Forge of the Gods 2

by Simon Archer

  Hopefully, their presence would let Jade know I was thinking of her.

  My feet continued leading me to the forge. I passed some other students who passed by without a word, whereas others said hello or nodded in greeting. While they were cordial acknowledgments, I noticed the stiffness or the lack of joy in them. Just a few weeks, the campus had been alight with happy couples. Even students that hadn’t been paired up enjoyed the anticipation of the dance, the prospect of falling in love, and the drama of the Tainted Love disease. There was a liveliness that Tainted Love brought to the Academy that hadn’t been there before.

  A flicker of doubt crossed my mind as I thought back to what Jade had said to me the night of the dance. She wasn’t sure we should get rid of Tainted Love. It made people happy, and she didn’t see the problem with that.

  I agreed with her on one hand, but another part of me thoroughly disagreed, believing in the ability to choose. But something about her philosophy appealed to me just then. I wanted that happiness back, that joy that seeped through campus.

  Yes, we were training to be soldiers, superhuman soldiers with supernatural abilities, but we were still human. We deserved love and laughter and joy. If Aphrodite and her magic brought that, was that really such a bad thing? Maybe there was a way to not view this as an attack, but as a blessing. There had been fighting, but no one talked about the general sense of wellbeing that spread amongst the students. Could something of the past few weeks be salvaged and brought back to campus life?

  As my thoughts traveled down that path, my legs stumbled upon another one. While I wanted to head to the forge, just off to the left was the cursed apple orchard. I hadn’t seen it since that time in my Agricultural class, and something pulled at me to see the culprit behind all of this chaos on campus.

  Intrigue and a small bit of irritation bent my path as I turned to head for the orchard. It didn't take me very long before I reached the field on campus. The trees were planted a little ways away from the other foods, being Jade’s special project.

  There were a dozen of them, six facing the other six in parallel lines. They bloomed bright and full, even in November. It was an unnatural sight to see such green leaves and red fruit at the turn of winter. The apples were plump and ready to be plucked.

  Impulsively, I reached out and picked one around off the branch. It came off easily and sat simply in my palm. There was nothing malicious or even ugly about the piece of fruit. I didn’t know what I expected. A skull peeled into the side of it? I rolled my eyes at myself as I tossed the apple up in the air and caught it in my palm again.

  I hadn’t been around this many apples in my entire life. Having always been allergic, they were just something I learned to avoid. While I had to actually consume the apple to have an allergic reaction, nerves and caution still prickled along my spine at the thought at being so close to something that could kill me.

  Those nerves spread out to the rest of my limbs, making me shake. As a consequence, I dropped the apple on the grass, creating an instant bruise on the side of the thing. It seemed so harmless, lying there at the base of the tree. All of them appeared like that.

  But the apple tempted Eve in Christian lore. It tempted three of the most intelligent goddesses in Greek myths. It poisoned Snow White in European fairy tales. There was no reason to like or to trust these deceptive fruits.

  While I had just been reminiscing about the joy it brought to campus, it had also caused a lot of heartache, especially to my friend, who had been tricked by their deliciousness. She wove them into her recipes with ease, created menus around them. And the campus devoured them without knowledge or care.

  A fit of irrational anger flared inside me at the orchard. I wanted someone to blame for Jade’s arrest and the whole Tainted Love crisis. Maybe it wasn’t someone’s fault, but something’s fault.

  I looked behind me at the main quad and suddenly found myself running back towards it. However, I had a mission on my mind. It cleared the rest of my thoughts, pushing anything away, labeling it as inconsequential. My rage and hurt consumed me as I reached up and spoke to the Eternal Flame that flickered in one of the lanterns.

  Want to help me burn something down? I asked it.

  The Flame inflated eagerly and turned a bright orange in its excitement.

  I took that as a yes.

  33

  I called the flame out of the lantern, opening up my hand so it could have somewhere to land.

  I didn’t know what it was about this moment, but I felt more connected to the Eternal Flame than I ever had before. The element and I were not the best of friends, to say the least. While I did have the ability to control it, the Eternal Flame did not like to be told what to do. It had a habit of defying me at nearly every turn and making my life more difficult than it needed to be. Especially when it came to using the Flame to make weapons.

  However, something about this request was different. It could have been my anger that spoke to the Flame, or my desperation. It could have been the promise of destruction, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t able to think about it too long or too hard because my focus narrowed in on the orchard and what I planned to do to it.

  The Eternal Flame beat against the glass of the street lamp, unable to break out of its own accord. I searched around for something to break the glass with. There were a couple of scattered pebbles, but they didn’t seem large enough to break it, even if I threw it accurately and with all my might.

  I reached into my boot and pulled out the short knife I kept in there for emergencies. Hailey had suggested I start doing it earlier in the semester when I got recruited to Enka. It was uncomfortable at first, but I got used to having the weapon nearby.

  I cradled the handle and could sense the metal as it zinged up my arm and down my spine. I broke my connection with the Eternal Flame for a moment and spoke, instead, to the weapon in my hand.

  I had only tried this trick a couple of times, meaning to test it more this semester, but time had been limited. So I reached out and sensed the metal within the blade and encouraged it to aim true.

  With one sharp pull, I reeled my arm back and hurled the knife at the lantern.

  The tip of the knife landed with a solid strike that echoed through the trees. At first, the knife simply stuck out of the glass, straight and horizontal. Then the glass cracked, crinkles rippling through the air like tiny bells. After a few seconds, the glass completely shattered, destroying that single pane.

  Freed, the Eternal Flame leaped out of the lantern and danced around its former prison. It looked like it was bragging as it zipped and zoomed.

  Impatient, I held out my hand and beckoned it forward. The Flame eyed my hand suspiciously.

  “We had a deal,” I said aloud, not caring if I looked like a fool for talking to a questionable sentient element.

  The Flame wiggled like it was sliding down a slide and landing in the center of my palm, shrinking in size so I could close my fist around it protectively. I turned on my heel and ran back in the direction of the orchard.

  Together, the Flame and I approached the trees. I unfurled my fist, and the Flame floated above my palm. It flashed different colors, like a strobe light, bouncing and ready to be used. I let the excitement of the Flame flow into me. It stoked my own flame of anger inside of me.

  Jade may have been the one to bring the apples to the Academy, but I would be the one to remove them from campus.

  It wouldn’t solve everything, some small part of me knew that. But getting rid of these trees, the source of all of this trouble, had to help something even if it was something just as simple as making me feel better, lessening my guilt.

  The Eternal Flame left my hand and zoomed around it, like a buzzing fly, awaiting my command. As though it could sense the next steps of what I wanted to do. It hovered over to the closest apple tree. It waited, albeit impatiently, beside an apple as if asking me, “This one? You want me to burn this one, right?” I was reminded of an overeager puppy seeing a ball
and burning with anticipation, knowing that you were going to throw it.

  I gave a simple nod, permitting the Flame to burn without hesitation.

  The Flame began to expand. It inflated to the same size as the apple and then swallowed it whole. The Flame glowed orange, like a sunset. After it consumed the first apple, the fire spread.

  It was beautiful how the Flame spread. It looked like an artist with a paintbrush, swiping across a canvas. It transformed the green and red array into a swath of yellows and oranges.

  I waved my hand, directing the Flame to move on to the next tree. Gleefully, the Flame hopped over. The first tree remained on fire while the second one burned. It went on like this, one tree after the other, until there was an army of burning trees. The limbs and the trunk charred to a hazy black, looking like rough lines of charcoal in the middle of the orange blaze.

  The Eternal Flame only jumped from tree to tree. It never spread beyond that. Even the dry grass between each tree stayed unharmed.

  I took comfort from the heat as it blasted onto my face. It didn’t hurt me at all, no burns because of my natural resistance. However, I welcomed the sensation. It reminded me that I was doing something productive while doing something destructive.

  Most of the time, I used fire to create something. Weapons forged from different metals, jewelry formed from trinkets. I consider fire to be a life-giving property, always sympathizing with Prometheus and how he gave it to the humans. But now, for the first time, I understood Apollo and Ares’s uses of fire. For war and ruin.

  There was a beautiful symmetry to fire with the ability to give life and to take it away. I admired the Eternal Flame as it danced around its kindle. A wave of sympathy emerged from me, and I noticed that the original flame, the one I removed from the lantern, held in my palm, paused its movements. That singular piece orchestrated the rest of the burning, like a conductor running an orchestra. But it paused the music to look at me.

  As I admired the Eternal Flame’s work, it returned the favor. A swell of affection and compassion bloomed in the center of my chest, like my own personal fire warming my insides.

  I could tell, then, that the Eternal Flame didn’t appreciate being told what to do, but it was willing to work with me as long as it was a partnership and not a dictatorship. It had not lasted this long on the Earth by being controlled and contained.

  I cocked my head to the side, curious at these sensations and feelings that coursed through me. It wasn’t like the Flame spoke to me in my mind, but tapped into my base instincts, communicating that way.

  So instead of opening my mouth to respond, I took a deep breath, calming my mind. I relaxed, as though I were leaning into a hug, in order to relay to the Flame how I felt. It seemed to understand that we were in agreement, because the singular flame bounced once, like a nod, and then returned to its symphony of destruction.

  A half-smile played at my lips, and I realized that for the first time, the Eternal Flame and I had reached an understanding.

  “I thought I would find you here,” Hailey’s voice said from behind me.

  I whirled around to see the beautiful daughter of Apollo saunter towards me. My lips pulled into an automatic smile at the sight of her.

  “The burning trees didn’t give me away?” I asked sarcastically as I gestured out to the twelve contained fires.

  Hailey shrugged. “It certainly helped.”

  I chuckled at her casual response. Aside from my dogs, she was next on the list of preferred company. So I let her approach and take my hand in hers. She kissed the top of it and looked at me with a concerned expression.

  “How are you holding up?” she asked.

  I pushed air out of my lips, making them flutter. “Like shit, if I’m honest.”

  “I figured,” Hailey said as she patted my hand. She looked at the ground as if there was something insanely interesting in the patches of dry grass beneath our feet, outside the forge.

  My eyebrows narrowed at her. It was curious why she wouldn’t meet my eye. Hailey always made eye contact with me. Often intense eye contact, layered with subtext, but she always met my eye.

  “What’s wrong?” I called her out.

  “Hm?” Hailey said, looking up, but again she gazed at my forehead.

  “Hailey,” I said slowly, trying to prompt her. “What’s going on?”

  The soldier sighed. She clearly didn’t want to tell me whatever she had to tell me. Her face was strained and pale, muscles taut with tension.

  “Spit it out,” I egged her on, shaking our connected hands. “I’m a big boy. Come on, tell me.”

  Hailey finally looked up. I saw the sadness, and the regret in her eyes and the mix of somber emotions frightened me. “The Elemental Officials have requested that you testify at Jade’s trial,” Hailey said.

  I jumped back from her, letting go of our conjoined hands. “Please tell me they want me to testify on behalf of her exceptional character.”

  “I’m afraid not,” Hailey said as she shook her head. “They want you to reiterate your theory about the Apple of Discord and what you saw when you connected with Aphrodite, about Kari stealing the girdle.”

  “But they already know all that,” I stuttered, my brain stalling. “Genesis and Makayla were there for all of that, or Makayla was at least. She can tell them.”

  “They want to hear it from the source,” Hailey said, her voice pained, knowing that she was hurting me even as she said the words. “I’m supposed to bring you to them now.”

  “Now?” I balked and took another step back as if getting away from her would mean I didn’t have to go with her. “Her trial is happening now? She only got arrested yesterday.”

  “They want to get this whole thing over with,” Hailey explained. She took a step forward and held out her hands, but I recoiled. Her face twisted into one of hurt. “I know you don’t want to do this, Cameron, but it’s an order.”

  My mind spun wildly like a tornado had been unleashed inside. Everything was incomprehensible and messy. The hurt inside my gut tightened to something unbearable as the guilt squeezed the life out of me. The whole situation was so wrong. I wanted to throw up right there in front of the forge. I had already inadvertently condemned my lover, and now they wanted me to do it again? With the knowledge that this information would be used as evidence against her?

  Suddenly, the storm cleared, and I stood up straight, pushing my shoulders back.

  “No,” I said, my voice strong. “I won’t do it.”

  “Cameron,” Hailey said. “You have to.”

  “No,” I repeated, my tone the exact same. “I don’t.”

  “It’s an order, Cameron,” Hailey pointed out as if I didn’t know what that was. “You can’t defy an order from the Elemental Officials.”

  “Yes, I can,” I said with a sharp inhale. “I’m not supposed to, but I can. That’s my choice to make.”

  Hailey breathed through her mouth, audible and stunned. “Don’t do this, please. It’s not worth defying an order.”

  “Yes, it is,” I said with confidence. “She’s my lover, Hailey, yours too and she didn’t do anything wrong. I played a part in putting her in this situation. I’m not going to make that same mistake.”

  “You know it won’t matter, right?” Hailey reasoned. “They’ll convict her with or without your testimony. You’re not helping her by refusing this order.”

  I rolled my lips over my teeth and held back a hiss. As unfair as that statement was, part of me knew it was true. Still, I had made up my mind and knew that this was the right choice.

  “I’m not going with you,” I said definitively, lifting my chin. “You can go back and tell them that I refuse. They can punish me as they see fit.”

  Hailey slid a hand down her face, clearly exasperated and torn. “I could force you to go with me.”

  “But you won’t,” I said knowingly. “And I’m not upset at you for coming to get me, by the way. I know you’re just following orders. You know
this is wrong as much as I do. I know you love her as much as I do.”

  I looked into the face I had come to know and adore, who had let me see so many facets of herself and who had shown me his vulnerability more than once. I hoped at this moment that she would see me like she had so many times before and know my truth that I was firm and unwavering in my decision.

  Hailey took a couple of steps towards me to close the gap between us. This time, however, I didn’t back away from her. I trusted her not to bind me or harm me. This woman would never force me to do something I didn’t want to do. As such, Hailey leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek.

  “Good for you, Cameron,” she whispered in my ear before pulling away. She didn’t look back as she walked towards the main quad. I didn’t blame her. That wasn’t going to be an easy conversation to have with the Elemental Officials, and I didn’t envy her. But I was sure grateful for her.

  The weight on my heart lightened a little as I thought about what I had just done. Sure, I had outright defied a direct order from my commanding officers, but I also had stood up for my friend in the only way I could. I took what little power I had left and used it to the best of my ability.

  The Eternal Flame approached me, then, in the form of the small little orange flame that normally lived in the lantern. It flew straight up into my face and then signaled towards the apple orchard. Or what had once been the apple orchard.

  Nothing remained of the dreaded apple trees save for twelve patches of charred grass. There was not a single apple or green leaf in sight.

  Pride swelled in my chest. I felt the urge to high five the Flame, even though that wasn’t entirely possible. We had done it! Together! Now the threat was gone, burned all the way to the roots. By using the Eternal Flame, I also guaranteed the eradication of the magic as well. If we had used regular fire, there was no telling what lingering magic might have stuck around.