"Damn it, Aleorn!" Or'do knelt at Aleorn's side, his powerful hands fisted and trembling at his sides; a symbol of his helplessness as clear as the burning tears upon his cheek. "Aleorn!"

There was no response from his friend, whose flesh had chilled, the flames dying alongside his weak, frail heart. Where that valiant heart had pealed thunder through Aleorn's veins in life, so to was its silence equally profound. The clash of Dark and Light inside him, had torn Aleorn apart, yet it was Or'do who felt the agony of a heart torn asunder.

"Why?!" He slammed an iron fist into the pitted stone. "Why?!" Sorrow again swelled from that cold, bleak heart, and once more he felt that bitter hopelessness wash over him.

"Frail Cinder, if any strength you yet have, if any Flame I still shelter, I beg you: leave me, bring back my comrade!" He wept, yet this time, not for himself. "Fate, take it all, I'll sacrifice everything I have!" Fists of iron once more crunched against stone. "Take my life if that be the toll, take my vitality and make it his!"

Flame swirled from his once barren Cinder, encircling his hands and surging like pouncing vipers into Aleorn's flesh. Or'do's vision wavered, and he pulled back his flaming hands before darkness stole his sight. All the same, Aleorn gasped, spasming and thrashing as if besieged from within. He rolled on to his side, gasping and retching, ash streaming between his parched lips as fire once more glowed among the ridges and vales of his craggy, ashen skin.

"Gods, Aleorn! I thought you were dead!" Or'do cried, embracing his comrade with a ferocity and desperation that startled even him.

"I think I was." Aleorn managed. "Why did I not reform?"

Because the pair of you have lost your connection to the Flame. The Keeper's voice reached both Or'do and Aleorn, ringing through their heads as if it was from there that it had come.

"But I just created another Flame!" Aleorn protested, then grinning in spite of himself as Or'do cocked an eyebrow, offered only "I'll explain later".

And in so doing lost your connection to the Other. You have begun the process of claiming this world, yet the new Flame is not yet strong enough to restore you.

"Meaning that if we perish..." Aleorn trailed off, neither needing nor wanting to finish the thought.

It will indeed be the end of you.