"Elements Customs Fire".

Elemental Fire

Fire works its magic in life and in death,

From the start destined to seek souls with its breath.

O seeker, are you ready to meet living flame

And risk falling to fire's all-consuming claim?

Fire is stubborn, it will not be caught

Without effort and skill, it's a challenge well-fought

But never go near the beckoning light

Turn inward, there catch the spark burning bright

The greater the blaze that you feed and expand

The greater the seeker your mind must withstand

Expand your mind to control the great power

Lest the flames consume you in their burning tower

OK... I did understand everything... absolutely...

Not.

If this Osmodon writes something, he should lay off the grass first. A poem.

Oh, should we make a clear step-by-step thingy that everyone can follow easily to spread our knowledge? No, make a poem and let them write a fifteen-page analysis!

What should I do how?! OK. Don't throw the book away.

The instructions are meh. Sure. But there are worse poems out there, I suppose. Probably some meditation shit I have to try.

I've been sighing way too much lately. How was that? Every time you sigh, a piece of happiness runs away from you? Or was that something else? Oh, it doesn't matter... Let's try to meditate, the worst thing that can happen is that I make a fool of myself. It’s not like I know anyone here anyway.

I closed my eyes. My breathing calmer and try to remember the meditation instructions from one of the strange CDs that one of my colleagues once suggested to me to relax (Fuck you Jared). I fell asleep after 5 minutes or so, but still... Or maybe that's exactly what was supposed to happen? I’m not exactly an expert.

Ah shut up.

Ok.

…

It's dark and the silence I'm in is rustling loudly in my ears, filling my brain uncomfortably. I can hear the timid heartbeat of this new body. It sounds frail and pained. Like it’s wheezing and coughing as it tries it’s best to keep the organism going under the cruel commandment of it’s new brain.

Or…maybe it’s just that this one is a more silent heart than my old one. I do tend to be dramatic.

The next breath I release feels like it’s trying to fill an endless vacuum I’m floating in.

It’s like I can’t feel my body. It’s like I’m on the verge of falling asleep.

But sleep isn’t coming to me the way it usually would.

Maybe just because it’s such a funny feeling, I start extending my hand. My expectation had been for this weird state to disintegrate. But I don’t even know if I actually had extended my hand or if I was just thinking about doing it. I wasn’t feeling this body’s movements any longer.

My eyebrows scrunched up as I tried to recite the poem in my head and the vacuum filled up with my breath and it’s words.

Suddenly I see a small spark.

The spark is the only thing there. As if he’s trying to taunt me, he wanders and dances around me. When the mental words of the poem die down, he flickers dangerously lowly. Trying to escape.

- Fire is stubborn, it will not be caught -

I reach out for him. His body growing and shrinking, shedding his skin like a snake over and over and it laughs at me. Just as I clasped my hand around him, he brightened up in lightning-like strikes as if to prevent me.

Way too bright. I clasped my hand around it more tightly, feeling the warmth of it in my chest. The fire using my blood as public transport to reach every nook in my body, back into my fingertips.

I opened my eyes.

"! ... Shit!" I opened my eyes wider and threw myself backward in fright. Only it didn’t help to get away from the danger.

My hand was burning!

It didn't hurt, but a relatively large flame enveloped my hand and was about to climb up my arm before it suddenly went out completely just as fast as it had appeared.

I heard wood falling on the floor and I looked towards the entrance to see the startled Lilo, seemingly frozen, in the opening. The position of his arms like he was still holding the wood in them.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"... voilà?"

"You h-did it!" he smiled intimidated and collected the wood again with hasty and shaking movements.

Oh, I guess…Yes... YES!!! I really did it! I made fire! How awesome! Ah the things you could do with this alone in the real world! Haha. Finally, the pan comes in handy. I lick my lips while snatching the fire wood from poor pale, wide-eyed Lilo.

Wait. No. Don't rejoice too soon. To finally eat this I first have to do it again... Otherwise, it would be rather useless, wouldn’t it... can’t brag if you starve to death.

Is that why the old witch wanted immortality? I shrugged as I repositioned myself on the ground in front of the wood. Now that’s a reason I’d be able to understand darling.

"Tell me Lilo. Do you know if there are any dangerous animals in the mountains?", I ask absentmindedly after swallowing my food.

"Um, I don't know... I haven't been out of the woods very often... Ah, it could be that a thing or something lives here. I once heard you say that the thing-experiments often flee to the mountains when they erupt. But I think that's unlikely..."

"Nothing else? Just random things? There were no big, dangerous animals in the forest then? Well, not that I wanted that, but... I don't have a good feeling about it."

"Ah, I know why!" he looked proud. He looked like a student who could finally answer a teacher's question with confidence.

"Shit," I groaned while covering my eyes. I didn’t used to be like this. How could I grow attached so fast?! I’m starting to get extremely worried for my mental health right now.

He looked confused again.

"Uh, I meant, do tell me!"

"Oh... ok! To ensure the safety of the villagers and subordinates of the kingdom, the royal family has hunted and killed all animals that may pose a danger!"

Wow, talking about extreme...

Also, royal family? King and Queen et cetera? A tiny little smile wormed it’s way onto my lips. They must be stinking rich, right?

"And people just put up with it?", I try to not let my excitement show.

"Mh? Yes, of course! This means that no one has to be afraid of walking around outside anymore."

Ah of course... I'm speechless. I mean, even in the real world, dangerous animals are killed that get too close to towns and villages. I'm not naïve. But all of them, no matter where?

"Wait, just around villages and stuff?"

"As far as I know, wherever the royal family has influence over and could potentially set foot on."

"So they're just wiping out entire species?"

Lilo pondered at my words for a moment.

"Wiping out?”, the words sound foreign to him as he cocks his head “That’s just the rules of nature though, isn’t it? You said so yourself! Threats have to be dealt with.”, he smiles innocently and I shake my head.

"And no one is trying to stop them?"

I’m not really that concerned, it’s not my world anyway. More than anything I’m amused.

"Well, it's just for people's safety... But most alchemists are against it."

"Ah, I see that’s-... I'm an alchemist too, right?"

"Yes?"

"Then wasn’t I against it, too?"

"You didn't really care as long as they didn't hinder their research and experiments...You always said your precious life has to stay on this earth eternally to enrich this boring world. "

"Well, all the alchemists are interested in animals and those things you called them, only Li-I mean, I. Except me?", my goodness, when will I finally be able to do that with Lilith and me and body and mind and speech?! Even Lilo had strapped it faster than me!

"Well, yes..."

"Wait... and these royals are against things, right?"

"Yes...?"

An idea, or rather, a guess, came to me. What if the rich king and queen and such- I should keep that in mind!

"Anyway, that means you can hunt smaller animals without fear of being mauled?"

"I-I think so."

"OK, then we won’t starve, Lilo!"

And did I mention that I managed to make a fire again? This time I had it under control and I wasn't scared of it. Lilo, on the other hand, hasn't quite gotten used to it yet, I think he has bad memories with Lilith's fire.

But I preferred not to ask.

"We still have 6 days left, don't we?"

I bit into the slightly burned fish. Lilo looked at his hands and counted each one. After a while, he answered

"Yes!", he answered my question weirdly confident and grabbed his stick with his own fish. I swallowed the last bit and threw myself dramatically on my back.

"I don't want to. My legs hurt..."

"Do you want me to give them a massage?"

"What? God, no!"

"If you're afraid I can't do it..."

"Shut up! I don't want you to do that because I don't see you as my servant!"

"Oh..."

"I thought we had that one before?", or did we?... Oh, fuck it. I turned to the side. "I'm going to sleep for a little, night."

"..."

It's cold. The wind blows red curls into my face and I raise my hand to tuck it behind my ear. A white glove envelops my hand. I realize that this is not one of my memories.

This is one of the old Liliths... I looked down at myself. A white dress and white patent leather shoes. Why do I see a memory of Lilith? Because I can create fire now? Only thing I could think of that I did to cause anything.

"Stop crying!", my voice sounds strange, so strange and cold that it even gave me goosebumps. My hand moved, through no fault of mine, onto the shoulder of a teenager, perhaps 14 years old, whom I only now noticed.

He shook off my hand with a kind of strength I wouldn’t expect from a thin one like him, his gaze lingering on the one in front of us. Only now do I realize my surroundings. This is a cemetery and we are standing in front of a fresh grave, alone.

The boy is also dressed in white clothes and holds black lilies in his hand. He placed it in front of the large tombstone, turned around and stared angrily into my face with tears in his golden shining eyes. He has a handsome face. His hair is lighter than Lilith's, maybe a healthy orange? And is tied in a small bun. His eyes glow. But there's no light here... nevertheless, his eyes glow in this blackening gold. Like a black hole that's supposed to be a warning to me and yet call out in a desperate helplessness. So this is this old witches brother... He didn't say anything, but as soon as he realized that his gaze was on Lilith, he turned it away to look at the grave again.

"I'm going home. Don't stay outside too long or you'll get sick.", my mouth continues in cold statement.

I have no control over this body. I turned around and saw a small carriage. Just one. Will Lilith take the only carriage and leave her brother here? I don't see any houses around the cemetery. Wow, Lilith. You asshole. Just you wait till I find-

I had almost reached the carriage when Lilith stopped and looked back. I sensed her sadness. Wait. Was it actually real? It almost seemed as if she was waiting for her brother. Then I heard a low, whispered "hypocrite" from his mouth, carried over by the wind. Anger boiled over in Lilith and she trudged into the carriage. Everything went black.

...

"Lilith? Good morning!", Lilo beamed at me. "I thought you wouldn't ever wake back up..."

"Don't worry... Have I slept so long?"

"Oh, no.”, he smiled at me happily, “you just breathed pretty shallowly."

"Ah, right. I remembered something."

"Did you? A-and-and what?"

I pondered. What was it.

"My parents' funeral."

Lilo looked at me speechless and shifted restlessly back and forth... Again. Hahhh.

"All right. Tell me, how long ago was the funeral?"

"Uh... I do not know. They were already buried when I came to you. Maybe 3 or 4 years?”

So Lilith's brother should now be between 17 and 18 years old.

"Lilo?" he looked like a puppy whose owner had called him. Well, in principle, that's true.

"What are the meanings of the colors white and black?"

"Um, black stands for the heavens and all that is holy. It is a pure color that stands for well-being... W-white is..."

"Yes?"

"White is sorrow and stands for misfortune. White is commonly known to be deceptive...", Lilo sounds like an NPC from a game who is there to guide the player around the world... I had to giggle. Other than that, interesting. So, I can finally wear black without being called emo like when I was a tween? Cool. Though, sadly it really was just a phase.

"Interesting, thank you Lilo!"

His ears turned red. He opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a deafening loud bang from outside the shelter. What was that?!

We looked at each other in shock. An explosion? Another shock wave shook the ground. I grabbed the sharp rock I had started to carve out to a makeshift knife and peeked out. Nothing. I turned to tell Lilo to stay inside, but he hadn't moved an inch. He must have been quite frightened...

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