A Simple Spark

[Nayun]

A fleeting moment..
That is all the challenge had become.

The exhilaration, the feeling of her heart thumping in her chest as the dance of combat more than words could ever.
Gone — only a memory.

Water splashed as she raised her hand from the depths of the tub she low laid in. The red Opal: FireStar, resting in her open palm. Nayun stared at it briefly, only for it to be released and left to tumble and fall upon hard floor.

it laid there. Wet one moment, then dry the next as heat began to radiate from it.

"You did well to earn me.." a foreign voice invaded Nayun's thoughts.

The Opal did as intended. This had not been her first time with them, nor did she doubt it would be her least. Nayun laid there within the tub and said not a word as she stared up at the ceiling.

"I can offer you power.. The strength you need to crush your enemies, to burn them to cinder and leave nothing in your wake.. We only need come to an agreement."

The dripping of water from faucet broke the silence of the bath; a silence that continued on after each slow and steady drip.

"Do you not feel it? The power I can provide! Think of the possibilities..!"

"You are not as subtle as your siblings." she said, then continued.

"MoonBeryl.. its first whisper was enough and I relinquished the title the same night I won it. ShadoWeaver.. quiet, invading. IceDancer, cunning and bold. It offered a hand in friendship, but its true intentions came to the surface later.. Nothing more than a ruse."

The water shifted to momentarily bring new sound to the quiet room.

Nayun spoke again, "One was the first flame, the second — the heating of metal, the hammer was the third. You are nothing more than oil to quench the blade."

Her gaze leveled with what stood before her. A manifestation of herself, one with held a smirk of arrogance. A manipulation tactic, no doubt. She thought to herself.

"Then let me quench your blade, so that you may become stronger.." said the other her — the manifestation of FireStar. It reached out to stroke at Nayun's cheek, something the woman had not expected. She sat there within the warming water of the tub while FireStar cupped her cheek and leaned closer.

"A fire burns inside you.." FireStar said as the doppelgangers forehead met hers.

"So you can create a physical manifestation of yourself." she said while the two of them stared into each others eyes. FireStars with eyes that Nayun found more in place upon the features of Lisa, her wife.. while Nayun stared with a cold, almost dull gaze.

"Yes.. We have grown stronger, and this power is something we - that I - want to share with you. You only need to accept."

"I have no interest in power gained without my own strength.. But, you have indeed grown stronger." her words brought a puzzled expression to the doppelgangers face, though this was replaced with a smug sense of pride as its ego was stroked.

"Then —" the voice of FireStar is cut off by the monotone that followed from Nayun, "You will provide me ample sport."

Nayun spoke as she rose to stand. "I will give you six hours.. You may do as you wish, I care not. Once the hours pass, the hunt will begin."

"Wait.." this was not something FireStar considered. "It would be in your best interest to reconsider my offer.."

Though as FireStar spoke, Nayun had already begun to leave the tub behind and begun to dress herself within a simple bathrobe.

"The hunt has already begun. You are wasting time by staying here.. Unless you would rather I slay and confine you here and now?"

The doppelganger which held the woman's own visage stared in confusion.. then its face contorted to anger. "Are you stupid?! I am offering you a chance for power and you talk of hunting?!"

This flaring of emotion saw the room grow hotter.. but in that moment, FireStar saw something. It saw only a bored expression of a hunter, one that had not flinched, nor sway to its tone.

They stared.. time ticking away, the room growing hotter and hotter but the woman did not sway to the pressure of the Opal. With a twitch, it is FireStar that blinked first.

This was no threat, it was a promise — one made from hunter to prey. In that moment FireStar felt its influence fail. What fire that stroked its ego was quenched then, replaced by nothing more than fear.

It ran.

It was as fast as it could.