Reaching out to the Forge Fire

[Ialari Pythone]

The night was pleasant; not particularly warm or cold. At least for the moment, there was no rain and the air was filled with the sounds of gently crashing waves. Such that it was as Ialari found a spot on the beach of Syka, a short distance from the settlement commons. There was nothing that really stood out about the particular spot other than there was an already gathered pile of driftwood that had been used by others for a fire. Bending down, Ialari repositioned the wood within the rough circle of stones that surrounded it. Lifting her head, she glanced around at the other pieces of wood close by; strategically situated for people to sit. When the wood was repositioned to her liking and a good number of smaller pieces gathered, Ialari pulled a small handful of dried coconut husk from her pouch; one of the many basic survival items she’d brought with her to Syka when she stepped through the doorway from her Dominion earlier in the season. She pulled the bundle apart and loosened the fibers before placing them in a spot beneath the logs of driftwood where to the smaller pieces of wood lay. She then produced a separate bundle of husk, smaller than the first. Having soaked this particular handful in a small bowl of coconut oil before removing it and letting it dry, it would make for quite the effective Firestarter when added to the dried, loosened fibers of the first husk.

Placing the soaked husk with the dried husk, she took out a steel ring shaped to fit around her fingers and a bit of flint. She proceeded to strike the flint and steel together. Directing the sparks to the coconut tinder, she occasionally leaned in close to blow on any that may begin to take. It took a few moments but with the addition of the coconut-oil-soaked husk, the sparks that did take, smoked a bit but with after a bit of blowing and directed moving of the tinder, a small fire began.

As it had been previously used for fires, the simple fire-pit had a small but sufficient amount of kindling for growing the fire and within a few moments, the small fire began to grow. With the flames slowly crackling although gradually growing in intensity, Ialari took a seat on one of the assembled logs close to the fire itself.

“Well, here I am.” She spoke softly to the fire.

“I’ve returned once more to Syka. This time however I truly feel I’ve found the reason for being here that drew me to this place so many years ago.” She thought of the recent discovery of Tazrae, the human girl who had gone through a similar experience as Ialari with Caiyha and the First Tree.

She stared into the growing fire while picking up a nearby stick; its end pointed and charred. She used it to gently stir the fire. The flames had a strong hint of lavender and blue thanks to the salt that was infused in the wood.

[Ialari Pythone]

“I feel, for the first time in longer than I can remember, happy. At least I think I am. It’s been so long that I’m not sure I remember how that feels. Yet…I can’t help but shake the feeling that this is just another piece of the puzzle…the grand puzzle that seems to always be missing a piece. Just when you find that missing piece, you realize there is another.” She pulled the stick back from the fire and watched as a tiny flame at the tip flickered and died while leaving a few spots on the sticks surface glowing with heat.

The fire slowly licked its way up and over the driftwood logs. They were a bit wet which slowed the fire’s growth. Ialari periodically reached in to the fire with her metallic arm and placed a small ball of cloth soaked with coconut oil to help keep the fire burning hot enough, long enough to take to the driftwood.

“I have not personally prayed to you before but you are a significant part of my life and that of my people. You are known as the Forge Fire, the heart of the forge. While Izurdin grant’s us the strength and knowledge to shape and plan, you are the one who fuels that. You are the one who tempers the steel, who grants us the ability to create change through force of will. Without you, our strength, knowledge and steel would be brittle, dull and unchanging. Ivak, our Forge Fire, I call to you.” Ialari had spoken to more than a few gods in her relatively short life. She was a favored of Izurdin, God of Strength who presented her with the secrets of Dominion; was introduced to the Ukalas by Dira, Goddess of Death. She was enlightened by Caiyha to Nature’s Balance and given the context of Time and Reality by Tanroa. Those gods had all given her pieces of the great puzzle that was HER yet they left so much unsaid and unknown.

This left Ialari feeling more enraged than anything else.

“Ivak, during my travels across this world, I’ve come to understand many truths; truths about the world and truths about myself. While you may not know due to your unfortunate absence, or maybe you do, I am broken. I exist in this time and reality with now three pieces of a soul while dozens of others are scattered across other times and other realities. Needless to say, this makes for a complicated life.” Ialari chuckled lightly to herself. She’d thought about such a thing for years but finally vocalizing it; hearing it from her own lips, it was amusing in a morbid sort of way.

“So much has happened to me. I left my home and traveled across the world in search of an answer. At the time it was an answer to the human problem. My people, they suffered greatly from the arrogance and selfishness of humans. We were taught that it was humans who wronged you and brought down your wrath. That wrath nearly destroyed my people. Yet, we never abandoned you for the humans are what caused you righteous response to being so greatly wounded. I visited cities such as Riverfall, Syliras and eventually Sahova. There I was drawn into a civil war started by Sagallius and his champion Drainira. I ultimately saved the wretched undead of that place and even studied with them for a time. It was all in search of a way to eliminate the human plague from this world.” Ialari poked the fire a bit more. She then retrieved her waterskin which she had filled with a strange substance from the Settlement that reminded her of something her people called, Firewater. Taking a swallow of it, her body was filled with a biting heat.

[Ialari Pythone]

“While I was with the undead, I learned of a magic, a great magic removed from mortal memory ages ago. The pursuit of this secret led me to Nyka and a fateful encounter with a long dead wizard, Amir Berliotz. I successfully delivered his soul to Dira but not before he brutalized my body and even my soul, what little of it there was. In return, I was presented with Dominion. Afterwards, I have experienced so many horrors, both of this world and of the Ukalas. I’ve seen things that no mortal should see. I’ve felt things that no mortal could ever feel. I’ve been broken time and time again only to survive. I’ve seen the First Tree, I’ve consumed one of its seeds. I’ve been witness to the truths of time and reality itself. Where most would be destroyed by such things, I’ve only grown stronger. Yet, despite that growth, I feel a growing rage.” Ialari poked the fire again and took another drink from her skin. She stared into the fire, felt its heat and noted how the flames embraced the wood and devoured it like a beast consuming its meal.

“Thanks to Izurdin, I bore witness to your release. I watched as a handful of humans fought to free you from you prison. I saw the embodiment of fear ascend and attempt to strike them down only for the greatest of heroes to return and stop her only to die in doing so. It was at that moment that I felt a strange connection. Having, at that time, already spent years in the Ukalas, I knew something of the interconnectivity of all things. I feel the intimate connections to people, places, objects and even ideas and concepts. I see how they all tie together even if I still don’t quite understand it all. It was at that moment though, when you returned to us that the connection emerged. It wasn’t until recently that I came to understand what that connection could mean.” Ialari pulled the stick from the fire and brushed off some of the charred debris from its tip with her metallic hand.

“I feel a connection to you. I don’t understand it but I indeed feel it. While I don’t claim to feel the pain you felt from the betrayal that angered you, I do share something similar. Like you, I’ve been wounded. My soul has been shattered, feelings of love, hope and desire ripped from me. Although I have been given some answers, more questions remain. Always though the answers come in riddles, visions and half-truths. It’s maddening. I feel pain, uncertainty and fear. Yet, I continue on. I fight to reforge my soul and discover who I am supposed to be. The things I’ve been through…they should have destroyed me. I can’t imagine any mortal going through what I have and be able to come out alive, much less sane.” She reached out to the flames with her metallic hand. She could feel the heat although it did not hurt.

“I have some bit of context. I have a direction and the means to accomplish it all. What I don’t have is the focus. I lack the focus to bring it all together. I’ve already retaken two pieces of my soul. In doing so I’ve experienced being crushed to the point that my insides are released. I’ve felt what it is to be eaten alive. I imagine that each new piece will bring with it the experience of being killed in some horrific way. Somehow, I know that each time I will emerge stronger and more enlightened but it doesn’t change the fact that I feel all of it. Adding to that, I feel as though that these experiences provide a unique opportunity. With all that I’ve seen and experienced, I want to share it with others. I want to use it all to inspire change in those around me. There is so much selfishness, greed and arrogance in the world. So many people who exist with the perception that to do so means taking for themselves no matter what it does to others. At one time I felt the same but I’ve changed. I know, deep down, that I have it in me to bring about the same change in others. Yet…I am broken. I am really messed up.” Ialari wiped the tears that fell from her eyes.

[Ialari Pythone]

“I don’t know how to focus my strength, my abilities and my knowledge in a way that can bring about the change in others. I can feel the potential in those around me. I can feel the connections that bind everything together yet I can’t find a way to use them to open their eyes. I guess this is why I felt the need to reach out to you. I need help. I know I have strength; that I am a survivor. I know I have knowledge but I don’t know how to prepare others to share in all of that. As I said, you suffered a great wrong yet, with all wounds, they heal. I am still healing as I am sure you are. However, you’ve had the blessing of time to wrap your mind around what happened to you. While I’ve been recently blessed with an understanding of time, I am still but a child to it all.” She tapped the end of the stick with her non-metallic hand. The biting burn of the charred wood shot through her finger. It felt as though the flesh could split at any moment.

“As I look upon this fire and feel the heat and even the burn upon my flesh, the physical feeling is a lot like what I feel inside. I feel this raging fire burning just below the surface. It fills me with a yearning to discover the true nature of what was done to me and why. It drives me to defy who or whatever did this to me by becoming something more. I just don’t know how to use it. I fear that if I discover the truth, I will not be able to control this rage. I want to do good and be an agent of change. I want to make this world a better place; a place where people like my own don’t feel they need to hide beneath the mountains. I want to show others that they don’t need to destroy just to survive. I have seen a better world, I’ve even created a better world even if its extremely small.” She stirred the fire some more while wiping more tears from her face.

“I need the Forge Fire to temper the steel of my desire and help me shape it; to find the balance needed to bring about not only my own reforging but…I know how it sounds, but to bring about the reforging of the world itself into something more than simply surviving day to day at the expense of others.” Ialari took gave a deep sigh. She started to regret her rambling. Would Ivak even hear her? If he did, what would he think of the ramblings of some broken little girl who barely hold herself together.

The night sky was clear; the stars clearly defined and bright. Leth slowly ascended while a soft ocean breeze blew across the beach. Ialari’s gifted night-sight caught glimpses of small crabs battling it out in the sand while bats fluttered overhead. The crackling of the fire filled her ears and the smell of burning wood tickled her nose. She’d poured her out to the flames and beseeched Ivak to hear her. She had no expectations of being heard but something about the release of her thoughts and feelings was something of a relief. Although she often shared her thoughts with her Dominion; in fact it was one of the main reasons she was able to create such a place, she felt as though she were merely talking to herself. Now though, speaking to the fire and sharing her thoughts openly with Ivak, whether he heard her or not, felt rather calming.

[Ialari Pythone]

Growing silent for the moment, Ialari stirred the fire a bit more before hearing someone approach. Such was not uncommon in Syka but for Ialari, unaccustomed to the complexities of the physical world, it was somewhat startling. Spinning around, she unconsciously raised the heated end of the stick toward whoever was there.

“Hello, Ialari.” The stranger said as she came closer to where Ialari sat. The woman appeared young and human.

Ialari slowly lowered the stick, realizing there was little need for concern.

The woman continued, “I am Rainmere. I was told I would find you here and that I should help you.” The woman moved to sit on a log across the fire from where Ialari sat. Ialari noticed a strange mark on the woman’s semi-nude form, a mark depicting a series of entwined flames.

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