Hot.

The air was scorching. The smell of roasting flesh and boiling skin burned Rall's nostrils. He needed to move, but he could only worm through the ash-covered ground. An explosion boomed in the distance. The scene became dark with smoke and bright with ember.

I've been here before.

A golden light shone in the distance. Safety. The last safe place in a world of fire. Rall could only crawl towards it.

A fruitless struggle. The light is still far.

No! Crawl some more. Every inch counts, even a single speck of dust closer.

You are dying. It's too late, how would you even reach that far? Give in the cold embrace, and you'll finally have your peace. There is no need to suffer in this hell.

Don't give in! Keep going! Too many questions left unanswered, too many promises unkept.

The golden light glowed even brighter now, closer. Ashen branches extended to the struggling mage, offering refuge. The tepid air they brought felt like ointment for Rall's burning skin.

Almost there. One last push.

Something suddenly pulled him from behind, painfully gripping his ankles with scorching hands. Death would not let him slip away unscathed.

Give in to despair. There is no such thing as hope in this place!

The ground trembled, the atmosphere froze. A dazzling pulse of jade erupted from the tree, forcibly pushing death away. His ankle free, Rall returned to his desperate climb. He finally reached the tree, sinking his charred body upon its trunk. It was pleasantly cold, the air clean from the dust and the ash.

"You made it here," an ancient voice growled.

"I don't know how..." Rall replied. His voice was weak, his breathing ragged, his consciousness fading.

"Your carelessness almost killed you. Alas, the will of your ancestry still holds strong." There was contempt in those words, judgment in its tone. It gave off the same energy as a parent scolding their kid.

"Am I talking to a tree?" It was not a rhetorical question. Not that Rall had any energy left for irony anyway.

"I am a concept, one embedded deep inside your soul. Dormant, vigilant. This tree is only a form your subconscious has conjured. One that you would understand."

The light mage nodded lightly, leaning his burned body on the jade bark of the tree. Focus slowly returned to his blurry vision. He was under an ash-colored tree, the same shade as his hair. Golden veins pumped amber sap through the ancient trunk, the last bastion of life in an unending plain of fire and death.

"I saw you. When I reached for my truename, you were there..."

"Listen well, kid. There is great power in your blood, but you woke me too soon. Learn my name now - the first of your truename - and it will consume you. And do not even try learning the others first. They would not be as patient as I am. Force them awake, and they will burn you alive."

Rall swallowed down, sensing the truth in the ancient voice. He inherently knew that the tree would not lie. It was part of him. However...

"I need all the power I can get as quickly as possible. Soon, I will take part in a fight that I have no hopes of winning. I cannot postpone it too long."

There was a pause, and Rall ignored how long it lasted. A second, a year, maybe somewhere in between. It did not feel too short, nor too long.

"Yes... I can sense a terrible foreign power keeping our soul hostage. I cannot help you get rid of it. Not alone, at least. There are other entities, however, orbiting around our being. One is gentle, stubborn, in love. Another yet slumbers. Then there's the rest of your truename. You should work this out before their awakening."

Rall's eyes opened wide as he took his time to ponder over the significance of those few awaited words. Was the tree talking about Tui? Then who was the other? And was there really a way to free himself of Lilith's contract? Maybe, he could find answers in Telessia. His father often talked about how great the national library was. He had to give it an honest try, at the very least. Still, he would have to tread carefully to avoid breaking the contract.

And what about Sharyah? He could certainly not confide those thoughts with her, but she might know how to cancel a soul contract. Should he threaten her with the Chains of Heaven? There was so much to consider.

Suddenly, he felt something tug at his body. He felt the warm touch of gentle hands caress his cheeks. "What is happening?" He asked as his body rose from the scorched ground.

"You get to live some more," the tree said with a grave chuckle. It seemed happy that Rall had made it through.

The hellish scene started to fade away. But Rall felt it was too soon. The tree seemed wise and trustworthy, and there was so much he still had to ask. And yet he knew. There was only time for one question.

"You said it was too soon. When will I learn your- my name?" Rall hurriedly asked.

This time, the silence was short, but it felt like ages to Rall as the tree slowly disappeared from his view. Fortunately, its growling laugh persisted.

"Remember, kid. There is no shortcut to destiny."

With those words, the tree's voice left Rall's ears. Blinding whiteness invaded his vision, together with new hope in his heart. We swore to meet the tree again, someday. Then, maybe, he would finally learn its name.

***

Rall's eyes twitched when he tried opening them. Weakly he lifted his trembling eyelids but was instantly forced to squint against the blinding lights of early morning.

Senses slowly returned to his numbed body, a wave of tingles traversing him from head to toes as his muscles woke up. It was then that he noticed the warm embrace of clean white blankets, the softness of the mattress underneath him that welcomed his body to sink in just enough for him to rest comfortably. In all his life, Rall had never experienced a bed so luxurious.

"R-Rall? RALL!" A shout echoed in his mind.

With eyes still out of focus, he noticed a ghostly white hand caressing his cheek. It wasn't touching, but something closer to the heat from a small candle.

"Rall! Are you awake?!"

"Tui..." he whispered. Through the bond of their souls, he felt a powerful wave of happiness and relief from the mermaid. Tears of light sparkled down on him. She must have been holding it in. Thank you for always being there, Tui.

"Tui, where are we?" He asked.

She did not reply immediately, first recomposing herself and her emotions enough to speak coherently. "We are in Lady Sharyah's villa, near the borders of Alcia."

His brows creased. He tried to visualize the maps in his memory, but his mind was still foggy. The last place he remembered was somewhere near the edge of the Tundra, so he could make a rough estimate of how far they'd gone.

"That's... how long have I been asleep?"

"Three whole weeks."

"Three weeks?" He repeated. Had he possessed the strength to, he would've jumped off the bed at the revelation.

"Yes. The tail of that Urutomo was coated with the toxin from a Nyuvwira. Sharyah's response was quick, and even then, it still required a miracle..." she said, sobbing from the memory of the near past.

A tingle around his left thigh told Rall that the area was tightly bandaged. No wonder. He had heard of the Nyuvwira, the infamous Hundred-Heads Serpent that dominated the swamps to the south of the Aks'ala. The stories said that its venom was so potent that the tribes of old would use it to weaken dragons. The only people in History to have survived its sting had been powerful Martial Masters who used their immaculate control of internal energy to expel the poison from their systems.

And now, a young light mage was added to that short list. The tree's words returned to the forefront of Rall's mind.

The will of your ancestry still holds strong, it had said.

Several times in his short life, Rall had survived conditions that would've killed normal humans without difficulty. He had fought off the Fog in the Dead Plains for a whole week without food, water, or any real sleep. He had lived through two attacks by the Inquisition, then passed the deadly Trials of ancient Entities beyond this world. And now, he had even survived the venom of a Nyuvmara in the middle of the Northern Tundra.

If it happened once, it was a miracle. Two times it was an absolute anomaly. But now, the instances were piling up, and they were simply too many to ignore.

"Tui, can I ask you something?"

"Of course. I can sense that something is bothering you."

"What did you feel when I was dying? Was there a time when something... let's say strange, happened?" He asked.

"Hmm..." she pondered, reflexively putting her chin on her left hand even though they were both immaterial and weightless. "You were there. Just smaller."

"Is that all?"

Her eyes suddenly brightened up - literally, since they were made of pure light. "Actually, there was this one time. It happened right after you passed out. I felt something tremble inside of me like it was sending you energy. At the time, I thought it was because you were dying, and I was getting siphoned away with you."

Something inside her sent him energy? Was it the other soul the tree was talking about? Could it be his original Fairylight? Ayol the Wise had said that Fairylights were fragments of souls...

Then again, there were too many mysteries around his identity and, to be honest, the nature of light magic itself.

Rall thought back. There was something else he could do other than hit a library. In his letter, his father had told him to search for a certain Alyssia Bright. If Theodore trusted her, he would too. But how in hell would he find a person in the Capital? Anyhow, the following weeks were about to be hectic.

"Rall, is something wrong?" Tui asked since he felt him fall deep in thought.

"Tui, I want to tell you my objectives. I have never done that before, so bear with me. Through the years, I have been mostly reactive. Other people and their desires have shaped my life. From that damned blacksmith to Sharyah, from that idiot avian Prince to Conrad. And now it's Their turn. I say, no more," he said telepathically.

"What do you mean?"

"I have reason to believe that we can break Lilith's contract. I don't yet know how, but knowing that the possibility exists got me thinking. What is it that I want?"

"Your mind has settled. Does that mean you know now?" Tui asked, her tone weirdly hopeful like she'd been waiting for this moment for a long time.

"I want to become stronger, that much hasn't changed. Moreover, it's necessary to break the contract. To do that, I need to learn who I am, who was my mother, who ordered Dad killed and maybe even why. There is this family acquaintance in Telessia. She is as good a place as any to start," Rall said.

"Ok, this seems good," Tui said, nodding. However, something silently tugged at the strings of her emotions, and Rall knew exactly what it was.

"I'm not done. I promised I would do my best to rescue your sister from the King of Skies, and that's exactly what I'll do. We might be able to use this war to get closer to that objective."

A single luminous tear fell from Tui's eyes. She just nodded. She could feel his resolve. That was enough.

They stood there, long enough for Rall to slowly push his upper body out of the covers. His lean naked core looked thinner than before, almost unhealthily so. "I guess I'll need some time to recover."

"Rall. I am happy that you want to take your destiny into your own hands, but there is something I need to ask," Tui said, her voice turning serious. "What happens if you can't get free of the contract?"

"Then we fight the Goddess of Light. The Fog has tortured our world for so long. I've seen the suffering it brings, the way it warps good people into starving beasts. I wouldn't feel bad about freeing the Continent of its tyranny."

At that moment, someone knocked on the door seven times, following a strange pattern. "Hide!" Rall whispered.

"Don't worry, it's Sharyah," Tui quickly answered.

The door's knob turned, opening the passage for a masked Lady Sharyah in a rich velvet dress. Her usual silent steps were now loud knocks of high heels on the pavement's wood. The way she was dressed, all frills and elaborate jewelry, would've been more appropriate for a high society ball than a simple bedroom at noon. Lady Sharyah, however, moved with the confidence and grace of a lioness, making her voluminous dress seem both right and even comfortable. Which, looking at her tight corset, it really couldn't be.

As soon as she entered, her crimson eyes met with Rall's, and a cheeky smile appeared on her face. The mage looked down and remembered that he was completely naked. His face turned slightly red, and he gripped the hem of the white blankets to cover himself as best as he could. Fortunately, only his upper body was exposed.

"So fierce in battle, and yet so awkward with the ladies. We'll have to fix that, Mr. Rall," Sharyah said in her classical low and sultry tone. "And don't worry about covering up. I've already seen all there was to see. And I have to say, I'm impressed," she said before licking her lips seductively.

After that comment, Rall's face became even redder, and even Tui facepalmed. Sharyah then turned to the floating mermaid, and the two exchanged a respectful nod of their heads. The air between them had changed drastically from the open hostility of a few weeks ago. They even exchanged a simple set of gestures. The demoness nodded again before turning to Rall once more.

"So, I'm happy to see you awake. You must be hungry. I'll have someone bring food and refreshments," Sharyah said.

As if on queue, Rall's stomach took that opportunity to rumble as loudly as it could, adding to his embarrassment another tick.

"Thank you. And, thank you for saving my life, Sharyah."

"My boy, it's my mission to keep you healthy and strong. Plus, I haven't tasted you yet, so I can't let you die."

Tasted me? Does she want to eat me or something? That last comment left Rall more confused than embarrassed. As for Tui, she just shook her head once more.

"Now now, eat up and take your time to recover. When you can stand on your feet without wobbling, come find me. There is a future waiting to be discussed," the lady of the house said, before elegantly turning her heels, and closing the door behind her.