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‘That’s as good an idea as any,’ said Garovel. ‘Give it a try.’

Hector slipped his bare hand through the band. It was quite loose around his wrist, however, which made him think that this wasn’t quite right.

But then the band shrunk.

It fit snugly around his wrist. So snugly, in fact, that he couldn’t slide it back off.

“Uh-oh.”

‘Wow, did you fuck it up, already?’

‘I might’ve...’

‘Well, before we resort to chopping your arm off, why don’t you just take a moment to reassess? How are you feeling, right now?’

Hector shrugged. ‘Fine, I guess. No different.’

‘Hmm. And your senses? Your concentration? You could try focusing. Or meditating.’

‘I could,’ said Hector with a bob of his head. ‘I’ve got a different idea, though.’ He took a breath and held his wrist up. “Hey, Candle, can you show me how to use this thing?”

And they waited, but no response arrived.

‘Damn,’ thought Hector. ‘Guess that would’ve been too easy.’

‘It was worth a try. You keep reminding me that the Candle has a mind of its own, and yet somehow, I keep forgetting. It just doesn’t seem possible, but I guess that’s the whole thing about Fusion Forges. Doing the impossible. Maybe you should try asking it something else. Something a little easier.’

Easier, huh? “...Can you show me how to activate it, at least?”

Still no response arrived, however.

‘That wasn’t much better, Hector. In fact, that was almost the same question.’

‘Look, man, I don’t know what I’m doing here.’

‘I can tell. Why don’t you just ask it to wake Abbas up for us while you’re at it?’

A beat passed as Hector chewed on that. “Hey, Candle, could you wake Abbas up for us? And, er, heal Worwal, too?”

A response did not arrive for that, either.

‘Hector, I was joking. There was no way that was going to work.’

‘Yeah, but I mean... what if it did, though? You were just talking about how forges can do the impossible.’

‘I feel like your expectations for the Candle are increasing with each new sentence out of your mouth.’

‘It’s called keeping an open mind, Garovel. Not that you’d know much about that.’

‘Hoho,’ laughed the reaper. ‘Alright, Mr. Free Thinker. How about, instead of trying to get the Candle to do everything, you actually put that open mind of yours to work? Try focusing, like I said.’

‘Fine...’