Ember

"Hey, you! You're finally awake!"

"What is it, mrrow?" I lazily stretched my back, but the floor below me suddenly jumped. "Hnng, what the hell? Where am I?"

"Back with the living as it seems..." The captain noted, then yelled out suddenly. "Ember just woke up, you hear me? How far are they now?"

"What is going on, Bullhead?" I asked rather confused, and nonstop yawning. The floor jumped again, and it felt like someone shoved their boots into my back. "This is uncomfortable."

"Well, sorry about that, your highness. It didn't seem to bother you while you were sleeping..." He answered, and I fought myself to open my eyes again. It was already morning, maybe even noon, and I lay on one of the newly built, uncomfortable carriages.

"You should have waited until I woke up..." I complained, sitting up before the wagon jumped again. I saw roughly twenty more, driving rather fast on the old road. The pavement and these carts seemed inadequate for this speed, but the four raptors in front of each moved surprisingly fast. "Kind of rude to wake me up like this..."

"Ember, you burned down that damned forest, then slept for two whole days," Gorgon argued, but it barely registered at first. "I thought you died already, just like the two shamans. We had to move."

"The two shamans... What?" My mind was still rather foggy. "What do you mean? Where are we? Wait, did you just say I slept for two days?"

"Are you awake now?" He asked impatiently, and as I was about to answer, the goblin captain appeared next to our carriage.

"She woke up? Welcome back, Fire Witch." Avalon greeted me, riding on a raptor's back, one of his arms tied up, holding the reins with the other. "About time, we'll have company soon. These lizards started shadowing us first thing in the morning... Can you fight?"

"Can I? I'm not sure..." I mumbled, rubbing my sleepy eyes. "I don't remember much... Did I sleep that long?"

"As I said, you kept dueling the enemy shamans, then decided to burn down the entire forest, killing all the lizards in it," Bullhead repeated, looking rather impatient. "Then you wouldn't wake up, no matter what we tried. We've been on the move since... Barely got the time to investigate the villages. There was nobody left, you killed them all..."

"What? Don't be silly, I only aimed for the area right before us..." I tried to remember, but the fog was only lifting slowly. "I must have used too much mana... If that's the case, I'd need to meditate before I'm good to go, but it won't be easy if this cart keeps jumping on the pavement."

"I can stop the column, but then in about two minutes, the lizardmen will be on us," Avalon warned. "If you can't fight, things might get rough."

"Hmm... How many did we lose?" I asked, trying to grasp the situation. The last thing I remembered was firing off an inferno and getting all tingly. Next was waking up here, apparently two days later. "And how many lizards are following us? Maybe I can fire off a spell."

"Numerically, we didn't lose much... Thanks to your rampage." The beastkin captain noted, but it didn't sound like praise. "Eight orcs and twelve goblins in total, but that includes both of our shamans... The lizards aimed for them first and foremost. I take it, you can't use healing spells?"

"Healing? I can't, but..." Something rudely interrupted me by wooshing just a few feet above my head. By the time I looked up, it was ways ahead of us. It was some sort of monster, barely large enough to carry someone on its back, but it surprised me. "What the hell was that?"

"It's a damned pterosaurus," Avalon answered, then shouted to his men. "Archers, are you sleeping? Take that thing down right now."

"They have something like that?!" I yelled. This finally woke me up.

"They aren't as dangerous as our wyverns, but still annoying." The beastmen explained while the men hurled arrows at it. They kept missing but managed to scare off the beast. "And our air support is out hunting so the raptors won't starve to death..."

"Man, what did you get us into while I slept?" I complained, looking around. Our wagon only carried me, the commander, and some supplies, but the other carriages were packed with goblins and orcs. I saw ogres on both the first and the last cart, we were roughly in the middle of the convoy.

"Anyway, I fill you in while I still have the chance..." Avalon demanded my attention, pulling out something from his pocket. "We sent scouts to all three villages as we left the area, and they were dead empty. Not even women or children left behind... It seems like you indeed destroyed them all in that hellfire, but they barely got food stockpiled there or anything useful. Just this strange crystal in the largest village."

"Oh, that's a dungeon core!" I yelled, surprised. "And it's well refined too. I wonder what it was used for... From its color, it seems imbued with some sort of spell, but I can't feel anything..."

"So that's what it was?" Bullhead exclaimed, taking the crystal from the other captain. It had a faint crimson glow and was chiseled into a nice, regular shape, like a gemstone. "When we accidentally brought it too close to the raptors, they went insane. Otherwise, they are easy to handle."

"What about that one?" I pointed at Avalon's mount. He seemed to be doing just fine to me. "He pulled it out of his pocket while riding him."

"This is the one we had with us for a while now. He wasn't affected, but all the rest we stole from them acted strange around it." The goblin captain explained while still looking out for more aerial attacks. The pterosaurus, or whatever it was, drew a large circle around our convoy but didn't come close again. They observed us for now.

"I could potentially analyze the crystal if you think it's important, but it might take time..." I noted, staring at the back. I could see some dust clouds, probably belonging to the following lizardmen. "Alternatively, I could drain some of the mana from it, that way I'd be battle-ready in a few minutes, and wouldn't have to meditate for hours..."

"Then do that, you are the only magician we have left!" Gorgon yelled, but he didn't let me finish. I took the crystal from him.

"Yes but... The backside is that I might trigger the magic, whatever is implanted inside it." I added, looking at it curiously. "It could be good or bad, you decide. The color is rather ominous, at the very least..."

"Damn it..." Was all he could answer for now. The pterosaurus returned with five more monsters in tow. The arrows couldn't reach them, and they flew straight towards us. "Okay, do it, hurry up."

"As you wish." I nodded and took the crystal. I held it firmly, touched it to my forehead, and attempted to look inside it. The technique was similar to telepathy, I simply tried to communicate with the mana on the inside. It was risky if it had anything malicious in there, but we were pressed for time by the looks of things.

And that cursed carriage decided to jump on the pavement right at that moment. Why couldn't they build some sort of dampening into this thing? I nearly dropped the crystal. Worst yet, I butted my head into it so hard, it was sure to leave a mark... But it also started heating up in my hands. It didn't give me answers to my probing, but it sent signals to me...

Whoever filled it with mana must have had a lot to spare. I could easily refill my entire body multiple times over... The lizard riders got closer and closer, so I couldn't waste more time investigating. I just hoped it wouldn't take offense to my draining spell, or it might try to kill me, which was a probable option...

To be fair, it was the first time I had seen and touched a dungeon core. I knew what it was because my master kept talking about how valuable and great it is, and how many things it could be used for. And those barbaric humans made bags out of them, to carry more useless things around. But spells could be contained inside if a skilled warlock or mage processed it, from simple telepathy to a devastating inferno. Or it could project effects into the environment...

This one did both if I could believe what the captains said about its effect on our pack animals... At the same time, it reacted to my probing too, just not how I would have liked.

It didn't matter now, I established a link and prepared to drain its energy. Instead, I got images flooding my mind, and there was no stopping them. They looked like loose memories, feelings, and the plans of someone, but they changed too fast for me to make sense.

I tried to release the crystal, but it wouldn't let go of me.

One thing was certain: whoever created it, had grandiose ambitions. They wanted to rule, to control with a tight grip, over people, vast territories, and now my mind too. Their ambition attempted to make a nest in my head, overwriting everything I had until now, but there was a catch. My ambition was not something to be trifled with.

It burned brighter than the sun. Well, it was to be burning things... Mostly everything. And burn them with much intensity. I could also burn puny ambitions that tried to infiltrate my brain. World domination? Ruling over people and land? Such silly things.

Why bother, when you can just burn them all?

You could burn them slow, fast, forever, with the most beautiful flames a magician can ever hope to create. I didn't need to own something to light them on fire. I didn't need its consent either. These things were way below me, and I let the crystal know too.

The images, memories, and feelings now tried to flee my head, to retreat into their shell, the perceived safety of the crystal, but I wouldn't have it. Did they want to invade? I accepted them with open arms. They were welcome to nourish my flames.

I could feel my body quickly rejuvenate, and fill up with mana. It was a gamble, but it worked. I felt energetic and wanted to burn something. The first volunteers were about thirty yards from me, flying towards the archers... Arrows did poorly against them, so I demonstrated to orcs and lizardmen how it was done.

I stood up, reaching out towards the closest pterosaurus. I didn't even have to go through the usual spellcasting, I already saw the flames.

"Burn!"