Aileen woke up to the sound of a thunder. She got up and went to the window. She could hear as the rain fell on the window and the howl of the wind.
‘It’s still raining. Something is very wrong with the weather,’ she thought.
She put on clothes she found besides the bed. She went to see Cintra, who was making breakfast.
“Your awake, good. Wash up and come eat with us.”
Aileen washed her hands and sat down. One by one, the children joined her, rubbing their eyes. Her lips curled up a bit looking at them.
“The dress still fits you well.”
Aileen looked at herself and said, “yes, thank you.”
Cintra waved her paws in dismissal. “Your clothes won’t dry in this weather, so you can wear that until then.”
She thanked Cintra and ate the warm food. After she finished eating, she asked Cintra for a cloak. She went home, changed to her cloak, then went to visit Raheem.
As she steps into the herbalist’s home, the thick, earthly smell of mixed dried herbs hits her first, a pungent mix of bitter roots and medicinal flowers. It’s not unpleasant, but it fells heavy, like the air is too thick to breathe freely. Her eyes immediately drawn to Raheem, lying on the tow wooden cot, stabilized but pale. A faint sheen of sweat glistens on his brow, the faint rise and fall of his chest barely visible beneath the rough, bloodstained blanket. Her heart clenches with the sight, but she steels herself.
The dim light in the room comes from a single candle perched on a cluttered shelf, its weak light glow casting long shadows. Dried bundles of herbs hang from the ceiling, their once vibrant colors now faded to brown and yellow swaying slightly in the draft from the door. Cloaks were hanged by the door, confusing her. She then saw Brian and the others sleeping on a chair and on the floor. They were not wearing their armor, but a casual cloth. The herbalist, an old fox with fur streaked with white, muttered to himself as he mixed something in a stone mortar. His hands, though gnarled with age, move with practiced precision. The soft grinding sound had a rhythm to it.
She can smell the bitter tang of whatever he’s preparing, sharp enough to make her nose twitch, and it mixes with the faint coppery scent of blood still lingering in the air. Her boots creak on the wooden floor as she steps closer, her gaze shifting between Raheem’s face and the herbalist, who was now looking at her with a frown.
“I’m sorry. I…I’ll take my cloak off.”
She took off her cloak and put with where the others were.
Brian woke up first to her sound, then Garret, followed by Alan.
“Ail, when did you get here?” asked Brian.
“Just now. How is he?”
“He’s stable. Amador says he might wake up today. So here’s hoping.” Said Alan, rubbing his eyes.
She nodded and sat on the empty chair on the other side of the bed. The rain continued relentlessly, the sound of loud thunder echoed occasionally, the wind howled, making the windows creak, making hard for her to hear the sound of the other’s breathing, even her own breathing was hard to hear.
“Hey, Aileen, about what the chief—” begun Alan, but he felt a nudge, turned to look Brian looking at him with a raised eyebrow. He give him an expression that said ‘what’ but Brian simply turned his gaze towards Aileen. She was stiff from the moment Alan begun speaking.
“Never mention her father in front of her again,” whispered Brian, his voice stern.
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She got up, grabbed her cloak and left the den in hurried steps. She heard Brian say, “Now, look what you’ve done, idiot…” but she couldn’t hear what was said after because of the rain. By now, the water level on the street had risen to reach her knee’s. But she didn’t seem to care for it and simply marched forward. She passed by Cintra’s home and reached the cemetery of the tribe.
On the top of a hill in the middle of all was a single grave, the tombstone carved from a white stone. Mud had covered most of of the writhing on it, turning the tombstone to something ancient looking. So, she bend on her knee and started to clean it with her cloth. She didn’t care for the mud that was dirtying her cloth and knee. It had her mother’s name written on it in a big font, ‘FIONNUALA.’
“I’m sorry I haven’t visited much lately…” she knelt there for hours without moving with the rain pouring down at her. She talked about her problems. About Raheem, about the ‘FIRE GOD’ she encountered and the vision she saw, about her father. She cried through most of the conversation. Her shoulder kept moving up and down continuously as she sobbed hard, tears flowing down her cheeks, washed away by the rain.
She got up, mud flowing down from her knees. She walked back home; the rain washing off the mud. Upon arriving home, she quickly changed her clothes, then made her way back to CIntra to return her cloak and cloth. Afterward, she collected her own clothes and headed back home again.
She prepared a bath for herself. The water was icy, so she had to use her pyromancy to heat up the water to her liking. She closed her eyes, relaxed her body and mind while taking a bath. She tried to forget everything that has happened in this couple of days. Though the event kept flashing in her mind, the harder she tried to forget, especially the things she saw when she thanked ‘that god’.
******
Mark was burning all the forest as the rain poured down on him. ‘What is wrong with this rain? It’s been raining nonstop for days. I need to find shelter or I might lose energy if this continued.’
Looking for a place to hide until the rain passed, he started searching. He found a cave after searching for a day. He shrank himself to an ember and went into the cave.
Due to his boredom and lack of activities, he opened the new system to ‘investigate’. Since he became whatever he was, sleep has eluded him. He could sleep if he tried really hard, but that was unnecessary additional work.
[DIVINE NAME: GOD OF FLAME]
[TITLE: SAVIOR OF THE LOST]
[Churches/Temples: 0]
[SOURCE ENERGY: 54/54]
[MIRACLE: Blessing, Curses, Emberstep]
He focused on each of them one by one.
[GOD OF FLAME: The name given to you by your believers. Gives the abilities Divine Presence, Divine strengthening, Flame Amplification, Fire Nexus, Presence Summoning, Language of flames.]
[Divine Presence: you can use Source Energy to increase your presence to appear Divine in the eyes of others]
[Divine Strengthening: Each time your Divine Name is called by your believer, you will absorb source energy, increasing your power.]
[Flame Amplification: It will amplify any fire near you and can increase the intensity using Source Energy.]
[Fire Nexus: Help you sense any flame lit by a believer and helps you extend your awareness across the surrounding.]
[Presence Summoning: your believers can summon you by invoking your Divine Name in a ritual. The stronger the faith, the more solid and powerful the manifestation.]
[Language of flames: understand the language of any creature born of fire.]
‘I gained all this from just a name, granted a divine one, but still… wait, so, does that mean I could gain more ability if I could gain more Divine names?’
[SAVIOR OF THE LOST: The title given to you by those that knows you. Gives you the abilities Pathfinder’s Instinct, Beacon of Light, Empathy for the Lost, Homeward Bound.]
[Pathfinder’s Instinct: You have a supernatural sense of direction, always able to find the safest and quickest route to safety. Helps you avoid traps when guiding others.]
[Beacon of Light: Appear as soft, guiding light that only the lost can see to help them find their way.]
[Empathy for the Lost: You can sense when there are others that are lost around you.]
[Homeward Bound: When you encounter someone lost, you gain a brief, heightened state of awareness and physical prowess.]
‘Titles haves the same function as Divine name so, why are they in different category? Even the way to gain them is the same. I need to find their differences.’
[Source Energy: It is the energy of the gods. You can increase your Source Energy by increasing your Believers. The more powerful the believer, the more Energy you gain from them. It is used to perform MIRACLES.
‘Isn’t this the one the voice said I used to evolve… so, if I hadn’t found believers, I wouldn’t be able to evolved any further. I need to increase my followers. I’m sure I’ll need more in the future.’
[Blessing: Grant anyone your blessing by using Source Energy to the limit of your imagination and Source Energy. Blessing must be related to fire.]
[Curses: Curse your Enemies by using Source Energy to the limit of your imagination and Source Energy. Curse must be related to fire.]
[Emberstep: Teleport into a nearby fire through prayers of your believer. You need to be within a certain range of your believer.]