Kel didn't wake.
The first week passed with him lying in the Durnfield infirmary while his body repaired damage that should have taken much longer to heal. His ribs slowly knitted back together. The swelling faded. Bruises changed from dark purple to yellow before disappearing entirely.
His Internal Qi continued moving without his conscious control, reinforcing damaged muscles and carrying warmth through his body. His Soul Qi behaved differently. Sometimes it was so faint the healers struggled to feel it. Other times it pulsed strongly enough to make everyone in the room stop what they were doing.
Harven watched all of it without interfering.
The strange flames worried everyone else more.
They appeared without warning, usually at night. Sometimes only Kel's fingers burned. Other times orange fire crawled across an entire arm before disappearing. Once, flames spread across his chest for nearly an hour.
Nothing caught fire.
Not the blankets.
Not the bandages.
Not Kel.
The healers wanted answers.
Harven didn't give them any.
The flames weren't the awakening itself.
Not yet.
But Harven knew what they meant.
Kel's body was preparing for something it had never been ready to handle before.
So Harven waited.
Luno wasn't nearly as patient.
He checked on Kel every morning.
Then again after training.
Then usually once more before going to sleep.
On the eighth morning, Harven found him sitting beside Kel's bed with his arms folded.
"You planning on staring him awake?"
Luno looked over.
"Could work."
"It hasn't."
"Only been trying a week."
Harven checked Kel's breathing.
Luno watched him.
"When is he waking up?"
"When he's ready."
"You keep saying that."
"Because you keep asking."
Luno sighed.
Something moved beneath his hat.
Spark crawled onto the brim.
Training.
Luno looked upward.
"Not now."
Now.
"My best friend is unconscious."
And watching him sleep makes you stronger?
Luno's expression tightened.
Harven glanced toward Spark.
That voice wasn't something he could hear the way Luno did, but he'd gotten good at recognizing when the two were arguing.
"What does he want?"
Luno stood reluctantly.
"Apparently I'm training."
Harven nodded.
"Good."
Luno stared at him.
"Whose side are you on?"
"Not yours."
Luno shook his head and headed toward the door.
Spark remained on his hat.
Harven watched them leave.
Something about that insect bothered him.
Not because it seemed dangerous.
Because it seemed knowledgeable.
Far too knowledgeable.
By the time Luno reached the cliffs north of Durnfield, the swarm was already waiting.
Spark flew from his hat.
Down.
Luno looked over the cliff.
Then at Spark.
"That's falling."
Then don't fall.
Luno stared at him.
"Harven wouldn't make me do this."
Harven is gentle.
Luno laughed once.
"Harven?"
Yes.
"Captain Harven?"
Gentle.
Luno pointed toward Spark.
"Dyrain trained us until Kel couldn't stand."
Better.
Spark hovered closer.
Still gentle.
Luno's hand dropped.
"Who the hell trained you?"
Spark turned toward the cliff.
Down.
"That's not an answer."
Training.
Luno sighed.
Then he started climbing.
Spark didn't allow him to use the easiest route.
Whenever Luno found a stable handhold, insects crawled across another section of stone and directed him somewhere worse.
Halfway down, his foot slipped.
Luno grabbed the rock.
His body slammed against the cliff.
"SPARK!"
You lived.
"That's your standard?"
Today.
Luno wanted to argue.
Then he felt something.
Movement.
Not through his own hands.
Through the insects.
Several were scattered below him. Their tiny bodies felt vibrations moving through the stone. Others clung to the cliff above and sensed changes in the wind.
Luno stopped looking for his next handhold.
He closed his eyes.
Spark hovered nearby.
Good.
Luno's Soul Qi reached outward.
The hive answered.
Tiny lives surrounded him.
Above.
Below.
Beside him.
For the first time, Luno didn't feel like he was alone on the cliff.
He moved his left hand.
An insect below shifted.
Luno felt the stone through it.
Solid.
His foot moved.
Another insect reacted to a loose section before Luno placed his weight there.
He changed direction.
Slowly, awkwardly, Luno descended.
When his feet finally touched the bottom, he leaned against the cliff.
"I hate you."
Again tomorrow.
Luno looked up.
"I really hate you."
Spark flew toward the open ground.
You use two eyes too much.
Luno followed.
"I have two."
Wrong.
Spark stopped.
The swarm spread.
You have hundreds.
Luno became quiet.
Spark sent insects across the rocks, through the grass and into the air.
Stop asking what Luno sees.
The connection strengthened.
Ask what the hive sees.
Luno closed his eyes again.
At first, everything was confusing.
Too many sensations.
Wind.
Heat.
Vibration.
Movement.
Tiny bursts of fear when a bird crossed overhead.
The smell of plants he couldn't identify.
Something moving beneath the dirt.
Luno opened his eyes.
"That's too much."
For you.
Spark moved closer.
Not for us.
Luno understood the challenge.
He tried again.
Hours passed.
By midday, his head hurt worse than his body.
That was when Spark made things stranger.
Eat.
Luno looked toward the food he'd brought.
"Finally."
Several insects lifted his bag and carried it away.
Luno stared.
"No."
Spark landed beside a rotting log.
Luno immediately became suspicious.
"No."
You haven't seen it.
"Doesn't matter."
Spark pointed underneath.
Something pale moved.
Luno's face twisted.
"Absolutely not."
Think like a bug.
"No."
Live like a bug.
"No."
Eat like a bug.
"Definitely no."
Spark waited.
Luno folded his arms.
"I am a human."
That's the problem.
Luno stared at him.
Spark flew closer.
You want to understand us.
"I do."
No. You want to control us.
Luno opened his mouth.
Then stopped.
Spark continued.
Wrong question.
The swarm gathered.
Know what we want before we want it.
Luno listened.
Know what scares us. What makes us hungry. Where we hide. How we hunt. How we survive. How we find each other.
The insects moved around him.
If you want to command the hive, first learn what it means to belong to it.
Luno looked at the grub.
Then back at Spark.
"You could've made that speech without lunch."
Eat.
Luno groaned.
Several miserable minutes later, Luno sat against a rock questioning every decision that had brought him here.
Spark landed on his knee.
Luno glared.
"When I understand the hive completely, then I can control them?"
No.
Luno frowned.
"Then what's the point?"
Spark answered immediately.
Control becomes unnecessary.
Luno looked toward the insects surrounding him.
"Then how do I make them do what I want?"
You won't.
Spark paused.
They'll want it too.
Luno stared at the swarm.
That changed something.
Not in his Qi.
In how he thought about it.
The insects weren't ammunition.
They weren't soldiers.
They were living creatures that had chosen to remain around him long before he understood why.
If he could understand them completely enough that his intentions became part of the hive's intentions, commands might eventually become unnecessary.
Luno slowly nodded.
Spark lifted off.
Now you're thinking.
Luno smiled.
"Was that a compliment?"
Run.
The swarm exploded forward.
Luno sighed.
"Of course."
He chased them.
As he ran, his Soul Qi reached toward the hive.
Then something else stirred.
The air shifted around dozens of moving wings.
Dust curled from the ground.
Luno felt External Qi responding to the environment surrounding the swarm.
He stumbled.
The feeling vanished.
Luno stopped.
"What was that?"
Spark didn't answer.
Luno looked toward him.
"You felt it."
Again.
"That was External Qi."
Again.
Luno smiled.
Spark flew faster.
Luno chased him.
For the rest of the afternoon, Luno tried to find that feeling again.
He managed it twice.
Only for seconds.
His Soul Qi maintained the living connection with the insects. External Qi responded faintly through the environment around them. His Internal Qi remained inside his own body, reinforcing exhausted muscles as Harven and Dyrain had taught him.
Three paths.
Separate.
But for brief moments, Luno could feel all of them working at once.
That frightened him.
Spark seemed completely unsurprised.
Near sunset, Luno finally collapsed.
Spark landed on his forehead.
Luno stared up.
"You knew."
Silence.
"You know Soul Qi."
Spark didn't move.
"You know External Qi."
Nothing.
"You knew what Harven taught us."
Spark turned away.
"You knew what Dyrain taught us."
Luno sat up.
"Who are you?"
Spark flew toward his hat.
Your teacher.
"That's not what I asked."
It's what you need.
Spark disappeared beneath the hat.
Luno stared forward.
For the first time since Spark had started speaking clearly, Luno wasn't merely curious.
He was suspicious.
Nobody should know this much by accident.
Across the Badlands, Roku and Solara were asking different questions.
They had remained in Transmorra after Keyla brought Solara back.
Roku's injuries were improving.
Solara's were too.
Neither waited until they were completely recovered before returning to light training.
Solara stood in the rear courtyard of the Running Rebels compound with a basin of water beside her.
Foss Flow Wing Chun came naturally now.
Water Qi didn't.
She lifted one hand.
A narrow strand of water rose.
Solara stepped.
Redirect.
Turn.
Palm.
The water followed the first movement.
Almost followed the second.
Then splashed across the ground.
Roku watched.
"Better."
Solara looked at him.
"That was terrible."
"Better than yesterday."
She couldn't argue with that.
Solara wasn't trying to replace her Soul Qi or suddenly become a Water Qi specialist. She wanted another option.
Foss Flow already taught her not to oppose force directly.
Water seemed like a natural extension of that idea.
She raised the stream again.
Across the courtyard, Roku trained his own weakness.
Shadow Soul Qi spread beneath his feet.
That power wasn't new.
Roku had spent years learning how to conceal himself inside shadows, bind enemies and move through darkness.
What Drako exposed was how much Roku still thought before using it.
Drako didn't.
Two hundred years of combat had turned decisions into instinct.
Roku wanted his shadows to reach that point.
Solara picked up a pebble.
"Ready?"
"No."
She threw it.
The shadow rose automatically.
The pebble disappeared into darkness.
Another shadow opened beside Roku.
The pebble dropped out.
Roku froze.
Solara stared.
"Did you do that?"
"Kind of."
"Do it again."
He couldn't.
For the next hour, they failed more than they succeeded.
That didn't bother either of them anymore.
Drako had shown them what real experience looked like.
They had survived.
Now they needed to deserve surviving.
Keyla watched from the doorway.
The refined Ether remained locked deep beneath the compound exactly where she'd ordered it placed.
Nobody opened the case.
Nobody touched it.
She was still waiting for Dyrain's response.
But another message had arrived first.
This one wasn't from the Running Rebels.
It carried seals belonging to the Twelve Great Regions.
Keyla read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her expression became more suspicious each time.
The Twelve Great Regions were preparing their tournament and the larger gathering surrounding it.
That wasn't unusual.
The invitation was.
For generations, people from the Badlands hadn't been welcomed.
Now they were.
Not as tournament competitors.
As guests.
Travelers.
Spectators.
People from across the Badlands were suddenly being welcomed to attend an event that had historically belonged entirely to the Twelve Great Regions.
Keyla didn't trust it.
She folded the invitation and put it away.
Dyrain needed to see this himself.
Back in Durnfield, Luno returned after dark.
His clothes were covered in dirt.
His arms were scratched.
His legs hurt.
He was hungry despite desperately wishing he wasn't.
Harven saw him approaching the infirmary.
"What happened to you?"
Luno pointed toward his hat.
"Spark."
Harven nodded.
"That explains nothing."
"He made me climb down a cliff."
Harven looked toward the hat.
"Why?"
"Said I use two eyes too much."
Harven's expression changed slightly.
Luno noticed.
"He made me sense through the hive."
Harven became more interested.
"And?"
"I could."
Luno hesitated.
"Then something happened with External Qi."
Harven stopped walking.
"What?"
"The air around them. I could feel it responding while my Soul Qi was connected to the insects."
Harven stared at him.
Luno continued.
"Spark knew it would happen."
Harven looked toward the hat.
Spark remained hidden.
Luno folded his arms.
"He also said you and Dyrain are gentle."
Harven's eyebrows rose.
"He said what?"
Luno smiled.
"That finally got you."
"Where is he?"
Spark crawled deeper into the hat.
Luno laughed.
Then Harven's expression became serious again.
"You said Spark designed the training?"
"All of it."
"And he knew what would happen with your Soul and External Qi?"
"Yeah."
Harven looked toward the hat again.
This time there was no amusement in his face.
Luno noticed.
"You don't know who he is either."
Harven didn't answer immediately.
"I know he's been with you a long time."
"That's not what I asked."
Harven looked at him.
"Then you should start asking better questions."
Luno stared.
"That's exactly the kind of answer Spark gives me."
"Maybe he's rubbing off on me."
Luno sighed.
They entered the infirmary.
Kel hadn't moved.
The flame that had appeared earlier was gone.
His breathing remained steady.
Luno sat beside him.
Harven checked his Qi.
Internal was repairing.
Soul was settling.
And underneath both, something Harven recognized was preparing itself.
Not awakening.
Not yet.
Preparing.
Luno looked toward him.
"Still nothing?"
Harven shook his head.
"He needs more time."
Luno hated that answer.
But this time he didn't argue.
He looked at Kel.
"Fine."
Then he leaned closer.
"But you better wake up before Spark makes me eat something worse."
From beneath his hat came a quiet response.
There will be worse.
Luno froze.
He slowly looked upward.
"Worse?"
Spark didn't answer.
"WORSE?"
Harven laughed before he could stop himself.
For the first time since Kel had been brought home, Luno heard him do it.
Far away in Transmorra, Roku continued teaching his shadows to move before thought.
Solara continued learning that water couldn't be forced into understanding her.
Keyla waited for Dyrain with an invitation from the Twelve Great Regions that shouldn't have existed.
In Durnfield, Spark continued turning Luno into something neither Harven nor Dyrain had taught him how to become.
And Kel slept.
His body healed.
His Internal Qi settled.
His Soul grew stronger.
Deep within his blood, something waited.
It hadn't awakened yet.
But it was getting closer.
End of Chapter 47 — Sparks in the Dust