Keldoran stood at the top of a volcano, peering down into the chasm of molten red lava which belched and hissed as it churned and bubbled below him.
He was dreaming – he had to be dreaming. He had no recollection of how he could possibly be here. Yet this dream felt so alive! He could feel the incredible heat searing his flesh. He could smell the foul reek of sulphur. He could taste the dry, hot ash that blew into his mouth.
He could sense his excitement – his unparalleled exhilaration and adrenaline rush. His blood pumped with power; with magick. His whole life had led him to this moment. The magick flowed through him; was a part of him. The volcano below seethed with power, as did his entire being. He felt at one with this fiery mountain. He felt at home.
His body urged him to leap from his precipice and join the fierce dance of lava. He would be one with the flow of the earth, the molten core of the land. Without a moment to consider his safety, or his certain death, Keldoran fell, his face grinning as the magick flowed through him, rushing to meet the boiling world.
He hit the rushing sea of lava head first. His body sank into the flaming miasma of death, embracing it. His skin burned and dissolved. His muscles and ligaments oozed through cracks in his skeleton. Soon, as he descended further, only bone was left – this too started to crumble and turn to ash. His skull lingered his grin as it shattered into nothingness.
All that remained was a soul, embedded in a glow of magick, and somehow, consciousness.
Euphoria caressed his mind. The further he travelled, passing through lava and metamorphic stone, the heightened his pleasure became. His soul was dancing, seeking out the heat of the molten landscape and revelling in its power. Bobbing and weaving in the red ocean, the magick guided his soul to the very core of the planet – the very source of Elrohen.
He felt the land’s pain, the soul of the world mingling with his, and others drawn to it just as he had done. He detected other auras of magick, other souls, and other beings of even greater magnitude. Then he was speeding away again, flowing on through the red ocean, heading upwards once more.
In a surge, his soul erupted from the scorching abyss to soar back to the top of the volcano. Once there, the magick that was part of him flared as bright as the nearest star.
Bone formed from the air, spinning inexorably in a macabre dance. Tendons and joints were added, then a thin covering of skin. With a silent scream, he bonded once more to his body, reborn, and fuelled with the energies that were the essence of stars.
