Chapter 7 – The Unflinching
“I am Ember.”
The words resounded in his ears with a sweetness that lifted heavy burdens off one’s shoulders. Their lightness made him feel like he was running on clouds, his worries and anxieties things of the past. For that moment, in that single instant, his enemy seemed weak, a fragile existence before those words uttered with such confidence.
Aadi reached for the glowing stone and his fingers grasped it tightly. He felt as if he was lifting a great weight out of the ground as he straightened, but the strain of the effort seemed distant. The stone shifted hues from blue to pink rapidly, as he weighed it in his right hand. He didn’t know how, but it seemed to be a perfect fit for his slingshot’s band.
“Good.”
He heard the voice, presumably of the stone, in his mind. He couldn’t see a facial expression on the stone, or visualise one in his thoughts. Inexplicably though, he imagined that Ember smiled. Aadi felt himself smiling in return, but the moment passed all too quickly to properly savour. His sense of dread returned as he intuited his gauntleted enemy rushing towards him. His foe had resumed his fighting stance after smashing the ground a few feet behind Aadi. Without wasting another moment, the gauntleted stranger endeavoured to close the gap between them.
Pivoting on one foot, Aadi found his aches and pains to be distant, a dull feeling that didn’t impede his movements. Ember’s protective power still held true. With all the strength he could muster, he stretched the slingshot’s band as far as it would go, with the glowing stone affixed to it. He targeted his enemy’s chest and felt himself investing an intensity of feeling into his attack. It was as if his emotions and energy poured into Ember - the stone and his slingshot itself. In his later years, Aadi struggled to describe what he had felt as he recounted his story. Everything happened swiftly, well out of his control and understanding. He didn’t resist. He didn’t struggle against the tide of ‘power’ that flowed into the stone. In his heart, Aadi knew that this shot would not be in vain. God had given him an opportunity and he would seize it with both hands, even though what had happened now was beyond his ken.
In a smooth motion, Aadi loosed the stone and Ember flew towards its target with a deafening sound. The stone hurtled with such speed and force that it cracked the very air through which it passed! Startled, he stared as the cracks glowed a bright white ever-so-briefly before sealing themselves. The entire development took hardly a second and Aadi couldn’t believe his eyes. Ember cared little for his surprise at that moment though. The stone continued on its deadly path and in the next second, crossed the space between him and his enemy. The gauntleted warrior glimpsed the rapidly approaching projectile and to his credit, managed to raise his arms to block it. It was a pity that his efforts were in vain.
Ember connected with its target, the enemy’s chest. The gauntleted arms in its way were simply thrust aside by the sheer force of its passage! The sound of its impact against the foe’s metal gauntlets appeared to mingle with the loud thud that rang throughout the cave, as it struck his leather cuirass. For the first time in Aadi’s fight against this opponent, he saw his enemy stagger several steps backwards. The stone was embedded in his chest, glowing a bright blue, pushing him back. As the enemy struggled to come to a stop and recover his stance, Aadi heard Ember’s voice, “Good. Now, recall.” Puzzled, he replied, “What?”
The atmosphere in the cave seemed to grow tense momentarily. Aadi thought he sensed surprise and alarm in Ember. “Recall,” he heard the stone’s voice repeat firmly and his reply was just about the same, “What do you mean?” Surprise turned into the beginnings of frustration and Aadi felt Ember brood. Something wasn’t as it should have been. Had the stone expected him to possess certain knowledge? Did it perhaps consider him proficient in a skill? Aadi thought about it, but he couldn’t remember learning to recall anything. He didn’t even know what Ember had meant by that.
In the space of the few seconds that their interaction took, the enemy recovered his stance. Ember fell to the ground, having lost its momentum from Aadi’s shot. “Do you really not know how to recall me?” it asked and Aadi shrugged. He felt Ember’s annoyance, but there was also deep concern underneath. Was the stone worried for his welfare? “Come; get me,” it instructed once more and Aadi felt the beginnings of understanding dawn in his mind. Ember was lying on the ground all the way near the enemy. “Recall must be a way to get you back to me quickly, isn’t it?” he thought the question and Ember answered, “Yes, but you do not know the technique. That makes things difficult.”
Aadi looked at his enemy, who had started advancing towards him with a sense of urgency. His strides were faster and he sought to close with Aadi quicker. His attack was swifter than before and Aadi barely dodged it, feeling the intense blast of air pressure against his face as he ducked that punch! Without further ado, Aadi leaned forward and rushed towards where Ember lay on the ground. He couldn’t hope to scratch his opponent without the stone’s help and he felt it reach out to him. Even as he ran, his instincts warned him to be wary of his enemy. The gauntleted man had turned almost instantly and begun pursuit. He was indeed moving faster than he had earlier. Aadi thought he understood now what it felt to be the prey, which he regularly hunted in the forest near his home. He didn’t have the time to dwell on it, however.
The air pressure behind him increased in intensity and the hair on the back of Aadi’s neck stood up. He kept running towards Ember, quite certain that he wouldn’t have the time to dodge the oncoming attack. The air around him exploded! This time, a punch didn’t follow it. As Aadi was lifted off the ground and thrown forward, he thought he heard a distinct, loud clap behind him. He didn’t turn around to look, though. He didn’t have the time. His enemy wasn’t pulling his punches. The gauntleted man had already resumed moving. The delays that had affected him previously, after his double-handed smashes weren’t happening anymore. “He is faster now,” Ember confirmed Aadi’s suspicions, “He acknowledges you as a threat.” Aadi didn’t know how to react to that and the stone was evidently reading his thoughts, “Don’t ponder it. Quickly! Come; get me.” He wasn’t about to argue.
He rolled along the ground towards Ember and as he regained his feet, he reached for and grabbed the stone. “Quickly now,” Ember urged him, “Aim at his shoulder.” Pivoting in place, Aadi smoothly raised his slingshot. “Which shoulder?” the thought flitted across his mind and he heard Ember reply, “Any.” Aadi immediately picked his opponent’s right shoulder, whose arm had been drawn back to launch a punch. He unleashed Ember just as his foe attacked. The stone flew cleanly past the gauntleted stranger’s fist and struck his right leather pauldron. Simultaneously, Aadi felt the air pressure from the enemy’s punch explode against his chest. Ember had blunted the attack’s physical aspect and as Aadi lurched back, he saw his foe stumble and roll sideways.
For the first time in this fight, the gauntleted man had fallen down. Elation rose in Aadi’s heart, even as he dropped on his back. His aches and pains were still present, but Ember kept them at bay, or at least alleviated them enough to let him fight adequately. Meanwhile, his foe seemed to slow down as he rose to his feet. Aadi wasn’t sure if Ember had inflicted serious damage, or his enemy was simply stunned by the ferocity of the stone’s attack. “A little bit of both, but more the former,” the stone clarified, “He definitely felt that sting.” “We can beat him,” Aadi thought as hope surged in him.
However, Ember was cautious, “He’s far from done. Create some distance between the two of you, quickly. Then, come for me.” Aadi scrambled to his feet and obeyed. As he opened the distance from the gauntleted stranger, Ember warned, “He’s coming. Careful!” “He recovered faster than I thought,” Aadi said and the stone replied, “As expected of the Unflinching.” Puzzled, he sent a questioning thought over to the stone and Ember explained, “That’s what he came to be called in the world, when he lived among men. His given name is Aaron Flint.”
Author's Words
This chapter ties the story to its Morelogue. If you are re-reading the book just for the fights, or recommending it to a friend who doesn’t like a hefty narrative, they can skip directly to Chapter 7 after reading the Morelogue.