The Shape of Ashes

One year ago…

Lightning split the sky beneath the downpour, wind and rain churning like a hurricane. Landscape and charcoal buildings passed by in a blur, each barely coming into view before disappearing behind into the darkness.

*pant* *pant*

Ferris gripped tightly onto her? weapon, chasing after the man with fire for eyes and hell in his breath. He was fleeing—bleeding, and every stride she took brought the Trueflame survivor one step closer to justice.

"Come back here!" she called out, voice drowned by the storm. "It's useless to run. Not after the things you've done. Did your time under the Ashen King not teach you anything?!"

Still, he kept on, not a word uttered back. Instead, he continued to push forth, his silhouette shifting and changing with every step until flames consumed his being. Then, it flickered, taking on a new form more suited to dodging branches as oldness turned to ash in the wind.

"You can change shape, but you still can't escape!" Ferris shouted, muscles pounding against the mud as she barreled through a fallen log like it was kindling. The man was making a beeline for a ruined tower despite obviously faltering in his steps, the structure standing tall amongst a forest of carbonized trees.

The warrior could hear his breathing grow ragged, and then, a desperate lash of infernal magic.

*CRACK!*

The air rippled as the bolt struck her? shield, Ferris's footing sliding backward from the force as the man finally disappeared into the ruins, a wall of flames barring entry behind.

"Bastard."

She stood there for a moment, watching the fire flicker and dance, breath aching within her? throat. The man was powerful, but not enough to stop the Adamantine.

The warrior steeled her? grip and charged.

Air and flames parted as ogrelyn tore through, the barrier dissipating once broken and extinguishing what light had briefly illuminated the environment.

The tower was crumbling, walls and floors cracked by the heat that had rampaged through these woods merely a week ago. Nothing remained, just like it'd been for the villages and homes leading up to this place.

"…I know you can hear me, flame wielder. There is no escape from here. You've trapped yourself."

Still no answer came, so the ogrelyn pushed onward, entering the central chamber where ruined steps spiraled to a collapsed ceiling.

She could feel it now. The man was here, hiding. The scent of brimstone was in the air, and the ground hummed beneath her? armored boots.

"Stop wasting my time."

Ferris's hammer raised, strength surging through her? veins in preparation for a strike to flush the former cult lieutenant out, but before she could, a figure descended from above, wielding a blade of flame and a new form with bulk that nearly rivaled the ogrelyn's own.

*CLANG!*

The warrior sidestepped the blow and brought her? shield up, its metal screeching as the two met and sent sparks flying in the darkness.

Venom seeped through the air as their eyes locked.

"You are a fool, Adamantine. Why fight for a world that burns those who preserve it?" the man's voice growled, his body smoldering with a heat that withered the hairs on Ferris's skin. "Peace can only be earned through the purge of fire, rebirthing ideals when all chaff has been cleansed."

Ferris gritted her? teeth and shoved the man back, boots sliding against the stone from the force as he continued his diatribe.

"Do you not know how many people yearn for new beginnings, warrior? Deserve it, even? Would you truly extinguish them to keep some malignant status quo?!"

He immediately lunged once his momentum shifted again, swinging flaming weapon with as much might as he could.

*whish*

But it was slow, clumsy in the clearly unfamiliar form. Ferris easily evaded it despite her? own bulk, taking advantage of the opening.

Seething eyes flashed in surprise as she moved, heavy metal barreling through the air—

*CRACK!*

—and into the man's side.

"!" The lieutenant’s breath died sharply as bone and flesh crumpled beneath the mace, boiling blood splattering to the floor and eating the stone away.

"Enough." The warrior's voice was cold, eyes narrowed, as her? hand gripped retribution tightly. "I don't care about your views. You're a murderer and a traitor to the world. That is all I need to know."

"And I know what you are," the man hissed through his pain as he clutched hand to chest, even as adamantine mace rose to deliver the final blow.

"A coward."

*CRACK* A sickening splatter of blood filled the air, and a thud echoed throughout the chamber. The man's arm and hand unfurled, his body limp as it began to disintegrate into nothing.

Silence fell upon the room once more, save for the sound of the storm outside and the shallow breathing of a lone woman.

Ferris stared at the scene, chest rising and falling as her? eyes trailed the blood that once flowed from the man's wounds, and then eventually, to the gem that lay surrounded by ash, the only thing remaining of him.

"…" She reached out to pick it up, the stone glowing faintly as her? fingers touched it.

The warrior had won, yet the words uttered before the bastard's end still lingered.

"Whatever." Gauntlets clenched around it, already thinking of a way to dispose of the likely relic. The ogrelyn had no idea what it was, but it didn't matter. Anything used by the Trueflame was tainted, meant to be buried. She'd probably find someone to get rid of it once things were wrapped up.

"…" It was a gem, so perhaps Citrine could do something with it.

The image of her former leader flashed in her? mind, and Ferris's cheeks warmed at the sight before dashing it away. The meetup they'd all agreed to was still six years away, and she had her? own things to figure out in the meantime. There was no use in getting distracted over the geomancer now, especially not while still bound to such a wrong form.

No fantasy was deserved until that was solved.

The warrior pocketed the gem and took a final sweep around to make sure everything was truly settled. That was the last known figure left from the Trueflame's original leadership with any real influence. With him gone, everything else would truly only be cinders.

"…" Ferris felt a wave of exhaustion come over her? as she finally let herself relax.

It seemed the storm would rage on for a while still, and it wouldn't do much good to travel in this weather.

It'd be a good idea to rest here until the rain let up.

Just as the warrior began reaching for her? pack though, a faint crackling sound caught her? ears.

"…?" Ferris paused and looked around, trying to find where the noise had come from. There wasn't anyone else around, and the only thing that could've made such a sound was—

*crackle*

Ferris's gaze snapped to the source, eyes widening as flames began to dance across her? body. They licked at her? armor and clothes, leaving them untouched, but setting the ogrelyn's muscles alight.

"What the?!"

The heat grew intense, the air beginning to sizzle with a strange magic that invaded her? veins, and then suddenly—

*CRACK*

A surge of pain shot through her, forcing the warrior to her? hands and knees as the room erupted into an infernal storm of magic.

Agony that dwarfed any previous injury seared through flesh and bone. Skin bubbled and boiled, insides were ripped apart, and any thought was set aflame as every nerve frayed and screamed in unison.

Ferris could feel her? body breaking, changing. Bones shifted and compressed, sinew tore and reformed.

Her? hands clawed at the floor, desperately trying to hold on as her? entire being was dismantled.

She'd let her? guard down. Of course, how stupid. She had no idea what was happening, but it felt like death would claim her? at any moment from the pain alone.

"DAMN IT!"

Regret flashed through her? mind, and images of her? comrades swarmed, particularly the figure of the half-elf who'd she'd never been fit for, and now, never would.

Curse her? own weakness! Why did this have to happen? Why did she have to die in such a demented form.

Why couldn't she have at least died as herself—

"…!"

Every burn, every pang of hurt, it suddenly solidified into something at her raging thought. Agony lessened as things began to fall into place, like a flame turning to smolders, or water stilling after being poured into a new vessel.

*whoosh*

The world felt different.

Ferris's eyes snapped open to see the soaked ground. The pain had stabilized in embers—not gone, but bearable, like her? will was enough to force it into shape. Now, she was hovering over a puddle, a heavy yet somehow lighter breath fogging the air from the chill that had replaced the inferno.

The warrior attempted to look around to find an assailant or a reason for the strange happening, mind still running frantic from the ordeal, but…

"!" She froze as her? eyes caught the reflection in the water.

"…"

*drip*

Tears disrupted the mirrored visage, her own body wracked by emotion as she began to laugh and sob in tandem.

Disbelief, joy, catharsis, grief. Despite the lingering pain, it was all she could feel, all she could see. Everything that she'd longed for, everything she'd hoped for since she could dream, stared up at her from the waterlogged ground.

The woman smiled at herself, licks of flame framing life's key.

"…I'm free."