Chapter 6: Flame and Farewell

Arthur sat on the edge of the bed in his small inn room and opened the black book. The first page still held the fresh seal.

[ABILITY: FLAME]

[MASTERY: 20%]

[DURATION: TEMPORARY – 14 DAYS]

He took a slow breath and spoke the release command in his mind.

Mimi exploded out of the book in a burst of pink-gold light.

Her translucent wings beat hard enough to stir the air. The obsidian orchid petal skirt flared around her bare thighs as she hovered at eye level, cheeks puffed out and eyes narrowed.

"You locked me away! I wanted to watch! I’m not a child, you big idiot! I’m the consciousness of an ancient Codex! I have every right to observe the printing process!"

Arthur kept his face calm. "You look and sound like one. It felt wrong."

"I am not a child!" She stamped a tiny foot in mid-air. The petals shifted and flashed more skin. "I am older than your entire bloodline! I just happen to prefer this form!"

He ignored the tantrum and focused on the warm book in his hands. A thin thread of mana answered him for the first time in his life. Heat gathered in his right palm. A small orange flame flickered to life above his skin, steady and obedient. He closed his hand and the fire vanished. He opened it again and shaped a rough sphere of fire the size of an apple. It floated there, crackling softly.

Basic control. Nothing more.

Mimi crossed her arms and turned her face away, still pouting.

"Mimi."

"What?"

"How strong is this?"

She peeked at him from the corner of her eye, then sighed like he was exhausting. "Twenty percent mastery. You get the basic forms only. Fireball, simple flames, lighting candles, scaring rats. At fifty percent you unlock advanced shapes and better control. Above eighty percent the ability starts evolving into something that belongs only to you. That’s when it gets interesting."

She floated closer, grabbed the edges of the open book with both small hands, and read the page out loud in a clear voice.

"Flame. Twenty percent. Temporary. Fourteen days. Low-tier print. Congrats, Master. You can now roast meat without a kitchen."

Arthur turned his hand and let the fireball dissolve into sparks. The mana came easily. Too easily. He had spent thirteen years sensing currents he could never touch. Now that a channel finally existed, the power rushed out like water from a broken dam.

Mimi’s eyes widened a little. She drifted in a slow circle around him, wings humming.

"Your mana pool is weird. Most kids your age start at level one. You’re sitting at late level two, maybe early level three already. That’s the kind of pool people get after years of hard training or almost dying a few times. No wonder the fire listens so fast."

Arthur flexed his fingers. The residual heat felt natural.

"If I go back downstairs and do it again, does the mastery go up?"

Mimi snorted. "No. You already printed what she had. Low-tier woman will give low-tier result. And there’s no bonding process for temporary prints. Fucking her every night won’t turn Flame into a dragon’s breath. The print is temporary and weak. It’s practice, nothing more. You got lucky she leaked enough Eros for even this much."

She spun in the air and pointed at the window.

"Now stop asking boring questions and take me outside. You promised a tour. I have been stuck on a dusty shelf for centuries. I want to see the town!"

Her mood flipped in an instant. The pout vanished. Bright eyes and a wide grin replaced it. Arthur stood, slipped the book inside his coat, and headed for the door. Mimi zipped after him, invisible to everyone else, chattering about streets and food stalls and whether the capital had any interesting high-tier women walking around in daylight. ℯℯ𝑙.

The next few days blurred together.

Every night Arthur returned to the innkeeper’s wife. She left her door unlocked after the second evening. Her husband stayed passed out at the same table until late morning. She never asked for more than what he gave her, and he never pretended it was anything except release. The pink-gold mist still rose, but the Codex no longer drank it. The print was already complete. The nights simply filled the empty hours and quieted the restless energy under his skin.

On the final morning he found her in the kitchen before the rest of the inn woke. She looked at him with clear eyes and a small, tired smile.

"Academy carriages leave today," he said.

She nodded. "I know."

He did not offer promises. She did not ask for any. She simply stepped close, pressed a brief kiss to the corner of his mouth, and whispered, "Thank you."

That was all.

Arthur left the inn with his worn coat and the warm book against his ribs. The main road outside the lower district was crowded with new students and their families. Dozens of long, reinforced carriages waited in a line, each one marked with the crest of the Higher Academy Nocturne. Mana crystals glowed along their sides. The drivers were already checking harnesses and flight runes.

Arthur joined the shortest queue and handed over the thin metal token he had received after the Choosing. The attendant glanced at the Tier 1 mark, raised an eyebrow, and jerked a thumb toward the very last carriage in the line.

"Back one. Fringe and low-rank section. Don’t block the aisle."

Arthur climbed in without comment. The interior was plain wood and hard benches. A few other students already sat there, most of them quiet, a couple whispering about their new Grinwores. No one paid him special attention. He took a seat near the rear window and rested the black book on his knee.

Mimi appeared on the empty space beside him, small legs swinging, petal skirt shifting with every movement. She looked out the window with open excitement.

Outside, the drivers finished their checks. One by one the carriages lifted off the ground. Mana flared under the wheels. The entire line rose into the air in a slow, steady climb.

Arthur watched the capital shrink below them. Streets and rooftops turned into a gray patchwork. The wind of high altitude pressed against the windows.

He remembered the stories every Fringe child heard. The Higher Academy Nocturne did not sit on any mountain or island. It floated above the clouds, held aloft by ancient formations left from the age of the First Scribe. Only bonded students and approved staff could even see the entrance platforms.

The last carriage joined the ascending formation. The ground fell away completely.

Arthur closed his fingers around the Eros Codex.

Fourteen days of Flame. A mana pool already larger than it should be. Seven empty slots waiting.

And somewhere ahead, high above the world, the real game was about to begin.