The Flame Within

Bruised. Hurting. The young human twisted in pain for a few seconds, right after waking up from the fall. Arsec's blurred sight caught glimpses of a gleaming red object before him. He ached and constantly moaned as he did his best to regain his footing.

"Mesui!" He called as he squirmed, "Princess! I'm here!"

The steppe's winds were the only response to his call.

"Princess, please! I-I'm here!"

He tried to stand, but his usable arm failed him. He tried again, but his bruises stung so badly he fell for a second time. Blood twinkled through his temple and his forehead, into his eyes, and he felt the ground move. He frustratingly tried to clean it up, but it kept coming down. 

Arsec looked around, hoping his friend would appear and take him to camp. Then... he would be in the main camp again, his wounds treated and now resting on a futon. 

"Yeah, like hell that would happen," he said aloud, remembering that all of that had happened because he had followed Mesui into another mess. He was a slave, she was a princess. 

"I'm more helpful just dying, no one will mourn thirty days for a slave, not even one day, let alone for the petty  life of a human slave..."

"I just... feel like I'm supposed to do something... with you," Mesui's words echoed in his mind, and all he felt was a sudden rage, he knew it was misplaced, he perfectly understood what the princess truly meant. He was just so angry and frustrated that all of that was just an afterthought...

He wanted to feel angry, he wanted to spout nonsense, and the Twin Sisters of the Wind would hear him.

"Mesui, did you plan to have me killed? Was this what the sister winds told you to do? Sure, take the slave with zero combat or hunting experience to the most dangerous hunting grounds in the steppe. If the rhino doesn't kill him, the rodentmen will for sure!"

He looked up, seeing the dense smoke that had formed above him, the rhino, and the strange object.

"Twin sisters! Sacred winds that ride the skies! Was this your will? If Mesui told the truth, then this is your fault! Why would you dispose of me like this? What have I done to offend you?!"

The gleaming object pulsated, rumbling as it intensified. Afraid, Arsec tried to crawl back, he pushed himself, pain be damned, his sight watching the strange object glow increasingly. 

"Come on! Move!" he begged, as he pushed his body away from the rock, only to bump into the hulking corpse of the rhino.

"Agh, come on!" he cursed, as he tried to go over it, and then by the side when he slipped back down thanks to the still-wet blood on the corpse—

"Arsec." 

A rumbling, deep voice called for him, and his tumultuous thoughts, the storm in his mind, went as silent as the voices, as if they had been commanded by the deep voice to shut.

"Arsec."

The young man gulped, his one good eye noticed the object glowed with each utterance from that voice.

"I'm here." He said, trembling, he could not deal with the pain and the fear.

"Do not struggle, child, for all the pain shall fade away soon enough."

Arsec's healthy hand gave in and he simply laid down on the ashen ground.

"Who are you?" he asked, glancing at the object, intending on fixating his sight on it.

The object glowed and cracked, affected by the new intensity of the light within, until its sturdy exterior was shattered, and a column of red fire emerged from it like a beaming light that dissipated the dense fog. 

"I am the ancient flame that vanquished and submitted the Ancient Ones," it said, "the lord of your ancestors, who bound the darkness beneath their feet with the power I gave them. I am the originator of your lineage."

Arsec's good eye widened. Ancestors? Lineage? How could this be? He was a slave, he had been one his whole life. He never knew his parents. All he knew was goblin bondage.

The faces of three particular pesky goblins flashed in his mind, then the judgemental and harsh glaring of Chief Tulag, and finally... a whimsical and mischievous goblin princess.

"Impossible," he denied.

The fire column reduced its flames into a gentler blaze as if reacting to Arsec's fears. It burned just as bright, just not as furiously. Its warmth now reached Arsec's face, like a tender touch. 

Out of nowhere, both his eyes now worked perfectly, as if the warmth had swiped the blood clean.

Arsec blinked, processing what was happening.

"I know you, Arsec, you carry the bloodline of my faithful servants, who once spilled their blood and gave their lives for the cause of this world."

Then, he felt his strength coming to him again, as the heat touched his arms and torso. He slowly stepped up, testing his body, which still ached, until he fully stood up again.

"You carry my essence," the flame uttered.

"H-how?" Arsec said, tears coming out, "I'm a nobody. For all I know, we've been slaves for generations. In my time, I've never witnessed another human, not even as a merchant. Their realms are well beyond the reach of goblins."

"I know you, Arsec," the voice said.

He felt the same heat warming his face and chest now burning inside of him. It did not hurt, it was not a normal fire. Soon it was visible enough that it seemed to emanate from his body, like steam from a heated rock against the ice. 

"Wha—what is this?"

"I told you, you carry my essence."

The fire grew hotter, but it did not scorch his body. Instead, tears flooded and a wholesome emotion overwhelmed him, he felt at peace. He felt embraced.

A sting of frustration, reminiscent of his past experiences as a tormented slave, all the wounds, all the hurt his masters had inflicted on him... they were burning.

"This is... I feel..."

The flame hovered and grew closer, its flames now touching Arsec. He was initially scared, but then he realized the flames were harmless.

"It's beautiful... how can you do this? Who are you?"

"You were never alone, I know your heart, and I fell from the sky this day so I could meet you: the Last Flame of the Dawn. I am the Red Flame, and I've chosen you, Arsec."

Arsec fell to his knees.

"O Great Flame, stay away from me," he said, as unsureness took him, "I am not worthy of this, I can't do anything..."

"Arsec... I'll never leave you..."

The young boy sobbed, and then, he could not contain it anymore, and he cried, each time louder.

"I'll be here now, forever... I am here." the Red Flame comforted him.

He went on for a few seconds, all of his feelings just poured out, as every bawl seemed to take the issues of his low life away.

When he finally quieted down, he looked at the flame again.

"What do you want from me?"

"Go to the temple of Au-terali, and unlock the teachings of my servants...?"

"I've never heard of people who worshipped a Red Flame."

"They are long gone, but their legacy remains, learn their secrets, Arsec."

Arsec gripped his hands, doubtful, "H-hold on, how am I going to find information that no one remembers? Where should I start?"

"I'll always be with you. I will guide you if you decide to trust me."

Arsec's hands relaxed.

"What say you? My child?"

Arsec closed his eyes for a moment, this was something unprecedented for him. How would he explain Chief Tulag? How...

He stopped, letting himself feel the warmth of the Red Flame's embers. 

His face got serious, and his eyes opened, reflecting the flames he was gazing at. There was no turning back, no matter what he did. Back at Tulag's camp, he would receive a reprimand worthy of a slave, because that's what he was. Here, however, was the chance at a new type of life... the very notion of that made his imagination run wild.

"Send me," he said as he stared at the most blinding spot of the Red Flame, I am not sure what all of this means, but I will go wherever you tell me to. My old life is more than gone, I want to be new again... so... please!"

Arsec could feel the Red Flame's heart as it were his own, and it felt... overjoyful.

"O Arsec, of the Southern steppes," the Red Flame declaimed, "eons passed, cities shattered, embraced by nature's deadly entropy. Yet today the day is red! For the fire of my power burns bright once more!"

The Red Flame fully engulfed Arsec, who was completely taken by a surge of power cursing now through his body.

"Say the words, my child" the Red Flame requested.

"What words...?"

Words alien to his memory emerged and swiftly dominated his mind.

"Blessed Fire," Arsec uttered "who burns for the souls as the sun burns for the skin..."

His body arched, twisted by the Red Flame's power as the flames entered his body. He felt his being was absorbing this powerful entity wholly. 

"Be my shield and weapon, as I deliver the world from evil with your bright fire!"

The spear thrust into the rhino's body suddenly pulled out and flew straight to Arsec's hand. It began to turn red from the heat until it shone bright.

"You are Arsec, my servant" the Red Flame declared, "yet a slave you will not be anymore. From now on, you shall be known among my servants as So-shara-nim, the Last Flame of the Dawn, my Red Warrior."

The flames fully entered Arsec's chest, and he suddenly found himself in the dark and cold night of the steppe, like waking up from a dream. The warmth was gone, and the icy breeze crept through his neck.

"Cold!" he said, shivering, as he instinctively sought to cover himself with his rusted... cape.

The cape, a simple winter coat for him to withstand the harsh cold when tending the sheep had turned red, immediately casting the shivering out. Its texture had changed too, it was thinner, more like a regal cape made from silk. How could a cape this thin completely annul the steppe's unforgiving cold? 

He wore the cape's cloak to warm his ears and head. He then inspected the rest of his outfit, but it was still the same goblin attire he had worn for years.

"Just the cape?" he wondered.

A small white breath surged from the ground, and as Arsec glanced at the source, he spotted the spear he had used to kill the rhino. Once metallic like any other tool forged with steel, the hunting weapon now seemed pitch black.

Arsec wondered if it was just the ash or a burnt layer of the steel... but steel never roasted with fire. 

"Take your weapon," an inner voice said, but Arsec knew it was not his.

He grabbed the spear and appraised it, and as he stared at it in awe, his heart knew this was another gift from the Red Flame, and it was meant to be his faithful companion.

"This is great," he said, feeling it lighter.

He looked at the rhino carcass. Chief Tulag's face popped in, and a feeling of remorse. Tulag was many things, but Arsec had learned to respect his master.

"Maybe I should bring its wool with me... I could apologize and then..."

His thoughts stopped abruptly.

"Apologize? Then what? Accept whatever punishment they see fit and go back to a slave life?"

The faces of three detestable goblins circled his brain, each making the most stupid expression Arsec could remember.

"I'll just... leave the wool there as a message, Mesui did say I could dry the meat..."

He noticed that the sun was almost out for the day, and the sounds of nocturnal life in the steppe began to rise in volume, and Arsec could hear the distant howl of wolves. He felt a small shiver run down his spine, but somehow he no longer feared the wilderness, he felt stronger, energized... perhaps it was the Red Flame's work.

"Better hurry," as he unsheathed his pocket knife and began cutting the wool.