IRIS BARELY DODGED THE FLAMING CARD. It whizzed past his cheek, the heat emanating from the card stinging, and it embedded itself in a signboard saying WELCOME!, setting it on fire.
"Y-you can control fire too?", Iris asked, perplexed.
"No!", she replied, her cheeks red. "I just make my flames objects, like every other normal Pade!"
Pade? What, who is a Pade? Iris didn't have time to think as another cascaded towards his forehead while he tried to control the flames on the signboard. In the rush, he instinctively held the card. He winced, expecting searing pain, but all he felt was a mild warmth as he held on to the flaming card.
"Hey!", she screamed, the card slipping out of his grasp to hover beside her. "Don't touch First Heart!"
First Heart? Oh, the card name, represented by the symbols on the card, which was, in fact, made of fire. So much for another like him. However, now Iris had acquired more insight into his powers. Taking hold of flames was just like sitting by the fireplace at Jack's, drinking in its heat while it had a stable source. To give it form though…
"No one holds First Heart!", she screamed, First Heart growing into a bow, with a heart-shaped arrow already nocked.
Iris couldn't even see the arrow as it snipped off the ribbon in his hair.
"No thanks for my ribbon! Now let's aim for that head!", she said, squealing.
Realizing holding the arrow was impossible, Iris chose to focus on his senses. Closing his eyes, he felt the heat sources that surrounded him; the burning signboard, the flame-bow and arrow, the warm oven, the sizzling bacon, the half-dead cashier; all little dots in his weirdly three-hundred-and-sixty degree vision. And then, the bow dot exploded. Tilting just in time, the arrow missed, striking the wall before dissipating into licks of flame, its dot fading away.
"No fair!", she screamed.
Eyes closed, ears tuned out, he dodged and weaved through arrow after arrow, tracking their heat signatures and trails. The skinny jeans limited his flexibility, but he persevered. Then, he dodged an arrow aimed at his sternum, the "dot" didn't disappear. Instead, it stopped and suddenly grew much larger. Before he could react, the arrow exploded, sending Iris flying into a wall. Haven forgotten about the bullet wound during his trance, a shriek erupted from him as the wound burst open from the impact, blood matting his blouse. As he crumpled to the floor, he stole a look at the girl, who had the most maliciously sweet grin on her face.
"Ah, I see. You have an injury. Don't worry, I've got it covered!"
Raising her bow, she fired, and as the arrow burned into his flesh of his wound, Iris couldn't remember how long he screamed for, or how long she giggled with glee. But when silence finally returned to him, his whole body brimmed with pain. Raising his head up to look her in the eye in a pitiful show of defiance, he was met with twinkling multicolored orbs staring at him intently.
"Oh, you're still alive! You are worthy of my introduction then! I'm Igi Jargen. Nice to meet you!", she said sweetly, before knocking him out.
+ + + + + +
Mmm. Nice covers. Iris snuggled a bit more.
"Hey. Get up.", a distant voice said.
Who was that? Disturbing a grown man's slee- AARGH!
Pain exploded in Iris' chest as he sat up screaming, the pain vanishing as quickly as it appeared. Abruptly woken up, he looked around frantically. Igi was there, sitting cross-legged in a chair just in front of his bed, a book titled "The Tortoise and The Hare" in her hand, and was looking intently at him. He looked down to see his upper body, especially his left arm, well bandaged. They were in a small room, just a bed and desk with no windows. His fingernails were sharpened.
"I see your leash was nicely set.", Igi said, dropping the book.
"Leash? What lea-"
Iris was interrupted by Igi, who suddenly pounced on him. Balancing herself, she held her palm over his chest. Damn, she smells good. Damn, shut up, Iris. A tickling sensation came from inside him, like little feathers were dancing around his back.
"And the punisher spikes are well in place.", she said, apparently satisfied.
Jumping nimbly off the bed, she sat down and returned to her book. Iris snapped out of his petrification.
"What did you do to me, you witch?", he demanded.
"Witch? I like the sound of that. But never call me that again. Besides, what I did is self-explanatory.", she replied, refusing to properly acknowledge him.
Iris was nowhere close to stopping.
"Listen, you wi- GYAAAH!"
No sooner had he intended to say the word than a striking pain, exactly like the one that woke him up, struck his chest, making him crumple.
"Tsk, tsk, it's barely a minute and you've managed to get two out of three strikes already!", she said, sighing.
"What. Did. You do?", Iris said through gritted teeth.
"Nothing more than what happened to-"
"Gimme a straight answer!", Iris interrupted, his voice hoarse but rapidly recovering.
"I put slave spikes in you. Every time you disobey my command, they poke your spinal cord. Three strikes, and you're out."
"As in dead?", Iris asked. He didn't get a reply.
"Also, you mentioned something. Too.", Igi said suddenly, her expression darkening.
"English, Igi." A flame card flew past his arm.
"Don't call me by my name. Call me 'Missus'.", Igi growled.
"Okay, Missus, what two things did I mention?", Iris asked smugly.
"Not two, too. When I threw First Diamond at you. What did you mean by 'You can control fire too?'", she said.
Iris began to panic. This was very bad.
"Answer me. Do not lie to me. You have only one strike left to fill, remember? Are there people who can actually control pre-made flames?", she whispered, the tips of her mouth curving upwards.
Iris was found out. It was nice while it lasted.
"Yes… there are people who can control fire.", Iris reluctantly admitted.
"Like, control but not create?", she questioned, slightly surprised.
"Yeah."
"Hmm. So, how did you happen upon this information?"
"It was unexpected, but I got used to the idea."
"You are from Oke, aren't you?"
Maybe if he slashed his neck now it would be less painful than the formal execution…
"Yes."
"So you are the mysterious convict that blew out Hearthman's flame?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. Okay."
What? She seemed to take all this with a grain of salt.
"Since you've answered a bunch of my questions, I'll answer a bunch of yours.", Igi said, breaking into a smile.
Huh. Suspicious, but things were looking like they were in Iris' favour after all.
"Who are you?", Iris demanded.
"Igi Jargen."
"What is your status?"
"A girl."
"Who is your dad?"
"My father."
"Stop playing games with me, Ig - Missus!", Iris yelled. "Just answer my questions!"
"Okay." Her multicolor eyes sparkled.
"Who is your dad?"
"Mr. Jargens."
"I sai-"
"I'm not finished. He's the strongest Volcano in this city, and one of the Generals.", she said proudly.
"So that's why people are afraid of you,", Iris reasoned.
"Oh, me? Not at all! I find joy in burning people, that's all.", she said, her eyes clouding over, as if imagining the aroma of soft burning flesh…
Disgusting girl.
"So you're a tyrant?", he said.
"Precisely!"
"And-"
"That's enough questions for me, no? Let's round this up. You are the fire controller. You can't make your own, but you can conjure flames from the surroundings, and in some cases, even others' flames. Your goal is to escape this mess, and live quietly. Am I correct?"
Now it was Iris' turn to smile.
"Don't smile." She said.
What the h- never mind.
"You are only half correct." He said.
"How?"
"You missed my goal."
"Hmph."
Igi stood up from her chair, crossed her arms, and went to the walls.
"Open." She said calmly.
Instantly, a section of the wall in front of her crumbled open, making a perfectly rectangular hole in the wall. A makeshift window.
"Ahh, EasyFire makes life so much easier." She muttered happily to herself.
"What are you doing?"
"Shut up." She said after too long a pause.
After a long while, Igi sighed. She spun around, smiling.
Something was up.
"So, what is your real goal, then? "
But Iris knew better than to talk. She didn't allow him to speak yet.
"Hmm? I'm listening. Answer me."
Still no order to speak. Iris held out his arm, and began using his finger to write on it.
"Can you talk? Like, right now?" Her smile was starting to fade.
Iris just nodded in the negative. That was a question, not a demand. He wasn't dying today.
"Open your mouth and answer me!" She yelled, her smile long gone.
Not yet. With his mouth hung open, he continued to write on his arm. This was a crazily evil form of execution, but Iris was having none of that today.
"I can't see what you're writing. Make it visible, " She said, "Or you can just answer me."
Visible? Iris didn't have a blade… his fingernails were sharpened. Shakily lifting his right index finger, he began to painfully, gorily carve the message onto his left arm, biting down on the sheets to avoid screaming:
I WANT TRAINING
When he was done, his sheets were spotted with blood, and his fingernail was dirty with dried blood and bits of skin. Igi just stared in awed disbelief. Then she smiled sadly. Then happily. She failed to suppress a giggle. It soon became an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
"Whoosh," She said finally, catching her breath, "You can speak now."
Iris sighed loudly, his arm already buried in sheets in an attempt to stem the bleeding.
"You've succeeded. You, scum from Oke, have proven your worth as a lackey of mine. You are very intriguing. I will harness your potential." Igi said, smiling sweetly again.
"So, like, I get to live?" Iris asked.
"Yes. You will enroll for the Ember Corps tomorrow with me. It's going to be so much fun!" She said, heading for the window.
"Don't I need an Arin-"
"Yeah, yeah, it's in the file on the desk."
"Oh, okay."
Iris finally relaxed, putting his head on the soft, blood-stained pillow behind him.
"And, Iris?" Igi said, rousing Iris.
"Yeah, Missus?"
"Good luck. Surviving this!" She said, before lighting the desk on fire, and jumping outside.
Shit. Shit! Iris did not expect this. How crazy could that girl possibly be? He jumped out of bed, but instantly crumpled. His left arm burned with pain. His shoulder ached in similar agony. There was nothing he could do at this point than to watch his only chance of survival burn on a desk. It was all over… Except it was not. With a rush of adrenalin that pushed his creaking muscles, he got up, snatched his file from the flames, dashed towards the window, and jumped out as the fire lit up the bed and part of the room, with no idea how to land.
"I'm such an idiot." Iris muttered.