Naya. A plane of absolute harmony. Life, growth, and order are all abundant here. But with the lack of blue mana, my red spells are all I can depend on. I let air flow through my nostrils and into my lungs. I took one step forward, prepared to find my past friends. I was going to rebuild earth. Suddenly, all the trees in front of me snapped, letting loose a torrent of splintered thorns and branches. I drew my breath in, widened my legs and allowed hell itself to flow from my jaws. The creature, a baloth woodcrasher, burned under my flames. Soon not but a smoking corpse was left resting on the floor. I drew a fiery hellhound to my side and mounted. I pulled an machete from the aether and drew in breath. Without blue mana I would have to resort to old fashioned tracking. But ten years is easily enough time for tracks to fade.
I searched for weeks. No sign of humanity entirely. I drew my eyelids closed and slumped down to the ground. My hellhound curled around me, giving me warmth. Five hours I slept, deep and full of dreams. Thwack! A paw sliced at my face. I let out a deep snarl just before my hell hound pounced, turning the nacatl into a pile of charred meat. I looked left and right. Nine were directly nearby but I still felt odd. Suddenly hundreds of nacatl fell from the trees, surrounding us like no other. Guess it's time to try out my new trick, I thought. sparks flew from my gloves and I twisted my wrists to drive the ground upward. The street spasm worked just as well on the ground as it did on the streets. Fifty meters out there were no trees, no nacatl, no rocks. Just smooth earth in a perfect circle. My hellhound strode forth from outside the circle. It stood, once barely inside, and turned to point its nose directly into the forest, into that which I could not see. I clambered aboard my hellhound's back as fast as I could, already in motion by the time my hands reached it. I felt uplifted, excited even. A smile crept onto my face and my eyes began to well up with tears. Suddenly my hellhound an I burst forth from the clearing. There, people went about their daily lives, draped in cloths from only one plane. Earth. A sudden club hit me just below the skull. Everything was consumed by blackness.
"I'm telling you it's not him!
"How else do you explain that shirt?"
"It's Wesley trying to trick us again! We should kill him now."
"Noah!" An older voice shouted.
"Ahh what the fuck was that for?" I called out. The others in the room drew in a quick breath. The elder voice spoke again,
"he's awake." I recognized the voice now. An old friend, my journalism teacher and newspaper advisor Ms. Phillips. With Ms. Phillips in mind the other voices fit with names in my head. Noah I was sure of but was the other... I opened my eyes only to see May, my close friend. Tears began to flow from my eyes.
"How the hell did you get here?" May asked, eager to inquire upon my journeys. I kept nothing from her. Every inch of my tales was wonder to her ears. She always loved stories, and our sharing continued into the dark hours of the night. The man who had taken them here was Ajani Goldmane, and I owed him everything. He saved hundreds of innocent lives, and this particular town was Grandview High. Almost everyone was in their twenties, and most had already wed, if not had children. Later into our conversation I questioned, "what about you? Any love interests, any children?" I received soft snoring for an answer. May had fallen asleep in my lap, and I lay my head along the wall not much later and fell asleep myself.

Hours into the morn I began to stand. May quickly grabbed my leg. "Don't go," she started, "Jac-" I smashed my boot into her face, easily breaking skull.
"Last time I checked you called me Wilson, May," I said in a mocking tone, "oops, my bad, you go by Lorelai now."
"Whichever you like, Hun," Lorelai mocked back. My eyes narrowed. We stood there, eyes interlocked for minuets "You planning on taking the lead, Hun, or are you going to making a girl wait?" My eyes widened once more,
"Well that wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me," I said, scanning out surroundings. A small crowd had gathered over the time that had passed. There was no way I could let these people interfere, they could get hurt. By me. Just as my lips began to part for a warning, Lorelai screamed,

"Help me! Oh god oh god Help!" It didn't take much to persuade the crowd. No ordinary man here knew how to tell a demon apart from a normal human. It didn't take much to defeat me either, I wouldn't hurt innocents, much less people I knew. They threw me into a pit, I could easily climb out, but I didn't, Lorelai would hunt me down, and make me fight my old friends. She had this whole village wrapped around her finger. I looked up from my resting place. A lone child looked upon me. His eyes drew to my blade.

"No." The child didn't take any other convincing. I looked back up to the sky. Maybe I had been a bit rough on the kid. I hoped he would come back. Sure enough, the boy trekked back to the pit. "What's your name?" I said, this child was very interesting. The child pulled a cap off her head and short hair fell down.

"Aphrodite, Sir," Aphrodite called out. She was dressed entirely in boys cloths, and the cap she wore concealed her feminine features.

"Did you know that you are named after the Goddess of love?" I responded, there was something else about this girl that I was missing. She simply shook her head. I eyed her for a few more moments, but then out of the blue it hit me! She had a spark! Her spark was yet to ignite, but something was off, if May had found out she surely would have killed her, and it is unlikely that may would have missed something so crucial.

Aphrodite began to stare again, her eyes scanning me, looking me up and down.
"I've never seen you before," she said, clearly confused by the fact that there was someone new in the village. Tears began to flow from my eyes, Lorelai would kill her, or take her for her own, neither was a pleasant thought. I sighed, I would need to swallow my pride, and I very may well choke on it.
I need your help, I thought.
There you are! I've been hunting for you for months! Months Jacob! Chandra responded in a furious tone, I could see her now, scolding me brutally.
Lorelai is here, and I intend to put her to rest, for good, I returned.
Good, we can take her down together, all three of us.
Three? I was easily confused on this subject; there was Chandra, who, and myself?
"Are you okay mister?" Aphrodite questioned, still staring.
"Come now Aphrodite," A despicable voice said, "Don't play with the beast!" I looked up and interlocked my eyes with hers, deeply staring into her soul, if she had one. "You haven't figured it out, have you?" Lorelai laughed, deeply pleased by her words, "She's yours you idiot, She's our child!" My eyes went from narrow slits to dinner plates in a matter of seconds. This girl was no more than five and Lorelai was going to take her, her own daughter, as a host.
"Wait," I started, causing Lorelai to turn, "What are you going to do with her?"
"I think you know," Lorelai returned with a little creepy smile.
"What about a trade," I said, desperate to save her.
"I'm no fool, I fell for that trick once, I'm not doing it again." Lorelai's icy voice said.
"Surprise, Bitch," Chandra said as she dropped from the sky, her hair aflame, a fist formed into a ball of magma. Her fist landed square on Lorelai's jaw, tossing her backward into the pit. I let a torrent of flame loose from my jaw, throwing her into the air. Then suddenly, a bright light shone from a staff, and the demon shattered within the holy light. I drifted my eyes to the mage who cast the spell, none other than my best and closest friend, Sarah. Our eyes locked, and did not part, even when the blade pierced her heart.
"NO!" I screeched, even as blood dripped down the blade, welling in a pool at her feet. I grabbed her and held her, the blade still emerging in her chest. "Goddamn no, not after all this, not after losing you already, not after having to live without you," MY tears dripped onto the blade, I turned Sarah over, already dead, and pulled the blade from her back.
Wilson we need to go, NOW! Chandra screamed in my head, that's Elbrus! The Binding blade!
Oh shit, was all I thought, as the blade suddenly transformed. "Chandra get these people out of here!" I barked, pointing the people toward the forest's edge. Chandra grabbed the people and carried them in shiv's embrace to the forest's edge. Athena cowered behind me, the demon Withengar already taking shape. "Stay back," I said to Athena, pushing her back with a hand. Chandra fluttered down next to me,
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." I crunched into a position, preparing to let lose all my power on Withengar. Suddenly a hand came up, blood drenched, and already dead, but determined. Sarah's corpse was walking, and although I am not really sure whether she was still her, she sent the demon on a journey to nowhere, and he took her with him. We went back to earth, we rebuilt, started a colony. Chandra and I raised Athena, and in time, I forgave her for what she did. Chandra was my sister once more, we may not be bound by blood, but were family, Chandra, Athena, and I. Earth Was being rebuilt, all the humans on the plane were drawn back to the village, and I felt happy. Not content, not bliss, but warm inside. It was over. Lelliana was dead, Lorelai had been smote by holy light, and Withengar was in exile. I hope this peace lasts forever.

Next time in the Bound by Flame series:
"There's no one else left?" I said, "Truly no one?" Gideon shook his head,
"No one else is left, Garruk, Ajani, Jace, Sorin, all dead, but we have a weapon they don't"
"What?" Athena asked.
"You."