Embers of Sun and Flame: Before We Have It (Fuegoleon x OC)

Chapter 28 Solstice

Renascentia. Rebirth. The re-creation of something. Breathing air into a dying ember. The turning of a flow of energy, set onto a course to one direction, with a spark. A riverbend that sets the current down a different stream from the original; a guiding line.

Sometimes when the lights start to flicker out, going peacefully into the dark night. There is a glimmer of something, caused by a collision with an opposing force, that sets the series of events down another path. Events that can take place in the vast world that surrounds us all, or, the series of events that happen within one person, one feeble body.

The turn of a sun. Solstice. The point where one path is determined.

Rebirth. Renascentia. The re-creation of something that was flickering out.

Magic that takes a string, a thread, and pulls ever so faintly something that isn't gone yet down a stream. And the thread is tethered down by runes of a spell; one that is buried under another one, the one that takes that nudge of a collision.

It all begins anew.

If the vessel holds.

The first breath of air a child takes; the first cry that breaks through the air... Solara couldn't remember what it felt like back then, but the sensation that spiked through her body now was less than unpleasant.

If first, it had been as if drifting away, sinking into sleep, this felt as if her insides had jolted; clashed against her bones, and that made her gasp. A warmth spread through her, a wave of something she knew as her own, and it made a careful, quivering smile tug the corners of her lips. Because... it had succeeded. It wasn't pleasant, but it had succeeded.

Solstice and Renascentia...

Her magic was enveloping her form, trying to rebuild what was broken, and it took a toll on her, she knew as much. Because healing another person is, or she supposed, was relatively easy; untaxing. But when your already broken form, struggling to just stay alive, is forced to try and heal something, it's much more burdensome. Even if she had been told that mana was on her side; that it'd twist and bend, as she commanded it.

What a foolish idea, she had to think as it occurred to her.

For the brief moment where it occurred to her, until there was a tug.

This magic wasn't hers, but it was light and airy... it glimmered and it... there was something she could almost relate to, but not quite. It was far, far too different from her own. It must've been the Queen's.

It must've-

There was a roar that made her head turn towards the Demon King. There were only so few left standing. Most had fallen.

Her eyes wanted to look for him; look for Fuego. They wanted to, wanted to wanted to wanted TO! She wanted to... because he had been there just a moment ago. She was sure that it had been just a moment ago. Surely it couldn't have taken her that long to ponder about the life they had hoped for. So, he had to be there, somewhere, even if... given how her body ached from the blow she had endured, she was sure that he must've been hurt as well.

She didn't want to think about it. She didn't dare imagine it. And she couldn't-, she couldn't look for him. Even if her very soul seemed to scream at her! Insist that she should.

But... she bit down her molars and refused. She refused it from herself, because... if... if it was what she feared, then how could she move forward. How could she protect the people who depended on her, by turning her back against the very threat?

She couldn't. As simple as that.

So, if she wanted to protect. She needed to get up. She needed to. She had to!