Communion

Desdem

She didn't know if the god of the fire and gatekeeper of the ancient magma flows of Fang would answer her call.

She didn't even know if the gods truly spoke to their penitents unless there was something in for them.

Were they everywhere like they claimed to be, omnipotent and omnipresent. She had her doubts.

Her mind was cast back to her first encounter with Fosia in his Forge. He did not answer her question as she hoped. There was no sudden booming voice in her mind or an apparition in front of her of the old deity.

Instead as she gazed inwards as the moon shined down on Desdem and Ekero's farm, in her mind eye a small flame rook shape. Small at first in the dark recesses of her conscience, it flickered and sparkled pushing the dark away.

Fire... Fire with a magnetic pull, with that hypnotizing dance it does to lure you in, the dance that catches souls in its flame, the dance that makes you wish you dazzled and shined as bright as that.

Fire... Red and yellow ribbons of scalding heat intertwining while sparks jump and dance.

Fire the element essential to life in every form. From the smallest ant to the largest whale crossing the ocean, fire keeps everything from freezing in the coldness of the void...

Past the flames that now roared in her mind she is crossing a huge snow drift, leaving a deep trail behind her. It is winter in Fang, she can see it now clearly, and her hands clutch at something under her pelts. She is searching for something or someone, exactly what she could not be sure, but she knows in her soul that she carries the Ichor of Solitude. That is undeniable. She will hold it once it is put back together.

The flames jumped and she saw Islana, her young friend, now Sister Locust, the leader of the Ozainae. She saw the young girl drowning, in a deep pool of strange waters that seemed to pull and twist at her, as if her true self was being supplanted by those that had come before her. Her own thoughts, memories and experiences were fading, eroded by generations and generations of those that came before her. She sees a jewel glowing red with black tendrils growing on its surface.

Another burst of flames and she sees a man in black robes and white eyes sitting across from a fire. He is in a clearing, in woods that are familiar to her. The lands around Ostiarium, trees are bare and covered with snow and he is not alone. He is waiting for her... In the shadow of the Stone City where a giant beast will stalk her.

She sees more, much more, but Alexis does not recall all she is shown. Only that she will see her mission to its conclusion for better or worse...