The Rise of a Fallen Fulfire

A Story by TheLemonKing

The start of a journey with a poor man named Henry Fulfire...

The fire roared like a lion bitten, the orange glow in the dark, the silent night forest, the screams and crackling as wood falls and flames explode, Henry stares amidst his family stuck and burnt like a really overcooked steak, their flesh popping, Henry stares, emptiness, the only emotion viable in this moment. Soldiers marching, torches flowing, people running. The soldiers in ironclad, steel armor, wearing the Icequeen crest. Henry staring at his Sister's dead warm face, he hears a voice in his ears amongst ringing.

“Run, Run Henry… Run”

Henry gets up, walks weakly, and then runs, somehow not being spotted amongst the flames and chaos. We find our boy in the distance among the trees that almost look as they were in shock of the sudden fire.

The year is 1987, in a realm that not many know, except those within, the 8th of the 9th, a Wednesday. Henry stalked along a dirt road he found about 2 hours after the village death. In the land of Yekim, the domain of the legendary Icequeen family, the royal family bloodline ruled in many different ways, now it was a dictatorship in disguise. However that many didn’t know, or simply didn’t believe it. The opposition in politics against the Icequeen’s was the Fulfires, but since the mysterious murder of their once great leader, the Fulfire reign of power subsided to a small village. But now to Henry, the last Fulfire.

We find our Fulfire walking on a brown dirt road, we arrive at a town, Henry stopped, with a blank stare, emptiness ever showing, he tried to read the sign that said “ Welcome to Darndale” however the sign was heavily broken and Henry only saw “wel...to...darn..”

Henry would have been confused if not for the ever growing pain he had only felt once, when his Uncle, the previous master of Fulfire died. Henry stalks onward throughout the town's main road. He sees little boys and girls running playing, he smiles a bit, remembering the days he used to play with his friends, an old man in tattered clothes and a big dull grey beard, on the street edge whittled to a skinny skeleton, begging. The town has the buildings you would expect to be there, a town hall, which was clean, rich like most, the bars, salons, weapon stores, filled with people.

Henry sees a middle aged girl fighting amongst some knights in training, he walks up at an average pace to not look weird, sits on the path facing the girl, he stares, almost feeling a bit flirty, however that feeling easily put down by the overbearing weight of his lonely emptiness. He stands up, walks along the street as if he was bored and lost in a maze, but he was looking for a tavern or an inn. He stumbles upon a tavern by the yelling of two drunk idiots being kicked out by a beautiful girl, Henry’s eyes open up, his heart still fragile but slowly coming together like Elmer’s glue sticking it back piece by piece. The two guys left still arguing on the tan dirt road, something about lack of septims, blaming each other for scamming the other. Henry had about 5 of these septims.

The fresh orange wood door of the tavern creaked a light creak when Henry pushed the door open and walked in toward the sunlit room, the torches unlit. There are tables with many men and few women, some are armed like some sort of adventurers, others are just townsfolk on break or looking to get drunk and drink their sorrows away. There was a firepit in the center probably for night, it was dark and unlit, looked very used as well. There was a main table and there sat a very muscular tough man. Best not to mess with him, Henry thought, with not much focus on that subject though. He walked to the table.

“Hello sir, how much would it cost to stay a night here?” Henry skittishly spoke.

“About six septims for the night… AND FOOD ISN'T INCLUDED!” the man said sincerely.

“How about five septims, kind Sir?” said Henry.

“I’ll take the five septims but never call me kind” the man spoke with discontent.

Henry walks to a table, with a makeshift map he managed to scavenge from the village, he made a plan to leave the continent and get revenge in due time. The course was set, he would travel from this town to the big kingdom of Icevale, he would head to the great docks and get on a ship, “Illegally if I must”, he muttered to himself.

Night came swiftly, around nine fifty at noon, the forests looked fearsome in the night, the glow of the sunset earlier set him up for a traumatic memory, the orange fierce glow matched the flames. However he had calmed himself to his room he laid. The window was black, the sky dark with snow white stars, clouds scarce and thin. The night cold was swift and set in quickly, the guards rushed into the taverns and demanded to see Henry Fulfire.

“WHERE IS HE” the captain of the guard yelled with window shattering strength.

Everyone woke, Henry woke afraid, he had opened the window and prepared to run for he thought that the Icequeen army had realised that he had survived, oh how he was wrong, but he was still in trouble. For Darnsdale has a tariff for anyone entering the town however the tariff collector was in a precarious situation with him and a toilet. Henry did not know this and was charged with avoiding tariff which was 29 septims, which Henry had… zero. Henry listens as the inn keeper talks to the guard and Henry overhears that he has avoided tariff and has been given a warrant for arrest on his head by the Jarl of the town. Sir Higsby the valiant liar, he was well known for not being trustworthy.

Henry jumps out the window and runs, runs as fast as he is physically capable, he left his plans he wrote behind but managed to take the map. As Henry was about a metre away, the guards charged into his room and saw him running. The guards fumbled as they tried to fit through the door and catch Henry. The moment the guards reached the edge of town Henry was nowhere to be found.

Several days later, we find our boy walking the hum drum dirt roads of disappointment. Henry had a full plan set out and now it was ruined, he realised he had to improvise. Suddenly he walked past a scorched deer. He thought to himself there must be witches about!

“Witches… best to hurry on” he whispered to himself. He glanced at the deer's face, shocked as to where there would be a deer’s face he saw his sisters. He fell… heart pounding, mind speeding up, adrenaline building. Henry looked away at some flowers nearby, slowed his breathing, focused on the flowers, he recovered a bit, still terrified, he thought he peed himself but he didn’t. He picked himself up and continued walking, he looked around cautiously for a while before he settled back to a semi-calm state. He stopped, laid, looked at the blue day sky, white opaque clouds not in the shape of sheep in which he desired but in which Henry was annoyed at, but not able to focus on it entirely.

Several days of boredom and repetition of the environment, Henry finally reaches the Kingdom of Icevale, the Kingdom of the Queen herself. Henry walked through the main gates which were made of a great grey and steel material, nearly impenetrable he thought. The Kingdom of Icevale is the central power of the entire continent. It is near the coast, surrounded by mountains and white frozen forests. The water of the sea is ice cold with a bitter salt taste. Fish, there were plenty as if they were being persuaded to their demise by magic itself, of course it was, easy trade material with little use of mana. Henry saw a commotion at the central space out front Icemade palace.

Henry stood among the crowd who were chanting…

“Kill him.. Kill him… Kill him..”

Henry asked some stranger what was happening, the man's reply unsettling…

“That b*****d John Smithers, he betrayed the Icequeen herself and disrespect this great nation, he killed 20 soldiers and nearly killed the Queens goddamn son, how bloody worse can you be?”

Henry was in aww, his mind stood unknowingly, what he saw was a man with pretty good stature about to be hanged, tattered cloth clothing, his hair rugged and arms jagged.

“Behead the family already!” some lady yelled out. Upon the wooden platform set perfectly for the whole town to see, was the man ready to be hanged, and his family of two children to be beheaded while the wife remains alive.

The crowd silenced itself when her majesty, Seran Icequeen walked upon the stage…

“Upon thy treason you have committed to this nation, I hereby sentence you and your children to death by my hand for trying to take my son.” Henry with a heart, filled with rage upon the revealing of Seran’s face and the horrible idea of killing a family but leaving one alive to watch made Henry disgusted, upon this rage he filled his heart, mind and soul with a mana he had never known before, his body became automatic, he lost control, he aimed his hand outward toward the stand.

“For I am one with rage, for fire in my name, set my enemy ablaze” Henry chanted before a rage induced dragon fire filled the view and a ball of red fire raced roaring toward the stand and… ‘kaboom’. The stage alight, the fire flowing like red water, the people, screaming, running, fear raging. They scatter to their homes away from the centre, the guards slow the fires progress with little effect.

Henry’s eyes, an orange glow, a fierce flame grew in his eyes, he left running to the docks, as fast as he could, it was nearly 5 in the afternoon and the “Great Maiden” was about to set sail. Henry’s feet on the stone pebble streets clap with thunderous applause, the guards of ironclad steel chasing him, gaining on him. From alley to alley, street to street, section to section, Henry was so close to the dock, his breath fell short, his eyes glowing ever brighter, his legs moving faster. The body temperature grew greater, Henry reached the wooden docks, his steps flew a raging flame, the wood burned under his feet, his clothing steaming, the guards two arm lengths away, Henry suddenly flashed back to when he saw his Sisters face, going from hopeless to hopeful Henry felt stronger, he felt braver, he felt his village people were cheering him on and at one last moment…

Henry jumped at the edge of the dock and landed on the “Great Maiden”. He blacked out.

His mind seemed empty, but he was seeing a land of desert, a forever world, a plane of existence, flat, sandy, endless. Henry saw a great tower reach into the sky, a black gem stared at him….

The night was cold, bitter cold, Henry was awake, he looked over the edge of the ship, pondering about his dream, he felt a sudden rush of power, as if his magic grew greater than anytime before, the water darkend, the sky turned a dark purple, the overbearing moonlight.

“A Violet moon!” Henry muttered.

“Indeed my boy”, a strange man in robes responded, “The moon when violet means something of great importance is to come, usually something magical.”

“Like what?”

“Like when the sky once tore open and the world saw a world unimaginable, a plane of flat sand.”

“Are you saying something like that is to happen again”

“Oh no my dear boy, every event is either connected, or different, well that's what I feel is to be true anyway” the man yawned,”I best head to bed, you should to my friend?”

The man left and went onward into the ship. Henry stared at the moon, the moon stood still, glaring a bold violet at Henry. He felt cold, yet warm. Henry turned in for the night.

The violet moon lasted till dawn.

“Under a Violet Moon” he dreamt.

The morning was warm, the air fresh, Henry stood at the bow of the ship, he saw the great continent of Altair. The land of freedom, the land ruled by the legendary King, King Sulter Thangbelt. Altair was a lush green forest plane of perfection, a land of which any life could be sustained. The kingdom of Altair was developed, using great technologies and magic power. The boat docked, the plank landed with a boom, Henry walked off, he breathed in the fresh air of the free, he headed for the palace. “At last, I am free.. And my plan for revenge has begun.”