The Initials | Nanowrimo 2023

60| Submission To The Flame

Cloud peaks his head above the brick wall, his fingers inching closer to the action, doe-eyed like a kid lost in a candy shop. "What are they doing?" he utters breathlessly, leaning into the strange, warm, fuzzy buzz tingling down his arms.

He silently observes the eight Monks that step out from the hardwood dojo at the far end of this secondary courtyard, walking in two orderly lines as they take their spots out in the open.

One after another they eventually tilt their heads back, showing off the area around the throat where they light up like smouldering furnaces.

"Incendia Respiro is the technical name for it but around here we call it-"

"-Fire breathing!" Cloud gasps, chuckling manically after falling onto his back from the sheer shock of feeling the heat coming off eight streams of fire being propelled into the air.

He smacks his cheeks twice, leaving behind a partial handprint on the side of his face to regain the connection between his body and mind. "So cool!"

Tony shakes his head with a smug grin, offering Cloud a hand to get back on his feet. "Sure is."

Cloud speaks without thinking, trying to wrap his head around how it's even possible to do something like that. "When I get my powers back you've got to teach me how to do that."

"You really have no idea why you're here? Why any of us are here?" Tony remarks, having at least expected them to have told him that much already. "Every person you see down there, at one point or another, has lost their connection to fire."

"All of them?" Cloud mutters, resting his chin on his arms as they continue to spy. "Even Ali?"

"Especially Ali, why else do you think he's the Grandmaster?" Tony replies, lowering his gaze for a couple of seconds before shaking his head.

"What made you break?" Cloud asks, immediately realising that he crossed a line from Tony's reaction as he backs away from the wall.

"Word of advice, don't ask anyone why they're here. Especially if you don't want them asking you the same."

"You're right... I'm sorry. Me and my big mouth."

"No, it's alright, just don't do it again okay? Sometimes they'll share if they feel like it but most of us don't."

"No, I get that..."

Tony takes a moment to cool down, feeling conflicting emotions that he doesn't want to deal with in the present. "We didn't have the Monastery...back when I joined I mean, but the process is the same for all of us."

"To be honest I'm just so sick of sitting around, just..." Cloud sighs, subtly shaking his head as his eyes glaze over. "Tell me what to do."

Tony glances down at Cloud, making up his mind once he sees how he can't keep his eyes away from the Monks as they continue practising the ancient technique known only to the Golnar clan and the Monks who train under their rule.

"Well," he starts, rolling his eyes as he thinks about how much trouble he's going to be in with Ali if he ever finds out. "Think about it this way. What scares you more, dying trying to weave your way back in with the flame...or living the rest of your life without it?"

Before Cloud can give an honest reply, Tony covers his mouth, wanting him to think it through rather than to give the first thought that comes to mind. "Tell no one."

Cloud pries his hand off his mouth after trying to bite him, wondering why they smell like wax. "Then how will I know if I'm making the right choice?"

Tony shrugs his shoulders, wiping Cloud's saliva off his hand. "Who knows."