When the Fire Hive stole the fairies from the human mages, the flying creatures underwent some profound physical changes. The previously thin creatures became full of vitality with silky hair and blood red wings. They now called themselves the Fire Fairies and made a home in the maze inside Mount Morningstar. Like all the creatures that had been changed by the hives, the Fire Fairies discovered that their new bodies came with new powers and abilities. One of the stranger abilities the Fire Fairies discovered was an ability to hide their new powers. According to the Fire Fairies, if they focused their energies they could hide their vitality and ‘revert’ back to their old sickly body.

To the Fire Hive, it sounded a lot like the ability the Kin has to change their body from an animal form to a more human-like form. Almost all the Kin of the Kar Mountains has this ability but the demons lacked this ability and for the most past, the Fire Hive wasn’t too displeased with it. It was a pretty useless power. However what the Fire Fairies did proved to the hive that it could give this changing ability to their creatures. If the Fire Fairies could do it, certainly the Fire Hive could create another creature that can do the same thing right? That was what most of the spirits within the Fire Hive thought and now they had some humans to experiment with.

When the Onis launched the surprise attack on the humans, their attacks was swift, brutal and deadly. They retreated just as quickly as they attacked and when the Onis came back, they had with them three human prisoners. Hellmight wanted them for questioning and the Fire Hive was delighted by the humans’ presence. In life, sometimes things just work out. Some people call this fate; others call it luck; the spirits within the Fire Hive call it “another sign of our geniuses!” They immediately told the Onis to bring the prisoners to their room and the spirits launched a discussion/argument conference. When the prisoners were bought in front of the hive, the spirits were ready.

As usual, the Fire Hive didn’t have anything to go on but their instinct and that was just fine. After so many demons they knew what to do. They selected the first of the humans and released the energy they had gathered on her. Most of the spirits within the Fire Hive were part of the hive of the Kar Mountain so they knew how the process of changing a creature went. The original hive usually focused the energy they gathered on a creature and changed it by focusing on an aspect of the creature. For example if the original wanted wings on a creature, the spirits within the hive would think of birds and the energy would change the creatures accordingly. However what the Fire Hive did was slightly different. The Fire Hive was fire; it was heat; it was flames; and the human burned!

Flames engulfed the human and the Fire Hive sensed the terror of the human and her companions. It was sweet energy. The demon did not tie the human up, there was no need, and the flaming human stood up, slapping the flames on her body. The futile gesture was useless and the spirits within the Fire Hive laughed. Creatures always did that. The flames around the human soared. Around the room of the Fire Hive, the other demons roared their approval and screamed their chant.

“BURN!”

“BURN!”

“BURN!”

The Fire Hive did not understand why the demons do this. It was something the demons just started doing on their own whenever the hive began changing a creature but the spirits did not dislike it. Most of them like having an approving audience. The human stopped slapping at the flames when she realized that she wasn’t in pain. The look of terror on her face changed to one of bewilderment and the Fire Hive knew that the change was about to begin. Ignoring the actions of the human, the spirits within the Fire Hive focused on the flames and thought about what it wanted. The Fire Hive wanted a demon that could change to look like a normal human and…wait, did it have to be a demon? Why did it have to be a demon? Some of the spirits within the Fire Hive asked and the confusion affected the energy accordingly.

It started at her feet. A glow within the flames and the glow started at the feet of the flaming human. Slowly the glow went up to her knees and onto her body. The human noticed this and stopped moving. The Fire Hive knew she was beginning to feel it; she was beginning to feel the change. The glow slowly went up the human’s body and once it reached the top of her head, the glow and the flames around her body disappeared together.

The spirits within the Fire Hive focused on the human. She looked totally normal but for her eyes which were now bright red. All that energy spent and all the Fire Hive got was a human/demon with flaming eyes? The spirits were in a panic. They wanted something that could look like a normal human but they didn’t want someone this normal! Had the Fire Hive been too successful? The answer was no. Just as the spirits within the Fire Hive were in heated discussion, flames abruptly erupted from the hands of the human. The spirits within the Fire Hive weren’t too surprised by this, creatures they changed before had much more power than just a pair of flaming hands, but the human was clearly shocked. The spirits within the Fire Hive did not understand this and they weren’t the only ones. A demon with the tail of a snake approached the flaming human and asked.

“Are you all right? My name is Apep. I know the change is…difficult but why are you so shocked by your flames?”

The human looked at the demon numbly and spoke. “Flames…but I’m a hunter. I can’t use magic.”

The spirits did not understand why this was shocking but it clearly was. Apep slithered back in shock and the room was filled with loud whispers. The other demons were surprised and the Fire Hive quickly noticed that those who called them ‘Mages’ were more than surprised; they were shocked! The Fire Hive knew this was big news but it also wish someone would tell it what it did that was so great? A human with flaming eyes and hands is…well, nothing.

Luckily for the spirits, a spider demon saved the day. The spider demon approached the flaming human and touched her. The Fire Hive knew the demon was casting a spell on the human but had no idea what spell it was. Whatever the spell was, the spider demon was clearly troubled by it. The demon gave a reluctant nod and announced to the other demons the result of the spell.

“She’s no mage. She can’t use Mana.” The spider demon turned to the Fire Hive and gave it a look of worship. “The Master had created a human that could cast spells without using Mana. It’s…it’s a new form of spellcasting; something that comes not from the spirits within the world but from within our body. Master, what is this called?”

The Fire Hive was quiet. It gave no answer to the demons and the demons took this as a sign that their Master wanted them to come up with a name on their own. In time, this new form of spellcasting would be called sorcery. A form of magic that uses the energy within one’s body, it was a faster form of spellcasting that came with a trade-off of being less powerful and more tiring than normal magic. Their practitioners would be known as “Sorcerers”, a class of magic-users that was different from the far more common “Mages”. However that was in the future. Right now the spirits within the Fire Hive were in an argument of their own.

“A way to cast spells without using spirits…” a spirit within the Fire Hive asked in despair. “Did we idiots just invent a way to kick ourselves out of our jobs?”