Spark of War - Book 3 - Chapter 34 – Just Got Comfy
El didn't even bother putting her sword back into the In-Between, instead just dropping to her butt to sit on the ground. Now that the fight was over – yeah, a look around her showed nothing but a circle of ash – the aches and pains were definitely coming to the forefront. She'd taken just as much of a pounding as she'd dished out in that melee with the general. Those things are tough. And yet…
Nexin settled down beside her, a soft grunt escaping his lips as he sat. With that internal glow fading from his skin, bruises and other scrapes stood clear. He was even more beat up than she was. But that look of satisfaction on his face – despite the state of his body – told her everything she needed to know: He'd grown stronger.
"Do you think we should move somewhere else before we talk?" El asked, again glancing at the circle of ash. "Not that I think I can, and this looks pretty safe right now."
"I just got comfy," Nexin replied. "How about we stay here for a few minutes."
"Oh, thank the… Pyre? I still don't know if I want to say that, but old habits, you know?"
"At least you aren't going on about his nut sack."
"That's Laze-territory. Don't lump me in with her. I'm much more refined in my curses."
"I don't think I even want to know."
"You don't, really. I spent a few days with sailors."
Nexin chuckled. "I don't think bad language is what you wanted to talk about. Though, before that, you handled yourself well against that clicker and the seawyrms."
"Thanks," she said, then turned to narrow her eyes at the man beside her. "Odd that general 'got away' from you though. And that you just happened to be nearby when things turned a little sideways."
"Nothing more than coincidence," he said entirely unconvincingly. "What happened at the end there? You looked like you had it… then you let your guard down."
In response, El dropped her sword on the ground beside her, then held up her palm and ignited a small flame. Blue fire burned to life above her hand, but it wasn't exactly the same as before. Instead, dark lines of liquid seemed to dance within the core of the flames.
"Part of what I wanted to talk to you about, actually," she said. "You see the difference?"
Nexin was already leaning closer to look at her flames. "What is that?"
"Every time my flames touch one of the clickers' dark water, I'm absorbing a bit of its Current. Not much, just a tiny bit every time, but it's changing my Spark. Isn't the same thing happening to you? You said you were getting better at sensing their power, I thought…" she trailed off as Nexin shook his head.
Like she'd done, Nexin held up a hand and ignited his own flame. Unlike hers, it burned a yellow so bright it was almost white, the strength of it making El squint to look at it. It roared from his hand almost like a focused torch, the edges of it tight and refined, and heat flowing off it strong enough to make El's armor glow blue. It did not have streamers of darkness within the core of it though.
"See?" Nexin said, then snapped his hand shut, the flame vanishing like it'd never been there.
"Nexin, what did they do to us when we were kids…?" El asked after a moment of silence. If he had the answers to that question, then maybe it would…
"I don't know," he said. "Not exactly, at least. I don't think we were really in an orphanage though."
"They experimented on us. With the Embers stolen from other nations," El said, fragments of the flashback memories she'd been having flitting through her mind.
"That's what I think." Nexin nodded. "I didn't have much time while we were back in Pycrin, but I asked about the orphanage. Nobody I talked to had heard of it. That alone doesn't really mean anything – it's a big city – but it does raise more questions. Once this matter with the Fathom and the Depths is settled, I plan on digging into it much deeper."
"Our parents, were they real?" El asked a question that terrified her, but one that wasn't as scary as what she really wanted to ask… but couldn't bring herself to voice.
"I don't think we were grown in tubes, if that's what you're asking," Nexin forced a chuckle. He shook his head right away. "I'm sure we had parents, but the memories we have of them? I don't think those were real. Even now, when I try to recall the people I thought were our mother and father, they're frayed and broken images. I can't see their faces. Can't remember their voices.
"If those people ever really existed, they weren't what we thought they were. Maybe researchers that worked at the orphanage. Or whatever it actually was."
"Then… are we…?" El forced the words out.
Nexin answered by putting his arm over her shoulder and pulling her close to him. "We are. Nothing will ever change that."
"Are you sure?"
"I… thought a lot about it when my memories started falling apart," he admitted. "Worried a lot over it too. But, then I realized, family isn't just about something as limited as blood. Family – real family – are the people who are important to you, no matter where you came from."
He gently pulled her head to lean on his shoulder, then pressed his own head against the top of hers. Warmth spread from the touch, easing the aches of her body.
"My memories of you are the one thing that haven't wavered," Nexin said. "Whatever we went through – whatever they did to us – we did it together. You're my little sister, and I'll always be there to bail you out when you get in over your head."
"You didn't need to add that last part," El said weakly, but his words eased a dark worry she'd kept buried in her chest. She wasn't one of those girls who had an unhealthy brother complex, but Nexin had always been her rock. Her inspiration and her motivation. What he said was true – it didn't matter if they shared the same blood or not – she'd always look up to him like that. And, even she had to admit it was reassuring to know he'd always have her back.
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"So, we have different Embers then?" she asked after just enjoying the warmth spreading from him into her.
"Looks that way." Nexin nodded gently against her head. "My memories of the rooms aren't perfect, but there are differences. One of those must explain why your magic is manifesting in another way than mine."
"You're still unfairly strong," she grumbled, then looked at the ring of ash again. "Seriously. There's nothing left of them."
"You softened them up."
"Burning right I did," she said. "Did you get as strong as you wanted to out here? Part of the reason I came was to bring you back to get ready for our next mission."
She felt him frown slightly against the top of her head before he spoke.
"Not as strong as I would've liked," he said. "Sounds like I'm out of time though. It'll have to be enough."
"Can you take the avatar?"
"… no. Not yet. Maybe with Sol's help, but it was too strong before. I've closed the distance, though not caught up."
"What are you going to do?" El lifted her head from Nexin's shoulder to look at him. Knowing her brother, bad odds or not, he wouldn't back down from a fight.
He smiled. "I'll keep getting stronger, even if it's while I'm fighting the avatar."
"You make the rest of us look bad, you know?"
"Based on our memories, I have a bit of an unfair advantage. Four Embers dedicated to making me stronger."
"So did I, and I'm not even close to you," El said.
"Closer than you think."
"I will catch up. Just you watch."
"I can't wait."
El sighed, tilting her head back to look at the sky above her. "Do you think the other kids in our memories were real too? Did they experiment on them too?"
"I think they were real," Nexin said. "An experiment like this… we couldn't have been the only ones. If it was successful with us, you'd think there would be dozens – hundreds – more with power like us. And maybe there are, and we just don't know them."
"The Ignitio?" El suggested.
"It's possible. Maybe we were part of some kind of blueprint plan to see which Embers worked together. Though, most of those Ignitio were older than us, by a lot. The majority of them were probably just plain old strong. It's something I plan on getting answers to when we get back."
"In other words, stop asking about it, El?" El said.
"Not at all. We can talk about it if you like, I just don't have any answers. Yet."
"You think Cannon knows anything about it? I think he'd tell us if he did."
"He might," Nexin said with a nod. "Know of the project I mean, even if he doesn't know we were part of it. That might be a better way to ask questions when we approach him. After we deal with the Fathom. We don't have room for distractions."
"That really sounds like 'stop asking about it, El'," she said.
"Okay, maybe a bit," Nexin said. "So, if you're here to bring me back, that means there's a plan?"
"Several, in fact. Laze got her hands in the mix, and she's come up with something."
"From the look on your face, you aren't completely on board with it."
El grimaced. "It's not that. Not exactly, at least. Her plan is good. Almost too good. It's probably the best chance we have."
"But it puts somebody other than you in danger, and you don't like that."
"It puts a lot of people in danger," El said, then sighed. "Except… this is a war for the literal fate of our nations. Maybe even the world. I know that. Laze has feints planned, and they're good feints, but they're also using the soldiers as bait to draw out the Depths. If it works too well, they might not have enough support to survive.
"And… and she's sending you and me somewhere else. We won't even be there to keep her and Nidina safe."
Nexin nodded, but didn't immediately say anything.
"You're worried about your friends," he finally spoke up.
"This is Laze. She's turning into an amazing field commander, but she's going to be right in the thick of it, with only Nidina to watch her back. Well, there will be other Firestorm there too…"
"Have you seen Laze fight since she came to Pili?" Nexin interrupted. "The second time."
"Uh…" El thought back to the ambush she'd helped foil. "No, I guess I haven't. We were on the same battlefield once, but I was a little busy…"
"She's not the same as she was when you all came here before. I've been talking to her and Nidina enough to know they've both been improving. Laze especially. Look, El, one of the things I learned coming out here to get stronger, was that I needed to stop thinking about myself like a normal Firestorm. In the academy, we were constantly told what we could and couldn't do. Whether our instructors intended to or not, they limited us. One of the first things I had to do was stop thinking about what I was told my limits and strengths were."
"You've never had limits," El said flatly.
"Maybe, but I always thought I did. Watch," Nexin said, then held up his hand. All around the sitting pair, small balls of fire formed out of thin air, extending and then solidifying into those plasma spears she'd seen before.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," El said, actually holding a hand up. "You weren't connected to those! How did you do that? Er… one of your Embers…?"
"Exactly." Nexin snapped his fingers and the spears vanished. "In the academy, they always told us we needed an electrum focus to ignite our magic. Sure, I've never had that particular limit, but it did leave me to believe I had to be connected to my flames to ignite anything. Turns out I don't.
"Once I broke that restriction, more and more of them fell away. I don't have to fight – to think – like other Firestorm. And neither does Laze. Once she stopped trying to emulate you, she found her own way to fight. And, El, burn it, it's good. Different than what you or Nidina do, but it works for Laze. Works well. You should see it."
El ran her hand through her hair and thought about things. "You think she'll be okay?"
"I do. Without you or Dayne around, Nidina and Laze have really had a chance to shine. They work well together, even if they argue like an old married couple sometimes, but they'll take good care of each other. You don't have to worry about them. And, if you're lucky enough to get them back on your wing, you'll be impressed."
"I don't think being on my wing is in Laze's future anymore," El said, a bit of sadness creeping up her throat. "She's too valuable leading troops of her own. Maybe not as a wing sergeant, but Cannon and the others would be stupid not to move her around. Heh, maybe I'll be on her team. That… wouldn't be so bad, I think."
"Something tells me a normal wing isn't in your future either," Nexin said, patting El on the shoulder. Then, with a small flutter of flaming wings on his shoulders, he lifted up to his feet. "Are we going straight back to Pili?"
"I can't sit here for a few more minutes? Somebody let a general clicker get away to use me as a punching bag."
"You should've dodged better."
"Ugh, I guess I can't argue with that," El said, picking up her sword and using it as a brace to help her stand. "Vestis first to pick up Dayne. And hopefully Sol. You want to come, or should I send you back to get some rest?"
"How long will it take us to get to Vesitis from here? A few hours through the In-Between?"
"More like three seconds." El dropped her sword into its In-Between sheath, then casually flicked her hand in front of her. Blue flames leapt from her fingers to open a seven-foot-tall oval of blue flames. The air within the fire shimmered for a second, like it was a mirror, then cleared to reveal the great Vestish library in the distance.
"Now it's time for me to tell you 'whoa'," Nexin said. "Since when can you open portals directly to where you want to go?"
"I learned a few more tricks with the In-Between," El said, heat rising up her neck as a blush came on. "Anyway, let's go get them, then I'll drop you all off in Pili."
"Drop us off? Sounds like you have another stop in mind."
"Felps insisted I go back one more time, and the timing fits in the schedule before we deploy. Barely, but this sword has been a huge help. Figure it can't hurt – much – to see what he has in mind this time. I've also got to make sure the cannonbulls are ready."
"Cannon… you named them, didn't you? And, let me guess, they're bulls with cannons?"
El glanced to the side. Anywhere, actually, that didn't involve eye contact with her brother. "Maybe."