Planet Ignis | Ch. 6

…been a valuable teaching tool partly because they are not overly specific. This allows them to fit into more situations. Even so, I feel the second truth is too vague and needs to be more specific. ‘Fiercer a fire in the heart, then in hand’ is supposed to be a truth that encourages one to focus on the reason for bursting rather than the act itself.

We want to nurture love and not pyromania. The truth will be much more precise if we change it to ‘Fiercer the fire of love in my heart, then in my fist.’ Changing ‘heart’ into ‘love in my heart’ clarifies that we are discussing positive motivation. The change of ‘hand’ into ‘fist’ clarifies that we are contrasting it with an action that, even if it isn’t violent in its nature, is so in its effects on one’s body.

From “A Proposal for the Review of the Nine Truths” by Trother, the Wise

A week passed since Eli received his blue grade. Ten of his classmates would become oranges, Zawa would be a yellow, and as for him, he'd become a lit. Eli still didn't fully understand why he would become a teacher when he had been given a blue grade. Wasn't that the color of kings? He wasn't disappointed, though. He liked Trother and was looking forward to learning more from him.

“When the Phoenix crash-landed on this planet, we soon discovered that there was practically no water in Ignis,” Trother sighed. Trother’s tale utterly entranced Eli's colleagues. Trother had a way of making you hang in every word he said. Even the Orange Batteries in the classroom powering Zawa, Eli, and Trother looked like children before Trother’s storytelling skills. "Soon, two great discoveries were made. First, we found an alien life form. A microorganism: celeria. One of the drones found it by accident when exploring a cave system in what is now one of the settlements.

We were surprised that there was life here, even though there was no water. Soon, we discovered the reason for this. The second discovery. A previously unknown element… ignium. We discovered that this strange alien metal that made up most of this extraordinary planet had interesting properties. For one, it had a peculiar effect on electronics. It reverberated with electromagnetic waves, light, and temperature resulting in many interesting phenomena. We would later theorize that the reverberation properties of ignium are what causes Flares and what fried most computers aboard the Phoenix, resulting in us getting stranded here.”

Zawa, to Eli's side, raised her hand. Trother gave her permission to ask a question.

“Then how come we still have Faren, the Nexus, and some other computers?”

“Good question. Aboard the Phoenix, some computers had extra layers of protection against radiation and electromagnetic pulses, and some survived. Additionally, not all systems were turned on when the Phoenix approached the planet. Although the Flare is quite destructive, electronics that aren’t turned on have more chances of being unaffected. Some of them were spared the devastation of the Flare as well.”

Eli tried to follow Trother’s words carefully. This explained why computers and nanites were such scarce resources in the Burrows. A pang of pain hit his stomach. Sweating and cursing, Eli tried to take his mind off the hunger. Trother continued his lecture.

“Secondly, as we studied celeria, we found that ignium reacted to organic material. It is a universal solvent similar to water.”

Another child raised their hand, to which Trother conceded a curt nod. Knowing that her instructor had given her permission to ask a question, the girl eagerly prodded.

“What is water?”

“Water is something essential to human life. Its only replacement is, for all we know, polarized ignium. Believe it or not, water is such an abundant resource on Earth that it can be seen from space. You do not have to dig for it or process it. You don’t even have to polarize it. It is just there for you to drink. If I recall correctly, the old archives speak of water as blue, like the flames of kings.”

Eli's imagination ran wild as he tried to imagine the ethereal chemical of legend—another burst of pain.

“Most metals are toxic because they react to organic components but can’t be processed by our system. They glue but don’t fit. Ignium is remarkable because it can perfectly replace the water in our system. The downside,” sighed Trother, “is that for Ignium to fit in our bodies, it must be in a constant state of electron excitement.”

Trother picked up an ingot of ignium he had asked from the Smiths earlier. He gave it to Tritan, his Battery. “Tritan, would you be so kind?”

Tritan's arms began sparking and heating up until they turned bright red. The ignium in his hand melted into a silvery mercury-like liquid. As it fell to the ground, and the electric charge that Tritan gave it wore out, the puddle turned back into a solid.

“In other words, if there isn’t a constant supply of energy running through ignium, it becomes toxic, breaks apart from proteins, and quickly kills humans.”

Eli was having a tough time concentrating. He fought to try to follow his teacher's words, but this relentless torment was making it complicated.

“Now, where did we find a portable energy source to keep ignium activated and prevent it from becoming poisonous to humans? Anyone?”

Lilly raised her hand. Trother called her name.

“The human body, sir?”

“Well done, Lilly. Humans naturally generate energy in their cells. The Celer mutation allows us to speed our metabolism to generate more heat and electricity. Mastering this mutation allows us to keep the ignium we eat polarized and prevents our life-giving friend from becoming a deadly enemy. Ignium is our food, our water, our fuel. It is also our cancer, our death, our curse.”

Eli grimaced at the mention of the word ‘food.’

After a pause, Trother once again started: “We can combine ignium and Celer to produce impressive superhuman results. By sending our body into overdrive, we can reverberate with the ignium and generate tremendous energy. The downside is that pushing our bodies so forcibly burns our longevity and reduces our lifespan. In other words, we can trade life span for survival. We can exchange longevity for strength.

During our time together, I will teach you to precisely control all the different effects you can gain from exciting the ignium in your bodies. We will practice the three types of burst: perception, emission, and enhancement.”

At the mention of bursting, Eli was momentarily distracted as he imagined himself shooting flames off his hands or lifting huge boulders and throwing them effortlessly.

“It is imperative never to burst unless it is necessary. Every time you burst, you are eating away at your lifespan. Ninety percent of our time together will be spent learning how to manage the time you have left of your lifespan, our Longevity. I want to drill into your skulls the following questions: Is it necessary to burst? Can I gain more time by bursting through this task and performing it quickly, or would I live longer if I do it without bursting? What’s the most efficient way to do this? How hot do I need to burst to get through this ore?”

Eli’s stomach rumbled and clawed at his mind for attention. Each day it got worse. By the flames, it hurt. Eli hoped it wouldn’t get worse than this. It felt like a beast was ripping him from the inside out. He mustered up the strength to refocus on what his master was saying.

“For you to learn Longevity efficiency and good judgment, we will be using this.” Trother pointed to one of many chess sets placed around the classroom beforehand. Each chessboard was the same as Eli had seen in the Nexus simulator, but the chess pieces differed. Instead of carved figures, each piece was a disk. On one side of the board were sixteen white disks and sixteen black ones on the other. At a casual glance from afar, it might have looked as if it wasn't chess but checkers. However, coming closer, one would see drawings identifying each chess piece. In bright red, pawns were drawn on eight of the disks of each player. On two of the other disks, two orange towers identified the rooks. On two others, a yellow hoarse - or horse, or whatever the animal's name was – marked the knights. Then on other two, in silver lines, two bishops. In sapphire blue, one of the disks on each side portrayed a crown, identifying the king. The last disk of each player read in green Ignian characters ‘AI.’

“This is a basic longevity chess set. As time goes on, we will add layers of difficulty to it. All pieces move like the basic chess you were taught to play in the incubators.” Trother held each piece in turn and patiently and slowly illustrated the basic chess moves each piece performed. The students nodded, acknowledging their understanding.

“There are differences, however. First of all, each player has longevity stones.” Trother picked up a little pouch that read ‘fifty’ and rattled it. Then he loosened the pouch and poured a few small pebbles onto his hand. “Each of you will start with fifty stones. With each move you make, you lose one stone.” Trother poured the content of the bag into a slot at the corner of the chessboard, moved a knight, and in a practiced movement, slid one stone from one end of the chessboard to the other. This signaled that one Longevity Stone had been spent to move the knight.

“One move, one stone. Don’t forget it. Additionally. If you flip each piece, it bursts.”

Trother picked the king from the white pieces. He held it up, showing a crown drawn in blue lines on the white disk. He turned it and showed the children how the other side of the disk had the same crown, now in white lines on a blue background. Essentially, the colors switched if you flipped the piece. He did the same with a bishop of the black pieces and showed how it had alternated colors on each side of the disk.

“When a piece bursts, you can perform three special moves. Once a piece flips or bursts, it can emit, enhance, and perceive. Let’s start with what a pawn can do. A pawn can emit, destroying one piece two squares away. It can enhance, moving one extra square. It can perceive, sacrificing it, in exchange for the opponent to show you their next move before you make your own. Here are the longevity costs for pawns: enhancement costs one longevity stone. perception costs two longevity stones. emission costs four longevity stones. perception also requires that you sacrifice one of your pieces. The first player to lose all longevity stones, or their king, loses the game.”

Eli looked attentively at the chessboard closest to him, temporarily saved from his pain by the power of distraction and interest. These additional rules to chess meant that there were infinite things to consider before making each move. The number of moves was finite, even more so the number of bursts you could make each game.

“I want all of you to play against each other. For this first day, the rules are fifty longevity stones, and only pawns can burst. Begin!”

Ch. 7