Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

El hobbled out of the medical wing, a crutch under her good arm and her… not-so-good-arm bandaged up tight. Blue runes glowed luminescent along each individual bandage as she looked down on it in its sling. The fact the runes were glowing was a good sign—they would promote natural healing through the power of her Spark—though they were usually red.

A complication of her unusual Spark, the doctors had said, along with a lot of question-dodging about whether or not it would still actually work.

"Well, better than nothing," El mumbled. And, really, it wasn't just her arm wrapped in bandages. Beneath her fresh—and pressed—uniform, similar bandages covered almost her entire body. To say she'd been beat up was a massive understatement, and most of the people who'd treated her were shocked she'd walked in under her own power.

Or back out just a day later.

She didn't have time to spend bedridden, even if they encouraged her not to use her Spark so it could focus on healing her.

"I still can't believe you're walking." Nidina's voice interrupted El's thoughts. "Or that you're even awake."

El chuckled at her friend—she couldn't argue with the sentiment. "Dayne?"

"Actually in a bed, like you should be," Nidina said. "Though, probably only for another day. I had to hold him down and make him promise to get some rest. He said something about soup… but I just put a pillow over his face until he fell asleep."

"Uh… you sure he was just… sleeping?" El asked, head turning to where she was pretty sure Dayne was… resting.

"Still has his flame armor; he's fine," Nidina said with a dismissive hand.

"Right," El said, making a mental note to check in him on later regardless. "Any word from Nexin on how convincing the generals is going?"

"Already done," Nidina said, and El did a double take. "Really. When Nexin walks into a room bloody and shirtless, and tells you there's a threat, you listen."

"Did he at least put a second boot on?" El asked, sighing while she imagined the generals' reactions.

"Nope, barefoot and badass, as Laze would say," Nidina said.

"She actually said that, didn't she?"

"You bet she did. And followed his 'dreamy shoulders' all the way to Cannon's office before they shut the door behind him," Nidina added with a wink.

"Our eternally lovesick friend aside, if the generals listened to Nexin, what's next?" El asked, shaking her head anyway.

"A lot, actually. Laze is still working with Nexin to get the brass up to speed on what we saw. What we fought. They'll want to talk to you as soon as you're ready…"

"I'm ready," El interrupted.

Nidina gave her a sidelong look.

"Really. Despite looking like something out of a horror movie," El shrugged to her bandaged arm she still couldn't lift, "I feel energized."

"The Embersplosion you got caught in?"

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"Seems so. It's not fading. Or, if it is, it's slow," El said. "I think it's even helping keep the pain at bay a bit. Who knows when it's going to wear off and I'm going to crash though. Need to do what I can, while I can."

"Still half-thinking I should put a pillow over your head too," Nidina said. "Not like you'd be able to fight back much, for once, but I also know how stubborn you are. First sign of your Ember-high fading, you tell me, okay?"

"Yes, Mom," El joked, the simple word taking her mind back to the orphanage. She'd planned on looking those folks up when she'd returned to Pycrin, but it would have to wait.

"Somebody needs to watch out for you," Nidina grumbled as two medical professionals in white robes passed El and Nidina in the hall. They nodded at the two Firestorm in greeting, and as El nodded back, something in her chest pulsed.

Gone were the medical halls, replaced by walls of dark black stone. More people in white robes stood at the far end of the hall, clipboards in hand, their eyes locked like hawks on El and…

She looked to her side, a young boy somehow standing taller than her holding her hand. He had bandages similar to the one on El's arm wrapped around almost his entire body—runes glowing fiery red along every inch—with only his eyes visible. Even with just his eyes apparent, though, El would never mistake her brother. But, why was he so young?

Tearing her eyes away from Nexin, El looked down at her body. Her small, childlike body. Likewise covered in red-rune-covered bandages, fiery heat suddenly rushed out from her chest, as if she had four burning pokers jabbed into her chest. The air rushed out of her lungs, and El stumbled to the side, her shoulder thumping into the wall.

New pain blazed away the old, the black walls vanishing in a flash of red agony, her wounded arm reminding her that just because it was bandaged, it wasn't better.

"El? El! You okay?" Nidina asked, hands helping keep El upright.

El leaned on the crutch under her armpit, while she bent forward to rub her eyes with her good hand. What in the burning Blaze was that?

"El?" Nidina prodded, worry clearly creeping into her voice.

"I'm fine," El said. "Sorry, lost my balance with the crutch."

"Not what it looked like," Nidina said flatly.

"Really, that's all. I'm good," El said. "You were saying Laze was helping out the generals?"

Nidina stared hard at El for a few more seconds, and her hands stayed where they were to support El. Finally, she continued speaking. "Yeah. They've also got people out scouring the libraries and records in the city for any mention of these Depths. Nothing so far, but it's still early. Even got my parents wrapped up in it."

"Surprised you aren't there with them," El said, forcing herself to sound as normal as possible.

"Needed to check on you. Told them I'll go help them after I get you to the generals," Nidina admitted.

"You knew I'd go?"

"Had a strong suspicion."

"What about the groundies and the Firestorm? Are they mobilizing?"

"Scouts have already been sent in the direction of Pili. It'll take them at least two weeks to get there, but they're moving," Nidina said. "Groundies will take much longer. Brass is also worried about these Depths showing up on our shores as well, though, so we've got people going in all directions."

"Makes sense. Sol?" El asked.

"He's gone out looking for answers too," Nidina replied. "Said he wouldn't be far, though, in case that monster shows up again. Besides him and Nexin, with the Ignitio gone, we don't have a lot of powerhouses who can stand up to it. Generals are working on some plans to try and deal with it. Felps got brought in on it too."

"Of course he did," El said.

"He was looking for you specifically as well. Says he has a present."

"Somehow that terrifies me."

"It probably should."

"And us? Any idea when we ship out?"

"El, you can barely walk…"

"But I can still fly. And I'm the only one who can open the In-Between. I can get us back into the fight right away," El argued.

Nidina actually sighed. "I know. And so do the generals. They're waiting for you just because of that. They'll work you to the bone if you let them."

"Worth it if we can stop those monsters."

"I know. If they have their way, we'll probably be out again in a few days. Do you really think…?"

"I'll be ready," El said, voice iron. The strange flashback—and the fire in her chest with it—was already fading. That image of Nexin—and of herself—didn't actually seem like it came from her memory, and yet she felt a sense of familiarity within it. It probably wasn't important, but she'd ask Nexin about it when she saw him. If they had time.

First and foremost, they had to get the Firestorm back to Pili for the first time since they'd stolen the Ember.

Instead of destroying the nation, it was time to save it.