The sun refused to shine the day after Lord Rahn's passing. Many feared
that it would never return, mirroring the sentiments of countless Magi,
Priests, Luminaries, and Daru of their abilities. Many cold days and
nights passed, but then, rather unspectacularly fire returned.

Many followers of Niuri believed that it was their pouring large amounts
of coal into a volcanic fissure that brought about the timely return of
Fire to the land and the Sun to the sky, but several others doubted the
veracity of this claim.

At forges across the land, a strange presence was felt, watching and
whispering. The same strange sensations were also felt at Rahn's
volcano, where wary visitors launched themselves into the volcano's
tumult at the behest of overpowering emotions. In Enorian, Luminaries
and Daru were puzzling over the presence in their Inner Sanctums.

Many inside the volcano guessed that the corrupt egg, dumped in it
months earlier may be hatching. But, that didn't explain the whispering
voices and searching hands at the forges or Sparks. Many others refused
to believe that Rahn had perished, hoping against hope that He had
returned, weakened but alive. Some threw around theories that the small
child in Jaru that had fallen strangely ill or the apprehensive
handmaiden found inside the volcano was responsible for the odd
occurrences.

Thus it was when the Angelic Triad came to the Inner Sanctum, summoning
the Luminaries and Daru to return to the Great Spark. The Triad had come
with a purpose, charged to tell a story that had never been told.

At the time of creation, when the elements were still young, the spirit
of fire or consumption was the most uncontrolled. It raged across the
land, scourging it with licking flames, driven to consume. In time, it
came to look upon a weary man, chained to a great burning rock. It
possessed the dying man, using him as a vessel for its power and he gave
it direction and purpose - the symbiotic relationship that fashioned
Lord Rahn, God of Fire.

The angels continued their story, detailing the true death of Rahn. How
the relationship between Mebrene and the Hero, the mortal half of the
God, was analogous to the relationship between the Great Spark of
Illumination and the Inner Spark. The ritual brought corruption into
Mebrene's being and, the rebelling spirit could no longer maintain her
relationship with Her vessel. The Hero perished.

Mebrene, weakened and grieving for the loss of Her partner, slept as She
had not slept in eons and though some power within Her still moved fire
to a certain extent, much of the element was dampened and devastated.
When she reawakened, She was once again hungry. At places of fire She
lurked, looking upon every person that passed her by, testing their
mettle and conviction. She whispered through the streets of every city,
even Bloodloch, and probed prospective vessels in Ashtan, Rahn's
volcano, Enorian, and even in private homes.

As the Triad finished their tale, inspiration struck those gathered and
they understood that they should also seek Her a vessel. Immediately,
several people gathered thought of Necia, the young and proud guild
tutor of the Luminaries. Others believed that the answer lay with the
sick child in the chapel of Jaru, but Necia's champion, Daskalos,
persisted and the tutor was called.

Necia was unsure of what was being asked of her, but after careful
deliberation, she decided to give herself to the unquenched flames.
Mebrene tested her and found her wanting, taking her soul from her body
and returning her body back to her people.

Mourning cries went up from the Luminaries and Daru gathered. They
begged the Triad to take the tutor back to the spirit plane where she
could have rest. Undaunted, some ran to the chapel in Jaru where a
tragedy was taking place.

Vixen, the Sentinel's guild tutor that had been guarding the girl,
Vasilus, and several other forest-dwellers had entered the chapel.
Oniala, the small child they had found months earlier wandering the
forests like a terror, burning everything in her wake, was deathly ill.
Her breathing labored and her skin a pasty white, the small child looked
as though she could expire any moment.

When the Enorians arrived, Vixen staunchly defended the girl, telling
everyone that she was just a normal little girl, sick and dying. But,
heat began to radiate through the small church, the white-washed walls
shook as if something had wrapped around it, and motes of light began to
filter through the windows.

Vixen looked down at the small child in her arms, giving a cry of
sadness as she noticed the small girl was dead. A knife-like pillar of
light burst from the ceiling, piercing the little girl's chest and
simultaneously lifting her off Vixen's lap. When it receded, so missing
was the girl's body and everyone waited.

A pillar of light rose upward from the chapel now, filling the sky with
brightness. Consumed and refined, the light began to depict the image of
a woman garbed in white and gird with long chains and white gold. It was
then that Auresae, Goddess of Fire was made known to the realm: the
combination of Mebrene, elemental essence of fire, and a faithful, brave
girl of Rahn's creation.


Penned by my hand on the 4th of Lanosian, in the year 161 MA.