Fire (Buryoku Book 5)

by Aaron Oster

  Fire

  Buryoku

  Book Five

  Aaron Oster

  For my brother and future sister-in-law. Congratulations!

  Prologue

  Fire burned all around them, the dancing red flames whipping into the air under the power of the abundant Wind Essence. Trees, normally resistant to heat due to the ambient Fire Essence, were set ablaze under the might of the Ancient Cavern Beast. Even here, nearly ten miles from the Dreadpit, Tonde Kaeru couldn’t use so much as a single technique, his Water Chakra evaporating as soon as he tried to use it.

  In fact, the only reason he hadn’t been caught yet was due to the woman at his side. Violet’s face – much like his own – was soot-stained and blackened, her normally pale skin covered in a layer of ash and char.

  They staggered to a halt as a burning tree fell in their path, skidding hard to one side and taking off at a run again. The choking smoke caused all of the Wind Essence to stay several feet above their heads, making it difficult to breathe, while also making the fires rage hotter. Yet they kept on running, their enhanced bodies giving them the ability to do so despite the air quality.

  A snarling Beast came lunging out of the burning trees, and Kaeru spun, kicking it hard in the stomach and blowing it to pieces.

  “Are we nearly at the border?” he asked as Violet stopped to catch her breath.

  “How should I know?” she yelled, her eyes wide and flicking around for any signs of attack.

  In here, in this sea of red, they were all but blind. The Ancient Cavern Beast’s presence blanketed the landscape and shrouded their Spirit Sense. For Martial Artists of their level, people who’d been able to see things beyond the ordinary realm for all their lives, losing that part of themselves was as bad as losing their actual eyes.

  “I don’t know,” Kaeru replied. “Haven’t you been here before?”

  Violet shook her head as the two of them started running again.

  Neither of them was sure how it had happened. One moment, they were running for Reign City, preparing for a fight, and the next, they were here, standing above a burning pit as a creature of nightmare rose from its depths — an ancient creature of myth and legend that was all too real.

  Another tree, blazing red with Fire Essence, crashed down in their path, and instead of dodging, Kaeru tried to jump over it. Violet’s shout of warning came too late as the flames flared higher and he impacted with what felt like a solid, burning wall.

  “Are you okay?” she asked worriedly as he staggered back to his feet, his skin smoking.

  “No,” Kaeru said, his voice sounding grim.

  At 1st Dan Gold-Belt, something as simple as wild Fire Essence should have done absolutely nothing to him, but this wasn’t simple Essence. This was Essence under the control of the Beast, and he should have realized that. Violet had.

  “Come on,” she said, holding out a hand and hauling him to his feet. “We need to keep moving.”

  Although she was only eighteen, Itachi Violet was already a Red-Belt, a true prodigy. While he hated to admit as much to himself, she was starting to sway him to the idea of marriage after all his years alone.

  Another snarling beast, its body cloaked in fire, came leaping from the burning trees, and Violet’s sword took it in the gut. Darkness Chakra exploded from the weapon, shredding the creature to pieces. Instead of producing the usual blood and gore, the beast exploded into flames, exposing that it was a construct of Essence created by the Beast.

  Although fire produced light in abundance, it created plenty of shadows as well. Unlike with Kaeru’s, Violet’s attacks – powered by the Path of Darkness – worked just fine. In here, even Kaeru’s branching Paths of ice and blood did him no good. The blood didn’t work on bloodless creatures, and ice would evaporate just as quickly as water. Surrounded on all sides by fire and unable to protect himself, this was literally the worst place for him to be.

  “No more jumping over trees,” Kaeru muttered. “Got it.”

  Violet gave him a tight smile, squeezing his hand before letting go. While she was much younger than him, she liked him as a potential match as well. It was common among Martial Artists, as age didn’t mean very much when eternal youth was a possibility, and despite their vast age difference, Kaeru looked no older than twenty-seven.

  Another Beast came leaping from the trees as they began moving again, and Kaeru took it down this time, wincing as the heat scorched his skin. Frogs didn’t do well out of water for extended periods, and seeing as he was named for one, he shared their sentiment. He was dried out and already flagging.

  As their run through the blazing forest continued, the Beasts closed in, swarming them and trying to overwhelm with greater numbers. At first, repelling them was easy, but as they went, it became harder and harder. Worse, the heat continued to climb, reaching into the hundreds of degrees.

  The two of them stumbled into a small clearing, freed momentarily of the oppressive heat, only to find themselves surrounded.

  Kaeru placed his back to Violet’s and the two of them slowly turned, watching as the Beasts’ numbers continued to grow. They all looked the same, flaming creatures that appeared as lions, their manes blazing around their heads and shoulders, and small pinpricks of red in their dead eyes. They lunged, and the fight began anew.

  Violet slashed and spun as she worked to keep the beasts at bay while trying to conserve power. Kaeru, on the other hand, was reduced to using his bare hands, which were faring worse and worse as time went on. His lungs were feeling particularly scorched by the time he swung and found no target.

  “This isn’t looking good,” Violet said, weariness clouding her voice.

  Beasts flanked them on all sides, standing several deep, and more continued to come. They’d stopped attacking, and as their number grew, Kaeru wondered if they were going to make it out of here alive. It wasn’t looking too good for them at the moment, especially with the numbers growing as they were.

  “Should we charge?” Violet asked in an undertone. “Maybe try and break a line?”

  “They’re all at least at the Purple stage,” Kaeru replied – his Spirit Sense might be washed-out, but that much, he could tell. “You’re running low of Chakra already, and your Qi won’t hold out much longer when you do. I don’t like our chances.”

  “So what?” Violet asked, her voice coming a bit heated. “Do we just sit here and wait to die?”

  “No,” Kaeru replied. “We wait for whoever’s trapped us in here. They’re not attacking, which means they don’t want us dead.”

  Violet growled, deep in her throat, but listened to his advice. She was still young, so deferred to his wisdom, and sure enough, after just a few minutes, the Beasts started parting, allowing a tall, humanoid Beast with red-orange fur covering patches of black skin through their ranks.

  The creature had on a Red-Belt with two gold slashes at the end, marking him as stronger than Violet but weaker than Kaeru – not that it really mattered.

  “I see that you’ve chosen to wait instead of fight,” the Beast said, its black lips pulling up in a smile and revealing gleaming golden fangs.

  “It’s not like you gave us much choice,” Kaeru said, keeping his tone neutral.

  It was hard to hide the rasp in his voice, especially since the air was so dry, and as a Water Artist, he depended on his element more than most.

  “No, I don’t suppose we did,” the Beast agreed, examining one of his claws.

  “So, what now?” Kaeru asked.

  “Throw down your weapons,” the Beast said. “You will return with us to the Dreadpit, where you will be our honored guests.”

  “You mean prisoners,” Violet said, eyes narrowing.

  “Sure, if you wan
t to look at it that way,” the Beast said with a shrug. “Our master will soon have this entire continent under his control, so in all honesty, you should consider yourselves lucky.”

  “Lucky for being taken against our will?” Violet asked, dropping her sword.

  “Lucky that you were taken out of the fight so soon. Your suffering was only minimal. Imagine how much worse it will be for those who resist.”

  Judging by the Beast’s feral grin and the power radiating in the forest around them, Kaeru could tell how much trouble they were in. He still wasn’t one-hundred percent sure why they’d been sent here, but he could guess. They were sent to let everyone know how bad things really were.

  Those with enough power would be able to sense the fluctuations, but they wouldn’t truly understand until they were up close, like he and Violet.

  He would go along with them for now, but at the first opportunity, they would try and make their escape. The world needed to know what they were up against. Because if they did nothing, this was the end.

  ***

  Azure stepped through the air, appearing at the very center of the Waterwood, to where a familiar creature’s work was very nearly complete. He could sense the birth of a new Dungeon, just days away now, and this was where he would place it. It was fitting for Roy to have to come here and find it.

  Reaching into his robes, Azure removed a construct made of silvery Weakness Reiki. Floating within was a blood-red sphere, the Core that had been taken from a younger Herald Leroy, long before he’d met the Dungeon Core residing within his soul. Cracks ran along the sides of the construct and red light leaked out, trailing back to its original owner.

  The casing was not secure, but it would hold until he came to claim it. Roy’s Core would be unstable until then, fluctuating wildly in power, but once they were rejoined, he would stabilize. The only question was whether time and experience would help him temper his worst impulses, the ones that had forced his parents to remove it in the first place.

  Azure stepped down, appearing in the deepest and darkest level of the soon to be born Dungeon and placed the Core on the ground. A stone pillar rose immediately, enclosing the case and raising it to a height of about four feet. The room grew noticeably brighter as it did, and Azure quickly stepped back out as the ground began to rumble.

  He appeared in the air, standing over the Waterwood once more as the Dungeon’s growth accelerated. In the distance, on the far side of the forest, he could sense the boy, alongside the Tonde girl and ferret. Now that this was taken care of, he could pay them a visit and subtly direct them this way.

  It shouldn’t be too hard, considering what…

  He was interrupted from his thoughts as the air trembled and a woman stepped out of the rift she’d just opened. Her hair, jet black and streaked with red, flowed out behind her. Her skin, golden brown, radiated light, and around her waist, over the flowing robes of red, sat a Belt, colored in a mesmerizing mix of Black and Red.

  Unlike previous Belts, the colors were not stationary, instead flowing over its surface like a wildfire, a never-ending pattern that both confused and dazzled the eyes. In response to her presence, Azure’s Belt materialized, his being Black and Blue and flowing like a gentle stream, calm and serene.

  “Crimson,” Azure said as the woman tossed her long hair, her red, almond-shaped eyes fixing him with a stern glare.

  “You were told not to interfere, Azure,” Crimson said.

  “But I haven’t —” Azure began.

  “Technically? No,” Crimson said, cutting him off. “But you’ve come close enough that I’ve been sent to monitor you. You will take no further action until this is over. You will not contact any of the mortal Artists. Should you attempt to contact or help them in any way, we will send Emerald here instead. Is that understood?”

  Azure rolled his eyes, but nodded all the same. Emerald was a pompous ass, and he wasn’t going to let Buryoku fall under his watch.

  “Good,” Crimson said, her eyes flicking to the distance for a moment.

  Azure covertly flexed his fingers, sending a small tendril in Roy’s direction as she did. It wasn’t perfect, but it would hopefully give him enough of a push to set him on the right path.

  Crimson’s head whipped back as soon as he did, but he held up his hands, giving her an innocent smile. She hadn’t seen him doing anything and could prove nothing at all.

  “We’re leaving,” Crimson said, snagging him by the arm.

  “You know, if you wanted to ask me out, you should be nicer about it,” Azure said.

  “Please,” Crimson snorted. “Never in a hundred-thousand years would I lower myself to your level.”

  “A hundred-thousand years is a long time,” Azure said with a grin. “You might be surprised.”

  Crimson let out another snort, then dragged him through another rift, leaving the Dungeon below, now containing Roy’s old Core, to finish settling in.

  ***

  Marrie sat with her back to the wall, staring sullenly at the cold, steel floor and wishing for all she was worth that she’d never trusted that lying snake Roy. He’d promised to get her out of here, and what did he do instead? Leave her at the first opportunity.

  Admittedly, the fight had been extraordinary, so much so that she’d begun to fear for her safety. There hadn’t really been much she could do to escape, so she was forced to huddle in the far side of her cage as rubble rained and twisters formed.

  Now, all was silent, the Scion and Sovereigns were gone, and the arena was packed full of the dead and dying. She herself had come close when all of that power was unleashed. But thankfully, the scripts built into this area had lessened the effects just enough to keep her among the living.

  Marrie sighed, trying to let go of her anger as she stared out at the wrecked Arena. The bars were still impervious to her attacks, so there was no getting out of here until someone came to check on her – not that that was likely to happen anytime soon.

  “Hello there.”

  Marrie jumped, her hands clutching at her chest as a man appeared before the bars. All she could see of him was his outline, the light of the sun bending around him and distorting his features.

  “Who are you?” she asked, raising her hands. “And what do you want from me?”

  The man reached out, wrapping strong fingers around the bars of her cage, and with astounding ease, tore them from their moorings. The bars fizzled and sparked, trying to attack the man but managing to do exactly nothing to stop him.

  “I would have thought you’d recognize your Sovereign,” Herald Duncan said as he stepped into the room.

  Marrie’s eyes went wide as she finally recognized the man. She’d only ever seen him once, but it was a face that was etched into her memory for all time. She dropped to her knees, feeling her cheeks burn red and her heart thunder in her chest.

  He was so handsome that it was hard to even look at him.

  “Forgive me, Sovereign,” she said, pressing her face to the ground, her body trembling.

  Not even for a moment did she think of offering complaint or showing anger for her banishment. She valued her life far too much. It was also hard to think straight in this man’s presence, as it was almost too much to bear.

  She felt a hand on her face and nearly recoiled as the man gently lifted her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes.

  “You’re the girl who was banished by the Fae faction for refusing to marry that crusty old man and bear his children,” Duncan said, his eyes seeming almost sad.

  It wasn’t a question, but Marrie nodded all the same. She wasn’t surprised this man knew. He knew everything that went on in the Herald clan.

  “I apologize for sending you here, but it was necessary to keep you away from him. I don’t much like those who would force themselves on children, be they of childbearing age or not. He had too much influence at the time, so sending you here was your best chance. You survived. The old man didn’t.”

  Marrie felt her heart skip
a beat when she heard that. Was old man Reginald really dead?

  “How did he die?” Marrie asked, licking her suddenly dry lips.

  “I killed him,” Duncan said. “Filthy old degenerate was plotting behind my back.”

  Marrie was thrilled to hear that that asshole had gotten what was coming to him. When she’d told Roy the story of her banishment, she’d left out several important details, like how the old man had tried to force himself on her when she’d been only thirteen.

  “Why…Why are you telling me this?” she asked as Duncan straightened, taking her hand and helping her to her feet.

  “Because there’s a war coming. One that may require the Seven Great Clans to work together. Inu Pelata, the leader of the clan, told me how you helped my son. Not only that, but you threw a fight for him. I’m assuming he promised he could help you escape?”

  “How did you…?” Marrie began, then shook her head. “Of course, you knew. But why should I trust you?” she asked, suddenly feeling extremely bold. “Instead of punishing that old creep, I was sent to fight for my life for over a year! I could have died!”

  “People die all the time,” Duncan said. “But you didn’t. Yes, sending you away was wrong, but if you come back, it will be as an adopted member of the head family with all of the rights and privileges that come along with it.”

  Marrie, who’d opened her mouth to retort, was stunned into silence. The head family? As far as she knew, Duncan was the head family! Well, he and Roy.

  “Why?” Marrie asked, thinking this was too good to be true.

  “You’re a prodigy,” Duncan said with a shrug. “To make it as far as you have at your age is nothing short of astounding, and with the right resources, you could be even stronger.”

  “But that’s not all,” Marrie said.

  “No,” Duncan admitted. “I would like you to marry my son Leroy when you come of age. Does that sound agreeable?”

  Marrie bit her bottom lip, thinking her answer over carefully. The reason she’d been banished in the first place was because of a refused marriage proposal. But this was quite different than the last time.