Q: Describe Young Flame.

A: Young Flame is Unrestrained. It's the easiest form of the Flame stance, yet the hardest to master. Young Flame deals mostly in sweeps and strokes, using the momentum of the body to push more strength out. There are many ways to use Young Flames, though they mostly it was followed with elbows bent, hilt pointing upwards and then a flashy broad stroke downwards, drawing spiritual energy wildly.

- - -

The snowstorm seemed to empower with the appearance of the fifth moon. Still, it was not as much at the foot of the mountain range. But I didn't feel any bit fortunate for that.

I waited for Lord Penron to finish dealing with the others as icy wind and snow slapped my face. Turns out, the one with the Dominion of Gravity was none other than Lord Penron himself.

The elderly man was not a resident of here, but employed by the empire after Victoria agreed to become a part of the Empire. There were a few others, too, but the Knights with dominion of Gravity, were employed elsewhere. Victoria was not really a big profitable place to employ most of the empire's assets on, after all.

No joke, a force entirely made of people who can deal with aerial damage, that’s something only Ruthalyn’s aerial force could deal with after the invention of their magically crafted false-wards.

On another note, Harth had fled from the camp after they all got busy dealing with all the attacks and everything. Seriously, teenagers, they seem to have the natural tendency to take the worst decision on a crisis. Yes, you’ve been controlled by an evil warlock, yes you may have done some awful things, and couldn’t trust yourself, but fleeing alone? Was that a solution in any way?

Well, Harth looked pretty scared on the way as far as I remembered, but I thought he would stay put in one place in his horror, or might get help from others, but no, he ran off like a typical teenager who thinks they can deal with everything.

‘I was never like that,’ I thought. Well, mostly because I never had much courage, and was almost alone my whole teenage years. Dad’s health was always bad, mostly. I didn't try extra hard, making it even more difficult for my mum, who had it even worse with her cancer. Well, most of my internet was pretty normal. After Mum's death, Dad's health got worse, and that was pretty much it.

I just pretended everything would be alright and acted like a good boy.

I sighed, looking at the swirling clouds in the sky, moons peeking through them. It wasn’t even nine yet, nor was the weather at its worst. Still, many hours to go.

“Sorry about the delay,” Lord Penron came in running and said. “You're alright, lad?"

"Ah, yes, just thinking of the past," I answered. "How are things? if everything's prepared?"

"One team with the few capable men, including medics we got, will depart after us, while the other one will wait for the reinforcement from her Majesty.”

I nodded and triggered the stream releaser of the False-ward. It's time for us to depart then. “How hard can you go, Lord Penron?”

The elderly knight gave me a look. “I’m old, but not retired,” he said. “I can still do better than that old scrap of tin.”

“I guess that would do, then let us depart,” I said and found the old man already in the air. Shaking my head, I followed, releasing a huge amount of stream from his back. Though with the terrible weather, it was not totally a deal breaker, but I couldn’t be called stealthy either.

“By the way, it's not tin," I said, joining next to elderly knight, "but a very specialised polymer with high resistance and power to absorb shock waves and disperse them evenly like an--”

“Ward,” the elderly knight completed my sentence. He was wearing one such Ward himself. “You seemed to know a lot about these suits.”

The force of the wind multiplied a few times as we quickened our pace of flying. They were not just utterly uncomfortable, but quite painful. However, I didn’t infuse energy to make it easier. I needed to save that for the confrontation. Who knows how much I would need it?

“Not nearly as much,” I said, “but they are fascinating.”

“Damnable thing they are, took a dozen friends of mine,” Lord Penron said, voice sour. “Not even half as good as an Original Ward, but when over a thousand troops march on wearing those abominations, even the finest knights of ours get nervous.”

“Lord Penron,” I called, “You fought on war? I meant the real ones, not the hide-and-seek plays that's going on now.”

The elderly knight turned his head towards me. “You’re young, lad,” he said, gasps of white smoke escaping from his mouth, “all wars like hide-and-seek. Half of it is taking the advantageous ground, hiding and preparing for the worst—and if we’re failed to win this half, the other half almost lost. To answer your question, yes, I had fought in wars. Real wars.”

“What is it like?” I asked after considering for a moment.

“If you’re thinking it's all glorious, then you’re wrong. Wars, or victories in war, are depicted as glorious. Ever wondered why? It's just some form of consolation, a comfort after all the horrible things the war has done to you, even in your victory.”

_ _ _

Jon returned to his senses after Noyar reminded him of the task at hand. Men, they can be so overdramatic at times, forgetting their duties, but on this occasion, she couldn’t blame him. Even she herself got lost in the panic.

These dozen people, including seven teenagers from the Starlight Academy, were left with terrible afflictions. If they were all normal people, more than half of them would be dead already even before the two of them could provide some form of help.

Noyar never thought the warlock would go this far. She guessed he was going all in now. That worried her further about Shailyn and others.

Shaking those off, she got back to her job at hand, which was to help the afflicted individuals resist the foreign power in them. She got to the one that was having a seizure after unsealing everyone’s channel, even if they were students or just warders, they had some form of resistance built in naturally with their daily spirit energy usage, and unsealing their channels would just give them the chance.

Jon came back after tying up the two rogue warders in the far corner of the room. They were weeping now. “The warlock didn’t even let his minions off,” he said and joined in giving a hand to help the patient with the seizure.

Noyar looked at them once more. They were weeping and seemed to be praying to Ishar. Noyar shook her head and got to her task. She infused her energy into the patients’ channels, while Jon did the same. Both of them knew it was never going to be easy. If it were two or three patients, they could stop it with no problem, however, there were exactly fifteen of them, including the two rogue warders.

Ishar help them all.

They got to work. Exchanging a glance, the two of them divided the patient's channels between themselves, and tried to force the affliction from spreading any more.

“They knew this would be done to them, you know,” Jon said, his voice crisp with resentment. He was never good at hiding or dealing with emotions.

It took a couple of seconds for Noyar to figure out whom he was talking about. With everything that has been happening, it's not her fault that her mind wasn’t working properly.

“Yet they still come with the Warlock,” Jon continued, his strands of spiritual energy still working. He peeked at the rogue warders again. “Oh, they are not praying to be saved, but to be forgiven for what they have done. They gave up on life already. . .”

“Jon, Jon,” Noyar called, clapping him slightly on the cheek. “I know this makes you uncomfortable.” She paused. Uncomfortable was just an understatement. Jon gets devastated on such occasions. “But you have to hold it together. These lives depend on us, on you.”

The man nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Noyar sighed. She kept at blocking the afflictions, yet some part of it always found its way around to affect again, not to mention some of it already infected the blood cells and all over the body now. They can’t stop that, a medical expert in healing needed for that. Noyar knew one that should be here with them now, but perhaps her conditions were even worse compared to them.

The groans and calls for help in the surrounding didn’t help a bit, but made him feel even more helpless. Only after a couple of minute later she decided this boy was beyond her help, perhaps some healer could help him, but she was not one, nor Jon.

“What’re you doing Noyar?” Jon asked, still working on that boy. “His condition hasn’t improved. At this rate, he would . . .”

Noyar knew exactly what he meant to say next. She bit her lips and shook her head. Jon caught her hand, restitching her from going to the next hostage.

“Jon, please,” she pleaded. Not everyone was in such terrible state as this boy. She knew she could help them better.

“Look, he can still make it,” Jon said, “we just have to try a bit harder.”

Noyar looked at the face of the boy, barely sixteen or seventeen of age. His eyes were on her, pleading with tears filled them. His lips shaking in history as he tried to plead. “Ple . . . ase

Noyar looked away and steeled her heart. Tears filled in her eyes too, but she stood up from him. ‘Oh, Ishar, forgive me," she said inwardly, ‘I did all I could, but it wasn’t enough. Let me save the ones that I still can.’

“Noyar, please.”

Noyar almost reached for the hands of the next hostage, but Jon’s plea stopped her. She knew it was irrational to save everyone, as doing that might cost more lives, but there was still a tiniest part in her heart that wanted to save everyone. However, she couldn’t be like Jon, so she sealed that part of her heart and emotions. “Jon, I’m sorr--” she stopped midway.

Sealing. The sudden image of Shailyn came into her mind. Even though their afflictions were horrible, they can’t be compared to Shailyn, who not only survived, but fought with it, just with her bare willpower. Perhaps that could work, with a little help. Perhaps she could buy him the time he would need. She thought and went back to the patient with the seizure.

“Jon, I don’t know if this can work, but we have to try. It's our only option.”