The group reached the alley on the side of the street that gave them cover from the aerial attacks of the enemy, at least for now. They had to decide what to do in this situation.

  “Dad, what was that?!” Arryn yelled.

  “We do not have time for this right now, Arryn. I promise I will explain everything if we make it out of this alive.”

  Radahn looked at Chak. “When we make it.”

  Radahn looked back at the smoke as the group ran toward the end of the alley.

  “Tok, how long until the smoke dissipates?”

  Tok looked around, felt the wind, and started to calculate based on his previous trials. “I’d say about twenty seconds.”

  “Mmm, got any more of those?”

  Tok searched his bag. “Just two.”

  “Two, got it.”

  Radahn looked at Arryn and then at Chak. “Chak, how long does it normally take someone to learn how to control these fire magic or whatever?”

  Chak looked confused. “Fire magic? Our abilities are blessings given to us, but I’d say about a month or two for a clan warrior to get the idea of how to tap into their ignus core and start training to fully embrace it.”

  “Okay, well, how about a minute? Think the kids got it?”

  Chak looked at Arryn. “You are crazy! The side effects of not being able to properly control one’s flames are harsh. I speak from personal experience! Only gifted warriors have ever been able to grasp their powers in such a quick manner, and even for them it was only snippets of their true potential! I will not subject my son to go through such pains!”

  Arryn looked at Chak and approached him. “Dad, there’s nothing else we can do right now. Trust me.”

  Radahn looked at Chak and smiled. Chak knew that smile, the smile of “I told you so,” the smile of “In your face.” He was accustomed to that smile already. Radahn was rubbing it in his face: the fact that he was right, the fact that this was the “now” they had been talking about earlier.

  “I…” Chak looked at Arryn, and for a minute his smile, the confidence in his eyes, and the fiery passion in his words reminded him of his sister. “Okay,” he said as he put his hand forward. “Give me that lighter.”

  Arryn looked at him, confused. “Lighter?”

  Chak looked at him. “Yes, the lighter. You are using it to light your fire, so we’ll call it a lighter. Now hurry up.”

  “Okay,” said Arryn as he gave the lighter to Chak.

  “While hearing it sounds simple, it’s harder than it sounds, so listen closely and watch as I do it. In order to control your power, you must control the flames, the sun, the will of life that’s in all living beings, and sense the connection between each one of them. That will lead you to understand your ability and control them.”

  As he explained to Arryn, Chak lit a fire and started to move it around in his hand. “My powers are dormant, as I can’t use them anymore. That was because I overstepped and didn’t respect it. Respecting our flame and its connection with everything is the most important part to understanding how to control your power. Hold it inside you and use that energy to release your inner spark.”

  Arryn grabbed the lighter.

  “Careful,” Chak said.

  As Arryn grabbed the lighter, he lit the mechanism and waited for the flames to start.

  “Is something supposed to be happening?” he said as he sparked the lighter. He tried a couple more times with nothing happening. The sparks slightly flickered in and out of existence; the flame sometimes seemed more powerful and bigger, but never truly did anything.

  “We only have so much more time left, kid,” Radahn told Arryn as he glanced toward the side of the alley. They had taken cover in a corner, but the cloaked figures on the ground had now started to follow them and were searching for them.

  “Fuck it,” Radahn said as he stepped out into the alley by himself. “Hey, friends! You seem a bit lost? What are you looking for?”

  The cloaked figures looked at Radahn. As if his luck had run out, one of them answered, “If you tell us where that crippled savage we-”

  Radahn took two steps and, with one quick move, his fist connected with the cloaked figure’s face, sending him flying. Their cloak was now partly torn from Radahn’s punch. Radahn noticed that part of their attire looked exactly the same as the soldiers who guarded the king.

  “Interesting,” he whispered under his breath.

  The second cloaked figure screamed, “Here!!” as he prepared himself for battle. He grabbed a magitech sword, twisted it, and sparks of lightning crackled along the blade.

  “How dare you!” he shouted as he raised the weapon to the sky to attack Radahn.

  “If you attack me with a weapon, you’d better be ready to die,” Radahn responded. He grabbed the man’s arm, twisted it behind his back, and snatched the weapon from his hand.

  The other cloaked figures had now surrounded both ends of the alley. As they closed in, a bright light flickered from the group’s hiding spot.

  “ARRYN!” Chak yelled.

  “Ah, shit?” Radahn thought to himself. He rushed back and rounded the corner. As he did, he saw Arryn engulfed in flames. He was on his knees, screaming in agony.

  He rushed toward the group and tried to grab Arryn, but the flames were far too hot.

  “Chak, help him! What’s happening!?”

  Chak looked at Radahn. “This is his first time ever doing this. He’s burning out. I told him it was too risky.”

  Chak suddenly started to shake as he got closer to Arryn. He tried to help calm the fire, but he could not control the flames.

  Arryn looked up and saw a female figure approach him. It touched his face and whispered, “Empty your mind. Control your emotions or they will control you. One step at a time.”

  “Who are you?” he asked. As he did, his vision returned to normal. He saw Chak in front of him, and as he turned he saw the rest of the group fighting a squad of cloaked soldiers.

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  “Finally, you are back,” Chak said. “You lost control. It was too much for you. I can’t let you do that again.”

  Arryn stood up slowly. “Please, Dad, I need to. We are all probably dead anyway if I can’t control the core. What was it again?”

  “Ignus core.”

  “Yes! My ignus core!”

  “Okay, but take it one step at a time,” Chak said to Arryn.

  Arryn’s face lit up as he remembered what had happened just seconds ago. He had so many questions and no time to ask them. He placed his hand forward toward Chak as he grabbed the lighter. As he did, the flames started again. A huge rush and spark of energy lashed out from Arryn, and he dropped to the ground once more.

  The spectacle was so great that it stopped even the soldiers fighting the group. All heads turned as the flames began to disperse, flowing throughout his body and, for a moment, looking like armor.

  “One step at a time,” he repeated to himself in a whisper. The flickering flames slowly faded from the armor-like appearance. His eyes switched between dark, red, and white. As the flames started forming a cyclone around his arms, they moved from everywhere else on his body and traveled along the length of his hands, creating a long shape. The fire took on a denser color. His hands darkened, taking on a glassy obsidian look.

  Chak was amazed. As a trainer and warrior, he had never seen anything like this, the first pulse of energy and the ignus core manifestation in Arryn’s eyes. Red was a color he had never seen in his tribe, and the sudden change in what his flames were trying to form astonished him as much as it worried him.

  *I have to stop him; he’ll die,* he thought, but something deep within him would not allow him to move closer. Was it fear, curiosity, or perhaps something greater?

  Arryn’s eyes switched to a complete dark onyx color as his arms began to pulsate with flames. The light was nowhere near as strong as it had been at the beginning; in fact, the fire flickered just as it had before. His arms were now coated in dark onyx, and the flames flowed through his body.

  Chak looked at Arryn. “Go,” he said.

  Arryn looked at the group and noticed they were all close to losing the battle. Tok was rummaging in his bag with what seemed to be one of the barrels the cloaked soldiers had used; however, it was rustic, filled with makeshift parts, and had no core of its own. He was firing what looked like iron pellets from it. Tik had grabbed one of the electric staves that Radahn had taken while disarming a soldier. Radahn and Cage fought empty-handed. Surprisingly, they held their own extremely well, but this was no surprise to Arryn. He knew the tales of both of them and how terrifying they had once been, the demonic brothers, they had been called back in Crimson Town.

  Behind them was Elizabeth. She was not fighting, but preparing some form of healing elixir. She opened a bottle and mixed chemicals inside it, screaming every insult she could think of at the guards.

  And behind them all stood his father, watching as Arryn ran through the alley. He looked on with pride as Arryn jumped and bounced around.

  Chak was stunned. He had never seen anyone take control of their flames at such a rapid pace, even if it was not yet fully controlled. Arryn had done what no one in his tribe had done before. He was the beacon of hope his sister and best friend had died for. He wondered what might have happened if he had shown Arryn the truth of his identity and what his people were capable of from a young age. But it was too late now to be thinking of such things.

  “You remind me of them so much,” he whispered as Arryn took off. He noticed the flickering of Arryn’s flames and thought, *He probably still can’t control them fully,* as guilt rushed through him again. He stood there holding what was left of his legs and hearing the last words of his sister echo through his mind, reminding him once more of his broken promise. He questioned whether he had made the right choice all these years by keeping Arryn’s heritage a secret, but it was far too late to second-guess himself.

  Arryn’s rush into battle was neither majestic nor fantastic. He was fast, yet clumsy. He had been trained in close combat by Radahn and taught how to protect himself, but he, Tik, and Tok had never really been in a real fight before. This was nothing more than a desperate attempt to survive.

  “To your left!” Radahn screamed as one of the guards punched at Tok. The young man barely managed to move out of harm’s way. They had all taken a beating by now. All except Radahn, who seemed perfectly fine. If it had not been for him, they would all have died. Even Cage, who was said to rival Radahn in fighting ability, had suffered severe damage from the elemental-focused weapons the soldiers used.

  “I’ve dealt with cuts, blunt force, and much more, but this, this is something else,” Cage said as he looked at Radahn and spat blood.

  “Could also be that those years of becoming a nice house husband finally caught up to you,” Radahn said.

  “The only reason you aren’t having as bad a time as we are is because you are a freaking abomination of nature. Duck!” Cage screamed to Radahn as their conversation continued.

  Radahn crouched. Cage’s body spun, and his leg whipped over Radahn’s head, missing him by only a couple of inches.

  “There’s my partner,” Radahn said as he stood up. He looked to the sides and saw another ten soldiers approaching. He glanced back and realized Tik and Tok could not fight much longer. Even Cage could not handle more soldiers. Even he would be outnumbered. Perhaps if they had not had those annoying electric weapons, the physical damage he could have withstood, but the electrical damage was different. He could feel it striking his insides, his muscles, his senses, and his veins all straining with every hit.

  Suddenly he was surrounded by all the guards, some with magitech weapons, some with regular swords or bats. He defended himself, distracted by everything happening at once. He had not noticed Arryn rushing in from behind. He felt the temperature around him rise. He looked around and saw Arryn leaping into action. His nimble body had always let him jump, run, and crawl through tight places, but this time it was different. His jump was higher, his speed faster, and even the way his body moved looked changed.

  Arryn jumped in front of him and grabbed the arm of the soldier about to punch Radahn. As he seized the soldier’s wrist, it broke and began to burn, almost melting the skin at his touch.

  Radahn looked surprised. He had always known Arryn was strong, but this was something else.

  *I don’t think he meant to do that,* he told himself. Arryn’s facial expression confirmed the suspicion.

  “Kill him!” the soldier screamed as his arm burned hotter.

  “Arryn, snap out of it!” Radahn yelled. “It’s them or us!”

  Arryn looked around. Tik, Tok, Cage, and Elizabeth all bore serious injuries. He had never been in a fight where he truly felt his life was at risk. This time, however, he knew things were different. It was his life and his family’s lives on the line.

  “Leave us alone!” he yelled as he punched through the soldier’s armor. He had meant only to hit hard enough to cause a small amount of damage, but this power and strength were completely unfamiliar to him.

  As he looked around, he saw all the soldiers staring at him. He had pierced the soldier’s body and was burning him from the inside, flames flickering in and out.

  Two more soldiers attacked from the sides. Radahn grabbed one of their weapons, but the other connected. The sound of lightning striking Arryn’s arm crackled as the heat melted the metallic material.

  Arryn stood still, in shock, while Radahn seized the second weapon and used it to knock the soldier out.

  The group heard footsteps approaching from the sides.

  “More? Are you kidding me?!” said Elizabeth.

  “Arryn, we must do something before more of them come,” Radahn said.

  “Right,” Arryn answered in a flat, monotone voice that did not sound like his own. He was in shock, but he knew he had to act. He released the soldier’s arm which he had unintentionally killed, he grabbed the soldier who had just struck him, pulled his arm free of the dead man’s body, tossed the weapon aside, and punched the next soldier in the face. With one blow the soldier’s face began to swell, the color of his skin changing as blisters formed and his face slowly started to combust.

  "Again?" Arryn thought. "I didn’t mean to do that..." he whispered.

  He kept attacking as two more soldiers charged him. They tried to keep distance by thrusting the tips of their weapons forward. As the soldier he had just defeated fell, Arryn felt the shift in wind and heat around him. He read the changes in his flames and dodged both attacks. He jumped clear of the weapons, grabbed one soldier’s head as he fell, and slammed it into the stone pavement.

  “Retreat!” yelled one of the cloaked figures. “We don’t have the means to fight a Sun soldier right now!”

  Arryn’s face lit up. He looked up. “A what?” he said as the soldiers began climbing the walls. The remaining soldier who had tried to attack him turned to run. He opened his cloak, and Radahn grabbed him.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Radahn said as he watched the others attach some kind of mechanism to the sides of the buildings. A rope connected to it while a phoenix core powered the motor that pulled them upward.

  Arryn tried to grab one as well. He seized the man by the legs, yanked him down, snatched him free of the climbing gear, and slammed him into the ground.

  “Why did you try to kill my father!” he yelled. “What’s a Sun soldier!” he yelled again.

  “Son…” Chak approached him. “He’s dead…”

  Arryn looked down at the dead soldier’s body. “I’m sorry,” he said as he let go.

  The boy looked around and realized a small army now surrounded them.

  As this happened, Arryn’s flames slowly faded. He had taken a defensive position in front of Chak, making sure no one could approach. He noticed his flames dying, his energy draining with them, and his hands returning to normal. Two dark lines now ran from his forearms to his hands, and a set of marks shaped like horns had appeared on his forehead.

  “Don’t be alarmed, I ” The young child was cut off mid-sentence as he saw Arryn slowly close his eyes. His body released a large wave of heat, his hands turned pale, and he collapsed to the ground.

  Tik and Tok rushed toward him. “Arryn!” they screamed.

  “He’ll be okay,” Chak said as he approached the group. “He just needs to rest.”

  The young child looked at Radahn, who was still holding one of the soldiers. “Interesting,” he said. “We will be taking him into custody.” He pointed at the cloaked soldier. “We have questions for him, and, not to be an asshole but you guys have the same uniform. So I’d rather not hand him over to someone who might just let him walk away.”

  From behind the young child, a tall soldier whose face was hidden by a helmet stepped forward. “If you will allow me, that soldier is not one of ours,” he said. “You see that insignia? That’s a soldier from the Kuzaru Province.” He pulled back the coat covering his armor and showed it to Radahn. “This is a Shade Province insignia, more importantly, a Royal Guard insignia.”

  The young man looked at the soldier, then back at Radahn. “Correct. We’ll take him into custody to ask questions about what happened today. You will also be given any information we gather, and you are more than welcome to request to ask any questions you might have.”

  He signaled his soldiers to step forward and take the cloaked soldier from Radahn’s hands.

  “Mmm, as long as Arryn gets to ask whatever questions he has when he wakes up. Until then, we’ll be taking our leave now. My people need to rest and heal from all this shit,” Radahn said. He walked over to Tik and Tok, lifted Arryn onto his shoulders, and turned to go.

  “I’m sorry, sir, but the king has requested the presence of anyone involved in the incident,” the tall soldier said as he stepped in front of Radahn. “We will need you to follow us. Your group can receive food, water, medical supplies, and anything else they need from within our base.”

  Radahn looked back at the soldier. “And if we don’t?”

  The soldier glanced around at the men surrounding them. “Sir, we would rather not have any more unnecessary fighting.”

  About forty soldiers had formed up, all carrying mechanical weapons different from those the Kuzaru soldiers had used. These were standard military issue, with valves and heat rising from them as the soldiers readied the weapons.

  “Ugh,” Radahn grunted as he looked back at the group. “You guys okay with this?”

  “If it means we are safe, yes,” responded Cage.

  “Works for me. The less I have to use from my medical supplies, the more money I can save,” said Elizabeth.

  “WE GET TO SEE THE INSIDE OF THE CASTLE!” Tik and Tok shouted at the same time, springing back to their feet. “Let’s go!”

  Chak shook his head. “I guess we’ll comply, but touch my family and these assassins will be the last thing you have to worry about,” he said, looking back at the soldier and the young man, his face filled with conviction.

  The young man gulped. “No need to worry, sir. You are under the king’s protection.”

  Radahn looked at Chak and whispered, “I have never heard you talk like that. Someone lit your flame back up?” He adjusted Arryn on his shoulders and started walking, following the soldiers.

  Chak looked at Radahn carrying his son. He glanced down at his own legs, then back at the group. He saw everyone’s scars, everyone’s blood, and heard their tired grunts as they stood.

  “Elizabeth, Cage, I need to talk to you when we get to safety,” he said, clutching the fabric over his legs. He closed his fist tightly. A small wisp of smoke escaped from between his fingers.