Lillene

Enjoy!

Death Magebolts were, in fact, the key. They allowed Serenity to stay at a distance and slowly overcome the summoner with the power of Death. It was not even close to the most efficient way to kill, even with Death magic, but it worked and that was what Serenity cared about in the end.

Serenity stepped back and checked himself over. There were no unexplained injuries, but the burns from the summoner’s black fire hurt like hell. They weren’t healing properly, either. The skin was blackened, painful, and even weeping in places, even though the clothing above it was undamaged. 

Serenity didn’t have the right supplies on hand to deal with it unless they were somewhere in his Rift storage; he honestly couldn’t remember what the right thing for a living person to do about a burn was. If he were undead, he had the spell to deal with it, but for the living he was clueless. It was somewhat disconcerting but definitely nice to need to count himself among the living.

It was also more than a little painful, but he’d be fine until he got to Blaze for help. He should deal with this first.

No, there were people to deal with messes, even if he didn’t want A’Atla itself to handle it. If he was going to call himself among the living, he needed to treat significant burns like they were important and actually get treatment quickly, in case they were worse than he thought they were. He remembered that much.

Blaze was at the upper camp, the more public one outside the tunnels. That wasn’t too far away; he’d head that way. His footwraps meant he could float, which was a relief; walking was not at all comfortable with the burn on his left calf. He should probably give Blaze some warning, too. :Ita? Are things handled up at the upper camp?:

:Mostly.: Ita didn’t sound particularly happy and her next words made it clear why. :There’s no fighting happening now; the enemy retreated when it was clear they wouldn’t be able to get past the defenders here. Some were sent after them, but it won’t be enough to actually fight them. Too many had to stay here in case there was a second attack. There aren’t enough warriors here. Warriors would know you must kill the enemy or they will be back.:

Serenity had to laugh at that, but he tried to keep it out of his reply. :Hopefully there aren’t any warriors there, at least not the kind that will disobey orders so they can chase a retreating enemy. They’re supposed to be soldiers.:

Ita sent the sound of a rude noise to Serenity. It made him laugh again. :And if there were more of these soldiers, would they have pursued the enemy? Likely so. There are still not enough.:

:True,: Serenity admitted. Sterath tactics tended to be simple and brute force, but they definitely knew the value of having enough manpower. :Is Blaze available?:

:He is healing some of the soldiers who were hurt. I believe that he has everyone out of danger; most are being seen by the camp’s healers.: Ita paused just long enough for it to be noticeable but not really long enough for Serenity to say anything. :Do you need him at the inner camp? You said there was something happening there.:

:No, everyone’s fine there as far as I know. The snakes didn’t make it past the entrance. Please tell him I’m going to need his help with some burns; they aren’t healing the way I expect. I should be there in ten minutes.:

The pause this time was longer, almost a full minute.

:Blaze says to sit down and stop aggravating them. I say you should put out your half of a teleportation token. He is available now.:

Serenity shook his head and muttered to himself, “I knew I should have waited until I was closer.” He pulled out the token and tossed it on the floor in front of himself anyway; Blaze was, as usual, probably correct.

Serenity took a look at the one on his chest, then decided he’d really rather not see more until he had to; it was black in the center with a bright white ring that outlined the black area. The black was numb, then painful. The white simply itched and Serenity suspected it was trying to heal. Serenity had the feeling that the “white” was his blood rising to the surface. It would probably have been bright red if he weren’t using his Mana Elemental Heritage.

Whatever the black fire was, it was absolutely insane. The burns were smaller and more restricted to the surface, but they were at the same time worse than the one he’d received from Helios - and that one required essentially re-growing a large portion of his chest. His flesh simply wasn’t healing the way he expected.

The summoner only managed to hit Serenity with the fire three times; each left a major burn patch and some smaller, more scattered injuries as it spattered across his nearby skin. The fire passed through the enchanted robes and directly burned Serenity as though he hadn’t worn any protection or even any clothing at all. There were several possible reasons for this, but only two of them seemed likely.

First, it could be a matter of Affinity. Serenity hadn’t enchanted his robes to stop the more esoteric Affinities, only physical attacks. With the spell he’d assembled, it should have at least significantly reduced the heat from any Fire-based Affinity. On the other hand, it wouldn’t stop Life or Death; he didn’t need to stop Death and Life-based attacks required a lot of skill. It also wouldn’t stop gravity or space-based attacks, along with any number of other unusual Affinities.

Black fire was unusual enough that it could be esoteric. Serenity wasn’t certain exactly what it would be, but what he did know was that whatever it was, it left burns. That was unusual but not necessarily impossible; after all, Concept mattered a lot. Something like radiation as an Affinity might well fit; while Serenity didn’t think the burns matched what would really happen if the magic was true radiation, radiation didn’t look like black fire, either. 

Admittedly, Death didn’t really look like shadows either, even though that was how it presented itself in Serenity’s magic. That was how he visualized it, so that was what it looked like. It was probably heavily influenced by movies.

The second option was that it was a Fire, Heat, or Energy Affinity, but that it was altered. The most famous variant that would go through defenses was Godfire, Fire Affinity powered by a deity. That would match up well with the power being loaned out but not with the odd way it seemed to have altered the summoner’s Tier. That was something Serenity had never seen before.

Whatever it was, it meant trouble.

The portal formed quickly; moments after it stabilized, Blaze stepped through and the portal disappeared. “Ita is probably headed this way already,” Blaze told Serenity. “She’s more worried about you than she wants to admit. Now, what’s this about burns that aren’t healing?”

Serenity was glad Blaze hadn’t made a point of the fact that he was still standing. He pulled off his robe and the shirt underneath it; that showed most of the chest injury. He’d have to take off more if Blaze wanted to see the other injuries, but this would do for now.

Blaze took one look at it and shook his head. “I know we’re in the middle of a hallway, but would you please make yourself something to rest on? About this high would be good, and if you can manage a chair for me that would be even better.”

Serenity knew the limits of his ability to pull Potential through the Rift and make things by now. The less shaped the object was, the easier it was to make. That didn’t mean he couldn’t make complicated objects, but it was like shaping Intent; it took a lot out of him.

So Serenity wanted to keep it simple.

He created a pair of blocks. One was made, theoretically at least, of polished wood about as tall as Serenity’s waist. It was large enough for Serenity to lie down on if necessary. He’d regret the fact that it was unpadded, but adding padding was surprisingly difficult. The other block was sturdy but light and movable. Blaze probably wouldn’t use it as a chair until he actually started healing, but he’d really need it then.

Climbing up on the faux wood block was technically easy with his strength but surprisingly painful, especially when he smacked the burn on his right leg directly into the fortunately curved corner. That made him stop as his eyes watered from the unexpected pain before he was able to finish climbing onto the block.

“I can dull the pain,” Blaze offered.

Serenity shook his head. “It’s more important that you figure out why it’s not healing and fix it. That will get rid of the pain the fastest. I can deal with it until then. I also don’t want to miss anything important just because I don’t want to hurt.”

Blaze signed and gave Serenity a disappointed look. “I do know what I’m doing. I said dull, not remove, for a reason. It won’t slow me down and it won’t make it any harder for me to figure out what’s happening with you; it will only make the process a little easier on you.”

Blaze didn’t say anything more, but his expression said more than enough. It said “stop being macho and making this harder on yourself than it has to be.” 

Serenity didn’t think he was being macho about it, but he knew he was the one who filled in the blanks of Blaze’s expression. Which meant he was the one telling himself to stop being an idiot. He suppressed a groan at his subconscious, then nodded at Blaze. “I’ll take it, then.”

Blaze set a hand on Serenity’s shoulder and the pain quieted. It wasn’t gone, but it was no longer grabbing for his attention the way it had been. Serenity felt himself sigh in relief; it really was much better.

Blaze stiffened. “I always forget how much you can handle before you even react. I should have expected this.” He glanced at Serenity and forced a smile. “No, I’m not taking on your pain; it simply costs more to separate than I expected. It is fine. Now, your injury.”

Blaze directed his attention to Serenity’s chest wound. He moved the hand that had been on Serenity’s shoulder over the injury but kept it just far enough away that Serenity couldn’t even feel the air movement from his hand. “There is something there. It’s not specifically intended to suppress healing, but it is vicious, determined. That won’t help, but it’s not the entire story.”

How could Blaze tell that so quickly? Yes, it was healing, which was Blaze’s specialty, but Serenity was good at determining Affinities. He couldn’t even see one there. Admittedly, he hadn’t specifically looked yet, but even so he should have noticed when he glanced at the injury if there was any particular strength of mana there.

Serenity looked down and concentrated. At first, it all looked normal; he actually had to push his Magesight into active mode, supporting it with his own mana, before he was able to see the wisps of energy that Blaze was reacting to. They were faint, at a level Serenity normally ignored, but they weren’t going away. He wasn’t entirely certain what Affinity it was, that was hard to tell with something so weak, but there was no question of its weakness.

Serenity shook his head. “That shouldn’t be enough to suppress my healing, even if it were trying to.”

“Agreed.” Blaze sounded less concerned than Serenity felt.

Lillene

Yes, there’s a reason Serenity isn’t healing normally, and he has most of the information he needs to figure it out. It hasn’t occurred to him (though it might have occurred to Blaze if Serenity had explained slight spoiler). I doubt it’s occurred to you, either, because this situation has never come up before in the story.