Valerie's Fire

My fire was always considered the odd one out. My mom pretended to like the fact that it looked like a rainbow, but Dad and my brothers were never that good at lying. It was unique, unheard of even, but in their eyes only weird.

My mom’s fire was lime green, like the shadow mages and their minions. She had good standing in their circles because of this fact, expanding relations with a powerful force. Dad’s fire was the classic orange-red. He was very common among firemongers, and the fact that Mom ever gave him the time of day was a miracle. His classical nature made instant pals with the other clans who kept up their orange-red fire circles.

My elder brother Henry’s fire was a gentle orange, like that of twilight just past the sunset, lingering from blue sky to the gentlest orange horizon. I always loved that about his fire. He was artistic, putting shows on for our family and clans. This gathered a lot of interest from girls. He could be so sweet one moment, and very mean the next.

The runt’s fire was an eerie violet, like something from another dimension. Nobody batted an eye at that oddity because Yassin was the youngest of the three of us. It felt bad that I was the one they singled out. Purple fire had been around in the carvings of history, but never such a difference as a fire swirling in a multicolor of dancing hues.

I spent my time apart from them. I felt their exclusion even in the air around them. I knew they avoided including me in things, which made the dinners painfully strained for conversation. Nobody wanted to mention anything for fear of me showing interest in it.

“It’s a thing of beauty,” a voice broke through my thoughts of lingering sadness. I was laying down on a hill at the end of the day. The sun had slipped past the horizon to Henry’s fire hue horizon of twilight. I just happened to be producing a gout of my rainbow fire over my fist while thinking back. The voice came from someone sitting up in the tree above me, but I could not make him out.

I was silent, watching his form shift in the shadowy parts of the tree until he leapt out to land right next to me. Before I had a moment to collect myself, the boy laid down beside me on the grassy hill in the coming night. My mind was telling me to run away, but the few words he said held me in place.

“What is?” I finally asked. His eyes were closed, but a smirk appeared on his lips. He was wearing a white button down shirt probably ruined by grass and dirt by now, and blue jeans with a mangled left pant leg, possibly by some wild animal.

“Your fire, of course,” he said. “I’ve never seen a firemonger create something that beautiful in all my life. Would you make it again?” One of his eyes opened with a questioning glance in my direction. I hesitated. It had to be a trick, a chance to ridicule me just like my family and the clan had. I was afraid.

“I- I can’t,” I said.

“A shame,” he replied right away, as if he knew I would refuse. “But I figured as much. Know that I will hold that moment forever in my heart, of that gout you produced when you had no idea I was watching. It was a sight I will never forget.” He remained there, eyes closed, with a small smirk on his lips that looked so at ease. I felt my eyes lock in on his face, as he slipped both hands behind his head in surrender.

“Maybe just a small one,” I said, holding out my hand to ignite a swirling orb of fire in the palm of my hand. He sat up and neared the flame, but I pulled it back. “Careful.”

“Right, right, fire,” he said. His eyes looked so dazzling in the light as he was mesmerized by the swirling of colors. “May I?” I was confused about what he meant until he drew out a wand. I drew back, but it was too late. He cast a spell on the swirling orb of fire, turning it crystalline. The flames of varying colors now stood motionless in time, frozen with magic.

“Magnificent,” He said, picking up the frozen fire, now gemstone, from the grass where it fell. My heart hurt all of a sudden, as if he took hold of it within my chest. “Don’t worry. The pain will go away. As for your fire, I’m afraid that’s mine now.”

“Please, no!” I begged through the pain. Wizards were the most awful creatures. Having an ability to control time allowed them to cage even the wildest of elements for later use, but a firemonger’s fire was their breath, the lifeblood with capacity for destruction, ever fragile.

The boy waved the frozen fire in farewell and vanished on the spot. I felt a hollow spot in my chest, cold for the first time in my life. Firemongers could live in the coldest regions of the world because of our inner fire. It helped us produce flames to cook and to make light. Dad always warned me of wizards, but he never said they could be my age. It had to be some piece of magic that made him young, to fool unsuspecting creatures.

I dragged myself home, inner fire sputtering weakly. I wanted to tell them, but nobody would even look at me. It felt so warm at home with four other firemongers blazing it up. I was comforted by their warmth, stabilizing my inner fire to a candle flame. They would never notice my hollow because they never wanted my fire in the first place. There was no point in telling them.

I felt so cold trying to sleep. I had to wonder if this was how humans felt, being full of water and liquids. They had to make fire for the heat and light, living close to each other to hold onto whatever warmth they could gather. I cried through the night shedding what little moisture I still had in my body while clutching a warm blanket around my tiny remaining inner fire. I feared my fire going out in the night, as fragile as a dried leaf on a firemonger’s breath.

I woke up that morning in pain, but less than the day before. My chest still felt hollow, with a small flickering inner fire keeping me going. I knew next to nothing about wizards, but needed to find out. I wanted to find that wizard and hurt him to give back my fire. It was a fire that would never fit in with my clan, but it was still my fire, no matter how it looked.

“What happens to a ‘monger when a wizard steals their fire?” I asked at breakfast. Everyone at the table looked at me in frozen shock. I realized it was the first time in months that I ever said anything to them because of how they treated me. They were still my family, even if they kept their distance from the oddity that was me.

“That’s not a subject for breakfast,” Mom said.

“But it is something they should know, honeybun,” Dad said, then cleared his throat. Mom sighed, then nodded.

“The evil wizards only seek fire for their magics,” Dad said, spreading a breath of embers dancing in the air above the table. He had control over the embers and shaped two figures. One had a pointy hat, and the other did not. The embers danced to show what he was talking about. “When they capture our fire, it is frozen in time for later use. The monsters then bind the time-frozen fire in gemstones that they mount on staves to produce fire at will. Our fire.”

“Can a ‘monger survive having their fire taken away?” I asked.

“Not very likely,” Mom added. “What remains of the inner flame after the evil wizards steal the outer flame, is but a lingering spark. It sputters, and wanes, and in the end dies along the firemonger.”

“How long does it take?” I pressed. “How long can a ‘monger survive having their fire taken?”

“I once a knew a fella who made it two weeks before he got snuffed out,” Dad said, almost proud of knowing someone who died in that way. Two weeks. A short death sentence that only tightened my throat. Mom jabbed Dad in the ribs for being happy about a serious topic.

“That’s enough now,” Mom said. “Wizards don’t come this far south. They know better than to tangle with Fangs. Even their magic can’t protect them when they go on the hunt. Rest easy, Yassin, Henry, Valerie. You’re safe here.” I felt my breath come through shallow and cold. I had two weeks left to live.

When everyone went to sleep, I wrote a note explaining what happened, and left. The darkness was no place for a firemonger. Our eyes blazed eternal, but provided no sight into darkness. Our fire could light the way, but was fragile while manifested outside our bodies. The negative parts far outweighed the positive.

I walked past the hill where the boy stole my fire, feeling a hollow pull of cold further, as if my inner fire knew where to go to reclaim the once fitful blaze everyone hated so much. This would make finding my fire easier, but it was far too likely I would be snuffed out on the way to plead for it back.

The lands further north were patrolled by Fangs, daywolves of magnificent caliber. They were our kin, with fireproof fur that glittered golden. They would be hunted for those golden skins if they were just simple animals. The true nature of a daywolf was the coming of day, the rising sun. They could glow their glittering fur into yellow light to part the darkness. They could also run on the darkness of sky as if it was ground.

Ever since I learned about them, I wanted to befriend one. Though they were kin, daywolves and firemongers kept distant from each other. It was a friendship with conditions, and that was no friendship at all. I had to wonder if firemongers feared Fangs as much as they respected them. To the daywolves, firemongers would still be considered food, after all.

I ventured into the darkness of night, with the only pull for direction in cold yearning toward my stolen fire. My body felt so weak sometimes that I had to take breaks to light a fire if only to feel any semblance of warmth. That was how I met him, a daywolf pup on a similar venture to my own.

“Whoa!” I exclaimed, as the dark yellow fur entered the casting orange light from a fire I just built. The pup walked up without teeth showing, looking along the ground right into my eyes. His stomach grumbled as his head lowered. My stomach answered in kind, as if they were talking. “Hi there. I’m Valerie.”

“Mer… Kal…” He managed. “Please… food…”

I pulled a haunch of meat I was going to ration during my journey. It was wrapped in a piece of cloth, but vanished from my hands the second I pulled it out. I watched as the pup's teeth ripped into the cloth and tore at the meat near me. His teeth were silvery, tearing into the cooked haunch with a rush of hunger. My stomach grumble was more of a reminder to eat something, but this pup looked starved.

When he was done with the meat, Merkal started gnawing on the bone left over until his teeth crushed it apart to suck out the marrow. I could not stop watching it, but looked away whenever he gave a low growl of caution. I waited silently until he was done eating, warming my hands by the fire. I could barely feel them otherwise.

“Thank you, firemonger,” Merkal said when he was finished consuming every part of the haunch of meat I offered. “Valerie.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” I said. “My mom cooked it up. Her fire blazes in shadows, giving the meat a smoky taste.”

“Indeed,” he said, coiling up by the fire. “Tell me, what is a firemonger such as yourself doing this far north?”

“A wizard stole my fire,” I said, realizing Merkal was the first to know. My family would not care anyway. I only wished they would not celebrate after I was gone. “I have a few days to get it back from him or I’ll get snuffed out. How about you?”

“I do not want to be part of the Fangs,” he said. “So I ran away to make my own way. Only…”

“Only you have not yet learned to hunt,” I asked.

“Indeed,” he said, lowering his nose in shame. When he looked up at me, I saw my own eyes reflected in his. They blazed multicolor, just like my fire, swirling within my iris like a ring of rainbow fire. “You have a strange fire.”

“It’s multicolor,” I answered. “Everyone hates it.”

“No, it’s not multicolor,” Merkal said, getting up close to my face. “Ah, it is. From afar it looks as though your eyes were blazing white. That’s the stuff of legends daywolf kind. There is a story of a being who would light the darkness brighter than a daywolf ever could, the Dawnseeker to command the Daykin.”

“Command?” I asked. “I thought daywolves lived in packs.”

“We have clans the same as you firemongers,” Merkal said, walking over to coil up near me. I just wanted to run my fingers through that shiny golden fur just once, but feared the silver fangs that just tore apart a haunch of meat. “All the clans further the tale of the Dawnseeker, but many do not believe. Matters not. Tell me more of the wizard who stole your fire. He must pay for what he has done, and I intend to help if I can.”

“You’ll help me?” I asked.

“We are kin, after all,” he said. “Daywolves and firemongers have an understanding.”

“But you ran away,” I protested.

“But you fed me,” Merkal countered. “I owe you the use of my fangs at the very least, even if they are juvenile. Tell me of the wizard. How do we find him?” I touched my chest where the cold feeling lingered pulling to my right, as if there was a being of cold hugging me from that direction.

“My hollow pulls to my fire,” I said. The feeling of cold was so lonely. I inched closer to the daywolf pup until I was close enough to touch the fur. He said nothing, so I took a leap and ran a hand in the soft plush on his shoulder with a giddy feeling. He was warm, and the fur was soft under my hand. I wanted to bury my face in it and sleep with his warmth near me, but I reeled my hand back.

“Sorry,” I said.

“I do not mind,” he said. “Please warm yourself. You must feel very cold without your fire.”

“Have you ever seen a ‘monger like me?”

“Sadly, yes,” Merkal said. “Wizards hunt your kind for the fire element. When Fangs are on the hunt, they sometimes come across firemongers wandering in the darkness, afraid to be snuffed out.”

“That’s horrible,” I said, imagining myself wandering the darkness the same, looking for my fire. I ran a hand through Merkal’s fur and slipped up to hug his neck. It felt so warm and soft that I started crying. My fire felt just like this, even if they all hated me for it. When I had it, I felt so comforted and loved. When I opened my eyes, the fur glowed a little from the skin, making the already warm surface even warmer. I buried my face in the bright warmth and finally slept.

I woke up still at Merkal’s side. The sun was rising into the sky.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I think I cried on you,”

“Don’t worry, Valerie,” he said. “I will help you make the wizard cry instead as he gives back your fire.” I smiled, smoothing a hand over the top of the pup’s head. His tail waved a little, but he stood up away from the petting as if he was embarrassed. “Where to?” I closed my eyes to look within my hollow where a small lick of inner fire struggled on. It pulled behind me, further away from home.

“That way,” I said. “I don’t know how far. The boy wizard teleported away.”

“A boy, you say?” Merkal asked.

“He was young,” I said. “But that could have been a spell.”

“That direction… It may very well have been a student of Arcanos Deuterium,” he said. “It is a school for wizards. The daywolves had to bargain with them once for release of one of our kin. They settled for information on our functions. They are… greedy beings. Climb on.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“Would you prefer to walk?”

“No, no, I just wanted to make sure you were ok with it,” I said, a bit excited to climb on the back of a real daywolf. I felt heat on my face when I grabbed onto a clump of fur to throw myself onto Merkal’s back. He took off as soon as I grabbed hold of the warm fur on the back of his neck. I looked ahead as the daylight flooded into the valley ahead.

With just a bound of his big paws, we exited the gap of mountains into fields of golden grain, flickering with trees in the distance. The rush of air took my breath away, so I clung close to him to keep my inner fire safe.The next time I looked ahead, Merkal took a leap over a giant chasm, dark and deep. I looked off the side to see a glint of something deep within before the other side erased my sight of it.

Merkal’s paws dug into lush earthy soil at the foot of the mountain as we ran past trees up the slope. Branches broke under the speed, whipping at me, but they did not bother him. When we reached the peak, Merkal stopped to look over the distance ahead. I also rose up to see the land around us, finding a fog covering up one side of the mountains.

“Do we need to go where the fog is?” I asked. “I’m not sure I can handle that much water the way I am right now.”

“The Arcanus Deuterium is over yonder,” He said, motioning his head to the right side of the cloud of white holding over the mountain. “We will take the dry route down the mountain, or we could wait until nightfall.”

“Can you really fly at night?”

“We do not fly,” Merkal corrected. “The night brings with it shadows. We run on shadows. If the whole sky is dark, it is more like wading water with enough surface to feel as though we are still running. The wizards at Arcanos were quite curious about that as well. Which way does your hollow point you?” I thought back to the boy holding my fire frozen in time with a smile on his face and felt angry. The pull followed Merkal’s motion.

“Same direction as you said,” I said, feeling my lick of flame dance within slowly. “It must be Arcanos.”

“Do you happen to have water?” He asked.

“Sorry, as a ‘monger, we try to stay away from all sorts of water,” I said. “I did not pack any.”

“I will find a stream to drink from,” he said.

“Ready?” He asked. I nodded at his glance. “Hold on tight.” His rear paws braced on the rocks, sending us flying down the slope right toward the fog, but he turned to the Arcanos direction in a few leaps, disappearing into a thicket of trees again as the branches resumed their whipping. I clung onto his back as the slope evened out enough so I could look ahead.

There was a town coming up on the left, but Merkal did not stop long enough to see who lived there. It was likely a human town, seeing as they lived between the north and south regions. They could neither stand the cold, nor the heat, and I was always curious how someone like that existed.

“Firemongers have weaknesses too, Valerie,” Henry once said. “We avoid water, but water is so plentiful in mountains and further north, that they live near rivers and lakes. Humans need water to live, same as we need the sun.”

“Same as we need the sun,” I murmured, as Merkal stopped to drink from a channel of rushing water. His mouth lapped the liquid into his mouth, filling himself up. Rather than cool down, his body heat increased. I did not understand how that functioned. Maybe I could learn more about them from the Arcanos Deuterium, if I could somehow pretend to be a witch. The idea felt disgusting.

“It will get dark soon,” he said. “That should speed up our travel. Is the hollow still pointing in that direction?” Merkal looked off toward the distant forest on the horizon with fields of green between.

“Yes,” I replied. “It is pulling stronger. We must be getting closer.” Merkal dug his rear paws into the dirt by the stream to take off running again. It felt like he had a lot of energy to be running for a whole day, but it had to be the haunch of meat he devoured the night before being turned into energy.

Just before sunset, we stopped by a large boulder in yet another valley. When I got up from his back, my legs felt so wobbly and weak that I almost fell. Laying down all day did away with my strength. I did a few exercises to loosen up my muscles and sat beside Merkal to watch the last of the sun disappear beyond the horizon as pale orange as Henry’s fire.

“Is being one of the Fangs that bad?” I asked.

“Sleeping all day, running all night,” Merkal said. “You have to push your daybreak, our glow, until you can have it on for a whole day and night. It is difficult to learn everything just to patrol the territory.”

“It sounds like the ‘monger cadre,” I said, thinking back to Dad in his uniform of earthy brown with red accents. “They are the combined force of many ‘mongers to do battle with anyone threatening the safety of their families.”

“It is the same,” He said. “But our families have twenty to thirty siblings of one mother, with several fathers. They will not miss me in the Fangs.” I tried to imagine his family of multiple dads and a litter of brothers and sisters.

“Well, I’m glad I found you, Merkal,” I said, feeling a bit embarrassed. “I was certain I couldn’t find my fire alone, but I had to try. I only have two weeks to do so or I’ll be snuffed out.”

“Are all firemongers that fragile?”

“Not all the time,” I replied. “When we have our inner fire blazing, even water can’t stop us. We can swim and turn water to steam by way of our skin. However, if we maintain a flame outside of our body for too long, it risks the inner fire going out. Think of it as having fuel for the fire. If the fire is frozen in time, it is alive beyond my body, which means my body is running out of that fuel.”

“Wouldn’t the fire disappear if you were to die?”

“It is frozen in time,” I said. “If I get snuffed out, it will be the only part of me that is still alive in the world, beyond time.”

“I will not let that happen,” Merkal said. “Let’s hurry toward Arcanos Deuterium. Climb on.” I stood up and threw myself on his soft back right before he took off running into the field. I looked ahead as the field underneath us drifted away. I had to look to the side to see Merkal running on shadows as if they were solid. I wanted to cheer, but did not want to shout in Merkal’s ear. Instead I stifled my excited smile in the golden yellow fur.

“Shouldn’t you be glowing?” I asked a few minutes later. There was light visible at the skin of the fur, but it did not glow like daybreak as the name suggested.

“It is much easier to run without daybreak,” he replied. “We are unlikely to hit anything in the sky after dark. Rest ea—.“ I felt an impact force me from Merkal’s back through some sort of metal door, as we both tumbled right out of the sky and onto a metal floor.

Everything hurt, and I found Merkal bleeding, unconscious on the cold solid surface. I checked his chest to find that he was still breathing. The darkness of the room made it impossible to check on his injury. All of a sudden, a light burst on above us, revealing a room full of metal contraptions, some of which we hit on the way in. An old man trained a metal stick our way while slowly walking into the room.

“Who the heck are ya?!” He burst out. Merkal stirred, pouncing to all fours in defense. His silver teeth bared wild at the old man. “You come to kill me?”

“Wait!” I burst out holding up my hands. “We were flying and hit something!”

“Sweet mercy,” the man said, lowering the metal stick from his eye. “You’re a firemonger, and that there is a daywolf. What in the world is going on here?”

“We’re sorry for barging in,” I said, stumbling over to the door that we burst through. The metal structure sat suspended in the air. I could see the stars in the sky, and the darkness of the ground in the distance. “It seems we cannot leave just yet, so I am sorry.”

“Who puts a metal structure in the middle of the sky!?” Merkal burst out, still baring his fangs at the old man. I stepped over to smooth the fur on his head. He lowered his head, and closed the maw of silver teeth. His legs wobbled from strain until he collapsed to the metal floor. “Idiot.”

“He doesn't mean that,” I said. “Please, can you help my friend? He’s bleeding.” The old man set the metal stick down and came up much to a growl from Merkal. I kept smoothing my hand over his head while the old man looked his injuries over.

“He will be fine on his own,” he said. “Let the daywolf lick his own wounds. Why might you be traveling with him?” I sat down on the cold metal beside my friend and smoothed the fur along his back. I told the old man about the boy wizard, and how I found Merkal. I hesitated before telling him about my time limit to get my fire back, but told him anyway.

“That damned wizard boy!” The old man said. “Oh, my name’s Frydmack. I’m an artificer.”

“An artificer?” I asked.

“I make with knowledge what wizards make with magic,” he said. “Though I sometimes also use magic, I dislike it. The true magic is fire, sun, and water in this world. You clinging to the big fella because you feel a hollow where your inner fire is meant to be blazing?” I nodded, hugging the soft bundle of Merkal.

“I need him to live, however long,” I said. At the mention, Merkal tried to stand again, but his legs gave out. I worried for his injuries, but Frydmack said that he would be fine, and I already trusted him enough with my troubles.

“Oh, I’m Valerie,” I said, realizing I never introduced myself.

“Nice to meet you, Val,” Frydmack said. “I might have a temporary solution to your fire problem, though it’s not without certain caveats, err… limitations. Have you ever heard of living flame?”

“Living flame?” I asked, then shook my head.

“All the same, it is a being similar to you, but from a place much distant,” he said.

“Where?”

“The stars, of course," Frydmack grinned wildly. “One of these living flames is the reason my house can sit in the sky like this,” He said. “I was the one who built a mechanism for it to power, mind you, but she’s been a very valuable friend to me.”

“A friend?” I asked, trying to imagine a fire that changed form and walked around like a ‘monger.

“Rudy, dear?” Frydmack asked of the empty room. There was a moment of silence when I thought he was just some crazy old man, but when a spot of the room glowed bright red, I watched as a sizable dollop of molten metal fell to the floor, warming it up to a cozy temperature. “Valerie, this is Rudy, my friend, the living flame.”

“Hello,” a small voice spoke, almost like a whisper through the cracking of a fireplace. I realized it was a hiss of water, shaped in steam to a word.

“Hi, Rudy,” I said, extending my hand to the glob of orange. It drew back, perhaps afraid to hurt me. “It’s ok. I’m a firemonger. We don't get burned.” I walked closer until my hand touched down on the scorching surface of metal. It was so soft and comfortable. I dug into the surface with my fingers to find it pliable.

“Rudy’s a living flame, but I made her a container of enchanted iron powder that holds the metal in a constant melted state. She controls the density, and can run like magma, or tumble like a solid metal ball.” Frydmack smirked with confidence.

“It’s amazing,” I said, running my hand over the surface until it shifted away. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. My hollow is just craving sources of heat right now. I want to just hold you up against my chest like a soft molten pillow.”

“Thank you,” Rudy whispered. “Most beings I interact with here, I hurt. It is good to know my kind can coexist with someone in this world.” Rudy tumbled over to the wall, then slid up the surface of it while trickling away into a corner of the room.

“So?” Frydmack asked. “Would you like a living flame of your own?”

“Is it that easy?” I asked.

“It’s the middle of the night,” he replied. “So, yes. All we need to do is point my brilliant… Oh.” Frydmack looked around the room to find a pile of machinery that I crashed into with Merkal.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I hope we didn’t break anything important.”

“This place was due for a cleaning,” Frydmack said. “Let me just…” He walked up to Merkal slowly to grab hold of a metal handle right behind him. When he tugged on it, the whole mass of machinery tumbled out. Merkal stepped in to protect the old man from the cascade.

“Why, thank you,” he said. “Now, let’s see! The coils are intact. Arbitration matrix is still in place. Runes all in place. Good! Looks like all we have is some surface damage. Rudy can fix that right up.” He held the contraption up to the corner of the room until a drip of red appeared, extending like vines to weaken and shift the pieces of the machine back into a tube form. “Thank you, beautiful.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“A Sear Seeker,” Frydmack said. “This little device can let you communicate with a star in the night sky,” he said. “There are so many, and most are looking for a change. It might take some searching, but no time like the present.” Frydmack pulled a lever nearby as the roof of the room opened to the sky brimming with stars. It was not a field, but a sea. “All yours, Valerie. Hold it up to your eye, point it at a star, and turn to focus. When you’re ready to meet, click this button at the base.”

“O- Ok,” I said, putting the tube up to my eye. At first everything was a blur, but when I turned the cylinder, a patch of sky was much closer. I focused on one particular star glowing a gentle orange light just like my older brother’s fire. When I clicked the button, the rod remained in the air without me holding it up. I could still see the orange hue of light, but it looked as if it was getting closer. In a few more seconds the light was too bright to look at.

“Heya!” Said a voice from the tube. “Oooo, a projection actualizer. Fancy. Don’t mind if I do!” I watched as light appeared from the tube to create a short teardrop of fire on the floor, flickering pale orange.

“Hello,” I said, crouching closer. “My name’s Valerie. I’m a firemonger.” The flame expanded a lick that touched down to my chest. I drew back, but it felt so comfortable.

“Hmm,” the flame said. “What’s wrong with you? Where is your core?”

“A wizard stole it,” I said. “I’m trying to get it back, but if it takes too long, I might be snuffed out. Frydmack here helped me get in contact with a living flame so that I could, possibly, live long enough to find my fire.” The flickering teardrop of flame shifted around a little until it imitated the basic human figure, still blazing wildly on top of his head and shoulders.

“How long would that take? Like a couple hundred years?”

“Two weeks,” I replied. The little person laughed, doubling in laughter. “It’s not funny.”

“Yes, sorry,” he said, standing back up. “It’s just such a short time. Two weeks is a blink of an eye for me.”

“Does that mean that you can help me?”

“Definitely!”

“Thank you!” I exclaimed and threw my arms around the little standing person, only to fall right through the fire. “Right. You’re currently made of light.”

“Not to mention you would get severely burned from my heat,” he said. I smiled.

“‘Mongers don’t burn that easily,” I said.

“Speaking of you being here,” Frydmack cut in. “Would you prefer inhabiting iron, titanium, or platinum?”

“Ooooo, can I try all of them on?”

“Of course!” Frydmack exclaimed.

“What should I call you?” I asked.

“We don’t really use names up yonder,” he said. “It’s up to you.”

“Then how about…” I said, searching my mind for a fun name. “Daorin? Rin for short?”

“Rin, huh?” He asked. “I LIKE IT!”

“I’m so glad,” I said, smiling. I wanted to hold a soft and squishy pillow filled with the warmth of the sun to my chest. It would feel the closest it could to having my fire back. I watched as the hovering tube reeled the light back in. Right after, the end glowed a bright white that I could not keep looking at. Frydmack, now wearing the goggles from his forehead over his eyes, had a container of each metal in powder form, holding one up each time the blast of light went off. Rin decided on platinum for the smoothness and strength, settling into a shape of a brick with a face.

“Could—Could you… No, it’s fine,” I hesitated.

“What is it?” Daorin asked, voice much like Ruby’s, a whisper through the gentle fwooshing sound.

“I like it when you’re made of squishy metal,” I said. “But if you don’t want to be that, I understand.” The brick smiled, then melted into a glob of platinum, with a little bit of pale orange flame running on the surface.

“Let's test that firemonger skin of yours,” he said. “Come on.”

I wasted no time picking up his blobby shape and cradling him into a hug. The sensation was even better than I could have imagined. Rin fluctuated his shape between soft and hard while his bulk displaced over my chest and shoulders. For that brief moment, it felt like I had my fire back. There was warmth in my belly. It almost felt like I could produce fire, but I feared giving it a try.

“You’re so soft and squishy!” I said, rubbing my cheek on the shifting mass of molten platinum metal inhabited by the energy of a star. It felt like something out of a dream. It was a shame that it had to start as a nightmare.

“Wow,” Daorin said with a hushed whisper voice just like Rudy. “You sure are resilient, I’ll give you that. Your fire’s multicolor?”

“Yes,” I replied, hesitating. “Everyone hated it.”

“Well, I love that,” Rin said. “My kind can shift to all visible light energies, and produce all of them at once, but it never dances like the fire in your eyes. It’s very pretty.”

“Thank you, Rin,” I said, feeling a blush heat up white hot on my skin. “And thank you for making time for me. I think I can live long enough by your side to get my fire back.”

“I am glad,” Merkal said, coming up to sniff at the molten platinum that settled on my shoulders. The pale orange flames licked from the surface like flickering fire shoulder pads. “We must continue on.”

“And thank you, Frydmack,” I said, coming up to the old man, forgetting that he was not a ‘monger. “Oh, sorry. Rin, would you mind stepping off me for a moment? I want to give Frydmack a hug.”

“Aww, you don’t have to do that for this old fool,” Frydmack said, looking embarrassed. His nose was visibly red from it. I still stepped up and held him with lingering heat from Daorin still making me feel like myself.

“You deserve a hug for being a very good person,” I said.

“Thank you, Valerie.”

When we stepped apart, his eyes looked glazed with welling tears, but I did not ask why that was so. He sniffed and rubbed the water away with a smile. I picked Daorin up again and he took the same seat on my shoulders. The flames reminded me of home, and the heat gave me hope.

I slept on Merkal’s back as he ran in the darkness of night only lit by the endless sea of stars. I had one of those very distant flames cradled up against me in a pillow of molten platinum. Merkal decided to daybreak a bit to the front so that we did not hit anything else on the way. It was also the only amount he could muster for an extended period without proper training. I felt happy, but kept thinking back to my mom and dad finding my note.

When I woke up, we landed on the ground. It was nothing but wasteland as far as the eye could see, and Daorin was back on my shoulders, licking my face with the pale orange flame.

“The puppy needs a rest,” Rin said.

“You try running half the night,” Merkal growled back. I felt a bit of tension between them. “I’m sorry, Valerie.”

“No, I’m sorry,” I said, feeling like I was taking advantage of his help. “I was just snoozing away on your back while you were working hard to carry us.” I smoothed a hand over his head and rubbed my cheek up against it.

“Thank you,” he said. “I wish there was some water here.”

“What do you mean?” Rin asked. “There is a large water vein running right under us.” I reached over my shoulders and pulled on his glob of platinum until Daorin came off whole.

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“Oh, your poor eyes,” he said. “I have six different types of vision. One allowing me to see this world through and through. There is a vein of water running here. Want me to tap into it?”

“You can?” Merkal asked.

“I have so much pent up energy that I can turn this place into a forest. That’s what we do sometimes, redistribute resources to create quality lands.”

“You’re amazing, Rin,” I said.

“Yes, yes I am,” He said. “Set me down and stand back, I’ll just make a small river here.” I set the bundle of platinum down as it tumbled away. Rin made a cube shape and solidified it while exiting in his lightforme. It was a short little person with flaming hair and shoulders just like the projection I tried to hug.

He put his little stick hands up to make a torch of pale orange fire with a yellow inner pilot light. With that, Rin lowered the blaze into the ground for a few seconds, then ran back to the cube of platinum, jumping into it as it became molten thanks to his influence. Once he was liquid enough, Rin jumped back on my shoulders. The hole he made did not fill with water right away, but after a few seconds a large torrent of muddy water rushed out, slowly turning clear blue.

“Fun fact,” Rin said. “Water carries all life, even out in our domain, but it is a mystery where it comes from.” I shuddered at the thought of water touching my skin.

“I hate it,” I said. “Water is dangerous for my kind.”

“I need it,” Merkal said, coming up to lap water from the stream still running a short distance in the air before it spread over the sandy surfaces. I watched Merkal show his pup side by biting at the water stream with his silver fangs and a bit of aggression. I almost laughed.

“Thank you, Rin,” I said, then lowered my voice. “Did something happen between you and Merkal while I was asleep? I noticed a little tension between you two.”

“Oh, that’s because I burned him a little,” he replied. “He said that he’s fire resistant, so I tried going onto him like I did with you, but it burned him. I guess he’s not as strong as you.”

“Oh,” I said. “Did you apologize?”

“For what? He’s the one who said I can sit on him, but was wrong.”

“But you hurt him,” I said.

“It’s not my fault that he’s weak,” Rin said.

“It is the stronger that must be careful with their strength,” I said. It was something from Dad, but I could not place when I heard it. Getting burned was not something ‘mongers ever worried about, but the places where the clans lived were flammable to a degree. Even if something got set on fire, we could just walk in the flames without any worry. Even though, ‘mongers still had to be careful of fire to maintain their houses made of wood and stone.

“Fine,” Daorin said, and slunk off to Merkal’s side. “I’m sorry I burned you, Merkal.”

“It was my fault,” he said.

“Right?” Rin asked.

“Rin!” I protested.

“Let’s just say we were both at fault,” Rin said. “Ok?”

“Ok,” Merkal replied. “I’m good on water, Valerie.”

“Come on, Rin,” I said, holding out my hands. He jumped into my arms and we spun for a few turns before settling on my shoulders. I jumped onto Merkal’s back as he was bracing for his run, and barely managed to grab on before he took his first leap. We took off at an amazing speed along the ground as the sun started coming up. I watched the closest of Daorin’s kind light up the sky and smiled. Even if I was to die soon, this would be a treasured memory.

When Merkal stopped, I could see a big tower in the distance, with smaller stone towers of varying colors surrounding the central one. It looked multicolor just like my fire, and the hollow feeling pulled me right toward it, even with Rin around my shoulders.

“That’s the Arcanos Deuterium,” Merkal said, while I slipped off his back. “The wizard school of this continent. Is your fire there?”

“Yes, I can feel my hollow pulling in that direction,” I said. “Should we wait for night and fly in?”

“Oh, wow,” Rin said. “You guys can’t see it, but that place is surrounded by so many bubbles of magic. I could get through in my lightforme. Can’t say the same about you two.”

“We should go through the checkpoint,” Merkal said. “People will stare, but their looks can’t hurt us. Only…” He made eye contact with me so that I could see the blazing fire of my eyes in the reflection.

“My eyes, right,” I said. “Way ahead of you.” I pulled a pair of dark blue spectacles that my dad used to read for just this reason. With my eyes hidden, none of the wizards could tell I was a firemonger. I could even blend in with the wizard kids if I just had a wand. I looked around near some trees and found the perfect fallen branch.

“What’s that for?” Daorin asked. “Can I eat it?”

“Wait!” I exclaimed before the molten platinum rolled over the fragile wooden branch. “That’s going to be my wand. I’m going to have to pretend to be one of them to find the boy. I was actually hoping you’d lend me your powers as pretend magic, Rin.”

“Magic is pretty much just different ways of using energy created by my kind, so sure,” he said. “I’ll make you a wizard, Valerie. What about the big puppy? I don’t think they would let you take him into the school.” I looked at Merkal.

“My part is done,” He said. “I brought you here, and will bring you to the school, but as the blob says, the next venture you need to overcome on your own.” I smoothed a hand over his soft fur and hugged him. “I just wish I could set my fangs on the boy who hurt you, but all you need to do is call out my name, and I will come to your side.”

“You’re a wonderful friend, Merkal,” I said. “I’ll feed you loads of meat when we get home.” I climbed onto his back to take off running again toward the city in the distance. I felt my inner fire sputter a little, wavering inside. It had already been a few days of travel. Dad said that a person survived two weeks, but it was an extreme case. I felt myself slip away slowly, growing weaker on every breeze.

When we got close enough, I got off Merkal’s back and we joined the line to get into the city by magical means. The guards opened portals inside by way of an enchanted gem to limit who went through. Just ahead of us was a cart filled with fish, which made a terrible smell, but I was hungry past it. Merkal was about to steal a fish off the cart when nobody was looking, but I caught him by the scruff off the neck to stop.

“Sir?” I asked, “Excuse me, Sir?!” One of the people sitting on the fish cart looked back at us. “Can we buy a fish?”

“My, oh, my,” the man said. “A daywolf, all the way out here?”

“His name’s Merkal,” I said. “And I’m Valerie. How much for a fish?” I pulled out what little money I took from home. Traders came by to the ‘monger clans sometimes to peddle various things, trading for delightful smoked and dried meats to sell in larger towns. Firemongers were the greatest at cooking, especially meat.

“What do you have?” He asked, looking back over the cart of fish.

“How much for a fish?” I asked again. I knew if I told him how much I have, he would set the price too high. With him setting the price without knowledge of my goods, left room for me to haggle out a good deal. Mom was great at haggling, and tried to pass the knowledge down to us.

“Well, inside the city it would be eleven crowns,” He said. “But I’ll give you a special discount since we are not inside yet. Eight crowns for a fish.”

“Have a heart, sir!” I fired back. “There is no way a fish that’s been out in the sun like this could be worth eight crowns. How does three sound?” This made the man turn around in his seat with a smile.

“Can’t go lower than six, missy,” He said. “Though they may not be the freshest, I have a bunch of cold ones deep in the cart that are definitely worth eleven crowns a piece.”

“But we are talking about the ones on top,” I said. “But I understand. How about four crowns for one fish?”

“You’ve got quite the gall, girlie,” He said. “Five is the lowest I can possibly offer that would let me keep my dignity.” I looked down at my hand holding six crowns and picked out five coins. I handed them over and he grabbed hold of the topmost fish on the cart, throwing it at us with a lunge. Merkal opened his maw, but I grabbed the fish out of the air before he took it all. He growled, which prompted his stomach to grumble in hunger.

“Sorry,” I said, smoothing his fur. “Trust me. I’ll feed you right now. Rin, can you help us heat it up? This is also a perfect chance to see how the magic thing will work. Here.” I took out the branch from before to point it like a wand. “When I make motions with the wand, you can move and help out, but if I don’t have the wand out, stay in the platinum. Ok?”

“Ok,” Daorin said. I waved the wand at the fish as Rin manifested a pale orange flame to roast it right before our eyes. It did not draw too much attention from the people on the line seeing as we were entering a wizarding city.

“Can you cut a third of it off?” I whispered, waving the stick where I wanted the cut to go. Daorin slashed the fish and reeled back to my shoulders. I caught the hot large portion and held it out to Merkal. He chomped down on the head and held it between his jaws until we stopped moving again. He then lowered his head to the ground, and devoured the fish, bones, scales, eyes, and all.

I bit into the fish tail that remained, finding tougher scales than I thought. It took a bit of knife cutting to get a good bite in, but it was warm and filling to my empty stomach. By the time we got to the mage guards, my part of the fish was all bones. Merkal met my eye and I tossed it up for him to munch on.

It was easy enough to get in pretending to be a new student to Arcanos Deuterium. The guards only remarked to keep my pet daywolf on a leash and pick up Merkal’s poops. I expected him to bark at them, but he remained quiet for my sake. Right past the portal, the city around the school stood tall in the distance. It looked big. I started worrying again, only to be nudged by Merkal’s snoot. I met his eyes and knew what he meant.

“You’re right,” I said. “I’m not giving up.”

Merkal’s presence sure gathered attention as we walked through the streets of the city. When another mage guard saw him walking freely, he demanded I buy him a leash. My final crown went toward buying that unnecessary leather lanyard. When I tried to put the collar on Merkal, he growled at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “Can you just wear it for a bit?”

“Don’t close it too tightly,” he replied, lowering his head to allow the shackling. I would have Daorin burn the damn collar after all this was done. Merkal looked a little hurt to be saddled with the embarrassment, but I smoothed his fur and rubbed my forehead against his side in thanks.

Further into the city, I started to see students of the school, wearing uniforms with hoods that turned into magic hats when thrown over the head. I had to get one of those if I was going to blend in. A few alleys later, I found one such garment drying on a clothesline. I hesitated only for a moment before taking it out of necessity.

The hoodie was made of some sort of black glittery mesh. It looked as if they wove stars into the fabric, and turned out to be fireproof as Daorin accidentally licked the surface. I slipped it on, finding it a little baggy, but it shrunk to my size in an instant. The hood was hanging behind me, but when I threw it over my head it changed into a pointy hat with a wide brim.

“Perfect,” I said. “But I hate it.”

“Me, too,” Merkal said. “You look like a witch.”

“It’s temporary,” I said, then felt a pang in my chest. My hollow pulled heavier than before. I was running out of time. Rin slipped from my shoulder and settled over my chest to keep me warm, but the emptiness remained, pulling toward the school.

“We need to get going,” I said. “I don’t think I have much time left without my fire.” Two weeks was a rough estimate after all. I was still a kid. I looked into Merkal’s eyes and forced a smile, but I could see the sadness there. It felt as though he looked right through my pretending.

“Get on,” He said. “We’re running there.”

It took only minutes of running on the top of buildings to reach the gates of Arcanos Deuterium, but Merkal hesitated to leave me. I promised to shout his name when I got in trouble, and he promised to listen for it nearby. I kissed his forehead and held my forehead to his for a moment. It felt as thought this was the last time I would be able to see him, and it tore at my heart. I had to stay hopeful.

It took just minutes to find the boy. His aura stood out to me, but my hollow did not pull toward him. There was something wrong. When he got done in the bathroom, I cornered him in a corridor. Everyone else was in classrooms, allowing us to have it out in private.

“Remember me?” I asked, lowering my blue spectacles so that he could see the blazing multicolor flame in my eyes. His shock was welcome, but his hand already searched for his wand. I could not let him defend himself. “Daorin!” The bundle of molten platinum bounced from my back and turned into shackles that held the boy’s hands with a bit of a sear to his wrists, bound to a hard ball of platinum that was Rin.

“Firemonger girl?” He asked, as if he never expected to see me again. What a horrible mentality it was to take something so precious from another living being and expect no revenge. He tugged at the hot shackles and heavy ball with no use. “You’re still alive! I’m glad!”

“No, you aren’t,” I said through my teeth. My chest felt so cold without Daorin, but I pushed through it. “You took my fire knowing full well you were killing me.”

“Ok, yes, I’m sorry,” He said.

“‘I’m sorry’ doesn’t cut it!” I said, feeling my vision swim. I breathed in, but caught no air. “Give— Give it back…” I watched myself fall, having no strength to do anything about it. The boy caught me in his arms somehow, something I really hated.

“VALERIE!” Daorin echoed out, as my consciousness faded. It felt like a dream, the happy and the bad. I almost expected to wake up at home, back to my family treating me like an outcast. I wanted to meet a star, an artificer, and a talking daywolf pup runaway, but that felt like such fantasy for a meer ‘monger.

When I woke up, I was cradled in soft plush. I rubbed my forehead against it while trying to identify what surface at home it was, but it was a mystery. It would make more sense if I opened my eyes. The second my eyelids opened, a yellow glow of the surface recalled a reel of events in my mind. I sat up on Merkal’s back to find us standing in the night sky over the wizarding school. There was someone sitting closer to Merkal’s neck.

“You’re awake,” Merkal said, turning the boy wizard around to find his hands tied.

“What’s he doing here?” I asked.

“Hey, it’s not like I had a choice!” He protested. In response, Daorin lifted him into the air with a lick of flame and dangled him over the fall. “Wait! No! I’m sorry!”

“Do I drop him, Valerie?” Rin asked. I gave it a pause to have him sweat a bit about the outcome.

“No, put him back on,” I said. “We need him to find my fire.”

“Exactly!” He said. “You NEED me!”

“Don’t push it,” I said.

“Ok, sorry.”

Merkal growled at him as Rin set the boy wizard back onto his back.

“I’m dying,” I said. “I know that I’m dying. I know I don’t have long, not without my fire. Why did you take it?” He shrugged.

“They teach us here that if you can take something, you take it,” he said. “It’s a basic rule. The strong rule over the weak. The smart overcome the simple. Magic is really competitive, I mean. I was tired of being the odd one out.” Odd one out. I always felt like that, even with my family. He could not possibly understand what it felt like.

“Sorry, what’s your name?” I asked. “You heard mine when Daorin shouted it, but I don’t know who you are.” The boy's eyebrows raised in surprise.

“I’m Yale,” he replied. “Yale Tandris, second year. I spent my first year here being bullied by stronger and smarter wizards, so I wanted to change that this year. That’s why I took your fire. I wanted to be the strong one for once, but I was dumb enough to ask my teacher how to bind the frozen flame to a gemstone. He stole my— err… your fire, and gave me detention instead. His name is Professor Havernacht. I don’t know his first name. You can probably find him on your own, right?”

“No, you are leading us directly to him,” I said.

“Valerie,” Daorin said, manifesting a face so that I could meet his eyes. “I was thinking. Maybe I should replace your inner fire. It would mean giving up my existence here for as long as you’re alive, but that’s still not that long. How long do firemongers live anyway, fifty years? I’m willing to sacrifice that so that you can live.”

“I can’t let you do that, Rin,” I said. “I just need my fire back. I will be ok with it back, but I would love it if you stayed by my side a while longer. I… I really like having you around. You and Merkal are probably the best things that have happened to me in my whole life.”

“Many more great things to come,” Merkal said. “I’ll fight fang and claw to keep you alive. I’ll rip this Havernacht to shreds!”

“Whoa!” Yale said. “Your buddies are angry. Hey, I want to help you get the fire back, too.” I grimaced my welling tears away because of his presence. I did not trust him. He wanted power, just like any wizard, and I had a feeling that he would betray my trust the first chance he got. Nonetheless, I decided to take a chance on him, for now. It was something of keeping your enemies closer than the best of friends. I forgot whether it was Mom or Dad who said something like that.

“I’ll trust you,” I said. “After all, we need you, Yale. But if you break this trust, Daorin will burn you down to ash.”

“Savage, but understandable,” He said. “It’s just so great you happened to luck into so much power while I struggled for years under the boots of stronger people only to be slapped upside the head by my instructor who took it away. You think I WANTED to steal your fire? They told me it’s the only way I can get stronger! It’s really their fault— their…”

“I told you not to push it, Yale,” I said.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m equally upset, just for different reasons. I’ll ask Havernacht for the fire back so that I can be the one to return it to you.” I doubted his motives, but chose to give him the benefit of the doubt. “All in all, this is actually really cool. I’ve never ridden a daywolf. And did you say your other friend is a star? Like from the sky? I thought he was a fire elemental or something. Could I also get a star of my own like him?” I furrowed my brow in annoyance. “Ok, ok, I’ll shut up now.”

We waited until daybreak to set down and find the teacher that Yale mentioned. The old man sat in a courtyard drinking what looked to be a volatile brew. The cup had a swirling tornado over it throwing off blue sparks every few seconds. When he took a sip, the tornado subsided and the sparks stopped for the time his lips touched the cup, then resumed the chaos. Yale met my eyes and held up his hands still bound by platinum shackles. I looked to Daorin ro remove them, watching a whip of flame slip them off back to the home blob.

“I’ll get your fire back, Val,” Yale said, drawing his wand. That was the first test of trust. If he attacked us, it would be understandable, but he actually walked out into the courtyard toward the professor. The second test of trust would be if he actually asked for the fire back or instead told the teacher about us. I watched him silently, smoothing Merkal’s fur in uncertainty.

“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THAT FIRE!” The old man burst out, drawing his own wand. He spun the stick in the air, gathering clouds above him into a strike of lightning.

“YALE SHIELD YOURSELF!” I shouted. Both the old man and Yale looked back to me. Yale threw up a shield around himself that bounced the lightning strike at a nearby metal statue, which melted instantly from the energy. “He needs help!” I jumped onto Merkal’s back as he jumped into the courtyard, silver teeth bared at the old man still spinning his wand overhead. “GIVE ME BACK MY FIRE!”

“VALERIE, NO!” Yale shouted, pointing his wand back at the teacher. It was too late, a torrent of water swept over Yale, throwing him against a stone wall. I understood what he meant. Water was my mortal enemy. Contact with it in my weakened state would snuff me out.

Merkal threw me off his back, taking the brunt of the torrential whip of water. Daorin caught me on the ground, shifting to set me down upright. I watched as Merkal withstood the torrent of water for a few seconds. The old man motioned to the molten statue, throwing the blazing metal around my friend. When it set, there was a cage around him. Try as he might to bite through the bars with his metal teeth, Merkal was imprisoned.

“YOU FILTHY FIREMONGER!” The old man shouted. “KNOW YOUR PLACE!” He readied another torrent of water above his head, swirling like a snake with ice spikes along the length. When he threw it in my direction, Daorin jumped out to take the impact, blazing hot as a platinum wall. The water hit, turning his form stuck. He wasted no time to go lightforme, only to be trapped inside a vial the old mage was holding.

I could not leave them like this. I had no strength to give, unless… Unless I used my life. I grit my teeth with tears welling in my eyes. I wanted to live with them a little longer, have more fun. I thought of Merkal’s warm soft back, and the soft blazing squishiness of Daorin’s molten platinum body pillow, then let go of the last energy I held back.

Fire burst from my eyes and mouth with a roar, swirling inferno of multicolor flame dancing in the day. Havernacht reeled back just long enough for his wand to spontaneously burn up in the swirling inferno. My hollow now felt like a really cold hug against my body. Pressure held me empty of heat while I produced the largest gout of flame I had even seen.

The last thing I saw was Yale running up to the teacher to deliver a very heavy punch to the man’s face. I smiled. He was trustworthy after all. I was glad I gave him a chance. I watched him hold up my frozen fire in the last dazzling colors above, knowing full well he held my life in his hands for the second time. I doubted getting it back now would even help. I felt my hollow hug me freezing cold. The fire inside me was now entirely gone.

He took off running toward me, sliding up with a hurry to cradle my neck. He needed to release the spell, but his wand was equally burnt up in the inferno I created to give him the winning opportunity. He seemed to be shouting, looking around, but nobody came to his side. Everyone just looked on, hands on their wands, bracing to defend themselves. His hand felt warm on the back of my neck. It was about the only thing I could feel, before that was gone as well.

My eyesight waned, but his motion shook my eyes open again. He held up the orb of frozen multicolor fire, and mouthed “I’m sorry.” His hand crushed the time freeze spell, sending my inner fire raging in his fist. He was in visible pain, but brought it up to me and pushed the swirling orb into my chest. I closed my eyes, ready to accept the end.

Within, I stood in darkness with my hollow’s arms around me. I turned in her embrace to hug her back, rubbing her back in consolation. I felt a light behind me, but did not turn. It was only when my hollow let go of the hug, meeting my eyes with her own distantly gray eye holes, did I consider turning around. My hollow nodded, then assisted in turning me on the spot to find my fire, a figure clothed in licking multicolored flames of my size and shape floating in the darkness on long billows of shifting multicolor flame.

She descended to the surface we were standing on and held out a hand. I looked back one more time to find my hollow gone. I was a little sad about it, but took my fire’s hand as the multicolored flames danced back onto my skin, spreading like wildfire all over me. It felt so warm and comfortable. When I closed my eyes again, I opened them to Yale’s face looking down in defeat.

“What’s got you so down, Yale?” I asked. His face went from surprise, to happiness, to welling tears, and arrived to finally hold them back and clear his throat.

“Better now,” he said. “How about you?”

I sat up to view the field of wizards and witches staring at us. I tested my fire with a clenched fist in front of my face. It made a small swirling orb of multicolor flame I had missed so much. I felt tears well in my eyes, but there were other things to do first. I found the magic bottle containing Daorin’s lightforme and crushed it to release him. Next, I expanded a whip of my multicolor fire to cut the cage Havernacht put Merkal in. I stood beside my daywolf friend, as my living flame buddy climbed onto my shoulders to blaze an inferno of pale orange flame above, licking flames into the courtyard.

“STOP STEALING OUR FIRES!” I shouted. “WE ARE ALIVE JUST LIKE YOU!” With that, I climbed onto Merkal and blasted my fire in a cone until it tightened into a multicolored drill of fire. He ran forward as the drill destroyed any wall that stood in our way. We were outside in a few seconds, running on top of buildings to leave the city. I forgot to thank Yale for his help, but maybe his assistance was more of an apology for almost killing me.

When we got closer to the bubble of spells surrounding the city, I tapped Merkal’s side, pointing down. He jumped into the air as I output the highest intensity multicolor flame I have ever produced. The cone churned with different colors so fast that it stopped being multicolor. I looked ahead at a blaze of white flame as it dug into the ground, melting the path underneath the shield to the outside.

When we got far enough from Arcanos Deuterium, Merkal stopped running to rest in a meadow. I sat beside him, cradling my hot platinum pillow, star, friend.

“Did you see that?” I asked. “My fire looked white there for a moment. Maybe I can find a way for it to always look like that.”

“Please, don’t,” Daorin said, manifesting a face. “I love your fire just the way it is.”

“I also prefer the swirling colors,” Merkal said. “Don’t change yourself because of others’ opinions. Your fire is yours, now and forever. And I…” I felt a pang of sadness approaching. “I need to go back to the Fangs. I was never taught to hunt or fight. I need to learn these skills to protect those precious to me. I will see you again, back at your home. We are kin, after all.”

“I understand,” I said. “I’m going to miss you, you big furball. As much as I want to just stay with the two of you, I know I have to go home. You’re welcome to come along with me, Rin, if you’d like.”

“How long is that gonna take? A couple hundred years?”

“Less than fifty,” I said, smiling at the repeated question.

“I DO like this little platinum home,” he said. “And we can visit Frydmack one of those times, see— see Rudy, maybe.”

“Does someone have a crush?” I asked jokingly.

“If you could have seen her through my six types of vision, you would understand,” Daorin said. “We’d make so many beautiful new energies together.” I wanted to explore how a living flame from the night sky created more, but only smiled.

We ran back the same way, only with more running in the night sky, fully blazing in daybreak for short amounts of time. When Merkal was fully lit, I extended a whip of flame, swirling in my multicolored flame as a streak in the night sky. We must have looked like a comet of light and fire, dancing through the sky at breakneck pace.

It was night when we arrived at the village where my clan lived. Merkal was not glowing bright, just enough to see where we were going. The central pyre blazed eternal into the night sky. It was our homing beacon out of stones amidst the burning. Each clan had their own special way of arranging the beacon, always welcoming of strangers arriving in the night. Two people worked tirelessly to feed the fire from wood and other items gathered throughout the day.

Everyone brought something in the evening, be it meat to roast on the pyre, or a broken piece of furniture to dispose of. It was a social event where everyone gathered as a clan, celebrating prosperity and showing off their fire with dancing and shows.

We flew down next to my house in silence, and I held onto Merkal one last time, rubbing my forehead on his soft glittering golden fur to remember his scent and glow. Though we would see each other again, I did not know how long his Fangs training would take. I watched him run off in the darkness and light up his daybreak one last time in the sky before only the stars remained.

I found Dad sitting at the kitchen table in the middle of the night, glass of fire rum in his hand. It was an alcohol allowed to adults that ‘mongers created from the heatosh, the extremely bitter fruit that loved really warm climates. When the door closed behind me, he turned to look at me, instantly getting up to my side as the glass broke on the ground loudly.

“Honey?” Mom asked from the other room. “Are you ok?”

Dad had me in his big arms without a word, tears welling in his eyes from happiness. When he did not respond, Mom appeared, and closed the distance to us with her green fire burst. That made a sound which brought out my brothers, who were not so stoked to see me.

“Are you ok, Valerie?” Mom asked, “We read your note. What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, then held up my fist with a swirling orb of my multicolored fire. “I got it back, thanks to some friends. One of which is on my back right now. Rin, wanna meet my family?” The glob of molten platinum on my back slipped to the ground and tumbled over to the four of them. Daorin manifested his lightforme on top of the blob, licking pale orange flames on his shoulders and hair.

“Pleasure to meet you,” He said. Henry stepped closer and produced his fire to compare the hues. They were the same. “Ooooo, you got the same energy signature. That’s rare. I’m Daorin.”

“Henry,” my eldest brother said, moving his hand through the lightforme. “Are you…”

“I’m from the sky,” Rin said. “A star. An artificer friend of ours helped Val here get in contact with me and I helped her get her fire back.” Mom stepped over and picked up the glob as Rin reeled back into the platinum.

“He’s so SOFT!” She exclaimed. I realized I had never seen my mom that happy before. Her hand squished into the metal, running green flame along the surface. “And so squishy.” Everyone came up to touch Daorin’s platinum body with ooo’s and ahh’s of happiness, until he tumbled back over to rest on my shoulders.

“I’m sorry I made you worry,” I said.

“I’m— We’re sorry,” Mom said. “We treated you horribly because of the way your fire looked. That was not right of us.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed. “I should show you this, but I prefer it the original way.”

“What is it, Valerie?”

“My fire,” I said, producing a large orb of fire over my palm, then swirling it faster and faster until it blazed white uniform. I slowed down the swirl back to multicolor much to everyone’s surprise. There was no chance I was some Dawnseeker that Merkal mentioned, but it felt amazing to be back home.