Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Eddie]

---

cold, so cold...everything inside just running like ice....

never been so icy inside...like breathing snow....

but no pain...there should be pain...see the blood pouring but...numb...

smoke...Am I on the ground....see the flames...but...numb...

something about the way the smoke and flames rose, it pulled away from his body like it was made of ice just for a moment before englulfing it completely. The life was draining out of him like water. He could feel himself being consumed like firewood, yet...he was turning inward, almost like a turtle to its shell. The world spiraled away into a dark nothingness and somehow, incredibly, he found himself standing in a river of light. It bathed over him like strands of hair in a breeze and filled him with such warmth as he had never known. For a moment, or an eternity, it was hard to tell, he closed his eyes and lost himself.

A voice calling his name...was it days, hours...years...pulling him from the light. It was cold and he wanted back in, but he couldn't resist the almost succubic quality of the words in his head. He strode into the darkness until the light stream was just a small thin line far behind him.

'You, Edward Castle, are not finished.'

He looked around for the source of the voice, but found none.

'Within you lies the very essence of flame, Cogapi, the fire within the fire. Your form was merely a shell, waiting for the right time to open and release your true power. You are not your own. You are the fire, and the fire is you. And you are not finished with the work you were chosen for on this plane.'

It vibrated through him to his very core. What did it all mean? He opened his mouth to speak, but found he had no voice to call forth. A strong wind rose up suddenly from the west, forcing him to put his back to it and shelter his head.

'Walk until the wind ceases and you shall be reborn.'

And so he began, stumbling at first, but soon striding at an average pace. Miles...continents...he walked for what seemed an eternity, nothing but blackness and wind guiding him. Finally his body gave out and he collapsed from exhaustion. As he hit the ground, the wind around him died down and the sky around him began to lighten.
The sun rose around him, the pinks and reds of sunrise licking over him like phantom flames. As it warmed him he began to stir, taking a deep breath and then coughing as ash filled air invaded his lungs. Sputtering, spitting, coughing, he pushed himself from the pit, looking around confusedly. All around him ashes and charred bits of plaster, wood, metal, ceramic. Standing on shaky, unused legs, he stumbled about like a new born calf, completely unaware of anything.
A breeze, barely a puff of fresh warm air caressed his face and in his ear a whisper...

'Edward Castle...go forth...'