by Amy Mah
The whoomp sound had never really impressed her, but it was now earning brownie points with its current trick of bursting into flames. It reminded her that the whoomp sound could be similar to the finger-burning experience of lighting a gas stove.
Icelyn tried to circle her so that she would be able to have her friends behind her, but Alyce backed up to the nearest wall. She was trapped, but she was not planning on going anywhere and could now keep an eye on them all. The only way someone could get behind her was by knocking the wall down. It also meant she could reach back and touch the wall with her left hand and do her central heating act, which helped cancel out the chill from the Icelyn’s four cronies.
Alyce knew she was very good at fighting. She had been good when human, and she had been practicing everyday for, like, eternity since she had been a Demon, so “very good” was an understatement. Earths like Shale had strength, but she had skill along with a murderous competitive need to win, which like the chicken pox, she had caught from her brothers.
The Colds had numbers, good eyesight in the dark, and tricks, but Alyce knew from the center of her being that she was superior to anything Cold, and she had her own tricks. The next time Icelyn tried to force her away from the wall, she let her and was instantly surrounded by all five of them.
She was the only light source in the corridor, so they could not fail to miss her; just looking at her messed up their eyesight. What she wanted was for them to all attack at once, and that was what they tried, only to find how annoying it can be when fighting deep underground and your opponent was the only one holding the on/off switch to the light.
Five people attacking in a close area in the dark was just an accident waiting to happen. Alyce dropped to the floor and even caused someone to trip over her as she retreated from the mêlée and burst back into bright Fire to see that one had died and two were being helped away by the lucky uninjured one. Icelyn, of course, was also unhurt, so Alyce gave her a quick little curtsy, not knowing if it would mean anything to her; it had always pissed her brothers off when she did it to them.
Alyce was a little miffed that Icelyn did have real fighting skills. Even with the help of a perfectly balanced blade, Icelyn could always block her attacks and counter attack at the same time. At one point the Ice Stick touched her shoulder, and her skin was burnt from the Cold. It did not hurt for long, as without even thinking her body flames changed from an orange-red to a white-yellow. She burned hotter due to the wave of anger that started deep down: maybe not a wave but ripples of heat coming off something hidden within her. It was currently happy to stay dormant inside her, but Alyce could feel that was only a temporary situation.
And as temporary situations go, it lived up to its name. Instead of ripples this time, a wave of anger rose as from the corner of her eye Alyce saw three of the four cronies who had followed Icelyn in link tails into a position known as a power burst. Alyce had learned about differences in racial attack modes, and this one had stuck in her mind as all three held onto one Ice Stick, which was pointing her way.
Alyce’s anger of them interfering again in what she considered a match fight turned into what she nicknamed her Fireball flick: a build up of heat. She sent it eating its way through the air until it reached a surface. She had played with trying to hit Dyson with a little Fireball, and he loved the game. This time a hot flush of anger was behind the flick, and she saw three Ices pull themselves apart trying to unlink tails and move in different directions to get away from what was coming at them.
The last attack she had made on an Ice wall was mostly all show due to Alaula’s illusion of lots of Fire, which hid the single high-voltage battle bolt Pink cast. As her anger powered it through the air this time, it missed the three now scattered Icemaidens but not the wall, and even that did not stop it. As the flames died back, Alyce wondered how far it had traveled; the wall had a perfectly round hole about three feet in diameter straight through it. It must have surprised those standing behind the wall, as by heck it sure surprised her; her normal Fireball discharges were about three inches across, not three feet.
A worried look crossed Icelyn’s face not so much over the Fire attack, as that was what Heats did, and it was stupid of her cousin sisters to make themselves such easy targets, but more in regards to why the wall was not being repaired. Those behind the wall should have fixed it at once and not left a gaping hole.
The heat Alyce had released with the Fireball should have drained her, but it had the opposite effect as if her anger had awoken something that had been sleeping. She felt hot, and that was odd. She also wanted to do something, as hand-to-hand fighting for what would be hours when someone finally got around to inventing clocks was not something that should have taken her full attention.
She must have looked distracted, as Icelyn took the opportunity to attack. She had put away her blade and had both hands around her Ice Stick, which she was now using as a very blunt double-handed sword. It was pulsating with a blue light. Alyce was able to sidestep its first blow, but on Icelyn’s second swing she meet it with her flaming blade.
If they had been in a movie, the things that were now happening would have been shown in slow motion. Alyce’s blade cut the Ice Stick in half, and the icy blast threw her about 30 feet down the corridor and separated her from her blade.
Alyce was shaking from Cold, and her skin was painful. Looking down, she could see that it appeared cracked as if she were a broken vase that had been glued back together. The blast must have ripped the blade from her hands, for she looked up to see it stuck in the ceiling. And unless she could find way up there, it would have to wait for a very tall King Arthur-type warrior to pull it out.
She slumped down to her knees as her legs gave out, and she knew she had lost. The shaking had stopped, but her body felt too stiff to move. She could no longer feel the Fire inside her, not that she had taken much notice of it before. Now it felt that she had a gaping hole where her heart should be, and without it she was dead. Not all of her body knew that yet, but it would in a few moment’s time.
She felt sad. She would not be able to say goodbye to Pink, but she hoped she had bought her some time and that she would get out. No, she decided, it was more likely that she had failed to save her friend just like she had failed to save Ember.
Alyce could no longer kneel, and she fell over. Looking up did not make her feel any better, as Icelyn was standing above her. Alyce decided that of all the people she did not like, this one was at the top of the list. That thought should have been Alyce’s last, and it would have been if Icelyn had just let her die. Instead, she bent down and whispered something softly for Alyce to take to the underworld with her.
For the first time Alyce recognized what the Ice had hanging around her neck on a chain. The meaning of her words swam slowly through her mind. No flame, no Fire, no magic weapons: just that part of the Demon that thought of itself as human was listening.
The bitch was standing over her explaining how they had killed Ember by making her sleepy with a Cold spell as she slept and then slowly killed her while she was in a Cold stupor and could not defend herself. It was the same type of spell that had made it difficult for Alyce to wake up earlier, leaving Shale to fight without her help. Icelyn had crossed the line in spitefulness, and besides that, she was standing on her tail!
As a Fire Demon she was crap, as Fire needed Demonic control, but her human mind had no problem with anger. She now burned with a rage her Demonic side had not mastered: a rage that was fully human, and it took control.
Alyce swung two stiff arms up and grabbed the so-called princess that was leaning over her. Her fingers went numb as they closed around the chain that hung about her neck. Blasts of Cold washed over her, but she did not let go as she smashed her forehead onto the girl’s nose.
“You think this is cold, do you?! You don’t know what cold is! I have walked three miles home in February in the snow without a coat and wearing unsuitable shoes due to believing the cute-looking w
eather forecaster on Channel 7 who told me it was going to be a nice, mild day!”
After the blow to her nose, Alyce then nutted Icelyn, but her horns got in the way, so she changed the angle and did it again. After three more attempts she wondered if she had just gained a new Demon power of flight, but the world was spinning so erratically that she thought the only thing extra she had received was a concussion.
The Icemaiden only got away by slipping her head out of the chain that Alyce was using to hold her within nutting range. Alyce now tried to hold onto the floor as if she were going to fall off it. Her opponent was not in any better state, and after a few faltering steps back to her Cloud members, she toppled over.
Alyce’s tail still hurt, but it was not the only part currently in pain. The head butting had not been a good idea; true, it had knocked her opponent out, but it had also given her one heck of a headache. It was accompanied with strange flashing lights that had not been created by any Light and were the type that should normally be produced by some illegal drug. Something which she guessed was her own blood was running into her left eye. She must have been lying on the ground, as Shale was now standing above her wearing a worried look.
“Shale, check on that Ice bitch; I think I only knocked her out!”
Out of the one eye that was not going all blurry, she saw Shale go over to where the Icemaiden lay and give her a kick. Then she bent down and picked up the pointed metal pole that was her adversary’s weapon. It was no longer frosty; it looked more like an aluminum or maybe a steel pole.
Shale looked at it for a moment then plunged it deep into the chest of the Cold fighter. Without their leader, the remaining members of the Ice Cloud stood and watched for a few moments before trying to escape. Before they could get far, the air started to sizzle, and a loud crackle of sound matched four blinding flashes of light that knocked all four off their feet. Two did not move, and the two that could stood up and sent Ice darts towards Shale. Instead of flooring their leader’s killer, they just ran into an Earth who was running towards them. The Earth did not slow her down as she bowled into them, knocking them both down again this time before they had a chance to get up. Strong fists repeatedly crushed into them, and judging from their fallen state, none would be getting up again. Shale returned to Alyce’s side proudly holding two metal tubes.
“Nope, I think she is dead.”
Alyce was surprised at the ease with which her friends could kill.
“I didn’t say to kill her, and if we had let the others go, they would have warned the rest to stay clear of us in the future.”
Shale looked over to the very dead fighter and then turned back to Alyce.
“I’m sorry; forgive me. We all know she was your kill, and honestly I will not take any credit for it. But she needed to be finished off quickly, and you had done all the hard work in taking her down. It would not have been good if they got away. And they may even have taken all the metal sticks with them, so I had to stop them doing that. My idea of using a claw hammer was not such a good one, so I needed these to replace it.”
“Besides, I think lots of dead bodies are always a better deterrent, plus we now get to keep the Ices’ point coins. Even if we share the coins with the Earth team that Alaula was able to convince to come and help us, we will all have full points and will have finished the exams early. It was a great idea of Pink’s to help my sisters’ team with the traps. The share points system that Alaula sorted out with them has really made me look on Lights in a different way.”
The beaming smile on Shale’s face stopped Alyce from saying anything more.
“Now you sit and rest for a while as we finish off the stragglers. It will be a lot easier for me to help after I can find a way of strapping these sticks together around my leg without them going off and freezing my butt off.”
“My friends thought I was mad to throw in with you lot, but I can bet all future Earth teams will recruit at least one Light to travel with them. Who would have thought those silly weaklings could be so useful?”
“By the way, you will be pleased to know you seem to have stopped bleeding, but you still look dreadful. You got a nasty gash from that bitch’s horns that should be looked at. You are a great fighter, and it is no shame being weak. Having such a weak body is nothing to be ashamed of; not everyone can be lucky to be born an Earth, so I expect you may need to go to the Infirmary.”
Alyce held the glowing blood gem in her hands before carefully putting its chain over her head. It felt nice to touch; she did not care if it had value or even that looked it stunning. No, it reminded her of Ember, a fellow Heat that had now been lost to the world.
She watched her little team work at first piling up bodies of the now-dead Cloud members. It was strange, but in looking at the carnage she realized that she did not care about their deaths, and her central flame burned a little hotter at the thought.
The group of Earths that came back to help them was happy to have a share of the points, and together they traveled to the start point to have the scores recorded.
No more Ice Clouds showed up, which meant they were either all too busy gaining points by attacking other teams or had decided an unofficial team of four that had so completely destroyed three Clouds already was not worth the effort in attacking.
She realized that this was more like full military war games with live ammunition than any kind of role-playing game she had ever played with her brothers. Back home the only thing they murdered on a game night was a family-size pizza.
With difficulty, Alyce had convinced her little team that she was capable of going to the Infirmary on her own: not that she needed to, as all she had was a scratch. And so much for being her team! They had looked to Pink for conformation before reluctantly leaving her, but not Pink; she just ignored all Alyce’s protests of even needing to go there. After all, it was not that she was ill or anything; she just had just a scratch and a headache that would go away once she learned not to head butt other horned Demons. Shale was the one with a broken leg, but she was not going to get it looked at and said it would soon heal without some non-Earth poking at it and making it worse.
From what she had heard about the Infirmary, it was not somewhere to ever go to if you were ill, as even the most hardened Demon considered the place dangerous, which is why people went there in numbers in the hopes that some of the more healthy ones might make it out again alive.
Alyce didn’t even know where it was that she should be going, so she let Pink support her with the hope that it would shut her up. Through the now pounding headache she thought she could do with a long, stiff drink and a nice nap, but trying to think about a drink was hard with her current body unless it came packaged in a small living creature. And as for a nap, her body did understand that, so she promptly passed out.
She awoke with a start and felt hands pushing her back down as she tried to sit up. The room was white, very white, and also bright with lots of color and people, and then she passed out again.
Smoking Hot: (28)
The next time Alyce awoke slowly, opened her eyes without moving her body, and was pleased to see Pink staring back at her. At least, she was until she saw the look on her face.
“Well! It is about time! First I have to carry you here on my own due to you being stubborn and sending the others away, and then I’m forced to stay in case they want to dissect you or something. Now they will not let me leave, and I have missed eating! It was very boring to sit here for so long watching you sleep! Well, at last; now that you are awake, they can operate!”
The word “operate” did not sound good in any tense, let alone a present one.
“What are you talking about? I am perfectly fine, just a headache.”
Pink went over to a wall and tugged at a mirror until it came away. She placed it in front of her friend.
Alyce took just one look and passed out. This time she was not out for long, as it is hard to stay out when someone is painfully pulling one’s tail.
No wonder she had a headache. Alyce winced when she touched her left horn, which felt like it was no longer facing the same direction as her right one. She could only guess at whether there was any other damage, as half her head was covered in congealed blood.
She was thinking that if she could safely move her tail out of Pink’s reach, she could pass out again when someone came in. She guessed it was a Light, and it was followed by what looked like a walking plant. A few small viewing screens popped into being near her, and the female started attaching parts of the plant to her head.
“You must stay very still. This will check the damage and then activate your body’s bone growth cells to slowly encourage your body to repair itself. Understand?”
Alyce nearly nodded but stopped herself in time and just shut her eyes and muttered she understood, which was far from the truth as for all she could tell, they were going to use her skull as a plant pot. Some extra words, like “this is not going to hurt” would have been nice, but somehow she knew that was too much to hope for.
The Light was good at her job, and the only reason for wanting to remove the necklace was fear it would get in the way of the curing process. She was stopped as soon as her fingers touched it due to a blinding flash of Fire that was followed by a strange smell of burnt cabbage. Alyce opened her eyes to see the room covered in bits of plant, including the female, who was currently standing with her mouth open. She looked like she had either taken to wearing jungle camouflage in a big way or had just returned from a swim in a swamp.
She shut her eyes for what she thought was only a second and opened them again to see she was now the star act for the audience that had gathered around her. They were all wearing what could be only described as coveralls with unknown symbols on them.
