The first thing that Gasalam felt as he woke was heat. An incredible heat that bore upon his skin like a million layers of blankets on a hot day. He could feel liquid running down his skin, sweat no doubt, and his mind was dizzy.

Feeling such unfamiliar sensations, he immediately became upset, afraid and frustrated. It was really uncomfortable, not to mention frightening, but the most important thing that was driving him crazy was the confusion of it all. He didn’t know what was going on! This paired with the suffocating heat and the never-felt-before dizziness, he was on the verge of crying.

He couldn’t even see, not because he was blind, but because he didn’t even realise that his eyes were closed. He was that befuddled. Time stretched and his suffering didn’t diminish, in fact growing worse, but there was nothing he could do. He didn’t know WHAT to do. He groaned with mis-placed effort as his addled mind pushed him to get rid of the discomfort, but whined with despair when he couldn’t find a target to eliminate.

Now, he was feeling the threat of death, and as such, he began to cry without holding back. But that only lasted for about 10 seconds before he suddenly felt a wave of cool air that swamped his body and vanquished the terrifying heat. Something also touched his head and in the next moment his mind was clear.

He snapped his eyes open with a loud gasp as if he had just been saved from drowning, and caught the sight of many red and dark colours. He could also hear now and finally noticed an oddly thick-sounding bubbling noise which sounded weird, but when his vision cleared a little and saw what seemed to be a huge dark mountain, dribbling a slow thick red liquid that erupted with bubbles every now and then, he confirmed that to be the origin of the sound.

‘Where am I?!’ He wondered with terror.

“Welcome to the Burning Nines, boy.” A familiar voice spoke.

He swivelled his head around and caught the sight of a peerlessly handsome man who was shirtless, but with a pair of white shorts and a piece of white cloth draped over his equally white hair. The man had perfect muscles, unblemished skin and glowing golden eyes; it was like he was forged by magic itself, and Gasalam couldn’t help but let his mouth hang open with awe.

‘He looks so cool!’ He inwardly exclaimed, temporarily forgetting his situation. ‘Is he a Grand Elder? He certainly looks powerful enough!’

For some reason, he felt like he had seen those eyes before but he couldn’t place a memory.

“Thank you for your compliment.” The man said, causing his heart to beat.

‘Did I say that outloud?’ He thought with embarrassment.

“As for my identity, I’ll leave that to your own imagination. I suspect that what I’m about to show you will prevent you from completely forgetting this series of events, since it will be important for your future. But I have no doubt that your mind will twist my image into something else for your own sake. Perhaps I’ll really end up being a Grand Elder, haha!”

“What…?” Gasalam asked. He felt like he was having a fever dream. “I don’t understand, um…”

“You can call me ‘E’.” The man said. “And I advise you just go with the flow, it’ll be better for your mental health.”

“Ah…” Gasalam lamely responded. It need not be said that he was completely lost

Everything felt like a dream. Remembering where he was he turned around to get a better look and really and truly, he was surrounded by nothing but dark, bleeding mountains. The liquids were bubbling and smoking, signifying its horrifying heat, but he couldn’t even feel it anymore. His fear of it still lingered, but looking at it like this, seeing but no longer feeling… This just had to be a dream.

He turned back to the man, wanting to seek answers for his current situation even if this was a dream. “Um-”

“Gasalam. The boy who was born from the Tree of Life, possessing a 1st generation body of the utmost purity, who should have been free from any sort of Sin or even emotion at such a young age, strangely… almost became the 1st bearer of the Sin of Wrath 4 years ago at the tender age of 9. How peculiar.”

Gasalam’s heart skipped a beat and for a long time he was stunned. He had never heard the term ‘Sin of Wrath’ before but he had a very good idea of what it could be. His mind flicked to a memory filled with boundless rage that dyed the skies red and he shivered. That was the darkest moment of his life and the end of all that was good in his life. His initial prodigious position as a first generation Elf with a great life ahead of him, snatched away in a single moment.

Thinking about the reactions of his peers, their faces filled with horror and distrust, his heart squeezed once more.

But he hadn’t come this far by moping around in sorrow, the rebellious heart that he had grown since then snapped back with fury. “It wasn’t my fault! It was some kind of mistake! If you know what happened you should know that whatever that was didn’t even last for 10 seconds before it went away. Even the Queen checked me and said I was free of its influence! It’s NOT my fault!”

E raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Out of all the people it could have happened to it happened to you, and yet it’s not your fault? At all?”

“That’s right, damn you! What is this anyway?! You said I should go with the flow and you immediately bring something like that up, are you trying to provoke me?!”

The man stared at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. “HAHAHAHA! You truly turned out well! A great success even! It would have been a waste if you became too angry - causing you to fall to the real emergence of the Sin of Wrath - or if you became too depressed, causing you to be useless. This is good.”