by Amy Mah
Alyce could only enter if they swapped, and that only happened if they touched tails. The Ice bitch made sure Pink stayed in the center and well out of tail range. Alyce clenched her fist and punched into the magic wall. All it did was hurt her hand, but she tried again, and this time Fire was dancing on her fist as she did, which was a first, but she was still powerless to do anything to damage the barrier.
Her wrist was now hurting for some unknown reason, as it was not even on the same side as the fist she had hit the wall with, and she was getting hot: a sure sign that she should sit and relax. But at the moment she was far from doing that as frustration turned to anger, and her stupid sports leotard was getting clammy. She also expected it would be nowhere near as flameproof as her daily uniform.
Pink was down! And Alyce knew the Snowflake would not be happy with just the points a win would give her; a kill would provide the same points along with the joy of killing at the same time.
Most people did not see what happened next, as all eyes were on a girl bursting into flame; it only lasted a few seconds and was as much of a surprise to Alyce as it was the spectators. Flames covered her body; they did not hurt her but burned off her clothing, and somehow she could also feel heat leaving her body.
Her visual effect was enough for her partner to turn the tables. A blow to the Snowflake’s head brought her down and out of the game, but instead of looking pleased, Pink gave Alyce a look that meant as soon as they were on their own, that look was going to turn into words.
Pink was congratulated, and they both gained winner points in the game. The Snowflake was helped out of the ring by her teammate, and they did not look happy, which was nothing new. They hated Alyce because of what she was and also could not attack her outside of class partly due to her fighting skills but also because she was never alone and always walked everywhere with Pink or in a small group with some Earths. It made it very difficult for them to create an accident.
The others had left Alyce to take a second sand bath on her own to try and get rid of the burned-on bits of leotard stuck to her body. She hated sandbaths at the best of times and this was not the best as she had to increase the grain size to almost sandblast her skin. As soon as the noise of the bath died away, Pink was at her.
“Just what the frigging heck did you think were doing? And don’t play innocent with me! I felt it!”
“Er, I just overheated and caused a bit of a spectacle of myself, but it did give you a chance to bring down your opponent when her attention was on me. Look, I was helpless outside to help you; at least I caused a distraction!”
“Yes, that is what it looked like, but we both know better, don’t we!”
Surprise began to turn to annoyance. As Alyce stopped trying to dress, little flames danced across her body, and flameproof or not, the uniform in her hands began smoking.
“No, we don’t know better! So tell me what, apart from saving your life, am I supposed to have done?”
Pink took a breath and tried to calm down.
“Well, for a start, what you are doing even now is not normal. That is more of a static trick, but that’s not the point. I was down, and that slush was about to finish me off. So yes, I know I should be thanking you, and maybe I will when I find out what is going on!”
“That Snowflake was not distracted by you. One moment I was too numb from Cold to do anything, then suddenly I was bursting with hot energy, and I blasted her with so much she was immobile just long enough for me to hit her over the head with my pole. That is what happened, and I felt where it came from; it was you! You transferred energy through a shield to me as if we were some Cloud of Snowflakes, and that can’t…”
Pink trailed off.
“Let’s get some food and take it to our room. This needs sorting out, and I need to get something on the way. If anyone asks anything of what happened, just act dumb, okay?”
Act? Alyce thought. Until now all she had been worrying about was whether she would lose points for setting fire to her sports equipment!
Back in the room, Pink was giving her the silent treatment as she played with Puff and fed him colored sand as he went up and down her body. Then she stopped and stared at Alyce.
“Okay, I now know what it is, and it is still crazy. We have formed a two-person Cloud!”
Alyce watched Pink start to shimmer with static and guessed it could be either from excitement or dustcrabs.
“That’s stupid. I may not know much about magic, but I do know only Cloud-based Elements like Colds can be a Cloud, which is why this place is crawling with Snowflakes… Ouch!”
Pink grabbled her friend’s hand and watched how the static jumped across from one hand to the other.
“Relax. It is too weak to hurt, and if I am right with what I am thinking, it is maybe possible that you have immunity to it. Now, look at our wrists.”
As one they both looked and saw a wristband of sparks on both their wrists with a line of current between them. Pink let go, walked to the door, opened it, looked down the corridor, and shut it again behind her. The vision of bracelets vanished as soon as they parted, but still a line of static linked them.
“Normally, yes, but not always. I remember hearing of the old days before the current Queen. You Fire Demons were plentiful, and my kind could form Electric Clouds. I have only ever heard of an Electric mix, and that could only exist on the border between the dark and the light. It was never just two people of different elements like us, as that can’t work.”
Alyce was not used to having a thinking roommate. Pink played, and Pink ate. Pink had to work hard to get her points, and Pink did not give history lessons. Pink was not into magic theories, and mostly the Pink she knew did not look at her in the way she was now.
“What we have is an amplifier spell. Snowflakes use links like this to form Clouds. We would have to have been touching when it was cast, and that I expect was when we were sleeping together. And don’t look like that; I get cold when I sleep, and you are warmer than a blanket. Besides, I do not wake you, so your body is happy with my closeness, which is another reason to think something magical is going on.”
Alyce sighed. She thought she had done so well in getting used to tails and horns and having a sickening liking to the eating of raw meat so fresh it was still walking about. She could now flick her tail with the best of them; perhaps the idea of setting her clothing on fire while wearing it was still a little new, but heck! If half the Academy had girls that were likely to give you frostbite when they gave you a cold look, then why should she be surprised at turning into a Cloud because your roomie treated you like a hot water bottle when she got cold?
“Why are you acting so calm!? Don’t you see what this means?” Pink asked.
Alyce did not know what it meant, but she also did not see how it could possibly be any worse than being turned into a Demon. And as to not staying calm, well, if she was not then she would still be screaming. It was true she was calm; she had not thought about it before but expected there was only so much one could worry about. Nothing here felt any more dangerous than fighting for the right size in the 90%-off January shoe sales back on Earth.
“No, Pink. I have no frigging idea, so why not slowly tell me as we eat? I am very hungry, and if the world is about to explode, then I intend to die on a full tummy.”
She ignored the way her roomie stood open mouthed, and she sank her teeth into the largest slice of Kiban. Her tongue could tell it was nice and fresh, so the animal had been freshly killed. The blood had a pleasant Kiban tang to it, and if Pink was any slower in starting, then she would eat her portion as well.
Pink could not understand the lack of horror from her friend at the news or, for that matter, the lack of manners as she finished off all the Kiban.
“Not only is it not possible, but I don’t know, it’s probably illegal as well and can mean just one thing. And that is I am going to zap you if you don’t stop eating! No wonder our hair is changing color so fast… and stop eating my s
hare!”
The table now had only ¼ of the food she had placed on it, so she grabbed all that was left and pushed as much into her mouth as she could in a push, cut, swallow, push, cut, swallow way of eating that left her with hiccups. As words were failing to convey the mega problem they were facing, Pink decided to rely on visuals. Using a negative charge, she removed the carefully placed color she had been adding to both their hair for so long.
Alyce looked at her friend, who now was almost sparkling with a metallic silver hairstyle, and said she looked nice. She thought that being in a Cloud must gave you nice hair, so she went over to the mirror and looked at her own. Alyce was very pleased to see that half of her black hair was now a full, rich blood red instead of the few strands of orange she normally had showing.
“Nice! I love the silver, so why want to hide it? And please don’t touch mine again. Sleeping with me is one thing, but you don’t touch another girl’s hair without her permission, okay?”
“You are acting like a 3 year old! Now, listen! Snowflakes are allowed to Cloud as they are too weak on their own. They mature faster when in a Cloud, as everything is shared, and so they gain their colors faster than the rest of us. The Queen likes them as they have never caused her any trouble, whereas our elements are now nearly extinct.”
She took a breath and carried on.
“The Queen uses all of us in her wars but does not want us too strong, as we could turn on her. So she uses lots and lots of Icemaidens, and as they are Cold Worlders, they are never a danger to her rule in the hot lands. We are both of Light and Heat and so are a danger if too strong. We have to score just enough points to live but not too many to be marked as a target, as neither of us could survive a multi-Cloud attack or an Academy culling. So we cannot show others what we are, or we will die.”
Pink raised an arm and pointed her hand at a wall, and the room was filled for just a few seconds with a crackle and then blinding light, which left the wall with a circle of soot where her small lighting bolt hit.
“We are turning into something that this Academy will destroy if it finds out about us. They are trying to turn us into nice foot solders, where we would be short-lived, front-line attack Demons: you a Fire Demon and I an Electric Demon. But at still only 4 years old, we have the makings of something a lot stronger. The testers discovered you with a 90++ at only 3 years old, and that is why you were picked; 90++ at 3! What are you now? What will you be at 5 or 6, 99.99/100? Only the Queen could beat that as the benchmark, and whatever you increase to, I will be dragged along with you!”
This was not helping Alyce, as all she could think was what was the next level up from a Demon. All she could picture was a devil, and she wondered if she would get a pitchfork? And as long as she kept her tail that would be okay, and even if she ever became human again, she would insist on keeping a tail and horns, as they looked so nice.
“Is this sinking in? We are an unstable Cloud! We are in the early stages of becoming Storm Demons, and that is not possible at our age! Don’t you understand this sort of development is a death sentence?”
Alyce looked at her friend and smiled a nice piranha smile at her. She was such a little worrier; the only downside as far as she could see was that at the moment she could not show off her real hair color.
“Well, that is a relief. I thought you had some bad news or something to tell me. As far as I can see, we just need to keep our heads down and slowly grow up plus not get into any life or death fights where we demolish the Academy. Storm Demons? Yes, that has a nice ring to it, and it may even give us a get-out-of-war card to play. Will we be an Electric Storm and a Fire Storm, or a mix of both? And think of the bright side! If we share our elements, you will not be so cold at night.”
“I don’t know what we will turn into, and don’t you know how long it takes for me to just hide the true color of our hair, let alone the semi-permanent charge I have to feed into the uniforms to stop them changing color?”
With a stretch and a yawn, Alyce called Dyson over to clean her teeth as she headed for bed.
“Well, I have to keep the Battery topped up, so get started on the hair, but I am sleeping. And if you get cold, well, if you get cold, just try not to wake me, okay?”
Smoking Hot: (20)
Day: 554
Ate all of Pink’s Kiban last night, which pissed her off. It looked like I would have to do games naked today after setting fire to my leotard, but Pink says just to take along shorts and a tee. Oh, yes, she took like forever to inform me we are more powerful than we should be at our age, which mostly means coloring our hair and not telling the Queen.
Day: 555
It is odd when I think about it, but I kind of like it here. I have a friend and teachers that like me to fight as dirty as I can. I just wish my brothers could see me now. I do miss them, but sometimes they feel like a story. It seems like this has always been my world.
Day: 556
I stood out on the balcony to enjoy the view, but it no longer feels right with the sun so dull. I never thought I would miss the constant brightness.
Day: 557
It is not just that the sun maybe going into an eclipse, but it feels weaker, too. I am sure it must be my imagination, as I have heard that funny things happen to animals when there are eclipses on Earth. And, well, laws of physics don’t work normally here at the best of times.
Day: 558
We have a free practice period tomorrow, so we must try and find an empty chamber so that no one sees us practice.
The following day it took them some time to find a chamber well out of the way but still large enough for them to practice; they found a disused Snowflake Cloud training room. It was cold, but it had targets around the walls.
“Look, they get special rooms to practice as a group! Talk about life being unfair!”
Alyce still could not get her head around the idea that she may be more than a Fire Demon: something far more. Pink had grand ideas of the two of them being Storm Demons.
Colds always teamed up and formed a Cloud. They never got on with anyone else, so being in a Cloud was the reason they could get on so well with each other. But as to her being a Storm Demon, it sounded very unlikely, as she did not feel powerful at all. Perhaps for her the Cloud just produced a relaxed mind and a close friend. Yes, she was relaxed and her mind somehow clearer.
Pink stripped down and started doing some exercises to warm up before changing into her sports leotard. Lots of the girls were now wearing their sports leotard under their uniform due to the chilly air. Alyce examined a large square block of stone that could be used for a Cloud to stand around and discuss tactics, and she laid her hands on it. It was so much larger than the warming stone she made for Pink, but why should it be different? She closed her eyes. Deep inside her, she knew a flame was sitting and waiting for her command.
“Pink, put your skirt and top back on; you will get cold. And besides, wearing just the crappy leotard makes you look like a pregnant lizard!”
Alyce let the flames grow until they filled her body, and then she felt them start to seep through her pores to cover her body. It was such nice a feeling; she had been able to heat up pebbles and small stones for some time, and she could now do more. The stone table she rested against began to glow a nice cherry red. They were right; she was a Fire Demon, a calm, useful flame to be used as a tool by the Queen. But Pink was also correct; she could feel another stage of development coming on.
At this moment it was just out of reach, but it was a stage that would change her from a useful tool to something else. She was not sure if it was a Storm that Pink said they could turn into, but on the day she was no longer calm, then that would be the day she would know. She expected that at that point she would not be the only one to know the answer. Looking up towards Pink, Alyce smiled.
“Come on over and warm yourself up. I think I have mastered a new skill. After training, we must go find a large stone that we can carry between us back to our room, whi
ch will now be the first one on campus with central heating!”
Day: 559
Pockets! I travel to another planet, or perhaps even another dimension, and what do I find? The female uniforms here are all designed without pockets, and Pink is of no help. She just asks what would I want to carry, which of course is not the point.
Day: 560
Pink gave me a present of a purse today. Well, it’s a square of leather with a cord threaded around it so that it pulls together to make a pouch. It is true that I have nothing to put in it, but I wear it anyway so as not to upset her. Now I so wish I had not said anything about pockets.
Smoking Hot: (21)
Soon it would be the end of the year, and along with everyone else, Alyce would face the end-of-year exams. Those who lived would get the dark time off and start the new year as 5 year olds moving to another part of the Academy to make room for a new batch of 4 year olds. In some ways she thought it was sad that they had to move on.
Alyce wondered if perhaps they had been putting something in her food. She was Fire, and according to all the lectures she should be angry and hot headed and, well, kind of fiery. When that was read out, everyone turned and looked at her, as she was getting so relaxed at times she had started to tell people to chill out, which normally stopped any conversation dead and made most Snowflakes mad when she said it to them.
It was not that she could not feel the warm glow inside her and a flame that acted like Dyson. She would think of her inner flame as a dancing salamander. The calmness was good, as it also acted as a perfect protection against Pink’s sudden bursts of action and excitement. That was one reason they were covering the lower corridors where the light was a lot weaker and the temperature meant that for the first time, she saw her roommate wear leggings and a thick top, and she knew that they were hers and not borrowed as they were in a deep shade of pink. But mostly Alyce brought Pink down here in the hope that it would stop her from skipping as she walked. She was starting to get far too excited over the end of the school year and the long-awaited trip back home for the end-of-year hibernation, Alyce pointed out that girls who were nearly 5 were too old to skip as they walked, let alone do summersaults in public without underwear.