Jay witnessed a simple man. He seemed to be a farmer by trade. He held a torch to ward off the night and defend his family from the horrors hiding within the darkness. The farmer placed it next to his field, part of a ring of light dissuading predators from his property.

Then winter came, and bonfires replaced the torches to keep the farmer and his family all warm throughout the snowy nights and the chilly mornings.

When spring came, once again, the torches came back out, lighting the world. This cycle continued, years passing by as the man grew old. His daughters grew up, and his wife grew older along with him, until, one day, a nobleman came through their small village. He demanded shelter, and the man Jay was watching was chosen. The nobleman spat out the food he was given. He refused to sleep in the poor beds the family had.

The nobleman, in return for their attempt to keep him happy, killed the man’s family. The farmer had to witness his daughters dragged out and thrown into a pyre, screaming while their bones blackened. His wife was brought out, chopped into pieces, and thrown in after.

When the noble picked him up, he made the mistake of looking into the man’s eyes. What he saw inside terrified him. He had eyes like smoking bonfires which threatened to burn his oppressor. The noble dropped the farmer, calling for his guards to throw him into the fire. As they walked towards him, the man simply gazed into the fire, expressionless.

Then they threw him in, and the noble turned away with a slight shudder, stepping into his carriage.

Since his back was turned, he didn’t see the plume of fire that wiped him from existence.

His guards’ metal armor and weapons melted as they burned in much the same way. The man stood alone in the fire, unharmed except for scratches from the burning wood. His eyes blazed even brighter now. They shone with an icy fire. One that would burn the world for what had been done to him.

The man stepped out of the bonfire into a world that had never known magic before.

Kings sent armies after him when villagers reported his use of fire. He stood before all of them alone, wiping each out in a plume of fire before doing the same to the kings behind them. The most honorable knights in the land died before even unsheathing their weapons. The Rangers, with all their skills in archery, died before nocking an arrow.

The man was still expressionless, the same as when he’d first looked into the fire. Now, he was annihilating cities, burning them down as he walked through. Refugees went to the farthest corners of the land hoping to hide, and he didn’t chase them.

He simply walked, slowly, like a natural disaster coming to take over. Anyone, noble or commoner, who crossed his path, was burned to death. The world didn’t adapt fast enough to his coming, so the world ended in flames, everything burning to ashes. Then the man, alone in the world, burned the entire planet into a dead husk, the ashes pulled apart in the vacuum of space and scattered around the universe. Then he left, powering himself into space with his flames. In front of him stood a man and his blade.

“I am Eternity? And you?”

“I am the Pyre,” the farmer spoke, accepting Eternity’s hand. As they shook hands, Pyre marveled at Eternity’s hand. It didn’t burn. The flesh didn’t slough off blackened bones. It… comforted him. For the first time since his family had been killed, Pyre didn’t feel like burning someone.

Eternity smiled at him. “How would you like to burn the gods?”

Something abruptly yanked Jay out of the dream. He saw the librarian, Ms. Leil, standing above him holding the book in her hands. She was wearing a concerned expression, a man with a ruby-encrusted crown standing next to her. “I’ve got him out, Ruby. Is he going to combust?”

Ruby shook his head. “No. Somehow, it’s not happening. Do you have a record of who last returned this book?”

Ms. Leil nodded, her gaze hardening. “I’m not letting him off easy for leaving this here.”

Jay blinked in confusion. “How does the book do that?”

Ms. Leil immediately responded. “It’s a Vision within a book. It shows you a memory or a story written by the author to help you understand something. They’re very dangerous, and this one more than most because it makes you spontaneously combust if you’re not already an expert in fire.”

Jay conjured a flame, the feeling as natural as moving his quicksilver. Ruby immediately reached out a hand, and Jay felt pressure against his flame. He let it go, and Ruby sighed. “Well, we prevented that combustion-”

Jay conjured another flame. “I’m making these,” he said, letting the flame grow slightly larger and making it float over his hand. “I’m not combusting.”

Ruby reached out another hand, but Ms. Leil stopped him, stepping in front of him. “Call Diamond,” she said to Ruby. “I think he’ll want to know about this anomaly. Meanwhile, I’ll have to call a student.”

A student sat across from him and Ms. Leil, getting yelled at. “YOU’RE LUCKY NO ONE DIED!,” she shrieked, the student shrinking back in his seat. “WHY WOULD YOU EVER PUT THE BOOK THERE? YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS! WE HAD YOU SIGN A RELEASE FORM WHEN YOU TOOK IT!”

The student shied further back into his seat. “No harm, no foul, right?,” he weakly said, but Diamond chose that moment to come into the room.

He took one look at Jay and sighed. “If any other student in this entire school, except for the best fifth year fire students and better, touched this book, they would burn. If any student below the best eighth year fire students read this book, they would burn. If any student below the best tenth year fire students read the book, they would go mad. Do you know how many people decide to stay with us for ten years?”

The student shook his head, more cowed by Diamond’s calm speech than Ms. Leil’s tongue lashing. “N-no, sir.”

“Four students, on average, per year. Past that, we usually don’t even have any students with us. They would be the only ones to read the book and survive with no side effects. Just look at the size of your class, for god’s sake. It’s just you and Miguel.”

Ms. Leil leaned over her desk, looking like she would jump over and kill him. “Never do this again. Am I clear?”

Before the student could answer, Diamond spoke. “If you do it again, I won’t stop her from killing you. And you very much know how strong she is. Remember last year? When you set that book on fire and I didn’t get to you for ten minutes?”

The student suddenly paled, vigorously nodding and nearly running out of the room after that. Diamond turned to Jay. “Everything fine?”

Jay nodded. “I can conjure fire now.”

Diamond nodded. “I excused you from class, due to you finding that book. Now, I’m thinking it may be a good idea to find you more. What do you think?”

Jay shrugged. “Honestly, probably a good idea. However, my body currently feels… bloated. My movements and functioning are unchanged, but it’s probably a bad idea to read another book.”

Diamond nodded, but Ms. Leil interjected. “You’re just taking his word on this? What if he’s lying? What if he doesn’t know what’s going on? What if he has a soul injury?”

Diamond chuckled. “Diya, he has a special situation. No need to worry about his soul. If he lied, that’s his problem, isn’t it?” He gave Jay a significant look. “And I think he knows what’s going on, doesn’t he?”

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Jay nodded. “Can I go to the training room and check out my new quicksilver?”

Inwardly, Jay’s thoughts were racing. What was his special situation that Diamond didn’t want to check to see if he had any soul injuries? Sapphire’s words came back to him. Don’t trust Diamond. You don’t know what he’s done.

Diamond nodded. “Eris, would you like to come with to check out the boy’s abilities?”

Ms. Leil nodded. “I’d like to see this ‘special situation’ for myself.”

Diamond waved, and, suddenly, they were in the training room. A dummy emerged in front of Jay. Quicksilver pooled in Jay’s palm, and he grasped inside himself, looking for the change he knew had happened. Then he found a blazing flame, the flame he conjured fire with. Jay grabbed it, siphoning a small stream of flame into the quicksilver emerging from his palm. He felt a resource used inside of himself, to power the fire. He prodded the energy and realized that the power for the flame was coming straight from his Will. These flames were creations of the School of Thought.

Grabbing his Will, he wove the flame within him into a tight tapestry, and his inner fire grew. It rose larger and stronger.

Suddenly, the small stream of fire became a steady stream of glowing flames, the quicksilver now burning, fire flickering along its surface. Jay made a tendril, stabbing the dummy, and the flames melted the quicksilver through the dummy, easing its passage in and out.

Jay, without thinking much, formed a revolver out of his quicksilver. It didn’t have any firing mechanism, but it was the thought that counted, not the specifics. Anyway, he had someone to help him with firing it. He frowned. Am I going crazy?

His revolver ignited in orange flames, and he pulled the trigger. A bullet of flaming quicksilver flew out of the barrel, cutting straight through the dummy. The dummy met its end in a blazing fire. There was nothing left of it but ash. Jay blinked. When had he learned to do that?

You’re welcome!

Ignoring the voice this time, Jay turned to Diamond, who looked suitably impressed. “Good. Are you up to going on your mission tonight, instead of later?”

Jay nodded as Ms. Leil stared at the dummy, wide-eyed. “Impossible!”

Diamond turned to her. “Special situation, Diya.”

She shook her head, apparently still amazed. Diamond shrugged, grabbing Jay and pulling him out of the room. Diamond let him loose in the courtyard, waving to him as he left. Jay walked back to the mess hall. He’d missed lunch-and by the gods was he hungry.

The cooks were happy enough to give him a leftover portion of food, which he gladly devoured, chowing through it in a matter of minutes. When he was no longer hungry, Jay thanked the cooks, leaving up to his room. He knocked on Crystal’s door, and she quickly answered, with the rest of the Dragons staring out the door from behind her. Her face lit up. “There you are!”

Jay nodded. “Yup.”

Crystal walked him into the room, where he sat on the floor with the others. “So, finally finished all your classes, eh?”

Jay shook his head. “I had this incident with a book.”

Drake didn’t bother looking up. “What he means is that he read a Vision, nearly died, and then came over after a really long time.”

Jay blinked at him. “How’d you know?”

Drake raised his head. “Wait. What?”

“How’d you know I read a Vision, almost spontaneously combusted, then came over here after a really long time?”

Drake looked equally confused. “I just spouted nonsense. How did you even find a Vision?”

“A student put one in the wrong place in the library.”

Drake winced. “How close did you come to spontaneously combusting?”

Jay shrugged. “Not very. I just got fire powers from the book, no combustion involved.”

“Wait, fire powers?,” Catherine piped in.

Jay raised his hand, flames dancing along his fingers. “Yeah.”

The rest of the Dragons goggled at it. “Also, I have a mission, given to me by Diamond, to do tonight.”

Drake suddenly looked very annoyed. “Why can’t we come with you? We’re a team, after all.” Jay shrugged. “Ask Diamond, man! Let the brothers and sisters come help!”

Jay nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Catherine pointed at the door. “The sooner the better. It’s getting late.”

Jay shook his head. “He’ll come over when it’s time.”

Catherine nodded. “So, what do you want to do in your free time?”

They shrugged, no one having any ideas. “Just rest here? I don’t feel like moving,” Catherine interjected.

Crystal scooted over to Catherine, grabbing her head and smoothing her hair out carefully, strand by strand. Drake sidled up next to Crystal, sharing in her warmth. Jay did the same on the other side.

This was the scene Diamond arrived on, finding a group of kids lazing together on the floor. “Huh.”

Jay nodded. “Can they come along for the mission?”

Diamond nodded. “I was about to suggest that, given that there’s been a recent development in the mission.” Before anyone could ask what the mission was, he held up a finger. “I’ll explain the whole thing, don’t you worry.”

Jay nodded, and Diamond started. “There’s a group of Abyss wolves attacking a village, killing a bit of the livestock each night. The village can’t go on like this. Then, the complication. They’re led by an insane Abyss Thoughtwielder.”

Catherine gasped. “The Hells did one survive that long?”

“What’s an Abyss Thoughtwielder?”

Crystal answered. “They are attuned to the element of Abyss, in the School of Thought. In the School of Thought, you start as a Thoughtstriker. Then you become a Thoughtcrafter. Then a Thoughtwielder.”

“So, he’s strong, basically,” Jay said.

Crystal scowled at him. “To simplify it that much, yes.”

Jay nodded. “With four people, we’ll be fine though, right?”

Diamond nodded. “You should be. Just remember, I won’t be there to watch over you. If you die, you die.”

Jay shrugged. “That’s fine.”

Catherine nodded. “I’m in.”

Crystal sat there, giving a silent assent.

Drake nodded. “Sure.”

Diamond smiled at them. “We have our team. Let’s go!”

You don’t know the things he’s done.

The method of travel Diamond chose for them was not fun. They were on a carriage, traveling straight up a mountain. The village they were going to was called Maanterin, apparently, and it was atop a mountain that they needed to ascend. They were all chattering from the bitter cold, the temperature slightly averted by the floating flame Jay and Crystal took turns holding in the center. All the while, they could hear Diamond’s laughter from when he had given them their method of transport.

Jay huddled a little closer to Drake and Crystal. “W-wait!” he chattered. “I-i-i have a-an i-idea.”

Crystal nodded at him, her face ratcheting up and down. He let the flame go out and immediately conjured quicksilver, infusing it with a little fire. It started glowing, and he made a metal shell for them to sit in. Everyone pressed themselves against the wall, which he made slightly soft for comfort. “I-I love you, Jay,” Drake said, his face pressed up against the quicksilver.

They warmed up slowly but surely sitting in the small bubble. “So, these wolves. Do they have abilities?,” Jay asked.

Crystal nodded. “If you look into their eyes, and don’t manage to resist the compulsion, you’re stuck there until they look away. They have a superstrong abyss blast that will go through most things and corrupt anything it touches. Their claws slice through a lot, and corrupt anything they touch. Their bite will spread abyss through your body, which is not good. However, if you don’t fight them, they rarely fight you.” She bit her lip. “Which is maybe the only reason the village isn’t gone yet.”

A bump sounded on the outside of their shell. “Hey, kids! The party’s out here! Come on out, we’ve arrived at Maanterin!”

Jay sighed. Now, since they had warmed up, going back into the cold would feel even worse. Damn it.