Page 22 of A Simple Truth (the Freckled Fate #2)

21

FINNLEAH

T he previously white streets of Svitar were empty and sinister, not a soul around. The usually blooming flowerpots were now filled with rotten, wilted flowers and thorns. So many black thorns.

Though I had just barely woken up, I was already yawning, the last bits of my lingering dream still fresh in my mind as I rubbed my eyes. My entire body was stiff and sore. Despite having gone to bed quite early the day before, I felt more exhausted than ever, as if I hadn’t slept at all.

“A smile a day keeps the gloom away,” Gia exclaimed next to me. “It’s a beautiful day to be alive, isn’t it?” She smiled, fully dressed in her training gear. She opened a few window flaps, letting the bright, morning sun eliminate any remaining haze from the room.

“A stupid phrase a day brings more death threats your way,” Ioanna's sleepy voice grumbled as she stretched like a cat, making me smile. Though we weren’t best friends, there was an unspoken truce between us, and even a bit of gratitude on my end, that out of all the Ten, she was brave enough to speak the truth no matter the consequences.

I sorted through a small wicker chest grabbing a few clothes for the day. My eyes paused at the messily folded, black fabric. My face immediately turned sour as I stared and considered what to do with the General’s cape. After too long of hesitation, I grabbed the fabric, and hastily ran to the small training ring on the outskirts of the camp.

The late winter sun was gradually warming the crisp morning air as I took a shortcut through the moss-covered floor of the forest.

“You're late,” the General stated. With his back turned to me, he removed his swords and left them by the bench.

“Actually, I am not. You are just early,” I argued, but before he could object, I threw his cape at his once again shirtless figure stalking towards me. “There,” I said. He recognized the cloth, giving me a silent look, questioning. “I figured you might need it back. Perhaps you could make a shirt out of it, since it seems you have very few of those.”

The corner of his mouth tugged upward, but he didn’t say anything as he directed me to the center. I let out a dramatic sigh but complied, taking a stance in the middle and obediently channeling those hateful fireballs.

I bit the inner of my cheek, calming my heart as the flames carelessly danced on my fingers. Though we’d been training every single day for over a week now, it somehow still stung to summon the fire, but at least I was getting better at hiding the initial wince as I steadied my trembling hand. Per usual, our trainings were mostly silent — the only reprieve to the General’s overwhelming presence. Granted, it was becoming much harder and harder to call these wasted hours trainings—a shirtless Destroyer General just observing me, disintegrating my fireballs with his eyes, no matter their shape, size, or intensity.

He frowned as he firmly grabbed my wrists, adjusting my hand motion.

“You are sloppy today,” he remarked, as if that was supposed to help.

“Like teacher, like student…” I whispered under my breath. He rolled his eyes, uncomfortably stepping on my foot to readjust my stance.

“Anything on your mind you’d like to share?” he questioned, his eyes inspecting me.

“No.”

“No?” He raised his brows, clearly not believing me.

“No,” I sneered.

“So be it.”

I took a long breath, concentrating even more as a drip of sweat rolled down my neck; yet again, he smothered my flames just as they rose off my hand. As if they never existed in the first place—not a spark, not even a puff of smoke; gone, disappeared.

I calmed the rising storm within, ignoring his blatant arrogance as he paid more attention to the birds flying above us than the flames I conjured.

At last, I gave up, lowering my arms, trying to keep annoyance at bay as I spoke, “I’ve been throwing fire at you for a week, other than a few little tricks and suggestions, you’ve taught me absolutely nothing of value. There has been no progress, and I’m sick of wasting my time.”

His eyes returned to me; his brow rose with curiosity.

“What is it that you want to learn then?”

“Teach me how you do that,” I said.

“Do what?” he asked, and I chucked another fireball at him.

“That,” I replied as he disintegrated the fire into thin air.

“That is boring… What you truly want to learn is this...” he stated with a mischievous smirk on his face, but I couldn’t reply because I could no longer breathe. Every single cell in my body suffocated, as if the entirety of my being and my newly-found powers were being sucked out of me. Pain shredded through my body as my mind panicked, blood rushing to my face as I dropped to the ground, gasping for air.

“You want to learn this?” His voice purred as he stared indifferently, watching me collapse in agony.

After what felt way too long, he let go of the sheer grip on my body, letting air flow back into my lungs freely. Whatever exhaustion I had before vanished as my heart raced back to life.

“Yes. I’d like to learn that.” I hissed, my voice sounding hoarse, and I sent him a hateful glare.

“Okay, but with one condition.” He smiled at me aware that he held all the cards.

Such a dick!

“What do you want?” I asked, uninterested in throwing fireballs for the rest of my life.

“I want some answers first,” he said, crouching as he took a sip of water, watching me slowly get up.

“And you thought choking them out of me would work?” I snarled, but then gave in. “What are your questions?”

“You don’t get to hear them first. Do we have a deal?” he purred, and I wanted to claw the smug look off his face.

I hesitated for a moment… but I was done with his bullshit.

“You get three questions. Take it or leave it.” I took a sip of water myself, feeling it run down my sore chest.

“Deal.” The almost black irises of his eyes were intrigued as he asked, “What is your actual, full name?”

“That’s your question?” My eyebrows rose. This was going to be easier than I thought. He nodded waiting for the answer. “Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead,” I blurted out, and yet, as I said those words, it felt like I was opening a door to something bigger, something deeper. It was just my name, but all of the sudden it felt too intimate to tell him.

“Interesting... Finnleah, Daughter of the Dead …” he repeated, more to himself, eyeing me with odd fascination, as if my name was of importance to him. “My next question is, why do you flinch each time you summon fire?”

“Because it hurts,” I answered honestly. It hurt for many different reasons; for the painful memories that I carried hidden deep within me, for what these flames served as a reminder of, for the physical sting each time a flame came to the surface.

“It shouldn’t hurt you,” he countered, his face changing with an unclear emotion. “Destroyers and their flames are one, entwined together. In fact, it hurts when you hold in power for too long without release.”

“Well, it does the opposite for me. What’s your last question, Destroyer?” I asked, rubbing my aching wrists.

“I shall ask it later.”

“What?” I bunched my brows together.

But he had already turned away, and for the first time since our training had started, he summoned those silver flames, drawing a large, flaming circle, frozen in the air. I watched warily, fighting the loud terror within, my mind begging me to run as far away as I possibly could from the Destroyer’s fire.

“Stifling someone's fire is a skill only Justice Wielders possess.” He blinked, the flames disappearing on his command. “The skill itself is quite simple. Just as you summon the fire from within, you can call on it from outside. Try it.”

He drew another fire circle in the air, motioning for me to smother it, but no matter how long I stared at it, it didn’t budge. He let out a disappointed scoff.

“Use your hands. Eye channeling is rare, and a very hard skill to acquire,” he grumbled, and I listened, feeling defeated. But the fire didn’t budge regardless of how hard I tried. The General rolled his eyes, his calloused hands grabbing mine as he adjusted my fingers for the right move.

He palmed my hand, showing me the motion. “Try it now,” he instructed, finally letting go of my hand. My fingers moved and though it was excruciatingly slow, the fire did fade.

“Good,” he said, unenthusiastic, as if I hadn’t just accomplished a brand-new skill, a rare skill, but I shut my mouth. He was actually teaching me things I wanted to learn, and I wasn’t going to ruin that now.

“Shaping is very simple too,” he continued.

I childishly mimicked his ‘ look at me. I am a cool Destroyer General. I am so amazing. Everything is all so simple ’ in my head, only allowing my eyes to narrow a bit.

“Instead of hurling the fire, like with the fireballs, you release it, but imagine it as if it’s tethered to you. Not fully letting go. Try it,” he said, as if I knew how. But I held in a breath as I summoned fire once more. I clenched my teeth, his hand smacking my elbow up, but this time, I let the fireball float instead of lobbing it. I felt a bit of a pull. “Keep your thumb extended,” he snarled, and I was sure my jaw was going to snap as I shut it tightly, but I obediently adjusted my thumb, moving my hand, only to rapidly lose control as the fireball now flew towards the tree behind me. With a displeased look on his face, the General caught it before it incinerated the tree.

“We’ll practice more on that,” he uttered, and my lips turned into thin lines. “Now, what you felt a few minutes ago was an act of Utradecend. Think of it as arm wrestling, but only with your powers. The skill is not unique to Justice Fire wielders, which makes it so much more fun, don’t you think?” He smirked but I didn’t return the gesture. “Simply explained, it’s a clash of powers. You’re challenging theirs until one yields, a process that, as you just experienced, is not very pleasurable. Or at least, so I’ve heard.” His face plastered with an arrogant smile—his look getting under my skin. “Most Destroyers will stay away from those kinds of power contests. They are dangerous and foolish because it’s a gamble of whose power will yield first. You must be skilled enough to master your power on such a level, and not very many are, though occasionally some may try.”

“Foolish and skilled. How lucky of you to be both.” My eye pierced the back of his head hoping it’d light up on fire, as he walked away from me.

“It is only foolish if you don’t know how to beat the odds. But you and I, dear Finnleah , have something nobody else does...” He turned his head just far enough to glance at me.

“Raw fire…” I quickly finished, though hearing my name— my actual name—on his tongue, sent shivers down my spine.

“Raw fire is powerful, unyielding. It will never succumb to other Destroyers’ fire.”

“And yet, you had no issue claiming mine?” I said, glaring at him.

All of a sudden, my chest squeezed even tighter, and I was painfully suffocating again. This time, I reached deep within myself only to feel the presence of a foreign power, recoiling as it swirled, mixing with mine. A moment later, the hold loosened, and I was gasping for air, my eyes lighting up with fury as I watched his face twist with a malicious smile.

“We both wield raw fire. Utradecend is an old way to ensure that only the strongest, most talented and most powerful Destroyers lead the Empire. That even Destroyer Cleansing Fire recognizes him…or herif she stops pouting and practices what I tell her to do as the rightful rulers and true Justice Wielders.” He grinned, happy of his smart-ass remark.

The General continued speaking, but my mind was distracted, picturing him on his knees, baffled, as he suffocated, his powers succumbing to mine, as I wiped that egotistical look from ‘the most talented and powerful Destroyer’.

It was an image that brought a certain delight to my eyes.

“How do I Utradecend the General?” I loudly asked Zora. The Ten, surprised by my question, paused their training to gawk at me. Zora quickly gestured to the Ten to continue training as she made her way to me.

“You don’t,” she replied, taking another look at me. “I guess the training with Gideon is going well.” The corner of her eyes crinkled with a soft smile. “You can’t win against Gideon. At least not with Utradecention . He is the most powerful Destroyer to ever exist. Like, ever .” At my skeptic look she added, “Yeah, I know, but there was even a whole prophecy about him, so don’t waste your time. But where is this all coming from?”

I clenched my jaw tighter, until the muscles felt like they would snap.

“There has to be something I can do to shove that pompous smirk of his up some dark places?” I probed not hiding my frustration. Zora laughed at that.

“Well, if that’s all that you were trying to accomplish, then perhaps there is something we can do.” Her innocent smile now turned wicked. “You are a Justice Wielder, after all, and as long as he has no reason to use Utradecend , you could—” She scanned me up and down, considering, “ In theory , you could beat him, but it would be a win based purely on a brilliant strategy. Luckily for you, that is my specialty.”