Ranvir gasped for breath as he emerged from the pool of salt water at the bottom of their cave. His entire body seemed ready to burst into fire once more, the brine finding every scratch and cut. However, it was his forearm that took center-stage.

Lightning-white pain curled across his arm in a light bend, growling with spasms that curled his hand into a solid fist. Even through him tapping into Persistence, he felt the pain. He’d stopped briefly to check the injuries gained during the initial flight. A groove two centimeters deep had melted directly into the outside of his forearm. The redirection line had only grazed him for the length of a thumb-pad, but the thermal bloom had extended the injury by a finger’s-length from the initial touch.

His feet slapped against the wet stone as he stepped out of the water. His senses scanning the space. Returning to it and getting a closer look at the pillar of stone it was within, he was surprised by the cavern’s size. Granted, with three people in it, its size, surprising or otherwise, felt cramped.

“Ranvir?” Amalia asked, her senses brushing against him as she parsed the surrounding darkness.

He grunted his reply as he continued dripping water onto the stone. His hair had somehow survived the blaze, perhaps some trick of how Amanaris’ Abilities worked, dripped cold water down his back, chest, and onto the stone.

“That took quite a while. Are you okay?”

He grunted an affirmative as he stopped next to her.

“Are… are you naked?”

“Fire.”

Amalia didn’t reply to that, but the other person did.

“Oh,” Alexis said. “That makes sense. It is one of the best ways to handle someone with your ridiculous defensive Ability. Quite impressive, by the way.”

Ranvir didn’t reply, instead stepping to the side once. In the dark cavern, Alexis shouldn’t have been able to follow him, but the young man hardly seemed perturbed by Ranvir’s movement.

He scanned him again, Alexis shivering at the touch of the tether-sense. Ranvir wasn’t sure of his element, but it shouldn’t have been able to parse the darkness. It felt like something closer to air, but not close enough that he should detect the currents of air within the cavern.

“What’s his element?” Ranvir asked, stepping away to the opposite wall.

“I was working on that before you entered,” Amalia asked, wrinkling her nose. “You do smell of ash. Did they really try to burn you?”

Ranvir just nodded as he gingerly reached for his pocket-space. It opened slowly, barely rippling the local lines, and he started searching for his first-aid kits. He must’ve winced or let out a sound of pain as he worked, because Amalia came over.

“Let me,” she grumbled. “At least, I can apply some proper bandages,” it took her a moment, before she found her own pack. “Should probably keep this one out, yea? Now, what are your worst injuries?”

Ranvir held out his forearm, not in the mood to talk. She grabbed his fingers, and he sensed her tether-sense examine him more intently until she found the burn wound.

Amalia inhaled sharply. “How did that happen?”

“Fire.”

“You’re really helpful. Did you know that?”

Ranvir didn’t deign that with a response, instead he looked to Alexis. The kid leaned against the stone, his clothes still soaked in saltwater, his hair plastered to his face and neck. Ranvir stood nearly a head taller than him, and his newly drowned look really emphasized the scrawny limbs and thin face.

He seemed almost four years younger to Ranvir’s senses, though he’d need him out in the light to cement the look home.

Ranvir’s train of thought was rudely interrupted by a gut-wrenching twist of pain that made the world spin around him. The lightning previously coiled around his arm, twisted and roared, flaring so white as to exclude all other notions. Ranvir barely caught himself with his left hand against the wall.

“There,” Amalia said, moments later.

Ranvir blinked, realizing that he’d lost the moments between her applying the salve and tying the bandages. He blinked confusedly once or twice, before remembering the cavern was too dark to see by. Gingerly, he flexed his hand. It was stiff, sore, and sparks of electric savagery traced patterns in the skin around his bandage, but it was functional.

“What happened to your hammer?” Amalia asked.

“Old man,” Ranvir grunted, his voice rougher than normal. He continued, sensing she wasn’t satisfied with his explanation. “Hit with a fire hand.”

“That sounds like Stelios,” Alexis said, bringing attention back to him. “I’ve heard he’s been fighting for the last forty years. Then it makes sense that they used fire on you.”

“Explain,” Ranvir said.

“Well, there are a few ways you can get around people with powerful defenses. Drowning is an option, but with your spatial Ability that’s nearly impossible. Same with asphyxiation. Normally, burning someone to death who’s even remotely as strong as you is difficult, because you’d need a lot of fire to do it.

“But Sabas has the manpower to get it done if need be. If you fought Stelios and he actually got a hit off, that might’ve left a notable dent in the ambient mana.”

Ranvir nodded and returned to his pocket-space to retrieve some clothes. Unfortunately, he hadn’t brought extra shoes with him. He would have to go barefoot for now.

“Eh,” Alexis hesitated, noticing that Ranvir wasn’t paying attention any longer. “Should I continue?”

“Please,” Amalia asked, though Ranvir felt certain she must’ve figured it out already. Was she testing Alexis? Seeing if he was trying to trick them, or offer them half answers? Ranvir shook his head. He couldn’t be bothered with the issue.

“Okay…” Alexis cleared his throat. “Fire burns hotter the more mana is in the air. If he got an actual fire on Ranvir, Stelios already released a tremendous burst and all he’s got to do is supply it with as much mana as his men can provide.”

Amalia nodded. “About this, Stelios. Let’s talk a little more about him.”

Ranvir zoned out their conversation as he went over their remaining resources. They hadn’t planned to stay isolated within the fold for an extended period. They’d already spent a notable amount of the first-aid kits on his injuries so far. He rubbed at his bare left wrist, missing the touch of metal.

He’d gotten a sense of it briefly, while fleeing from the mercenaries, and he was fairly certain Sabas had it on his person. Ranvir closed his eyes and sighed.

Sabas sat at a shitty portable desk. He’d had to borrow from Phineus. It wasn’t even his friend’s main desk. That brute Sentinel had broken both of them during his assault, and Sabas wasn’t even sure what was worse. His broken desk, or Alexis missing.

Someone knocked on the plaque hanging outside his tent.

“Sir,” Mihail said, his voice perfect for military decorum. He’d gotten serious as well.

“Come in,” Sabas called. “Any news?”

“Stelios is recovering. It seems he’s strained his neck from the force of his own Abilities, sir,” if there was a hint of amusement in Mihail’s tone, Sabas didn’t begrudge him.

“And Alexis?”

“No sign of him, sir. Not even on the lines.”

“At ease,” Sabas said, then allowing himself to slump his shoulders as he leaned back in his chair.

Mihail stepped up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, index finger brushing his neck. “What do you plan to do?”

Sabas sighed and shook his head, briefly touching Mihail’s fingers before lowering his hand. “I’m not sure. My instincts tell me to abandon this mission, but that could ruin our reputation. We’ve barely had any casualties, just a few injuries. Besides, he’d have to kill too many before the blood fee comes into play.”

Mihail squeezed his shoulder again but didn’t interrupt Sabas’ mind.

“We’re just as stuck as he is. For now, we have to continue with the plan. I’m thinking we might try to gather our stone braced and go mine some of that fyla for ourselves. If we have to abandon the contract, then we won’t leave completely empty-handed.”

“We keep fighting?”

“We keep fighting.”

Mihail’s fingers clutching Sabas tighter as he abruptly tensed. Before Sabas could ask him about it, a muffled voice called out. Blinking, Sabas reached into his pocket and removed the bracelet. His soul-sight detected spatial energy coursing from the spear into the weird symbol, and a little pocket-space rift had opened up next to it.

The space was very dim, but Sabas thought he detected something moving on the other side. Whatever it was pulled away, leaving the opening white with the contrast of light. A tiny snout appeared in the gap, sniffing at the opening.

“No, Menace you can’t,” a tiny voice called out, before the snout was pushed away and the eye that had previously obscured the pocket-space returned. It swiftly pulled back. “You’re not daddy.”

Sabas’ breath caught, his entire body going still.

“No,” Mihail said, leaning down so he could look at the gap. “But we’re working with him in the fold. There have been a few issues. He lost the bracelet, but we found it again.”

“Oh…” the child, on the other end, muttered. “Fucking idiot.”

Sabas exchanged a glance with Mihail, mouthing ‘foul mouth.’

“Well, can you tell him I love him, and I miss him, and I want to see him again, and I got Menace to poop outside today?”

“Sure can,” Mihail replied.

“Good,” she did something from her end and the portal shut.

Sabas exchanged another long glance with Mihail.