He woke up to a weight on his chest.
Looking up in the early morning, two cat eyes stared into his own black orbs. The orange cat, Whiskey, had not let him out of sight for days.
Wretch yawned and stretched, feeling the pull of muscles and tendons in his newly regenerated arm. He reached for his pants, a hole sewn for his tail by Astrid. From the belt hung a scabbard of gleaming metal.
The Blinking Blade.
They had gotten plenty of spoils from the professor’s mansion. Coin, and more importantly, half a dozen coals. Used to push Astrid and Elenya to the brink of the next blessed tier. Fireling.
He looked into his ember. Or where there used to be an ember. Now a tiny flame was flickering there. Casting long shadows behind the horrors he’d consumed. A certain one rose above the rest, the spidery form of Jonah, still he went through them one by one:Krii´ttch, Ravenous Ratling, a gruesome mix between a rat and a man.Milley, Tireless Gatherer, a jumble of human arms, sewn to a core somewhere beneath.Ivan, Last of Kin, a shriveled skeleton with bones as tough as oak.Blavssish, Corpse Child, a massive, one-clawed crab fused with two eels.Jonah, of Lost Hope, a spidery amalgamation of his own flesh with half a dozen oversized arms.And one monster in human skin, Jusjenko, Lightning Step. Foulest of them all.
He was a rat-eater no longer. He could even become a human again. Though he’d rather rip out his own guts than carry the face of a Gulschak.
He moved on, pulling on the information he knew he could find in the back of his head. It came to him as easy as breathing.
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Wretch, Collector of WoundsFirelingTimes Kindled: 4Regeneration: Consume flame to restore broken flesh. Purging rot and poison. Greater wounds demand greater cost.Flesh Stealer: Consume flame to reshape the body. Take the form of any blessed you have slain and devoured. Each change decreases your flame permanently.
He knew these powers better than his own name, especially Regeneration. It had saved his life more times than he dared recall. Astrid had told him he had sucked in several coals during his ascent. Maybe that was the reason his kindling number had jumped.
Doesn’t matter, ten times and then Blaze, he thought.
Easier said than done. To kindle, he needed coals from the corpses of Blessed, or to defeat them in battle. Even if he succeeded and made it to ten, Edmund had been a fireling for a decade despite kindling dozens of times.Ascension was never guaranteed.
But now, something new flickered at the edge of his awareness.
__________________________________________________________________Form WeaveWeave flame into temporary flesh. A fast, unstable and temporary change from the Blessed forms at your disposal. Costs a large amount of flame to use and to maintain.
__________________________________________________________________Wretch’s lips pulled into a smile. It was simple, but promising. He’d have to experiment.
Outside the clocktowers chimed, one after the other. Six in the morning.He picked up the purring Whiskey and patted the cat before setting it down to the floor.
The house was quiet as he snuck down to the training room. Whiskey followed him down the stairs, laying down in a corner to watch. Wretch walked on bare feet across the cold stone, stretching his arms and limbering up his muscles.
“Alright,” he whispered, closing his eyes. He reached for a form to his mind’s eye. Milley. the creature made of human arms. He gave his flame meaning and visualised a gruesome change.
Sharp pain burst from his back as flesh twisted, new nerves sprouting into place. A quivering stump tore through the skin, quickly evolving into functional anatomy.A human arm growing from his shoulder in a grotesque and bloody bloom. The arm, glistening in transparent fluid mixed with blood, hung limp. Still It drained his flame with every heartbeat.
He hadn’t anchored it well enough. It wasn’t enough to spring the forms from nothing. To use them, he’d need to connect it properly.
I have my work cut out for me, good. I’ll review the anatomy book.
He let the concentration go, and the arm slithered back into his skin. not even leaving a scar. A pang of anticipation nestled inside him. The long dark hands of Jonah, lined with teeth. The Corpse Child’s rotten claw. Milley’s hundred arms. Even the Gulschak Blessed, Jusjenko now kneeling next to his flame The possibilities, the potential. He could even turn back into a human now. Though it wouldn’t be him. But why would he want that? He needed more claws, sharper teeth, not brittle human skin.
He pushed away the hunger that came with those thoughts and slithered his tail forward. Focusing on the Blinking blade, the weapon took form like oily paper burning in reverse, clutched by his tail. He sprung into a flurry of attacks, eviscerating the air.
He practiced in silence, fighting imaginary figures in exaggerated masks. An hour later, sweat dampened his skin and the lungs were burning. Steps moved down the stairs.
The tail flicked the Blinking Blade into the air and he caught it in a clawed hand. From the sound, he knew who it was.
Elenya swung open the door. Loose pants and white shirt. Her wild ginger hair with a handful of long, thin braids. Around her neck hung a medallion, and one of his claws twitched. A large red gemstone inlaid with silver. Wretch knew what it did better than anyone.
Linked Flame Medalliontransfer flame to another blessed, the received amount will be far less than that spent. After use, your tongue will feel scalded for an hour.
“Hey there Ratty. Up early?” She said with a grin.
“That’s not my name anymore!” He groaned. ”Just some training before breakfast, that's all”
“Hmm those black eyes and teeth suit you. Like someone or something you shouldn’t mess with,” she said with a nod.
“I am working on that last part. My new power…It needs a lot of work.” he said.
Whisky stretched in the corner and walked up to circle the feet of the tall woman.“I disagree with Edmund.” She said, taking two wooden swords off the wall. “Don’t waste a second. We have to climb higher to get what we want right? To ascend.”
Wretch glared at her. He’d only seen her this content half-way through a bottle, or covered in blood. “So what do you say?” Elenya said, tossing him a stick.
He caught it but didn’t answer. They looked at each other in silence, then his lips parted in a toothy grin. “I’m a Fireling. I won’t hold back just because you're still an Ember.”
Her own grin grew wider. “Oh, you’re so going to get it now.”
Despite their taunts, they started at a careful pace, feeling each other out. Wretch was the first to raise it up a notch. Charging forward in a flurry of light blows and sharp claws. Elenya’s defence struggled but held, precise but lacking his swiftness.
“There we are!” she said, deflecting another blow. “Finally some sharpness to that offense of yours.” Her eyes lit with fire, shades of red creeping up her pale skin. Her blessing offered both increased speed and strength.
“But let's see if you can stand against this.”
Wretch’s grin was feral, his tail snapping against the stone behind him.“Bring it, madam.”
The practice quickened into a deadly dance. She flowed with perfect footwork, each strike clean and sharp. Wretch countered with speed and unpredictability, each hand as deadly as a knife, the tail strong enough to choke out a man. He lost himself in the raging rhythm and chorus of deflected strikes.
In the end, Elenya caught him with a trip.He rolled and shot back to his feet. But she was already there, a wooden sword resting against his neck.
Panting, she lowered the wooden sword.
“You’re holding back,” he said with wheezing breath.
“Not much.” She said with a shrug. “But the Captain would have my head if I messed you up.”
Wretch shook his head. “As if the old man could. After all this, he’s five weeks of stress away from a retirement home.”
She blinked, then burst into laughter, bright and unrestrained. It was a poor joke at best, but he found himself laughing too. It even felt natural.
Their laughter carried out the room, up the stairwell and into the common room. Astrid and Edmund paused over steaming mugs. They looked at each other and Astrid tilted her head, Edmund just shook his with a chuckle.
After all they had been through, things were back to some kind of normalcy. But through his years as hunter, Edmund knew these times always lasted shorter than he’d wished.