Prolog:
It was a quiet night, before this all started. I was relaxing in bed on the edge of sleep. Rain gently puttered down the sides of the room I lay in, making a peculiar sound on the glass that I knew was somewhere to the left. The cool metal of my mask pressed against my face, and my empty eye sockets. My staff was propped up against the opposite wall. I could feel the people walking outside, and underneath, and in the adjoining room. Magical energy, the souls of the hundreds of people around me. I rolled over, preparing to end the long day...
What was that? It had sounded like a scream... There was a terrible energy field, outside the house. So many people...They were coming inside. I heard Maria, the housekeeper, screech. Lots of footsteps... I tried to peer through the darkness, to see what was going on, but it was useless. Even in there wasn't a low golden crown in the way, I wouldn't have been able to see. The Shrine had seen to that. I heard stomping outside. I suddenly realized that they might be coming for me, and I lurched out of bed. My robes dragged across the floor, trying to get to-
BANG. The door smashed open. I could hear the breathing of the people, and the amount of energy they all gave off... It shone like a spotlight in my sightless eye sockets. I was dazzled, confused, and tired. I couldn't even make one step towards my staff before a rough hand seized me around the wrist. Two more followed suit on my other side. I struggled, but I couldn't have matched them for strength, not even had I been fully awake. I was hauled, my fingers flailing uselessly for the staff, the one thing in the room that would let me grind my attackers to dust without a second thought. They dragged my from my room, the cold air biting my skin. The fire in the room, while invisible, was warm. I started shivering.
A voice. Rough, like sandpaper, but sneering. "What's wrong, lil lady? Sceered?"
"..no."
"Liar."
I was hauled down the stairs, bare feet dragging on the rough wooden floor. As my captors passed through the room downstairs, I smelled something burning, metallic. ...oh no.
I was thrown roughly out into the street, robes now soaking wet from the ground. I felt the drizzle of rain on my head, and down my cheeks.
"What do you WANT?!"
My voice spiraled up into a screech at the end. I was livid, and scared. The man just laughed. A pair of hands seized me around the middle, and tossed me, as if I was nothing but a bale of summer hay, onto a cart. I could tell it was a cart, because it was currently moving at top speed down the road. More hands. These were softer, but not by that much. They tied something around my wrists, binding them behind my back. I struggled, but the grip was surprisingly firm. Then, a voice in my ear.
"...I'm sorry."
I recoiled. The voice was familiar.
The cart bumped along the road, coming to a halt in front of a massive, pulsating source of energy. I was dragged out of the cart, my face hitting a dirt path, soggy with rain. I was yanked to my feet, and pulled forward, to face the source. I heard the crackle of flames. Rain had soaked underneath my mask by now, mixing with the tears flowing from where my eyes should be.
My captors stopped. I was tied unwillingly to something that felt like wood. I strained. There was something incredibly hot in front of me. I felt a hand brush my cheek, before taking the mask from my head. My face was bombarded with heat, all the energy of the apparent flames leaning toward me.
"...Goodbye, Lady Elaine."
The frame was pushed forward. I felt my robes ignite, and I screamed. I was pushing against the burning wooden frame, trying desperately to escape but to no avail.
"...may you serve us well as a Lady of Cinder."
I lapsed into unconsciousness, my flesh burning.