The City of Sacred Flame is the capitol of the Althaen nation known as the Holy Empire. All of the summoning rituals are conducted in the chapel of the White Palace, at least all of those that are sanctioned by the Holy Empire. While most of the Divines are worshiped within this nation, the Holy One’s decrees are put at a higher level as he is considered the patron good of the city and nation.

Bryan

It has been two days since I encountered Jeff on the street and Adrian semi-disappeared. It is only that notes and items show up that I know that he has not truly left. I feel guilty that he is off doing things while I am stuck here reading the few books that he has left for Abagail and me and basic exercise.

“What is it?” Abagail asks me as she walks out of her room. I must have been frowning again.

“I was just thinking. . .” I answer before I stop talking as she gives me a hug.

“I know. I don’t like that we can’t help Adrian but we don’t know where he is or what he is doing.”

My frown becomes a smile at the soft feeling of her chest against mine. A feeling that I’ve almost gotten used to over the past few days.

“You’re right but it’s just I’ve never not been able to help a friend when I’m needed before.”

“All we can do is study and learn until he comes back. You’ve already tried finding another way out of the city and failed.”

Ughh, that did not go well. All my asking around did was get more of the Althaen soldiers stationed near our assigned quarters. Tomas was right when he said that they consider us as their fodder. I don’t know how he managed to make a deal with someone without the authorities getting wind of it but all I can do now is bet everything on his success in that endeavor.

“That doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“Yes, it does. So, does doing what work you can do.”

I smile and pull her into a deeper hug, my arms wrapping around her waist. To my surprise she does not fight against it and just blushes a little as I enjoy the feeling of her in my lap. I wonder if she would let me kiss her? She does like me, at least I am fairly certain that she does. She has been getting more affectionate lately. . .

In the end I simply let her go, there is a smile on her face but it seems a bit different from the one she had while in my arms. Maybe I should have went for it. Too late now though, maybe next time she gives me a hug.

“Did you make any progress in understanding these books?” I ask.

“Some, they are a lot better than those the Althaen gave us but I think they are still missing information. The instructions for some of the spells also conflict.”

I nod, I’ve been running into the same problem. Even so, the Architect’s system has been saying that I’m making progress even if it is more on the divine side of magic. Why does arcane magic have to be so much harder?

“Did you finish all the books?” Abagail asks.

“Yes, but I am running into the same problem. I can get some of the spells to work as divine magic but without the extra help from the Architect I can’t get the mana to make the change that it needs to. And I don’t know enough about spellcraft to fill in that blank that seems to be missing.”

“You got one of them to work as a divine spell?”

“I did. Not one of the complicated ones but I did manage to get the Ignite spell to work.”

“Can you show me?”

I smile, “of course” and grab one of the candles that appeared in the box Adrian keeps putting things in. A small beeswax candle of poor quality but it does do its job at night.

I begin a small prayer to the Architect, releasing a part of my mana into the air around the candle while thinking of exactly what needs to happen in order for it to light. It takes a few seconds as I have to actually end the prayer before my released mana begins to move on its own. Condensing around the wick of the candle before becoming thermal energy.

A flame bursts into existence as the mana is no more. I see a smile on Abagail’s face as she says, “see you can do it. You’re really improving” and hugs me again.

This time I pull her into my lap and before she realizes it and reacts lean down and give her a kiss. My heart beating faster as I worry over how she will react. I have been enjoying spending so much time with her over the last two days. She freezes in my grasp, not sure what to do.

She doesn’t push me away though so I don’t move away either and just continue my clumsy kiss. A few seconds later her arms once more tighten around me. Once more pulling her towards me as she is the smaller between the two of us.

After a moment we separate and I grin, that was fun. It feels good to have a girl in your arms. She blushes and looks at me though she wears a smile similar to my own.

“Wanna do that again?” I ask and she nods.

I give her another clumsy kiss as I hold her in my arms, loosing track of time as I eventually build up the courage to go further bit by bit. She doesn’t ever stop me even when she shifts around a bit. I lose track of time long before I manage to slip a hand under her shirt.

All of a sudden, I hear a door open and in that instant Abagail and me separate. I turn to see Adrian walking in and while I never thought I would do this I silently curse that he showed up. I can still feel the smooth softness that lies under Abagail’s shirt in the palm of my hand.

Abagail turns beet red while I feel my own face heat up being caught but aside from a glance Adrian does nothing and simply begins placing some food and drink on the table. Did he not notice?

“Where have you been the last few days?” I ask.

“Working on getting us equipment and a way out of here” Adrian answers.

“How? There should not be anything that pays as well as all the stuff you’ve sent back the last few days” Abagail asks.

“The kind that you wouldn’t like knowing about.”

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I found and then made a deal with one of the criminal organizations in town. Once I do enough jobs for them they’ll get us out of town.”

Abagail frowns and starts to say something but I accidently cut her off.

“Are you sure it is a good idea to work with criminals?”

“How else do you think we could leave?”

“Couldn’t we talk to someone from those that brought us here?” asks Abagail.

Adrian shake my head, “I doubt it. Their response to us not being commendable was to provide us with less than the necessities of life and that the only thing they sent us out to do was an unpaid mission where we ended up being knocked out for not immediately returning. It is pretty clear to me that they have no intention of us being anything other than fodder.”

“Are you sure that you can trust who you are working for to keep his end of the deal?” I ask changing the subject.

“I cannot be absolutely sure but he has been honest with me so far. We need the resources he's given me to get by anyways.”

“You mean that. . .”

“. . .everything that appeared out of nowhere I got from him? No, most of the coins and food I acquired on my own but the things that you can actually use to get better are from them” Adrian say interrupting me.

“I don’t think it is a good idea for you to affiliate yourself with criminals” Abagail says and Adrian let out a sigh.

“It isn’t but I don’t have much choice. We need to get out of here, if we stay all that awaits us is death. It’s risky and they may cheat me but a chance is better than certain death.

What have the two of you been up to?”

Neither of us answer, I can’t say that I accidently spent the afternoon kissing Abagail. There is no way she’ll let me do that again if I go and tell.

“We’ve been going over the two books that you got us. Specifically, the cantrips in them and trying to understand them and cast them with limited success. The two books conflict each other and we don’t know which version is the real spell since neither work” I answer talking about yesterday, it isn’t a lie but just not the whole truth.

“Have you tried mixing the two explanations together? Each may be skipping a part that the other explains to obfuscate the real how. Like how the books the Althaen gave us never included the incantation.”

Silence reigns for a moment before I hit my head on the table. Why didn’t I think of that? The two incantations for Ignite were very similar, neither worked but maybe if I swapped around some of the words between the two. . .

“I’ll take that as a no then. Try it tomorrow” Adrian says as he pulls out a bottle that looks different than the ones he gave Abagail and me.

Adrian frowns while looking at the table before picking up one of the bread loaves and breaking of a piece and setting a smaller bottle to his side. He takes a bite of the bread. Abagail and me begin to do the same with our own bread.

After swallowing some of the stale bread I pick up the bottle that Adrian placed next to me. It doesn’t seem to be water in there. With a shrug I open it and take a small drink. A harsh yet sweet taste fills my mouth and after swallowing I start coughing. Abagail pats me on the back for a moment.

“You know that this is alcohol, right?” I ask Adrian somewhat upset, while I wonder if he did this as a prank. He does know that we are too young to drink, so why would he bring this back?

“I assumed it was but there wasn’t anything else available at this hour. Besides we are in a world at the medieval level of technology, some alcohol in our system will help with the low level of hygiene” he answers before finishing off the small loaf of bread in his hand.

“Then why aren’t you drinking your own?” I ask.

Rather than answer he open the small bottle and takes a small drink similar to my own. He makes an odd face, but seems to enjoy the drink far more than I did. Has he done this before?

“That’s weird” he says.

“What?”

“This drink, it burns at first and then feels soothing. I can’t explain the aftertaste either.”

“Let me try some then, it has to be better than whatever is in that bottle you gave me.”

“Fine but I’m not trading, I brought all of this so I reserve the right to pick what I want.”

“Fair enough”

I take a smaller drink barely more than a sip before spitting it out as a burning sensation fills my tongue. I have never shied away from spicy food but this is nothing like anything I’ve had before. All I can feel is pain in my mouth and I grab the bottle he originally set next to me and take several gulps out of it to quell the burn in my mouth before I say after coughing, “soothing my ass. That is nothing more than distilled fire.”

“What do you mean? It isn’t that bad” he says before taking a few more gulps of that drink from hell. How did that bottle even get back into his hand?

“Well I’m going to sleep. See you in the morning” he says and takes the bottle with him.

Everything is silent for a moment before Abagail says, “I can’t believe he made you drink booze.”

“He was right about one thing though. The alcohol will help against disease” I say to defend my friend.

“You’re slurring your words” Abagail says and I frown.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not.”

Abagail sighs and I try to kiss her but she dodges and says, “you should go to bed.”

“Okay” I say as she walks me to a room. Was the room always so blurry? I can’t have gotten drunk this fast. What was in those bottles?