FENRER

Hammers beat against the length of blades and shaped them into weapons for the high tides. Fire from the forge brightened up the thick wood of the manor of his grandfather's skill, whom he never got the chance to meet, having been lost to a Derelict long before Mother and Father bound their lives together. It pounded in his ears in the legendary works of Hanekan ideals. Embers bounced against the stone as runesmiths carved out and soaked fullers to hammer the guards in place. He laid flat against his back and melted in the heat, reforged in the fires of the dawn. Sweat slipped down his palm when he tried to move it, and every breath rattled with the smoke and ash of the past, tainting his senses with the Desecration's screams. His own heartbeat became thunder in his ears, and he squirmed in the damp discomfort stuck to him.

I need to cool off.

He unfurled his fingers with his dwindling strength, though the motion sent a burst of dark worms across his world. Wrists overturned, he dragged himself by his arms and tugged his legs out to put his feet flat against the ground. Just a bath, I won't take too long... Though no one was there to stop him as he lifted himself out of his bed, resting his fingers on the end table where Maria left a bundle of the frozen syrup by a cup of water full of little ice cubes. Yuven needs me. He dragged his feet behind him as he wobbled his way to the door frame to place his hand against it, fighting with his lungs and the blood pounding in his ears as he tried not to collapse all over again into the forge underneath his skin. He twisted the knob and let the door swing on its own hinges. In the back of his throat, a distinct taste of rust remained, full of ash. It dried out his tongue when he tried to take in another breath, heavier on his ribcage as he forced himself past the rocks in his soles to pull him through the small section where the Storm Warden Aurus sought refuge from the overwhelming features of the flow and aura.

Water sprinkled through tiny aqueducts which lined the outside courtyard, but he brought himself to the double doors, pushing through them. Lichen danced around little cascades slipping down glass, and he went for a door into one of the private bathhouses, stumbling on the step as he used his back to close it. He dragged his fingers against his brow to tug at the damp brown strands stuck to it. He pulled the curtain to shield the actual bath from the entrance area, tearing off his shirt to free himself of its too thick confines as he tossed it into the clothes basket sectioned in the wall. With a shake of his head, he wiped his brow once more of other strands, breathing deep as he went for the bath to twist the superheated metal of the faucet. It burst to life and poured into the large basin to swirl against the runes along the sides. Hands flat against the rim when he found the world teetering, he forced himself to the wall to get to his feet and untie his pants, resting his brow against the molten heat underneath the mountain, coursing through its stone foundations. And this is nothing — nothing compared to what Yuven must be feeling.

It continued to pound against the forge, every strike echoing with his heartbeat as he pushed all his clothes into the basket as the water finished its fill of the bath. The runes along the rim shone bright blue in cold invitation. This has to help. He slipped into the bath, and bit on his own jaw when the forge bubbled under his skin, the heat clashing with the cold. He used his arms to cling onto the edge and pressed his face into the crook of both. What is wrong with me? He bumped his palm against one of the runes to reactivate the icy temperatures, but the flames remained, reforging him when there was nothing left to forge.

He rested his chin on the edge and dragged his hand through his hair, listening to the distant sounds of life throughout the citadel, oblivious to the doom below. He cupped water into his palm and splashed himself with it, where every droplet left a trail down his cheeks and followed his jawline. Weary from the pounding beat, he slipped his fingers through the bubbled disturbances, unable to find his voice as he let streams fall off his fingers. Yuven. He frowned, then concentrated on the starlight. Yuven, I hope you know... that it's not because I do not want to be there. He spread his own river of thoughts though the blood flow pushed into his nostrils, and he rested his face against the rim, using his arms as a pillow. I would be, I will be... when I figure out what is wrong with me. He brushed his side and squeezed his hip when another pulsation of heatwaves sank through the world. I can endure. I will endure.

It sprinkled dew over the bath, and he hooked his fingers against the rim for safety and security of his body's own weakness, dunking his head under. His lungs screeched. Stormy seas gurgled and breathed for him instead. His grip slipped on cold, damp rock as he climbed his way to his goal, his duty to the world and his oath. Lightning flashed as he dragged himself upwards, his feet slipping on loose pebbles of the cliffs of Sivaport, the cruel drop below delivering the smashing waves against the incline. He choked through the bubbles, and dragged himself up to press himself against the rim as streams fluttered down his eyelids. A soft laugh escaped his lips when he pushed the heel of his palm into the bridge of his nose before drawing it down to wipe away the water and tears, dragging his lower lip underneath his teeth until the flames sputtered.

Why isn't this working?

"You need rest, Little Wolf," Kon replied through a distant whisper. "You are pushing yourself. Let yourself breathe."

Rest wasn't working. Fenrer coughed out a glob of water he held onto for one last fearful reprieve. Keep holding onto the connection. It's my only way to help him. His knees cracked against the basin's incline, and he hissed through his teeth, snapping his attention to the empty lamp when it curdled with a tiny microburst of shining morning stars. Ash fell from the corners and into its own well as it breathed. Ancients... I hope I can get out of this as easy as I got in it. He found his footing in the water and stood up straight, though gripped onto the small metal railing for assistance, though it scorched his skin at its heated surface. Each step he took until he was out of the water, then tugged at the line to release the water back into the purification chambers to clean. That's one.

He sorted through the extra clothes tucked in the sections, flipping through the small notepad on the corner of sizes and inventory, though with no strength to write his usage. With a new shirt not soaked with sweat, he pulled it over his head, and found regret cracking his throat with dry caverns as he drew up the pants and tied it with fumbling fingers, counting his breaths and the pulse of the flow. Two. Now to get back to my room and think. He pushed the curtain back into its proper place and stumbled out of the steaming air. As he left, an Aurus Storm Warden looked up from the small table in the common quarters.

"Ancients forfend, Fenrer—!"

He raised his hand and waved it at them to stop them from rising to their feet. "Sorry," he wheezed out and refused to stop for anything. It stung his soles as he continued and came closer to his room, stumbling into it to slam the door behind him, shuffling closer to his bed, stuck in his own flaming forge.

I can't. Fenrer threw the new shirt off again and tossed it onto the end of the bed, then allowed the collapse of his knees, crawling into the confines before tossing the blankets aside, keeping the blinds clasped shut, though the window open behind them for any sort of cold, breezy reprieve. Arm against his brow, he squirmed when the fleeting comfort of water subsided and embers tickled his skin once again with thunderous might. He twisted to press his cheek against the pillow when the door opened once more, a formless blur coming closer into an aura of winter hearths. Neven.

"Hey," he croaked, the feeling in his body draining out.

Neven stared down at him with frayed feathers. "You should keep yourself covered when you're in this condition."

"Shirt not helping," he said at his best attempt at Common through his exhaustion for anything that wasn't Hanekan. "I'm boiling."

"We will need to change your sheets when able," Neven observed after a second of silence, then put a small bowl down. "Think you can eat?"

"What is it?" Fenrer frowned when his fingers loosened from a fist.

... why is everything...?

"It is carrot soup laced with honey," Neven said with a shaky smile. His aura quaked in concern and pressure. "Your favourite. I know it is a warm substance—"

"You did not have to..." Fenrer winced when his body refuse to respond to the thought of movement. "You really should be with Yuven."

Neven stirred it with the spoon. "You did not answer my question. Think you can eat? You need to. You've barely eaten since the Expulsion Event started. You both need to keep your strength up." His feathers fluffed out. "And rest."

Fenrer tasted the soft touch of Mother's cooking. "I want to talk to him..."

"I know." Neven stirred it once more. "I passed Miss Sazaka before I came here. I think she is trying to decide what book to bring you." He smiled down at him. "She is pleasant. I hope she makes you happy to your heart."

"Happy to my heart...? Yes, can you go get her...?" It drained closer as he lifted his arm off his brow to grab the spoon. Marble cracked and bled out from the broken pieces. "I want to ask her if she wants to..."

The pillars shattered into smaller pieces, and the crimson dark reigned.

No.

Particles of stars burst, inch by inch.

Fury.

He shoved his fist into the starlit connection which bound him to the darkness, keeping it in place as his hand wrapped around a blade made of molten sunlight. Silver light bloomed across his knees as he used the blade forged out of the dawn's blood to drag himself out of the thick ooze. Fury flames wrapped around his knuckles when he gripped it tighter as its twine pulsated across the connection and sliced into the darkness. "I know that you think it would've been better," he said to the regretful maelstrom, stained with blood. "You are wrong. People do not just become Oathbound — it is the plane's dictation. It is not happenstance." He lost the feeling in his legs as the crimson tendrils crawled up his knees. "And this thing, this infernal's damned ooze." He drove the tip of the sword deeper. "If it wants to swallow you, I am not going to make it easy, and I will not let you lie down and accept it either."

Molvisaliz, he heard Yuven's incredulous argument. You would not.

I will.

He tugged the blade out as it swirled with morning mist and dragged himself near the end of the starlit tangles. He adjusted his grip to point the tip of the blade towards himself.

"Little Wolf, be careful," Kon's deep growl echoed around him. "If you awaken its fury, it is as wild as an inferno, and hotter than the sun."

"I am a Storm Warden, there is no victory without sacrifice, no peace without protective fury — I am the sword of light." He drove it downwards towards himself to jolt the starlit bonds back to life.

Silver light trembled the heavens and split the skies in two and left wisps of magick in the air as it left scorched teeth to fall to the ground in booming fireballs, and he sank into the darkness of distance with its fury forged in the fire of his bloody soul.