Awaken Online- Flame

by Travis Bagwell

  … at a farmers market, her face framed in sunshine…

  … setting a cup of coffee on his desk, a hand on his shoulder…

  … standing at their wedding, a silly dilapidated barn beside them…

  … at the births of their children…

  … in a sequined dress, her eyes gleaming as she stared up at him…

  And then Finn’s eyes snapped open.

  His body was still awash in flame, but the fire had halted. It simmered along his skin and burned through the metal of his eyes – causing the dark substance to glow a dark red.

  “What is this?” Bilel muttered in surprise, his own eyes widening. “What’s happening?”

  “This fire is fucking mine,” Finn said, his voice hoarse.

  His gaze shifted away from Bilel, searching past Julia and Kyyle, looking for the one man that could help them right now. He soon met Abbad’s gaze, the librarian’s brow furrowing in confusion, and his mana now fluctuating wildly.

  In that moment, Finn fully understood what the librarian had been asking before. It had been about himself. Did he have the strength to break free of a demon? To carve his own path, regardless of the cost.

  That had been doubt – a flicker in Abbad’s resolve. He had been looking for confirmation, for assurance that Finn was worth the sacrifice.

  And now he just needed a push.

  “Anything. Everything,” Finn bit out.

  He saw realization dawn there, light mana flaring through the librarian’s body. A decision was being made as he watched Finn stand against the overwhelming power coursing through that staff, held captive by a demon. Finn could see it in the chaotic pattern rippling through Abbad’s body.

  And then he saw what was coming next…

  A flare of air mana so intense that it illuminated the entire room. A torrential gust of wind that whipped through the chamber and tore at Finn’s robes.

  He felt his bindings disintegrate. His right hand was already moving, his fingers a blur of motion. A sphere rocketed up out of his pack in the center of the room, the surface awash in flame. Melting it down, he reformed it into a blade of molten metal that was soon hurtling directly toward where Finn stood trapped – his left arm locked in Bilel’s embrace, held captive by the power of the staff.

  Finn didn’t have time to hesitate. He didn’t have time to second guess.

  This was about survival.

  This was about Rachael.

  The metal sheared through his left forearm just below the elbow. It cut through his skin, muscle, and bone, mixing with the raging torrent of fire mana that was still surging through his body – cutting the connection with the staff. An explosion of fire mana swept through the room, slamming Finn and Bilel backward. Finn felt his back crash into the wall, his vision swimming.

  He needed to move. Struggling to push himself upright, Finn’s left arm was unresponsive. Only a burning, intense pain radiated from the limb. Then he felt himself being lifted, Julia at his side. He heard shouting – Kyyle’s voice.

  Finn looked up and saw Bilel hovering in mid-air in the center of the throne room, the staff still gripped tightly in his hand. Fire rippled across his pale skin, and he was wrapped in a shield of dense air mana, the wind whipping and spinning around him and sending gusts surging through the chamber. The demon ripped blocks of stone from the walls, the massive panels of sandstone soon encircling him and creating an impenetrable barrier around his frail, corrupted flesh. Meanwhile, the hellhounds began to yip and shake themselves off, recovering from the blast of air mana that had blasted through the room.

  Abbad was hurling spell after spell at the Emir, the slices of air mana cutting at his shields as he slowly circled him. “Run!” the air mage shouted at the group, waving at the glass on the far end of the throne room.

  That was the only instruction they needed.

  They sprinted for the windows, his daughter snatching his pack from the ground as they passed and the hounds nipping at their heels.

  Kyyle let loose a flash of earth mana. A massive lance of stone jutted out of the floor, crashing through the glass and forming a stone ledge on the other side. The rock speared out and over the wall at the southern end of the city, hovering more than a hundred feet above the sands below them.

  The group raced down that narrow ledge, never slowing. And then they leaped. They jumped out into open air, hot sunlight shining down upon them, and yellow sand lingering below. Mana flashed and sizzled, bolts of energy rocketing just above their head and the hellhounds lingered just behind them, their paws pounding against the stone floor.

  Then the group was weightless and falling once more.

  And there was only one thought drifting through Finn’s mind, piercing through the haze of pain and noise and color that swirled around him.

  I’m coming for you, Rachael.

  I’ll never stop coming for you.

  Chapter 53 - Devious

  Finn’s eyes shot open.

  His body was whole, his breathing even. There was no pain.

  Thick canvas drifted overhead, streamers of silk spiraling down from the ceiling. The surface of the tent billowed, and the wooden supports creaked as though an invisible wind pushed against the fabric.

  Above the many, many thoughts, questions, and worries that swam and circled through his head in that moment, Finn couldn’t help but wonder if it was real – the wind, that is. Was there really anything out there beyond the canvas walls? Or maybe this was just some sort of unique instance, limited only to the Seer. He’d never peeked outside the tent; never taken the time to push aside the flap and step out into whatever rested on the other side.

  Even more interesting, the tent was awash in color – not the telltale rainbow energy that Finn had become accustomed to since he had augmented his eyes. No, these were normal colors, the usual spectrum of light. He raised a hand and wasn’t entirely surprised to find soft skin where rigid metal should be.

  That lent some credibility to his theory.

  “Get up,” a familiar voice barked. “We don’t have much time, and we shouldn’t waste it with your musings.”

  Finn pushed himself upright and turned to glare at the goddess. The woman sat sedately at her table, wrapped in purple silks and her burning eyes focused on her cards. Her hands were a blur. The snap of paper filled the tent as she shuffled and reshuffled the tarot deck, her fingers bending and flexing those fortunes over and over.

  “As I see it, I can take my damn time,” Finn said evenly, rising to his feet and approaching the table. “You haven’t been straight with me.”

  He sat, staring at the Seer across from him. Waiting. Demanding.

  “What do you expect me to say?” she asked finally, her eyes still on the cards. “I told you before, my hands are bound by the rules of this world.”

  Finn let out an incredulous snort. “Don’t feed me that bullshit.” Her eyes rose to his then, the flames flaring and anger shining, but he didn’t care – not after everything that had happened. “You knew who the Emir was, what we were recovering from that damn hellhole, and what he planned to do with it.”

  Finn leaned forward. “You fucked us.”

  “You did it in the Mage Guild’s competition, when you encouraged me to take a leap into the pit, and yet again in the temple when you blackmailed me into renegotiating the terms of our deal. You fucked me each and every gods damned time you and I have spoken since I entered this world. You’ve been holding back. Playing your own damn game at my expense.”

  The fire flared in his eyes, the mana surging through his body in response to his anger. He’d almost lost his wife… His memories of her… And it was because of the Seer.

  “And what’s even worse, you did it with my wife – with Rachael – hanging in the balance,” Finn growled, barely able to hold himself back now. “Maybe Bilel is right. Maybe you and your kind are just divine parasites. Perhaps he should destroy you, and maybe I should help him do it—”

  “Are you done?�
�� the Seer snapped, interrupting his tirade. “You sound like a child, full of self-pity and wailing at the unfairness of the world. You are far, far too old for this moaning. The world isn’t fair! You know that as well as I do. Everyone has their own motives and their own objectives. But I have tried my best to help you – to uphold my end of our bargain – all while working against my own limitations.”

  Finn laughed at that, a harsh, bitter sound. “Really? Like you helped Bilel? You had his parents killed, made him an orphan, and perverted his memories. You tortured that man and drove him to corrupt his own body. You created this entire situation.”

  “I did no such thing,” the Seer hissed, the braziers around the tent roaring to life, fire licking at the air. Draco coiled around her neck, the snake’s body tightening and his serpentine eyes glaring at Finn. “I am not responsible for that man’s choices or the decisions made by my followers. I showed them a glimpse of the future – a warning of what could come to pass. They did with that what they damned well pleased. Just as Bilel chose to murder thousands out of misguided revenge.”

  She stabbed a finger at him. “Or do you think I somehow pulled your strings – like some woeful, helpless marionette? Do you have so little faith in yourself? I only offered you a purpose – a path. You chose to kill those novices in the guild. You chose to pursue the Emir’s competition, and you chose to hand him that relic knowing full well what it was.”

  The Seer let out a low, frustrated growl, the flames around the tent surging ever higher. “Travelers or residents, you’re all the same. You blame your passions for your own bad decisions, pointing at your anger, pain, fear, hope, and longing and bemoaning your lack of choice. But that’s just an excuse. The same excuse you used for ignoring your daughter’s pain – for imploding in on yourself like a dying star in the wake of your wife’s death. And the same excuse you hurl back in my face now.

  “Because it’s easier than facing the ugly truth.

  “That each and every one of you are responsible for your own decisions.

  “And for your own mistakes.”

  Finn hesitated in the face of her fury. There was some truth there, enough to make her words sting. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He could feel his anger rising. It would be so easy to give in to it, to scream and rail at her. Yet wasn’t that just more of the same? A refusal to acknowledge his own mistakes?

  The Seer settled back in her seat, the fires dimming slightly, and her eyes drifting to the cards held frozen in her fingers. “Even I have made mistakes,” the goddess murmured.

  “I regret what became of Bilel. He could have been a font of passion, of inspiration, of discovery. His fire blazed so brightly – even as a young child – that I could see him from this place,” she said with a wave of her hand at the walls of the tent.

  “I saw his path through life fork and twist, like a forest fire burning through the undergrowth. He could have been a great ruler, a benevolent king – usher in a new era of magic. Or he could become destruction incarnate, a creature of rage and hate. That is the trouble with genius. You never know which way it will turn.” Her eyes shot to Finn’s face. “I sent my followers a warning, limited only to cryptic bullshit as you so eloquently put it. They misinterpreted.”

  The Seer’s eyes drifted to the walls of the tent. “You wondered what this place is? It’s a prison. A purgatory. A lobby. I’m allowed a window into the larger world, staring through the glass but unable to touch it directly. In my desperation to escape, I stumbled. And it cost me everything.”

  She let out a soft sigh, the fires dwindling further. “As for your wife… I did withhold information. Some of that was intentional.”

  Finn’s fists clenched, and he stared her down.

  The Seer raised a hand to forestall the angry outburst she must have sensed coming. “For your own good. As I said, I am bound by the rules of this world. Rules that must be navigated carefully. Can you fly at will in your own world? Somehow defy the laws of gravity on a whim? Or must you first build yourself wings?”

  His brow furrowed at her words… what was she getting at?

  “The relic,” the Seer answered simply, picking up on his surface thoughts. “It all comes back to the staff and the gem. My relic is capable of harvesting passion, of storing the resulting fire mana, and, with enough stored energy… it is also capable of bringing back the dead,” she murmured. Her eyes snapped up to Finn. “That staff is the only way you will be able to bring back Rachael.”

  “You could have just told me that,” Finn retorted, although his voice sounded uncertain and petulant, even to his own ears.

  “Could I?” she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Let me pose it this way, what would you have done differently if I had told you Abbad’s agenda? What Bilel was? What the relic could do? The purpose of entering the Abyss?

  “Would you have been able to avoid venturing into the pit? You still needed the gem, did you not? Would you have been strong enough to face down the Emir and claim the staff? As a novice in the Mage Guild with only a few paltry levels under your belt? You are facing a demon with the better part of a century of experience. Would you have had allies in the inevitable conflict that is coming? Or, would you have been alone, facing an unstoppable tyrant and his armies?”

  Finn grimaced. He couldn’t deny her logic. Even if the Seer had told him the larger game at play, he would have still needed to recover that gem. And even after how much they had progressed within the Abyss, Finn and his companions were still no match for Bilel. That much had been painfully obvious from that last encounter.

  The Seer nodded as she touched his surface thoughts. “And was what you told Aerys untrue? The Emir – Bilel – has now betrayed you and the guilds. Gone back on his declaration. Set the stage for a possible union between the Khamsin, the merchants, the fighters, and the mages. He has made a desperate gambit – a final bid for power – and in so doing potentially united his foes against him.”

  She leaned toward him, her eyes burning, and the truth shining there. “And you stand in the center of the gameboard now. Already I feel your name whispered in dark alleys and drifting across the sands, spreading among the guilds, among the clans of the Khamsin. The man who clawed his way out of the bottom of the Abyss, who stepped from the flames, the sightless prophet who can peer between worlds.

  “I can feel their passion growing. Burning. An ember bursting into flame – ready to be fanned into a blaze that could finally wipe the sands clean of Bilel’s influence and allow these people to start anew. And they all whisper the same name…

  “The Najmat Alhidad. The Prophet of the Flame.”

  The Seer peered at him, the fires in her eyes swirling and colliding. “You say I have betrayed you? I say I have helped you move one step closer to your goal. Or have you lost your faith? Lost your passion? Lost sight of your true goal?”

  “Never,” Finn growled back. There was no hesitation – no room for doubt.

  “Good,” the Seer said, sitting back in her chair and setting the tarot cards down gently on its surface. “Then we need only discuss our bargain. I have a simple amendment – one I expect you will be more than happy to fulfill.”

  A brief pause, the goddess peering at him.

  “I want you to kill Bilel.

  “Then you will have all the pieces that you need to bring back Rachael. The staff, my relic, and a means to begin generating the mana needed to power it,” she murmured.

  “What do you say, Finn – my prophet? Do we have a deal?”

  Finn’s eyes drifted to the floor. He could see the path the Seer had laid out before him, the gameboard growing ever larger – the pieces assembled and shuffled. And as the goddess had said, he stood in the center of it all, the Seer having positioned him in just a few short moves. He was poised to start a civil war and to muster those forces to fight a demon.

  And here he was yet again, sitting in this damnable tent with a choice to make.

  Yet he could also feel a spa
rk of hope pushing back at the coil of despair that had encircled his heart since confronting Bilel. There was still a chance – a possibility to bring Rachael back. If he could combine the power of the guilds and the Khamsin, they might just be able to face the demon king. That was enough.

  He felt his resolve harden in that moment, and when Finn finally raised his eyes to meet the Seer’s, his gaze was even. The flames in his eyes burned with renewed strength.

  “I already gave Abbad my answer, and it remains the same,” Finn said.

  “I will do anything – everything – to bring her back.

  “Even kill a king.”

  Epilogue

  When Finn opened his eyes again, for just an instant, he missed the calming atmosphere of the Seer’s tent. Now he knew only a chaotic mass of pain and movement, his thoughts were vague and his body a throbbing, constant ache. The world listed and tilted around him, sunlight piercing his eyes and sand and wind washing against his skin.

  As his vision began to settle, he could see that a canopy was draped above him. Not the thick, flawless canvas of the Seer’s tent. This was worn and threadbare cloth, bleached by years under the harsh desert sun. He could feel something swaying below him in a familiar way, a lumpy roll of cloth packed under his head.

  “What… what’s going on?” he croaked. His throat felt raw, hoarse.

  His daughter’s face soon popped up in front of him, her features outlined in a shimmering blue as his Short-Sighted ability activated. He saw the worry creasing her forehead, her skin dusty and coated in sweat.

  “Good. You’re awake,” she murmured in relief. “We were worried. You lapsed into some sort of coma after the fall, and you have a fever, even after we healed your… your other injuries,” she said, hesitating slightly.

  Julia paused, biting at her lip as she peered down at him. “I know this isn’t real – not really. But after everything we’ve gone through, and with what’s still at stake…” She trailed off, the implication clear.