From ash to ember

After what seemed to be a few hours I could tell we were lost in the darkness. Neither of us had a phone or way of contact and the path we took was too rigid to follow back in the dark. Slowly the night fell cold and the stars left the sky. We were officially lost with no way of finding our way back. Natsuki seemed to be doing better but my wounds were only getting worse. With every step more blood would circulate out, slowly making me light headed. Eventually we stopped at a tree for the night. Upon sitting, Natsuki examined the wounds. I could tell by the expression that things weren't looking very good for me.

"I'll be back with some firewood, just don't move if you don't have to." She said, standing up and walking into the darkness.

The wound stopped hurting but that was by far the least of my concerns. From the blood loss I could feel my conscience slowly slipping away. Finally Natsuki came back with her arms filled with small sticks and logs for a fire. While she was setting up the fire I gave in and went under. I woke up around midday the next day to find my wounds were now cauterized shut.

"Good, I thought you had actually died for a minute." She said while playing with the fire.

"Here I thought fire burned. That or you're just crazy." I said while sitting up.

"Fire doesn't affect me in the slightest. In fact, that's why I heated up last night. I lost control and my spiritual pressure started to flood out and being the daughter of a fire titan naturally it generated unprecedented heat. I've taken steps to better control the fire, especially after the incident." she said as her voice trailed off.

"I remember you mentioning something about that. Is there anything more to it?" I asked before looking over at her.

"He was the first person who tried to wield me. Everyone of the factions saw me as a powerful weapon of war that they wanted for themselves. One day the grim reaper wanted to attempt pairing me with someone as an ace in the hole. The project quickly fell to disaster. I was inexperienced with what he was wanting me to do. When I transformed into a blade and he picked me up, he felt more powerful than ever. That power was short lived though. Before the end of the first ten minutes he started to collapse." She started to form the fire in her hand into a show of what was happening.

"The proctors rushed in to see what had happened but the pressure I was accidentally releasing was too intense for them to come any further than twenty feet. I transformed back and managed to get my power back under control but it was too late. The man had died from the pressure or at least that was what was originally assumed. The doctors looked closer into it and found that his insides were scorched. They grim reaper then saw me as a danger for anyone to be around and thought I couldn't be controlled. That's when he ordered my death. When I found out that he was planning to kill me, I broke out. Then he went to Alce and gave her the mission to hunt me down and kill me. The two factions were practically at war but I was seen as a higher threat than a war. And you know the rest." She explained before putting the fire out.

"Then how come I haven't died by you yet?" I asked, standing up.

"The answer to that is more complex than you might think as it has to do with our souls." She said, sitting back on a fallen tree log.

"Well, if you know how to explain then we got time for you to." I said, kicking at a burning log. "That's where you're a bit wrong. Time is one thing we don't have. Alce will come back at some point. Even if I had the time I wouldn't even know where to begin in explaining phasmathology." She replied, scanning the trees.

"Then I guess it'll just have to wait." I said while trying to see if I could climb on one of the lower branches.

"Don't bother. The branches get too thin to support the weight of a human well before you reach the top." Natsuki said, knowing what I was trying.

"Then there's one last trick I can think of. Do you remember what position the moon was in when we encountered Alce?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're actually facing the same direction, why?" Natsuki asked, puzzled.

"Then we got a heading." I said, grabbing Natsuki.

Realizing what was going on she turned back into a blade and I took off in the opposite direction. The logic is that even though we can't see our footsteps we can still go in the opposite direction that we came to get back. While still quite the stretch, there aren't many options. Dehydration would be kicking in by the next day and lack of food would leave us feeling weaker than normal. I ran all night, rarely stopping to take a breath. Eventually the plain bore fruit as the road to Pembroke was now in sight.

Following the road eventually put us back at the house around sunrise. I quietly opened the garage door before heading in and closing it behind us. The AC already felt good but the hot shower and food felt the best. We mostly stayed in the room or in the yard for the rest of the day just trying to recover from the battle. Slowly, Natsuki was getting used to being part of the household but progress was still taking time. By the next day we had made a mostly full recovery. Surprisingly, Alce hadn't found us yet. That or she was still recovering as well. Getting familiar with fighting was almost a necessity with how dangerous Alce is with a blade. On top of all of that, if another incident happened where Natsuki loses her cool, I might be a dead man. Thankfully Natsuki was ok with the idea of some afternoon sparing. It won't be life changing but it might give us a better chance of coming out of the next encounter alive. After training was always a bit of a drag of pain. She may be smaller and younger by a year but Natsuki packs a hell of a punch. By the end of our first session I can already point out nearly five bruises on my body. Laying down didn't help the pain much either. For three weeks straight there was no sign of Alce. This peaceful feeling didn't last much longer as while we were walking out of the house for more sparing we felt another pair of eyes watching us. Looking around we found her. She was standing near the top of a tree with a bandage over the injured arm. The weird part was that when she noticed we had seen her she ran. The day only got more odd when Natsuki asked to continue later than normal. Finally, the moon was shining over us when she spoke. "I know that my request seemed a little out of the ordinary but, if Alce is back then there's no time to wait." She said, grabbing my hand.

"If at any point you think you can't handle it then drop me." She instructed while turning into a blade.

"What exactly are you about to try?" I asked as a new weight started to push onto me.

Slowly, the force increased. My arm started to feel like it was on fire and the blade was starting to glow. I couldn't even tell that my arm was starting to bleed, in fact. The arm was now lacerated and there was a giant puddle of blood at my side. Upon noticing I stuck the blade in the ground. The pain hit like a wave the moment I let go.

"Shit, why didn't you let go sooner?" Natsuki yelled while turning back.

"I only noticed when I saw the blood on the ground." I forced out while holding my arm.

Quickly, she got me into the house. The next day she refused to do any training with me. Finally, I asked the question that's been on my mind since last night.

"Natsuki, what exactly were you trying to do last night that did that?" I asked, however Natsuki stayed silent. I asked her again and she finally acknowledged the question.

"I was slowly releasing my spiritual pressure while simultaneously trying to resonate with your soul. I came pretty close but unless your body is capable of handling my full pressure at once, the link could be fatal." She explained without daring to look at me.

"Then how do we go about making it work?" I asked, causing her to look up.

"That's the thing. I don't know. I don't have access to books that can explain nor do I know." She said while shaking her head.

"Then I guess we just got to wing it and hopefully figure this out." I said, taking a seat next to her.

Day in and day out, we kept at it. The runs were deathening enough but the extra push ups, sit ups, squats, and jumping jacks were hell to include when we were also sparing. Every day, we'd look up and Alce was watching from the trees. Finally, we took a day to rest outside and she still didn't dare to attack. The next day we were ready to put the plain in motion. Alce had no clue what was about to be coming her way. Before exiting the house Natsuki turned into a blade and I opened the door. Alce was in the same place she had been for the past few days. I took off running at the tree causing Alce to move. I followed her through the trees until she fumbled on a branch and fell. Taking the opportunity I jumped down and attacked. Strangely, the blade went through with no resistance. Taking a second to realize, Alce had turned to smoke and was now behind me.

"I must say, you really did surprise me by doing that. I thought that you would be avoiding all conflict." Alce said, raising her blade.

Without response, I charged at her with a thrust from my blade. Several blows later and we were both nearly out of breath so we separated for a second. Clouds slowly filled the sky blocking out the sun. At the feeling of the first drop of rain we both charged back in for round two. It was a constant clash with no chance to breathe. We both managed to get a few blows on each other while attacking. The rain started to turn crimson under our feet as we lost blood with every swing but neither of us were stopping. We both started to wear out from blood loss and the clashing of blades. Both of us struggled to raise our blades so we resorted to our fists. This wasn't very effective as each swing left us vulnerable and even more out of breath. Slowly I could tell that Natsuki was releasing her soul again. Under normal circumstances, this could be bad. In this one though it was a wildcard in the sleeve. I could see Alce's eyes widen as the blade glowed from the heat. My wounds from last time started to reopen. The bleeding only lasted for about a minute before it ceased. Alce managed to lift her blade back to her side and ready for an attack while this was going on.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing. How are you not dead?" Alce asked while stepping back. "Guess I'm just right to handle it." I said as the wounds closed.

Natsuki was now glowing a bright white. Within an instant we were back to clashing like nothing had happened. Finally, I pushed Alce to the edge. She started to turn into smoke more often and while she could land several hits they healed next to instantly. Several swings later and I didn't hit anything but air. Pissed, I whipped my blade high in the sky and with a violent swing down a line of fire came flying out, barely missing Alce and leaving a scorched crack in its path.

"I never thought it would be possible for anyone to do it but, you are controlling the power of a titan. I better be getting paid extra for this one." Alce said before saying something under her breath.

Her blades' more intricate details started to glow a vibrant purple. Once done she jumped into the air and sliced down at me opening a portal on the ground. It started to slowly expand while me and Alce fought. Once open wide enough, Alce threw a rope around my leg and jumped through dragging me with her.