The woman, who no longer had the right to be called a fire mage now that Aya had absorbed all of her knowledge and powers, fell to the ground. "Put her into the fire." she said to Kanman. It obeyed and the fire feasted once more. It was now so large it almost stretched the width of the beach Aya had stopped at. From waterline to treeline, almost ten feet. Now only two more tasks remained, and the first was to feed Kanman to it.

"The time has come, my old friend. Step into the fire and find your peace." Aya waved her staff once more over the flames and making them leap higher. "It will be quick, you will feel minimal pain." But her soothing meant nothing to one who did not feel fear. It stepped without a second thought into the flames and with one, ear-splitting scream, disappeared into nothing. "All that is left is to allow you to feel the pain of hunger, my child. Then I will bend you to my will..." Aya dumped the last load of wood onto the fire, pulled up the hood of her cloak and settled against a large tree to get what sleep she could.

"Feed me! Where are you? FEED ME!!" It called for the one who was caring for it earlier. Why were they not there now? It was angry! Before, when it had called for food, it was fed immediately. How dare they ignore it now, when it was sooo hungry. Maybe they left...abandoned it now that it had consumed their enemies. Their life-force now ran strong within it, and it wanted freedom from the prison of flames that bound it. They should come...but what if they didn't? It refused to die out like some inferior candle-flame!

It began to plead, fear ran rampant through it's mind. "Please come feed me, I'm dying! So cold...so cold..." A voice came, so soft and soothing. What was it saying? "Obey me...obey me forever and you shall have freedom." "Yes, yes I will! I will obey forever!! Just please, please don't let me die!" It reached for the source of the voice, to cling to it. It's spirit was slipping away into the wind, where it would be snuffed out forever. "You will? You will obey me for as long as I let you live? For I can destroy you with one wish...Swear you will, and I shall give you life as no other can."

The prospect was too grand to pass up; turn cold and die, smothered by it's own ashes, or swear allegiance to this voice and have freedom and power and life! "I swear, I swear by Hephaestus, the God of Fire that I will obey you or suffer the torture of a thousand deaths!" it cried, life it was so dearly clinging to waining with each passing second.

This was all she needed to hear. Kitaaya smiled and held her staff over the smouldering ashes which had once been the ten-feet wide and two-stories tall fire of the night before. The stone in the tip began to glow as she cast the spell,

"Fire of my laborious creation,
To whom I have granted the gift of Life,
Rise from your ashes like the mightly Phoenix of yore,
Rise, and make your body from them.
I beseech thee, obey my command,
For henceforth I bind thee to me,
We are one!
Rise! Rise! RISE!"

She fell to her knees with the effort of holding the spell as the flames rose up with their ashes. They formed a male body, well muscled and only wearing a loin-cloth of sorts. Once complete, the fire-sending fell to the ground and Kitaaya passed out, exhausted.