Page 9 of Crown of Flame
“What are you…” Arcanis says in horror, looking up from the floor, where he’s battered and bloodied.
A patrol of dark elves run up from the floors below, and I swear I hear an explosion followed by a series of crashes on the floors above me.
The fiery creature stares at me.
And I don’t know why I’m not afraid anymore.
4
CINIS
I’m surrounded by rock, but it’s not any kind of rock I’m familiar with. My flames burn cold here, ‘here’ clearly not being anywhere I recognize nor anywhere I can understand.
All around me are creatures who resemble the creatures in the cavern, except that their ears come to a point and their teeth resemble goblin fangs.
“What is this place?”
I project the question into their minds, but nobody replies. The strange creatures all double over in fear, but I sense a tainted blot on their souls unlike anything I’ve ever known.
And they give me a bad feeling.
Fires burn on the walls and all around me, but they’re nothing like home. I find their steady crackle calms and centers me.
One of the creatures stands to his feet, extending his arm. He looks upon me in both horror and wonder simultaneously.
“It’s an honor to make your acquaintance,” he says. “We’re going to accomplish great things together.”
But he can’t hide the terror in his eyes. I notice behind him that one of his kind seems to be emanating magic, uttering some kind of incantation. They are all covered in the same flammable material I saw earlier.
Instinctively, I reach up, lifting the creature behind him. Just from touching the creature, I can see the horrors in his soul.
“No,” I say, throwing the creature into the ceiling.
His bones crumple on impact, and as I let go of him, discarding him, he falls to the floor.
The creatures grow more fearful, understandably. But their fear does not make me pity them.
Curiously, these creatures seem to speak from their mouths and not from their minds.
“I know we can get along,” the creature who spoke earlier says, his voice trembling. “So please stop and think.”
“Did you take me from my home?”
I don’t intend to hide the rage from my voice.
Another creature behind him starts to conjure another spell, and I unleash a stream of fire, melting the gray skin from his body.
This drives their speaker into a fury.
“You listen to me!” he screams. “We brought you here out of the kindness of our hearts. You have no idea how much we had to sacrifice! You will serve us!”
Then the remaining creatures surrounding me start to produce magic. I see the nature of their spells and know that they will harm me.
So I harm them.
Some I melt, some I break. The more I kill, the more I learn about them.
They have a vulnerability near their heads. When I snap it with my mind, it cracks satisfyingly and they die.