“Here it is, kid. The Mineralium.” Loria waved her hand in a gesture both grand and casual, off-handedly instructive.
The stone door yawned open before them, groaning lowly. Dim lights bloomed within, lighting a long, shelf-lined hallway in series within a few seconds. What is it with those lights, anyway . . . Cirius triggered some similar lighting back in the testing chamber. Loria stepped in confidently, gesturing for Phoenix to follow, but immediately stopped at the introductory intersection that preceeded the long hallway. The woman glanced both ways, clearly unsure exactly where to go. Then she seemed to remember, and pointed her way to the left. Apparently, the structure was made up of long aisles like these, similar to the libraries back in the Dolce family roosts on Isle Fenaback, or the academy at Megeth, though she typically stayed away from either location.
But it was not books stored here. Rather . . . minerals. Minerals of power, if these strange people were to be believed. They’d sought out Cirius briefly to obtain permission to enter the storage facility, and some exchange took place between Loria and her overlord that was lost on Phoenix. Presumably a transfer of authorization. When Phoenix asked if they were allowed back in, Loria only said that they were anytime, if entering together. In other words, Phoenix was not trusted yet. Apparently making a simulacrum bleed secured one passage to the ranks above, but . . . not authorization to a glorified salt cellar allowed to prisoners? Slaves? Whatever these were. She hadn’t yet gotten up the gumption to ask the woman.
The Minerals in question were stored in stone boxes with clever metal caps. Not so different from those on the glass jars Mrs. Lightwing had used for storing foods in the cellar beneath their roost. Falla had never been much of a homesteader, being from the wealthy Dolce family, but Phoenix had occasionally helped Solis’ mother out with such seasonal chores.
“Girl!” A close flick on her shoulder accompanied Loria’s words, drawing her from her reverie, and she reached up to rub the spot. Her spindly little fingers hurt. “Pay attention. This here’s the enhancements aisle.” She pointed out a few locations. “Physical. Mental. Don’t touch this row. Or that one. Here at the end are the elemental enhancers. Adium, of course, will be our main one. As you can see, they have raw and refined. Not . . . mm, fair grade, plenty edible, but not exactly amazing.” She glanced at Phoenix, full in the eye for a moment. “I’ve never seen amazing, of course. That’s for the Royals.”
Phoenix raised her eyebrows, then glanced at the foreign lettering engraved on the front of the Mineral boxes. All sharp, jagged, interconnecting lines, one glyph after another etched from left to right. Or perhaps right to left. It lookd similar to the writing system she’d learned on, but . . . she didn’t recognize one of the characters.
“I take it you can’t read, huh? Well, that’s not something I can fix, flamie. Here, we’ll just get you some more Adium. A bit of this, and this too . . .”
A few minutes later, they’d vacated the Mineralium and Loria had her charge eating dubious-looking powders. Small amounts of Benicitrate and Turite to start with—physical enhancement and rejuvenation, respectively. Next, Adium for elemental enhancement. Apparently, this one had both active and passive uses, whatever that amounted to. Phoenix chewed with disgust on the chunky bits of Adium amidst the finer dust. That she’d been able to swallow, but these little bits still crunched like salt—though they took a bit more effort and did not taste nearly as good. The taste was sharp, almost smoky.
“Got it all down?”
Phoenix nodded, swallowing with a grimace.
“All right, now tentatively try your flame powers.”
Phoenix concentrated, sensing at her powers without letting them out yet. Something was definitely different. She hadn’t been able to tell earlier, when she’d first consumed the mineral, but then, she hadn’t been trying to use her Flameborn powers either. Finally, she manifested her wings and inspected them, drawing them as far forward as she dared. They were in one of the facility’s arenas, occupied by only one other group—Telsan and his instructor—at the far end, so the only danger was burning her own clothing and hair. And skin, if it touched certain places for too long, though she was resilient toward it.
Everything seemed normal. The flames surged outward from the skin of her back, orange and red as normal. “Nothing is new,” she said disappointedly.
Loria nodded, though it looked like a restrained eyeroll. “Nothing yet, because you’re holding back. Don’t be shy.”
Phoenix hesitated. “That’s because I . . . never mind.” She shook her head as though to clear it, then banished her wings and summoned them anew. This time, proper wings, spanning over fifteen feet in length, enough to make Loria step back on impulse. She inspected them, then flared them a little brighter, and gold leapt into the coloring as they expanded to around twenty feet. Most elementalists did not physically fly with their wings, but manipulated the air in strange ways using their element, so it was not overly important how large the wings were. Thus, hers were usually far smaller than Telsan’s and Solis’. It was also a matter of safe practice, as those she clipped with them would not get a face full of pinions, but a searing burn.
She took to the air now, noting that something felt a little different. Within the Earth, the cramped and still air always seemed to mess with her flight just a little. She’d never realized exactly how her flame element interacted with the air currents and air pressure, nor did she understand it after coming here. But now it felt different. Her wings were powerful, almost trembling with excitement. Not the dangerous excitement of when she was pressed toward the edge, toward whatever insanity that foul woman had impressed upon her, but a new excitement, like she’d found an addictive drug.
Maybe she had.
She beat her fiery wings, angling them behind her with each stroke, and quickly rose through the air, though a bit unsteadily given the newfound strength she was unused to. After a bit of experimental flight, she alighted beside Loria again. She glanced across the room at Telsan, who had yet to take to the air, as his instructor was evidently still explaining how to use his own Mineral. She paced around, she feeling flush with energy, and then took off again, Loria giving no cue to do otherwise. She flapped, rising toward the ceiling, moving with great power, wings fueled by the golden tinge of extra heat.
All of a sudden, Phoenix jolted, stung from nowhere by an unseen whip, or thorn, or electrical jolt. She doubled half over midair, wings flickering, and suddenly plummeted. In her panic, she almost forgot how to reignite, and screamed in helplessness before—
Her fall broke. Well, mostly broke. She saw Loria’s face and arms before rolling unceremoniously over the ground. Heavily. Air rushed out of her lungs, dragging its feet in reentry. Shakily, she rose to hands and knees, hardly believing she was uninjured. “What did you . . . why would you do that!?” She glared murder at the blonde woman, who stared down with some amusement.
“Wouldn’t have done it if I wasn’t ready to catch you anyway. It wasn’t far. You wouldn’t have broken many bones. What are you lot looking at? Go back to your stuff, stary-eyes!” She waved dismissively toward the other instructor and Telsan.
Phoenix found her footing, feeling at her abdomen for the place where Loria had stung her. “What did you do?” she repeated, now just as curious as she was indignant . . . and . . . also in pain. That roll had not been soft. Wait, never mind the midair shock, how had Loria caught her in her arms? Just how strong was this spindly-looking woman?
Loria began to slowly pace in a circular track around her. “Trade secret, kid. You won’t be learning to disable elementalists for a while. Maybe if you make it up a few more Strata.”
Phoenix perked up upon hearing that, ignoring the pain of her scrapes and bruises for a bit. “Oh? How far up have you made it?”
“How far do you think?” Loria returned, appearing half-amused.
“You’re not going to say.”
“Correct. Now where were we? Oh yes, you were getting carried away with that Adium. I mean, I did tell you to try it out, but you’d have burnt out quickly at that rate.”
“What!” With a derisive snort, Phoenix manifested her wings, giving into the jittery urge that had moments before prompted her to boldly test out her newly strengthened powers. She flexed the fiery appendages, receiving only a slight brow-raise from Loria.
“Go ahead,” she said with a dismissive gesture.
Phoenix did so, taking off once more. She stuttered a bit, as though in response to air turbulence, but her abilities still seemed strong. Okay, maybe it wasn’t so stable, but surely—
Ten feet off the ground, her wings let out an unexplained gout of extra flame, and then she pitched forward.
This time, it was not in response to a sudden jolt. Yet . . . this time, her instructor did not catch her.