Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

Two and a half days after coming up with their plans to assault Wirock – and hopefully end this war before it really started – El stepped out of a portal into the planning room. Immediately, every head around the tables looked at her, then did a double take. A low whistle came from Laze's lips, while Dayne just nodded like he expected El to show up in a full suit of triple-forged electrum armor glowing with blue runes.

"Typically dramatic," Nidina said.

El fought down a smile, then waved at her friends. With her left hand.

They were on her in a second, hugs wrapping her tight, and relief etched on their faces.

"It's healed?" Laze asked quickly.

"You're all better now?" Nidina said at the same time.

Dayne just nodded again, while Nexin put his arms around the group.

"Not completely healed," El said. "This armor is helping the process along. They – well, mainly Felps and his assistants – think this will help me make a full recovery."

"Assuming you don't do something stupid and reckless out there," Nidina pointed out.

"Assuming that, yes," El agreed.

"Ahem," General Cannon coughed. "While I'm glad to see you're all so energetic – and that you came properly equipped – we have final preparations to make now that you're here."

"Sorry, Sir," El said as she untangled herself from her friends and gave a sharp salute. The blue flames burning from the joints on her left arm made the whole thing a touch more… dramatic than usual. But, she needed to feed her Spark through that armor constantly to maintain the mobility of her arm. Not that it was a problem. If anything, keeping the power going created a feedback loop of energy back into her, meaning – at least in the short term – it wouldn't tire her out.

"No worries," Cannon said, and waved them back over to the table. "Come."

Even though it'd only been a few days since she'd last looked at the map of Pili, a lot had changed. More of the western forts were listed as abandoned or lost, with a few key locations still housing civilians. While the plan had been to make it look like those people wouldn't be able to escape even if they wanted to, there were a lot of heavy hearts in the room at using them practically as bait. They were the "reason" the Pilish and Pycrin forces had headed out in large numbers. By the markers on the map, the ground troops had made good time, and were already reinforcing those fort towns.

That should be a good enough reason for the Depths to make a move. Now, those forts were better defended, but not as well defended as the most eastern cities. If the Depths didn't send a force strong enough to capture the citizens – and their Sparks – within those walls, they'd have a much more difficult time cracking open the more distant and protected locations.

It'd been a fine line about how many troops to send. Too many would make the opportunity unappealing. Too few, and it'd be a death sentence for those who went.

From the looks of the small flags representing the Depths, they were taking the bait.

"The sieges have begun," Cannon said, as if reading her mind. "Given the numbers, our people think they can hold for a day. Maybe two. With the clickers – and their generals – it could be even less. That is our window of success. With every extra hour it takes us, however, the loss of life increases."

"The Boomers are ready," Sergeant Esis said from beside Cannon.

"We are too," Laze added, obviously having grown more confident speaking at this table, and El gently elbowed her friend in the side, then gave her a wink.

"Same with our soldiers," Tas said. "Though I'm not sure how much we'll be able to offer compared to what you're fielding."

"Everybody has a part to play in this," Cannon said, then moved the thick fingers of his right hand over to where the ships were supposed to be located. "The ships are now underway as well, though there was resistance at the docks. We lost one of the vessels, but the other nine are on route to Wirock. It seems most of the Depths' front line was behind the ships – like we suspected – and the fleet, supported by a few other ships that made an escape, are now in the open sea.

"Our scouts reported the Depths leaving Wirock in droves to intercept about two hours ago. At the speeds they move, it will be another four to six hours before the two sides meet."

"Then it's time for us to be going," Nexin said. He was back in uniform, and looked like he'd recovered from most of his injuries.

Good. We're going to need him.

"Be careful," Sol said, also looking significantly better than last time El had seen him. "Your foe is not one to be underestimated."

Nexin looked from Sol to El, then back to the man. A thumb in her direction, and her brother spoke. "Good thing she's coming with me."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"As are the Boomers," Sergeant Esis reminded him, a hint of reprimand at being forgotten in her voice.

"Don't mind him," Nidina said. "It's a sibling thing."

"Remember the plan," Cannon interrupted. "You two need to close the rings at the same time," he looked from Sol to Nexin. "Firestorm will be deployed with you to act as communication relays, but we don't know how long the actual closing process will take. Dayne's research suggests destroying the biggest rings before sealing them risks opening them just as much as it does forever closing them. So, only once they're closed – by you – will we move to dismantling the constructs.

"Keep in mind the Depths likely know the same thing. If it looks like they're going to lose control of the rings, they may opt to risk breaking them. Better for them to take the chance on releasing what's trapped inside than risk having them sealed again."

"That's why they are coming," Nexin pointed at Sergeant Esis. "The Boomers are the best at what they do."

"Burning right we are," Esis said. "We'll hold the ring while you do your thing."

"Oh, she rhymed that," Tas said quietly to Macer. "Maybe I should start rhyming my sentences?"

"No!" El, Laze, Nidina, and Dayne all said at the same time, memories surfacing of the trouble Nidina's twin constantly got them into with his rhyming.

"Seems you were voted down," Macer said without even looking at her commanding officer.

Cannon turned his full attention to Laze and Sol. "I know we've had our differences," he said to the man, "but you're the only one who can close the ring on Wirock. Laze and her people will do everything they can to keep you safe and let you focus on doing your job."

"We've got your back," Laze said to Sol.

"Good. Then everything is as ready as it can be," Cannon said. "Any final questions?"

Nobody in the room spoke. Nobody needed to. They all knew their roles in what was to come. If any of them failed to play those parts, the whole operation would come crashing down, and the lives they'd risked to buy them the opportunity would be wasted.

"Let's go, then," General Cannon said, turning from the table where they'd painstakingly planned for days, and strode out of the room. The others quickly followed out to a courtyard containing the Salidian gateway just outside the building in Fort Bedrock. "Fire it up!"

Jenita just rolled her eyes at the general and mumbled something about hating that expression. Her gaze did linger for a moment on El and the new outfit before she channeled her Spark into the gate.

Red runes ignited along the arches, moving slowly from the top center, down the sides until they reached the bottom. Once there, two lines of flame shot along the floor to meet in the middle, and the air within the arch shimmered like a heat wave. A few seconds later, another city appeared on the other side, buildings of red and orange shaped like massive flames dominating the horizon.

Balacin.

And within it, thousands of soldiers, Firestorm, artillery, and the herd of cannonbulls. Cannon had finally gotten the other generals to agree to a strong offensive, and they'd staged the forces thousands of miles away. Far from the prying eyes of the Depths.

"Good luck, guys," El said to her friends stepping towards the portal. Laze, Nidina, Dayne, Sol, Tas, and Macer would be following Cannon into Pycrin, while El, Nexin, and the Boomers had another path to take. If they saw each other again, it wouldn't be until after the war was won.

Or lost.

But El didn't let herself focus on that last option.

"You too," Laze said, turning back and giving El one more hug. As soon as she disengaged, she blushed, shuffled her feet a little, then turned and gave Nexin a hug too. Not that her action really surprised anybody. The kiss on his cheek that followed, though, was unexpected, and she quickly rushed through the portal before anybody could say anything.

"Don't break her heart – again – by dying out there. Again," Nidina said to Nexin, giving him a firm look. Then she followed Laze through the portal.

"Soup will be ready when you come back," Dayne said to El.

"You don't have to…" El started. "Er, will there be more of that pie? Because that was something else…"

"There will be."

"Take care of yourself, Dayne. And them."

The big man nodded without another word, then he too stepped through the gate.

"Tas," El said to the two Pilish soldiers before they could follow.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everybody too. Even myself," the man said.

"Not that," El said with an immediate shake of her head. "Seriously, if you start rhyming, Nidina will end you."

Tas opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it one more time. "Really?"

"Really."

"Right, no rhyming. Got it," he said with a salute. "Macer, don't let me rhyme."

"It's not like I've ever been able to control what you say," Macer said flatly. "What makes you think I could start now?"

"Fair point," Tas said, then turned back to El. "See you after the war and all that. I'll treat you to some coffee to go with that pie." With that, the two Pilish soldiers were gone.

"He… doesn't actually expect you to share the pie, does he?" Nexin asked El.

"Tas knows me better than that," El said, looking up at her taller brother. "You're going to have to figure out things with Laze, you realize. How you feel or whatever. Looks like her days of fawning over you from a distance are gone."

"She's gained a lot of confidence over the last week," Nexin said with a nod. "Grown."

"Not looking at her like a little sister anymore?"

"I only have one sister, and she's more than enough to worry about, thank you very much," Nexin said with a chuckle he choked off as El elbowed him in the gut. "As for Laze, I'm not sure where that will go. It's something for after we complete our mission."

El raised an eyebrow. "She has a shot?"

Nexin just winked at her. "This is one of those 'El, stop asking questions' situations."

"Fiiiiine," El said with a roll of her eyes. "Sergeant Esis, you all ready?"

"Boomers are always ready," Esis said. "Just make sure you can keep up."

El actually chuckled before igniting the wings on her back, blue flames and triple-forged electrum spreading out on both sides of her. From the wide eyes of the Boomers, the display had the desired effect.

"Pretty sure it's you all that'll need to worry about keeping up. Don't worry though," she thumbed at Nexin, "we'll wait."

Then, with a small nod at Jenita, El shot into the sky with enough force to send the other Firestorm – Nexin included – stumbling away from the shockwave of her launch.

Without even flaring, El rocketed straight up towards the thick, dark clouds forming overhead. Thunder boomed in the distance, while lightning flashed far on the horizon. The coming storm could've been seen as an omen, with the thick clouds spread over the entirety of Pili, but El and the others saw it as an opportunity.

The Depths had long hidden their movements deep underwater. Now it was the Firestorm's turn to hide above the clouds.

El breached the dark mist and punched straight through to the other side within a few seconds, climbing high above to bask in the sunlight. She wasn't there long before Nexin, then the Boomers behind him, burst through with wisps of clouds clinging to them.

Looking at her brother, El nodded. "You ready for your rematch with the avatar?"