Dancing With Flame

Am I insane? Is she real? I heard the stories of what was unleashed in the collapse, but I was sure that was all they were; stories.

It was cold in the dark corridor, the only source of light came in from pinprick sized holes in a ceiling high overhead. Dust coated everything, and still more particles floated through the air in a quest to find empty space to call their own. 

Monarch simmered along ahead of me, weaving in and out of the fallen debris as if she was navigating the dance floor of a crowded ballroom. Her dress seemed to glow with pale moonlight but it did not provide the faintest bit of illumination to help me see by.

"I could use some light," I said to her, but she ignored me and carried on. She had a habit of that unless I was required to do something for her.

We came to the end of the corridor and emerged into a large oval chamber. It was as derelict as the rest of the building and just as filthy, but nothing could dim the grandeur it once knew. Paintings of powerful looking men and women lined mahogany panelled walls. Up on the ceiling were finely carved vines and leaves that made it resemble a forest canopy frozen in stone. The paint was still there in places but it had either worn away or faded in the years since the collapse.

She looked back at me, standing in the centre of the room with her hands on her hips. She looked thoughtful, but I did not question her. She would most likely ignore me anyway. 

I felt a familiar head rush as she gave me access to her power, the intensity of it never ceased to make me gape in awe. It felt good, everything was so vibrant, as if there were ten thousand shades of every colour and every single one could be identified by the way it felt to the mind. I could see the different types of energy flowing from one place to another in an infinite dance before me, it was a truly beautiful experience. Even my own breath created faint ripples of thermal energy that I could see dispersing amongst the cold air ahead.

"You will need light to see by for the next part. Look around you for energy that is readily available. Set up a transfer to light and create a feedback of kinetic to ensure it moves with you. This is basic manipulation," she told me, as if explaining that one plus one is two to a small child. My puzzled looks sometimes seemed to infuriate and entertain her in equal measure. Today was no different.

I searched for the types of energy around me. Yes, there was thermal but my transformations with heat were poor. I could take gravitational potential from the ceiling but a cave-in wouldn't do me much good, neither would having to continuously redo it.

"I can't find any, there's barely enough heat to stop me freezing to death. What do you want me to do?" I asked. 

She looked at me. It was the sort of look that cruelty itself would give to a disabled child. Patience was not her strong point. 

"There are rats. I can feel their rancid presence squirming in amongst the rubble as clearly as I can sense yours. If I can sense them, so can you. Kill them and use the chemical energy stored in their organic matter." She told me, her tone icy and brisk. 

I mostly understood what she meant. I remembered doing something similar before but that was with plants I had needed to heal Mesanei. I was sure we could proceed without the need for a torch but Monarch favoured these impromptu lessons when she thought I wasn't expecting them. It was her way of showing she cared.

I scanned the field of energy before me, it was so complex and intricate I struggled to see where one object began and another ended. Currents and eddies within the flows of energy threatened to steal my attention at every turn. Focus was what I needed and I strove hard to find that clarity.

There in the ruins, sure enough, were the tiny balls

Of energy that corresponded to rats. It always felt strange seeing living creatures in this way, the more you focused on them the more luminous they became. So much energy. So much life.

"Focus clearly, you are hypnotising yourself again. Try to remain aloof and dispassionate," she said, her voice puncturing my thought like a hypodermic needle. It was so easy for her, but being cold seemed to just be part of the fabric of who she was.

I tried again, focusing on the rat nearest to me. It had stopped to forage through the rubble a mere two meters from where I stood. This made things easier, I did not have to worry about the changes in the patterns when it moved.

"Good...good..." She crooned from further ahead, standing on top of an old desk so as to obtain a better viewpoint. "Now all you need to do is find the point of transfer from the chemical energy stores and block it. Easy."

It was anything but.

Each time I thought I had found the point, it split into more. The more I concentrated, the more times it continued to split. This was delicate work, and the only successes I had enjoyed so far were down to brute strength. I decided that was the way forward here.

Stretching out a hand, for no real purpose other than the aesthetic, I pulled hard on the flickering ball of light that was the rat. I felt the energy flow into me all at once, a small amount but enough that I could force the air above my hand to flare with brightness. It lasted for several seconds before dying out.

"I told you to set up a transfer, not waste the energy. You must learn how to control this if you wish to master my power."

"It's hard, Monarch. Every time I think I see it, I see a layer beneath it more complex than the last. How do I know which is which?"

"Do not delve too deep. You are concerned with only the surface transformations, nothing more. You ripped every shred of energy from the rat and now it is simply dust. The method I aim to impart means that you can keep the animal alive and drain the energy you need from it without killing it too quickly," she said.

"Well thank you for explaining that to me when it would have done some good. You are an excellent teacher, worthy of this great institution," I said, feeling my temper flare.

"Be quiet. Do you think I chose your inferior mind? I had as little choice in this pairing as you did. I am Monarch, the frozen flame," she spoke in harsh, clipped tones that caused me to flinch from their ferocity, "I should have bonded with one of your ruling elite. Not some treasure seeker from the slums..." She trailed off, arms folded, turning her back to me. I was not sure what to do. Should I comfort her? When she was in these moods I never knew what to say. I hated her arrogance but in that arrogance was a vulnerability that I found myself wanting to help. I walked up to her and put my arms around her.

"What are you doing?" She asked me. 

"I'm showing you a little human kindness. This is hard for you, I can tell. It's hard for me too...if someone told me this is what my life would be like a year ago I would be seeing a doctor," I told her, attempting to reassure her as best I could.

She lingered for a moment but seemed to realise what was happening and then slipped out of the half-embrace. I watched as she strutted off to the other side of the chamber. 

"Try again," she ordered.

"As you wish," I said, finding another of the rats using the extra sense she provided. 

This time it was easier. I looked for the point at which the chemical energy stored in the rat became the other forms and set up a transformation based on the point of change. A small point of light blossomed in the air in front of me, pulsating slightly. 

"Better," was all she said. I smiled, thinking that it must be high praise coming from her. It was nice to see. 

"Now draw energy from the light to make it move?" I asked and she nodded in reply. I did so and the ball began moving forwards, the quicker it went the dimmer the glow but I managed to adjust the brightness and speed so as to illuminate the pathway ahead clearly. 

More debris and dust waited for me further down the corridor. Great, I thought. A change of scenery would be nice once in a while. 

We continued down the corridor for another one hundred and fifty metres, it was slow and careful as we made our way between the collapsed stonemasonry. One wrong foot here and a snapped ankle might well be as fatal as a snapped neck.

I watched Monarch from behind as she glided ahead, her pale blue dress never moving more than a fraction despite the drafts of cold air that rolled in through the many fractures up above. She was incredibly calm and composed despite the nature of their task.

We rarely spoke of the true purpose of our presence in these forgotten hallways, she was secretive by nature and even then it was a matter of such delicacy that I doubted I wanted to know more than the barest minimum I needed to do the job. It turns out that the universe has a supreme sense of irony after all, placing the ruling aspect seeking the greatest of all treasures into the mind of a relic hunter. It was only providence that bred that sort of coincidence.

All I knew is that the object was partly responsible for the collapse, and if used by one so inclined it would allow the world to heal. I had asked what the object looks like but all Monarch told me was that she would know it when she saw it. At the very least she seemed to know where it was or she could sense it somehow. I picked up my pace along the corridor, hoping as much that she was imaginary as she was a true presence in my mind. 

Author's Note

Testing a new style (first person) of narrative, as well as fleshing out the magic system.