Chương 17: Chapter 12 - Basic Inferno 2/2

For the next half hour, Karina tried to make Ember Call do something useful. The System called it mastered. Apparently that meant she knew how to summon the fire. Aiming it, controlling it, and stopping it before it set something else alight were still her problem. The memory that had come with it was another problem entirely. She wasn't sure she wanted to find out whether that would happen every time. Now Alyssia stood in front of her, waiting for their first live fire test.

"Are you sure about this?" Karina asked. There were large marks of scorched earth surrounding the spot where Alyssia stood. Small whisps of smoke rose from the grasses around her. The aftermath of Karina's previous 'attempts.'

"I have shields for a reason," Alyssia said. As she spoke, she readied her stance, drawing a foot back and getting lower to the ground, her hands ready in front of her instead of at her side. A soft breeze washed over them, it was calmer this morning than it had been during the night but these hills seemed to always be windy. The wind carried small sparks and cinders along with it. Not enough to start another fire, but enough to notice.

"Whenever you're ready," Alyssia said as she shook her hair out of her face. Karina took a deep breath It had taken over a dozen attempts, but instead of speaking the words aloud she was able to think of the phrase. Pyrek Evet Gau Fire flashed to life in her palm, erupting outward from the flickering core of the spell that appeared in her hand.

Immediately, Karina drew a string of heat between her skin and the newly summoned fire, when they touched, they melded and all of the fire came under the control of her pryokinesis. She stepped forward and threw the core like a fast-ball. The fire darted between her and Alyssia, racing across the distance in a thin line, a single tendril outstretched and searching for something to burn. On the other side of the flame, Alyssia stomped her foot into the sand and drew her hand across her body.

A shimmering golden light followed the motion, thicker than the barrier she'd set around the camp but still more transparent. The divine magic caught the hunting fire, and the core in Karina's hand launched itself forward at its target, flying along a straight line instead of any sort of thrown curve. The core of flame crashed into the shield and exploded outward becoming a raging inferno for a moment, sparking in every direction and searching for something else to burn. That was the easy part.

Alyssia turned, drawing the shield further around her body as Karina reached out and snapped her attention around the swelling fire, trying to hold onto it as it burned hot enough to tear itself apart and choke out. She turned her wrist, and the flames coiled in response, shooting sparks in every direction as they wound around themselves and reared back for a second 'strike'. The torrent of flame splashed against Alyssia's growing shield to the right of her.

At the front, the glowing core of the Ember Call still sizzled against the divine barrier, glowing brighter and brighter before—just as Karina was about to try and wrest control of the flame again—it burned itself out against the barrier. Where the searing, near-solid core of the Ember Call had been, Alyssia's barrier glowed red hot, sagging forward and nearly dripping down onto the floor. [Fate Progressed! [Basic Pyrokinesis - Level 2: 20/30] (+8) [Fate Progressed - Firestealer 46/200] [Fate Progressed - Basic Spellcasting - Affinity: Fire 10/10] [Fate Ascension Available - Basic Spellcasting - Affinity: Fire 2] Karina shook the last licks of flame off her hand, which was now covered in dark, cracked burns once again. The Ember Call spell itself didn't ask for much of her mana—or at least it didn't seem to—but controlling that much flame at a distance burned through several inches of arm each time they tried it." Nicely done," Alyssia said as she dismissed the barrier." First time we managed a full second strike with the fire there. Apparently you do better with a live target." It wasn't clear whether it was the fact that it was a live target or the fact that she'd been simply aiming for something more concrete, but Karina felt that Alyssia was right." Might just be enough practice."" Well, speaking of enough practice," Alyssia said as she nodded to the charred skin running up Karina's arms and then to the small patch appearing on her cheek." I think that's enough for now, we should let you recover." If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. With the prompt, Karina looked down at her charred fingertips and the smoke drifting off of them." I go through a lot, don't I?" Alyssia nodded as she approached Karina on her way back to the main camp." Most basic skills go through quite a bit," she said." One of the most important thing you gain between Ascensions of Fate is efficiency. Especially in the Supernatural." Karina cocked her head at that term." Supernatural?" she asked." It's all magic, none of this is—""You're right," Alyssia said." Except all of this is natural to us. Everyone in this world grew up with the Fates. They've been around since shortly before the war with the Demon Queen."" So then why the—""The term supernatural?" Alyssia asked." We adopted that one from the heroes. It just draws the line between skills that require physical strength and those that require exclusively mana." Now past Karina, Alyssia stood at the edge of the 'camp' where they had slept last night and looked down the hillside, searching for Volrick. After a moment of quiet staring, she continued." It's like how we use spellcasting to describe a certain subset of skills. Calling a Fate supernatural doens't actually mean anything, but it helps organize your thoughts."" No words mean anything if you think of it that way," Karina said." I suppose so." Alyssia left her search behind and headed back over to the camp. While she'd already packed her things away, she headed over to Karina's makeshift bed and began picking up the cloths. As she did, she shook each one twice in her hands and, with a flash, they dried and unwrinkled themselves, folding nicely despite the morning dew. While all of the fire magic was impressive, it was things like that which would have been popular back home. Just when Karina was about to follow Alyssia back into the main campsite, Volrick came around the corner, empty handed." Sorry for the wait, saw the hero throwing fire at you and figured it was safer not to invervene, in case you two needed to sort something out."" Just practice," Alyssia said." Practice at a live target?"" She did much better with one."" Damn, Hero, remind me not to get on your bad side," Volrick said before swinging around the largest boulder surrounding the campsite and taking a seat. Alyssia glanced up from folding." I see you didn't manage to—""Yeah," Volrick said." Got a little waylaid. More demons." Alyssia stopped." More? Where?"" A lot more between us and the road if we wanted to head back North," he said. To his credit he didn't immediately argue that they needed to continue South to Whiteshackle." And more coming from the West, behind us."" Leaving the Cathedral?" Alyssia said." Can't say for sure with how far away we are, can't see too far in the Barrows but, they sure weren't heading towards it." Karina spoke up as she came up to Alyssia's side and bent over to grab her gifted notebook from within the lat folds of fabric." Doesn't that make sense? We knew the demons were outside the barrier and in the countryside. It's part of—""There should be some demons," Volrick said, "but not this many, and not around here."" We're not that close to the road anymore," Alyssia added." Usually we'd expect to see some small scouting groups, just because we're closer to the front, but they would all be moving toward the Cathedral as long as we were there."" But they're coming this way?" Karina half asked as clarification. Alyssia nodded as she picked up the last sheet from Karina's bed." The fact that they would stay away from the road and they would all be heading towards the cathedral was the reason it was safe—""Safe," Volrick added with audible air quotes." Was the reason it was safe for us to head out onto the road back to the protected cities," she said." Now if they're spreading out again…" She bit her lip as she trailed off and looked toward the southern horizon. One of the taller hills stretched towards the sky, with a large rocky cliff at the top that made it stand out from the rest. Volrick, clearly saw that stare into the distance as his opportunity." And that is why it makes complete sense for us to head to Whiteshackle. If we head down there the demons will—""We spoke about it last night," Karina said." Alyssia wants to head that way because it's closer." He raised an eyebrow at that, and watched Alyssia for a moment, waiting for her to deny the claim. Once she didn't, he the stare melted away into confusion, which he hid away." Well I'm not about to complain about that," he said." Glad I don't have to walk away or…" he trailed off. It was clear that he had not expected, and not been prepared to, get his way easily in this conversation. As turned back to the other side of the camp to grab his pack. As soon as he wasn't watching her, Alyssia allow a slight smile to crack across her lips." Unfortunately for us," Volrick said as he grabbed his, already packed, bag and swung it over one shoulder." South is safer than North right now, but there is a scouting party out in that direction."" A scouting party of what?" Alyssia asked as she turned back to the camp to grab her own equipment." Three enrashi was all I saw," Volrick said, "but I can't promise that I caught everything, had to make sure they didn't see me." Karina scanned Alyssia for some sort of reaction to the demon's name. A hint as to what they were like. While the priestess slowed, she didn't give any inclination that they were particularly bad." Were they on the move?" Alyssia asked." Searching, by the looks of it."" For the Volatu?" Karina asked. It might have been obvious to the others, but she needed to understand how the demons worked. Volrick just shrugged." We're hours of walking away from where that happened," Alyssia pointed out." And the demon army seldom cares about a single Volatu."" What about two?" Volrick asked. Alyssia rolled her eyes instead of giving Volrick a vocal answer." Which is to say, no way to know." She left Karina's pack and grabbed her own." But it doesn't matter if they're connected. What matters is if we're found."" Even if they aren't searching for us," Volrick clarified, "demons aren't exactly the 'live and let live' type. Even if we aren't their target—""Getting found by a scouting party is bad news," Kairna added. She was new to the world, but it wasn't hard to figure that out. Volrick nodded." Which is why the lady over there is going to suggest we hunt them down first." Alyssia kicked sand over some of the remaining ash from the campfire, which felt over-cautious considering Karina had already left burn marks across half the hillside." Mhm," she said." Better to catch them first then have them see us after we try to sneak by."" Won't that set off an alarm or something?" Karina asked." Demons shouldn't care about a small group of demons. Small scouting parties go missing all the time on both sides. It's how it is with the war." Volrick turned to Karina." Of course, that means we're possibly fighting demons, if you're ready for—""She'll stay back. If it's just some enrashi. We should be able to—""No," Karina said as she played with the heat under her palm." I need to keep working on my fates, and like you said." She closed her fist before the fire could form." I did better with a living target."