"Free...I am....FREE!" He opened his eyes. A pair of bright orange eyes. The first thing he saw was the woman...the one who had created then freed him. She had fallen onto the charred ground with the effort it cost her. Then he heard voices, shouts...angry ones. They drifted from the forest toward the riverbank. Shying from the water, he quickly gathered the woman and her staff up and dove for the darkness of the forest.

"It came from here! I saw the great fire the night before!" a child's voice said. He remembered the children...she had released them the night before. Why would she be so foolish? Ah, he remembered. The other, weaker fire-sending had brought a minimally powerful fire mage from the village. Stupid girl, she'd been consumed by hunger and left witnesses. He would sort them out.

"There, on that beach. She had this ugly beast and a huge fire! Look there!" the little boy pointed to the dark pool of blood where the fire mage had died. The villagers eyed it with disgust and pure terror. Murder had never happened in their little, out of the way town. "Maybe she's left..." one of the men said in a tremulous voice. "No, not left..." the new fire-sending murmured in a deep voice. The people cast left and right to search for it's source, but he kept to the shadows of the forest. "Not left...just busy at the moment. Though, she's allowed me to...greet you." His voice turned greedy with hunger.

"W-who's th-th-there?" the eldest man asked, gripping his pitchfork with feigned bravery. He chuckled deeply, shaking his head. "I have no name yet, human. She hasn't named me." He took one step, then another from the forest, burning orange eyes never leaving his prey. "You're...a-a-a fire-sending!" the little boy screamed. "More than one, I'm as close to being human as a fire sending can be." He hissed. They took a few cringing steps back as he approached.

Stirring, Kitaaya opened her eyes slowly. The pale-grey light of dawn met her gaze, as did a leafy canopy. She groaned and sat up slowly before remembering. "The sending..." Casting about, Aya found her staff and leaned on it to stand. She heard the voices of the frightened villagers, as well as a deep, powerful man's. It was the sending, already circling his first prey. She knelt to watch, a slow smile crept across her face. The instant she watched him swoop in and murder the small, terrified group with one, merciless blast, she new his name. "Kagekasai....shadow-fire."

A familiar voice made him turn and he saw the woman hiding in the forest, the slowly rising sun illuminating her pale skin, blood-red eyes flickering. "What did you say?" She smiled and murmured, "Kagekasai...you are Kagekasai." It seemed to fit within his mind. "Yes, yes I am." Kagekasai straightened and bowed to Kitaaya. "I am in your debt, High Mage." "I am Kitaaya, and no simple mage. I am going to be a fire goddess, as soon as my meddling sister realizes that she cannot stop me..." the last half was muttered with such animosity and disdain it seemed she spat the words rather than spoke them.

"Your sister?" Kage' asked. "My sister...Kitakaze, already ascended to goddess and now rules the North Wind. She will do anything to stop me, to make me see that fire is not all destruction and chaos." Her eyes burned darkly as she thought of her perfect sister, with the pale blonde hair and clear blue eyes. One would never think them related upon first glance. The only reason she had attained ascension so soon was because she was an air mage, a far more simpler and dull magic as far as Aya was concerned.

Distracted, Kitaaya pulled a bundle of clothing from her robes and handed it to Kage'. "Here put those on. We begin our trek northward to de-throne my sister." He obeyed but asked, "We? Why must I come?" "Why? You are not to ask why...you are just to do as I say!" Kitaaya whirled on Kage' with her staff held eye. The red stone glowed and Kage' collapsed with a scream of pain. "Remember your oath, Shadow-Fire. We are one, I control you..." her voice was full of heated anger. "I will not be controlled!" Kagekasai cried as he fought the cold. She was draining him of his strength.

"You will obey..." her voice broke into his mind, smothering his thoughts with that one phrase. "I will not... I will not... I WILL NOT!" he broke her power over him, sending them both flying with the burst of energy. Screeching in rage, Aya flipped in the air and planted her feet into a tree. Kage' did the same, teeth bared. "How dare you resist!!? I freed you, gave you LIFE!!" He chuckled, "Let's just say, you shouldn't have been so quick to dismiss Kanman the way you did...he lives on in me, gave rise to my rebelliousness." The mage was astonished. "Kanman? There wasn't enough within it to give you such resistance!"

Again, he chuckled. "Fury can give any unknown strength. He served you faithfully, catered to your every whim...and you send him off to oblivion without so much as a thank you?" Kage' took advantage of her momentatry weakness to once again blast her away with his black-fire. She countered with a blast of white-hot fire of her own, and the two collided. They erupted in a mix of power and sent the two spiraling off into.... nothingness.