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Only an hour ago, Velhass felt terrified beyond measure, at the sight of this creature. Flames rolled out of their skin and burned behind their eyes as if they were a walking funeral pyre. Even the voice they spoke with was like a knife being dragged against his ears. He still felt intimidated by the being who referred to themself as “Shirik,” but they had offered the boy a piece of fruit from a tree. He was starving, so he took it and was grateful that the fruit was not poisoned. The fruit was slightly larger than his fist, and was shaped like a rough orb with red skin and blue leaves on its stem. It tasted like bloody meat, with a kick of something sweet to it. Velhass hadn’t had anything to eat like this in years, if ever.

He sat in cool grass across from the infernal figure, in a thick garden behind their first meeting place. Trees swooped over their heads so as to blend in with the untamed wild, illuminated by a strange orb of light made by Velhass’ “savior.” In the warm glow, he could see a veritable oasis of strange foliage he never laid eyes on before. Bushes with multicolored flowers reaching for the sky, stocky trees with more of the fruits that Shirik offered to him, and much more that he could faintly see off in the distance. Velhass devoured his food in silence, and realized that the Iriad was still watching him.

[color=cornflowerblue]”...What is it?”[/color]

[color=d68300]”When was the last time you ate?”[/color] They asked, bluntly.

[color=cornflowerblue]”Two days ago.”[/color]

Shirik considered that for a moment, and stood up. They walked over to a tree with wispy blue bark, and swiped a finger. A spark lit up above the branches, and another one of the cordesh fruits fell into their hands. They tossed it to Velhass, who couldn’t help but gawk at this person.

[color=d68300]”Eat. I won’t have someone starve in my presence.”[/color]

But Velhass still stared, slightly slack-jawed.

[color=cornflowerblue]”What [i]are[/i] you? You’re not like the people in Etapett.”[/color]

[color=d68300]”Have you heard of the Iriad?”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”Yes… But you’re on fire. They’re made of wood. How are you alive?”[/color] It was an innocent question. But it still irked Shirik. They sat down in the grass again, and adjusted their cloak slightly.

[color=d68300]”That is not important. Tell me something, boy-”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”Velhass. That’s my name.”[/color]

[color=d68300]”Velhass… Alright, Velhass, what are you doing here?”[/color]

Velhass hesitated. He looked away from Shirik and had to really think about how he would answer their question. What if he answered honestly, and Shirik turned them in? He’d run. This food that they spared would last another day or two depending on how much he ate. There was nothing to lose.

[color=cornflowerblue]”I was running from someone. They were chasing me, and they would’ve killed me by now if I didn’t run so fast.”[/color]

[color=d68300]”Who would have killed you?”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”The ones in the metal masks. They wanted to kill me but they didn’t say a word to each other.”[/color]

Shirik couldn’t form facial expressions, but Velhass could tell something in them shifted. [color=d68300]”The Inquisitors. You’re a thought mage.”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”I- I don’t know what that is. They told me to surrender, but then one of them pulled out an axe and- Well, I couldn’t stay there. They would’ve chopped my head off!”[/color]

[color=d68300]”Settle down, boy,”[/color] Shirik chided, [color=d68300]”If they ordered a surrender, then that meant they were considering the possibility of sparing your life. I find it difficult to trust that you are unfamiliar with thought magic, while earning their wrath. Do you hear voices where none were found?”[/color]

Velhass looked [i]very[/i] uncomfortable. [color=cornflowerblue]”Sometimes. It started a few weeks past. I- I don’t have a home. I live in the streets, I don’t have anything. I have to steal food to not starve. I didn’t think the baker would miss just half of one loaf that he might’ve thrown out. But he caught me, and a guard got to me sooner than I could run. He swung a mace at me, and I was scared.”[/color]

[color=d68300]”And…?”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”And it hurt. I couldn’t breathe at first… But then I heard the baker speaking to me. Only when I looked at him- He- I sound out of my mind, don’t I?”[/color]

[color=d68300]”He was not there. You heard his thoughts as he left,”[/color] They were well aware that the poor weren’t helped in the Ascendancy. Shirik could not help but feel pity for this child. [color=d68300]”Is that what happened?”[/color]

Velhass nodded slowly. [color=cornflowerblue]”Sometimes I can hear other thoughts when I stand around people long enough. When I stay on the same street long enough, I can find some people that walk by every day. I can hear them speak, but they aren’t [i]speaking.[/i] Do you hear it too?”[/color]

[color=d68300]”No. Thought magic and mine are different. I can guess to how the Inquisitors found you. You thought to read them.”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”No… I was trying to read some Tekeri woman. I was only trying to understand it. But they sprung up and cornered me with their weapons, out of nowhere! One of them was holding lightning in his hands, I never felt that scared in my life.”[/color]

[color=d68300]”And you ran for cover. To save yourself from a threat you assumed would harm you, had you stayed.”[/color]

Velhass nodded again. [color=cornflowerblue]”What was I supposed to do? Let them kill me?”[/color]

Shirik chose their words carefully. [color=d68300]”Boy, listen to me. I have been in this world longer than them. I outlived the first of their ranks, and I know for certain that you would not have died if you stayed. You are scared, this I can understand. But they chose to demand your surrender with the intention of resolving that conflict with peace. Inquisitors teach thought mages like yourself to control that power- Something you clearly wanted. If you return to them, and ask for mercy, then they will grant you it. You would not need to steal to live, they would take you in and you could earn a comfortable life. You-”[/color]

Suddenly, Velhass jumped up. [color=cornflowerblue]”No! I’m not going with them! I don’t trust them, they’re all trying to kill me! I could hear them when they chased me, they wanted me dead! I can’t go back there… I [i]can’t.[/i] It won’t happen. It won’t. It-”[/color]

[color=d68300]”Enough!”[/color] Shirik was standing up now, and the garden they were in became much brighter, as if to divert Velhass’ attention to his surroundings, and not his thoughts.

[color=d68300]”What you do now will affect the rest of your days. Do you understand me? You are a scared, weak and dreadfully [i]powerful[/i] child. You have experienced things that none your age deserve. Fear is a dangerous thing, but you have a choice to make. Live in fear, as a dreg on the world’s shoulders, or accept that you are not the same anymore, and live differently.”[/color]

Velhass’ would-be tantrum quickly vanished. The lights around them both were beautiful, like stars pulled from the heavens. 

[color=cornflowerblue]”I… I can’t go. I’m scared. I don’t want to die.”[/color] Velhass shrunk inward, and he looked away from Shirik. 

Silence stretched out between the strangers. Once upon a time, Shirik was scared and alone. They had no one to guide them down the path, and now they walked it with confidence, and yet it took centuries of strength to brave that path. Shirik was surrounded by people on the day their life first changed. Soldiers defending the Myriad from the Kolodon. They were not lonely then, and the memories of those people kept them sane in the darkest days.

But this was a child with no one to call his family. An orphan with no one in his life but people that thought he was a plague, or scared him to death. They could not help but soften their fiery glare. What would Shirik’s ancestors do, if they lived to see them be set ablaze on the Day of Black Clouds? Would they have left Shirik to pick up the pieces with only a few stern words?

They would’ve appreciated guidance, back then.

And so, Shirik took in a breath of carbon dioxide that dimmed their roaring flames into near darkness, before they emerged again. 

[color=d68300]”...Then do not go with them. Stay. This is hardly a home, but you are safe in my presence.”[/color]

[color=cornflowerblue]”You want me… To stay with you?”[/color]

Shirik shook their head. [color=d68300]”I do not care if you stay or not. That is your choice, and you [i]do[/i] have it. I was in your predicament once. No one offered a roof for me to stay under. They will not find you here, if you wish.”[/color]
Velhass didn’t fully trust this person, but they had already shown more kindness than anyone in his life before. Besides, maybe Shirik could help them understand this magic. The thought of living here was new, and it would be nice to not get rained on. 

[color=cornflowerblue]”...Thank you.”[/color]


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Dear Myriad, of all the songs...

[color=d68300]”Yes… I know the funeral song of my people. One might say I wrote it myself.”[/color] Shirik, ever the vague and cryptic one, left the question at that. [color=d68300]"We called your... "Red Run" the Day of Black Clouds, I was there. I migrated from Mind to Soul young. Then to Valor years after. The ocean of Valor was unmatched in beauty before the waters were tainted with ash."[/color] Shirik spoke fondly of their home, but in truth, it was their home in origin only. They did not know what was happening there in this day and age, or any of them in centuries past. Having been as far as Pell'Tan and back, there were few places that Shirik wasn't familiar with. But the Myriad was something so far from what they had become, that just setting foot there would be to embrace a world that, fundamentally, was at odds with their being. Through hazy memory, they recalled the glares of their surviving comrades on that day. Narmev's terror at Shirik living despite the flame, Suro's spear held to eye-level as if Shirik were a monster in the shape of an Iriad, and so many others. Did they still exist as Shirik did? Or perhaps as an immortal, such as the green ones did?

[i]Did[/i] they still immortalize themselves in a world of life magic? Did they, or their descendants remember the face of the Burning Iriad in some fashion? As a myth, like the rest of the world or as a martyr of the Kolodon's war? These were questions that Shirik could never answer in the last thousand years. They may never find the answers to that peace, and they may never know if they truly yearned for it. 

Shirik wasn't too old to hear Esedel's hushed voice. But the didn't comment on it. They were curious as to what Kvarr actually knew of the "cursed" Iriad who cooked them all a dinner.
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