Disclaimer: I do not own the Wheel of Time series. It belongs to Jordan's wife, and Tom Doherty and Associates. I do not profit from writing this.
Author's Note: Written while I was in the middle of reading book 5, The Fires of Heaven. I only own up to book 7 at this point. Maybe I'll be lucky in how everything's turned out. Enjoy!
His very soul burned.
That much was true for Rand al'Thor, but it was not in the way he expected. The fire burning him was not what he had expected. It hurt as it burned him, there was that, but it also felt agonizingly sweet, like honey coating his tongue. It was not the sweet burn of saidin, which was sweet to Rand and life itself . . . or so he had thought.
This was unlike anything Rand had ever truly experienced for the fire felt like liquid as it rolled through his blood. It started in the pit of his belly and spread to his heart, his arms, his legs, his very being. The sensation of sweetness, of sheer happiness, had him feeling as if he were walking among the clouds, tasting the freshness of air for the first time, and giving him a renewed sense of life, of purpose.
Bundled in his arms, and sitting in a simple chair of simple oak next to him, were the two sole reasons for his happiness, for the burning of his soul with such an agonizingly sweet burn. A small hand waved from out of the blankets, tiny fingers forming into a gentle fist, and the newborn burbled quietly. A hint of golden curls peeked out as well, and Rand smiled.
The world lay in ruins, shattered, a wide wake of destruction and chaos, and nations and kingdoms were no more. It was as the prophecies foretold, but Rand could not bring himself to despair over what had been done. The Dark One and the Forsaken were no longer a worry, and that was what Rand had wanted. At the end of everything, there were a few things he knew to be true. The world could be rebuilt, and hope could be found even among the wreckage of chaos and despair. The proof came with the cry of each child born, with the new day rising, and the tears wiped away from every child's face. The proof lay in his arms, in his daughter's smile and laugh.
And his very soul burned with the knowledge.