Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

"Either of you see which way they went?" El asked as she stood in the hallway intersection. Straight ahead, she could see the main atrium area of the great Vestish library, and the halls to her left and right curved severely around that.

"No," Dayne responded. "And I don't hear anything either."

Just a few minutes before, as they'd flown up the stairs to the third level of the library, they'd spotted a trio of small wolf-like creatures heading in their direction. El kind of wanted to think of them as pups, but they didn't have the same cute look of young animals. And as soon as the two groups had spotted each other, the three wolves had looked at each other, then sprinted away.

Sure, El and the others had seen packs of the small wolves as they'd flown over the city towards the library, and they'd run from the Firestorm just the same. But, something about that look they'd shared was different. Like there was higher thought. Communication. All of that had El's gut telling her they needed to catch up to them.

Which had brought them to the intersection.

"They can't have gotten far," El said.

"It's strange," Sol said, and El turned to find him staring down the hall on their left.

"What is?" she prompted.

"When Nexin and I were here before, we saw dozens of the small wolves, enough to estimate their population to be in the hundreds," Sol said.

"You're wondering why the Depths didn't take them?" Dayne asked.

Sol's head tilted to the side as if he were thinking about it. "Hrm, that's part of what's bothering me. The wolves Nexin and I saw before didn't have Sparks, so it's actually not surprising they weren't taken or killed. There would be no benefit."

"And they're too cute to hurt," El added.

"There is that," Sol said with a surprisingly serious nod. "Also, in the buildings I searched for the Ember's resting place – before finally finding it – I noticed signs of the wolves living there. The animals had made dens out of many of the buildings. But, here…"

"Nothing," El said, thinking back to the large entryway into the library. "The first floor would've been a great place to snuggle up and call home, but we didn't find them until the third floor? A little odd."

"Then there's the fact those three wolves have Sparks," Sol said.

"They do?" El said at the same time Dayne asked, "How can you tell?"

Sol touched the side of his nose.

"You can not smell Sparks," El said flatly. "Er… can you?"

Sol chuckled. "No. I can sense them though. They were weak – so weak I didn't even notice it until Dayne asked – but definitely there. Those three wolves are somehow special."

"Can you still sense them?" El asked. "Can you use it to follow them?"

Sol closed his eyes. "I… maybe. It's difficult to block out the two raging Sparks near me… but… I… yes. I think I have them. There's a fourth Spark with them, as well."

"Another wolf? Maybe the mama?" El asked.

"I don't think so," Sol said, eyes still closed. "This Spark is significantly stronger than the others."

"Only one way to find out what that means. Where are they?"

"Ahead of us and… up a floor, I think," Sol said. "If I remember correctly, the center of the library is the atrium-like area you can see, but balconies circle it on every floor. This is where most of the books are kept, but there are staircases within that go from level to level."

"Let's go," El said, igniting the four small wings on her back.

"Wait," Sol said almost immediately. "Many of the books in that library are rare. Some, one of a kind."

"And you're worried our wings will…?"

"Destroy the one hope we currently have of finding out more about the Depths, yes."

"Fair." El doused her wings. "But, if there's space and it looks like those wolves – or whatever the fourth Spark is – will get away, I'm using them."

"Agreed."

Without waiting for anything else, El dashed ahead, the sound of her hard-soled boots echoing on the stone floor. Burn it, they're going to hear us coming a mile away. If only there was a way she could cushion her footsteps with her flames…

Wait, isn't there?

A quick glance back at Sol – he wasn't watching her too carefully – and she gently moved the power of her Spark down towards her feet. What was it Nexin had said about stepping…?

No sooner did El have the thought than the flames ignited around her feet, and the world seemed to come to a crawl. Her next step – along with a surprised yelp – stretched her surroundings out around her as she practically vaulted twenty feet ahead. Instinctively cutting off the flow of power from her Spark, El skidded to a stop. Actually, it wasn't even a skid. Even though she'd launched forward as fast as if she'd flared her wings, she had nearly no momentum.

"What the Blaze…?" she asked, spinning in place to see a surprised look on Dayne's face. Sol… yeah, that was definitely a glare.

"That was the same thing Nexin did back in Wirock," Dayne said.

"Similar, but not quite the same," Sol said, still glaring. "And I thought we said no flames?"

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"Technically, we said no wings," El argued, though it was weak even from her perspective. "That aside, why was it different?"

"Not as strong."

"Well, obviously. He's Nexin."

Sol shook his head. "It's more than that, and hard to explain. Think of his steps as a pure sound, while what you did was more of an empty echo heard down a long, pathetic hallway."

"Not sure if I should be insulted," El mumbled.

"Did you find a way to copy what he does?" Dayne asked.

If our theory about our exposure to the Embers as kids is true, no way I could've copied it. Or… could I?

Without asking, El ignited a sword in her hand, blue flames bursting to life, then immediately condensed it down to the plasma state. She ignored the raised eyebrows, but held the weapon out, as if offering it to Sol.

"How about this?" she asked. "Does it also feel like an echo?"

"Your flames are just as pure as…"

"Not the flames. The plasma," El stressed.

Sol opened his mouth as if to answer immediately… but then his jaw just sort of hung there open while he looked at El's sword. "You're right. I didn't notice it at first – since your blue flames are so unique – but while it's in the plasma state, it does feel more hollow than Nexin's. Is it difficult to maintain?"

"Compared to what Nexin told me, oh yeah," El said. "He can do plasma all day, but I tire out after a few arrows."

"Hrm. Do you…?" Sol started, but El doused the sword and held up a hand for him to wait.

When it was clear he wasn't going to keep asking questions, she ignited a new flame and opened a small window to the In-Between. As before, the portal opened almost effortlessly to view the tall trees beyond, though she kept a streamer of the flame connected to her hand.

"How about this? Also hollow?"

Sol stared at the blue square of flames hanging in the air for several long seconds before he finally shook his head. "No, there is a qualitative difference between what I felt from your plasma – or your steps – and this window. It's so hard to explain, but it's like a true image compared to a reflection."

El nodded at that statement, letting the flame – and the window to the In-Between – wink out. They'd figured the four Embers from Nexin's memory were probably the source of his abilities. Or, at least contributing to it. With El, she'd only seen one Ember that seemed to connect to what she could do, that one that reminded her of the In-Between. Burn it, that was the whole reason she was there in Vestis, really, to figure out who that Ember belonged to.

But, that still left three other Embers in the room from her memories. And one of them, the one with hand-like streamers of flame that were constantly reaching out to grab cinders released by the other Embers… could this be what that one did? Let her mimic the abilities from other Embers, though at a much weaker capacity?

Though, now that she thought about it – and thankfully, both Dayne and Sol could see she was absorbed with something – there was also the fourth and final Ember in her memories. It'd also had the impression of being dormant, but also copying aspects of the other Embers. Something about it, though, wasn't the same. Her gut told her that Ember wasn't the answer to her current question. No, the one with the hand-like streamers, that was why she had some of the same – though weaker – abilities Nexin had.

She's picked them up from being around him so much. Or, maybe it was some of the Embers she'd handled? It was probably also why she'd stolen some of the energy from the exploding Ember back in Wirock. Actually, that was the Vesitish Ember, which would explain why she could do the stepping thing now, but never before. She must only be able to copy abilities from Embers she touched.

A sudden memory of trying to touch the 'pretty glow' in Nexin's stone room as a child explained when she'd gotten the plasma ability – and a nasty burn.

Does that also mean I can control Guldish golems? I'll have to find one to try out.

That small fantasy aside, her mind went back to that dormant Ember. She focused on the memory – despite knowing she should be moving after the wolves. She was close to something, she could feel it.

The fourth, sleeping Ember, felt like… like… like it was waiting for something. A catalyst. That Ember wasn't complete. In her memory, it was testing the other Embers in the room to see if they had what it was missing, but none of them did, so it continued to wait. But, what did it need? What was it…?

El's eyes settled on Sol.

That was it. The fourth Ember from her memories had combined with Sol's magic – What did he call his Spark? The Storm. – to birth the blue flames she now had. Something about burn-near ripping her Spark out, and touching it with his Storm, had allowed her power to metamorphosize. Like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly.

It made sense…

No, no it really doesn't, but it's magic, I guess. Even if I'm right, though, that still leaves the third Ember from her memories unexplained. The fading and growing one.

Looking at Dayne and Sol, though, she'd wasted enough of her time, and she shook her head to free her thoughts up again.

"All sorted out now?" Dayne said without asking about what had her so preoccupied.

"I think so, sorry," El said. "I'll explain once we find the wolves and start researching the In-Between."

"You and Nexin have a theory about the connection," Sol guessed.

"Yeah, we do."

"Aaaaah, the memories," Sol said, nodding to himself. "I look forward to hearing about it."

"Sure, after we find those pups again."

"They haven't moved, even after we delayed." Sol looked up and to the right, like he could see through the ceiling to where the wolves were. "Odd, that."

"Hopefully it doesn't mean they're setting up and ambush or a trap," El said.

"Could be guarding lunch," Dayne offered.

"Hrm. I could do lunch," El admitted, spinning on her heel and heading for the atrium again. Closer now, beams of thick sunlight cut lines through the darkness from what had to be large windows above. Aside from that light, almost the entirety of the library was shrouded in shadow, the air cool and quiet, with the musty scent of books. "Might need some flames just to be able to see…"

"Unfortunately, I think you're right," Sol admitted. "Please just be careful."

"Careful is my middle name," El said.

"Pretty sure dramatic is your middle name," Dayne said perfectly seriously.

"Whatever," El grumbled, igniting a short sword of tight flame in her hands. Then, on second thought, she doused the blade and reached over her shoulder to unsheathe the sword Felps had given her. With just a touch of her Spark, the script inlaid in the blade erupted in a vibrant blue – as did the razor-sharp edge – and easily provided as much light as a torch would. Far less naked flame too.

As a bonus, if it is a trap, those pups are going to be in for a very bad time.

With the circle of light around them, the trio exited the hall and finally stepped into the great Vestish library. What little she could see lived up to the name, with fully-stacked bookshelves on either side of the entrance. They had to each be ten feet tall, and loaded with so many books, they were practically bursting. As were the ones beside them, and the next row of shelves directly ahead of them.

Sol was right – if there was anywhere that would have information on the Depths or her In-Between ability, this was the place.

"Staircase, there," Dayne said, pointing.

Following his gesture, El tore her eyes off the books to find a wide staircase leading up to the next level. Like the level they were on, only thick shadows waited for them. It could definitely be an ambush, but with her shiny new sword – literally – and her frost armor, El wasn't worried.

Without slowing, she continued to the steps, then immediately darted up them. She took the stairs two at a time, the light spilling to both sides of her and illuminating the rich carpet that covered the steps, as well as the filigreed banister on both sides. El could enjoy the craftmanship later, though, and continued her sprint upwards. Near the top, a scrape across stone to the left drew her eyes to the side, but it was still outside her circle of light, the darkness hiding whatever had made the sound. More importantly, something loomed out of the shadows out of the corner of her eyes directly ahead, and El's head snapped around to see what was in front of her.

Eight feet tall of solid muscle, red scales, and arms like tree trunks, the bulky humanoid had a thick tail behind it, and a powerful, lizard maw spread wide like it was about to breathe flames in her direction.

A newt!