I felt his distress, felt his terror burn through me as if it were my own. Or'do was in more than grave peril, his life was at this moment tinder for a most ravenous flame. Anguished, I clawed at the sleek planes of my helm, as if I could tear away metal and bone, could physically rouse my thoughts from their slumber. Then, in my desperation, the groping hand of my consciousness brushed against the cache of power where fallen Lords lay. Their Cinder had become mine, and at once I realized how it was that Or'do moved about this realm with such ease, treading upon Lords' dominion without slaying them, surging through with impossible haste to again challenge the Soul of Cinder.

Heat welled inside me, clawed and thrashed, rending me from within like a demon caged inside my ribs, yet I felt only the bleakest desperation, a cold fire that burned away all other sensation. The Cinder flared, and at once, I knelt beside Or'do. His body was wreathed in white flame, yet beneath the radiant pall, his chest still rose, his soul yet lingered. I felt my own flesh boil and flow as I closed an arm of steel beneath him, and dragged as much as heaved him to the Bonfire's soothing halo. Each step weighed upon me like a mantle of cast iron, each stride slower as pale flame spread from his limp body, devouring my flesh with primordial hunger and devastating frenzy.

Then, we reached the bonfire, and with a half shapeless hand upon the coiled sword's braided pommel, I bid the Flame return. Its warmth banished the white flame, burned away our agony, gave new life to armour pitted and crumpled beneath unimaginable heat, and painted flesh over bared, charred bone. Or'do gasped, drawing a sudden, desperate breath into his once forsaken lungs, and when his eyes focused on me, it was with gratitude if not surprise.

"How did-" His smooth voice shattered into a spasmodic fit of coughing.

"The same way as you" I said, steadying him with a hand of warmth upon his cold, trembling arm. "The Cinder binds us, yet with enough strength, we can exert fleeting dominion over it, and through its power link any location with another, striding fathoms in mere seconds."

Or'do nodded. "Impressive. It took a great deal of time for me to discover that."

"You were alone, lost and drifting as I once was; you gave me renewed reason to fight, and a life of more than mere survival. I felt somehow, your turmoil, your agony, and it gave me inspiration."

"Glad I inspired someone." He muttered, laughing as I reddened in shame. "A joke, my friend!"

"Ah." I gestured vaguely around the darkened chamber, whose walls writhed and seethed with benighted life, stirred to fearful frenzy by the Bonfire's scathing light. "Did you discover what you came here for?"

"More or less." When he did not elaborate, I gestured for him to continue.

"Go on..." I spoke softly, as if fearing that answer.

" The Darkness was not exterminated, was not eliminated, was not burned away as they would have us believe. Indeed it lurks beyond the veil between worlds, a realm somehow a pace sideways from this one."

"Sideways?" I asked incredulously.

"Aye. Yet I cannot know where until the Soul has fallen; his strength will stoke my Cinder, and grant me the power I need."

"You would pursue the twisted creatures?"

"After so long fighting to prevent their return, I think it is at last time," he rose and extended a gloved hand. "To take the fight to them."