_________Winterborn of Flame
spacespaceKorubi
- She wasn't cut out for this. Nothing in her life had in any way prepared her to deal with the power, the danger, the bloodshed and hatred.
Somehow, she should have expected it. She should have known and steeled herself against this very situation. But she'd let herself remain ignorant, hiding behind her willful refusal to acknowledge what was now her duty. If she hadn't kept telling herself it was all a mistake, maybe she would have been able to prepare.
But that was all in the past, and beyond changing; the present saw Korubi standing before the setting sun, the sky afire with color, while the slow burn of guilt filled her heart. Scattered before her in a winding trail to the base of the hill, were the twisted, blackened shapes of corpses. All of them had burned to death, screaming in pain and fear, and Korubi was the one who had killed them.
She hadn't meant to. She hadn't intended to use her hateful power at all. But the flame had awakened on its own, spiraling out of her tenuous control and devouring anything it touched. The hillside was bare of grass in an irregular circle around her. The few skeletal trees still standing were black and twisted, crumbling to ash. The smell of charred flesh hung over the battlefield like a sick and nauseating perfume.
No, not battlefield- no battle had taken place here. Call it an ambush-turned-massacre, if you must call it anything. No one could have survived Korubi's unwilling assault.
Finally, finally, the realization of what had just happened wormed its way through the shock. The disgusting smell registered for the first time, and she took a shaky step backwards, then another, then fell to her knees as her legs buckled under her. Her stomach heaved, and she was forced to let it empty itself onto the shifting ash.
She was a murderer.
