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She groggily craned her neck atop her pillow, tilting her head to the side toward the hourglass she had set on her nightstand. But she hadn't quite built up the courage to open her eyes yet; that hourglass was the potential death of her resting Elysium. Warm light poured through the window, its golden fingers brushing against her face while the weight of thick, quilted blankets wrapped her in the coziest cocoon. The irresistible lure of sleep's cradle easily lulled her head back down, sinking deeper into the plush softness of the pillow, almost swallowing her whole in its comforting embrace. It was a perfect swaddle of blissful contentment—one she never wanted to leave. It took the utmost effort to force her eyelids open, faintly squinting to gleam how much time she had left to enjoy bed's arcadia.
All the sand had gathered at the bottom.
Her body shot upright. Her mountain of blankets sent careening across the bed. Any trace of fatigue vanished in an instant. As a seasoned tardiness veteran, she lunged out of her pyjamas in a single practiced motion and just as quickly donned her daywear. Without missing a beat, she dashed out of her bedroom to hurriedly tackle the day.
As soon as she left her room, she was sprinting back in. This skirt had no place being matched with the blouse she was wearing, and she HAD to wear this blouse; it was soooo cute! She briefly considered the green skirt, then shook her head. NO, the blue skirt with the pretty spirals—it was perfect! With her outfit finally sorted and her vastly superior wardrobe choices now in place, she sprinted out of her room once more.
But then, just as she breached her bedroom's entrance, she skidded to a halt, twirled in place, and sprinted back in. She'd almost forgotten the bow for her hair! After a few quick tugs and a perfectly tied knot, she was finally, truly, ready to face the day.
She bounded four steps at a time down the stairs, finally landing at the bottom with a loud thump. She pivoted on the ball of her foot and bolted down the hall and into the kitchen, where a woman was casually eating some scrambled eggs.
The woman paused, swallowing quickly before addressing her. "What are you still doing here Sanguine? I thought you said you were going to spend the day with Malady?"
Sanguine did not dare slow down in her rush, instead vaulting over the kitchen table and barely halting her momentum from crashing into the cabinets. She spared the briefest hum of acknowledgment for the woman as she threw the cabinet open "Uh huh."
The woman chuckled as she watched the frantic scene unfold. "Ah, the perks of being young," she said, shaking her head. "But one day, you'll have to fix that sleeping habit of yours," she added, pointing a finger at Sanguine.
Sanguine luckily managed to find a piece of bread that had already been sliced. She swiftly swiped the delectable starch and bit into it as she spun on her heels to leave. As she turned, her eyes met the woman's, and she knew there'd be no escaping without some sort of response. So, with the bread wedged between her teeth, she simply repeated her earlier reply, her voice muffled by the bready sound filter: "Mum hum."
She was just about to exit the house when the woman called out to her, tapping her cheek with a teasing smile. "Where's my parting gift?"
Sanguine pulled the bread from her mouth and planted a quick kiss on the woman's cheek. "Love you," she muttered before munching down on the bread again and bursting out of the house. She sprinted down the street, her footsteps quick and determined, as she used her limited control over elemental fire to toast the bread still in her mouth.
Despite the impressive purity of her cinder blood, Sanguine had never been particularly skilled at controlling fire. Over the past few years, Scoria had been kind enough to teach her a few training techniques during their rare in-person meetings, helping her improve—if only a little. But Sanguine was never one for focus, training, or studying—she was an all-around terrible student—so she had only managed to reach the level of internal temperature adjustment so far.
Although her fire control was subpar, her athleticism was anything but, as was evidenced by the speed at which she blurred through downtown, waving enthusiastically to friendly neighbours as she zoomed past. As she rounded a corner toward her usual secret shortcut, she collided with something solid, sending her sprawling to the ground. A surprised yelp escaped her, and the exclamation let slip the toast from her mouth and dropped it into the damp dirt. She couldn't help but let out a soft whimper. "My toast..."
"I'm sorry, are you okay?" the familiar sound of a somewhat deep pubescent voice drew Sanguine's attention up from her spilled breakfast to the boy she had bumped into.
Her face instantly turned beet red when she realized who it was. She jumped to her feet, flailing her arms in wide, eccentric motions as she tried to speak. "A-A-Amore hi, how are you? I mean, no, I am so sorry! It was totally my fault I wasn't looking and was running because I'm late to see Malady but that's not an excuse I know and I should really pay more attention when I'm walking or well I mean in this case I was running and I should definitely pay attention when running but that doesn't mean I don't pay attention when I walk and like I'm not saying that you're not worthpayingattentionto." Her face reddened even more and she slapped her hands over her mouth as if that could restrain her cursed lips from betraying her any further.
Amore opened his mouth about to speak when Sanguine quickly interrupted him "Not that I AM paying attention to you, I mean you're cool I guess not that I'd know since we don't really hang out often and I don't stare or anything so I'm just guessing or whatever or something it doesn't really matter." She paused to catch her breath before continuing, the words tumbling out. "Did I ruin your clothes? Are you hurt? I'm not calling you weak or saying a girl could hurt you or anything, I—"
"Sanguine." Amore interrupted, holding up his hands to calm her.
Sanguine stopped her self-sabotaging word vomit. "...Yes?"
"I'm fine," he said with a reassuring smile. "It's okay—it happens to the best of us. I just don't want to make you late for your meeting with Malady."
Sanguine's eyes widened in surprise as if she'd just realized the time. "Oh my gosh, I'm going to be soooooo late! Sorry, I gotta go!"
"Of course, no problem."
"Great, love you!" she called, waving as she dashed off.
----------------------------------------
"You said what to him?!" Malady burst into hysterical laughter, clutching her stomach as Sanguine recounted the events of her late arrival.
Sanguine didn't find the situation nearly as funny as Malady did. "I just blurted it out! It's just something I always say to Mom before I leave the house so it slipped out of habit." she lamented, her hands wringing through her hair. "Do you think he hates me now?"
Malady's laughter only grew louder at Sanguine's concern, escalating into an even more chaotic burst of giggles. But her laughter soon turned into a dangerous coughing fit, her breath wrenching in ragged gasps.
Sanguine rushed to grab a cloth, pressing it against Malady's mouth as the coughing intensified, with a few wet, phlegmy cries escaping before Malady finally signalled that she was done, her face flushed but recovering.
Sanguine pulled the cloth away and looked at it, noticing faint spots of blood mixed in with the spit and mucus. She placed the cloth on the table next to them and gave her friend a concerned look.
"I'm fine," Malady reassured her, her voice light. "The healers actually said I've improved slightly since they started the new treatment. If I keep this up, I might even have a full decade."
But Sanguine's face fell, the jovial dismissal in Malady's tone tightening her chest with a wave of deep sadness.
Before she could say anything, her friend continued. "He's not going to hate you just because you said you loved him. He probably knows it was just a slip of the tongue." Malady paused as she noticed Sanguine still focused on what she had previously said. "Or maybe that was the small nudge he needed to realize how much he loves you back, and he'll propose by the end of the day."
That comment immediately snapped Sanguine's attention back to the real concern at hand, and her face flushed a deep red.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Malady, seizing the opportunity, continued her teasing. "Yep, I can see it now— the moon shining down, Amore kneeling on one knee, holding your hand against his lips as he—"
Sanguine's embarrassment peaked, a squeaky, tea kettle-like sound escaping from her as her face practically caught fire. She was so embarrassed that she could actually feel the overwhelming emotion tug from within. She could feel the desiring call of the soul sea, a great entity latching to her string and rising from within herself. She could feel it sprouting, and her body began to glow a faint purplish red.
Malady immediately waved her arms in front of herself, panic creeping into her voice. "Woah! Woah! I was just teasing, no need to transform over it!"
Sanguine was able to reject the influence before its hold grew too firm, the faint glow fading from her skin. "Sorry," she said, her voice quiet but steady. "I've been struggling to control it lately."
Malady's concern was evident. "Isn't that bad?"
Sanguine let out a hearty laugh, more out of nervousness than amusement. "Yeah, it really is." She placed a hand over Malady's in an attempt to comfort her, but as her fingers cupped around her friend's, a cold realization hit. Malady's hand felt unnervingly thin—fragile even.
A knot tightened in Sanguine's chest as doubts crept in about the truth of Malady's earlier statement regarding her improvement. Malady wouldn't lie to her, but she was smart enough to know if the healers were downplaying her condition. Maybe Malady was simply choosing not to believe it herself. She may have lied, but it wasn't intentional. They told each other everything—Malady even knew about Sanguine's ability. She was the only one who knew... well, her and Scoria. But he didn't really count.
The quiet comfort between the two girls was shattered by a loud explosion outside, the force of it shaking the room's windows. Sanguine shot upright, her eyes wide with alarm, and turned to look at Malady.
Malady offered an understanding smile, her expression calm despite the chaos outside. She raised her fist to her friend. "It's okay. You can go."
Sanguine pounded her fist against Malady's, and the instant their hands connected, a surge of overwhelming power coursed through her. She could feel the desiring call of the soul sea, a great entity tugging at her bond and rising from within herself. It sprouted from her core, and her body erupted into a blinding yellow glow. Her bones stretched and contorted, her muscles following suit. The shifting transformation making her body look more fluid than solid.
Her clothes ripped apart, dissolving into countless fragments that merged into a small cloth bracelet around her wrist. Then, Out of thin air, a new set of yellow garments coalesced— a short skirt, a tight shirt, knee-high socks, and elbow-length gloves— all materializing to fit her transformed body.
The glowing light gradually dissipated, leaving behind a taller, slimmer figure with long, bright yellow hair tied into pigtails, where the young thirteen-year-old girl had once been. The transformation was complete.
It took a moment for her to adjust to the new form, but this entity was no stranger to her. She had adopted this shape many times before, each time more instinctive than the last. She had long since come to know the name of this power: Friendship.
Friendship looked over to Malady and spoke with a much deeper voice that matched her more adult body. "I'll be back as fast as I can."
Friendship moved swiftly to the window, opening it just wide enough to slip through. Without a moment's hesitation, she leapt out and soared toward the explosion. Friendship's flight put Sanguine's running to shame. In less than a minute, she reached her destination.
As she landed, she quickly scanned the scene, her mind racing to make sense of the unfolding disaster. A towering inferno consumed a small house, its structure rapidly disintegrating under the intense heat.
Many bystanders stood at what they assumed was a safe distance and gawked at the baffling height of the flames created. There were other houses nearby, but the fire seemed to almost consciously avoid them and spread upwards rather than outwards.
Someone must have had a bad transfusion.
Friendship cloaked her body in a protective yellow aura, its glow kindling her skin with an ethereal sheen, and then she dove into the heart of the raging fire. The heat pressed in on her like a living thing, suffocating and relentless. She relied on the glowing aura surrounding her to filter out the toxic fumes that threatened to flood her lungs as she pushed deeper into the building.
In one room, Friendship spotted a pair of panicked figures huddled together in the corner of a small cage, their high-class clothing reduced to ragged, charred remnants. An older man was hunched over a young girl burying her face in his clothes as a feeble attempt to protect her from the venomous air. The man himself seemed barely keeping consciousness, and Friendship could see dried streaks running down from his eyes, perhaps vestiges of an accepted fate.
Without hesitation, Friendship flew over to the pair. Despite the man's considerable bulk—well over a head taller than her and undoubtedly much heavier—she lifted both him and the girl with ease. With swift determination, she retraced her path, her body a blur as she maneuvered through the chaos of the burning building.
She could effortlessly barrel through the weak walls to escape the building with the most expedience, but the building's integrity was already quite suspect, and she wasn't positive these were the only people inside.
Once outside, she gently set the two people down on the street before diving back into the inferno. She quickly cleared the building of any trapped people. On her fourth trip through the burning building, she came across a heavy steel door, its surface glowing bright red from the searing heat. She pointed a finger at it, and a beam of yellow light sliced through the door, dissolving it in an instant and revealing what she had feared.
There was a wide open room and, at the center, atop a simple metal gurney, a black charred corpse rested. Monstrous tongues of fire lashed out from a deep gash on the corpse's arm, rising out and forming the conflagration that consumed the building.
A disturbingly large syringe lay abandoned on the floor beside the gash. A long, twisted tube extended from its back, snaking across the room and connecting to another syringe still pierced into a severed arm lying on the floor. The severed limb was also charred black and created its own smaller pillar of flame.
Finally, not too far from the severed arm was the culprit who caused the incident, cowering in the corner barricaded behind a series of collapsed brick barriers. He wore a long white coat, its bottom torn open, the missing piece of fabric now wrapped around the stump of his arm. His arm, or what was left of it, had been plunged into a vat of water beside him. When he pulled it out and exposed the vicious injury to the air, it immediately combusted into flame. With a panicked gasp, he shoved it back into the water, the fire sputtering out as he desperately tried to steady his breath.
Friendship slowly made her way over to the man; she recognized the face as one of her frequent opponents. The insane scientist. Crave, obsessed with acquiring even a fraction of the phoenix flame. He had grown to hate Friendship, the usual form Sanguine took to thwart his plans; oh, how livid he would be if he knew that the person behind Friendship, Sanguine, had that very phoenix flame flowing through her cinder blood.
Usually, her encounters with the madman ended in a climactic battle, one that she would swiftly dominate and then hand him over to the authorities. She expected this time to be different as he was clearly in no condition to fight.
Sanguine shook her head in tired disapproval. "You really outdid yourself this time, Crave." Crave, however, was too absorbed in managing his burning stump to notice her. Friendship leaned over him, her expression unreadable as she grasped his arm. She channelled her yellow energy into him, forcibly extracting the foreign blood from his body. With a swift motion, she dropped it into the vat of water. The moment the blood hit the surface, the water boiled violently, sending a thick plume of steam rising into the air.
Sanguine spun around to see the charred corpse in the center of the room with a sudden terror and then turned to Crave with concern. "How potent is this blood? Who did you take? This won't be as easily overlooked as your other escapades, Crave!"
Sanguine returned to the charred corpse and dragged her hands over the body's empty eye sockets as if closing some imaginary eyelids. "I'm sorry you had to go through this." She allowed her yellow barrier to encompass the open gash on the corpse and sealed the wound. The corpse stopped producing fire once the injury was fully healed, and the preexisting flames quickly shrunk into nothingness.
She flew back over to Crave, roughly grabbing the scruff of his coat and led him out of the building.
The authorities were already there, tending to and questioning the other rescued civilians, when Friendship dumped the perpetrator by the sheriff's feet. Friendship locked eyes with the sheriff, he was practically the closest friend that this Friendship form had. Typically, she would love to stay and share banter with the gruff officer, but Friendship began to feel her influence over the corporeal world slowly fading, so she quickly spoke to the sheriff. "There is one deceased still left in the building, probably a high noble. I have to go now!" Before the sheriff could even respond, she launched into the air and flew away.
She scanned the town below her, finding an isolated alley without any people nearby, and hurriedly descended. In the blink of an eye, Friendship popped out of existence, and the cloth bracelet unfurled into a set of familiar clothes that rebounded itself around Sanguine's body.
Unfortunately, she transformed back before Friendship had managed to fully land, so she let out a panicked scream as she fell an uncomfortable distance splaying uncomfortably against the stone floor.
"Ow." Sanguine rubbed her reddened forehead when she heard the sudden chime of a bell. A cacophony of terrifying scenarios swirled in her mind at the thought that her ability had been discovered.
She turned around to find the source of the sound and saw what seemed to be a small pink rhombus that grew out of thin air, or it was a rhombus, but its body would reject any stable state. It would shift and transform, shrink and grow, continuously morphing into other shapes. The pink shape finally locked into a form resembling that of a featureless human with only one limb. The arm was outstretched towards Sanguine holding a glowing parchment: It read.
You have been invited to The Tournament You are The Ardent