Chapter 269: Agefire

Ren returned through the arch with his shoulders still stiff.

On the shelf, he lifted an arm, drew it back and turned at the waist. He could manage the movement, though a sharp turn sent pain across his shoulders. He lowered it before climbing onto Spear’s raft.

The courier led them to Tide, where Ren collected Saber, Ribbon, Bolt and Mosaic. Ward waited with Keep, Riptide, Snap, Lantern and Knock. Anvil remained on the platform with Balm working along its cracked shell; Wick and Loom stayed nearby.

Spear took them past the split island, following the direction the keeper had shown. The courier ranged ahead, returning whenever the route turned between rocks.

— • —

The Hearth stood on a low island, its green-gold flame rising above rows of plants along the platforms. Fire ran through their thick stems and leaves without consuming them. Narrow spaces between the rows had been kept clear for people to walk.

A wall protected the side facing the open sea. Its blocks stood higher than Ren, shielding the nursery platforms from the straightest approach through the water. Behind the Hearth, a ridge of natural rock sheltered a narrow way out through the shallows.

Adults were already carrying Cinders toward it.

[HEARTFLAME: BLOOMFIRE.]

Ren followed one of the green-gold bodies with his eyes, then looked back toward the wall as a section of its face began to crumble.

Cracks spread through the stone. The surface greyed and shed powder until the blocks could no longer support the courses above them. They slumped into the water, exposing the platforms behind.

Near the breach, plants browned and sagged against their supports. Water steamed away from the exposed stone beneath them, leaving a white mineral deposit along its edge.

One of the cultivated rows was still green at the sheltered end. Ren watched the change reach it: leaves curled inward, their edges darkening before the stems bent. The fire running through them dwindled as the plants collapsed. Beyond that row, an adult lifted a Cinder from a low platform and hurried after the others.

The Pyreborn facing the wall stood on a submerged shelf. Its grey-brown body flaked as it moved, exposing denser stone beneath the worn outer layers. Rust-red light showed through the seams across its chest. Behind it, a dull Lawfire floated on the water.

[RACE: PYREBORN.]

[HEARTFLAME: AGEFIRE.]

[HEARTFLAME GRADE: FURNACE.]

[LAW COMPOSITION: FIRE / TIME / DEATH.]

[DANGER TO HOST: SEVERE.]

The deterioration spread around it at different rates. Nearby plants lost leaves gradually, while the wall directly ahead broke apart during a single pulse. Agefire loosened its arms, paused, then turned its chest toward the next section.

Devourfire waited beyond the affected ground. As the breach widened, they advanced along its outer edge toward the nursery platforms, keeping clear of the stone immediately in front of Agefire.

Ren pointed toward the rear shallows.

"Ward, take them out behind the rock. Riptide and Lantern, with him. Saber, Ribbon, Bolt, Mosaic—keep the raiders away from that water."

He waited until they turned before pointing Snap toward the wall.

"Stay outside the damaged ground, on my side. Knock, go with Ward."

Keep placed a spore on Riptide before they separated. Ren indicated the rock sheltering the evacuation, then the powder pouring from the wall. Riptide followed the gesture before moving after Ward.

Snap came alongside the raft as the others rounded the island. Farther back, Ren caught a glimpse of Ward rising beside the rear landing, with Lantern above him. Then the ridge hid them. Ren turned toward the breach, where the nearest Devourfire had begun edging along the surviving wall toward the same corner.

The cover would last only while Agefire left it alone.

— • —

Spear brought Ren to an intact stretch of the platform beside the wall. He stepped down onto the submerged shelf, keeping clear of the pale, crumbling stone around Agefire.

At the Glass Hearth, the Devourfire leader’s reach had left its side open. Ren watched this one’s arms to see whether its attack demanded anything similar.

Its chest turned first. Then its arms drew against its sides, bracing as the next pulse struck the wall. Afterward, they loosened, and it stood briefly before turning again.

Ren stepped into view at the edge of the affected ground.

He kept one foot on intact stone and watched the chest instead of the crumbling wall. The rust-red light shifted between its seams as the torso turned. Snap waited farther back, where the plants nearest the water were still standing, and Ren lifted a hand to keep it there.

Agefire faced him. He waited for the arms to brace, then moved sideways behind a surviving section of wall. The stone where he had stood greyed and began shedding grit.

He came out farther along, watching its chest turn after him. It needed that pause before redirecting. When he tested it again, the sequence repeated, but another piece of the wall fell before he could return to cover.

Through Keep came a delayed impression from Riptide: bodies passing through the shallows, small green-gold flames among them, and a pale patch spreading along the exposed corner of the protective ridge.

Ren looked toward Agefire. Its latest pulse was ending.

He moved around its flank while the arms loosened, drawing stored fresh water over his own arms and shoulders. He kept the layer thickest toward its chest as he entered the surrounding field.

The water began thinning into vapor. Beneath his boots, the shelf had softened where its surface had weathered away. One foot sank into grit, costing him a step; turning to pull it free caught his injured shoulder.

Agefire’s chest came around before he reached it.

He tried to step sideways, but his boot slid on the loose surface and he had to catch his balance. The damaged wall was behind him now. He raised his arms toward the turning chest, drawing the water forward as he forced his trapped foot out of the grit.

The arms braced. Ren brought more water across himself, but the pulse stripped it away faster than he could replace it.

His knuckles tightened and split. He felt the sting as he tried to raise his arm, then found that he couldn’t draw a full breath. His fingers began straightening despite the effort to keep them closed.

"Your hands, Ren."

He glanced down. One hand was trembling open, the split skin pulling across its joints. He forced the fingers inward and looked back at the chest in front of him.

The arms loosened.

Ren took the last step and fired Deepsnap into the stone at close range. The pressure shot broke through the flaking surface and struck the harder layer beneath it. For a moment the chest held; then a fracture opened, showing rust-red light behind the split.

He drove Heavenpiercer into that opening before Agefire could brace again.

The edge reached the coal. Its light went out, and the arm turning toward him dropped against its side. The body tipped forward, struck the shelf and broke into grey-brown pieces.

Ren stumbled clear of it. He tried to bring water over his hands again and managed only a thin covering. This time it remained, cooling the splits while he stood bent over and waited for his breathing to ease.

— • —

The Devourfire withdrew from the breach. Saber and Bolt held the approach to the rear water while the others stayed with the evacuees. Nobody followed the raiders across the open sea.

Ren looked along the wall. Half of it lay in the shallows, and the plants nearest the breach remained brown against their supports. Ripples washed loose powder from the shelf without restoring the stone beneath it.

Once the raiders had gone, the Bloomfire regrouped on the inner platforms, behind the surviving rock. Adults watched the approaches while the Cinders gathered near the Hearthfire. Ward remained beside the rear landing as they brought the last of their people out of the water.

Snap approached Ren along the shelf. He rested a hand against its shell until he could straighten, then pointed toward the broken body.

A fist-sized rust-red coal lay among the fragments. Ren lifted it with water, keeping his fingers clear, and brought it close enough to store.

[LAW EMBER ACQUIRED: AGEFIRE. FURNACE GRADE.]

[CONTAINS: FIRE / TIME / DEATH.]

[ENDLESS GRAFT COMPATIBLE.]

[GRAFTING UNAVAILABLE WITHIN FRAGMENT.]

He sat on the intact stone beside Snap while Spear came around with the raft. His hands hurt when he tried to bend them, so he rested them open on his knees and waited.

— • —

At Tide, Ren sat beside Anvil and laid his hands against Balm.

The moss spread over his knuckles while keeping part of itself along the cracked shell. He watched the split skin begin to close beneath it, slowly enough that he stopped looking and let his hands rest.

Anvil shifted beneath him. Ren moved his weight off the shell and rested his elbows on his knees instead, leaving only his hands against the moss. The adjustment pulled at his shoulders; he settled carefully and waited for the discomfort to ease.

The keeper approached with the courier while he sat there. Ren lifted one hand and pointed toward a Cinder, then an adult and the elder, leaving the familiar pauses between them. Afterward, he indicated the route beyond Agefire’s island.

The keeper watched his arm lower back toward the moss before answering.

[CONCEPT: TIME. CONTINUES. WATCHES.]

[CONCEPT: SAME. WATER. LONG.]

[CONCEPT: OLDER. THAN. HEARTHS. REMEMBER.]

It pointed along a route slightly different from the one Ren had indicated. Spear turned to follow it. The courier looked that way too, gave a short reply and nodded.

Then the keeper sat facing the sea with its hands in its lap. Ren waited for it to continue, but it remained still, looking across the water.

He glanced at Spear. It indicated the seated keeper, then the distant route again.

Ren understood enough to leave the rest until he got there. He settled his hands into Balm and watched the floating flames passing beyond the platforms while the moss worked.

When he could close his fingers without reopening the skin, he eased them free. They were still sore. He flexed them once, then let Spear take him back to the shelf.

— • —

Under the Worldroot, Ren set the rust-red Ember against a root. Death opened the graft site, and Life sealed the living wood around the coal.

The source carried more than ordinary burning. He followed the way its fire accelerated deterioration in what it touched: stone weathering until it lost its strength, plants passing into decay, exposed water drying away.

That relationship was new to his Fire understanding. Time governed how quickly the changes ran, while the Death principle within this source overlapped what he already knew.

Ren kept his sore palm against the bark until the graft settled.

[TIME: 0.40%.]

[FIRE: 8.50%.]

[DEATH: NO NEW DEPTH.]

He stayed beside the root after reading the panels and tried to bring the three Time workings together.

He could follow Quickfire’s accelerated bursts, Stillfire’s prolonged burning and Agefire’s deterioration separately. Comparing them showed him where their effects differed, but he could not yet turn those comparisons into a single understanding he could use.

Another source might help. He had none waiting in storage, and no identified Ember that would answer that particular difficulty.

He thought of the keeper sitting with its hands in its lap, then of the line he had written down during Holt’s lesson and underlined.

Time comes when you witness it.