Chapter 15

The Fire that Burns the Heart of Creation

(that time I set my friends on fire...)

The first few weeks after falling into the ruins my father spent most of his time helping Ajax become accustomed to using a weapon. Ajax's family were warriors but not very good teachers. About the only thing my father didn't have to show Ajax was how to hold the dagger. Meanwhile, I waited for Jor to forge my sword and continued to practice steps with wooden weapons alongside Pan and another new student my father had taken on named Mori, the daughter of our village chief.

Mori was defiant at first, not the best students, but she quickly began to understand just how important this type of training was and why her father had insisted that she train under my father.

Pan was probably the best student. Not even I compared. Though she was young her agility was off the charts and she easily took to using staves and spears like they were an extension of her small body. After winning a sparring match she even made me promise I would marry her one day. Despite this I knew my father was taking it easy on her because of her age. It was his hope that all four of us would one day be the future of Haven and together we would defend this refuge and bring it into an age of prosperity. Already there were long term plans being made to expand the wall outward, to create fields of rice and vegetables in the mountains on the island, and create waterways. Haven would be a self-sustaining colony in just a few years if everything went according to plan and no longer would we just be surviving - we would be a thriving community free of the world.

No matter how good my father made it sound I knew we were still living inside a prison. They would come to us eventually. The more we prospered the more comfortable we became, and less prepared. My moms were quick to remind me of that every morning when I trained, especially Cass, who believed evil was just waiting for us to drop our guard. I could tell it was my father's dream to one day take back the main land. It was mine too. I hated staring at the walls around Haven, feeling like I was living on a preserve, like an animal waiting for the slaughter to come.

"Are you ready?" my father asked. It was our 100th day of training. I was standing with my feet spread apart and my hands up, no weapon. My father was grinning with his two-hander held tight in fists. He wasn't about to take it easy on me. We'd been going at this for hours. Ajax and Pan stood behind me watching us.

"Ready," I said, motioning for him to attack me with his hands. He leapt forward and lifted his two-hander in the air. He was nearly over my head, several feet up in the air when I summoned a wall made of Fire around myself that I then focused into a triangular shield and held on my arm. The fire didn't hurt me as it it swirled around my forearm and I moved the Fire around just like a shield. Besides being lighter than air it was also a weapon. Though the fire didn't hurt me it would hurt anyone it came into contact with. Despite my father told me not to worry about hurting him, I still held back. The Fire Shield absorbed the blow from his two-hander and he followed up with a second upward strike.

I jumped back two steps and blocked low. The impact of his two-hander made half my shield dissipate as he brought it back down for a combo. I lifted my shield and blocked again, nearly losing my arm leaving behind only a small circular shield that barely covered my arm.

"Better," my father said, reaching his hand down towards me as I lay on the ground. Another swing and I would have been beaten.

"If you were an enemy I would have burned you," I said irritated. I was tired of hearing him tell me I was getting better. I knew I was. I knew I was holding back.

"When we fight I am your enemy," he said.

"My flames would have torn you apart," I argued.

"So you purposeful held back because you were afraid of hurting your old man, I see," my father moved away and sheathed his two hander. "You really want to see how good you are?"

Out of nowhere a shadowy figure made of darkness in the shape of my father, weapon and all, attacked me from the side. I had almost no time to react as I summoned a wall of fire next to me. I began to harness it into a shield again but the shadow had already began sprinting around to my side. Just before it hit me it vanished into a mist.

"You weren't the only one holding back," my father smiled.

It was a trick I had never seen before. I actually had no idea that my father could use any type of magic that wasn't stored in a gem. This summoning trick I was sure was something Sudra had taught him. She was a master at the art of summoning creatures to fight on her behest, though I'd never really seen it in practice.

"That shadow moves at half my speed," my father said, summoning it again beside him. It really looked like he was controlling his own shadow as his previous shadow disappeared completely. This wasn't some creature from the underworld or spirit.

"What is that?" I asked.

"My revenant," my father answered. "Never hold back. Not even against your own kind. Ever since the Gods abandoned us at the top of the world tree and the demons came up from its roots the world has been rotting. We are at war with the unknown, the supernatural apocalypse. Everyday gets a little darker. Always be the flame the shines bright in the darkness," my father lectured taking a deep breath. The revenant shadow attacked and I summoned a shield straight onto my arm, bypassing the wall of fire trick as I'd grown use to it. This time when the shadow revenant moved around to my side I attacked it directly, stepping backwards and letting my shield erupt into a several dozen balls of flame. Controlling their direction with my focus I directed them each at different parts of the shadow's body. It blocked most with its shield but I managed to hit it several times in vital areas.

"How was that!" I scowled. "And don't say better."

"Not bad. Now that you're warmed up I won't hold back," my father grinned. He was enjoying this far too much.

I felt my adrenaline kick in as two more shadows came at me from my left and right sides. Each time I used my Fire Shield I used about 20 Mana points and the Fire Bolts cost me another 30 Mana points. At the moment I had 30 points left and knew I couldn't use the same trick twice. My luck my father would never let me get away with that again. Not that it mattered. I loved training, I loved feeling my blood rush through my veins.

I dodged, rolling forward, using what little agility I had to get away from the shadows and get them close together. When they were I raised my Fire Wall around them instead of myself, capturing them. Once inside I began to tighten it around them, enclosing them in a dwindling dome of fire.

Just before they were finished I felt my fathers elbow hit me in the back and knock me to the ground. It barely hurt but it didn't startle me enough to loosen my focus on my magic and the dome disappeared.

"Always be alert to your surroundings, you never know the enemies numbers. Just because you see two in front of you doesn't mean there isn't a third, a fourth, or an army hiding in the bushes. You have to always be on your guard," he said trying to teach me.

I wasn't ready to listen, I was mad.

"I would have had you!" I shouted, throwing a fit. I was really starting to show my age.

"Kai," my father's voice deepened. He wasn't one for putting up with fits of rage. You either won or you lost. There was no middle ground in training. Perhaps 'Better' was the best compliment I could get from him after all.

"Give me five minutes and let's have a rematch," I demanded. My Mana was barely holding at 10 points.

"Do you think the enemy would give you five minutes?" my father stepped back. Two more shadows appeared.

"Damnit," I cursed. I wasn't ready for this at all.

"Ajax, help Kai out." My father ordered. Ajax grabbed his dagger and came out to help me. I wasn't excited about it but I knew the odds were against me. My father was also clear now, he wasn't going to hold back on me because of my age or level.

"Imagine the great gods Perun, Veles, standing against one another. Yin and Yang, fire and water, thunder and earth, the heavens verses the underworld, order and chaos. What would you do if the Kudlak, your yang came into Haven today to crush you?"

"I would fight!" I shouted.

"With everything you have!" my father shouted back. The shadow warriors attacked us. Two against Ajax, two against myself as we came together back to back. I still didn't have a weapon so I rolled out and began dodging their attacks running towards one of the practice swords laying in the grass. I reached down with just enough time to grab it.

"Treat it as a real sword," my father shouted.

The shadow warrior hit it and I countered. In that small way my father was holding back. The shadows had more than enough strength to break wood but my father was still controlling their movements. I was glad he was teaching us and not trying to kill us.

My father was right. I was getting cocky. At the level I am it would still be some time before I stood my own in a real fight.

Ajax gave the two shadows facing him a run, dodging multiple attacks and managing to counter once with his dagger. As soon as my father said he was out he returned to the sidelines and all four came after me.

I dodged for as long as I could until my mana regenerated. I dodged my enemies like they were a snakes in the grass. Taunting my father one last time when finally I created a wall of fire around myself and spread it outwards just before all four of the shadows attacked me from each corner.

"Brilliant," my father smiled, "the fire that burns creation." His voice was just barely audible. I doubt he meant to say such kind words aloud. I could tell by his tone that he was shocked I'd managed such a skillful move.

Meanwhile, I could see Ajax and Mori were trying their best to put out a cinder that had hit Ajax's shirt nearly thirty yards away and caused a small fire. Looking around I saw that the entire training ground had been scorched. My father running to help them accidentally caught his clothes on fire too stepping over several cinders that ignited. It turns out my attack had some potentially devastating consequences.

I quickly ran over to use my replenish skill to suck up the flame. By the time I did all three of them had fire on their clothes. It was almost too powerful for me to do. Almost…

We were lucky. Ajax suffered a second-degree burn but neither Mori nor my father had gotten hurt. Pan had been smart enough to step away. That was it for practice that day. That night after dropping Pan and Mori off at the village Ajax and I feasted with my father in a tavern and he told us the story of Perun and Veles, two of the celestial gods of this world, ones ancient even in my past life.

Perun had chased Veles, who had transformed himself into a snake, across the world and into the water. Each transformed into many different animals as they played a game of cat and mouse with one another. When Perun finally caught up to Veles and it was a battle that shook the entire world and caused splinters in the world tree itself. The first Earthquakes from which the many islands were formed. Veles turned himself into the first dragon and fought Perun over the top of a volcanic mountain and together the two deities raged an all out war against one another that turned into a colossal storm. Veles, weakened, slithered into the underworld and gave birth to the first demons. Born of his hatred, his envy of Perun they vowed to all one day devour the earth. The catalyst for this, for the whole apocalypse my father joked, had been divine cattle. In my previous life I remembered the story a little different, rather than cattle it was wife-theft and adultery, though my father's message was clear - You never mess with another's pride.

We skipped the next few days of training together and I began studying with Moma-Mia again. This time working to harness my energy and control it. The last thing we wanted was for me to accidentally burn everything down. From that point on whenever I trained against my father my mother had me hold a flame in my hand. If the flame went out I would be forced to stop everything and meditate on what went wrong.

This went wrong hundreds of times over the course of my childhood, but eventually I got the hang of it. Fighting with fire in the palm of my hands without setting my friends on fire.