Private Tales Embers and Emergence

[Kaelan]

How long had it been? How long had Kaelan been wasting away here since the Mountainbreaker's fall? The elf had lost all track of time since then. Now there was only the static. The Draw. The voices of his friends had almost wholly left him. No more did he dream of far away places, grandiose and exotic. No more did he dream of the strange elemental creatures he would meet there, and the bonds he'd forged with them between the expanse of worlds. Now there was only one voice. The cacophony of buzzing that clawed at his mind, begging and demanding freedom. Entry.

In truth, it had been roughly a year. One year of this nightmare of solitude and wasting. He hated this. He wanted to go home. It was a strange sentiment. For so long, all he'd wanted was to leave the Falwood and explore. Now he regretted it. How did he go back to where this all began? When things were simple? He wanted to see Netsu again, to envision the warmth and brightness of the firebird's home. Even that inferno was preferable to the all-consuming nothingness of...it.

The waves of the Gulf of Ryt crashed heavily once again, tirelessly beating on the shore. The sun had only just come up, but Kaelan was tired. He stared out of his hut at the sea and the brilliant sunrise beyond and began to drift off. Perhaps he could chase that sunrise, follow it off into the great unknown far beyond the north of Epressa. That thought made him smile for what felt like the first time in forever. A warmth cloaked his body, as did the morning sun, and he drifted off into a deep slumber.

Maybe...just maybe...just this once he would be met with something besides the static...

 

[ElKenna]

Kaelan would find himself in a world consumed by fire.

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Heat. Scorching heat that would melt the skin off of anyone who was not fire made. Anyone who was not fire. The red skies, the gushing volcanos, the rivers of lava, and the fires consuming every open area...this was her realm. Her home.

Kenna, herself, was for own ball of fire. Her skin was the color of lava rock with lines of red that cracked through it, her hair was made of long tendrils of fire that created a blazing crown, and her eyes held the burning sun.

Kenna was fire.

Kenna was ageless.

Kenna was a burning inferno and a smoldering ember at the same time.

The fire elemental felt the intrusion into her realm and she was immediately drawn to it. Intrusions did not belong here. They would burn, they would die, but she was curious how the intrusion came to be.

 

[Kaelan]

Warmth. Heat! Gods alive this was uncomfortable, but in an all too different way! This was no endless void of buzzing gray, no symphony of voiceless demands gnawing at Kaelan's brain, but somewhere all too familiar, somewhere...well, else!

Pools of lava and dense, hot stone surrounded Kaelan wherever he looked. The very ground burned, the very air burned. He could feel his skin searing and his lungs screaming with each passing breath. For anyone else, this would be a death sentence. At any other time, this would be a miserable, traumatic experience. For Kaelan, this was not. It was a breath of fresh, infernal air. Rather than cry out in agony at this torturously hot environment he now found himself in, Kaelan laughed and rejoiced. Finally, something besides that horrid demon's wailings.

This was nostalgic. The elemental realm of fire! He hadn't been here since he'd met Netsu, his very first otherworldly friend. He closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled deeply of the sulfur and brimstone around him. In the next moment he exhaled sharply, his eyes popping back open as he did, and suddenly the fires around him ceased to hurt. Instead, there was only a warm comfort that filled him, like sitting by a hearth on a cold night.

Amber eyes scanned his surroundings. Was a new friend reaching out to him now? Perhaps someone who might have noticed his suffering? A pang twinged in his heart. Or. Or. Was this another horrible force of destruction that Kaelan had inadvertently caught the attention of? He felt eyes upon him. Only one way to find out, he supposed.

"Hello? Who's out there?" He called, spinning on his heel. I was difficult to make up or down of the fire realm, though not so badly as...well, really any of the other elemental realms. At least this place had an up and down. Still, he felt apprehensive...why was he here?

 

[ElKenna]

Kenna watched the new comer from the branches of a burning tree. He was not burning up and that made the elemental tilt her flaming head to the right. How interesting. She floated from the giant tree and landed on the ground below her. She would see what this creature wanted. He could not be mortal. That would be impossible.

"Hello? Who's out there?"

Kenna emerged through a wall of flame and walked gracefully towards him. In her realm, she was a giant. At least double the height of this intruder. Her hair flowed around her like fiery snakes that were trying to escape her control. She stopped a little ways from the man...an elf? Fae? She was not sure.

"You do not belong her, this is no realm for mortals. You do not burn though?" Her last words were a question but it was also a statement. Why did her not burn? Most intriguing indeed. "Why are you here?"

 

[Kaelan]

"You do not burn though?"

Kaelan lifted his arms and glanced down at his form. As with every time he'd found himself among the elemental planes, there was some degree of tactile sensation, but no physical harm would come to his form. He could swim through the water realm without drowning or freezing, dig through the earth realm without being crushed or suffocated, fly through the air realm without being torn apart by the g forces, and here...

But that was all well trodden territory by now. While the elemental realms were always incredibly breathtaking to behold, traversing them was nothing new to Kaelan. What was new was this elemental in particular. Kaelan had encountered her kinfolk in droves before, their forms incredibly diverse and seemingly only limited by imagination. But they had never talked before. They only communicated through feelings. How, then, was this one speaking his own tongue?

"Um..." He gazed up at the fire elemental before him and gulped, her form both majestic and intimidating to the elf. "No, I don't burn. I'm...a friend of the elements. I'm terribly sorry for intruding."

 

[ElKenna]

It was not that her kin couldn't speak. It was that they chose not to speak with others. If they spoke then the intruders would stay longer. It was weird to have outsiders in their realm. Kenna had always been the curious sort though. This was by far that most interesting mortal she had come across.

The fire elementals giant head tilted to the side as she listened to his words. He was a friend of the elements and that is why he did not burn. Had he made a deal with some of her kin or was he just a power magician? It did not matter either way. He was here and he was curious.

"Why are you here?" Kenna ignored his apology completely. If he was truly intruding, he would not be allowed here at all. She was just curious why he had chosen to visit.

 

[Kaelan]

Kaelan blinked. He thought about the question for some moments. Why was he here? It had no reason to let him be. He hadn't tried to come here. He simply...was. He crossed his arms, and a thoughtful finger scratched at his chin and pulled at his lower lip.

After several moments of pregnant silence and wistful thinking, he came to a conclusion he had no doubt in.
"I have no idea," He answered with a smile and a shrug.

A follow up thought did come to him, though.
"But my oldest friend comes from here. Maybe he'd know? Though I have no idea whereabouts he might be..." He trailed off. How long had it been since he'd seen the faithful little firebird? Too long.

 

[ElKenna]

Kenna's head tilted the other way. This became more curious by the moment. She copied his gesture of a shrug as he spoke of his oldest friend. She had no idea where this elemental would be either.

"You are curious," she said with a small smile. "I am called Kenna. Fire-born."

Flames wrapped around her body as she spoke. The warmth would be felt by the stranger even though he was not burnt by it.

"Who is your oldest friend?" Kenna finally asked. Her curiosity was getting the best of her this day.