Young Flame

Behind me, the creatures claw at the walls. The tight, sticky tube cakes them in flammable substance. The first one looks like a naked jerboa with its fur burnt off. Those scrambling after, find the liquid soaking their fur.

“Give up. We won’t kill you,” the one closing in on me yells.

“You think I’ll believe that after you shoved your arm through my chest?” I shout back, incredulous.

It’s fortunate that they aren’t as fast moving vertically as they are on the ground, otherwise they would have caught me already. The further I can get them through this tunnel, the less space they’ll have to escape.

“Your friends are dead. Don’t think they’re coming to help you.”

“Grímr, make sure you’re hidden,” I murmur just loud enough for him to hear before raising my voice. “You think I need help?”

I stop where I am in the tunnel and glare down at them. They are close now, but that’s fine. They won’t be getting out unscathed.

“Do you not see where you are?” the corner of my lip raises in a sneer.

They seem to realise — their widening eyes and immediate halt in their climb more than clear to my burning eyes — but it’s too late.

In the narrow walls of the tunnel, I engulf everything in flame. The viscous substance explodes with hardly any effort. My flames spread with the explosion, farther than I’d usually be able to control under normal circumstances. A chain reaction amplifies the flames as they continue both above and below.

It takes all my control to stop the heat escaping through the exits in both directions. I guide all that explosive power on the three below me. Every bit of power within my grasp enhances the heat within the tunnel. The flame twists and burns through each contour and opening I can find on the creatures below. Intense heat burns their lungs and stomach just as much as it does their skin and fur.

Their screams combine in a high-pitched squeal. There is no care for me anymore. The only thing they can focus on is scrubbing away at their simmering skin. They fall down the tunnel, uncaring to grasp for a handhold. The sheen of bright yellow liquefied rock coating the tube does nothing to slow their fall.

Far above me, I can feel the energy flowing through me from the glow-bugs caught in the flames. As much as I’d love to revel in the feeling and grasp for as many of them as I can, I need to make sure of this. I don’t know how resistant their bodies are to heat and fire, so I need to put my all into it.

I take a hold of the goop-enhanced blaze above my head and force it down. It passes my body and only because I know Grímr is still with me do I not relish in the heat. I push it past me in a raging torrent towards my pursuers.

Well, they aren’t really pursuers anymore.

I watch as they fall against the ground in the tunnel below. My flames never relenting with their intention to cremate these — now furless — beasts alive.

Their screams and desperate pleas are music to my ears after they tried so hard to catch me. After they ambushed my team.

I don’t believe their words about having killed Remus and Bunny. Those two are far too tough to be killed so easily. No, I just need to make some distance and they’ll find their way back to me.

The one I’m most worried for is Jav. These tight tunnels are the complete opposite of his favoured environment for fighting. Not to mention he doesn’t have anywhere near the strength of the other two to fight in close quarters.

The screams have gone quiet. I let out a sigh of relief and calm the rapid breaths I hadn’t realised I’d been taking. The energy from the dead creatures below trickles up to me, filling me with power comparable to the dahu, if a bit lower.

The strength of their energy is intense, but still beaten by the sheer quantity of glow-bugs I burnt through above.

Even with the explosive power of the substance lining the walls of this shaft, I hadn’t been sure if it would work. People enhanced to that point just seem so untouchable. My flames themselves couldn’t come close to hurting them. Well, unless taking away their fur coat and leaving them bare to the world counts. But once past the surface layer, I can’t burn further.

Still, despite my weakness, I beat them. I may have had to use the environment to my advantage, but I won. It feels good.

And that thought immediately makes me feel guilty. The others are still stuck down there with who knows how many of those creatures. Three made it past them, so it’s hard to believe they are still holding a strong defence. I hope they made it away okay. If they made it away with Jav, I’m sure they’ll be able to track down where I’ve gone. I just need to trust in them for now.

I take out the heat from the walls so I don’t have too much trouble climbing up. There might not have been much of the molten rock, but it still makes a layer between me and the hard rock that I can actually grasp.

Just as I’m about to resume my climb, the ground shakes and a loud bang crashes through me from above. Not long after, a familiar screech echoes down to me.

That monstrosity, again? Seriously?

I can’t help but lament my fate as the giant above lumbers around without care for who might be in a hurry to leave these tunnels. It tears through the earth above, but there is a long distance it needs to dig before it can reach me. No time soon will it reach me, but it’s only a matter of time before more of those rodents chase me up from below.

Hopefully, they’ll be hesitant to chase me once they see the still burning corpses of their comrades below.

For now, I can do nothing but wait for the giant arachnid above to leave. I can feel the earth shaking around me. Will it leave before the beings below me chase me up? Without the help of the explosive liquid, there is no chance I’ll be able to fend off any more.

Every second that passes feels like an eternity. I can feel the giant above continuing to investigate what must have been a bright flash of light. What’s below me is unknown. Are they sneaking up on me? I saw how effective their camouflage was; could they be closing in on me in this very tunnel without my knowledge?

I blast a jet of flame through the chute below me just to be safe. I don’t feel the stealth-rats — for lack of a name — but it doesn’t reassure me much.

The shaking from the arachnid above recedes. It is finally moving away.

Slowly and quietly, I creep up the tunnel. I pull back on my flame, letting the tunnel go dark. Aware that danger is both above and below, I keep my eyes peeled.

Nothing makes a noise as I breach the surface into the enormous cavern, to my relief. No scraping from below and the monstrosity has lost interest, returning to the darkness out of sight.

I pull my hood down, letting Grímr escape from the tight spot at the back of my neck. He looks around at the far swathes of glow-bugs before looking back at me. His small face isn’t exactly expressive, but the way his front legs softly pat me, I’m sure he’s trying to be supportive.

A wry laugh escapes my lips. I don’t deserve his sympathy. I ran without a second thought, not even considering the possibility of helping. If I’d lit the stealth-rats alight, while I probably couldn’t have hurt them, the shock of their burning fur could have given my team the time they needed to escape.

What am I supposed to do now?

I know I need to move away from this tunnel. I can hope the stealth-rats don’t follow me up here all I want, but it’s best not to leave it to chance.

Like the last time I was in this cavern — I assume it’s the same one — Grímr and I avoid the dark spaces empty of glow-bugs. As we move between the swathes of flying insects that keep their distance, I can’t help but be tempted. If I could eat all these lights bursting with energy, I’d grow faster than I’d ever thought possible.

If I can just get my flames hot enough to burn through the stealth-rat’s skin, I won’t need to worry.

Of course, I can’t just spread my flames wide and reach for them. That would be just asking for those monstrosities to swarm me. So, until I figure things out, I’ll have to abstain.

Do I leave clear markings of the path I travel? Or do I hope they can find me without it? If I make the path I’ve taken too clear, the stealth rats could use it to track me as well.

I do not know where to go, so I just pick a random direction and walk.

“Solvei.” I hear Jav’s voice behind me.

They found me far quicker than expected. I turn as Jav lands on the ground before me. A clear lack of the other two following him.

He looks relieved to see me. I sure feel the same way. “You got out safe,” he says with a sigh.

“Where are the others?” I ask. Grímr crawls up my arm and with the way he looks at Jav, I’m sure he’s as concerned as I am.

The scornful grimace that graces his features is not the response I wanted to see.

“They’re not dead,” he says, but despite his words, he still looks frustrated. “Those things took them as captives. They are strong, all of them. They overwhelmed us. It’s only because of their unfamiliarity with the dohrni and volans that I could escape. Remus flung me away before they could grab him again.”

They are alive at least, but being taken prisoner sounds just as bad as death. I mean, my interaction with the stealth-rats was enough for me to know they were strong, but it’s hard to believe those two could really be beaten.

“We have to get them back!” Jav raises his head to look me in the eye. His tiny hands clench by his side.

“How?” I ask. I want to get them back as much as Jav, but they beat our strongest team-members. How could the three of us hope to take them on? Seriously, I’m the biggest amongst us now.

Jav turns his head away. “I… don’t know.” He looks off into the distant glow-bugs before snapping back to me. “First, we should find a body for Grímr. Those shadows we’ve hesitated from approaching, we’ll have to enter them; hope there is something usable.”

I glance at the closest of the dark spots. This is something I wanted to do before we split with Bunny and Remus, but doing so with only our strength makes me hesitate.

“How well can you fight without being thrown?”

“Decently. The added momentum from Remus’ throws are incredible, but don’t doubt for a second that I can’t fight without him.”

Okay, that’s good to know, but my own strength is still a problem. If whatever we face is immune to my flames, then I might as well not be here. I need to get my spearmanship to where I can actually be effective with it. How much time do we have to get our team back?

I clamp my fists over the pole of the weapon in my hands. There’s no point pondering. I need to practice immediately. The less time wasted, the better.

We are still too close to the exit of that tunnel that leads to the cave system underneath us. I’ll create some distance, then get my spear to the point where it is usable.

“Hey where are you going?” Jav calls as he scrambles up my leg and sits on the shoulder opposite where Grímr perches.

“You think we should stay near the exit of that tunnel?”

“Ah. Right,” he says dumbly. His eyes drop to the tear through the chest of my outfit. “What happened?”

I trace the tear in the fabric with a finger. “One of those stealth-rats shoved its arm through my chest,” I say. “Sorry for damaging your gift.”

“Don’t worry about it. Once we have some time, I’ll fix it up for you.”

I nod in thanks. We are going to free Remus and Bunny. We will as soon as I figure out how to stop my head from screaming at me to abandon them and run.

I hope nothing bad happens while I prepare.