Rating: T
Warnings: This is a "People from earth come to Velgarth" story. Don't like, don't read. Also, non explicit slash
Summary: Not every crazy person is really crazy, and sometimes not every challenge can be solved by that worlds materials. It's then that the gods get involved. Selenay thought she know how her life would play out. She's just found out she was wrong.
Pairings: No Canons really. So all pairings are OCxOC
Notes: This is just about how Selenay gets to Velgarth. So don't get antsy about not seeing familiar surroundings in this chap. Although those with sharp eyes might see a familiar face before their name is announced.
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A sudden breath broke the quiet of the house at just after midnight on the summer solstice.
Amber eyes flecked thickly with mossy green stared blankly into the darkness of the room as Selenay Delasangre awoke. She couldn't say for sure what it was that had called her to consciousness. Dreamily, without thinking about it, she uncurled her legs and threw off her covers, turning to slide off her bed. Picking a lighter up from her bedside table she stood up.
Dressed in a loose camisole and a pair of tight- fitting grey shorts Selenay's lean form was on display, from lean shapely legs to her slender hips to the fire red hair that fell to mid- back. Her eyes were slightly glazed as she slipped out of her room into the dimly lit hall outside.
Avoiding creaky boards with practice she ghosted down the stairs and around the house to the back door. Unlocking it with quick and skilled fingers she slipped, barefoot, out into the shadows of the night.
Her bangs fell slightly over her eyes as she walked quietly along a narrow path deep into the woods. Finding a clearing she gathered kindling from the trees that surrounded the small natural glen. Arranging the some of the small sticks into a pyramid with the careful skill of long practice, she found some dead grass for tinder, and nudged it in between two of the twigs. She set the rest of the kindling aside. Clicking the lighter, she watched in fascination as the flame lit over the black casing. Blinking she turned her attention to the small pyramid of sticks and lit a bit of the dead grass that would light quickly and set the whole pyramid aflame.
The grass caught instantly and the pyramid glowed as it burned exactly as she had imagined it would. Greenish eyes glowed with the flames reflected in their surfaces. A kind of exaltation leapt in Selenay's heart at the sight of those flames. This was her flame, brought to life by her. But it was not like it usually was. Suddenly it faded and Selenay frowned at the fire. This was not what she should do, she knew without knowing how she knew. She was meant to do something much greater.
Turning her back on the flames, she created another pyramid, but this time didn't waste any dried grass for tinder. Instead she simply placed her right index finger on the tip of the carefully constructed pyramid and murmured forcefully, "Burn."
The pyramid instantly burst into glittering red and gold flames, bending around Selenay's hand until she removed it from where it had been in the path of the flames. It burned nearly without smoke, almost too hot for anything of that sort to rise. It was this fire that captivated Selenay's attention until she heard a slow clapping behind her. She stood up and whirled to face the noisemaker, turning her back on the flames. He was a lean, saturnine man, with lion gold hair and reddish gold eyes. His face was deeply lined, and tanned to a leathery deep brown. He smiled at her and said, "Congratulations child. You have found what you were to do."
Selenay found herself unable to do more than stare at him. She felt no surprise at what she had just done; it felt perfectly natural to her. It was the man who held her silent. She felt he was incredibly important, but she didn't know how. He smiled at her, his lined face looking more approachable in the more cheerful expression.
"Very good little one. Remember how you did it though, or this lesson is pointless." He said, his voice kind, with a lilting accent that reminded her of the time she had spent in Ireland when she was younger.
Nodding dreamily she stood up, not bothering to brush herself off. The man looked her over, and while she normally would have blushed at such an inspection she found herself worried about being found wanting, rather than irritated.
His smile broadened, but did so kindly, and a bit sadly. When he spoke again it was quietly, seriously.
"You won't be accepted here you know flame- child. They won't let anyone with your gifts run free." He looked saddened as he said this, and Selenay scowled, still disinclined to say a word. There was more to what he was saying than just that. When he seemed like he wouldn't continue she raised an inquisitive eyebrow to prompt him forward.
The man laughed softly. "Clever girl. Yes. I can give you passage to another world. A world that will not only accept your gifts, but cherish you for them. It will not be an easy life, but it will be one that is freer from persecution than your life here will be, should you choose to stay."
She cocked her head, turning the proposal over in her mind, examining it from all the angles she could think of. Finally she opened her mouth, speaking quietly. "What about Jack? Will he be able to follow me?"
The man sighed and ran a hand through his golden hair. "He will face his own choice flame- child. And if he accepts, then he will join you in that other world. If he does not then he won't."
Biting her lip Selenay nodded. She dropped unfocused eyes to her bare feet, still unsure. "What about where you're going to send me? What's that place like?" she asked, almost shyly.
The golden- eyed man smiled sadly at her as he replied. "I can't tell you that. You have to make your choice now. Stay here in the world you know, or go into another world, completely foreign to you?"
Chewing nervously on her lip now, Selenay gave her reply. "I'll go. I'll go to that other world." Her fingers were twitching nervously as well, unnoticed by her sides. She clenched and unclenched her hands, flicking out her fingers and curling them back again.
The man chuckled sadly. "I rather thought you would Selenay." He gave her name an odd pronunciation, SEL-en-ay, rather than the SEE-len-ay she was used to. "I give you passage, so I asked, so you willed, so let it be."
At his almost ritualistic words a pillar of white fire blazed up, surprising Selenay. The only sign however, was the slight tightening of her facial muscles and the way she swayed back from the snowy, heatless flames. Slowly the flames wove into an archway of white tendrils, so intricate you couldn't tell where one stopped and another began. The space within the archway slowly filled with silvery mist until it became a mirror-like wall in front of the teenager.
Selenay was standing stiffly before the eldritch gateway, now nervous and very unsure she had made the right choice. The lilting voice of the strange golden- eyed man came to her, as if from a distance. "Walk forward Selenay. Walk forward to your destiny."
She gasped, gripping onto the only lifeline to sanity she had left. Turning, she faced him once more. "Will I see you again?" she asked, scared.
A soft, gentle chuckle was her reply. "Of course flame- child. I am most interested in how your story plays out."
Greenish- amber eyes met bright red- gold and the tension slowly drained from Selenay's slim form. "And when I see you again, what do I call you?" she asked quietly, tired.
A smile curved the man's lips, creasing his face and smoothing its forbidding planes. "Call me Vykandis, flame- child. Now go! The gateway will fade soon!"
Shocked, Selenay followed the instructions numbly, turning and stepping through the quicksilver mirror set between woven white tendrils. As she disappeared at last, Vykandis sighed sadly, his smile fading and his features rearranging in a somber cast. He watched as a perfect facsimile of Selenay Delasangre's form shimmered into existence by the two fires the child had lit. It was arranged as if sleeping, and a slow rising and falling of the duplicates chest imitated breathing. A glare at the fires themselves and they burst into furious pyres, slowly blending into one enormous fires, spreading slowly at first, then more and more swiftly. They soon reached the duplicate of the flame- child, and consumed the facsimile swiftly, leaving behind little more than well charred bones.
Vykandis was surprised by how much it hurt to see even a copy of the child be consumed by flames. Perhaps it was simply too much like how Lava had died in his mortal incarnation so many human years ago.
It was certainly not that the infuriating child had gotten close to him over the few minutes they had been talking. He liked mortals yes, but they died.
He had not gotten attached, he told himself firmly. He simply would be unhappy if he was deprived of the entertainment that this mortal would provide.
But he couldn't quite silence the soft, subtle voice in his heart that murmured quietly that this flame- child was different, and that she was his.