BS8 - CHAPTER 15: RASHIK - PROPHET OF THE GREAT FLAME

Rashik marched through the temple, his steps hurried but filled with purpose. Tatiana’s longer legs allowed her to keep up with him easily. While he had originally planned on Sati following them, she once again surprised him with her capability.

He looked over at the head of his staff with more than a little reverence. She had turned into a flame completely and then somehow joined with the focus as if it were nothing at all. Truly, he could not believe it. A living flame, just like the Great Flame itself.

His people called the moon the Great Flame, the fire that both birthed and was born from their world. In truth, none could not hear Her voice–but they could feel it, that somehow within them was the Great Flame that they took into themselves, and it was alive, they were sure.

Stopping in his steps for a moment, Tatiana let out a startled sound as she almost ran into his smaller back. “What is it?”

Rashik hesitated. “I just realized. Sati, to get through Ur’Rena… I may need to embellish the truth a little. Could you go along with it?”

Her voice came from the staff. “I do not wish to lie to others. What did you have in mind?”

“I planned on…proclaiming you as a true prophet of the Great Flame. That you have heard its plea and are here to rescue us from the taint, which…is not that far from the truth!”

Tatiana gasped. “But that’s blasphemous! She doesn’t even know our core tenets, let alone believe in our divine! You also know almost nothing about her!”

“How does that matter? I know enough–I saw how the Great Flame reacted to her. The first prophet had no temple, no scripture, and no name for the divine. And yet, Sati could feel the Great Flame’s intent, its desire to become one with her–that’s more than we can say for so many of us! Who are we to question who the divine chooses? The gods do not ask permission before they speak through mortal lips.”

Tatiana narrowed her eyes at this and then looked over to Sati’s flame within his staff. “And what do you think, Sati? Are you okay with being called our prophet?”

Sati replied, “A prophet is someone who receives the divine will, or messages from the divine, are they not? I have my own spiritual beliefs, but seeking transcendence as I serve the dharma, the cosmic order, would not interfere with being your prophet–assuming our actions are righteous. I do not wish to mislead others, but what you said is all true. By the definition of the word prophet, I am one.”

Rashik smiled a little at her approval. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, Tatiana. Our insular, sheltering nature is about to bring about our doom. We must keep our minds open so we can hear the Great Flame’s holy voice.”

Tatiana still hesitated. “I suppose…that what you say is not far from the truth. I will do my best to aid you, but I’m not sure how much I can help.”

Sati said, “My Lord and his family, Clan Hart, are the only heroes necessary. That you have helped at all and not stood in our way is enough, Tatiana.”

Rashik led Sati and Tatiana the rest of the way through the temple until they arrived at the center–the main hall. It was a huge, long room where hundreds of disciples could sit under numerous archways and both worship and train.

The huge doors leading to the core sanctum sat at the end of the hall, and unfortunately, a crowd had gathered. More than a hundred disciples and elders waited, and Ur’Rena was at the fore.

Rashik hesitated. Sati said, “Worry not, Rashik. No number of your people can stop me, and they do not need to be harmed. However, how do those doors open? It looks like there is a keyhole.”

Tatiana chuckled. “You’re kind of the key right now? Rashik’s staff must be inserted into the slot, and our fire combined with twisting it will open it.”

“Convenient for us. Why does Rashik have such a tool?”

“I must meet with leaders inside to direct the external affairs, so I am granted this privilege for expediency’s sake.”

Rashik tried to feel confident as he approached the crowd…more like a mob, really. Ur’Rena had clearly gotten them worked up, and they all had faces full of scorn and disapproval on them. As Rashik and Tatiana neared, the disciples moved to surround them.

Ur’Rena laughed. “That’s far enough, Rashik and Tatiana. We were just on our way to see you traitors, to make you pay for your crimes.”

Tatiana was alarmed. “Traitors?”

“What other name would there be for a group that brings outsiders into our temple, our inner sanctum? And where are they now? Don’t tell me they are running around somewhere unattended? We will have to send people to capture them, even if they cannot harm us right now anyhow.”

Rashik cleared his throat, preparing himself to speak loudly. “I had to come quickly. The great enemy plots against our world, against our very temple! They’ve been poisoning our food, and they seek to summon a horrible enemy within! We must take action to clean the enemy’s taint from our inner flames, for you see, I have found our true prophet, and we must allow her to commune with the Great Flame immediately!”

Ur’Rena scoffed. “Have you lost your mind? Sati was surely an excellent potential disciple. I will not deny you that. However, you and I both know she has no interest in becoming one. She is here to infiltrate our great temple for her own ends; she even said so! And where is she, anyway?”

“Our prophet is before you. Behold!” Rashik slammed his staff on the ground, and Sati’s flame shot out before burning brightly as a large, golden flame that rose above them. The orb of fire actually resembled the one shown from their test of purity to enter the inner sanctum.

Many had to shield their eyes from her sheer brilliance, and for a moment, it actually felt like Rashik was in front of the Great Flame. He would only be allowed into the core sanctum rarely, but this was still a feeling he could never forget. He could feel the Great Flame’s holy presence–there was no mistaking it!

And Rashik wasn’t the only one impressed. The crowd of clergy murmured and exclaimed, shock evident in their voices. The rumor that she might be a prophet for real was spreading, and Rashik couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride.

Ur’Rena scowled. “It is nothing more than a trick! She stole the Great Flame and is planning to interfere with our worship. This cannot be allowed!”

Sati appeared within the flame after drawing it in, and she shook her head down at the troll. “I took nothing that was not offered to me freely. The flame itself sought to join me. I only wish to cleanse this temple of evil, to free the Great Flame from the poison that ails it.”

It almost looked like people were going to believe her, but a pulse of darkness ran through the crowd, and shouts calling her a false prophet and a call for them to punish the traitors quickly rose. Before long, it was a chant to kill the three of them.

A clergy goblin male yelled out, “You call our divine evil and poisoned? We have heard enough. Kill the traitors and the outsider!”

The dozens of powerful clergy drew up the flames within them, their tattoos blazing with fire in the surrounding crowd. Not everyone joined them, but there were more than enough of them attacking to be dangerous. Tatiana and Rashik each built up their own flames in defense, but they knew surviving against so many flames at once was a fool’s errand.

They launched attacks at Rashik, Tatiana, and Sati. Fireballs, darts, and gouts of flame launched from all directions.

The heat within the chamber rose to dangerous levels, to the point Rashik was actually rather concerned. He was forced to protect Tatiana, shielding her from the heat with his presence and the flame from his staff drawing it away from them.

The fierce storm of attacks lost form, if they had any, as they neared the Sati, the living flame. They were drawn like streamers into a cyclone of flame, Sati disappearing from Rashik’s sight. A giant orb of flame replaced where she floated, as if the flames were melding into her.

Golden flame then ignited, the orb of flame only brightening around her. Once again, it was just like the baptism ritual, the moon glowing from above them and bathing them in her holy radiance as it began to shrink.

Sati’s form eventually appeared once more, more brilliant than before, as she floated in her cross-legged posture, her hands clasped in front of her. “Driven by fear and ignorance, you attack those who wish nothing more than your safety and happiness–your benefactors, your saviors. Know that I forgive you. Know that I return your hatred with nothing but love.”

Ur’Rena trembled with rage, her hands curled into fists. “Forgive me? Benefactor? Attack her again. There is no way she could take on a concentrated attack from all of us! Use your inner flames!”

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Their cores all ignited, the people drawing from their special cores. This was usually reserved for their worship only, allowing themselves to give to the Great Flame as they purged and cleansed themselves. Their inner fire was not meant to attack, as they had long since learned that the Great Flame’s will was against this.

Their flames burned brighter and hotter. Perhaps because so much of the taint within them was present all at once, and because Rashik had been purified, he could actually feel the taint much like what was within the idol.

Sati shook her head, unbothered. “The result will be the same as many times as you try. For I am the flame, born of that which you use against me. Does the flame fear the heat? You are only giving fuel to my pyre. I am thankful for the meal, but time is nigh. If we do not purify your core’s flame soon, this world shall fall.”

The larger flames were shot at her again, and the result was the same, just as she said. Streamers of flame swirled around her, containing the fires of their cores. As the sphere formed around her, the heat was substantial, to the point where even Rashik’s skin began to burn. Just as he felt this, a blanket of flame had enveloped him, protecting him and Tatiana.

It took longer for the sphere of flame to shrink, but when it was done, Sati was even more golden, giving off an aura that was even more powerful than before.

“What?! How?”

Murmurs went through the crowd, and Rashik slammed his staff on the ground, getting their attention. “Don’t you see? Sati is one with the flame, made of our divine’s holy fire! Just as I said, she is the prophet of the Great Flame, that which birthed the world. She is from another world, true, but she speaks the divine message. How can you feel her radiance and doubt her purity?“

“We must move now, Rashik.” Sati gestured to Rashik’s staff, and he felt it pull from his hands. He let it go as she somehow lifted it into the air and sent it toward the gate.

Someone shouted, “Don’t let her!”

Arms fanned out behind Sati, sprouting more than a dozen from someplace behind her back. They grew longer than her actual arms, and they immediately began slapping out at the enemies in front of her, sending them tumbling away. The swarm of people failed to even impede Sati as she floated the key and herself toward the gate, arriving just a short distance in front of it.

“I wish you no ill will. But I must go. Fate and duty call me.”

The key turned, and the large gate began to open. However, it seemed a man was waiting for this on the other side. He walked out, and Rashik recognized him. He was one of their several cardinals, the leadership who drove aspects of the temple. This man was a troll, large and strong, veins filled with billowing flame.

The troll wore golden robes with depictions of the Great Flame all over it and held a staff, which was Rashik’s equal, lined with gold. The heat coming from the troll was intense, and his form towered over their people and the floating Sati.

The cardinal looked down at Sati with contempt, only a few paces away from Sati with his long stride. “What is happening here? Who dares disturb our worship?”

Sati sighed. “I see. So there was another source of the taint within. There is no use talking to you, but I am Sati.”

Rashik could feel it now. Thanks to being cleansed, he could feel the wrongness coming from this man. The people around him all seemed excited, reverence and respect on their faces as they bowed to his presence.

Tatiana looked like she was going to throw up. “This is bad. I never imagined they would get inside the core sanctum.”

His eyes widened as he understood the implications. The cultists and infiltrators had made their way all the way into the core sanctum? Never could he have imagined that they could get that far.

The troll spoke, “Why is this outsider here? Who allowed her into our inner sanctum?”

Ur’Rena moved toward the man before bowing off to the side. “Cardinal! This one has infiltrated our temple, and Elder Rashik and Tatiana are to blame! Please, forgive us for this failure. The invader is too strong.”

Rashik denied her, proselytizing to the people near. “She is too strong because she is the prophet of the Great Flame! Sati is born of flame, and she can hear Her voice. Can you not feel the Great Flame within her as she becomes one with it?”

The troll sneered as he looked at Sati, who just floated impassively. “Sati? She is nothing before our god’s true power. Behold!”

The troll roared as he raised his staff, and embers filled his veins as his entire body ignited, bursting into black and red flames as large as a bonfire. The malevolence was palpable, the wrongness twisting Rashik and Tatiana’s stomachs. Surely, they could feel this?

However, counter to his expectation, many of the gathered clergy, the numerous priests and disciples cheered and fell to their knees. Their eyes wept as if they witnessed Her splendor for the first time, and many began to pray.

Sati shook her head. “You rejoice? Has the wool been pulled so far over your eyes that you cannot see? Make no mistake: evil stands before you. What calls out to you is the taint of the evil god Balor within your poisoned veins, not the blessing of the Great Flame, your god. You claim to be pious, but your divine weeps as the villain treads upon Her throat.” She pointed with many arms behind the Cardinal. “Look behind the villain with your own eyes. You have all been deceived.”

Rashik and many others who were still standing fell to their knees as they saw. The gate had opened as the cardinal appeared, but they had focused on him. Behind was the pillar of flame spewing from the volcano’s vent.

And it was not bright red with hints of gold as it should be. It had streaks of darkness within, and if that was all, it might not be that big of a deal–Rashik and most disciples knew there was something wrong for quite a while. But several core disciples remained chained within, clearly against their will and feeding into the flames.

Tatiana said, “Why…why would you do this, Cardinal? You’ve… betrayed our god, and chained our core disciples? You must be involved with those that poisoned the Great Flame!”

“Poisoned? No. Can you not feel it? Balor is real power, true divinity. Too long have we worshiped our god, and it has not heard our voices because it is not truly alive. Balor has called to me, and I have, for the first time, heard His voice, His instruction! But it does not matter. Soon Balor will be here, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. I will first erase the traitors.”

The flame converged onto his staff before he launched it over at Tatiana and Rashik who had stood a little off to the side.

Despite what he said, the powerful flame shifted direction toward Sati, the flame drawn into her just the same as the others. Each of her many hands clasped together around her in prayer, a pleasant aura being released that weighed down on Rashik from where he stood. Her flames brightened as the vortex of flames was formed around her, and people were shocked that such a powerful fire was nothing before her.

Sati shook her head sadly. “What a weak, disgusting flame. It seems you never listened to your god from the beginning, for Her flames carry many truths, each flick of flame and breath of fire singing in my ears. She tells me that purpose is the very fuel that ignites our hearts and drive, tempering them with devotion and humility. Your ancestors prayed for so long, and this was seared onto Her very existence. I could hear it, and the many disciples here know it. But you, a core disciple, could not? Pathetic.”

“What do you know? I’ll make you pay for your disrespect!” The troll roared in anger, his hatred building as he drew up another flame, this time larger and with even more effort.

Some of the hands around Sati took different poses and mudras as the flame was once again drawn into her. “I know that fire is passion; its emotional heat is what causes the flame to burn hot and brightly within our spirits. Your hateful malevolence and greed are nothing but empty heat.”

Suddenly, the entire temple shook.

The troll cardinal growled. “What is happening? You, Outsider! You did something!”

Sati said, “Your plot to summon Balor’s Aspect is coming to an end. Your sins will be punished, and justice will prevail.”

His flames rose again as he roared, the darkness and malevolence growing. “I won’t let you! I’ll crush you, and then–”

Sati sighed and shook her head sadly at him. “I apologize. I am in a hurry, and you are little more than a lit match. Your fuel will run out, and then you shall crumble and be discarded like all those who worship Balor. I need not do more than speed this up.”

Sati appeared in front of the core disciple, her many hands clasped in prayer as if she had teleported–Rashik had not even witnessed her move. She reached out with her main body’s index finger extended, but what sat at the end of it nearly blinded him. It was a minuscule flame, like a brilliant white and gold candle that made his heart pound. The purity and weight could be felt from a distance away from where Rashik stood.

Her finger moved slowly, deliberately, but the power contained in that finger either had the cardinal transfixed, or there was some other reason he could not even move, because he did not. His eyes went wild with shock, and all the dark flames surrounding him looked like they wanted to flee, the fingers of flame curling away from it.

Sati touched the cardinal’s upper abdomen gently, where his fiery core no doubt resided. She then floated away past his side, as if the battle was already won, and headed toward the volcano vent rapidly. But everyone could hardly take their gaze away from the cardinal.

Her mention of a match was apt. The whitish flame ignited, burning away all the darkness within him–the veins of black and red replaced by the same white and gold ink added to water as he began to scream in agony. His core burned so bright it could be seen through his skin, and as the flame reached his face, he fell to his knees, and tears ran down his cheeks. There was a moment of clarity within his eyes as he spun and looked toward the volcano vent with what looked like regret.

Unfortunately, his skin aged decades in just a few seconds as it became dry and desiccated, losing all the life within it. The troll’s body burned and crumbled from the fire as if it were a mixture of black sand and stone. His staff clattered to the ground, the crowd of disciples shocked into complete silence by the event.

Sati now floated inside the gate to the core sanctum, the volcano vent’s heat palpable to everyone, and she turned to speak. “Disciples of the Great Flame, there is a path to victory, but it is narrow and filled with hardship. My Lord will crush the worshipers of Balor, but we all must pray. Show your god your devotion by stoking your inner flames, holding on to your love for the Great Flame to cleanse your divine of evil. When wicked evil threatens to consume and change us, it is the only fire that cannot be snuffed out.”

Tatiana asked, “What about…the core disciples? Can they…be saved?”

“Baron Hart can save them if you allow him. But we must hurry and act now. I will do my best to purify the flame, but I shall not succeed alone. ” She began floating toward the vent, leaving the stunned clergy.

Rashik turned and addressed everyone, drawing up his purified flame from his core, bathing his body in fire. “We were ignorant of her suffering, the evil enemy plotting our downfall. This threat is perhaps the greatest our temple has ever faced, but we are not alone. Everyone, we must gather all disciples around the World’s Pyre. Led by Her Prophet, we can still save Her. Let us shower Her in our love and devotion and cleanse Her from our failure.”

Tatiana’s wings began to flutter, the woman preparing for flight. “I will collect all that I can and return here.” She then called out to several of her sylph brethren, and they took off to spread the word.

Rashik looked on at the volcano vent, the World’s Pyre, with more than a little trepidation. Seeing the taint within it was enough to bring him to tears. They would do what was necessary to make this right.