Young Flame

Did Caavaa not tell them they were supposed to wait for Grímr? Because they acted immediately and didn’t wait for the large alicanto to pick them up, many of the mermineae have taken notice. The Forvaal I got the drop on is only one of many able to ignore the pain of their burns.

Through my flames, I can feel three already circling us, waiting for the opportunity to strike. More are heading toward us through the smokescreen provided by my flames.

If they hadn’t brought attention to themselves, I could have kept the mermineae’s focus entirely on me while they escaped with Grímr. Where is that metal bird, anyway? He should have been here by now.

There’s no point lamenting the plan’s collapse. I can only adapt as the situation proceeds. Many mermineae have already stopped bothering to attack my distractions and are making their way toward us.

I did not want the entire focus on me when I attacked, so flying amongst the flames, imitations of myself appear in and out of existence. As far as I know, the mermineae have no way of discerning my true body, so many would attack these birds and be shocked at the ineffectiveness of their actions.

Of course, it is not the attacks of the normal mermineae that I’m worried about, but the Forvaal. I’ve not yet seen if their decay eyes can harm my body, so I’d rather not take the risk.

Thankfully, my inner flame seems wholly immune to whatever their power is. I felt nothing, so the only reason I knew they attacked me was the shocked response of one of the Forvaal that failed to damage one of my fake falcons.

Only two mermineae have been able to swipe my flames off their bodies, but it never takes long for the firestorm to close back in. These two are the ones I’m paying the most attention. They are likely the strongest mermineae in the area and our greatest threats. One is moving toward my team while the other is thankfully running off in the opposite direction.

I feel a shift in my flames. “Bunny, behind you!”

She spins on her heels and smashes the instep of her foot into the face of the mermineae flying toward her. It had tried to attack her while her back was turned, but unluckily for it, I can feel their movements.

Blood gushes out of its nose as it lands on its back. The merminea scrambles to get its feet under it again, but Bunny’s boot slams into its head, crushing it into the stone beneath the puddle of wet snow.

The one eyed Forvaal glares daggers at her. Worried that it might be attacking with its remaining decay eye, I dart forward once more, aiming to make the creature symmetrical again.

It isn’t to be. The Forvaal, aware of my existence now, dodges my swooping talons and retaliates. His claws bisect me, but I’m quick to regain myself. I turn to attack it once more, but his eye locks on me and shines grey.

An instant of unbearable pain assaults me. Agonising. It’s like being doused in an ocean of water.

I am forced entirely incorporeal, and the pain abates. Belatedly, I realise I am screaming. I shut myself up. Now’s not the time to be yelling. My body is still in one piece, although I feel smaller. I need to kill the Forvaal before he can do any more damage.

The fogginess in his eyes spreads as we lock gazes. Without the physicality of my flames, his decaying eyes can do nothing. I can do nothing but wait until he’s done. My flames already surround him, but they cannot burn through him fast enough.

“Die already!” the merminea shouts as his face scrunches in pain.

The glowing grey of his iris leaks into the pupil and white of his eye. His gaze grows ever more cloudy and unfocused as he tries to use the ability on me, to no avail.

He finally pulls his sight from me, his hands grasp over his remaining eye as he grunts in pain. With a jet of flame behind me and a flap of my wings, I jerk forward, ready to tear his other eye out.

Before I can, Remus and Bunny slam into him, hitting the Forvaal with coordination so that the creature isn’t able to make space for itself. Now that it cannot evade their strikes, the brutal pelting it receives ends its life. We have more mermineae surrounding us, but they continue beating into its head until it is nothing but paste.

“Solvei, are you okay?” Remus asks as he steps away from the burning remains.

“I’m fine,” I say. “We just need to hold out until Grímr gets here.”

Those eyes were painful. I felt much of my body disappear in an instant under his gaze, but I can still fight.

The mermineae around us are using my flames to hide, likely waiting for a perfect opportunity. I can feel my flames sizzling their skin, but I cannot see them with my heat sense. My own flames near blinding compared to their tame body temperatures.

Remus and Bunny stare into the flames wearily. The surrounding crowd has grown to seven now and plenty more are on the way. I push my flames outward to give my team visibility on those around us, but that was a mistake. Without the cloaking flames, all merminea dash in together.

We struggled to take on even one, how are we meant to take on all at once? Thankfully, most aren’t Forvaal, but that they can still think about attacking while the skin burns off their backs means they are all stronger than average.

I shoot out of the way, not willing to take them on. Thankfully, it seems both Remus and Bunny are of the same mind. They jump, trying to throw themselves out of range. Jav clings to Remus’ head like usual as they soar over me.

While I’d been hoping the mermineae would collide against each other now that their targets have disappeared, it was too much to ask for. They halt their momentum and dash after my team, ready to attack them the moment they land.

A massive displacement of my flames warns me of an incoming threat from above hardly a moment before it slams into the ground. I rocket into the still airborne Bunny’s arms as the giant metal bird tears along the ground, sending up a spray of water and rock. The mermineae are too slow to notice their incoming death. The red and yellow flames reflect off the golden green feathers as the alicanto slides across the stone, pulverising each mermineae in its way.

I’m impressed Grímr knew where to aim. He obviously came in at full speed, so how did he see through my flames and time it so perfectly? Do alicantos have another sense they can use beside sight for precise targeting?

Grímr grinds to a halt, covered in merminea blood. I jump out of Bunny’s arms, thankful for her protection from the spray of water and snow. I wave them toward Grímr’s hefty body.

“Go to Grímr. He’ll get you out.”

Once I’d known what was going to happen, I’d pulled back on flames, not wanting my inner flame to sizzle from the water. But now that my firestorm is gone, every mermineae in around us can see. Grímr wiped out a few with his landing, but there are far more around.

Remus doesn’t even hesitate. “Grímr, that’s an amazing new body!” he shouts as he rushes ahead.

Bunny climbs on top of the alicanto after Remus and Grímr rises to his feet. The bumps and dents from the last fight remain, but there are no new ones from his landing.

It’s frustrating how slow he is to get in the air again. The mermineae rush us in droves. I recreate my inferno around us, blocking the sight of the Forvaal and hopefully terrifying those who’d been burning from my previous attack.

Many flee, but the stronger of the lot still close in. Grímr’s wings create intense gusts as he slowly gains air. The wind pelts the mermineae, mixes with my flame, and crashes through them. They lower their chests to the ground and scamper forward, uncaring for the wind or flames that cut over their heads.

I recreate the chain of flames I used to trip the Forvaal, using it to grab at their feet. A couple stumble, but the rest either notice the grasping flames early and evade or break through them. The low centre of mass allows the mermineae too much control of their movement for my weak inner flame chains to stop them.

As I fly over Grímr’s head, I realise he’s moving too slow. The mermineae will be on top of us if he takes any longer to rise. As heavy and powerful as the alicanto is, the mermineae know how to take one down. We don’t have time to waste.

My gaze lands on the gash in the stone where Grímr’s landing threw away all the snow and water. The alicanto is an extremely heavy bird, so I don’t know if my plan will work, but it’s worth the attempt.

I focus my flames on the gouge through snow and melt my way through as much stone as I can. Rather than burning it for energy or leaving the molten rock, I redirect the mass through my flames.

The first of the mermineae throws itself on Grímr’s wing and I see him tilt as the creature tries to bury his wing in the ground. Grímr’s tail sweeps around and knocks away the next three closing in while Remus whips a limb into the head of the one grasping the wing.

Unfortunately, the disruption to his flight has brought Grímr’s glide back to the ground. His talons scrape against the ground as he tries to regain height. The only way for him to gain air before the rest collapse on him is if my plan works.

I hope it’ll be enough.

I direct the mass carrying flames underneath the giant bird and blast him. My flames roll along beneath him and continue to roast the underside with jets of flame. He’ll have to forgive me if it gets too hot.

I try to cycle the flames with mass, but I find with each impact against Grímr, I lose some of the weight. We are quickly approaching a distance too far for me to continue extracting mass from the stone. Unless I burn through the snow and water below, I’m stuck with what I’ve already taken.

Despite these problems, the fires blasting into the underside of Grímr’s wings work far better than I’d expected. Even as the mass dies away from my flames, there still seems to be an effect. Curious.

With a few mighty beats, Grímr pulls the team out of the range of the mermineae jumping in the air after us.

As I pull away the last of my flames covering the mermineae below, I feel the strongest of them come to a stop. I’d been monitoring this one ever since I noticed it wipe off my flame with ease. The moment I look down at it, the bright grey glow of his eyes pierces my flames.

I force my body incorporeal. Despite acting before I felt it, the sting of the Forvaal’s eyes still pounds through my body. It was only for an instant, but it’s still too much.

Directing the mass of the burning air into a jet, I throw myself amongst my team. My wings don’t work when they are immaterial, after all.

A hand from Bunny holds me steady and I let out a sigh of relief to be out of that Forvaal’s sight. I’ll need to figure out a way to fight them without leaving myself vulnerable.

A short grinding screech from Grímr alerts me we are not yet out of danger. I snap my head around and quickly realise what is wrong. The outline of his wings is decaying. Not only that, his tail is rapidly losing length. The Forvaal has not stopped its offensive.

“Keep moving!” I shout and engulf Grímr’s body in fire.

How far does that ability work from? We’re at least a few hundred metres away now.

My flames burn underneath Grímr’s wings again, hoping for that same effect I’d noticed before where he seemed to get more lift even without mass pelting him upward. In the meantime, I spread my flames wide to hide our exact position from the Forvaal’s eyes.

It doesn’t seem to work. Even blocked from sight as we are, Grímr’s wings still fall away to dust. I push the mass from the air into the flames. Maybe it is a reckless action, considering how much it hurt to feel the decay of my body, but I have no other ideas to protect Grímr.

As soon as the thin barrier of physical flames is in place, I feel an ache through them. It’s nowhere near as bad as if it were my actual body. Thankfully, the decay Grímr experiences stops and he can focus on getting us out.

Far too long does the ache through my inner flame continue. Grímr has almost reached my fastest flying speed by the time it stops. We must be at least a league away from the Forvaal by now.

I flop on my back now that I don’t have to worry about protecting us. There is a lot of energy at my beck and call now, but it is mentally draining to control it all. It would have been easier if I hadn’t tried to split my focus so much.

“Wow, you two. I’m not complaining at all, but what happened in our time apart?”

Remus seems to be as cheerful as always. Although as I look closer, Jav huddles into himself and isn’t looking around. Bunny seems fine, but she’s not speaking. Maybe Remus is trying to keep a strong front for them or at least cheer them up.

I feel a bit bad for considering their entrapment a good punishment for how they dragged me down into the caves. There are still reservations about what they did to me, but I’ve worked so hard to get them out. We should all enjoy the freedom they’ve regained and worry about what we are going to do later on.

Despite my conflicted feelings, it really is good to see them again.