Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

A jolt – like static electricity – jumped from El's fingers to the hilt as her hand got close. Surprised, she jerked her hand back, then chuckled. It hadn't really hurt, just startled her. So, she reached out again.

Another jolt ran across her fingers, but El pushed through and took hold of the hilt. As soon as she had it in hand, the jolt became more of a current – not an unpleasant one – and the lines engraved along the blade began to glow blue. Brighter and brighter, until they glowed almost like the plasma El compressed from her flames, the light spread to the edge of the blade within a heartbeat.

It wasn't like the whole blade was aglow, just the lines – the writing – and the edge, but it was…

"Pretty," Nidina said the words before El could. "And not explodey."

"Not yet," Felps clarified, and Nidina brought the shield she'd started to lower back into place.

Shenanigans aside, El lifted the sword off its cabinet-mounting. It was heavy compared to a weightless blade forged of condensed flame or plasma, but it wasn't heavy. And that charge running through her hand, it was definitely her Spark somehow powering the weapon.

"Felps, what is this?" El asked. "And why did you say I triple-forged it?"

Instead of answering her, Felps turned to Cabitz, who'd pulled some kind of tablet device out of somewhere. "How are the readings?"

"Beyond expectations," Cabitz said.

"Code…?"

"No explosions," Cabitz quickly interrupted. "Probably."

"Felps…" El's even voice cut through the chatter as she turned towards the two men and lifted the sword in their direction. "You wanted this tested, I'm guessing. Which means you're either volunteering to answer my questions or be my target. Which is it?"

"And that's my cue." Nidina doused her shield and stepped out from between El and the three researchers – though she kept her teacup in one hand.

"You'd abandon us so quickly?" Felps asked Nidina, who just took a sip from her cup.

"Felps," El said once more.

"Sure it won't explode?" Felps asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"Probably not," Cabitz replied.

"Good enough," Felps said, then strode towards El with his arms wide. "That," he pointed at the sword, "is my latest creation. Forged from the bones of a god… well, reforged technically, and specially designed to…"

"Let me stop you right there," El said. "From the bones of a… you made this from your golem?"

"I did, the now-useless hunk of junk," Felps grumbled.

"And the triple-forged part is because…?"

"Of when you shoved a converted Ember down its throat and changed the nature of its fire. Whatever those new flames did, they converted the metal into a substance I've never seen before. One that won't conduct a standard Spark at all. I wasn't even sure your blue flames would be able to run through it, but it seems my genius shows itself once again!"

El stared down at the sword in her hand, her gut dropping at Felps's words. "Won't conduct a standard Spark…? What happened to all the Sparks that were in the golem when I did that? I… I thought you were working on a way to bring those people back…"

"Completely consumed by the blue flames," Felps said like it hardly mattered.

"Consumed? I… killed them? All those people…?" El asked.

"Hardly," Felps scoffed. "They had long been destroyed by the Pyre when the golem was awakened. The Pyre took what it needed – the raw power to fuel the golem – and incinerated everything else. Those people were already gone.

"If anybody should be shouldering the blame for those deaths…" he choked up, eyes going to the spot on the floor where El had found his previous assistant's dead body. "If anybody…"

"What does the sword do?" El interrupted. She'd had the full weight of that guilt only a second before, and seeing Felps go through the same thing… he didn't need it. He was already punishing himself enough by working nearly non-stop. Other than the tea parties.

"What?" Felps asked, like his mind was stuck replaying past events. "Ah, the sword? Yes. Possibly my greatest creation… at least until I build something new."

"Right, but what's it do? Is it a focus? I don't need a focus anymore…"

"If you want to be mundane, you could use it as a focus, I guess…"

"Okay, if I don't use it for that, then what?"

"A sword!" Felps threw his hands wide again, all guilt related to the golem again forgotten. For now.

"How is that less mundane than as a focus?"

"A sword is a truly sophisticated weapon," Felps replied.

"Don't need a sword, either. Can make one whenever I want, and I don't have to carry it around with me."

"Why would you need to carry it around? Just put it in your Underthings."

"My what now?"

"I believe he means your Underbottom," Cabitz said.

"Really doesn't sound any better."

"You're Inside-Outs?" Pinoa tried.

"The In-Between?" Nidina asked.

"Exactly what I said," Felps clarified.

El looked at the sword – after banishing her imagination of where they'd been asking her to stow the weapon – then back at the scientist. "Okay, sure. Let's say I toss it into the In-Between, how do I get it back out? Won't it just be where I left it?"

"Maybe? But why would that be a problem? Just reach in and grab it," Felps said. "The In-Over is all about connections, isn't it? I even made a pair of bracers for you to use to make the connection easier, since they're both made from the same material. Hrm. Well, one should be enough. Go try one on."

El followed the man's gesture to spot the two fingerless gauntlets on top of the cabinet. Guess that explains what those are. But, will it really work like he says it will? Only one way to find out. Walking over to the cabinet, El set the sword back down on its mounting – the blue glow fading as soon as her touch left the weapon – and picked up one of the bracers. It wasn't anything too complicated, with the bracer almost the length of her forearm connected to a plate that would sit on the back of her hand. From that plate, a circle of metal would fit in her palm.

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"I don't know, Felps. This will restrict my movement," El said, picking up the bracer in her good hand. The metal had a slight blue sheen to it, and… yup… there was more of that engraving in it.

Why does that look so familiar…?

"Try it on before you complain," Felps commanded.

"Oh, I'll try…" El started her threat, until Nidina walked up and put her teacup on the cabinet.

"Let me help," the other Firestorm said, taking the bracer from El's hands and then sliding it over her extended hand. It was a little big, but as soon as it was in place, the blue glyphs ignited. Within the blink of an eye, the metal contracted around her forearm to fit snugly, while the plate on the back of her hand curved to match the shape there as well, and to extend just past her knuckles. Even the band that wrapped around her palm flattened out and felt almost like soft leather.

"What the Blaze…?" El asked, truthfully marveling at what Felps had created. "This is amazing. What does…?"

"It do?" Felps finished for her. "Several things. Several amazing things. The original purpose was to help create a connection with the sword, so you could pull it in and out of the Outside-Down. However, I believe you should also be able to use it to something similar to a focus. Similar, but different.

"A magnifier. If my calculations are correct – and they usually are – you should see a noticeable increase of the strength of anything you ignite through the bracer."

"Oh?" El ignited a flame around her fist, the etchings along the bracer searing to life immediately, while the flames themselves practically leapt off her hand. Felps wasn't wrong, that was stronger. How much can I push this…? Concentrating on her hand, El threaded more power from her Spark into her fist, the flame growing from the size of her hand to the size of a watermelon in a heartbeat. Another push – this time in the opposite direction – and the blue flames compressed around her hand. Plasma so bright it almost hurt to look at chilled the air, frost even crawling outward from where El stood.

"I like," El said, dousing the flames and letting out a breath. As always, putting her flames into the plasma state wasn't easy, but it was definitely easier with the bracer. "Even if the sword doesn't work, this is fantastic."

"Can I get one? Or two?" Nidina asked hopefully.

"Once you invent a way to triple-forge normal double-forged electrum to work with your Spark," Felps said.

Nidina just pouted into her cup.

"The sword is even more potent than the bracer," Felps promised. "Though, it only serves one purpose."

"… don't leave us hanging." Nidina asked when it didn't seem like Felps would go on. "What's the purpose?"

"It's a sword," Felps said, like the answer was obvious. "It cuts things. Very well. Wouldn't use it on vegetables you want for dinner though."

"Of course not."

"Let's see if this In-Between thing works," El interrupted. "Uh, you won't be too angry if I drop it in there and then can't get it back, will you?"

"It's one of a kind," Felps said. "But this is all for science!"

"For science!" Cabitz and Pinoa repeated in chorus like they'd practiced it. They even held their teacups up.

El didn't immediately open a doorway to the In-Between, though. Sure, the last time had been easier, but was that really what she needed to do for this? Since she was already trying to think of the In-Between in different way to get troops to Pili, maybe this was another opportunity.

The first time she'd gone into the In-Between had been an accident – through a doorway she couldn't even see. One that had already been there. After her Spark had transformed to include the magic from Sol's goddess, she'd been able to physically open new doors. And she'd found limits to those portals – connections.

The stronger the connection, the easier it was to bring something through the doorway with her. Actually, maybe doorway wasn't the right way to think about it. Anybody could see the portal she opened, but not anybody could enter. That was where the connection came into play… for some reason. She'd asked Felps his opinion on why that mattered, but the man had given her one, irrefutable answer.

"It's just magicy-wagicy," he'd said. "Don't try to understand it."

Regardless, they weren't actually doorways, but more like doors themselves. Closed doors. Which meant the first thing El needed to do was to stop thinking about them like that.

If it isn't a doorway – or a door – does it have to be that big?

With a thought, El focused on the part of her Spark she used to pry open a hole to the In-Between, blue flames licking off the back of her hand to cut at the air beside her. Keeping it small – simple – El created a hole about the size of a grapefruit hanging in the air. She was just about to push the sword through it, but a new thought occurred to her.

Could this work…?

Focusing on the floating ring of fire around the tip of her sword – the ring still connected to the back of her hand via a lick of flame – El pulled it towards her. Like the magic trick it was, the ring ran down the blade of the sword, swallowing it as it went, until it reached the crosspiece. Now what happens?

Releasing the hilt, El expected gravity to take hold of the sword – and half-expected the flaming portal to cut the weapon into pieces. Neither of those things happened. Instead, the sword stayed floating with the hilt extending from the hole in the air.

"How's it doing that?" Nidina asked.

"Magic," Felps said.

"Right, but what kind of magic?"

"The magic kind."

"The magic kind of magic?"

"You're a quick study. What was your name?"

"Never mind."

"Nice to meet you NeverMind. I'm Felps."

"Can you send me through one of those portals?" Nidina asked El. "Please."

El wasn't really paying attention to her friend, though, and was instead focusing on the sensation from the portal. It wasn't the same as her usual openings to the In-Between. It was somehow more solid. Maybe it was the connection between the bracer and the sword, or maybe it was something else, but it almost felt like an actual sheath.

Weird.

"Nidina, can you pull the sword out of there?" El asked, taking a step back from the portal and pointing at the hilt.

"This a trap?"

"A theory."

"Didn't answer my question."

"Not a trap."

"Fine." Nidina shifted her teacup to her other hand and walked over to join El. Tentatively, her hand stretched for the hilt, and when nothing happened, she wrapped her fingers around it.

"Do you feel anything?" El asked. "Like a buzz through your fingers? Static?"

"Nothing," Nidina said. "But, it's stuck." The Firestorm shifted her feet and obviously yanked on the weapon. It didn't move.

"Did you break it?" Felps asked.

"I didn't…!"

"Let me try," El asked, and Nidina moved out of the way. As soon as her fingers wrapped around the hilt, blue light lit up the weapon, and El pulled half of the sword out before stopping. Another thought brought the ring back up to the hilt of the weapon… but she didn't take it any further. Something told her she could, but another thought came to her.

No, before that, do I need to stay connected to it?

Focusing on the tongue of flame going from the back of her hand to the portal, El cut the flow of power. The fire winked out of existence with a small snap like an elastic breaking – but the portal remained. And the connection was still there. El could still feel the ring. And, to an extent – like a weight – the sword most of the way inside the ring. A mental push moved the portal along the length of the blade, just a few inches in each direction until it was back at its starting point.

No loss of power I can sense. And if I can move the portal…

Pausing that thought, El took a step back from the ring, then walked a complete circle around it – the portal and sword both staying in place. Can this work…? Going slowly, El willed the portal to rotate, like she was taking a vertical mirror to lay it flat. As soon as the hole in space moved, the hilt of the sword went with it, as if the portal was indeed a long – though invisible – sheath.

"Are you doing that, El?" Nidina asked. Even Felps and his two assistants had rushed over at the movement, and the three were frantically taking down notes while simultaneously trying to hold their teacups.

"Yeah. One more thing I want to try," El said, excitement and curiosity running side by side through her. Sure, she felt like Felps's plan could work, but another idea had hit her. Another expression of willpower moved the ring through the air – the embedded sword with it – until it floated back around behind El. With the sword's hilt poking up just above her right shoulder, she pushed power into her Spark to 'tie' the portal there.

Now, the real test.

El took a step forward – and the floating hilt followed her.

"Did you just…?" Nidina started, but cut off as El ignited her wings and leapt into the air.

Arriving at the ceiling on the far side of room in the blink of an eye, El looked over her shoulder. The sword was still there.

Just one more thing…

El reached over her shoulder, took the hilt in hand, then pulled. The sword came out smoothly, the blue lines along the blade fully ignited by the time she held the weapon in front of her. Reversing the motion, she put the sword back in the dimensional sheath, then returned to Nidina and the others.

"This will do very nicely."