I awoke after a restless sleep full of nightmares. It took me a moment to realize it was only a dream and nothing else. He could not hurt me anymore.
I sighed and crawled out of my blankets. Picking up the small hand mirror, I saw my completely disheveled reflection and remembered my reckless experiment from the day before. I should have stopped after the first test but I needed to experience both abilities of the flame to be sure.
Despite having to relive such a horrible moment, it was worth it. Now, I understood the basics of how the blue flame worked. The illusions and emotions created by the flame were just side effects of what was really happening. The blue fire targeted the soul directly. If I used it with intent to harm, the flame burned the soul, attacking the scars that were already there. Damaging a soul enough could kill a person. It was a useful attack, but not anything special. My green flame could attack the soul directly as well. The truly amazing part of the ability was when I used it with the intent to help someone. When that happened, the blue flames acted like kindling for the soul, strengthening and nourishing rather than burning it.
Even in the Thirteen Divisions where talents were common, abilities that could bolster the soul were incredibly rare. The long-term benefits of someone regularly exposed to such an ability were immense. While a person’s soul was intangible and unable to be interacted with directly, a strong soul had a great many benefits. Everything from a person’s ability to focus, to how well they could resist mental talents were all influenced by the soul. Most importantly, research suggested that the strength of a person’s soul was directly tied to the strength of their domain and that a person with a strong soul would be able to create a domain much more easily than a weaker one would.
Despite the torment I had suffered the night before, I was ecstatic at finally understanding some of how the talent worked and that it was such a rare talent at that. It would still take me a long time to fully master the flame but at least I knew where to begin. Best of all, now that I understood how the blue flame worked, I also understood why combining my two talents always created an explosion.
The original form of my green flame was to create an undead. It emulated a soul in order to bring the corpse back to life. Adding the blue flame was like injecting jet fuel. It tried to strengthen and bolster a soul that was never really there to a height it was never meant to reach. I did not know yet how I was going to solve this problem and create a stable golden flame but it was a step in the right direction. My first real progress since I had discovered the golden flame.
Full of excitement, I practically skipped out of my room to go find my family. I could not wait to start using the blue flame on them. Now that I knew it had such a beneficial effect, I could not pass up the opportunity to help them get stronger. It would probably not be too much of a boost but every little bit of strength could be the difference between life and death when we clashed with Envy’s generals, or the Demon himself.
It did not take too long to find them. It was early morning, and at my mom’s insistence, everyone had gathered for breakfast. I could not help but notice the full spread of food as the aroma filled the entire cantina where they sat. My stomach grumbled and I realized I had not eaten since the incident yesterday during lunch. I was starving.
“Wren, you look like an absolute disaster,” my mom chastised as I reached for one of the baked tarts on the table. Ever since we had arived in Kala the food had been incredible. No doubt it was Cyra's cooking. After so long eating travel rations, I was not going to miss the opportunity to eat delicious food.
“Good morning to you too, Mom,” I replied as I stuffed the tart into my mouth before she could make me go tidy up.
“Seriously, we are not on the road anymore. You did not even try to fix your hair and you are still wearing the same torn, bloody clothes from yesterday. How can someone who was once an empress have so little care for her appearance?”
I chuckled as I looked down at the shirt that was basically just rags at this point. “I think this was my last not torn shirt. The rest were all ruined sparring or fighting.”
My mom placed her hand on her forehead and sighed in frustration. “Today you are coming with me to go shopping. No complaints. You can go train afterwards.”
“Yes, Mom,” I replied with drooped shoulders.
“You are coming too,” my mom said as she pointed at my dad.
“Why am I getting dragged into this?” my dad complained.
“Because there are other things I want to buy and I need someone to carry everything.”
“Surely Svend has some servants that can do that.”
“No, you are coming and we are having a nice family outing, end of discussion. If your parents and sister really are down there in those catacombs, they will still be there when we get back. It is not good for you to be down in that freezing crypt all day anyway.”
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“Yes, dear,” My dad replied with the same drooped shoulders as me.
Both Charly and Donte were silent, hoping to avoid attracting my mom’s attention but it was pointless. With a single gaze from my mom, they both ‘volunteered’ to come along as well.
I cleared my throat to gather everyone’s attention. “Before doing all that, I want to use my talent on everyone here. After my experiments last night, I learned the flame has some beneficial effects on people. From now on, I want to use it on each of you at least twice a day.”
“Really?” my mom asked skeptically. I nodded firmly and she relented. “Alright, I trust you.”
Blue flames ignited in my right eye as each of the four looked at me. They were each overwhelmed by different emotions as the flame began to take effect. As giggling and sobbing filled the room, I quickly gathered up my favorites of the food on display before Charly or Donte could recover and steal it all.
As I stuffed my face, I wondered about ways to refine my use of the flame so that they would not lose focus during the effect. If I lowered the intensity of the flame to the extreme, I could probably do that, similar to how the talent influenced my family’s emotions before it fully awakened. Using words or suggestions I could also probably influence what they experienced to some extent. I had done it unintentionally in the past so it should be possible.
For a moment, I considered experimenting with it on my mom to see if I could convince her to go shopping without me. However, when I imagined the wrath on her face when the ability wore off, I quickly discarded that idea.
Unfortunately, I was not brave enough to test the effect of the blue flame on myself again for now. It was extremely difficult to force myself awake during my trial before. If for whatever reason, I could not stop the effects of the ability, I would probably be stuck in that dream world forever.
After a few minutes of eating in relative peace, everyone started to wake up. My dad was first by a solid ten seconds, followed by my Donte, Mom, then Charly. I was surprised that my dad was the first to shake the effect. Donte had experienced my talent multiple times during our time in the blood mist. His soul should have been the strongest.
“That was a rush,” my dad said with a big smile.
My mom nodded as she brushed away tears. “I did not think it would be so intense.”
“I will try to work on that,” I replied as I finished the last of the food on my plate, “What did the two of you see?”
“A time when I was little, with my parents and sister,” my dad replied softly.
“Charly’s birth,” My mom said with a glance at him.
“Ah! You took all the apple tarts!” Charly shouted in dismay as he saw the empty tray on the table and the crumbs on my plate.
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About an hour after breakfast, my mom led us all into the city. The giant floating island overhead drew the attention of countless people as we passed but not the outcry it had like when we first arrived. Many of the people went about their day with barely a glance up. It seemed like people had gotten somewhat accustomed to the sight of the floating island that was normally next to Svend’s manor.
That did not stop Donte’s embarrassment though. He kept his head down and the island as far from himself as he could. I gave him a smile of encouragement but it did little to help. He simply trudged along in silence until we came to a stop in front of one of the many fortresses built into the hills.
There were dozens of people coming and going in and out of the underground fortress. They streamed past the Iron battlements as they went about their day. It reminded me a lot of an anthill.
“Based on what I have heard, this should be the central market,” my mom said hesitantly, “The fortresses all look the same.”
I shrugged and walked through the big iron gates. Lining the ceiling were soft yellow crystals that reminded me a lot of the ones Cyra created for me to train. Immediately inside was a staircase going down.
After my mom asked for directions from another family leaving the underground, we followed the staircase down. I expected to be met with a maze of dimly lit narrow tunnels that snaked through the rock.
Instead, the staircase led to a massive atrium. There were so many yellow crystals on the ceiling that it looked like daylight. Flowers and trees grew along a walkway leading to dozens of buildings that, despite being almost completely carved out of stone, were extremely brightly colored. Pinks, blues, greens, and any other color you could think of was painted on each of the tightly packed buildings, giving the entire atrium a fanciful feeling.
I could not help but be impressed by the underground world Svend and Cyra had built. It was nothing like I expected.
People were walked with smiles on their faces and the laughter of children filled the streets. The city that looked practically deserted from above was bustling with life just under the surface.
My family and I took a long time moving through the city, peering into various shops, and exploring the underground world. Luckily, we had eaten before coming here or might have lost all our money just on all the food shops that lined the streets.
Eventually, we did find the local tailor. He was a young man in his mid-twenties, with large muscles, currently cutting leather into small strips. He was completely focused on his work and did not appear to notice us as we walked into the store.
“You are not going to buy me some frilly dress, are you Mom?” I asked with concern.
“Would it really be so bad to have at least one nice dress to wear?”
“That depends on what your definition of nice dress is,” I replied skeptically.
As my mom and I talked, a withered old man came out of the backroom of the shop. His steps were more of a hobble as he leaned on the wall just to walk a short distance. His face was striking to look at, with one of his eyes missing entirely.
“Jack, can’t you see we have guests, you oversized oaf.” The old man shouted.
The old man berated the young tailor and looked like he was about to say more when the ring of steel echoed through the shop.
The entire room suddenly felt colder as a chill brushed over my skin. I saw my dad approach the old man with his blade held in a tight grip. There was a fury in his eyes I had never seen from my dad before. with his blade pointed at the old man’s throat, my dad roared a single word.
“You!”