"Burning desires"

[DoF Archive]

Date: 8/6/2000 6:59 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Beck Weller


Is it possible?

Have we been seduced?

This one is different from all the others. He burns inside as we do.

There is resistance as well.

No matter. We can help him overcome those barriers, scorch them away as we have all other obstacles.

But what of the plan? Are we willing to set aside the goal for this youngling, this flesh body?

Have we ever encountered a soul so kindred to our own?

Nay indeed.

And what is the span of years that a mortal lives compared to our own?

But a blink.

Then let us revel in this union. For once, heed not the call of the others and let us find pleasure in what brief time we have with this boy. Let us ignite this world with our combined song.

We may lose ourself in such a union.

A blessed loss.

Wake him.

Pale eyes snapped open in the minutes just after dawn. First came the pain from his eyes, lanced by the day's first rays. Then came an ache from his throat, swollen and torn. He sucked in a breath, a fresh sting came welling up from that area as the air whistled through aggravated tissue. Only secondary concerns, his body registered other wounds from the challenge match the night before... bruises and deeper contusions, but nothing preventing
him from dragging himself to a stand.

He poked mental fingers into the memory of the previous evening, prodding it like another sore bruise to try and find out why his throat ached so. It obeyed grudgingly at first, coughing to life like an old and disused engine. But once given life, it was happy to replay the entirety of the night back to him.

The matches were close, to the point of heartache for lost chances for him. It was in desperation that he finally withdrew his conscious mind from the fight, letting the frustration and rage within take control. Its fury managed to overcome Alexandria's injured efforts, lashing out at the last to knock her unconscious. He knew he reached down to claim the prize, the coveted and explicitly dangerous FireStar. Then the playback ended in a wash of
red and a sudden, fierce joy... spitting him back to the current moments of waking.

With a start, he scrambled about, seeking the gem in the pile of leaves that was his bed. When he couldn't locate it on the ground, he checked himself over. The winking of green in his right bracer sparked a flash of memory. Turning his left arm about, the crimson gleam of FireStar greeted him, bound into the eyelet where a chain had secured him so many times before. He found it comforting somehow, making the instruments of his bondage into the
tools of his freedom.

With a sigh of relief, his throat reminded him again of the world of pain. Coming in close behind it was a hunger pang, reminding him of the basic needs. Thought be damned for a while, he needed food and medicine for now.

Kicking his pile of leaves up against the wall, he sneaks one last glance to the shell of the Outback before making his way in the back door of the Red Dragon Inn.