nice, but between Donte’s endless stamina and your mother’s renewed youth, I have not had a single moment of rest since we found this remnant.”
“I thought Mom was mostly training in the pressure room so that she could learn to control her new lightning better. Did she join the morning sparring session instead?”
“What? No, she… never mind.” My dad said as he looked away before quickly changing the subject, “Have you and Charly caught anything today?”
“Five in total, four since we started trying to trap them. Most of the birds are pretty small though, I am not sure how much meat we will actually get from them.”
“Anything is better than nothing,” my dad replied as he rubbed his stomach, “I am starting to agree with Esben. I get any hungrier and that horse will be our dinner.”
“Don’t say that in front of Charly,” I said while shaking my head, “He really hates that idea. I am not sure why.”
“We used to own a horse like that back home named copper. Followed me all the way since I just started as a knight. He is pretty old now, so he does not get out much, but when Charly was little, I would take him riding on through the town. He absolutely loved it. Maybe that is why he hates the idea of killing the horse so much.” My dad said with a shrug.
“I remember that horse! You would set me in your lap as we trotted through the town back before my disease got really bad and I couldn’t leave the house anymore.”
“That’s right,” my dad replied as he tussled my hair with a smile, “I am surprised you remember. you were so little back then. I could carry you everywhere.” I pushed my dad’s hand away and attempted to fix my now disheveled hair. My dad leaned back with a sigh. “These days, I feel like you do not need my help at all.”
“That’s not true at all. If not for you, all of us would have been dead a thousand times over, me included.
I cannot even count the number of times we only survived thanks to your protection glyphs.”
“I was not talking about fighting, but thanks,” my dad replied with a small smile.
“Actually, I was going to test something this afternoon and I need your help with it.”
“Test what?” my dad asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I want to come up with a way to gain some control over the golden flame, but I cannot experiment without you there to protect me.”
“The golden flame that almost killed you yesterday?”
I nodded. “I will only use tiny flames this time. It will be nothing like yesterday. There will not be any danger so long as we use your glyphs.”
My dad stood up and brushed off his pants. “Alright, let’s get started. I am curious to see this flame of yours in action.”
I smiled and led my dad to one of the empty rooms inside, away from the prying eyes of the undead that watched us from below. I made a quick stop along the way to grab Nox. The kitten had been sleeping more and more ever since gorging itself on all the food it could eat back at fort Bastya. I knew Nox was going through something strange due to this golden flame and hoped that I might be able to glean the smallest bit of inspiration on what to do if he was around.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Once we reached our practice room, my dad took some time to set up a series of protections surrounding me so that I could experiment without hurting myself. Even with these protections, I still felt some trepidation at using the golden fire on purpose.
Sitting in the center of the room with my legs crossed, I looked at the several layers of silver light covering my skin and took a deep breath. I started small, only using the barest minimum sparks of the blue and green flames. The two sparks flickered weakly above my outstretched fingers. I gulped nervously as I brought the two sparks together.
The sound was deafening. As if lightning had struck between my hands, thunder boomed through the room. Even with the tiniest fires I could produce, the resulting explosion from the two flames mixing still nearly shatter one layer of the silver glyph protecting me.
I frowned as I considered my problem. The explosion from the two flames was instantaneous. There was none of the control that I had felt in the Guardian’s vision. I did not even have time to feel the golden flame before it exploded in my face.
A new set of flames appeared above my fingers. This time, I decided to make my green flame stronger while keeping the blue flame the same. I hoped that by using an increased amount of the green flame that I was more familiar with I could sense exactly what was happening when the two flames connected.
Unfortunately, this idea was also a failure. When the golden flame ignited, it consumed the excess green fire rather than mixing with it, leaving me with no more information than when I started.
Time and again, I tried different variations of mixing the two fires, hoping that I could somehow create a stable flame. Time and time again, I was disappointed. No matter what I tried, the outcome was always the same. After hours of practice, all I had to show for my work was a familiarity with the ringing in my eardrums.
I sighed and collapsed backwards onto the cool stone floor. Above me, two small flames circled each other a hairs breath from touching.
“I bet if I threw this at someone this could be a pretty reliable attack.” I mused as I watched the two circling flames with intensity.
“If you do not blow yourself up first,” My dad replied as he took a break from furiously drawing glyphs to replace all the ones I had burned through in the past few hours, “Assuming you are not interrupted while forming that thing and don’t blow yourself up along with everyone else around you, how far could you even throw it?”
“Controlling both flames at once… maybe ten meters if I practice a bit more.”
“Unless you are up against something immune to them, you are probably better off just using your normal talents,” my dad replied, shaking his head, “Try using that in close combat and you are just asking for trouble.”
I sighed and with a wave of my hands the two flames dissipated away. “I just do not know what to do! I know this power is there. I felt it. I am just missing… something.”
My dad pointed his ink brush at me as he talked. “Take a break and sleep on it. I think you have blown yourself up enough for one day.”
I nodded silently and rolled over on my side, watching my dad as he drew runes onto the piece of paper. For a while, I watched how his ink brush flowed as I considered my problem. After several minutes, I gave up and decided to take my dad’s advice and take a break.
“Dad, you taught me a little on how to draw glyphs once before. Can you teach me more?”
“Of course!” my dad replied with a big grin, “Do you still remember the glyph I taught you last time? It was an ignite glyph that creates a small flame. Something you should be very familiar with after today. Try and draw it for me.”
I took up the brush and tried to draw from memory the glyph my dad had taught me when we were still in the blood mists. After my first failure, dad shook his head and drew the glyph for me first so that I would have a reference to work with. Feeling slightly embarrassed, I watched him draw the glyph and then tried to imitate it.
“Close,” my dad said as he pointed at the glyph, “This rune is a little too low. It is the one that controls where the fire comes to life. If someone used this glyph as you drew it, the fire would start on their own hand rather than the target. Slow down and try again.”
Blushing at my repeated failures, I drew the glyph again. Going slow, it took several minutes, but I was able to draw it correctly on my third try.
My dad nodded with a satisfied smile. “Very good. Now, the reason I started you off with an ignite glyph is because it is one of the easiest glyphs to modify. If I used your glyph now, it would only create a flame the size of a candle light. Add another line here at the top and it will create a flame the size of my fist. One more line above that, and it will be the size of an average campfire.”
My dad reached over with his brush and drew the two lines so that I could see them. “Unfortunately, you cannot draw a fourth line on this rune. If you try, the clash of violent energy becomes too much for this simple glyph to handle and the entire thing will explode in your face.”
I nodded as I listened intently to my dad’s lecture, but as he talked, I froze as a sudden realization hit me. “Dad… can you repeat the basics of exactly how glyphs work again.”
“Sure, as I said before, energy follows the lines of the glyph. With every cross-section of lines, a small explosion of energy occurs. By drawing the lines into specific runes, we can manipulate those small explosions…” my dad paused as he looked down at me. “You are not thinking of…”
I nodded as I moved back to the center of the room. “I can create all types of complicated designs with my flames. If I can recreate the image of a butterfly or a person, then I can make a few lines.”
My dad quickly reapplied his protection glyphs on me as he moved back. I closed my eyes as two small flames appeared in my hands. With a blue flame in my right hand and a green flame in my left, I focused on the image of the ignite glyph I had just drawn a few moments before.
Slowly, very slowly, I manipulated the flames in my hands into a complex pattern. My dad noticed a few mistakes and I had to restart a few times, but after nearly half an hour of concentration, the glyph was almost complete. All it was lacking was the one line that connected the two sides together.
I looked at the pattern of flames hovering before me and took a deep breath. I instinctively winced as I slowly brought the two flames together.
There was no clap of thunder, no shattering barrier, no explosion. Gold bled through the glyph until all of it shone like the sun. The glyph had one single moment of brilliance before it faded away. In its place, a single candlelight of brilliant flame burned brightly.