Young Flame

“What is so important that you need me for?” I ask, unsure exactly who to direct my question.

“You can create inscriptions at will,” the riparian says. “I would much rather inscribe it onto a plate for use, but I had to give up all my usual equipment to travel here.” He slaps his artificial wooden legs. “Why else would I be donning this piece of junk?”

“So… you want to teach me an inscription? Like the ritual?” I ask. “What for?”

“I’m not clear on the finer details. Remus wants you to know this particular inscription for a reason.”

I look to the dohrni, expecting some explanation, but he deflects instead. “I think now’s a good time you told us exactly how Kalma is involved with this war. You weren’t all too detailed in the message you left me.”

“I guess I should start with how she’s already impacted the war. The Forvaal and Viisin being pushed far beyond their limit; that was her influence.”

“We already assumed as much. There are few other possibilities that could cause such a widespread change,” Remus says. “As damaging a situation as she has put us in, it’s not all bad. To do such a thing means she has a direct link with each of them. We can use that.”

“We can?”

Remus smiles at me. “Why do you think I’m having you learn from Solon here?”

That still doesn’t explain how we are going to make use of it. Even with some incredible inscription, what can it really accomplish in the face of Kalma’s power?

This isn’t the time to worry about that. Remus has a plan. That’s more than I can say for myself after Tore’s disappearance.

I don’t want to waste much time, so I’ll get through this quick. “Kalma’s been manipulating things from the start. She invited the Beiths over the Alps to guide the mermineae and to thin their numbers. She takes enjoyment in both sides having even odds, and watches as we each kill the other off,” I say. “Back when she destroyed the command centre, she used some sphere to steal my flames and burn the city down.”

Before I can continue, Solon interrupts. “A sphere? This sphere didn’t happen to be a multi-layered inscription medium that gave her the capability to convert any input energy, did it?”

I stare up at the riparian. “That’s exactly what it did. It was my flames that burnt the city, but she powered them with her energy. How did you know?”

Solon’s three eyes harden as he turns to Remus. “If you can get that orb back for me, I’ll owe you another favour. It is a stolen treasure of our clan,” he says. “To think it would appear here.”

Remus hums in affirmation. “Assuming we can find and beat her, it should be no problem to return the orb. I’ll come find you should we succeed.”

“Wait, you’re not joining us?” I ask the riparian. Considering he’s already on the battlefield with us, I assumed he was going to stay.

“This is not my clan’s war; I do not have the means to fight.”

Well, that’s unfortunate, but it’s not like I really expected much from someone that uses wood as his legs. It’s like he’s asking to be burned. Still, if he’s good enough with inscriptions that Remus would ask him to come down at a time like this to teach me, he must be the one who inscribed Grímr’s metal feathers. Even if he won’t join our war, he’s already helped my team.

“Now, I’d much rather not waste time,” Solon says as he pulls out a roll of parchment from a compartment in his wooden brace. “Lets make sure you can replicate the tracing design to an operable degree.”

“Tracing?” I repeat, before spinning to Remus. “You plan to track down Kalma? But how can we beat her?”

“Doe got me access to the inner circle before they were sent out. We have a couple willing to… assist against Kalma.” I stare at Remus, willing him to elaborate on the reluctance in which he claimed they would assist, but he just turns an eye, feigning ignorance.

It’s better than nothing, but even after seeing the power those inner circle mercenaries wield, I’m certain it won’t be enough. We still need Tore to stand a chance.

Before I can voice my concerns, Solon grabs my arm and pulls me along behind him. I’m tempted to burn his hand off at the forced hold, but he’s Remus’ guest, so I overlook it for now. But I brush off his grasp, regardless.

I’m led upon one of the centzon’s war machines as the riparian holds the wide parchment with his upper pair of arms. I spot Tzilac upon an adjacent siege engine and wave at him. It is a relief Kalma didn’t kill him and all the other centzon here as she made her way across the Alps. Though I wonder for the safety of those who’d been defending the fortress on the other side of the Alps.

It’s surprising to see they have rebuilt such a large number of these machines. Last I’d seen them down in that cavern, they went without many, relying only on their hand-held contraptions and a few higher mobility mechanisms that could traverse the vertical walls and the tight tunnels down in the depths of the Alps.

“Now, I know you are aware of the basic components within the general inheritance ritual, so I’ll start off with the requisite components you don’t yet know.” Solon places his parchment on a makeshift table on the back of the machine and pulls out another piece and scratches away with an ink dipped pen.

The large parchment he’d been holding contains a dense array of lines far more complicated than the ritual. Is this the inscription he wants me to learn? It took me ages to figure out how to get the ritual to work. We are already strained on time; there’s no way I’ll succeed.

I turn to what the riparian is writing, and am surprised to find the entire sheet already filled. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone write so fast.

He flicks his pen, tossing the remaining ink over the siege engine, and slides it into a slot within his leg. Solon hands me the page and immediately dives into explaining each of the diagrams drawn, not even bothering to direct my attention towards the inscription he’s supposed to be teaching me.

“Since you are already familiar with the hyle flow through the components used in the ritual, I’ll start with the components that operate similarly.” He points to the first of six relatively simple inscriptions on the page. “This is a combination of a sampler and a collector. It lacks two of its outputs to give higher efficiency on operational accuracy.”

I stare at the drawing, completely at a loss for what he just said. “Sampler? Collector?”

“Ah, self taught? No matter.” He doesn’t seem bothered that I didn’t pick up on his explanation, instead he pulls out his pen and paper again and draws another series of inscriptions. This time, they are ones I’m familiar with.

“This is a sampler, and this is a collector. If you ignore the power aspect of the collector and incorporate it into the input of the sampler while feeding an output back into the input, you get a basic receiver,” he says as he points back to the first on the original sheet.

That makes a lot more sense. It’s still difficult to follow, but I’m pretty sure I understand what he’s trying to get across.

“Make it.”

“What? Right now?”

“You have the benefit of being able to experiment in real time. Use it. Most need to prepare the required materials and instruments to learn.”

Seeing no reason not to do as he says, I create a flame above my hand and move it into the shape of the inscription. The easy part is done. Now, I need to make my flames act in a way that is expected by the lines. I try to replicate the effects they had in the two components I’m familiar with, but it doesn’t work.

“You’re not directing the hyle through the feedback loop correctly. Also, lower the intensity of your inputs,” Solon comments.

“Can’t you just make the inscription so that I can feel how it works? That’s what I did last time.”

“If I had the equipment and materials to achieve that, I would have simply made it for Remus.”

My eyes fall to the densely glowing wooden legs of his.

Noticing my gaze, he speaks again, “these are a different category of inscription. The minimum material prerequisites are far lower than for the design I am trying to teach you.”

There goes the easy method.

Well, it’s not all bad. Unlike last time where I was left to memorise the inscription on my own and only had a single attempt to figure out what each part did, I actually have someone to guide me now. It’s hard to believe I’ll be able to get the inscription memorised within any reasonable length of time, but that doesn’t mean I won’t try.

I recreate the inscription component Solon calls a basic receiver and follow his instructions to bring it closer to its intended purpose. The first design takes me almost thirty minutes. Each subsequent component takes less time as I grow accustomed to his descriptions.

Compared to Solon, it is clear I have no idea what I’m doing. All I’m being taught is the direction, size and effect my fire needs to exhibit in particular patterns. I still do not know how each part does what it does, nor what they are intended to achieve.

And not for lack of effort by my riparian teacher; he gives me an in-depth explanation of each, but there’s only so much I can do to comprehend phrases like: split-pathing energy quarantine, hyle noise suppression tactics, and high-power inscription shielding. So while it would be interesting to learn all about these inscriptions, I don’t have the luxury.

For now.

Once I have time, I’m definitely going to learn everything I can. It is clear simply listening to Solon talk that there are limitless possibilities for inscriptions. I can’t wait to see how they might improve my flames.

Until then, I’m stuck simply memorising the inscriptions shown to me. And that is exactly what I do now. Solon finally directs me through the tracking inscriptions.

It’s far simpler to achieve than learning the individual parts. The only difficulty is the sheer amount of focus it takes out of me. Compared to the inheritance ritual, it requires me to focus on four times the number of inscription components to complete. Not easy, but I manage better than I’d expected.

What makes constructing the tracing inscription harder, is Solon stopping me from creating it part by part. I’m instructed to construct it all at once. No negotiation. He says there wouldn’t be an issue with this inscription, but some could create unintended effects if created in a less than optimal order.

His first example of a sudden explosion hadn’t worried me, but his second of an unintended hyle transition from fire to water did. Apparently, that is possible; how frightening.

After three full hours of effort, I finally can create the inscription with consistency. The only issue: it doesn’t actually do anything.

The flaming inscription hovers a dozen metres across, larger than I need to make it, but it’s easier to alter and practice when I don’t need to concentrate my flames into such dense weaves.

“So why isn’t it doing anything?” I ask as we both peer up at the thousand burning lines in the air.

Solon looks down at me. His gaze reveals nothing of his thoughts. “You should at least think the question through before asking.”

I blink at him before returning my attention to the inscription above. I don’t understand how each component affects the whole design, but there is one thing that’s clear: there are two distinct pathways for hyle to flow, only connected via components which he has taught me allow separate energies to influence each other without directly interacting.

Of course, considering the entire thing is made of my flames, that separation between pathways means little, but it is clearly important to the design.

“It needs another energy.” I follow the lines where one pathway enters an array of basic receivers. “Kalma’s?” I ask.

“Precisely. You will need some of her energy to find her.”

“But that’s insane. Where are we supposed to… oh. Oh.”

“That’s right. And for a being like Kalma, it is likely she suppress her energy to a great degree. So, for the best chance, find one with as much of her signature hyle as possible.”

Great. I wonder if the lesser Viisin will be enough?

Who am I kidding? I already know we need to go after one of the intelligent Viisin that can compete with an elite.