A Spirit's Warning

Akari had never stepped into the temple grounds since the day she met the spirit wolf. Outside, the fortress still thrummed with laughter, hammering, and song as preparations for the Frostfire Festival continued. But here, the air felt different - quiet, solemn, touched with a kind of reverence that made even her flame flicker smaller.

Snow had been swept into neat banks along the stone path, leaving the steps bare for the procession of priests. They moved in measured rhythm, carrying carved wooden tokens, sweeping away frost, or chanting softly as they prepared the sanctum for tomorrow’s rites. Torches burned in tall stands, their flames shimmering against walls laced with ice crystals.

As Akari drifted in beside Barkley, she noticed heads turning. Several priests halted mid-step, setting down what they carried to bow deeply - foreheads lowered until the two had passed. Their voices murmured blessings to flame and earth, whispered prayers carried on the chill air. Others who were in the middle of their work could not stop, yet they still bent their heads in respectful nods before continuing.

Akari’s flame flared with embarrassment. She wanted to wave them off, to tell them she was no goddess or the child of one, just a girl who still felt lost in this world. But beside her, Barkley strode with calm pride, his heavy paws crunching on stone as though their reverence was only natural.

“Do they always…”

“Bow?” Barkley finished for her with a rumble of amusement. “To spirits, yes. Especially one like you who is exactly what they worship. They know divinity when it burns before their eyes.”

Akari sighed, glancing at the bowed heads. “I’d rather they just said hello like Noel does when he wakes up grumpy in the morning.”

The wolf’s chuckle was low. “Mortals rarely greet gods as neighbors. You’ll get used to it.”

They passed deeper into the temple halls, where mosaics of flame and frost adorned the walls. It was the same room Akari first woke up in this fortress. The quiet here felt thick, almost heavy. Barkley’s paws made no sound as he led her towards the secluded chamber lined with candles. Once inside, the wolf sat heavily on his haunches, eyes glowing amber in the dim.

“You’ve only been here a short time,” Barkley began, his tone shifting, carrying an old weight. “You've seen soldiers, nobles, artisans. You see your Noel. But you have yet to see what lies beneath this fortress, this world.”

Akari hovered in silence, sensing this was not casual talk.

“We spirits,” Barkley continued, “are not simply tools or companions. We are fragments of what is greater. Fire, earth, water, wind—threads woven from the Creator's own breath that created the gods of this world, Orathis. We come when we are called, or when the world itself demands us. I have walked beside many humans. Watched many winters, many wars.” His gaze softened with something like weariness.

Akari’s flame trembled. “How many winters?"

Barkley gave no number. He only looked at her with those steady eyes that seemed to have seen centuries pass. “Long enough to know this: mortals burn bright, but quickly. To spirits, time is not the same. Seren will be just a moment of my life.”

Akari drifted closer, warmth brushing his fur. “It must hurt to watch them go.”

“Even a short flame can light this world. That is our purpose. To guide, to shape, to remember. Without mortals, we wander without much purpose. With them, we burn meaning into eternity.”

Akari fell quiet, struck by the gravity of his words. For the first time, she felt even smaller than she already had in the vast stretch of this world.

Barkley studied her a moment longer before tilting his head. “You are different, though. Not only spirit. Not only human. You walk both paths, like two eyes seeing different horizons."

Akari's fire blinked for a moment. “Am I the first human-spirit hybrid you've seen?”

“In all my years I've never seen one like you,” Barkley said simply.

Akari warmed with a mix of pride and unease. “So, I’m… unique.”

They sat, Akari resting on Barkley's fur, for a while. The two talked all about Earth. The wolf was genuinely interested in what another world was like besides the two realms: Orathis and the celestial world.

Once Akari mentioned how she met Noel, Barkley’s eyes narrowed, studying her as if weighing whether to speak.

“There is more to these humans than you think,” he said at last. "Noel, Seren. Humans like them."

Akari tilted. “Seren? What are you...”

“You see a soldier. A mentor. My partner.” Barkley’s ears flicked. “But I have seen into his heart. He carries nothing.”

Akari frowned. “Nothing?”

“Nothing to lose,” Barkley said, voice a growl low and heavy. “And that makes a human dangerous. One with nothing holding them back will walk through fire without fear of being burned. They will kill without fear of losing love, for they have none left to guard. Seren and your Noel… they are alike in that way.”

Akari’s flame dimmed at his words. The thought of Noel as someone with ‘nothing to lose’ hurt more than she expected.

“But Noel…” she began softly.

Barkley cut her off. “Do not mistake kindness for roots. He has no mother’s embrace, no family’s hearth. Only you. That is why you must be careful, flame. There is a reason Seren left his family behind. Both men walk paths edged with sorrow. And I do not know where those paths will end.”

The silence stretched, heavy with the wolf’s warning.

"You said it was a spirit's purpose to guide others. I'll do my best to make sure Noel doesn't become a bad guy. You have to do your best too!"

The wolf gave her a small nod. But, it felt a bit half-hearted.

Finally, Akari asked in a whisper, “Barkley… what is your real name anyway?”

The wolf’s muzzle curled into a grin. “This uncreative name was given by Seren when we bonded.”

“Then?”

His gaze turned to the side, smirking. “Names are power. My true name belongs to our bond. Until the end, I will not speak it.”

Akari made her pouting known. "What?! But you don't even like your name. Come on."

Barkley stood, shaking his fur as though casting off the heaviness of the moment. “Enough teasing for tonight. Tomorrow is the Vigil. The fortress will burn its memories, and grief will rise with the smoke. You, flame, must decide what you will burn that day - and what you will hold for the future.”

His amber eyes gleamed, sharp and unyielding. “And remember what I said. A human with nothing to lose can easily walk astray.”

Akari floated beside him in silence as they left the chamber. The temple halls seemed colder now, the murmured prayers of priests no longer comforting but distant.

And Barkley’s warning echoed in her core like an ember refusing to die.