The sound of flames softly crackling as they burned away awakened him from his uncomfortable slumber. His heavy eyelids stirred open while his mind felt like it was still asleep. He stared at the imagery before him for a few seconds before his thoughts caught up with the present.

The once beautiful and solemn temple was in ruins now, desecrated by the serpentine creature’s corpse still burning. Its blood was all over the walls, the broken statues, and the debris covering most of the chamber’s surface.

The corpse of the creature was still aflame, covered in silver-white flames that seemed quite otherworldly. They didn’t seem to spread, nor did they show any signs of fading soon.

He watched the otherworldly flames for a short moment before turning his attention to his own, aching body.

“Damn it all,” he grunted as he sat up, and wiped the small pieces of debris and dust off his arms and legs. A sharp pain struck his right shoulder as he moved – he must have twisted it while hanging from the creature.

He massaged the spot that hurt while glancing over his back. By some odd miracle, he wasn’t badly hurt. His arm was now mostly useless in battle, but he could deal with it. It’d take no more than a couple of days to recover from an injury like that.

He had more urgent things to worry about than a hurting arm. With a grunt, he got back up on his feet, then carefully took a few steps to make sure he hadn’t hurt his legs. “I may have used up all my luck…” he whispered quietly in disbelief. There was no pain aside from the rather expected scratches and surface wounds from being hurled at the debris.

His gaze turned to the burning corpse of the serpentine creature. He didn’t feel any satisfaction from having won this fight. It wasn’t an earned victory, but a battle he won through pure luck. Had there not been that metal stuck in the serpentine creature’s neck, he would have no chance of surviving, let alone winning.

“I must thank lady luck,” he whispered absentmindedly as he looked around. Fighting the exhaustion he still felt, he looked around while trying to come up with some semblance of a plan.

“Let’s see,” his voice was coarse as he muttered. First, he needed to find his sword, and the metal thing that was stuck in the creature’s neck. Whatever gem had created these silver-white flames was one worth investigating further later on.

He spotted what seemed to be the creature’s head through the flames, near the pool on the other side of the chamber. Climbing over the rubble of the statues and staying far away from the silver-white flames, he made his way over to the severed head of the creature.

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He braced himself for the heat as he approached the head, but instead the air around it grew colder, like the flames were drawing all the heat away. He shivered, but with a tight jaw continued to approach it. His body grew numb, and his still soaking wet clothes certainly didn’t help keep him warm.

He spotted his sword a little ways away from the creature’s head, stuck underneath some rubble, and wet with dark blood. He rushed over and pushed the pieces of rubble covering it.

As his gaze settled on the sword, his heart sank, and a lump settled in his throat. The weapon was damaged, the cotton wrapped around its hilt had burned away, along with the wood it was wrapped around. The metal guard had cracks all over it, as well as just straight up broken pieces.

Even the blade was damaged, albeit not as badly as the remaining parts. It seemed dull, and clearly needed some care before it could be used effectively again, but at least it wasn’t entirely destroyed like the guard and the hilt.

He blew the ash covering what remained of the hilt, to reveal the socket for the fire augment he was using. A bright red crystal no larger than a piece of pea was safely resting in the socket. With shaking hands, he removed it, and raised it to the light of the flames.

It seemed as clear and clean as ever, with no scratches on its surface.

With a breath of relief, he placed it into the space in his holding gem. Small victories, he told himself as he stared at the sword. It was useless, and he couldn’t afford to carry it along like this – the fragile hilt and guard was just single hit away from shattering, and he had no way of safely holding it without cutting himself.

“You served me well,” he whispered softly, with a grimace, “better than I deserved. Thank you.” He bowed his head and let himself mourn for a moment.

This sword had no history of note, nor was it some special blade made by a legendary weapon smith. It was a random sword he picked up while training with his mentors, and it was the least uncomfortable of them all. He had claimed it as his own, simply because it was convenient at the time. Despite that, it had served him quite well.

Once the moment he allowed himself to mourn had passed, he raised his gaze towards the burning head of the serpentine creature.

“Now then,” he muttered, taking a deep breath. His gaze fixed on the metal rod sticking out of the creature’s neck. It was no longer than his forearm, with a rather jagged end. It clearly wasn’t a sword, or a dagger.

Whatever it was, he needed to get it out of those cold flames. That crystal embedded into the weapon was well worth having.

Summoning his courage, he stepped close to the frigid flames, gripped the metal rod, and focused.

He could sense the crystal embedded into the weapon, still stuck in the severed neck of the serpentine creature. It felt so very cold and distant. Still, he reached out to it with his mind, and his power. Threads of his power flowed through his arms, into the metal rod, and through it, into the gem.

It resisted him, and as it did, his left eye began to hurt. A sharp pain struck. He felt lightheaded for a moment, before the crystal finally obeyed.

The flames went out in an instant as he pulled the weapon from the corpse of the creature.