The last update...it will be kind of weird not to work on this any more.
Anyway, this one will be a poem written between the two last chapters of Phoenix-fire. Enjoy!
The flame and the wind
She was a flame, not a great flame or a world-searing flame. Just a little flame fuelled by passion. She would provide light in the darkness of the night and warm the frosty fingers of those around her. Her home was a green and flowery home, full of warmth and life, but outside of it, there was only coldness and darkness.
Hers was a helpful flame, though a flame that had never been allowed to grow, for she had once burned her friend, the earth, by accident, and now she would not dare to do so again, so she kept her flame small and fickle, safe.
Her father, the sea, was a fluid being. Stern and taut at one time, then splashing and carefree the next. Her mother, the rock, was as firm in her beliefs as she was unyielding against any that dared to threaten her kin.
The little flame had many friends and they all enjoyed watching her flame dance across the table, as they laughed and played amongst themselves, but none of them ever fuelled her flame any further than it already was, and so her flame remained small, seemingly forever fated to never be more than a guiding light and a convenient source of heat.
Then one day, the wind came to their home.
He was the wind, and through her friends, the little flame learned much about him before she had even met him for the first time.
The wind could be gentle and caressing, whispering words of encouragement into ones ears at one moment, but the next, he could be gone before anyone knew if he had ever really been there in the first place. He was ethereal in his being, never able to be captured or held fast by anything or anyone, and you never really knew what way the wind would blow today.
Her friends said that he was playful at times, sending others on wild chases after lost objects as he let his winds carry them further and further, always just a little ahead of their owners. They said that it amused him because he, as an ethereal being, could not hope to hold possessions of his own.
But when he raged, oh how he raged. His winds would rifle the seas and flatten the earth. Buildings would fall like they were made from straw, trees would be uprooted and nothing would ever be as it had once been after the wind had been through.
Fortunately, the wind rarely raged, though her mother, the rock, warned her little flame that the wind could grate down even the mighty mountain if it was given a reason and was patient enough. And this wind could be very patient.
The first time the flame ever felt the wind approach her, she cowered in the hopes that he would walk her by. Beside her, many of her friends cowered with her, but standing strong in plain sight was her mother, the rock, and her father, the sea, was splashing against her as he usually did, always trying to climb to her highest peak, yet never able to stay there for long.
"Why do you burn so dimly, little flame?", the wind suddenly whispered in the flame's ear, though how it had gotten behind her, the flame knew not, "burn, burn as bright as you can. Burn so that the whole world might rejoice in your glow and the warmth of your radiance".
The little flame shrunk from the surprise, but as she was about to turn to face the wind, the wind surprised her by suddenly appearing before her. Startled, she shrunk even more, now barely being anything other than the size of a candle.
"No, no, no", the wind chastised with a playful smile tugging at his lips, "never shrink, burn brighter instead. You are a flame, a source of warmth and joy and beauty, so burn brighter my little flame. Will you not let me see you burn just a little brighter?"
"But what if I burn someone?", the little flame asked timidly.
"Look, there is no one for you to burn", the wind answered as it swirled around the little flame and directed the little flame's gaze to where her friends were now seeking refuge from the antics of the wind.
"But what about you?", the little flame asked, still remembering the time that she burned her friend, the earth, by accident.
"I am the wind, little flame", the wind laughed as it watched the leaves twirl around in its wake, never letting them fall as he went yet another round around the little flame, "you cannot burn me, so burn, burn as bright as you can. Let me feel the warmth of your flames".
Though the flame was still nervous, the wind's good mood and the playful dance of the leaves convinced her that the wind truly wished her no harm, but simply wanted to watch her burn a little brighter.
And so, for the first time since she had burned her friend, the earth, the little flame allowed her passion to grow, and as it did, her flames became brighter, warmer and bigger than they had ever been before, though the wind constantly managed to swirl around her, no matter how much she grew. The flame revelled in the feeling of letting her flames grow, but she could not help but wonder how they could burn so much brighter now than they ever had done so before.
"Beautiful, little flame, simply beautiful", the wind encouraged her as she continued to grow more and more, but as she did, she became aware that her friends, and even her parents, the sea and the rock, had had to retreat from the scorching heat of her flames, and she quickly simmered down, once again becoming the little flame that she had been before.
"You tricked me!", the flame accused as she felt how warm the wind had truly become from her flames, "you said that there was no one for me to burn, but yet, my own parents, the sea and the rock, had to flee from my flames".
"Yes, but feel how warm I have become", the wind said remorselessly, "now I will spread this warmth to the rest of the world, though I doubt that my old partner, the ice, will be pleased with what I intend to do".
And with that, the wind was gone yet again. What followed was that the world outside of the flame's little home got slightly warmer, but only slightly and it was still very cold and very dark out there, so all of her friends stayed in the warmness of their little home, where they had always stayed.
Time went on and the outside world became as cold as it had ever been, but despite her friends continuing as they had always done, the flame could not forget the thrill of burning bright and clear, but she found that without the wind whispering encouragements in her ears, she could not burn any brighter than she used to.
Then one day, the wind returned to their little home. They felt his coming as icy winds swept through the trees, but it was not until the wind himself emerged from the trees, with snowflakes dancing in his wake, that all scattered and fled once again. All but one.
The flame leapt in joy as she watched the return of the wind, for she had missed the being very much, though it had tricked her to almost burn her friends.
As the wind rustled the leaves and covered the ground with flakes of snow, the flame bounced towards him and enveloped him with her warmth, and as the wind slowly thawed from her warmth, the playful snowflakes began to melt, until all that remained of them were water on the earth.
"Why were you so cold?", the flame asked the wind.
"Because your warmth only lasted me so long, and my old partner, the ice, was not fond of the warmth that I brought with me, so he tried to imprison me, but I am the wind, and I cannot be imprisoned within ice and snow", the wind revealed, before he looked pointedly at the flame and asked, "tell me, little flame, if I asked you to come with me to help me warm the world until all it is as warm as your home is, would you leave your friends and family behind to help me do this?"
"Yes!", the flame responded eagerly, as she relished in the wind's vision and wanted to once again be allowed to burn as bright as she could, "but you have to promise me that you will not leave me while out there".
"I promise, little flame", the wind responded, and together, the two of them drew back into the cold and dark world.
They travelled together for a long time, and always, the wind would ask the flame to burn just a little brighter than it had before. The flame complied with the wind's encouragements, and soon, she grew bigger and brighter than she had ever dared to hope to be before.
And yet it was never enough for the wind, who always joyfully requested that she burn just a little brighter and a little hotter than before, and whenever she complied, the wind would laugh and tell the flame that she was beautiful.
Soon, the flame's warmth was great enough for the wind to allow his winds to sweep her heat across the world, forcing the cold back towards the home of the ice, and as her radiance grew, the darkness retreated as well.
Spring came for the world, and as the trees began to develop leaves once again, the wildlife awoke from their hibernation to gaze upon the thawed out world once again, but the home of the ice remained as cold as ever.
The flame wanted that part to be warm as well, but the wind held her back and said that the ice should have his home just as much as she had had hers during his reign. It was at this point that the wind revealed that it had been him that had convinced the ice to envelope the world in icy coldness an age ago.
"Why did you do that?", the flame asked bewildered.
"Because the home of the ice is beautiful with its crystal castles and powdery snow", the wind answered wistfully, "I am the wind, and it is in my nature to wish to spread beauty to the entire world, but when I saw the beauty of your flames, that day so long ago, I knew that this was what the world should see as well".
The flame knew that the wind had no choice over the matter, as she had travelled with him for a long time, so she did not ask if he would one day tire of her flames as well, in favour of ushering in an entirely new age.
It was when the spring was finally over and the summer had truly begun that the flame had grown so large that she could no longer be near other beings, other than the wind, that is. And yet, as her flames sucked in more and more air, the flame could not help but grow bigger as she was fed by the wind.
Eventually though, the flame realized that she had grown so big that all of the wind was about to be sucked into her, to fuel her flames, but she had long ago grown past the point where she could return to being a small flame once again.
"You tricked me yet again!", the flame accused the wind as she watched helplessly as he was sucked into her flames, "you promised me that you would not leave me!"
Even as the wind neared his demise, he somehow managed to joyfully laugh and say, "and I will not ever leave you, but I will fuel your flames from within now, so burn, burn as bright as you can. Burn for me, little flame".
And with that, the wind was consumed by the flame, and though she was saddened at the loss of her friend, the flame vowed to herself to do as he had requested and burn as bright as she could, so that all might feel her warmth and see her radiance.
She felt no hatred or malice for the wind, for she had known him in life, and she knew that more than anything, he had wished to see her burn brighter than ever before, even when he was not around to see it.
For many many years, she burned and burned and the summer of the world continued, but eventually though, her passion burned out, and as the last of her embers died out, she finally saw the wind once again.
He was smiling from ear to ear, as he reached forward to give her his hand, and as she accepted it and relinquished the last of her earthly flames, she asked him, "did I do okay? Did I burn bright enough for you?"
"Yes, yes you did", the wind answered joyfully, "now, let us dance together in this, the night sky, where none may touch or interfere with our dance ever again".
And from that moment on, the two would forever dance in the night sky. All of the world's beings would look up in the night sky and wonder, for a new sight had been forged by the ethereal glow that was the flame's spirit, which danced ever so intimately with the invisible and ever-changing arms of the wind.
And that is how the aurora of the world was formed.
-Extract from Lady Loivissa Shadeslayer's The Last Poem(written shortly before the author's suicide in 397 AA, and published posthumously by the Tomorrow Fund)
Presumed to be a metaphorical story about herself, Lord Commander Mercury Iridium and their relationship, though unconfirmed.
And so the series came to an end. If you are wondering why what happened to Loivissa happened, then I can say that the answer lies in the poem.