𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕣𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝔼𝕞𝕓𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕊𝕠𝕠𝕟 𝔹𝕖 𝔸𝕤𝕙𝕖𝕤

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟷

Some creatures just want to watch the world burn. And if she was given the chance, Kindle would have been the very creature to set it all on fire.

But there was one problem with that. And no, it wasn't that burning everything was terrible and uncalled for. Her issue was that she couldn't spit fire from her mouth like every other blaze in the fortress had the ability to. She couldn't burn anything in the three realms even if she wanted to.

And it was the absolute worst feeling ever because she couldn't even count all of the times she really wanted to burn everything around her. Kindle's rods made angry circles from below her which only reminded her once again how pathetic she was in comparison to all of the other blazes in the fortress. It was embarrassing to stroll around the maze of corridors without a wreath of elegant smoke rising up and all around her.

But she was lucky that not every creature saw her that way. She knew of at least one wither skeleton in the fortress who saw potential in her. She emerged from one of the long halls within the fortress and into a large room. In the center, a dark purple cauldron bubbled and boiled from the lava inside, lighting up the room.

Leaning up against one of the brick walls and studying the stone sword in his hand with a bored expression, a tall wither skeleton stood. "Commander Daunting," Kindle ducked her head politely to greet him.

"You're late," came his only reply, not even giving her so much as a glance as she entered the almost empty room. He was still staring at the stone blade in his hands, rubbing at it with a dubious expression etched into his skull.

Skeletons were some of the hardest creatures to read Kindle found, but over the few years she had spent with this particular wither skeleton, she got the hang of identifying his body language and the small hints of emotion within his bony facial features. She could usually identify the emotions of other skeletons in the fortress now as well, but she always found that Daunting was the most obvious of them all. That was if his daughter didn't take that place instead.

"Yeah, yeah. Because it matters so much whether I arrive on time or not." The blaze rolled her eyes.

"It does," finally Daunting lifted his blackened skull to look her way. "to me at least. It's always beneficial to be on time." He lifted himself from his leaning position on the sturdy brick wall behind him, stretching his bony limbs with a few relieving sighs and murmurs.

"If I'm so late," she began as he continued his dramatic stints, "then how is it that you couldn't have done all of that before I got here?"

"Well knowing you, I figured you'd take all of your precious time." He answered, holding his sword out and making small jives and dodges as if he were sparring with an invisible opponent. "It's not like my time is sparing or anything being a commander in the wastes' military force." He said sarcastically. "Do you know what I could have been doing instead of waiting around here for an eternity? There are many more important duties my time could be going to, but nooo."

"Okay, okay, I get it. You can shut up now." The blaze growled, wishing once again that she could conjure up a cloud of smoke to indicate her annoyance.

"Well, if you're quite done wasting time," strutted in front of her, holding his sword out in front of himself before he continued, "Then, whenever you're ready—"

Kindle didn't let him finish, letting a non-fiery projectile escape her jaws, sending it straight toward the wither skeleton poised in front of her. He dodged as if it were the most pathetic attack that had ever been launched toward him. It hit the wall opposite of the blaze, thunking against it uselessly.

Daunting took his chance to charge toward Kindle, but she floated upwards, nearly hitting the ceiling above her. Narrowing her eyes down at him, she aimed another projectile at him, nearly hitting him this time.

"Better," he watched as it whipped past him, hitting the purple brick floor below instead. But despite the fact that she missed, he looked pleased. She lowered herself, feeling pride warm her rods, but the moment didn't last long as he pursued her once again, his sword raised to land a hit on her. Before she could gather herself to swerve out of his path, she felt pain slice neatly across one of her rods and she let out a muffled whimper as she tried to squash down the aching it inflicted.

The wither skeleton backed off, giving her a short break to gather herself before she continued. She lifted herself, letting out a furious hiss as she peered down at her mentor.

"Again," he instructed firmly, but before she could attack him once again, a voice sounded from the hall that stretched out behind her.

"Commander D...Daunting!" Kindle lowered herself, trying to slow the whirl of her spinning rods as she regained her calm manner. She turned to look at the entrance to the room and as she did, another skeleton stumbled through, running straight into her before she could move out of the way.

He nearly fell backward and plummeted toward the ground, but he was able to regain his balance, giving the blaze an apologetic nod before she veered to the side of the room to let him pass.

"Yes?" Daunting gave Kindle a look that she surprisingly found impossible to read before he returned his attention to the newcomer. It always interested the female blaze how at one moment, the skeletal commander could act so cordial and humorous with her, always making jokes during their training sessions. But whenever he was suddenly called to lead a fleet of soldiers into battle or to tend to some other important duty he had been summoned to, his serious demeanor could return within an instant, as it had at that very moment.

"It's about your d...d-daughter," the ash-stained skeleton stammered, beckoning to Daunting with a wave of his bony hand, gesturing him to follow.

"Oh." He looked utterly disappointed at that, and Kindle couldn't help but shake her head, squashing down the urge to roll her eyes. "You had me thinking it was important. Can't you find Forge and have him deal with her instead? I did this last time. It's his turn to take care of her mess."

"General Forge is leading a fleet to the in...i-invading magma cubes." The grayish skeleton explained hastily.

Daunting let out a sigh, and Kindle could just barely hear him mutter under his breath, "Of course he is," as he stepped to follow the skeleton. He turned toward Kindle briefly before disappearing into the hallway that lay in front of him. "we'll continue this later."

Then he took off, leaving Kindle alone. But she followed him of course, staying far enough behind so neither of the skeletons would notice her presence.

Daunting's daughter always seemed to be causing trouble, whether it was somewhere in the fortress or within the prisons she guarded. Truthfully Kindle didn't understand why she caused so much disruption.

She and Kindle had developed a friendship with one another once Daunting had made the blaze his personal apprentice. So, she was always curious to hear what the younger wither skeleton got herself into when she was feeling rather boisterous.

The blaze peered across another hall that Daunting and his leading companion turned into and she pursued them once they strode through a doorway and into another room. She perched just beside the entrance, listening intently as voices erupted from inside.