Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

El stepped out of the oval of blue flame, the smell of the sea air different from Pili. Ahead of her, the great library of Vestis towered towards the dark clouds scrolling by above, lightning flickering within, and thunder rumbling in the distance.

"No, that's not ominous at all," she mumbled to herself, then ignited her wings and headed for the library. For whatever reason, she couldn't open a portal from the In-Between directly inside the library. Something to do with how the building was built, according to Bones. Not only was the stone used in construction special, but the maze-like floors and levels inside the egg-shaped building acted as some kind of giant ward.

Apparently, before the Sparks, the Storm, and whatever the dark water was the Depths had existed, there was some kind of primal magic based on… shapes. Bones called them runes. But, these runes, and the language they comprised, controlled the natural laws of the world.

Or, at least that's what the books in the library said. Bones had confided in El he suspected the section he'd found this information in to be the fiction section. Stories. Fantasy. But, then again, if the books were wrong, why did the building resist her attempts to open the In-Between?

And… why did it all make her think of the strange script she'd seen written along the inner ring of the portals to where the Depths had been sealed?

Maybe I should grab a few of those books to read…

Not like she had time for that. Still, the idle thoughts had killed time as she swept inside the library and towards the central section of the library. From there, she zipped up the levels until her frost armor told her Dayne was close. A small flash of flames caught her attention, and she flew over to settle down in a small reading area where he sat with a pile of books on the table beside him.

"How're you feeling?" she asked.

"All better," he said in his usual, even way. Then, with the book in his hands, he gestured to the far side of the room. "Soup's ready."

El's head snapped in the direction the man had indicated to find a small pot hanging above a controlled flame. The aroma of it seemed to dive straight up her nose and trigger that primal part of her brain that would do burn-near anything for Dayne's soup. How had she not noticed the smell of it the second she'd entered the library? However, before she took a step in its direction – through a supreme act of willpower – she had two questions.

"Bones is okay with you having fire in the library?" she asked her first question.

"He doesn't know."

I guess that makes sense. He doesn't actually have a nose to smell it… though he drinks tea… I just don't know.

"Okay, sure, I'll believe that. Second question, why do you have soup made?"

"For you."

"When did you make it?"

"That's a third question."

"Which you're going to answer, soldier," El said and added a raised eyebrow. "You burning know better than serving your commanding officer stale soup." Cause, yeah, that's obviously the important thing.

"It just finished cooking a few minutes ago."

"That's convenient."

"It was time for you to visit," he said simply, and El… somehow couldn't fault his Dayne-logic. The man did kind of have a sixth sense when it came to her stomach. Burning fine soldier.

So, El shrugged. "Bowl?"

"By the pot. Spoons too, and some fresh bread."

"You made bread…?"

"Of course."

"Next you're going to tell me you have a fiery pork bomb hidden over there."

The defeat on Dayne's face almost broke El's heart.

"I'm sorry. I let you down," he said.

Instead of going over to the pot of soup – a second act of extreme willpower – she went and put her hand on Dayne's shoulder. "I know you won't let it happen again."

When the big guy looked up at her, they shared a friendly smile, and it was good to finally see him recovered from the hit he'd taken back on Wirock. The hit he'd taken saving her life, yet again.

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"Let me get a bowl, then you can tell me what you've found. By the look on your face, I can tell there's something," she said.

Dayne nodded, then waited patiently while El went over to the pot and spooned herself out a hefty serving. And waited a little more while she snuck a few spoons of it into her mouth then topped off the bowl a second time. With a few pieces of the still-warm bread in her other hand – How does he do it? – she finally went over and settled down in the second chair.

"I'm ready," she said seriously.

"The Depths number in the millions, and we can't kill the Fathom," Dayne said.

"… please tell me you have more than that," El said, spoon paused halfway to her mouth.

"There's pie."

"That's not what I… really? What kind?"

"Cherry."

"You know I love… wait. Wait. Wait! As much as I appreciate the pie – that's not what I meant. Sure, I'll have a piece or two after the soup," she clarified quickly. "But, the Depths. Tell me you have more than this being an unwinnable fight."

"I never said it was unwinnable."

El nodded while spooning some soup into her mouth. "Fair point. Continue?"

"From my reading." Dayne pointed at the stack of books nearly as tall as he was. "I've learned about the Pyre, the Rime, and the Fathom."

"Shouldn't we just be worried about the Fathom?" El asked, another spoon of soup in her mouth. It really was top-notch soup. How the man blended the spices into a broth that was just the right consistency – that was magic beyond Sparks or runes or whatever else was in the world.

Dayne shook his head once. "The books refer to them as the divine triad; three forces acting in constant balance to…" he said in his usual pacing before looking down to the open book in front of him. "To keep shut the gates, darker than Night, that connect to worlds beyond our own."

"That's what that book says?"

"Yes."

"The rings?"

"I don't think so. They weren't dark. And they're mentioned in another book."

"Okay," El said, using the pause to take a bite from the fluffy bread. If only she had some jam to…

Dayne pointed to her side, and El glanced down to see a small jar hidden next to the stack of books, a tiny knife resting across its closed lid.

"Can you see the future?" she asked him with narrowed eyes.

"You're predictable."

"You're the only one who thinks that."

"I'm not. The whole wing knows."

"Back to the divine triad and these black gates. This something else we have to worry about?"

"Probably not. However, when the Fathom was sealed, it threw off the balance. From the notes in this book," Dayne tapped a thick red book near him, "that imbalance is likely why the Pyre became so power hungry. Why the Rime needed to split it into Embers, and then sealed Herself."

"Did it say how the Fathom was sealed? Or how we can do it again?"

"Not in specific detail. Just that the three gods used to keep each other in a constant state of balance, but something occurred with the Fathom. It grew ambitious, though no reason is given. To protect the rest of the world, the Rime and Pyre teamed up to seal the Fathom and its vast armies – the Depths – somewhere inside the In-Between.

"Through the rings we found on Wirock, which at the time, was the seat of the Pyre's power."

El licked the last traces off the spoon as she thought, then plopped the final piece of jam-covered bread into her mouth.

"Nothing else. Even if it's cryptic?"

Dayne closed the book in his hands, put it on the table beside him, then picked up a second book. This, he opened and flipped a few pages until he found what he was looking for. "Fire on ice, ice on fire, the conflict both opened and closed the way. There is more, but this sentence looks important."

"Why?"

"It's underlined."

"Of course it is."

"In red ink."

"Cryptic and important, the best combination."

"I already solved it."

"Why didn't you say that from the beginning?"

"You needed time to eat."

"I… thank you," El said with a chuckle. "What's it mean?"

"While Wirock was the center of power for the Pyre, the Fathom's power was centralized on another island far to the south, while the Rime's…"

"Was on an island to the north?" El said, catching on. "The place where the other ring is? The one where the Depths are sealed?"

"Yes, as far as I can tell. In the Rime's domain, the Pyre used its power to seal that gate. In Wirock – the Pyre's territory – the Rime played the key role in sealing the ring."

"And, let me guess," El said. "The opposite power that sealed it away is what opens it up? Just like Olip said."

"Correct."

"So, can we just do the same thing again? Ask Sol to slap another lock on the gate in Wirock, and send Nexin to… wherever the other gate is? Wait, what about those smaller rings we saw? The ones where the Depths were sacrificing people? They wouldn't be big enough to push the Fathom through."

"The entrance is the exit," Dayne said, tapping the book. "The Fathom was sealed in the Rime's domain, but the Depths…"

"Were sealed in Wirock. Did the rings suck in the Depths like they tried to suck in our Sparks?"

"Exactly that."

"That's… good to know, I guess. Back to my other question. Sol and Nexin, the strongest we've got. Can they do it?"

"Sol might be able to do this," Dayne said. "His is the only Storm provided by the Rime. From my reading, it's not just about strength, but also about purity."

El groaned. "But the Pyre's power is split between Embers and Sparks. It's so spread and diluted, you don't think Nexin alone is enough."

Dayne nodded once. "And, I don't think bringing more Firestorm would help. He would need the power of Embers, not Sparks. Even then, both he and Sol would have to deal with the Depths protecting the rings. It won't be as simple as sending the two of them to lock the gates shut again.

"Worse, the dark water you mentioned from the avatar and the humanoids…"

"Clickers," El filled him in on the name.

"The clickers. Their power stems from what this book calls the Current, their version of our Spark. As the three powers – Sparks, Currents, and Storm – were all once balanced, having too many Currents near the rings will make them even more difficult to close. For gods like the Rime and The Pyre, that wasn't an issue. For Sol or the rest of us..."

"… we need to not only get past the army to get to the ring, but also crush it? Or, it just being there will make it impossible to seal the portals?"

"Yes. And, there's one more thing."

"Of course there is."

"Based on what I've read, the two rings need to be sealed at the same time, or they won't actually close."

"Meaning we need to split our forces to take both simultaneously?"

"Most likely."

"I think I'm going to need that pie now."