Four weeks later, Elenya was leaning over the kitchen table, sharpening her massive halberd with a grind-stone. Astrid walked out with a stack of books as the midday suns shone through the balcony window onto the floor. Whisky laid outstretched in the light, tail wagging.
On the table laid an open newspaper with a bold headline. String of sabotages in the Strongholds
“What’s up with the stack of books? You reading up on something?” Elenya asked.
“Wretchy asked to borrow.” Astrid said, pushing up her glasses with her shoulder.
“Lill ratty the reader, who would have guessed?” She said with a chuckle. “What’s he studying? Romance novels? Ledgers of dead hunters?”
“Anatomy,” Astrid replied. “Nothing about his father.”
Elenya clicked her tongue.“Thank the Saint, thought you were going to say philosophy.”
Is he still down there?” Astrid asked.
“Four hours and counting,” Elenya answered, pressing the steel against the grindstone with a loud noise.
“He is going to burn himself. His mind and body need to rest,” Astrid said, peering over the books.
“Nahh, he can regenerate. And he’s become pretty sharp with the throwing dagger.” Elenya answered.
“Still, after everything he went through, I think some rest is in order.” Astrid answered, puffing up her chest.
Elenya didn’t look up. “He wants to go after the Gulschaks, to get revenge and to grow. I feel the same.”
Astrid ignored her and carried the books down the stairwell. A quick knock before entering the training room. “Break ti—” she froze.
Wretch was bare chested and covered in sweat dripping down his thin but well-defined frame. Scars marked his body from head to toe. Circular ones on both his arms at the base of the shoulders. Astrid had offered to heal them, but he’d declined.
But that wasn’t why she had paused. Two massive arms sprouted from his back.
Dark-skinned trunks of stitched muscles and grafted bone, each four meters long. Connected at the shoulderblades, rows of triangular teeth ran down their length. Each limb ending in a massive hand, shaped from at least two dozen of Wretch’s own hands, stitched into a grotesque claw.
Astrid gazed at him through her glasses. Carrying her signature look of deep thought.
Wretch placed the oversized palms onto the stone floor and lifted himself up into the air. Turning around by using them as spidery legs connected to his back. His black eyes burning with pupils of fire.
“Hey Astrid! You found the books,” he said with excitement, lowering himself down to the ground as the arms plummeted back into his back with a sickening sound.“Yeah,” She let out, “I did… is that the Fireling power you talked about?”
“Yes. It’s ridiculous how hard it is to grow an extra set of shoulder blades, and enough muscle to move them.” He gave a grin “It costs a mountain of flame too.”
“I can manage both for a few minutes, tops.” He walked across the floor littered with training equipment. “and that is with full concentration!” Astrid made a slow nod, extending the stack of books.“Here. How about a break?”
“Thanks. I guess I could go with a breather.” Wretch said. Putting the books to the side.
Astrid leaned against the smooth stone wall with folded arms.“Don’t go grinding yourself to dust.” Astrid said.
“Yeah, yeah, I won’t,” Wretch answered as he pulled a linen shirt over his head.
“Promise me, Wretchy?” Wretch limbered up his arms and fell to the floor. Hands thumping to the stone, he smoothly began a string of furious push-ups. “Next time you use your flame,” he said, thrusting up and down. “try to tell it what to do. Don't just drag it! It works way better for both me and Elenya.”
Astrid tilted her head to the side. “You didn’t answer.”
“As of now, I can do a decent crab claw with my left hand, and the two massive arms from my back, the form of Milley, the first thing we hunted is still too hard, but I will get to it,” he said.
“Wretchy, stop.”
Wretch froze halfway through a push-up. “I’ll strengthen the tendons and muscles. Change my skin to fish scales.” He muttered, eyes trained on the floor. “Tougher that way. I won’t look human, but that doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Stand up,” Astrid said with a firm tone. Wretch sighed and stood up, meeting her gaze. They were the same height and neither hunter looked away.
The room fell quiet for a moment. In the end, Wretch spoke first. “I won’t promise something I can’t keep, not to you Astrid,”
Astrid gave a frown on a face that rarely showed emotion. “Trust me, trust Edmund. You have to pace yourself. Slow down.”
Wretch looked away from her piercing gaze and shook his head.“I was lying to myself Astrid. After the Flame blessed me, I figured good things would come. Why wouldn’t they? After all, I deserved it.”He gave a dry chuckle and stretched his arms. “Easy steps to a summit where my father waited with open arms.”
“You can still find him,” Astrid said.
“And what would I have to show, If he’s even alive? A hunter whom gets caught and brutalized. Worth nothing more than bait. No I’ll find him eventually but now…”He bared his teeth in a lopsided smile. “I have to grow. As fast as possible, and no matter what.”
The lines on Astrid’s face vanished. She truly did look tender, just as her name implied. Frail in this line of work. During the next hunt, if they weren't ready, if he wasn't ready. The world would reduce her to a memory. “Good things happen too,” She said softly. “The city protected us all in the end.”
His dark orb-like eyes snapped back to her.“No, I’ll kill the Gulschaks, find our enemies and snap their necks, not with luck, not because I deserve it. Because they can’t stop me. Then—”
His pupilless eyes trailed to the door behind her. “Captain is back. He is walking fast, like he is in a hurry.”
“I hear nothing,” Astrid said. Turning towards his gaze just in time for the creaking of the outer door.
Wretch walked out of the room first. The healer, closely behind. “Good afternoon, Captain!” Wretch said.
“Hunters,” Edmund said with a nod. “Mind coming up to the common room?”
Upstairs, Elenya was sharpening two long knives next to a pile of blades. “How many of those do you carry around on missions?” Wretch asked.
“The lot,” Elenya said without looking up. “What’s up?”
“First, here is your new badge.” Edmund said. Throwing Wretch a metal insignia with a small fire engraved on it.
Elenya looked up to follow the badge soar through the air before Wretch caught it. It was heavier than he had imagined. Polished metal formed the Fireling symbol, bolted to a leather card containing his information.
He looked up at Elenya. In a flash, she turned her head back to the grind-stone. She and Astrid were the only two Embers left on the team.
Edmund sat down on a chair, placing his hat on the table. “You know that I have purposely declined missions for the last month. We needed stability. Time.”
Wretch sat down on the sofa and intertwined his clawed fingers. Peering into nothing with his black eyes.“The Bureau is under pressure. Gulschaks, sabotages, hunts. They allowed my stall…until now.”
“We leave tomorrow.” He finished.Wretch and Elenya’s lips parted into similar grins, while Edmund and Astrid shook their heads.
“We’re to provide railroad protection between strongholds, We’ll be gone for two week, pack accordingly." The Captain said, running a hand through his hair.
“We are leaving the city?” Astrid asked with an open mouth, the previous displeasure evaporated.
“I thought you wanted to stay put, lill scholar,” Elenya said with a rough laugh.
“Well, we should… but it’s an order, so what can you do!” she exclaimed, running for her room.
“What is railroad protection?” Wretch asked.
“The horrors of the wild destroy the rails connecting Nov Yansok and her strongholds. The railroad workers that repair it need protection. It’s the Army’s job, but they’re tied up chasing Gulschaks,” Edmund explained.
“Maybe it is the saboteurs that damaged the tracks,” Astrid said from her open room. digging through a wardrobe.
Wretch’s grin grew wider.
“That would be unfortunate” Elenya said, giving Wretch a knowing glance. “For them.”
Edmund looked over at Wretch on the couch. “Kid, I know you want revenge, but you won’t get there if you get us all killed. Keep in check, that’s an order.”
Wretch’s toothy smile vanished. “Will do, Cap.”
Later that night, Wretch closed the door behind him and stepped into his room.
He removed his clothes, throwing them to a heap on the floor. On the bedrest lay the Compendium of the Hunt from his father. His fingers brushed over the cracked and worn leather. The old tome and the horrors within its pages had followed him through suffering and changes.
He turned to the mirror.
The person staring back was lean, not starving. Black orbs for eyes. Dark claws and the whipping tail. Every inch of skin covered in scars. Under the flesh were durable and unseen black bones. He was nothing if not strange. And now, he was about to get even stranger.
He breathed in through his nose, turning his focus inwards. The flame danced in his chest. In the space inside him, several horrors stood near its light. His concentration turned to one in particular, brushing against its form with his mind, feeling the texture as real as anything.Blavssish, corpse child, was an amalgamation of a one clawed crab and two eels, its scales cold and wet to his thoughts.
Skin to scales. Hard and slick to blade and teeth.
The eyes of the reflection burst to life with two fiery pupils. Fire darting through his body, the skin twitched and squirmed, like a thousand worms crawling under through the tissue. The pale skin cracked and ripped, a dull blue appearing beneath it. A minute later, Wretch breathed out.
The ascension from Ember to Fireling had doubled his reservoir of flame, and he was going to squeeze out every drop.
He drew a sharp claw along his chest, the skin spit like paper, revealing blueish scales underneath. Wretch grabbed on to the dead skin and pulled, ripping it free like a piece of thrashed clothing.
Carefully, he scraped a claw against the dull blue scales. It left a mark, but didn't cut. He pressed harder and the edge pierced the surface, drawing a drop of blood. But the scales were thick and cutting it required more force.
He gave a nod of approval, then closed his eyes. He moved to his tendons and muscles. Burning them into the shape of the ratling one by one. He should have done so long ago. The flow of flame was fiery compared to the meager amount he’d have as an Ember. The pain hadn't lessen in the slightest, but his tolerance for torment was on another tier. He didn't flinch even as the spasms traveled through his body from neck and down to his toes. Finally he breathed out.
Moving to the bathroom he ripped free the dead skin, shoving the strips into the bin. When he looked up again, a new form stared back. Bluish gray scales covered the skin from the knees and up to his neck. Running down his arms to the elbow, until they meet the dark skin of the claws. The muscles weren't larger, but they felt more compact.
He gave a yawn and raised a thumbs up to the amalgamation in the reflection. Then crawled into bed. The skin felt tight, and the sensations of touch were muted. He closed his eyes and drifted into sleep, mind filled with grizzly scenes against horror and gulshacks. In each his scaled skin and muscles turned the tide of battle.Edmund couldn't shield him forever, and it wouldn't be long until something stood against him again.He'd be ready