1 Burning grace
Locked deep inside the tree, the god resided. She sat upon her stone-made throne and waited, bound by the thick roots she once watered.
She waited and waited, sealed deep inside the hollowed golden tree… As the years went past, her golden throne room dimmed down, her grace slowly diminishing.
One day, a girl came by the great tree, a human… Her eyes were a reddish brown, her hair a red auburn colour with traces of yellow and orange scattered across, like a burning ever-flickering flame, an eternal flame.
She was the first.
The first to enter the hollowed tree after the god, and in the presence of her god, she bowed, kneeling on the floor, she prayed, muttering words of praise and reverence.
And to her surprise, her god responded… Her voice was firm, yet soothing. Strong, yet beautiful, like a hymn praising the god herself, her tune echoed endlessly in the dark innards of the tree.
"What say my child, I can see ye bear mine grace, traces of it in thine blood, say my child, what brings ye to mine hold, my cell where I shall rot for the rest of mine eternal life… I'm but not a locked away god without power, I cannot grant ye any wish nor any strength, and if that's what thou is seeking, thou has reached the wrong place."
The young auburn-haired girl bowed her head lower, her mouth moved, like the smothering flame she represented, she spoke her words, her voice soft like the flame in a fireplace, warm…
"I do not have a Mother, nor do I ever will have one. I was abandoned, left alone in the abyss until your grace came to me, guiding my way here to the golden great tree. Please, Mother, grant me a purpose, a purpose to serve you…" She begged.
"What is your name, my child?" The god said, her voice growing soft, no longer the high and almighty tone she once had.
"I have yet to be granted a true name…" The girl somberly responded, her voice drifting off as she bowed her head to the floor, "Please, might Mother grant me a name?"
The god grew warm, her eyes fluttering like a Mother seeing her long-lost child. She stood up from her throne, her shackles still in place, holding her to walk no more than a few small steps, but it was enough.
The god embraced the girl, her arms wrapping around the girl tightly, "Yes, dear child, allow me to give ye a name… Flammere, your name shall be Flammere."
Flammere stood up, her face beaming with pride and joy, which she held in.
Then she realised she had yet to have gotten a purpose… What's my role in this world…
"As much as I would want for you to stay by my side, I don't think that will be possible, as you are human, you will age and die…"
A flame, a scarlet flame, eternally burning until it finds its purpose to restart order under the next rightful owner.
A flame with the same sole purpose as its keeper.
"Flammere, my child," The god said, "May you uphold the eternal flame in its brazier, protect it from the unrighted ones till the time is right, hand it to its master, for this task will be your purpose, your sole purpose for the near future."
"But how would I know who is the rightful owner?" Flammere asked.
"The flame will go mad if it sees its master but is not able to get to him. You'll know it's him when you see him."
The god ordered, Flammere gained her purpose to protect the flame with all she has till the time is ripe. A grand purpose to give to someone with as weak a blessing as Flammere, but the words of the gods always sought the rightful hearer.
Before her leave, the god gifted her with three things: a tome, a map, and a gilmore.
Flammere knew her goal, to seek out the scarlet flame and hide it till its rightful owner arrives…
2 Life's sole purpose
She left the great tree muttering her purpose to herself, over and over again…
Seek the flame… Hold it… Rightful owner.
She said seek, she had yet to know the truth, the flame was but an entity, uncontrollable unless placed inside a host, a vessel, a brazier.
Throughout her traversal across the lands, she searched and searched, from caves to deserts to mountains. She looked all around the world, and still, she had yet to find it.
Only the icy mountains of Jothungard remain unsearched. Flammere traversed the snowfields and hiked up the steep mountain ridges, and at the very peak of the highest mountain, she found it…
An orb of sizzling scarlet flame sitting there on the very peak, like an eyeball rolling around, looking into every corner of the world itself.
Flammere stared into the bright red flame. What she saw was an ignited tree, no longer golden but crimson like the blood moon.
She reached out to the flame, her hand was drawn closer and closer, her eyes foresaw what was to come… A prophet.
Flammere was the first and only to see the vision, as well as the scarlet flame.
She was once born with golden eyes, hints of grace, a blessing from the Arxtree.
The flames engulfed her, swallowing the girl whole, her flesh and her body…
Yet she did not die; she stood there in calm silence and interest as she felt her body sizzle in heat and flames. The flames wrapped themselves around her, her every curve, yet she did not budge, she did not even move a muscle…
She captured the flames, the chaotic, maddening flames; her eyes glowed warm in the freezing cold, snowy peak. Red, scarlet, just like the flame itself, Flammere became the vessel for the flame, its brazier.
She struggled against the flames, the flames tried to take control, but her will resisted, holding them back until they finally gave up, flickering eternally in her eyes.
Stashing away her eyes under bandages, she left the mountains, but now what? What can she do? She found the flames. Where should she go?