Addie watched as her fireball washed across the steel, doing absolutely nothing to the walking armor. Her eyes widened in surprise; she couldn’t help but stare at it with dread.
“Squishy, you won’t be able to bite it, will you?” She asked aloud, out of hope more than anything else, really.
She heard Squishy chuff, “I am afraid not.” Then, his thoughts took on a more ponderous tone, “Battle is never the most opportune time to learn a new technique, my lady, but I fear you may have no choice in this instance.”
“What?” She scrunched her face in confusion before Nettal tugged on her sleeve.
“T-the fire spear, Addie! From the book, remember?” Nettal’s words came out rushed, almost jumbled in her urgency.
Addie’s mouthed a silent, ‘oh.’ Come to think of it, she had used her flame shield almost immediately after gaining the ability before, right? She shook the thought away; the middle of battle was not the time to think about the past.
Her soul book began to glow above their heads in tune with her will. It shown with radiant white heat, practically begging Addie to try her new ability.
She happily obliged the book, drawing on her and Ember’s magic. Pure white soul magic roared through her body before compressing into a ball within her hand.
At the same time, the metal armor had begun to run forward, only pausing its gate slightly as it pulled its left arm up into a guard.
Addie’s magic kept building into a ball in her hand, something she had a lot of practice with. After it reached the point that she couldn’t fit anymore in her hand, she began to shape it. Her book pulsed once, flashing brightness through the shaded chamber as it aligned with her will.
The running armor’s uplifted arm shimmered before melting like ice and reforming into a shield.
Ember and her book synchronized with her will; the glowing orb of magic in her hand elongated to their will. For a moment, there was no Addie, Ember, or book. Something else existed, someone else existed. A combination of all three: Ember’s instincts to burn and consume with soul flames, the book’s ability to shape those flames, and Addie’s drive to protect Nettal— all of these things combined into a single, powerful will. The three souls told the armor to burn.
The world stood still, the armor had reached directly in front of their face. Their magic released, a long, thin spear of white flame speeding forward. The armor silently dropped to a knee, holding its shield in front of its chest.
And then everything was moving again, the flame spear stabbing through the shield and hitting the armor behind it. A massive hole melted through the metal shield, glowing white hot around the edges. The metal of its shield flowed again like water, beginning to form a new shape.
Before she could react, the world seemingly distorted and split into parts. The transition left her reeling, struggling to find the edge of where her thoughts differentiated from Ember’s. A moment later, Addie realized she was on all fours, vomiting out the breakfast Squishy had found for them earlier. She hadn’t even realized how she got there, but at least she could remember what it meant to be herself again.
“Addie!”/”My lady!” Nettal’s shout and Squishy’s thoughts crashed through her, only confusing her more.
Despite all of that, she managed to weakly wave one arm and look over, “I’m fine—”
Addie’s eyes went wide as she saw the massive sword hanging over her head. It came silently slicing through the air all too fast, Addie unable to react beyond the panic shooting through her chest.
Something crashed into her from behind. Then, everything went dark.
“Addie!” Squishy’s thoughts came smashing through her mind, his worry bleeding through their bond.
She only had a second to realize that she wasn’t dead— the darkness belonging to the comfortable embrace of Realmspace. But it didn’t last, Squishy’s last-second pulse of magic only allowing them half a second to rest.
Reality reasserted itself, Addie appearing just a few centimeters away from the Armor’s sword. She stared at where it had sliced into the stone beneath— hilt deep. Addie gulped at the sight. Luckily, whatever quirk of her magic didn’t allow her to teleport into the ground or walls had also moved her away from the sword.
Despite the panic, despite the confusion from melding with Ember and the book, Addie couldn’t help but grin. Now, she knew what to do.
Addie leaped to her feet, even as the armor slowly withdrew its sword from the cobbled ground. Together, Addie and Squishy pulled on their magic, going straight back to Realmspace. A few steps to the right, and they reappeared directly in front of Nettal and Lotty. Addie wasted no time, again sending all four of them back into Realmspace.
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“Run! This way!” Addie shouted, only turning her head long enough to make sure Nettal and Lotty were following. After twenty strides, Addie turned around after ushering the squishy healers behind her.
“Send us back after I form the spear,” Addie said to Squishy, seeing him return a determined nod in response.
Addie pulled on her flames, Ember eagerly pushing herself into the magic, too. Somewhere in the chaos, her book must have floated back into her soul because she felt it there, too. With a guiding expert hand, her book helped Addie shape Ember’s enthusiastic soul flames— the three of them working together but not quite merging as they had before. Addie didn’t even know if they could do that again; it’d just happened earlier without her really meaning for it to.
The darkness of Realmspace was banished in a moment, Addie’s soul flame spear glowing white hot. The starry Realmstone below reflected her dancing flames, each pulse of her magic adding to the heat above. The spear started as a blob of radiant white fire, but it slowly elongated in tune with her soul book’s help. Ember and Addie kept adding fuel to the fire, burning their magic with their will. The spear shrunk and condensed, the flames practically becoming solid in midair. Then, it condensed again and again until Addie thought she could reach out and grab it. The heat felt great against her face, pleasantly tingling against her skin.
“Now,” Addie said, trusting Squishy to send them back to Reality while she focused on the flaming spear.
Excitement danced in her chest while she smiled with anticipation.
In an instant, they were back in the church. The walking armor still hadn’t even turned around, still staring down at the space Addie had been standing in just moments ago. Its sword remained stuck halfway in the stone.
With a fierce glee that burned through her insides, Addie released her hold on the soul-flame spear. Roaring through the air, it passed by so quickly that her hair blew backward from the conjured wind.
Addie laughed in delight, watching her magic fly true. It hit the metal giant’s back with a bang, forcing it to take a bumbling step forward or risk falling over. Her spear still radiated, white hot, halfway stuck inside its torso. The plates surrounding her flames quickly began to glow an angry red. Before the giant could even finish turning around, the spear warped its back plate so much that the spear slid right out, molten metal dribbling onto the floor.
Despite what Addie thought would surely be enough damage to kill it, the metal giant stubbornly finished turning around. Just as silent as it had been, it took its sword and yanked, finally pulling it free from the stone and throwing dust up into the air around its feet.
Carefully and without even bothering to tilt its helmet and look down, the giant stepped over Addie’s flame spear. It had already sunken into the stones on the floor, smaller than it had been earlier but still glowing fiercely.
With wide eyes, Addie realized she could still feel a connection to it! That was her magic, connected to and controlled by her very soul. Addie let out a breath, focusing intently on the spear below the metal giant.
It took one step forward, then two, before Addie stopped bothering to keep track. She stared at her soul spear melting into the stones. In the background of her eyes, she saw the metal giant getting closer.
“Addie!” Nettal called distractingly from behind Addie, her tone urgent and worried. “It’s coming back!”
“I’ve got this,” Addie replied confidently, already moving her attention back to her soul spear.
“My lady, I cannot delay this metal creature. Act quickly, or I will be forced to move you!”
“I said, I’ve got this!” She snapped back, too intent on her spear to humor Squishy. She narrowed her eyes at it, willing it to obey. The giant almost filled up her entire vision; she had to stare between its legs to see her spear behind it.
“It’s here!”
She ignored Nettal; her spear was starting to budge out from the rock. Her book finally seemed to get itself together and help her. Addie moved her eyes up just as she got her spear back up into the air before her eyes widened in shock. The giant was already preparing to swing at her.
Her spear flashed through the air, Addie using her spatial sense to aim it for the same exact hole it had already put into the back of the metal monster. The monster brandished its sword, starting its swing from the top right and moving diagonally toward Addie.
Just as her breath hitched in her throat, staring upward into the sword chillingly close to her neck, the world went black. She let out a gasp, collapsing to her knees on hard Realmstone. She noticed her hands were shaking, but her short, rapid breaths quickly overwhelmed any other sensation.
“That was far too close,” she heard Squishy’s voice in her mind before he walked up and shoved his snout into her lap. He huffed, then licked her hand. “Everything is alright.”
She put one hand on the top of his head. Petting him soothed her, but her hands still shook slightly.
“I can understand battle fervor and excitement, but you must not let it dim your tactics.”
“But, it’s okay. You brought me away just in time,” Addie defended, trying to convince herself of her words.
“Yes, but had I been distracted or otherwise aiding you in downing your foe...” He trailed off, leaving the consequences unspoken. “This is the second time I had to save you within just moments of one another. Now, prepare yourself. We are about to return; we must not let Nettal and Lotty stay alone.”
The musty air of the dilapidated church filled her nose as they transitioned out of Realmspace. She hurriedly stood up, scanning the room with her spatial sense. For one horrible moment, she imagined what might have happened to Nettal while she was gone.
But luckily, the giant metal armor knelt down on the floor just one step to Addie’s left, even though she hadn’t moved. Moving between Realmspace and Reality never allowed her to teleport inside of an object, and the sword from the metal armor occupied the space she had just been in. Sweeping behind herself, Nettal and Lotty were still standing just behind Addie.
She swept her eyes over the metal armor to confirm what her spatial sense was telling her: it now had a gaping hole all the way through its body, from back to chest. She had aimed properly, even in those last few moments before Squishy moved her out of the way. Its head bowed toward the ground, kneeling and unmoving.
Her flame spear had long dissipated, but the metal of its torso still glowed a dull red and radiated heat. Its sword had once again been buried in the stone, tilting at an angle.
“Well,” Nettal said from behind Addie. “That could have gone better. Are you hurting anywhere?”