The pain was oppressive, the mind was crippled, his spirit... a burning mess. Writhing about in the excruciating pain, the young boy reached the edge of the flames horizon. Having lost both his arms, legs and pieces of his torso to the golden radiance burning bright within him, the remaining parts of him, strived to cross the horizon. Having lost all manner of reasoning, intellect and sense of time, he writhed and writhed and writhed but the horizon seemed elusive, as though it feared the flames burning bright within his apparitional body.
ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
A primordial scream escaped from within him. Even in death, the world made it impossible for him to seek solace, for him to live. Tears that should have streaked across his incandescent countenance burned without ever fully forming. The desire to express his pain raged. His gaping mouth incandescent, his melting body glowing bright.
In that mindless state of pain, his writhing began to bury him in to the deep black sands. A sizzling sound echoed, the flames that burned deep in his apparitional body waned as the black sands doused the golden-orange flames that were consuming the boy's soul. The flames fearing their demise, fought against the black particles that seemed to snuff out the imperial flames.
His mind lost in pain, his figure glowing with light, his spirit melting, the dark sands that piled upon him in a futile struggle, waged a war upon the golden-orange flames. This supernatural battle that raged within him, left tremendous pain upon his soul.
Worm-like writhing.
The searing pains of becoming a living sacrifice waned, albeit slightly but they still waned.
Noticing that the flames within him were fighting the black sands that had piled upon him during his mindless writhing, he desperately sought to hasten the process.
Worm-like eating. He swallowed mouthfuls of sands in his desperate attempt to find solace from the torrid flames.
Tongues of flame congealed hoping to burn the dark sands, but the black sands doused the meta-physical flames. The battle raged on as the black sands seemed to gain a molten luster, parts of the sands already turning molten.
A short reprieve was granted.
"Sand, Sand, Sand."
The more sand he swallowed, the less pain he gradually felt. His originally incandescent body seemed to lose parts of its original luster as the dark sands began extinguishing the torrid flames, bit by bit. But as the dark sands also began dousing the flames, the extreme heat produced by the flames turned the originally black sands into the molten state of glass.
"Sand, Sand, Sand, Sand, Sand."
Greedily devouring the black sands, cooling sensations reverberated throughout his remaining body. Time went by as he continued that same process of gluttony. Though it wasn't feasible for the sands to travel throughout his remaining being, it seemed as though wherever the flames were the sands sought to extinguish the imperial flames. Perhaps that was how the golden-orange remained contained for all time in those forsaken lands. Eventually, the battle between the flames and the sand ended with both sides eradicating themselves to oblivion.
"Huuff, Huuff, Huuff."
The sound of deep panting escaped from his already mangled maw. His teeth which were apparitional had gained a sense of physicality as his illusory face that was incandescent, now a melted remainder, contained a sense of profound relief.
"Its not hot... its not hot. Finally."
The relief from the flames caused him to not take notice of what had happened to him, but in that moment it was of little importance. Already burrowed deep in the black sands, a cold solace embraced him granting the rest he so greatly desired whilst immolated.
"Father, Mother... I have acquired it."
In the grand Telemenpha family estate, a mother cast her countenance west.
Sleep tried to visit the boy, but the condition of his being was too dire for ignorance, squirming out of the black sands the golden-orange flames burned solemnly. Their radiance illuminating the darkness, creating an area of warm light. But that sight was ignored.
Taking in the current condition of his apparitional body, a quiet resignation settled on his heart. Both his arms had melted off, pieces of his torso were missing in quantities making him look like incomplete structure. His legs were a thing of the past as all that remained of them were two empty spaces that were supposed to be connected to his waist. Though he couldn't see his own countenance or his neck, he was sure a mangled mess of the former was all that remained of them.
A quiet sigh escaped.
"Power, all I wanted was power, but simply acquiring it cost me so much. How much more would I have to sacrifice just to grow strong enough to live. Argh, what an unfair life."
His voice barely a mutter. Truly it was an unfair life he had lived as a quiet agony rested upon his being, his soul wrecked with a sadness he knew not. Eventually, he again regained his bearing and mused about what he had gained.
"Although my body is dead, I seem to be alive in soul... just barely. And those flames, what are they? What is this land called? Is this the afterlife or some desolate land resting at the edge of the world? Too many questions yet no answer, sigh, at least... at the very least, I have finally acquired power."
The molten liquid that had washed within him, cooled and settled. From that, a foreign energy pulsated throughout the remaining portion of his apparitional body. It felt like sea water gently kissing his being, though the exact definition of it varied but to him, he likened it to such.
"So this is what mana feels like. Though having lost a lot of memories regarding the complexities of mana, I still remember the basic knowledge of it. Since mana has come into close contact with my soul, it should have established, changed and settled the mana circuits that were dormant within my soul. So judging from the crystals or glass or whatever these things are, they seem to filter out other things mixed in the mana and maybe just maybe they are also my attribute or special characteristics.
His apparitional back kissed the black sands as he mused about the gains he had gotten from his suicidal interaction with the fire that burned solemnly in the dark lands. Though he had finally acquired power, his interaction with the fire had left him deeply traumatized such that he subconsciously squirmed away from the fire but as he was squirmed, his already illusory and apparitional turned faint but he couldn't take notice of it as a deep sleep grew within him.
"Uh, I feel sleepy... probably due to the flames. Is this where I die? I don't want to die but I feel so very sleepy."
The different versions of him that had hidden in the darkness, stepped in to the light. The full merging of the three separate entities had been forcibly stopped by the others for reasons unknown, but they had appeared, one gleeful the other blank expressioned. Invisible tendrils appeared linking up the three, forming a holistic atmosphere around the severely damaged Jedaiah. The crystalline objects dwelling within his soul, hummed as they gained different colors that faintly glowed, causing the originally damaged Jedaiah to fall asleep.