War of Neytives

I.1 Branton Inphernos

Standing over the side of an active volcano looks easy, but leaping inside is the hard part for Branton. He's pacing around the crater, focusing on nothing but Scorch Flight. This is his fourth trial where he stands at the edge surrounded by steam. All the trials he's endured come with broken bones and internal bleeding.

At the bottom of the volcano's vent, several spots of blood can be seen from high up. Many neytives have tried to achieve Scorch Flight, but they all end the same way.

Branton is desperate to unlock his third ability. Just like every other Inphernos neytive, three abilities become a part of their lives. At the age of 500, small pieces of ember lifted off his hands and ignited into two spheres of red fire. He wasn't scared one bit. He knew his natural ability would settle in. This is what he's known to call his trigger. When he turned 1'000, his second ability presented itself in an unpleasant way. The heat from his hands soon spread to his throat. He coughed up smoke and flames in front of those in his trybe. The humiliation that followed didn't help him breathe right. They called this ability fracture. His third and last ability showed up when he turned 2'000, and it wasn't what he expected. It came with a splitting headache, intense fever and double vision. This painful ability has earned its name, shatter.

Now that he has all three abilities, he's going to jump off a volcano.

Branton takes in the entire island, the place he's known as home. The air smells heavy of sulfur and other gasses. That alone would be toxic, but it doesn't affect Inphernos neytives. He peers into the volcano for one last time, spotting a pool of lava that's bubbling and churning in the magma chamber. He takes five steps back, turns around and breaks into a sprint. With no hesitation or fear on his face, he jumps off the edge and lets gravity pull him down.

Trigger, fracture, shatter. These three things might keep him alive.

Branton senses a burst of fire trail from his hands up his arms, trigger. He feels a mental snap and channels his flames, fracture. Swirls of fire engulf his legs and propel him faster, shatter.

He doesn't hit the lava head on; instead, he arcs himself upright and levitates skyward. A spiral of fire keeps him up to avoid submerging to his death. He forces more energy into his shatter ability and flies out of the volcano, into the open sky.

Across a field of decaying trees and a river of cooled magma is the arena.

The arena is nothing special. There are cracked stone slabs and overgrown vegetation blocking every entrance. Patterns of scorch marks and ash paint the amphitheater with history. Nobody ever really uses it anymore except when neytives feel the need to vent.

The wide open amphitheater is the target Branton is aiming for. He gathers the last bit of energy into his shatter ability and soars over the field. His flight takes him through a few charred trees and almost makes him hit a stone pillar, but he doesn't get a scratch on him. Behind him, there's a path of flames mapping out his personal course.

As he gets closer to the arena, he tries to reel in his energy but there's too much. With a sickening thud, he tumbles into the amphitheater and somehow manages to stand back up. The one bright side to these manifestations is his tolerance to pain that increased over time. His flames quickly dissipate, leaving no marks or burns on his skin. On the inside, he's ecstatic and thrilled to achieve Scorch Flight within several dials. On the outside, there's nothing. No expressions, no gestures. Nothing.

Branton hears footsteps descend the steps. "You have performed Scorch Flight well. Your maneuverability is still lacking. Other than that flaw, you were exceptional."

Every trybe has one neytive who is chosen to take on a leadership role. They claimed the title of Preeminent. Augan is the Preeminent for the Inphernos trybe. He is well known for his strength and combat, but he's also known for being impatient and ill-tempered. Augan is a little shorter than Branton, with dark skin, cropped black hair and a huge scar over the left side of his face. Nobody knows how he got the scar in the first place, but rumors spread that it happened after the rebellion. The retractable spikes on his spine are larger than Branton's and the scales on his arms are becoming dry and chipped.