“I’ll show you soon,” Kegohr promised. “Tell him, Ves. Tell him what you’ve learned.”
“I think,” Vesma said with a wide grin, “that I have figured out how to get better at Flight. It’s not perfect levitation, like what Yo Hin can do, but it’s close. And I think it’ll work better for us in combat anyway.”
“I’ve been learning a little with Flight too,” I said. “But I want to see what you can do.”
Vesma squatted down low before she jumped into the air. Fiery ribbons laced into footholds under her feet as she ran atop them. They progressively appeared higher and higher, taking her up to the ceiling. My jaw dropped as Vesma soared above our heads with a series of bounding leaps on fiery platforms, and she landed above us on a ceremonial pillar. She sat on its edge, smiled at me, and gave me a wave.
“You look like you’re using Untamed Torch,” I called up to her. “Not Flight.”
“It’s a similar principle,” Vesma replied. “The monks taught me a little Physical Augmentation too. You know that weightless feeling you get when you charge yourself up with fire?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Kegohr said. “You feel like you’re a cloud.”
I thought about the principles I’d learned with Tymo in the last few weeks. “You’re switching from Physical Augmentation and Flight Augmentation with each step. Staying almost weightless the whole way. That’s how you’re managing to keep yourself from falling.”
Vesma’s eyes twinkled. “Exactly. Come on, try it.”
I glanced at Kegohr. “You’re up, big guy. Show me how it’s done.”
He bared his tusks at me in a grin and took a few lumbering steps before he leapt into the air. The Spirit of the Wildfire washed over him for an instant before the tell-tale streamers of Flight encircled him and created a fiery burst under his huge foot. He propelled himself through the air with huge leaps, sprang off a pillar, and activated Flight to glide down beside me in a mass of blue-gray, flaming fur.
“How did you like that?” he asked.
“That was pretty damn awesome,” I said with a smile.
“See, Ethan? It’s not so hard,” Vesma said.
“Let me try it,” I said.
I reached within myself and jolted my body with fiery strength. The floor shrank away as I jumped into the air, switched pathways, and activated Flight. Flame washed through my clothes, hardened into a platform below my right foot, and held me aloft for a half-second. I repeated the process, applying the newest training I’d learned from Tymo.
The absolute minimum amount of Vigor instinctively flowed through my channels as I leapt through the air. A laugh burst from my mouth as I propelled myself forward, fully activating Flight. The magic held me aloft as I glided a few yards above the floor in a long arc. My gut churned, and my head spun with excitement. I stretched my hands out to either side and coasted above the ground like a paper plane.
I pulled a backflip in the air, landed on my feet, and grinned up at Vesma.
“How’d I do?” I asked her.
“Very well. Why is it that you find Augmenting so simple? You’re not even from this world!” She huffed.
“You were the one who figured it out. I’m just good at mimicking.” I shrugged. “When I was practicing by myself over the last few weeks, I only managed to float a little above the ground. A few minutes at most.”
“That’s not bad,” she said, although it was clear she was only trying to be nice.
“I’ve got a few other new tricks,” I said.
“Yeah?” Kegohr said. “What kinds?”
“Hate to say this, big guy, but show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.”
He spread his feet apart in a fighting stance. “So, it’s like that, Effin? You challenging me?”
I assumed a sparring posture and beckoned to him. “Why not?”
“You got a lot of guts. I can’t think of the last time we sparred seriously without weapons. You sure you want to do this?”
“Ah, come on. You’re big and slow. You won’t even be able to catch me.”
“All right, you asked for it!”
The Spirit of the Wildfire flared through his fur, but the familiar orange flame took on a blue tinge as he swung a bunker-busting punch toward my chest. Cool Vigor flowed through my water channels as I sidestepped the blow. I landed a pinpoint-accurate punch on his lower ribs, but he barely flinched. He swung out with a backhand. I kept up the pulse of speed-based Physical Augmentation, ducked the punch, and slid through his pillar-like legs. I cartwheeled away from a stomping kick that shook the floor.
Kegohr grinned as he surged forward, wound up a huge right hand, and threw it straight at my face. I switched my Physical channels from water to fire as his basketball-sized fist slammed into my palm like an artillery shell, sending a shockwave through my whole skeleton. Blue and orange fire washed over our hands as we both fought each other’s strength. But my new Augmentation protected me from the blow, and pure force rippled out from the impact.
“Such strength!” Nydarth crowed. “Such power! An ember grown into an inferno.”
“The ripple has become a tidal wave!” Yono added.
“A tremor an earthquake?” Chosi said, unsure.
Kegohr’s jaw dropped as I grabbed hold of his wrist with a crushing grip. I jammed his arm with my shoulder, spun into him, and torqued my hips into his. He yelped as I threw him over me like a sack of potatoes and slammed him into the ground. The smooth floor rumbled at the impact.
I put a foot on his chest. “Seems I’m the better—”
I was cut off when a blue nova of fire blasted out from him, a new way of using his Spirit of the Wildfire. The area-of-effect attack tossed me through the air like an empty packet of candy. I rotated as I shot toward the altar, activated Flight, and caught myself in mid-air. Kegohr jumped to his feet, spun, and shook his head
