Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

After dropping the bomb on El – and not the delicious, fiery pork variety – the elder wouldn't say anything thing until they were seated around a small table, Jenita fumingly steeping tea. El wasn't entirely sure if the woman's glare was speeding the process up, but she didn't let up for a moment.

While they waited in silence, the elderly man tapping his chin in thought the whole time, El took the chance to look around the room. The building itself was simple, little more than walls, a floor, and a roof. The wooden furniture was practical – if not fancy – and there was only the occasional hint of decoration. The tea set, more than anything, was the biggest tie to a time before the people moved to the In-Between.

"There are cookies in the cupboard." The elderly man broke the silence. "Jenita, would you be a dear?"

"I'm not giving the conqueror cookies," Jenita said, though her focus was on how she carefully poured tea into the first two teacups. Her movements were practically art… until she got to the third cup – which honestly looked like a disastrously failed clay project. Into that cup, Jenita practically threw the tea, splashing it onto the equally grotesque saucer – Seriously, did somebody have something against the clay? – before sliding it in El's direction.

"Thank you," El said, while checking the cup for a handle. All she found were dangerous looking spikes jutting out of the clay. And the dried crimson on the unreasonable points probably weren't her imagination.

"Dear," the elder said softly. "Our guest has a name, and since they are my cookies, I am choosing to share them with both of you."

"She doesn't want cookies."

"I actually kind of do," El said, only partially because she generally loved cookies. The other part of her was more than happy to annoy Jenita. Petty? Maybe. Deserved? Definitely.

With only a minor huff, the other woman stood and went into the small kitchen. Like the rest of the home, the construction was plain – if well-made – wood. A second table sat with four worn chairs, and the cupboard smoothly opened to reveal a jar of cookies. Jenita counted several out, then brought the plate over.

"Oatmeal raisin," Jenita grumbled, like the hospitality physically injured her.

"Extra chewy, just the way I like them," the elder said, reaching out to take a cookie at the same time he picked up his teacup with the other hand. A small bite, several deliberate chews, then a sip of his tea, and he sighed contentedly. "Now, let us discuss the end of the world."

"Over tea," El couldn't help saying flatly.

"Is there a better setting for such a discussion?" the man asked.

"She probably wants a battle map, generals, and shouts for Pycrin glory," Jenita said… while nibbling on a cookie and holding the teacup daintily in her other hand.

"It is a war," El pointed out. "But… I'll let the actual general handle strategy. And the glory shouting has faded a lot in the last few months. The Church of the Pyre no longer exists as it did before, and the influence He had over us isn't what it used to be."

"Why is that?" the elder asked.

"Before that, I can't keep calling you the 'old man' in my head. Do you have a name?"

"Oh, silly me," the old man said. "Most folks around here call me Elder, due to my age, but you may call me Olip."

"Thanks, Olip. The story about how Pycrin got to where we are now is a bit of a long one, so I'm going to give you the shorter version," El said. Then she did. She told them about how Pycrin collected all of the Embers but Guld's. How the Storm came – along with Sol and his army of blue newts – and sent the Pycrin army into a panic. She explained the assault on Guld, the transformation of the people there into golems, and then the birth of the Pycrin golem. From there it didn't take long to explain how the Church had been influencing their Sparks, urging them to a more warlike attitude in order to collect the Embers.

While it sounded like a bit of an excuse – and Jenita's scowl somehow even deepened – it led nicely into the climatic battle over Balacin, then finished with the Rime and the Pyre duking it out. Before Olip could ask any questions about any of that, though, El leapt right into her trip to the Isles of Pili and the encounters with the Depths. She left out most of the civil unrest, and spent more time talking about the release of the avatar.

With that part of the tale finally explained, she signalled she was finished talking by very carefully picking up her "cup" – frost armor only flaring mildly at the spikes. A quick sip before the cup settled back on the table and she went to the cookie. A big bite – Okay, this chewiness is next level – then a second sip of her tea, and she waited for the questions to come.

"I… have to ask," Olip started slowly. "Was any of that exaggeration?"

El shook her head. "If anything, I glazed over a lot of it. The situation in Pili is bad; we're one town of sacrifices – or an Ember – away from the Fathom being released. Like I said, my brother and some of my friends are there now, but there's no way they're enough to stop the Depths. Well, maybe Nexin is… No, even he's in over his head."

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"And what do you want us for?" Jenita asked, some of her glare having faded as El recounted her struggles against the Pycrin golem and the Depths on Wirock. "We're not fighters like you."

"Don't want you to fight," El said. "Really don't want you to fight. Don't take this the wrong way, but anybody not strong enough to stand up to a swarm of hangnails is just one more sacrifice to the rings on Wirock. I'm even nervous about our own groundies, but I know we can't win this without them. No, what I need from your people is help opening the gates to get groundies and Firestorm alike to Pili.

"And, whatever it was you meant when you said your ancestors sealed the Depths away in the first place. Can you finally explain that to me now?"

Olip nodded, the gesture preventing Jenita from voicing another question. "It was simply as I said. Our ancestors, along with others who followed both the Pyre and the Rime, created the ring system used to bind the Depths and the Fathom away. No single nation could take credit for what was done – and I don't know many of the details of how it was done – but I do know our particular magic played a large role in it."

"You're saying the Depths and the Fathom, they're trapped in the In-Between?" El asked.

"In one part of it, yes," Olip said. "A part very far from here, in case you were worried."

"How many parts are there to the In-Between? Until I found you guys here, I thought there were only trees."

"The forest makes up most of the In-Between, with many of the paths to other places running between the trees. There are also the mountains, like where we are now. They are, for the most part, an impassible wall. On the other side of them is the ocean. Likewise, almost impossible to cross. Deep, deep, deep below the surface of the ocean is where the Fathom and the Depths have been bound."

"Doesn't sound so far away," Jenita mumbled.

"There are a lot of mountains," Olip said with a chuckle. "And then hundreds and hundreds of miles of nearly bottomless ocean."

"Except the Fathom is at the bottom?" El asked.

"Nearly bottomless," Olip restated.

"Fine, so how do we stop it? Or reverse it?" El asked. "Do you know?"

Olip shook his head. "No. I only know both the powers of the Rime and the powers of the Pyre were needed to seal the gates."

"And, the Depths were sealed in one, while the Fathom was put in the other? That'd explain – I guess – why all the little monsters are out running around while big papa-monster is still clawing at the cage."

"That is my understanding, yes," Olip said.

"Okay," El said before taking another bite from her cookie, chewing slowly while she thought. It was good information, though not complete. It might give Sol and Dayne a place to start, and maybe Olip would know the location of the second ring…

"Wait…" El said, half-chewed cookie still in her mouth. "You said both powers were needed to seal up the gates, right?"

Olip nodded.

"And the rings on Wirock reacted to our Sparks, partially unlocking them for the avatar to come through. You also said the other ring – wherever it is – was probably opened by the power of the Storm? Does that mean each ring is locked by one power, and unlocked by the other?"

"I believe so."

El's fingers tap, tap, tapped the table quickly as she thought. "If the other ring is already unlocked – the one from the Storm – would anything happen to somebody with the power of the Rime going near it? No, right? Since it's already open."

"The one you mentioned, the avatar of the Rime? Sol, I think, was his name," Olip said, back to rubbing his chin.

"Yeah. He was planning to go look for the island the Wirockians had discovered. When we were close to the rings on Wirock, we felt them pulling on our Sparks – and watched them suck in power."

"I could be wrong," Olip started. "But, I suspect it would be… bad."

"How bad?"

"Without knowing for sure, the power of the Storm wasn't concentrated. It likely took long exposure to crack the door open to where the Depths were sealed. A few may've escaped…"

"Way more than a few," El interrupted.

"Compared to the millions trapped?"

"… a few."

"Yes, well, that crack may've only stayed around as long as the Storm was forcing the lock open. It likely closed after the Storm passed. However, if the avatar of the Rime gets their power stolen…"

"It'll shatter the lock and kick the door down?"

"An apt description."

"Right. I need to get back to Sol and tell him not to go looking for the island. Does that mean it would be safe for him on Wirock near the Spark-eating gates then?"

"He should be safe there," Olip said. "Aside from the forces of the Depths likely trying to kill or capture him."

"He's not so easy to kill, trust me," El said. "Before I go, though, will you help us? Open the gates to move our people through the In-Between to get to Pili? Maybe act as guides, too."

Olip shook his head.

"What? Please, we need you," El said.

"The Elder has spoken, you should thank him for his time – and cookies – and get out," Jenita said.

"Can't we…" El started, though she cut off as Olip held up a hand.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't saying no to helping you," Olip said in his gentle voice. "Just that you won't need a guide. Using the arches – like the one that brought you here – creates a direct link. One of your people will literally step directly from the gate in Pycrin to the one in Pili, assuming they are still intact. It's been many years since we used them, but they are durable things. You will just need to let the Pilish government know we're coming."

"Elder, you can't," Jenita said. "If you give them this power, they'll do exactly what they've always done – kill. You can't trust them with the keys to doorways directly into the other nations."

"We had those same keys for hundreds of years," Olip said.

"But we weren't conquerors!"

"Neither are we, anymore," El said. "And it's not like you're giving us the keys to the kingdom. I'm the only one who can open the In-Between."

"So you say. How can we trust you?" Jenita asked.

"You'll just have to, I guess," El said. Admittedly, not her best rebuttal ever.

"No, we don't have to," Olip said. "But we will."

"Elder…"

"Jenita," Olip said. "Enough. El, there is one other thing you should know before we go. We have been trapped here, within the In-Between since we first arrived. Without the Ember, none of us have the power needed to open the gate from this side. We will help you – and trust in your word your nation has changed – because it's also a chance for us to finally escape from here."

"The valley isn't so bad," Jenita said.

"No, it isn't. And it's safe. But there is so much more to see out there. So much you young ones haven't had the chance to experience. And if our Ember truly is back, you'll have the ability to go anywhere."

"You talk like you've seen the outside world…" El said slowly.

"I have," Olip said with a nod. "Aging within the In-Between is different, though time passes the same."

"Oh… wow." That was all El could really say about that, though something else somewhat pressing did occur to her. "Though, if you're planning to move back into Salid, maybe we'll need to talk about the people already living there…"