#and that's how tuuya got burned to kingdom come

[cloudbattrolls]

Kindling

Etuuya Vannyn | Several Nights Prior | OLSC Headquarters (Space)

You’re walking along the side of a vast white marble wall, Karina keeping pace several feet to your side. Spark trolls - the apparent proper name for the lava folks - move in their usual silent flow around the two of you. You feel the heat from them even if they never come closer than six feet or so, another layer of warmth in the already hot ship. 

Their bright, solid eyes - hues of purple, orange, red, or gold - linger, even if none of them ever speak to you or the tealblood. 

You toss Karina - she’s no longer the only Tulais - the ball again, the two of you having thrown it back and forth for several minutes now. 

This time she holds onto it, stopping.

“Vannyn.” She says, though her gaze is directed outward, you think. Her horns, a pair of inverted triangles, glint in the light. 

You follow her line of sight to the park - well, that’s the closest thing you can think to call it.

Most parks have trolls sitting, maybe walking pets or lusii, chatting or climbing trees. This one has plants carefully sheltered behind great glass domes, vast curling vines and palm-like trees protected from the fiery inhabitants. Instead of benches, there are spiraling grooves cut in the floor, getting deeper as they go down. 

Some of the park trolls smile, and if you flick your ears, you can hear soft laughter as they toss orbs of flame back and forth. If you closed your eyes, you could imagine they were ordinary Alternians.

If Alternian trolls spoke to each other solely by telepathy and unquestionably followed the orders of a crazy bird woman.

“Aren’t you used to them?” You ask her. They’re new to you, but you’d assumed Firebird’s descendant must be accustomed to them. 

The tealblood snorts softly. 

Her hair, usually loose around her shoulders, is in a tight braid. She’s dressed in what must be fireproof armor, though it’s light, cream-colored, looking almost ceramic. She never takes it off, not even around her ancestor. 

Perhaps especially then.

“I haven’t been here much before.” She replies. “She found me young, but she didn’t bring me to space until I was nine. She just...warped me out here one night, showed me her people.”

“Her people? Did she create them somehow, or does she just lead them?”

Karina shakes her head, and your ears flick in annoyance.

“Both, maybe. I don’t know.”

“Don’t you care? How have you not asked, in all the sweeps you’ve known her?”

The teal jerks her head back toward you, dark-eyed gaze resentful.

“I can’t just ask my ancestor anything I want. She’s not Lifeweaver.”

You put your hands on your skinny hips and stare her down.

“I haven’t a clue what you think you know about Rhomox outside of his research, but he - ”

A wailing alarm interrupts your conversation and the Spark trolls start flooding around the pair of you, a purposeful stream splitting off toward various sections of the vast ship. Karina jumps out of the path of their rushing feet, stepping closer to you, almost too close - what is it with the Tulaises and forgetting what you are -

You stick an arm out in front of the teal to protect her, in case any of them get aggressive. She looks at you with a startled expression, but you ignore her as your eyes and head dart around, trying to block out the harsh noise and focus.

“They’re manning the fire cannons. They must’ve found a ship.”

You freeze, then spin around as her words sink in. 

“They what?”

The teal looks away, her fists clenching by her sides so hard her knuckles are nearly white. The soft rubber ball is crushed under the fingers of her hand. 

“What are they going to do, Karina?”

“We can’t stop them!” She snaps. “Especially not you. They’ll burn you up in seconds if you try!”

You hiss in displeasure, but stay put and watch as the strange fiery trolls cluster around what you’d thought were simply decorative golden domes, but must be some sort of weaponry. They all put their hands on them, and flames lick out of their body and get absorbed by the shining material - metal? Glass? It’s impossible to tell.

The glow of their eyes flickers as they do, and a few fall to their knees and pass out, only to be replaced by others as they’re shoved out of the way. 

A spurt of platonic pity runs through you, but you snuff it out and glare at the teal, hugging herself as she stares with a tight, miserable expression. The wail of the alarms shuts off.

“What’s going on?” You say in a low, intent voice that brooks no room for a refusal to answer.

“Where do you think she got all these trolls? Only some were her original crew. I don’t know how she makes them into Sparks, but I know they can die, and she always wants more.”

“A troll can only become all fiery if she makes it so?” You ask her, businesslike and scientific. “Direct cause and effect?”

Just as Rhomox taught you. 

“I think so.” She says, a bit hesitant. “She’s always been vague about it, but she acts like they’re all hers. I’ve never met one who didn’t obey her.”

Firebird laid her hands on the troll she’d send to fetch you when asking you about the drinker you’d accidentally sired. Leaning over them, protective. Like a lusus might with their charge. 

Like you would for Uunive.

“Do you know how close she needs to be to do it? Proximity must be a factor, or she wouldn’t need to bring ships down.”

“Close.” Karina admits, then swears. “Vannyn, you can’t possibly mean to - ”

Too late, you’re off running toward the same place you were brought in. It’s only a guess that the poor captured sods will be brought there, but it’s the best you have to go on.

The clatter of Karina’s feet come from an increasing distance behind you as she fails to keep pace with your drinker speed.

You turn and give her a cheery wave before skipping through the docking doors (apparently Firebird doesn’t bother to lock them).

A rush of air blows your hair back as a ship is indeed towed into the vast hangar. It’s bigger than your little cruiser, but not by much - the crew can’t be large. 

Its metal surface is covered in huge melted spots. You doubt it’s ever going to fly again; at best it could be recycled for scrap.

Fire shouldn’t be able to even travel through space, but Firebird and her motley crew say fuck physics, apparently.

Which is just such fantastic news.

“Have you come to see the creation of more fledglings? You could have just asked.”

She’s hovering many feet above you, yet her voice is as clear as if she was speaking in your ear.

“Well, go on and show me then, if it’s all aces with you.”

You put your hands in your pants pockets as if it hardly matters one way or the other.

A ripple of laughter reaches you, and she melts a hole in the ship’s door by shooting a stream of fire from a hand. You half expect the crew to come out guns blazing, ready to die in the style of true Imperial trolls, but nothing happens.

Wary of the red-hot edges of the hole, you run over and peer through it.

No one ran out because no one seems to be able to stand.

You breathe in, the familiar visceral scent of death present. A few trolls seem to have been literally cooked by convection, the ones closest to the ship’s edges. Their flesh is seared and bubbling, their horns blackened and crumbling.

Others seem to be alive, but barely, writhing in pain on the floor and hardly paying you any mind.

You walk in carefully, trying not to step on the wounded. Part of you wants to feed on their blood, but you ignore it. Hardly the time.

As you go further in, through a few sliding doors, you find a few trolls huddled together. They flinch at the sight of you, but one - dressed in grays, no apparent symbol showing - grabs a gun and points it at your chest.

“Who the fuck are you? I’ll shoot! Are you with the Empire? Why did you capture us?”

Huh.

“So you’re not Imperial?” You query. 

They look just as confused as you feel, only with added anger.

“Fuck no! I have no idea what the hell’s going on, but we’re not Empire! Are you?”

“Do you see a trident anywhere?” You ask dryly. “Believe me, the most highly the Empire thinks of me is as a science experiment. Also, I didn’t capture you.”

“Then what are you doing on our shi - ” 

All of you flinch from the heat as Firebird melts a hole in the ship roof and swoops down, landing in the room you’re in.

“You are about to witness a glorious thing, little Vannyn.” She says to you, as if the other trolls don’t exist, slack-jawed at her appearance. She hardly fits in the space, even with her wings folded up against her back.

The claws of her bird feet click against the floor as she steps toward the troll holding the gun, speaking to them in what you assume is meant to be a reassuring voice.

“You’ve been running from the Condesce for a long time, but I am here to save you.”

“By melting our ship? Yeah, I feel real safe!” snarks the troll who you feel rather endeared to, even if you know it can’t end well for them.

Why did Firebird attack the ship so recklessly? Karina said she wants as many trolls as she can get. Most are still alive, though some may not be for much longer, but a few were definitely dead. 

She laughs gently, and with a burst of red and purple fire, their gun begins to melt. They drop it instantly, wide gray eyes full of fear and hate, long ears pinned against their buzz-cut head.

“Don’t worry. You will have a whole new life.”

She bends down on her scaly knees, the tips of her wings brushing against the floor. The other trolls have fled out the other door, but she doesn’t seem to care. Probably because there’s nowhere for them to run.

Cupping her hands around their head, their size making the troll’s face look small, Firebird breaths deeply and exhales a strange teal fire from her mouth that surrounds like the troll like a cloud.

For a moment it simply hangs there.

Then the troll writhes and thrashes, and you see their skin start to smoke and blacken, then harden into stone, blood running from their eyes as they start glowing - 

You lunge at her, tearing out feathers that sear your skin, and she drops the troll, slapping you back with her shimmering wings. A faint clattering noise sounds, but you’re not sure if it’s real or in your jostled thinkpan.

“You dare interfere?” She says, in a voice that sounds almost like a raptor’s screech. 

“Eat me.” You manage, pulling yourself up off the floor after slamming into the wall. Not only was that a hell of a whack, the heat of her is a good reminder how outmatched you are. For all your strength and regeneration, you’re almost powerless against the teal.

The clattering noise gets louder and Karina bursts in, panting, her skin and braid slick with sweat.

“What...the fuck...is going on?” She demands between breaths.

You and Firebird both stop, looking at her and then each other.

“Leave us.” says Firebird dismissively, the troll on the floor making whimpering noises. “This isn’t for your eyes.” She flicks a hand at the door the younger teal just came through.

You study Karina’s white armor. Where are the catches for it? It almost looks like it’s all of a piece, but that’s not possible. There has to be some seam or join.

“But it’s for Vannyn’s?” She cries. 

There. Buckles, nearly the same color as the strange ceramic material.

“They have a chance of understanding. If they can stop acting foolish.” She replies, casting a glowing glare your way.

Karina’s teal slit pupils flick to the troll on the floor and she takes a step back. Then another. Closer to you, which is helpful.

“What...what’s going to happen to this troll?”

Firebird sighs, but also makes an annoyed chittering noise, her wings shifting.

“It isn’t your concern, Karina. Go, before I lose my patience.”

You yank off the younger teal’s breastplate in one swift pull, put it in your sylladex, and dart behind Firebird. You jump onto her back, using her wings as handholds as she thrashes, and scale her so that you’re gripping her shoulders. Your head is above the melted ceiling of the ship now, she’s so bloody tall, and your claws dig into her boiling hot flesh, teal blood running down the skin. 

You can feel your skin starting to burn.

“Take the survivors and get out!” You yell at your boss. “Take my ship!”

She doesn’t move as Firebird screeches, her wings beating and slamming into the confined space now, and you jump.

You leap up through the melted hole and come back down, trying to land on her shoulders - 

The eight foot tall woman plucks you out of the air with both hands gripping your body, baring her fangs as her feathered ears puff up in fury. She holds you up level with her face, only a few feet away.

“You would deny these hunted trolls their salvation? The Spark takes away pain! It makes trolls anew!”

Her half-transformed victim lets out an agonized moan below.

“And it makes people your minions, isn’t that convenient? Burning themselves out to power weapons to gather more trolls for you?”

Her eyes narrow.

“How can you not understand? You, composed of so many small parts? This is no different. We are all part of the Spark; I simply guide them to its power.”

Karina’s still here. Well, bugger her, she gets to see what comes next.

You smile at the crazed fanatic in front of you, showing all your long sharp drinker teeth. Your arms may pinned to your sides under her grip, but that doesn’t matter.

Not when you open your mouth and spit a mass of worms in her eyes.

She drops you to claw at them, swearing and screeching, and it’s not long until she kills them or they get cooked from the heat. 

So you jump, this time landing on her shoulders as planned, and send more into her throat, her nose. She writhes, but with less strength, and you whisper in her ear.

“Unlike you, I don’t need to ‘save’ other people to feel whole.”

She goes stiller yet.

You bend over and trace a claw under her chin as she did to you when you first met.

“I can feel my worms dying from your heat, but you can’t scream, can you? Can you even breathe? Tick tock, Firebird.”

You catch on fire.

Well, there it is, all that blinding pain, making every nerve an agony, every worm withering.

You fall off, burning, and Firebird turns to you. You’re rewarded with the sight of worms in her face before they blacken and crumble, turning to ash. 

Clothes and flesh, you’re doing the same. How haven’t you passed out. You’re burning away, skin and fabric and works all slowly turning to black and gray ash, piece by piece. A hand. Your legs. Your horns. 

“Don’t kill them!”

Bit late, Karina. Idiot child. Should’ve helped the ship trolls. 

The other victim on the floor looks at you in horror and sympathy alike.

“If I spare them, you will not question me again.”

“Yes!”

“They will obey.”

“I’ll make them!”

“They will witness this, and remember they cannot challenge me and win.”

You watch yourself burn away, half of your body gone to the excruciating flames, and finally Firebird releases you to sweet unconsciousness.