Young Flame

The dark interior of the barrel isn’t as plain as I assumed. Inside the metal tube are visible markings curved circularly into the depths away from any light.

I raise my eyes from the gun aimed at my head to the soldier holding it. After surviving swings from the General’s sword, guns don’t seem all too terrifying.

I narrow my eyes at the albanics who walk out behind him, encircling me with their guns held upright, but keeping some distance between us. A total of eight were hiding within the small shed. I don’t make any moves to startle them, nor do I cower under the threat of being shot.

Many of the soldiers’ eyes struggle to remain on me for long, flickering over the horizon in all directions. It’s as if they expect some terror to come out at any moment.

The first of the soldiers readjusts his gun to one hand and wipes his sweat on the leg of his pants. “Why are you here?” his eyes narrow at me.

“Corporal, she’s a little girl. Should we really be holding our rifles at her?” one soldier asks from my right.

None of the other soldiers say anything, but a couple send glances at the first soldier.

“Just because she’s young doesn’t mean we should forgo protocol. Wilhelm, August, restrain her.”

“Don’t do that.” The words come out of my mouth before I even realise. The idea that I’ll be trapped again does little but infuriate me.

Despite my words, there are still two who approach me from behind.

“The moment you touch me, you will burn,” I warn. My eyes never leave the Corporal in front of me.

His brows furrow, and I’m glad that my seriousness gets through to the man as he puts his hand up. “Stop.”

The two approaching from behind do as he says, but don’t back away.

The Corporal stares at me for a long moment, his eyes flicker to the pilfered jacket and damaged clothing. “Why are you here?” He asks.

“I’m lost,” I reply simply. He doesn’t seem happy with my response. His frown grows and I hurry to continue. “I’ve been walking for days, but everyone has disappeared. I walked through one of the ursu cities earlier, but all I found was a massacre.”

That seems to settle him some. “How did you get here? This is the middle of a battlefield, or well, it should have been.”

I go to say I don’t know, but the words don’t come. Not because my lips won’t spit out the words, but because I’m suddenly filled with an intense reluctance to lie. An intense desire to prevent trapping myself within my own false words.

I realise that not only don’t I want to hide anything about myself, but I can’t. Pretending I was an albanic in Zadok made me feel a sense of entrapment, and now that my mind has snapped into a single rope, I can’t lie. Lying won’t allow me to be truly free.

How annoying.

Maybe if I just tell bits of the truth, but not everything, will that work? It’s worth an attempt. Even if I fail, none of these soldiers are mages and I doubt they have the same strength as the General. It’s strange, but I don’t feel afraid of them at all. I feel I can deal with each of them and barely take damage; those bullets will do nothing against my new, less physical body.

“I was travelling with some soldiers, but some giant killed everyone and now I don’t know where I am.” Okay good, no feeling of revulsion by omitting information. I just have to hope they don’t ask why I was travelling with the soldiers.

“Why were you travelling with them? Who was the officer in command?”

Damn it. Why couldn’t he have just left it there?

“Um… because…” I can’t think of a way to answer. I can’t even say ‘I don’t know’ as that would be a lie.

The Corporal isn’t impressed. “Continue with the restraints.” He orders the two behind me.

I turn to glare at both of them. “Touch me and you’ll regret it.” Twisting back to the Corporal, I give him a warning I think will make him respond a bit more intelligently considering the still wondering eyes of the other soldiers. “Be careful about firing your weapons, who knows which ursu might hear you.”

His reaction is immediate, but still too late. The two lay their hands on me, trying to pull my arms behind my back. I don’t give the opportunity. In but a moment, their arms are engulfed in flames and they are screaming.

The sight of the two behind me suddenly embroiled in a blaze must terrify the jumpy soldiers. Three of them fire on me, too late to hear the screaming order to “hold your fire,” from the Corporal.

I barely feel the bullets as they pass through me, my body reforming around them in but a moment. Not moving from my spot, I wait until they all calm down and follow the Corporal’s order. I’m tempted to burn them all, they did attack first and are a part of Henosis. They are definitely not my favourite people, even if I’ve gotten some retribution from the General.

I pull my flames away from the burning arms of the two now rolling on the ground. As little as I care about them, I’d still like to get some information on where I am, and I could hardly do that after killing some of them off.

The Corporal is panicking now, head spinning between horizons more than his soldiers. Looks like I’m close with my guess; they are hiding from the giant ursu. If those gunshots reach that ursu’s ears, I don’t want to be mistaken for one of the albanic. So, against the common guidance of my tribe, I let go of my control.

The Henosis soldiers stop their fearful searching and lock back onto me. My change is enough to have them raising their guns at me again.

It’s surprisingly freeing to just let the world see me as I am, and I can now understand why the Agni tribes don’t bother to hold themselves back. But, as good as it feels, it means too much to my tribe to ever permanently forgo controlling my flame.

The soldiers seem unsure how to proceed, so I figure I might as well take the lead.

“So, I don’t actually know where we are. I know we’re in New Vetus somewhere, but it’s a pretty big country. Can you tell me where we are?”

The Corporal doesn’t answer immediately, instead his eyes flicker between the men cradling their burnt arms behind me to the rest of the soldiers surrounding me. I don’t care too much about how long he takes, but there’s no way he will want this to last.

“Corporal. Your orders?” the man beside him asks, concern lacing his tone.

“I…” is all the Corporal can manage, the indecision of his thoughts lacing his expression.

“Fuck this.” One soldier to my left lowers his rifle to his hip. “I’m not waiting around here to be found by that monster.” He says and storms off back toward the city I came from.

“Private Hermann. This is insubordination!”

“Fuck off. I’m not hiding in that fucking shed any longer. You don’t have a clue what the fuck you’re doing.” Private Hermann twists on his feet to raise his middle finger at the Colonel, continuing to walk backwards as he does.

The wind stops dead and I suddenly get a really bad feeling.

The Corporal doesn’t notice, his face twisting in fury at the man walking away. He turns his gun from me and aims it at Private Hermann whose back is turned.

“No!” the man besides the Corporal dives into him and loud bang rings out.

Private Hermann drops, dead before he hits the ground.

The soldiers devolve into chaos. While the Corporal brawls with the soldier that tackled him, a couple more jump in. I’m not sure whether they want to join the fight or separate them, but fists are quick to be thrown.

Two of the soldiers have taken for the hills, sprinting away as quick as they can while the Corporal is stuck in the brawl. Most of the others stand around shouting at each other and only one approaches the downed Hermann to check on him.

The entire scene is an absolute mess and I can’t help but watch in shock as they all seem to even forget I’m here. The four men pile on top of each other, grappling and punching, their weapons all but forgotten.

I watch as the two running away reach a line of trees they use to hide from both my and presumably the Corporal’s line of sight. I guess things haven’t been perfectly pleasant in that shed of theirs.

A cracking boom deafens me a moment before I’m showered in dirt. The air crackles as I turn to the source of the explosion, keeping as motionless as possible.

The dust settles around a crater in the same place the Henosis soldiers were brawling not a moment ago. None of them are there anymore, instead that giant ursu looms above. The dirt finishes falling from the sky as I watch him glower at the soldiers.

The Empire’s men stand rooted to the spot, like me, unable to move in the presence of the being before us. The giant gives them no time to respond either, dashing towards them only a moment after arriving.

I knew he was strong before. I’d seen him tear a massive chunk of metal in half, but I never could have imagined this scene. He crashes through the first soldier, leaving nothing but a bloody vapour while swinging the massive sword that blows a gust into me while slicing straight through the two other men unable to register his speed.

Again, he is gone, leaving me surrounded by blood-soaked soil. The sound of creaking has me turn to watch the tree the other soldiers passed not long ago collapsing from a large missing section at its base.

I hesitate to move. He never attacked me, but who knows what might turn his attention to me. I’ve never seen someone move so quick. Even the General hadn’t come close to the speed and strength this ursu pulled off. Even with that weird sword of his, how could he have ever believed he could compete?

The giant returns to my line of sight, stepping over the fallen tree and casually walking towards me. I want to do nothing but run and hide from his burning gaze. My flames burn stronger and with increased intensity as he closes the distance. Even I don’t know whether I’m trying to act stronger than I am or if it’s an appeal telling him I’m not an albanic. I just hope his power isn’t directed toward me.

His footsteps reverberate through the ground as he walks up in front of me. I can’t move my feet, not while he looks down at me with such intensity. The air moves with each breath he takes. I would have a better chance at survival diving into water than going against this ursu.

“You live.” The deep bass of his voice fills my chest more than my ears.

I nod stiffly, not knowing what else to do.

“With your mind intact, too,” he says, quiet but clear. “Congratulations.”

Even through the fear of the ursu before me, I realise it is because of him I made it through the fog. Showing fear to a man who has helped me is nothing less than rude, but I can’t help the instinctual terror I feel.

“Thank you,” I manage, unable to look him in the eye.

“Is the Empire’s General dead?”

I nod. How does he know I fought the General?

“Good.”

Before I can blink, he is gone again. I look south to see him already far in the distance, and it only takes a few seconds before he is out of sight.

I release a staggered breath, finally relaxing. My form is pulled back under control, and I look around at the bodies he left behind. There is no doubt now what caused all the devastation in the city and it’s calming to know he doesn’t want to hurt me, but his entire existence just seems so unreasonable. I don’t care for the Henosis, but how is someone supposed to deal with a monster like that?

From what I’ve seen so far, the ursu has single-handedly halted the invasion. Soldiers have scattered, petrified he might find them. But why did he take so long to fight back? Couldn’t everything have been resolved if he crushed them when they first landed?

He’s doing it now — and not holding back — so he must have his reasons. It’s just sad things had to reach this point.

Well, now that I know what’s killing everyone for certain, I don’t need to be so worried. I can try changing my form for the first time and hopefully catch up with the others.

My gaze falls to the remains of the soldiers.

Maybe a quick snack first.