The Spark Ignites Pt. 02

"Let us handle this, ok? I promise he's gonna feel it tomorrow."

Kari nodded stiffly, if I had to guess, she hadn't fully processed what just happened. After pushing her back towards the bar, I turned around and made my way over to Koa and the dwarf. Gorlack was looking particularly proud of himself, standing a good six inches taller than Koa, and a couple feet more than the dwarf. He was laughing about what he had done, and the people who came up to fight him. The bar was still quiet, waiting with baited breaths for the next move.

"What are you two going to do, puny human, and you too, hairy runt? You're both too small to beat Gorlack, the Champion!"

I tapped Koa's arm in a staccato of three beats, followed by one long one. After our first brawl, we'd established a silent means to tell each other the quick plan. This one meant I'd start the confrontation, and he'd finish it. I stepped between Koa and the dwarf, and glared at the big orc, his fanged maw stank of alcohol and bad dental care. I picked a tried and true method to get this party started.

"Ok dumbass, couple things, first off, you just decided to harass a dragon, so congrats on that, moron. Secondly, that puny human is named Koa, and he's a former paladin."

Gorlack's gaze swung to me, and he glared right back, not that it was particularly scary. I had stared down a pissed off Kari, this orc was nothing. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Koa stepped into the conversation.

"Please palala, it's disgraced paladin of the Earth Mother, you know that. I didn't really wanna go along with wiping out humanity just to return things to nature."

Gorlack's eyes turned back to Koa, and he snorted dismissively. Obviously that title meant nothing to the big orc, who I guessed only solved his problems by applying varying amounts of blunt force.

"And what does that mean, little man?"

I looked over at Koa, and he looked over to me, and we both busted up laughing. We both knew what he could do, and I was happy he was on my side, because he was honestly a little scary. Gorlack snorted again, this time with no humor, only annoyance. His eyes burned with alcohol and anger.

"Why are you laughing at me, I am better than you both!"

I managed to get ahold of myself, but still had a wicked grin on my lips. Koa reeled in most of his laughter as well, enough to respond to the dumb orc, though the occasional burst slipped between his words.

"We're laughing, hahaha, because you have pissed off the most powerful things in this room. Me, my tita over there serving drinks, and the most important one."

Tita, another slang word, this time for sister. Ever since Kari and I hooked up, he'd started calling her that. My attention was still on the orc as Koa hooked his thumb at me, and I let a small trickle of power into my eyes, making them glow with malicious intent. I felt an earthy sensation flood my body as Koa activated a passive blessing he had access to, toughening up both our bodies to the point you had to use a steel weapon and a hard swing to even break our skin.

"Well, you pissed off her man, my palala. Probably the most dangerous man in this room. Now, you're either gonna walk out that door on your own two legs, or you'll be tossed out, physically."

That didn't sit too well in Gorlack's alcohol addled state, not that he was particularly smart in the first place. I mean, he slapped the ass of a woman who was clearly a dragon, the horns and scales gave that away fairly easily. He took that opportunity to swing at Koa, who took it on the chin with absolutely no sign of feeling it. That shocked the big orc, which gave Koa the precious couple seconds he needed to channel more of his geomantic powers, and slug him right back, cracking him in the jaw. Gorlack crumpled up like a piece of paper. I guess the champion had a glass jaw, who would've thought?

Koa just looked down at the senseless orc with some confusion, we both expected more of a fight from the big guy in all reality. We were both pulled from the thoughts of disappointing fight by the dwarf cracking up into a deep belly laugh.

"Oh, by the ancestors, I 'ave not seen someone drop an orc like that since me grandfather did it with a mighty axe blow! You, Koa, 'ave my respect."

We both looked over at the short man as his light brown beard trembled in another laughing fit. Koa rubbed the back of his head before looking back down at the orc, who was groaning in his involuntary nap.

"Well Bagan, I figured he would have a solid jaw, and not just crumple like a wet piece of paper. But, before he wakes up,"

He turned to me with a vicious grin and a twinkle in his eye.

"How about we set a new record palala, one we won't break for a long time."

I matched his grin with one of my own, and let my power suffuse into my muscles. We both bent down as one, and grabbed an arm and a leg each. With a heft, we both picked up the orc who probably weighed about three hundred pounds, carried him out the door and stood on the sidewalk. I looked over at Koa and started lightly swinging Gorlack. Once Koa had matched my movements, I spoke, my voice having a slight double tone.

"On the count of three. One, two, THREE!"

We swung and threw him, hard. The big orc soared a solid thirty feet before landing on the sidewalk and skidding about four more feet. I hoped that big fucker got some serious road rash from that, something to remind him to not come back. Koa clapped me on the back with a mean laugh.

"That was good palala, good distance, and extra points for making him a meat crayon. Glass jaw won't be coming back anytime soon, not after the concussion I probably gave him."

I grinned, and we both walked back to the bar, Koa went in first, to cheers of approval and one dwarf crowing about him knocking an orc out in one punch. I stopped short and pulled out my pack of cigarettes. I needed to calm down before I went back in, and pulled out one smoke. After setting it in my mouth, I lit it up with a quick spark of my flames.

I was about halfway through the stick, and I was taking my time, enjoying the night with my eyes closed, when a voice I hadn't heard in a very long time pricked my ears. It was soft, gentle, and full of worry.

"V, is that you?"

I froze, the cigarette in my mouth entirely forgotten as I had to force my body to not tense up. After a few breaths, I opened my eyes, and beheld someone I hadn't seen since she was fourteen. She had turned from a flat, gangly teen into a well-endowed, beautiful woman. She was short, only about five foot two, and curvaceous. She wasn't a large woman, just a little more in the right places. She had on a black tank top and a pair of skinny jeans that hugged her curves. My eyes moved from her body to her face, and her amazing blue eyes, sparkling with tears. She had raven hair and her face had a little bit of baby fat, just like I used to have. After a moment of studying me, her hands moved up to cover her mouth as she gasped. She took a few steps towards me, then, she suddenly rushed me, throwing her arms around my neck. She nuzzled her head into my chest as she started crying.

"Oh my god, V, it is you. I thought we'd never get the chance to see you again, you left so fast, and and and and the fight, I was so scared!"

She was babbling as the tears flowed freely, soaking my shirt, but she had said 'we', not 'I'. That caused me to look up, and walking up to us both was a tall, toned woman also wearing a tank top, this one a royal purple. Instead of skinny jeans, she wore mid length shorts, showing off mile long legs that were covered in blue flame tattoos, with the occasional Japanese Oni mask placed throughout the flames. Beneath the tattoos, however, were faint burn scars, running up past the bottom of her pants. The woman had chestnut hair that cascaded past her shoulders, and a familiar smirk. Her eyes, a stunning green, were also sparkling with unshed tears as she put on hand on her hips. She was about five-ten, a few inches shorter than me, and that hadn't changed too much since I had last saw her.

"C'mon cuz, you just ran out without ever saying goodbye, can't really expect us to not show up and try to find you."

I wasn't able to process this fully, these two women, one very familiar, the other a new face, but I could never forget those eyes. My mind wouldn't let me say a lot, so the only words that I could make were their names.

"Bri, Steph..."