Marriage and Divorce

The Flame continued to drive a stake in Kieran's mind, hammering it with incessant force. 

And that stake was the understanding that Kieran was its Condemned. They were linked in ways that could not be broken, and that was why it craved him so much.

It had not encountered a pure and distinct link like this in quite some time. As Kieran knelt in the Pit's sodden sands, he sighed with resignation and leaned back on his rear.

A lone image in an expanse of blood, he sat and cradled his bent knees.

'Why me?'

The Flame's tone was no longer as impish when it responded. Now that it had tasted the sublime bloodlust Kieran had to offer, so refined and gratifying, it gained an air of severity.

It could not be too forceful, but it could also not afford to let Kieran slip from its grasp. He was a pristine weapon that could be used to wage the Flame's long-awaited War.