Ignis Amare

Divine Flame

"AND SO IT IS."

A voice booms through my entire being. Though I don't know who's it could be. The last thing I remember was teleporting through Liam's soul and...dying.

"What is?" I ask the voice.

"THE END OF THE BEGINNING, THE BEGINNING OF THE END."

"What is this place?" My eyes are open, but I can't see anything. Or may be there's nothing here.

"FEAR NOT. THIS IS THE RIGHT PLACE. THIS IS THE RIGHT MOMENT."

"Right place and moment for what?" I stand up and succeed, I think. But there's nothing here, so I'm not really sure.

"WILL YOU KILL THEM? THAT IS YOUR QUESTION."

"Kill them? Kill who?"

"WILL YOU KILL THEM?"

I remembered my dad saying we needed to die. We have to die to live. Yes, to truly be free, death is necessary. That makes this question interesting.

One might think that the question is asking about killing someone, but if we die to live...doesn't that mean killing someone is actually saving them?

"Yes, I will kill them." It sounds wrong to hear, but right to say.

"THEN WALK INTO THE FIRE AND BE PURIFIED. THEN WORK WILL BE ABLE TO BE PERFORMED."

As soon as the voice finishes, a blinding blaze appears. I approach it hesitantly. There's no one to look at, but I look around anyway.

"ENTER." The voice commands.

I'm already dead, so I don't really have much to lose. I walk into the fire, but it isn't hot. I instinctively walk deeper until I instinctively know I'm in the middle of the flames.

They aren't one color. They alternate between every color while being all colors at the same time.

"...I am The Observer."

"So, you're here to see the Wonderful Wizard? Well, the only problem with that is..." I hear a voice say and then music playing.

"STOP THINKING AND FEELING! JUST KNOW! WHO ARE YOU?!"

"I AM THE TRAVELER!"

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME TRAVELER?!"

"I AM ODIN."

"I am The Conductor."

"I am The Shaman."

"I am the Raven."

"I am the King."

"No longer am I The Magician. I am The Deliverer."

"I am The Thunderbird."

"I am The Storm. I am The Traveler in The Storm."

"I am The Liberator."

All of these voices threaten to overwhelm me until a smaller one appears.

"I don't want to be that person... but who is that? Who is the person I don't want to be?"

I see visions to match the voices. I see a woman behind a curtain with a crystal ball and another in a tent. People are coming to them for guidance.

"Who guides the guide?" A man asks amusingly with a smile.

"The answer is... the guide." He laughs.

Another winged man screams with someone in his arms with black hair. Light explodes from his body. Then, I see the soul of a child levitating from his body.

"YOU HAVE DONE WELL. COME ON BACK."

"But what about them? I can't leave them."

Visions of people from a world that looks different from this flash before my eyes.

"YOU ARE NOW THE CONDUCTOR."

His soul returns to his body.

"Ah, of course. The person I don't want to be...is myself."

Realization dawns. These are all...me, from different worlds and times.

Funny how the girl always has black hair.

The voice said to walk into the fire to be purified. This fire showed me myself, who I really am. The fire starts burning me now. I scream in pain before I realize it isn't the fire burning me. The burn is coming from inside me.

Instead of bracing and fighting, I accept it and surrender to it.

"DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE?"

I smile as the pain fades. "I DO."

"YES, YOU DO. NOW GO AND DO THE WORK."

"I WILL."

The fire ceases abruptly, and my spirit travels back, but before I enter my body, I see what I know is The Shadow fighting my father, Liam, and Beatrix. Their Armors are enhanced with the Alpha and Omega Flames.

Kendra collapsed near my body, and right before I enter it again, they're all knocked back to Kendra.

The Shadow swings a sword of crimson lightning to deliver the death blow to my father, but unfortunately, I am awake now.

So it fails.