Young Flame

Hund is the only solution to Kalma. He has to be.

Even after the rest of his kind became hateful to non-ursu, he had been willing to guide me on how to safely deal with the Void Fog. If not for his Void enforced desire, I’m certain he will help us. As terrifying as he is, he helped me, expecting nothing in return.

I know he cares for his people, but I’m not exactly sure what his desire truly is. What is it that allows the New Vetus Council to control his actions?

Right now, there are two paths I can take: make an assumption on what his desire is and act upon it, or ask those who know.

Hund follows the commands of the council, so if I kill them all, I might be able to convince him without his Void-affected mind being manipulated. The big problem with that solution is it relies on my assumption that he won’t follow their commands if he were to regain free will. If he does what he does because he truly believes it best, then I’ll be killing his people. It will do nothing but label me a target for that monster of an ursu.

The alternative, and by far my preferred option, is to simply ask someone on the ursu council. All the better if I can talk to the chairman.

Of course, I’m not stupid enough to think they’ll willingly give away information like that. But that doesn’t matter, because I don’t intend to be civil when asking. As long as I don’t leave a massacre in my trail, I can hopefully avoid Hund’s wrath.

Flehullen, the capital of New Vetus, won’t be easy to infiltrate. I don’t plan to go through all the effort of digging through the ground again. I just need to get into the offices of the council and threaten the information out of them before their defensive force can react.

As I fly over the city, I don’t need to worry about interception as I would in the pact nations. I wonder if the Mercenary Order could take advantage of their lack of air defence and have a swarm of volans attack from above. I shake my head. It isn’t the time, nor my place, to give those who might very well consider me an enemy any ideas for war.

I’ve passed over this city once before. After I’d killed the general of the Henosis army, I had seen this city in a horrible state. The main continae had all but collapsed under artillery fire. The streets had been littered with corpses and rubble.

Now, the city stands shiny and new, as if they hadn’t been at the edge of their demise only a few years ago. Despite the changes not being favourable, I can’t deny the impressive successes those changes have brought. Particularly the changes to their army. They’ve gone from a completely ravished military to something that can compete with the northern nations and still have troops to spare for a defence force in their home city.

I’m sure Hund’s unbeatable strength has been indispensable for their rapid rearmament and expansion, but that means this new council has actually been willing to use him as opposed to the previous one which kept him in hiding until their nation was already at the brink of disaster.

Much like the current pact nations.

As easy as it would be to crash into the central continae and take the nation’s leaders hostage, I’d rather not have the entire city rushing to crush me, especially not the mages I’m sure are somewhere amongst the soldiers.

I’m high enough to be barely a spot to their eyes, but should I drop lower, I’ve no doubt alarms will wail. My flames are still far too visible in this form.

Now that I think about it, I haven’t often tried to push my control much further than necessary. At least not in regards to to its physicality. Well, it won’t take long to try.

I pull on my body’s flames and find it takes form easily. My flickers lose their illumination quickly, but I soon find they refuse to settle into a proper shape. I no longer give off light, but on close inspection, one could still tell I’m made of swaying flames rather than the feathers of a true bird.

How had this not worked earlier? I swear I tried to control myself while I took on the form of a fox while crawling through stone. Is this more about my familiarity with a form rather than my control? That would explain why it’s taken so long, despite the improvement of my control.

Now I should look like a normal bird to the casual observer. Good, this will make getting in far easier, but I still feel like I should create a distraction before I throw myself into the ursu’s den.

The ursu have adopted guns from Henosis, so they must have an ammunition storage somewhere just waiting to be blown up. My flight drops low enough that I’m easily visible to any who look up. Two loops around the city proves they can’t distinguish me from any normal falcon and provides the location of their armoury.

There’s no use waiting around, so I torch the building before flying off to the continae. When the explosion doesn’t go off as I expect, I halt in midair and turn back. The building still burns, and much of those within rush out, desperate to get away, but there is no eruption.

I’m not complaining that the ursu get to safety, as it will make my conversation with Hund all the easier if I have been careful in my destruction, but it should have gone off by now. Don’t tell me the ursu have a fake armoury.

As I’m ready to fly back and check, the explosion finally happens. It is weak and barely even blows the roof off the building, but it should be enough to grab the attention of their defence force.

I rush to the continae and crash through the large pointy spherical roof, instantly incinerating everything in my way until I land within an incredibly well furnished office. There is only one man in the room and he stands by the window, looking out over the smoke in the distance.

Between his embellished military uniform and the desk littered with maps and papers, I have very little doubt he is one of the council. Even if he isn’t, he’s going to tell me soon.

I don’t have the time to change back into my normal body, so I just wrap my bird form in flames to give the picture of my default shape.

The ursu reacts, pulling his sword from his waist and crosses the room in an instant. I can tell he has similar strength to the warden of the gulag, but I’m not here to enjoy a fight today. I need information, so I need him to understand that he has no chance against me.

His blade passes through my white flames, which follow along with it. The sword melts away while I spread my fire to eat away his hand and hover around his face and throat.

“Stop or I won’t hesitate to end you.”

To his credit, he doesn’t let go of his weapon even as his fingers blister and the metal dribbles over his fingers. He eyes the flames floating before his face. His body is tensed, ready to move at a moment’s notice, but he remains still.

“Now, why don’t we get this started with some easy questions. Who are you?” I am pretty sure I have the ursu leader, but better to make sure. “Do note, I’ll be burning off fingers if you lie.”

His sword is nothing more than a hilt now, so the ursu discards it as he glares at me. “I am Chairman Oso.” He relaxes as if he knows everything will go his way. “You understand you won’t be getting out of here alive, correct? Tore Hund will return soon. Especially after that explosion you set off outside.”

His lax attitude annoys me, but not enough for me to go through with my threat of removing his fingers. I’m luckier than I expected to find the Chairman by crashing through the top floor.

“I look forward to it.” The slight twinge of his eye is extremely satisfying. He’s not happy his threat doesn’t have the effect he hoped for. “I came to talk about him, actually. How do you control him? What makes him listen to your council’s orders?”

His eyes narrow, barely perceptively. “He follows our will because he believes wholeheartedly in our cause.”

I incinerate a finger.

The only sound he makes is a grunt, but I can tell it’s still painful.

“You think I don’t know about the Void Fog’s influence? I guess even the easy questions are too hard for you.” My flames spread to engulf the room. They aren’t white flames, but the effect is what I’m after. “Looks like I’ll have to ask the next council member. Once I’ve dealt with you, of course.”

Chairman Oso glares daggers my way, but it looks like his determination is cracking. Good to see the man has some level of self preservation. Just as it seems he’s about to give something, the wall explodes behind me.

I turn to find three ursu soldiers wielding swords ready to pierce me from three sides. All three die before they can reach me, reduced to nothing but ash.

I return my attention to the Chairman, only to find he’s jumped out the window while I was distracted.

Groaning to myself at my lack of awareness, I take off after the ursu. I’d felt the ursu climbing the stairs and was ready to use them as a show of force for the chairman, but I didn’t expect him to run like that.

Good thing I didn’t bother to change my form; I can catch up before he escapes. I’m outside the building and chasing after the ursu before he even hits the ground below. When he does, the stone paving shatters, and he immediately dashes off at a sprint.

He is fast, but my wings are still faster. Chairman Oso clearly has a plan though, and I can only hope he isn’t leading me to an ambush of water mages. I forgo all intent at stealth and blast a jet behind me. Barrelling through the air at immense speeds, I crash into the back of his leg. It’s enough to send him to the ground, but not to break his leg.

I land before him and spread my flames as he rises to his knees, preventing any further attempts at escape. “Tell me how you control him.” I don’t give him any more leniency. My flames engulf his feet, moving further up his thick legs as he takes his time to answer.

The chairman lifts his head within my flames and shouts at the top of his lungs. “Hund, get here now!” He stares down at me in triumph, as if he has won.

My white flames burn past his knees and he collapses to his back, and I finally hear proper gasps of pain coming from him. After a few seconds of watching him squirm in pain with no answer, the inevitable happens.

I barely have time to register Hund’s thermal presence before he lands before us. The displaced air nearly blows me away as his feet pulverise the pavement. I knew this was coming. I prepared myself for this, but it’s still hard to stand before him without cowering.

My flames retract from the chairman, but I leave a flame below him, ready to act if needed. Hund should be willing to talk as long as I’m not actively killing the chairman. If he’s not, well, I have a hostage. It’s really not an optimal situation, but I’ll have to settle for now.

“Hund,” I say, before he can get his bearings on the situation. “Thank you for your advice. Without you, I wouldn’t be alive.” It’s a long time coming, but I’m glad I finally get to show my gratitude.

“Chairman Torben?” Hund’s eyes linger on the downed ursu before turning to me with a frown. “Why have you done this?” his voice thrums through my body with the same intensity as last time.

“Torben? Who?” I thought the Chairman’s name was Oso. “I’m sorry, but I wanted to return the favour you gave me. I wanted to free you from their control.”

Hund is silent, and his gaze shows no sign of the thoughts within as he glances between the two of us. My flames wring with turmoil as I wait for his response. Once again, I see Hund look down at Oso with the concern one would direct to a friend. Have I made a mistake? Does Hund truly support this council?

“Hund. Kill the fucking áed already.”

Hund sighs and turns to me, his hand already on his massive blade. I don’t have time to think, I just react. The chairman’s body burns at the same moment Hund’s blade tears through my fake flame body. The shockwave that follows his blow is enough to send my small bird form crashing into the nearest wall.

I only realised it the moment before he attacked, but Hund isn’t seeing the same person I am. He believes Oso is someone completely different. Someone he would do anything for. Someone he has unquestionable loyalty toward.

In a way, his mental limitation is worse than mine. While it is twisting his thoughts, he has no way of realising they have been morphed.

I have no way of knowing the details of how it works, but I can’t use the chairman as a hostage. I have to kill the man if I have any hope of bringing Hund to my side. Even if it is only for a moment before whatever terms that bind him snap back into place.

Chairman Oso struggles as my flames incinerate his fur and burn into the flesh across his body. He doesn’t have the strength to resist, and I push the fire to consume his head. Through eyes, mouth, and ears, I force the blaze to dig toward his brain. I need him to die. Now.

I can’t move. Hund’s blade didn’t even hit me and I’ve already been rendered immobile. The sheer pressure his blade created tore half my falcon body from existence. There’s no way I can regrow before he reaches me. All I can do is float my body upon physical flames and watch as he casually lumbers his way toward me.

Finally, I feel the chairman die.

But Hund still approaches.