Prologue- The burning boy

Saharim stared mutely at what looked to be a young man, maybe in his late teens. Heavy iron chains dangled from the ceiling of the small stone room, each secured to a metal collar around the boy’s neck. He was shirtless, and his chest glowed like he’d swallowed a burning coal. There was a vague heat radiating from him that she could feel even from outside the cell.

He sat cross legged on the ground, staring up at her through the bars. His eyes carried a trace of the same glow in his chest, but she could still see humanity in them. In the entire search of this fortress they’d found nothing but traces that the cultists had ample time to destroy any useful information before disappearing. Then one of the soldiers had discovered this room with its single cell and the burning boy inside it.

Saharim put her hand up to the bars. The boy didn’t react to her presence beyond his initial blank stare. She wasn’t completely sure he was actually seeing her. She narrowed her focus to her eyes. Drawing every sliver of energy through her eyes manually. Her eyes misted over with darkness as she peered beyond the physical world. The bars of the cell, the stone walls of the room, even the boy's body all faded. Not fully gone, but seen as if through a black haze. Through her voidsight Saharim could see the spark of the boy's soul in front of her. It hovered there, a single blazing ball of light that pulsed like a heartbeat. Each pulse sent a ripple of bright angry red-orange light over its otherwise white surface. An abberation.

Behind her the soldier who’d discovered the chamber cleared his throat. “Lady inquisitor, what should we do with him?”

Saharim relaxed her sight and blinked until her vision was normalized. Whatever this was, it wasn’t human. Not anymore. She clasped her hands behind her back and stepped back from the cell. She forced herself to look the glowing boy in the eyes before she gave the order.

The firelight in his chest- vanished. The boy’s eyes rolled back in his head and he toppled forward. Neck catching on the metal collar before it could smack the ground.

Saharim moved instantly. She drew her sword and reinforced it in a flash of white light, then smashed the blade through the bars of the cell in a single smooth motion. Then she was by his side, holding the boy up so he wouldn’t be hanging.

“Send for a medic,” She ordered over her shoulder. She heard the soldier salute before he left.

Saharim held the boy as gently as she could. Now that he wasn’t glowing she noticed many large burn scars across his back and arms, and old marks on his wrists from manacles.. How long had the cultists had him locked up like this? Her hands curled into fists on his back. The inquisition couldn’t be everywhere, and not for the first time she wondered how many people like this boy they hadn’t found.

He groaned, shifting in her embrace. Saharim checked with her voidsight again. His soul spark was still pulsing, but softly now, and the red light was fainter, less vibrant, still an aberration but not as vibrant.

“What are you?” She asked, blinking her eyes back to normal.

He didn’t respond. And Saharim realized she was glad for it. There were so many questions and this boy might hold answers. So she made a decision even as she heard the soldiers returning. She wasn’t going to kill anyone today. Hopefully her cowardice wouldn’t get anyone.