Irwin yawned as he leaned against the hard bark. Behind him, the volcano tree groaned slightly under his weight. A round of shouts and clangs followed as he watched Scintilla and Tiscian dash across the sandy yard, moving fast and smooth as their blades searched for an opening.
“Dad… do you think I’ll be that good?”
Irwin looked down at Tia, who nestled against his chest, staring at where her mother was showing exactly why she was a rank eight blademaiden. Her movements were quick and deadly, and showed why most Ignitzian warriors were often able to beat someone with more or stronger cards.
She’s still far from her mother, though, Irwin thought, as he saw Tiscian easily hold her own.
“You will definitely become as good as your heatmother,” he said, hugging Tia.
“Grandma Tiscian is a lot better,” came a soft voice from above.
Irwin looked up where Flux and Glow were nestled on a branch, staring at the same sparring match. The other three were not in sight, but Irwin could sense them exploring the upper branches. Although Soot and Ti weren’t bad at fighting with their individual summoned swords, neither of them really enjoyed it. Not like the three still watching quietly.
“I still think it would be better if they learned more than just swords,” Glow said, instantly causing Flux and Mia to look at him with a frown.
“Things might change in the future,” Irwin said quickly, before the three could enter into an argument they had every so often. Not for the first time, Irwin wondered if he should have gotten Glow a sword summon card instead of a spear. “For now, things are as they are.”
Flux sniffed, then turned to the slowly winding-down sparring session.
“Grandma is holding back,” he said softly.
“She is,” Irwin agreed. “But remember, she’s a Blademaster.”
“I want to become a Blademaster,” Mia said, eyes gleaming. “Are we still heading to Flagrian Smokeblade?”
“Yes,” Irwin said. “We will be heading there tomorrow, when the others return.”
They continued watching until Tiscian defeated Scintilla with a few quick sweeps. Mia and Flux rushed towards them, talking to both excitedly and asking questions about certain moves. Glow instead sat down beside Irwin, sighing.
“I am going to continue practicing with my spear,” the boy whispered after a while. “When I get really, really good, I’m going to become the first Spearmaster and train others who don’t want to use a sword.”
Irwin watched his son, who had been practicing with both sword and spears from a young age. Although he wasn’t bad with a sword, he usually managed to win in a spar with the others due to his weapon's longer range and his own desire to win. So far, he’d mostly been practicing the spear with the best of Bronwyn’s Rangers.
Perhaps it's time to give him some more challenge, Irwin thought, as he softly hummed.
Except for the time he spent with Crithan on Scour, he’d never really focused on the martial side of combat. He wasn’t bad with his hammer, but most of his fighting style derived from his cards. His children, however, had all been practicing from the moment they had solidified into Ignitzians. Even Zan, who liked the martial practice least among all of his children, did more of it than he had.
“I’ll ask Daubutim if he knows any Spear Trainers,” he said, staring at his son.
“That would be great,” Glow said, his eyes glowing.
Irwin smiled back as he pushed himself up, pulling his son with him.
“Let's go and see what we can eat today,” he said, his stomach rumbling softly.
“Food?” Soot shouted from above, his head popping out of the canopy.
“Yes,” Irwin called back while his otherself, who had been reforging a card, made a note to talk to Daubutim.
--
“I really don’t like having to go there,” Scintilla said softly.
Below her, a vast forest stretched, parts darkened by the dense clouds that circled up from a nearby, nearly submerged volcano. Far in the distance, she saw the Pyrso Sea, with a small strip of land leading towards a slice of land that looked like a crescent moon.
“You can stay in my soulscape, and Tiscian can do the talking,” Irwin said.
Yeah… and then she will showcase our children, and Flagrian will want to test all of them without me there. Not happening, she thought.
She frowned, staring at the distant land, sometimes known as Smokecrescent Bay, though most just called it Flagrian’s Hideout.
The trip had taken almost half a day, mostly because Irwin hadn’t known the direction, so she had to guide them from Luath’s back. Still, it was a lot faster than if she’d had to go with a sloop or ship.
She glanced at Irwin, who stood beside her on Luath’s back, looking in the distance. She could sense his aura stretching out from him, most of it forward beyond what she could feel.
I wonder how Blademaster Flagrian will react to him, she thought.
She hadn’t seen the eldest of her family, and one of the most powerful Blademasters on Igniz, since she was young, and it had been proven that she couldn’t reach the heights Flagrian had wanted.
At least Tiscian said that she has some apprentices right now, she thought.
The sea of trees below them made way for the sea of Pyroflux, waves of which were crashing into the mangroves that bordered it.
Lots of Griosliga this year, she thought, watching the dark-shelled creatures swim between the roots among the shallower bays, chasing after fish, or lying on the partially submerged, glistening roots. Like many physical fire elemental beings on Igniz, a thin stream of smoke trickled up from their nostrils.
She noticed a large one with deep scars across its yellow, red-scaled skin climb up a root, staring down into the water below, where a larger fish moved slowly beneath the surface. It was eyeing a few of the fire elemental birds that drifted lazily above, not noticing the Griosliga above.
“Look,” she whispered, nudging Irwin.
“I.. what? Is that thing going to jump?”
Scintilla grinned as she watched the large Griosliga reach the edge and stare down. Even from this far, she could see that one of its eyes was muddled and damaged, not glowing the brilliant yellow they usually did. The other one was focused on the fish.
“It’s using some form of soulforce skill,” Luath rumbled softly, slowing down as the three of them watched the Griosliga.
The fish below still hadn’t seen anything, and a minute later, it began swimming in a direction that would make it go below the branch. The Griosliga leaned forward, then, as quietly as it had climbed up, let itself plummet down.
“It’s going to miss,” Luath said.
Scintilla didn’t react, but her grin widened in expectation. Halfway down the drop, the dark shell began gleaming, and a sudden burst of light caused the Griosliga to jolt a few feet to the side, right above the fish. Another flash came from the top of the shield, and it shot down like a rocket crashing into the Pyroflux. An explosion of liquid obscured their view for a moment, but when it settled, they saw the Griosliga swim away slowly with a fish half its size clutched in its maw.
Irwin’s eyebrows had risen, and she could sense a surprised rumble from Luath.
“There’s a reason we don’t have any Griosliga near larger towns and cities,” she said. “They are highly dangerous predators, and although they aren’t the top predators here, they are the most dangerous to Ignitzians.”
Irwin hummed, then focused on the way they were moving while Luath sped up again.
Scintilla watched her heatbond, for a moment enjoying the way his eyes burned and the pressure oozed from him, before tapping his shoulder. “You aren’t going to try and create a soulforce construct of them?”
“Of some dangerous predator? No. I have the Wyrms already,” Irwin said, shaking his head. “Perhaps I’ll do so later, but first I need to begin creating an ecology that functions. From what the Zeit taught me, I need to begin with a variety of vegetation, then move on to insects, birds, and fish. I’ve got some of that, and that means I can move into larger land animals, but I’ll need to introduce predators later. Though the Wyrms are mostly hunting each other right now, that will likely change when I have Charbulls and Ashbison roaming around.”
Scintilla watched him, thinking about her own Soulscape and then his. They were hard things to compare, but she knew there was little she could do about it. After she’d become a Crathan, it had already easily tripled in size, and was still growing, and it would grow even more with each subsequent soulcard. Perhaps, when she reached five soulcards, she would be at the point that she could begin making her own soulforce constructs, but for now, that was a plan for far in the future.
They continued forward, and her thoughts about soulforce constructs slowly faded as she watched the small peninsula grow. Eons ago, it was a large volcano, but after an eruption, one side crumbled while the rest shrank to its current size. The ride on the far side was a small mountain range, while the pyroflux sea had flown into the semi-crater, creating the crescent land it now was. Attached to one tip with a landbridge submerged for half the day, it housed a single large building. The last of the Smokeblade families' lands that survived their downfall long ago, and the place Flagrian had grown up in.
A beautiful curved tower of black stone, shaped by an ancient stoneshaper in a single action, and pulled from the deep bedrock of the island, stood just near the fine, sandy beach. A dozen smaller buildings formed a town that surrounded it, and she knew only a few hundred Ignitzians lived there. Most of them were either Blademasters, or those hoping to become a Blademaster, or their Embers.
“There is a single, very powerful being there,” Luath said, sounding awed.
“Just two soulcards, but this most soulforce…” Irwin said softly.
“Flagrian’s first soulcard is rumored to be a primordial flame, just like yours,” Scintilla said as she took a deep breath. “Little is known about what it does, but it was definitely powerful.”
“For a Ruby rank soulcard, it has to have been one found from an Earth Titan or something similar,” Irwin said. “It reminds me of one of my own cards.”
Scintilla knew he meant the card they had found on Scour long ago.
“It’s time to bring out Tiscian,” she said softly, wondering how Flagrian would react to her changed body.
Tiscian appeared beside her, looking around before instantly focusing on the incoming tower. Scintilla saw her Heatmother’s posture change, turning even more rigid than it usually was when they were with important people. Part of it was unconscious, she had learned over the years, a safety mechanism.
“Luath, please land in the sea beside the town’s harbor,” Tiscian said, arms crossed.
Luath began slowing down as the Chaos Whale brought them lower and closer to the black-stone harbor. The closer they got, the clearer it became that they were being expected. A group of six Ignitzians was waiting near the town, watching them arrive.
“I should have known that she’d be expecting us,” Tiscian whispered.
Scintilla nodded, while Irwin looked confused.
“How so?”
“Flagrian has a very close connection with many of the flying fire elementals,” Tiscian said. “They will have warned her of our arrival.”
Luath reached the surface of the sea, and although he moved slowly, he still caused a wave to explode outward, racing across the sea and towards the harbor, where it rolled over the docks before retreating.
Scintilla hesitated as she saw the group of Blademasters waiting for them. All of them had dark and dull or even grayish hair, showing just how old they were, and she knew they would likely not be taken with her choices.
Well, that’s their problem, she thought as she took a deep breath before triggering her movement skill and shooting across the gap before landing on the harbor. Tiscian appeared beside her, a moment later followed by Irwin.
“I am going to explore the depths,” Luath said, sounding highly curious as he began swimming away.
“Is there anything in these seas that could harm him?” Irwin asked softly.
“Yes, but nothing that is as fast as he is,” Tiscian said. “Just tell him to stay away from any white tendrils that seem like forests of underwater plants.”
Scintilla watched Irwin look after Luath as the Chaos Whale disappeared into the depths. Then she turned to the group of Blademasters walking towards them. The one in the lead had hair that was partially still aflame and partially a dull dark gray. Her face, however, like all Ignitzians, looked as young as it had when she had become an adult.
“Blademother Tiscian Smokeblade. It is good to see you again,” the leader said as she stopped. “I am Blademaster Zaleth, and Flagrian has asked me to bring you to her as soon as you appeared. I was, however, expecting to see Embers…?”
“They are still within their heatfather’s soulscape,” Tiscian said as she walked forward.
“I see. Then it might be best to move them out before we reach Flagrian. That way, they can see the place they will be training for the foreseeable future.”
“They will not be training here for the foreseeable future,” Irwin rumbled before Scintilla could say the same thing, and she felt a smirk grow as the old Blademasters turned their stern gazes on Irwin.
“I don’t think you have any say in this, young man,” Zaleth said. “But I will leave you to hear this from Flagrian. For now, please follow me.”
Scintilla shared a quick look with Tiscian, noticing a slight smirk on her heatmother’s face that she knew was likely on hers.
Suits these old, cooled-down coals right, she thought.
She nudged Irwin, casting him a happy smile before walking after the Blademasters.
The town was exactly like she recalled it. Boring, and with mostly old Ignitzians either wandering about aimlessly as they waited for their next training session, or meditating on something. She knew there would be a few younger Ignit, thought as she thought that she almost stopped for a moment.
I’m not really young anymore, she thought as she put a hand on her shoulder, knowing it was even more than that. She wasn’t an Ignitzian.
Still, as she walked through the town usually called Flagrian’s Hideout, just like the small peninsula, she remembered how it had been to train here. Hard work, always stressed, and knowing she would never reach the skill the one training her wanted.
“There’s good food there,” she said, pointing at a small restaurant near a wide road.
“And how do you know this?” one of the Blademasters asked, looking at her curiously. “I don’t recall ever seeing any Fiz’rin here.”
“She’s not a Fiz’rin,” another Blademaster said. “From what I was told, she is called a Crathan, just like the man.”
“The point stands,” the first one said, still curious. “How do you know this?”
Scintilla held back a sigh, wishing she’d kept quiet.
“She trained here when she was younger,” Tiscian said calmly.
The Blademasters all seemed to freeze.
“We have never trained a Fiz’rin,” the first one said, sounding slightly annoyed now.
“Then it’s a good thing she wasn’t a Fiz’rin before,” Tiscian said, glancing back and raising an eyebrow.
“She was a… I recognize you now! You are Scintilla!” the first Blademother exclaimed, eyebrows shooting up. “I knew the Smokeblade family was-” she shut her mouth quickly, cutting off whatever she was about to say.
The other Blademasters looked at her, the one who had spoken before shaking her head.
“Jiniah… You know she will have heard that, right? This means you are likely going to have to wait a year till your next training.”
The Blademaster called Jiniah sighed wearily, her shoulders lowering slightly.
“Perhaps you were right, and it's time for me to head back home,” she muttered. “It’s not like I’ll reach the second rank before I die anyway.”
Two of the Blademasters who had been quiet looked slightly pained at that, but none said anything.
There was no more talking for the next few minutes as they walked to the tower.
“Flagrian is waiting for you inside,” the lead Blademaster said, keeping her eyes on Tiscian in a way that told Scintilla she was doing her best not to look at her or Irwin.
She’d known that would likely happen, but it still hurt her a little.
“I will be here for a day longer,” Tiscian said, glancing at the lead Blademaster and then at the others. “I challenge all four of you to a duel. One this evening, two tomorrow morning, and one in the afternoon. You decide who is first.”
Without waiting for a response, she walked up the tower’s dark staircase, leaving all four Blademasters to look after her.
“You should have kept your mouth closed,” one of the Blademother’s muttered as she walked away.
“That I should,” Jiniah said.
Still, Scintilla noticed that she didn’t as much as look at her as she walked away. Not that she cared much, she was more surprised at Tiscian’s behavior.
Did she do this for me? she wondered, watching her Heatmother walk away.
An arm wrapped around her shoulders, and she looked up to see Irwin smile at her.
“Want me to challenge them to? Not sure if I need to use a sword, but I’m sure I could beat them.”
Scintilla smiled, hugging him back as they walked after Tiscian.
“No, it’s fine,” she said. “I can probably defeat them myself if I don’t have to abide by the dueling rules.”
“Which you can’t,” Tiscian said, waiting for them in the entrance to the black tower. “Now, let’s go and see how Flagrian is doing.”
Scintilla nodded, following her Heatmother into the tower she’d not been to for dozens of years.
--
Irwin followed Tiscian and Scintilla, still annoyed by the Blademothers that had led them here.
Just because she isn’t an Ignitzian anymore doesn’t mean you should behave like idiots, he thought.
Still, he held back his annoyance. Flagrian was apparently their best bet to get a rapid network of information up, and it would be best not to annoy her. According to Tiscian, she was very strict and disliked excessive behavior.
He felt more than a little surprised as he saw the first layer of the tower, which was a twenty-foot-high massive chamber with hundreds of different types of training courses on it.
The powerful soulforce signature stood hidden behind one of the pillars, and he guessed Flagrian was observing them. He didn’t mind much and focused more on the training courses.
I thought they trained for swordfighting here, he thought, as he examined a course where a young Ignizian was running through that seemed intent on decapitating her. Circular blades attached to tall pillars of stone sliced around, while long scythe-like blades slashed from gaps in the ground.
The Ignizian was dodging everything rapidly, but the look on her face showed she wasn’t having an easy time.
“It’s the evasion course,” Scintilla whispered from his side, her eyes locked on the course. “It’s one of the harder courses when you just get started. It gets harder when you aren’t allowed to dodge but need to bring your sword to block the attacks or deflect them.”
Irwin stared at the course, then back at Scintilla.
“Is this where you and the others got your ideas for the Ranger and Shadewalker’s Guild training?”
“Yes,” Scintilla said.
“So, you actually saw the use of it after all,” a calm, almost cold voice said from the side.
Irwin wasn’t surprised at all, as he’d sensed her coming, but as he looked around, he was surprised at what he saw.
An Ignizian woman with completely dark gray hair that held not even the slightest fire, stood looking at them. She had a long, slender blade in her hand, leaning in the nook of her arm, and her eyes were locked on Scintilla.
“Do you think the change will have improved your ability to learn?” she asked, showing no reaction to Scintilla’s changed shape.
“I… don’t know,” Scintilla said, taking a half step back.
“No? Good. Go and grab some practice gear and head for the starting courses,” the woman said, before moving to Tiscian. “My last great disappointment is why you have returned? Are you just here to bully some of the weaker trainees?”
Last great disappointment? Irwin thought, noticing how Scintilla was moving away, rubbing her head. Where is she going?
“You are actually going to do that?” he asked, his voice cutting through whatever Tiscian had wanted to say, and drawing the woman’s sudden and full attention.
“Why would she not? She likely wishes to see how much stronger she could become, and the best way is to compare her abilities to those before,” Flagrian said, examining him. “Where are my manners? My name is Flagrian Smokeblade, the oldest living Smokeblade Blademaster.”
“Irwin Roddington, Cardsmith and heatbond of Scintilla,” Irwin said, noticing a slight glint in Flagrian’s eyes when he said he was a cardsmith.
“I have heard of you and what you did at the Exit Portal Harbor. Impressive. I would love to feel what it is like to be pressured like that, but before that, I have more important things to do. I heard Scintilla say that the younglings are within your soulscape. Could you bring them out, please?”
Irwin stared at Flagrian, trying to understand what was happening. Her words were calm, quiet, and framed as questions, but it almost felt like she was ordering him around…
“Teacher Flagrian, we are not here to bring you new prospects,” Tiscian said, saving him from answering.
Flagrian turned to her, eyebrows up.
“I see. What exactly are you here for then?”
“I think it would be best to speak about this in a calm place,” Tiscian said calmly. “Let us see how Scintilla does, and then we can perhaps go to your personal chamber?”
Flagrian stared at Tiscian for a few moments before turning to Irwin.
“Very well. However, I have heard rumors that some of the younglings are male. I would very much like seeing them.”
“We will talk about that later,” Irwin said.
“Very well. Now, let’s see how Scintilla does. She had the potential to become a rank-one Blademaster within ten years of training here. I am curious to see if she has improved.”
A few moments later, Scintilla came back wearing a thin armor that gleamed dully and a long, thick blade of the same material.
“The armor will prevent serious injury, while the sword won’t snap even when blocking the Scythes,” Flagrian said calmly. “Interestingly, she picked the two-handed sword, not what I had expected. She will be taking the rank-one evasion course and the reaction speed course. Depending on how those go, she can try the first blade-wielding course.”
Irwin didn’t know how to respond, so he just kept quiet as he watched Scintilla cast him a smile before rolling her shoulders.
Nearby, three young Ignitzians had gathered, quietly whispering as they watched.
Scintilla moved to a pillar to the side that Irwin hadn’t noticed and moved some of the runes on it.
“Oh, she feels rather sure of herself,” Flagrian said. “This course can be moved across the entire spectrum of speeds and powers that reach the limit of what I have designated rank one movement. She just placed the explosiveness to the highest spot, something she barely managed before leaving. I am highly curious now.”
Irwin didn’t react, crossing his arms as he watched the blades start to move differently, the sounds humming and whining. A soft clicking came from the pillar, quickly increasing in speed.
Scintilla moved to the side, cracking her neck before holding the blade to her side, the weight seemingly not bothering her.
“Her strength definitely increased, as did her reach,” Flagrian said thoughtfully.
Irwin saw her lean forward, clearly highly curious.
“Three, two,” Flagrian said. “One.”
The first blade shot forward just as Scintilla exploded into motion. She dashed across the entire first distance of the course, passing by three scythes, one of which missed her entirely, and the other two being blocked by two parries that were almost too fast for Irwin to catch.
“Oh…” Flagrian said, taking another step forward, her lips curling up.
Scintilla didn’t stop as she reached a small area of twenty pillars with blades. She shot forward, dodging along a side and slapping away one blade that got too close while using her blade to brute-force the other side.
“Oh!”
Scintilla shot forward before reaching what looked like a sloped wall. She rushed along it just as long whip-like blades snapped out from the edges and towards her. She moved in what Irwin could only call a snake-like maneuver to dodge most, while using her sword to slap away two that were clearly meant to be blocked.
The sloped wall led up to a ledge with two stairs that she jumped up in a single leap, slapping away spears that came from the bottom, only to rush into another part of the course.
Irwin watched as she rushed through another bunch of obstacles, with only the last one making him worried. It had a dozen scythes that slashed at her from all sides as she ran across the final stretch, slapping them all away with her blade, which was whirring around her.
“Oh my… oh my oh my,” Flagrian said as she walked forward, a big smile on her face. “You are slower, slightly less agile, but far, far more explosive and powerful! From what I can see, the new rundemantry fighting style you have butchered together also fits you far better than your original one. Come! Let’s practice for a few days, and I am sure I can improve-”
“Teacher Flagrian,” Tiscian shouted. “This is not what we are here for, remember?”
Flagrian stopped where she stood, then took a deep breath before shaking her head.
“This might be true, but before you all leave, I wish to train Scintilla again. I feel her potential has grown greatly!”
“This is fine, but let us find a place more private first,” Tiscian repeated.
Flagrian nodded, her mind seeming elsewhere for a moment as Scintilla came walking forward, looking almost as excited as the Blademaster.
“Did you see?” she called out, staring at Irwin.
“I did, it looked fun,” Irwin repeated.
“Fun…” one of the younger Ignitzians exclaimed, causing Flagrian to suddenly turn and look at them.
“You three, back outside and practice! I will validate your progress tomorrow!”
The three Ignitzians sprinted away before she was even done speaking, and Flagrian turned to Tiscian.
“Fine, follow me. I am curious what you want. I have to say, it likely can’t top what I just saw. I cannot wait to drag out Scintilla’s full new potential!”
Irwin saw Scintilla’s grin widen, and he hummed.
I guess we need to get her some more soulcards to boost this potential, he thought as he followed the three women. I wonder if Flagrian has some ideas.