A sea of flames.

That was the one description that came to Fen's mind when his vision returned.

'Am I dead?'

With the memory of his body melting down under the relentless onslaught of flames still vivid in his mind, this was the single explanation that seemed to make any sense.

A quick look around only served to confirm that albeit flawed, a sea of flames was what surrounded the young man for as far as his eyes could see.

'So this is where people go after death? Or was the inquisitor actually right about me being a heretic?'

In the current state, there was no point mentioning how long did Fen took to arrive at such a conclusion. In this place, there was simply no time to speak about.

But upon a closer, more attentive inspection, this seemingly endless flat surface of liquified fire, wasn't as simple as it appeared initially. Starting with places that looked just like some small hills, this seemingly flat plane turned out to be way more diverse than that.

Yet, it was pretty hard to actually look at its wonders. At some places, structures as grand and motionless as mountains in the living world appeared, only for their foothold to appear as if it was constantly washed by the waves of now moving fire.

'If this is some kind of purgatory, why can't I feel anything?'

Despite several attempts, no voice came out from Fen's mouth, limiting him to just his thoughts alone. It was as if outside his vision, no other senses could convey the message of what this place was.

Looking down, in an attempt to at least inspect his own state, Fen froze, as much as one could do so while being literally in the middle of the endless sea of flames.

He had no body whatsoever!

'Just what the hell…'

With his mind now starting to panic, as rather than seeing his own flesh or at least even something attempting to pose as his body, he could only see a small, thin hill of fire. Just this single look was enough to find out, that his entire existence was now limited to an unknown stone, floating at the very top of the local hill of fire, appearing as if it was responsible for pulling it up!

Yet, as if the wonders of this place were doomed to remain uncovered, something changed.

Despite there being both stationary and moving parts of the sea, in one moment, it seemed as if the entirety of the place was stirred into motion. In what appeared to be some kind of disaster, previously calm surface of the fire was now rising rapidly, as if an enormous force was trying to scare Fen out of his pants… that is if he had any on himself right now!

But once again, before this wave of fire that easily reached fifteen times the height of the hill that was now Fen's body, could hit the young man, everything stopped. And just like that, this wall of flames stopped right in front of the deceased youth.

Drop.

As if allowing Fen any rest to actually comprehend what was going on was the greatest heresy, this mighty wall of flame started falling apart, revealing a mighty figure of an enormous bird hidden within said flame!

Just a single look at its features was enough to make any sane man drop to his knees only to spend the rest of his life bowing to this godlike creature. But rather than flaunting its overwhelming authority towards someone as small as Fen, this bird flapped its wings, creating a small tendril of fire.

Plop.

Taking the form that was a perfect copy of Fen's old body right when this thread of fire touched the surface, this strange avatar looked directly into where Fen's vision was coming from.

"Hqeufn, dnoq ibednar."

It was hard to expect any reaction from the young man. Not only he was facing the most glorious sight he had even chance to lay his eyes upon, but this overwhelmingly powerful creature was trying to communicate with him right now!

What a pity that he couldn't understand even a single word of what it said though!

"Afeon cberian kakete?"

Opening its mouth again, this flame avatar once again tried to convey some sort of message, only for it to fall on Fen's deaf eyes. This time, rather than pushing for another attempt, the bird only shook his beak in what looked like a… resignation? Before flapping its wings once again.

But this time, the tips of what could only be described as a work of fire art, actually touched what appeared to be Fen's new body!

FIRE!

With the entire confusing place vanishing as suddenly as it appeared in the first place, Fen was once again back on his real feet. A quick look at his own body confirmed that albeit naked, he was still made with proper muscles, bones and skin.

"What the hell…"

The place where the young man appeared to be, was both familiar and completely foreign. While the line of threes, several small hills and a joke of a mountain indicated that he should be right in the middle of this village, there was nothing around him but a flat ground!

"What is this…"

In one moment, a stray shine of the moonlight reflected on the ground. Prompted by this sight, Fen lowered himself on his knees, touching the strange substance that seemed to cover the entire area.

"Ash?"

With the bad premonition born deep within his guts, Fen's legs started to move by themselves. In just a few moments, he was standing in front of what seemed to be the only building left intact in the entire area.

Beyar's hut…

"Argh!"

Barely able to even let this sound out of his suddenly tense stomach, Fen has fallen on all fours, overwhelmed by the instant appearance of an overwhelming hunger. Feeling as if he was starved for days, the one thought in his mind was to find some food!

"Where…"

Unable to even form a single sentence, the young man crawled inside the building, directing himself with nothing but his sense of smell. Even during the day, the insides of this hut were almost entirely covered in darkness, making his eyes completely useless with just the slight shine of the moon.

In just a few moments, right as Fen felt that he couldn't move his hand even an inch further, the scent of the smoked meat finally got a company of the something soft in his hand.

Instantly forcing the piece that he found down to the level of his mouth, Fen bit into his newly found meal without any reservation. By the time the piece he pulled apart from the rest was gone, he regained enough strength to raised up and feast on the rest of his dinner that remained strapped on a smoking hook.

"To think that the part that was supposed to belong to the master, would end up as my last meal in the village…"

Feed to the point where he could finally connect the dots, Fen decided that thinking whether it was the inquisitors that burned the village or himself, was not something he could do right now. Just the fact that he was still alive, despite clearly his body clearly melting to nothing more than a pile of ashes, meant that the forces that were at play here exceeded his understanding by a huge margin!

"I guess, I don't have anything to do here anymore…"

Ignoring the potential guilt of being responsible for killing everyone in this place, Fen rummaged through the hut before finally finding some old rags that could be used in place of his old hunter suit. Even though his fire could keep him warm, parading in the birthday suit would surely attract loads of unwanted attention!

"Let's go."

With the remainder of the food that he found in the hut neatly wrapped in a small piece of cloth, Fen took one last look at the empty field of ash that used to be the village where he spent his entire life, before decisively turning his head towards the forest.

'I can't just go to the road. I would starve out before I would reach any civilisation. I guess that leaves the forest path then.'

END OF THE PROLOGUE