From Fire to Fire (JY 30 ET)

[Craghley]

Xandar replied in a maliciously gleeful tone of voice.

No, little firefly. For who would spread word of what awaits such as them?

You are irritating, yes, but at least you have some modicum of respect, on occasion. It serves one well when dealing with powers of my stature and higher.

Things were mostly returned to normal. Ssinith retained a dull ache throughout his body, a slight light-headedness and a few scorch marks on his clothes - but at least he would be able to move normally, if a little sorely.

And we are of a like power. Not stature, but it follows much of a path. I find that flattering.

[Ssinith DIllil]

I had thought you wanted to challenge Molten's authority in his own house, which is why I got insulted and angry. He is the one who I call Master in life... but I had forgotten that even Moltenites learn from others in authority of lessons in their lives. I thought you were enslaving me as they enslaved you... I will call you teacher, then... and be more respectful in the future.

S'sinith paused for a moment, reflecting on what all he learned from this incident.

I know you care little for me, but perhaps explaining myself would allow you to understand me. If we are going to go through with this, communication between us is vital.

He breathed deeply, slightly opening up his heart just a little, but putting himself in another perspective. Once again, he went on one of his little talking sessions, but now that he understood Xandar a little better, perhaps putting forth his own goals would make this slightly easier.

One thing about us mortals is that ignorance breeds more action than truth. Though it is no excuse for what they did to you, if their deaths might bring universal enlightenment, then perhaps it will open up a new possibility. It will likely cost me much, but when I first started to become a wizard, my goal was to learn about the universe. Boring to you, I know. But to manipulate anything without truly knowing what it is... it is not only dangerous, but wrong. I love Molten first and foremost, but my earthly reason besides worshiping him was to better understand how energy worked. There was a difference between prayer and using the magic of a priest.

He ached a little, but sat resigned, relaxing under the Eternal Flame once more.

I want to understand him better... to get intimate with my master. I think our meeting might have been a little more than chance. Many wizards will pay respect to gods because they know they are powerful beings of energy, but... their true desire is to be gods themselves. Myself... at first, I just wanted to follow a childhood dream. As I first heard that all things were energy, I was enlightened and realized that I should use the power with responsibility... which is why I gave my heart to Molten.

As he finished his droning reasoning, an idea came to his mind. Communication was what he originally set aside with the theory of sentient energy... but if all things were energy, then could all energy communicate?

The mental candle was lit as another part of his plan came to fruition on how to beat these powerful magi.

Communication... if communication is misinterpreted the results are often riddled with calamity.

S'sinith crossed his legs as the cogs began to whir.

Bardic magic is usually linked towards mindcrafting... I do not have time to take up another discipline, but Molten appreciates new horizons explored. On the flip side, priests and monks sing hymns to their god all the time. If I used singing as my verbal component for a focus, it would throw them off. They would likely set up mental shields, allowing a better opening for raw fire. If I make it known that I've been going to the Bardic College, they will expect me to know the mindcrafting side, when all I was doing was learning how to sing and write prose. Simply learning a stronger method of communication to energy should be enough to give us the veiled presence we require... and learning how to sing yourself will throw them off completely.

[Craghley]

In short, you will seek to make them unprepared for the attack, by making them prepare for a different kind.

Xandar's flicker of silence informed Ssinith that the elemental was digesting this thought.

I cannot sing. Singing belongs to the living things. Fire does not sing. I doubt this would fool my enemies in my case. Maybe it will work for you.
Tell me of your plans if you need, but refrain from the intimacies of your life and history. As I established earlier, I am unconcerned with such things. Is there any other way this effort of miscommunication might aid us? I understand that mortals use lies extensively. Surely they must have a wide range of purposes.

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith sighed for a moment, trying to think of a better way to explain things. He raised his hand and winced while trying to mentally describe the thought patterns of mortals.

Mortals have a short life span... we gather things from our past experiences to help us with the future. What you call intimacies is a way that mortals think and examine to come up with an answer. Sometimes talking about problems and thought patterns gets things done. Please be patient with my limited experience. Think of it as mentally reaching for a piece of firewood from a bin stored in my mind... sometimes it takes time to get something to burn.

S'sinith despised lies. Fake outs and tactical feints, however, were another story.

Doesn't fire make noise when it's burning? It roars, it sparks and pops... it sizzles, in the case of a volcano it explodes leaving a shockwave of sound. I need something to help us communicate with energy and to mask that communication from our enemies. They know spells and have experience which can sense certain strategies. We need to either fake them out, or give them something they have never seen before... hit hard and hit quickly. The ritual will help with the latter part, but what to do once we have the surprise... if they have shields before we jump them, even you won't be able to kill them all.

The problem was their defenses. None of them were fool enough to not be masters of shielding. Particularly if one of them happened to recall the creatures name, the two of them would be really screwed.

Attack wise... we would need only worry about ice and stone. I assume since you were trapped behind a mere lever cage, even at your energy output you couldn't convert stone to lava... at least not enough to help you escape the time I found you. Likely, if they knew that tactic worked the first time, they would try it again. You would need more energy than I could give you.

[Craghley]

Whatever you hear in the roar of fire, you put there yourself. Flames do not dance for the sake of mortals, despite what you may think. And I most definately shall not, either.

Xandar shifted within the nexus of his crystalline home. The little duel with Ssinith - and the effort of reshaping the gem - had roused him. Talking was one of the last things he wanted to do at the moment. Right now he had the urge to get out and burn... to find a forest or city and turn it into a furnace and let the spires of fire lick the sky. That was the trouble with being roused. When he was asleep time could float by without notice. When awake he was compelled to act. All this thinking and planning and talking, all this time spent doing nothing - well, it only exacerbated his impatience.

Had I something to burn with, those bars would have yielded. Perhaps I wouldneed more than what you could give me... but I would KILL them before they could put me back in it!

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith pondered... if he did let out Xandar to vent every now and then, he would be unsure if he would be able to control his lust to burn. Still, if he was about to take a trip to aid his country, he would most certainly adore to let Xandar frolic for a little while.

Tell you what... I need to my country back from those beasts who invaded it. Would you like to be in a place where you could freely burn for awhile? I could take you to the Temple of Molten to lavish in lava after letting your anger out on them... you would get more powerful and get to flaunt your flames for awhile.

Maybe that would 'cheer him up'. A much less complicated plan and he could be in the presence of his element to help loosen him up a bit after being confined in that cage.

[Craghley]

Xandar paused in his thoughts.

Ah, another agreement? Yet this time I presume your motive to be largely selfish. Why should I let you use me so?

The elemental may have been more wary but Ssinith had told his... companion? Acquaintance? Client.. ? Told it the reason straight off the bat, and Xandar was obviously intrigued by the opportunity. At least the proposal was not simply dismissed.

We would have to consider it as separate to our prior arrangement... if I agree. Helping your homeland would pay off a little excursion of mine into the Tether.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"You need to get more powerful, right? Unfortunately as a mortal Ambassador, I have a hard time making your needs first priority when I am seeing to the needs of my country. If we get this little problem of the Cryers out of the way, then there will be far less on that end to worry about. Besides, the little deed may earn you a boon from Molten. If I am the only one throwing around Molten's power when this is your revenge, then you will not get the extra boost you require to burn your enemies. There are too many in my land who offer firewood for his flames for nothing more than a boon... so show him your power, and he will respect it enough to lend you some of his own. It is your revenge after all... it shouldn't be just my own faith to help power your needs."

His only selfishness was to get Xandar's revenge over with. Of course, that selfishness reflected Xandar's own desires as well. He knew Xandar didn't give a spit about Molten, but if paying lip service worked for mortals, surely it would work for Xandar. It was Xandar's revenge, not S'sinith's, so it shouldn't be S'sinith's authority through Molten to do Xandar's dirty work either.

[Craghley]

I need to become stronger? Have you not learned, or simply forgotten so quickly? I do not need anyone's strength but my own. I am yearning to return to the Aether, now that I am reminded why I do not bother with mortals. You presume that I would come under the yolk of one of the strings of gods these Tetheric natives churn out, but I will not be beholden to anyone, or anything. Your god, Molten? He is but a name for an aspect, and it - and the name - will change, as his faithful change and disappear. I have no pretentions. I am Fire, and despite whatever notions will not budge from your head, I do not need any help to be just that!

Xandar's voice was becoming obviously agitated, even enraged. It seems that Ssinith had trampled upon the elemental's pride.

I ache to burn something. This building, or the city, I do not judge and I do not care - I will simply leap onto whatever comes my path. I will grow until your air is choked with ash and death. I will let my friend Air carry me on furious wings to reach burning limbs all round this place, I will...

The stone in Ssinith's hand was growing warm, Xandar's mutterings morphing into mental images as the elemental was entering the dream of his creation - an inferno which would taint the sky, counter the intense flames of endless fire with black clouds of lethal smoke, a nightmare of fire which burned enough to melt metal and rock and all in its' path. Oh, it would end, but fire never thought that far ahead. The next blade of grass, house, forest or city - that was all it needed.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"You said yourself 'had you something to burn with' you would have escaped on your own. Getting a god-sized piece of kindling was all I was saying. Maybe finding a place where you could burn free with your own element for awhile... the best way I know of in that instance is Molten. You still say that you work with your friend air, then why is it still your revenge?!"

S'sinith's head was having a very hard time rewiring his thinking. He was feeling very stupid and frustrated. He sulked, taking in the fire's words. How could something will sentient will want nothing more than burning things? Why was he so plain?

"I'm sorry I'm such an idiot... Go... dream of your inferno. I will trouble you no more with my pitiful understanding."

He gave up on planning at this point. Fire didn't care what it burned? Fine. He will take things as it came. He just sat there in front of the Eternal Flame, wrapping himself in a sitting fetal position, his spirit tired and his attitude crestfallen.

"... I... I think I'm beginning to understand. Fire is not to be bargained with or reasoned with. It is what it is. Why is this so complicated for me to understand the sentience of energy? I don't care what your name is, Molten. It is you that I worship. Are you just as frustrated with us mortals?"

[Craghley]

Xandar may or may not still have been listening to Ssinith. The words, warping into images, plunged deeper into pure imaginings as they faded from contact with the adhiels' mind. Judging by these flashes of what passed for thought in the elemental, Ssinith appeared to have finally hit the nail of the head. Xandar was a being of fire first, sentience second.

Molten did not answer either. Out of whatever thousand reasons there were for the gods' silence, at least one of them had proven adequate. There was nothing... except for a growing warmth from the crystal. It was close to burning now, and with little tinkling noises, hairline fractures were appearing over the glowing stone.

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith looked at the stone, somewhat concerned. He took his god's silence as a good thing, though. He felt the hotness of the new heart crystal and the cracks, noting that it didn't happen before. Getting up from his fetal position, he placed the stone on the ground and walked back a few steps just in case that thing would blow.

He was concerned with what was happening... was Xandar about to go into another fit of rage? Was Molten somehow punishing Xandar for some reason? Xandar made it clear that he and Molten were two separate beings, so perhaps he would find the answer to his question one way or another.

Checking the implanted gem in his hand, he checked to see if that gem was also cracking as well as the heartstone.

[Craghley]

The gem in his hand was slightly warmer than normal, which is where the anomalies ended. But the heartstone was making little plink noises as it wobbled slightly on the floor. Tiny little sparks from the rock were freeing themselves every flicker or so and floated away on the still air. The potentials for the future were not particularly clear at this point, but the fact that the movement and heat from the heartstone grew with each moment pointed to one possible, and disturbing, outcome.

From the communication stone Ssinith could see, if he he focused, Xandar's continuing rant. Not just see, but the elemental's imagination also covered to sound, the smell, the taste... and the feel of fire. Plus a rapidly growing impatience - a frenzy, even. A hunger. With no discernable, conscious thought.

[Ssinith DIllil]

Oh brother... Xandar was about to blow.

As a mortal male desired sex, he was having a fantasy of burning. The question would be if a little bonfire would be enough to sate him or would it be considered teasing? At this point, there was only option... let him burn for awhile. Fire wanted to burn. It was as simple as that.

Slowly walking to the stone, his brow furrowed... feeling Xandar's need to incinerate something. Picking up the stone, he kept his head and hair back to make certain the sparks wouldn't blow in his face.

"Whomever you are, Master. You prefer to be called Molten right now, and fire, rage, and power are your desired traits. You are my beloved. This one reminds me much of you. That is why I am helping it so much. I'll need your help to make sure he doesn't burn too far. I've kept him in a jar for months hoping your presence would sate it. The only thing that makes different a fire is where the fire is burning. Once fire burns on the same mound, it is one fire. This creature wants to remain its own pyre."

In revealing what he learned from this experience, he offered it up to Molten as a sacrifice as he bowed before the flame once more.

"Thank you for letting me realize my mistakes. Since this fire wishes to burn away from you, I will return its apathy. It is still fire, none the less, so I will work in junction with it to teach those who see energy as nothing a lesson about abusing sentient power... I realize now... why there are such a rift between priests and wizards. Respect."

Walking out of the chapel, he realized he needed to act quickly to make a place he could burn safely. Trying to find a nearby servant, he knew better than to try and hide the slightly sparking stone in his robes. He will just have to make an excuse.

"Tell me, have you taken out the trash yet today? If not, I will need it collected and brought outside I... have an emergency experiment I need to perform."

His mind went through the rote in order to keep a spirit in one place without actually trapping it to this world. Simply one to keep his power from spilling outside of the ward, but something where they could throw something inside. He tried to find an open place and another stick.

You need to burn, right? I'm working on it! Just give me a few more moments. It isn't much, but...