For the second time in as many days, Anael awoke to pain in her chest. This time, however, she remembered exactly where she was and how she got to be laying half dead on the ground beside the ruined embers of her home.

His fucking flames! That hurts almost as bad as I did before I passed out! Anael could feel a strange pulsing in her chest, which had initially felt like a hot brand beneath her skin (a feeling she was now much more intimately familiar with). Luckily, the pain was quickly fading to bearable levels and after nought but a few minutes it was little more than a mildly uncomfortable flowing tingle.

Sitting up very slowly and not feeling any sudden pain, Anael carefully pulled the ripped and cut apart tatters of her shirt to the side and looked at the center of her chest. I’m healed… she realized that she couldn’t feel any blood in her lungs and that it didn’t hurt to breathe. Well, healed might be stretching it a bit. There was still a large scab over where she had been stabbed, and many of the places where the healing sigil was burned into her were surrounded by blisters. But I’m alive, I didn’t honestly expect that to work, certainly not this well. She stared at the mana crystal embedded in her chest and was about to stand up when she realized something.

That tingling feeling I can feel moving under my skin… The timing matches the slight pulses of light I can see in the crystal, I wonder if I can feel the sigil working. As she peered closer at the crystal, craning her neck uncomfortably, Anael realized that she could see tiny threads of different colors ebbing and flowing through it. The nearly transparent ones are probably mana, the slightly more opaque ones might be life, the violet ones should be soul energy and I can see the six primary elements as well. Anael recalled a rhyme that she had learned to remember them initially, although the colors were quite intuitive if she were honest.

Darkness rich, as black as pitch.

Earth below, brown like the vroh.

Water dew, of deepest blue.

Wind and air, both gray and fair.

Fire burning, red and yearning.

Lastly Light, of purest white.

But what could the others possibly be? The collection array I used can’t pull in mana of higher order elements, and I certainly don’t have any of my own, all that leaves is any other energies present in my body. There’s no way I have enough raw Will for it to be visible like this. There must be other sources of power that Zilfa never taught me about… I wonder if I could learn to harness some of them, or if that would kill me just like using my life energy would…

Anael gasped, and then muttered a quick prayer. Thank the aspects I’m alive, not that they had anything to do with, If my life energy is flowing into the sigil, then I’m still here because… - Her thoughts trailed off as she stared carefully at the thin, burned in lines marring her chest. Thank you again Zilfa, for making me learn how to insert a bypass into the storage component sigil. So it’s siphoning my life energy, but since it’s trying to heal me it immediately puts it back. And I haven’t run out of mana and died from that because the bypass makes sure some mana is always cycling. It’ll keep me at the bare minimum, but it will never take all of it. That probably applies to those other energies as well, and that explains the tingling - the entirety of my mana is constantly flowing from me, through the sigil, and back with any extra being used to heal. Oh! I bet that’s how those magic blocking collars they use on rogue mages work. Just keep the mana cycling and either dump the extra, or use it to strengthen the collar itself. If only I could tell Zilfa about that, maybe I can find her once I get away from here, before that though I need to - Anael’s thoughts darkened as she looked over at the ruins of her home. I need to bury my family. And I need to kill the bastards who did this.

Anael was calmer now, compared to how she had been before. The anger was still there, but it felt colder now, deeper and more solid. She steeled her resolve. I have much to do, both here and wherever those soldiers came from, Zhelteron probably, judging by their accent, and before any of that I need to get some food in my stomach. Anael could feel her stomach complaining to her about how it had been empty for so long. How long has it been anyway, I was probably unconcious for an hour or less when I was stabbed, it was certainly the same day. Considering that it’s not yet noon now, it must be the next day, meaning I spent all night and much of the morning healing. I suppose it’s time to do what must be done. Anael slowly stood, wobbling a bit before shaking her head and taking a step forward, steeling her resolve for what was to come. But when she looked over the ruins of her home, and saw the charred hand with her father’s ring on it, she simply stood with tears running down her face as the sun slowly worked it’s way across the sky.

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Nearly an hour later, her eyes now dry, Anael made her way behind the mostly intact forge to look for a shovel. Finding one, she began clear a way through the ashes and charred wood that used to be her home. Moving a scorched wooden beam aside as parts of it crumbled, she revealed the sight she had been dreading. Why? Why why why WHY WHY WHY WHY - She nearly fell over as a wave of nausea overcame her and she vomited. The taste of acid and bile filled her mouth as she attempted to calm her emotions. After getting control of her stomach, Anael wrapped her father’s corpse in a more or less intact sheet of cloth she was able to recover and began to drag him toward a tree that stood behind the ruins of the house, far enough that it had not been damaged by the fire.

It took several hours of digging, and Anael was now exhausted and ravenous, not to mention that her chest wound nearly reopened at several points, which was quite painful. The only thing holding me together is this sigil and force of will. I need to find some food after this and then rest. She just managed to drag the bundle containing what was left of her father into the hole and cover it over, before collapsing to her knees. “Goodbye father, I miss you so much already” Tears flowed down her face once more, falling to the earth beneath her. “I’ll kill those sons of whores if it’s the last thing I do. I’m gonna find out where they came from and I’m gonna burn their entire fucking kingdom to the ground.” For the first time since the death of her mother, Anael prayed aloud. “If you can hear me, Sethil, first child of Kenu, please protect my brothers if they still live. Toran, second child of Kenu, please guide my father’s soul toward the peak of the mountain, as well as my brothers’ if they have fallen.” Anael began to stand up when a voice in her head forced her back to her knees.

YOU WOULD DO BETTER TO PRAY TO LESSER BEINGS, LITTLE FLAME. YOUR PRAYERS ARE HEARD, BUT LAY UNANSWERED BY THE CHILDREN OF KENU.

“What? Who are you? How are y-”

FIRE ITSELF CONSUMED BY THE CONFLAGRATION OF FURY. DEVOURER OF THE SOULS OF THE UNWORTHY. FOURTH FACET OF SEK’DRELEN. I AM AN OLD FRIEND OF YOURS, LITTLE FLAME.

“Fourth facet of… You are His first aspect? What do you mean by lesser beings? How can I hear you?”

YES. I AM THE RAGE, THE WRATH, THE RAVENOUS FURY THAT CONSUMES CREATION. WHAT YOU CHOOSE TO CALL ME IS IMMATERIAL. I MAY CONVERSE WITH YOU BECAUSE I HAVE CHOSEN YOU. THUS I MUST GRANT YOU A BOON. A SINGLE QUESTION ANSWERED. NO MORE. NO LESS.

Anael’s mind churned. She wasn’t even sure she entirely believed in the aspects until now. It was one things to grow up cursing in their name, and praying to them, but quite another to hear a voice in her head. Perhaps she was hallucinating from hunger, pain and trauma. That must be it. I’m dreaming, or hallucinating or something of the sort, I’m -

I AM NO MIRAGE, LITTLE FLAME.

“Her fucking tears, DON’T DO THAT! What do you mean you’ve chosen me? Does that mean I’ll be a priest? How can I channel your power?

YOU CANNOT. A BEING SUCH AS I CANNOT GRANT POWER TO MORTALS. YOUR VERY SOUL WOULD BURN FROM BUT A TOUCH. YOU WOULD BE DRIVEN MAD BY ENDLESS FURY.

“So what does being chosen grant me then? Will you help me kill those responsible for killing my father, and possibly my brothers?”

NO.

“What?”

NO. BEING CHOSEN GRANTS YOU NAUGHT. LESSER BEINGS MAY GRANT THEIR POWER TO MORTALS. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN NOT TO RECEIVE POWER, BUT TO BE TESTED. IF YOU SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO MASTER MY POWER, WE WILL SPEAK AGAIN. PERHAPS THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND.

“Master your power? What do you mean? Is this to do with how you said your are an old friend? You’ve never spoken to me before so how -”

YOU HAVE FELT FURY IN YOUR HEART LONG BEFORE TODAY, HAVE YOU NOT, LITTLE FLAME?

“Has that been you trying to speak to m-” Once more the voice interrupted her.

IT WAS NOT A GIFT, NOR AN ATTEMPT AT CONVERSATION. I AM THE RAGE, THE WRATH, THE FURY. ALL WHO DESIRE TO DESTROY THOSE WHO HAVE WRONGED THEM HAVE FELT MY POWER.

“Ok, I think I understand, you’ve chosen me because I’m really angry… that makes… sense? I guess? What did you mean I’ll be tested?”

THOSE WHO CAN SENSE THAT YOU ARE CHOSEN. THE LESSER EMBERS WHO DARE CALL THEMSELVES FLAME. THEY FEAR THE FLAME THAT MAY CONSUME THEIR FIRE. NOW ENOUGH. ASK YOUR QUESTION.

Ok, is he talking about fire mages? Elementals? People who are less angry than me? I’ll worry about it later. What do I want to know… A piercing pain shot through Anael’s head and her knees buckled further, as if a great force was pushing her into the ground.

ASK NOW, LITTLE FLAME. I DO NOT SUFFER HESITATION.

OK! OK! His fucking fla- Oh. Well that’s ironic considering who I’m talking to… OK, how about - “Who sent the soldiers who attacked my home?”

THEY WERE SENT BY ORDER OF THE RULER OF THE LAND YOU KNOW AS GHORM’NTOS. GOODBYE, LITTLE FLAME. DO YOUR BEST TO SURVIVE. I WOULD PREFER TO TAKE YOUR SOUL TO THE MOUNTAIN WHEN YOUR FLAME HAS GROWN. IT IS TOO SMALL YET TO BE WORTHY.

“Wait! Can you explain what you meant by lesser beings?”

Anael’s mind was as silent as the burnt ruins behind her. Fucking aspect. Barely answers my questions, gives me a headache, and makes my life harder than it already was. I should just worship the holy quadrivium like the people over in Zhelteron do. At least they give out healing through their priests instead of cryptic advice and ‘trials’ like this fucker. The ‘ravenous fury that consumes creation’ my ass. Arrogant fucking - Anael’s thoughts cut off as a peal of thunder rang out, startling her.

It’s just a coincidence, no way I just angered the ancient deity that consumes the souls of those it deems unworthy of the afterlife. Nope, we’re good here. No heresy whatsoever. Nonetheless, Anael’s thoughts stayed far, far away from blasphemy as she quickly stood, shuddered, and returned the shovel to where she had found it behind the forge.

So, now I know who’s to blame. Let’s go kill the god-emperor of Ghorm’nTos… After I get some food...