A Haze of Ice and Fire

For a moment, no one moved.

Then two of the thugs advanced on Hale, a British Shorthair and an Egyptian Mau, while the leader with the gold tooth remained beside Koori, his grin wide and mocking.

“Well, would you look at that,” he purred. “The little human brat brought a friend, nya.”

The Egyptian Mau cracked his knuckles.

“Too bad for you. You should’ve watched her closer. She’s ours now. You can have her back when we’re done... if you still want her. Nyahahaha.”

Gold Tooth’s claws dug into Koori’s arms.

“Ow! That hurts!” she gasped, fear replacing her confusion.

Hale flinched. “Leave her alone! Or else...”

“Or else what?” growled Gold Tooth.

Hale swallowed dryly.

What do I do now? I’ve never been in a fight. And certainly not with a bunch of cat-people.

He measured them, shorter than him, but solid.

If I knock out the leader first, maybe we can run...

He glanced at Koori, saw her growing fear.

“Hale…” she whispered faintly.

His pulse hammered in his chest.

Now or never!

He lunged forward, his fist cutting through the air, aiming for Gold Tooth’s nose.

But he never got that far.

The Shorthair simply raised her paw, and Hale’s body slammed into the concrete floor as if gravity itself had multiplied around him.

Can’t... move...

She purred with satisfaction and let the pressure fade; the weight suddenly vanished, leaving Hale gasping for air.

“Humans,” she purred. “Still don’t know their place.”

“Hold him,” said Gold Tooth.

The Egyptian Mau yanked Hale up by the jacket. “A foreignya?” he sneered. “Borders are closed. How’d you get here?”

A fireball bloomed in his palm, hissing toward Hale’s cheek.

Magic… is that how they took over?

“Stop! You’re hurting him!” Koori cried.

Gold Tooth turned around and struck her hard. “Shut your mouth, stray!”

She gasped, doubling over, one hand clutching her midsection. 

Her eyes went wide from shock, as if she’d never felt pain before.

“Please... stop...” she whispered, her voice trembling.

“Koori...” Hale rasped. 

I have to do something!

He remembered that night in the cave, how she had shared her warmth, passing a part of her power onto him.

Now that same warmth twisted inside him, turning cold. 

The air thinned, then chilled, frost crawling across the concrete beneath him.

Koori felt it too, the pull, the strange, familiar vibration of the power they shared.

A shimmering, icy aura surrounded him, his breath became visible.

The Egyptian Mau blinked in confusion.

“What... is that?”

The fireball in his paw shrank, flickered, and collapsed as the cold spread.

Gold Tooth jumped back, eyes wide. “That’s... magic!”

Hale raised his hand, and the mark responded. 

Ice surged outward, solidifying into a massive, glittering blade, part fist, part jagged shield.

For a heartbeat he just stared at it, disbelieving.

Then instinct took over, and he struck.

The blow hit squarely; the Egyptian Mau was thrown across the tunnel and slammed into the wall, where he lay still.

Hale stared at his hands. "How... did I do that?"

Gold Tooth’s eyes narrowed into thin slits.

“Impossible…” he hissed. “Humans can’t use magic.”

He turned sharply toward the Shorthair. “Nekozawa! Crush him!”

Nekozawa hesitated for half a heartbeat, even she looked shaken by what she’d seen, then raised her arms.

“Y-yeah, boss.”

The air thickened, and once again, gravity crashed down on Hale.

The concrete groaned. His ribs screamed. Ice cracked along his arms as he tried to push back, the strain tearing through him.

“He’s... resisting?” Nekozawa gasped, while pouring more force into it, eyes wide with effort.

Hale felt his strength fade away. 

The gravity was too much, slow and relentless, until his knees buckled, the ice shattered and he was forced to the ground again.

The moment he stopped moving, Gold Tooth slammed Koori aside and lunged, claws bared, rage twisting his face.

“You think you can touch us with that stolen power!?” 

Gold Tooth kicked Hale relentlessly, the blows slamming into his ribs, his stomach, his chest. 

He tried to raise his arms in protection, but the gravity still pinned him down.

“Boss, if you keep going like that...” Nekozawa’s voice cracked.

“Shut up!” Gold Tooth spat. “He used magic. A human! Do you know what might happen if this spreads!?”

He grabbed Hale by the collar, claws sliding out, eyes burning with something between rage and fear.

“I’ll end this problem. Right here. Right now.”

Hale coughed blood as Koori stood frozen, motionless at the side. 

Her eyes were wide and panicked, her lips trembling.

“He’s… going to... kill him? But... we haven’t even..."

For a moment she couldn’t move, fear pressed down on her like a weight.

She felt the memory of silence, of endless snow, of the mountain’s cold breath, when she felt so alone.

“Don’t take him from me…” Her voice trembled. “Please.”

Gold Tooth didn’t even look at her as he raised his claws to finish Hale off.

Then something inside her snapped.

Panic turned to grief, grief to anger, anger to hate.

Koori raised her head and the mark above her heart suddenly began to glow, not cold blue like Hale’s, but molten red.

“Stop,” she whispered, her voice shaking.

Gold Tooth hesitated, one ear twitching, but only for a second.

"Stay out of this."

“Stop,” she said again, louder, not a plea anymore, but a command.

The mark blazed. 

Heat rolled off her in waves; her hair lifted in the rising air. 

Her eyes widened, and the galaxies within them blazed, swirling into a sea of cosmic fire.

“STOP!”

The sound shattered the silence and the concrete around her feet steamed.

“What the...” Gold Tooth and Nekozawa spun around, startled, as Koori stepped toward them, heat radiating from her body.

“Naþa felyn navaþ hál, svo… inrún,” she spoke, her voice trembling with ancient wrath.

Gold Tooth released Hale and turned toward her, his face twisting in disbelief.

“She can use magic too!? Guess we have no choice then, I’ll...”

Before he could finish, Koori simply raised her hand as he lunged toward her.

The air itself ignited, not with fire, but with something molten.

A river of heat erupted from her palm, surging forward like a volcanic outburst.

For an instant, Gold Tooth’s scream turned into a hiss, then it was gone, swallowed by the blaze.

When the light faded, only ash drifted where he had stood.

A single golden tooth hit the ground with a sharp, metallic click.

Nekozawa staggered back, her power faltered; the pressure in the air collapsed, and Hale could finally breathe again.

“B-boss?”

Koori’s blazing eyes turned toward her.

“Shit…” Nekozawa whispered, then spun around and fled, stumbling up the stairs, her steps echoing through the tunnel.

Hale lay still, the floor beneath him coated in a thin, glimmering layer of ice.

The cold rose again from his wrist; the mark there pulsed faintly, echoing Koori’s power.

She was standing just a few steps away, her hair lifting in the heat, her blouse fluttering in the rising air. 

“Koori…?” Hale whispered.

She turned to him slowly, her gaze unfocused, as if she didn’t recognize him.

The ground beneath her steamed; each breath she took made the air shimmer, droplets from the ceiling melting to vapor against her skin.

Hale stared, awed, and a little afraid.

Is that the power of Mount Fuji…?

Then the light flickered, dimmed, and she swayed.

Hale pushed himself up and caught her before she fell.

A sharp hiss filled the tunnel as her heat met his cold. 

White steam rose between them, red light flickering on her skin, blue on his.

“I never... used that power like this before.” Her voice trembled; she stared at her hands as though they belonged to someone else.

Then she looked at Hale, her voice fragile and soft. 

“I… hurt them, didn’t I?”

“You saved me,” Hale answered quietly. “Thank you.”

“Saved you?” She looked at his blood-smeard face, then smiled faintly. "Good."

For a moment, everything was still.

Then, from outside, a faint wail rose, sirens, growing louder, blue and red lights flickering along the tunnel ceiling.

Hale’s pulse jumped. “Come on,” he rasped. “We have to move.”

They turned to leave, and from Koori’s half-melted slippers came a faint, uneven squeak, echoing softly through the tunnel with every step.

Hale stared at her feet, and then, suddenly, he started laughing.

Quiet at first, then helplessly.

Koori blinked, puzzled, before she laughed too, without knowing why.

As they walked on together, they were still wrapped in a fading haze of ice and fire.