Page 38 of Inferno

He could see a glowing pool in the centre of Nerik’s abdomen now, and it spread outwards, up to his chest, down his legs, growing in brightness. Then, like a leaf igniting, his entire body rippled with flame. Even now, he retained his basic form; a head, two arms and two legs. His eyes were now black, twin circles of coal in the centre of the flames.

Nerik stepped closer to the fireplace, where a half-burned log from last night sat cold in the grill. He touched the log with his hand and it immediately burst into flame. Even with kindling and matches, it would have taken a few minutes to heat up and ignite the usual way. But then Nerik did something even more amazing. He stepped back and drew the fire towards himself in a long, curving arc, one end on his hand, the other on the log. He split it in half and spread his arms, a plume of fire arching towards each hand.

But he wasn’t done yet. With a flick of his wrists, the fire curled and folded on itself, and suddenly, Yorin was looking at a bird, made entirely of flame, its wings spread as it fluttered between Nerik’s hands.

He took a step forward before remembering not to get too close. “Gods above, how did you learn that?”

Nerik shook his head. But the bird transformed into a horse. And then into a fish.

The lack of response was confusing, until… “You can’t speak in this form, is that right?” Yorin guessed.

Nerik nodded. And then he did something entirely startling. He stepped forward into the fireplace, and suddenly, even the vague suggestions of his limbs and head were gone. There was just flame, as if Yorin had stacked logs three or four high and let them burn unchecked. Was Nerik still in there? Was he the whole fire, or just a part of it? And more importantly, he wasn’t about to burn down Yorin’s kitchen, was he?

“Are you still…? Um… Nerik? Uh… Okay, I think I’ve had enough of this demonstration for now,” Yorin said, trying hard not to sound panicked. A little more explanation might be in order before they went much further with this.

A plume of fire arced out of the fireplace, and then there was a bipedal figure standing there again. It seemed to draw in on itself for a moment, then the flames went out, Nerik’s form back to its previous black. He reached for the cup of water and held it as if he was drinking, as if he actually had a mouth. One sip. Two. Then a pause. He wriggled a bit, as if uncomfortable, then took a third sip… and then set the cup down. Less than half a cup of water to get his fire under control. Well, it made sense why he’d wanted to avoid the whole barrel, then.

“Do you want me back in human form?” he asked.

“I think that’s probably best,” Yorin said. He was trying very hard to be open minded, to accept Nerik for what he was, but there were only so many shocks he could deal with in a day.

Nerik nodded and picked up the obsidian gem from the table, securing it around his neck. Then he pressed the gem to his chest and recited, “Take my form and fire bend. Smoke and flame to shadows send. To human form this magic lend.”

A swirl of blue light leapt from the gem, and Yorin watched in astonishment as human flesh appeared at Nerik’s hands and feet. The appearance of skin crept up his arms and legs, up his torso, and then finally, over his face. When his human features reappeared, he had a pinched look, like he was in pain. Yorin waited as the magic finished its work, Nerik’s eyes changing colour last of all, from glowing red to vibrant blue. Nerik’s fists were clenched, and he took a couple of deep breaths before finally straightening and coaxing his body to relax.

“Is that painful?” Yorin asked, watching on in concern.

“It’s a little jarring,” Nerik admitted. “I’m fine once I’m in this form, but the change itself isn’t fun. It’s a different kind of magic from what most Chalandrians use to appear human.” His eyes opened wider, and a sudden look of guilt flashed across his face. “Uh… that’s not news to you, right?”

“That there are more people from Chalandros hiding in plain sight? No, not really. It seemed a fairly obvious assumption that you wouldn’t have been the only one to survive crossing the gate.”

“Right.” Nerik seemed to finally notice that he was naked, so he hastily reached for his clothes, dressing quickly. Once everything was back in place, he turned to Yorin. “So, um… What happens now?”

Wasn’t that the question of the year? “I don’t really know,” Yorin said. He’d had plenty of questions when Nerik had arrived, and while some of them had been answered, he now had a flood more. But he also didn’t think he had the energy to deal with them all today.

Nerik stared at the floor, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Are you going to tell anyone about me?”

Yorin frowned. “I’m fairly sure that if I did, they would kill you.”

“Yeah,” Nerik agreed. “Yeah, they would.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Yorin flinched as Nerik’s reply hit him like a sucker punch. Right. So Nerik wasn’t asking for the sake of his privacy, but rather for his survival. “No,” Yorin said softly. “No, I’m not going to have you killed. You’ve done absolutely nothing, either now or in the past that indicates you’re any kind of threat to me. And yes, to be perfectly honest, there is a great deal I’m confused about, and certain aspects of what you just showed me that are a touch frightening. But that doesn’t mean you deserve to die.”

Nerik looked entirely relieved. And perhaps a little moved at the same time. “Thank you.”

Silence descended, and they both gazed around the kitchen awkwardly. Yorin had in mind that he really should go out the front and re-open his shop. And Nerik probably had places to be, packages to deliver and so forth.

“Do you want me to leave?” Nerik asked.

Yorin opened his mouth to agree, but then hesitated. If Nerik had said he was going to leave, Yorin would have gone along with it. But if Nerik was asking him what hewanted?

He found himself staring at the skin of Nerik’s neck. It rose in a smooth column from his shirt collar to his chin, and he distinctly remembered kissing him there, just… Gods, was it really only yesterday morning? It seemed like so much longer ago, given all that had happened in between.

But in hindsight, he couldn’t remember what Nerik’s skin had felt like. He hadn’t noticed anything unusual at the time, but would it feel like regular human skin? Or rough, like his blackened form? Or like something else entirely?

“Can I… Could I touch you?” he asked, feeling entirely awkward about it.