“Is this a quantum thing?” I asked.
“Would it make it easier for you if I said yes?”
I shrugged. “Not really, but at least I’d have a concrete answer.”
“Very well. Like you, I am an Augmenter. As well as fire, I have some power over void. They haven’t taught you about void, have they?”
“You know the answer, or you wouldn’t be asking.”
“You’re so handsome when you the anger rises within you. Void is an element many disapprove of because of the ways it has been abused. But in the right hands, it is a powerful tool. It allows an Augmenter to master time and space, to travel between realms and even between worlds.
“Void does not always follow the rules of the world as you live them. Through its power, a person or an object can sometimes be in more than one place at once. And then, by choosing which truth to make real, they can shift from one world to the next.”
“So, is that what you’re going to teach me—how to channel void Vigor?”
“Oh, no. My sweet man, that power would consume you in an instant. Maybe someday you will be capable of channeling so great an element. For now, I am here to teach you more about fire.”
“What can you teach me that a guild full of fire masters can’t?”
Her laughter rang as clear as the tolling of a bell. “I am the greatest of fire dragons. There is nothing they can teach you that I cannot teach better. Now, stand and pick up the Sundered Heart Sword.”
I wrapped my fingers around the handle of the sword and noticed how perfectly it fitted my grip. The Sundered Heart. I imagined that there must be a story behind the name, a tale of lost love perhaps or of heartbreaking grief. But stories could wait for later. Now, I was here to learn.
“Everything you have learned about Augmenting so far has been about using core channels,” Nydarth said. “This is right and good, the natural way for an initiate to come to grips with the power. But it is not the only way. If you are to truly grasp the power of fire, then you must deal with it in its raw form. You must learn the fundamentals. Working with the sword will make this easier to start with. Hold it out in front of you.”
I did as she told me and looked along the blade, as if I was drawing a site on an opponent.
“Now, imagine a channel running from your heart, out along your arm, to the very tip of the blade. Start with one of the types of cores you have absorbed and let that Vigor flow along the channel.”
I closed my eyes and focused on the power inside me. There was the spark that came from the ember sprites, something bright and restless. I let it flow down that channel, and it filled my arm with heat.
“Good,” Nydarth said. “Now, add the power of the scorched salamander. Instead of focusing on one form of fire, let the two flow together.”
I tried to open the channel wider, to let the salamander’s power in, but it wouldn’t go. It was as if the two forms of power were opposing magnets that pushed away from each other.
“They won’t mix,” I said.
“Oh, they will. You just have to bend them to that potent will of yours.”
I forced the scorched salamander power into the channel. The heat of the fire suffused my body as sweat poured from me, and I gritted my teeth at the strain. But at last, the two merged and became a single stream of fire, fiercer together than they had been apart.
“Don’t worry; it will get easier with time,” Nydarth said. “Now, the power is in you, but it isn’t in the blade. Make that blade part of your body. It is an extension of you, the deadly thrust of your will. Let it become engorged with your power. Let it feel your flame.”
I opened my eyes and looked down the length of the sword. Power raced through my hand, through the hilt, and out into the blade. There was a whoosh as flames leapt from the blade. It was similar to the technique I’d used when I first found the sword on Earth, but it was clearly a less powerful version. Nydarth had said that she’d grown weak after moving between worlds, and it seemed that together, we had grown a little stronger. It was a far cry from her previous strength, but she was improving.
“It takes time to master the fundamentals,” Nydarth said. “But once you have that mastery, you can do so much more than follow the arts and techniques of lesser beings. For most, it takes centuries to reach that point, but you have so much more potential than most men, Ethan. With me by your side, you can be so much greater.”
“What’s next?” I asked as I drew the power back into myself. The flames on the blade flickered and died.
“Now, it’s time to go back to the source,” Nydarth said. “It’s time to return to the Ember Cavern.”
Chapter Seventeen
I walked up the mountainside dressed in a thick, fur-lined cloak, the only way to ascend the landmark without dying from exposure. The fire channels inside my body helped protect me against the heat of the Ember Cavern, but I was still vulnerable to extreme cold. The guards stationed outside the cavern numbered only two, and I easily snuck past them without being noticed.
Inside the cave mouth, I cast the extra clothing aside and laid it near the entrance. I’d need it on the way back, but fur wasn’t necessary inside the cavern. The mountain was alive with the spirit of fire, and after weeks living in the cold of an increasingly harsh winter, that alone made the journey worthwhile.
“My prison,” Nydarth whispered from the sword. “And yet it will be the place where you take your next step.”
“Toward becoming the Immortal Swordslinger?” I
