Painful Lessons (Latent Element Challenge)

Element: Fire

When Mercurium first discovered his element, he had a fierce argument with a merchant. Someone had managed to steal his robe, and sold it. The merchant in question tried to sell it back to Mercurium at an exorbitant price. Even despite the blue and gray fur that was all over the robe already, it was merely a coincidence. In a flash of rage, Mercurium reached for the merchant and as he did the man's clothing ignited and Mercurium's Wing burst into a flaming golden radiance. At first Mercurium stared dumbly at what just occurred, then as the merchant man ran from his stall screaming, not only trying to pull his flaming attire off, but shielding his eyes from the now sudden bright light. The sudden light not only drew everyone's attention, but those near Mercurium shielded his eye. Taking the initiative, Mercurium reclaimed his property and ran into the nearby woods.

In all the confusion, Mercurium had escaped anyone really following him. His wings had gone back to their "normal" coloring and brightness. But now noticing that the flames that came from his feathers had burned his wing armed along the bottom, the fur was gone and the skin under was red and blistered. Now that he had seen it and acknowledged it the pain had started to set in. Quickly Mercurium donned his robe and went searching for plants that grew in the area to relive the burns.

Tired, wary, and scared of his new found power, Mercurium walked back to his little shack in the woods. He had decidedly never to use the fire again, or at least until he found a safe place with little to nothing to burn. But a fire affinity? Why would he have that ability? Fire is nothing but destructive, true he could learn to make small campfires for warmth, and at worse cauterize wounds. Grimacing at that unpleasant thought, Mercurium heard something. Soft muffled footsteps, someone was following him. NO! more than one. They were really good at being quiet, a human probably wouldn't hear them; but either they didn't put 2 and 2 together, or they didn't realize the canine ears on top of his head weren't just for show. Then the sound of a bow string tensing came.

Mercurium flung himself behind a tree in the opposite direction  of the sound. A sudden jerking motion pulled on his right wing. Looking down at his wing, he saw an arrow laying on the ground. The arrow had hit his feathers and stopped, bounced off the feathers and now laid on the ground about a foot away. As he stood there studying what had just happened, another arrow hit a little higher on his right wing feathers. It too had been deflected and bounced away to now lay with the first. He had felt the motion of the arrow hitting, there was a little pain but nothing compared to the burns he had already given himself.

'Now that's interesting' Mercurium thought to himself. His wings are simply too big to be covered by the tree that currently concealed his body.

Taking a deep breath, and stealing his mind. Mercurium stepped out from around the tree keeping his feathers between himself and the attacker. Another arrow slapped against his wings, and again. a small pressure and pain were felt, but it did not pierce.

Filled with confidence Mercurium ran quickly at the aggressor, who's eyes went wide with panic as it tried to back pedal and caught his heels on some tree roots and fell to his back. Mercurium's confidence swelled as he ran at his attacker now. Some part of his mind poked him, that he was forgetting some critical information. Too little too late. as he was upon the fallen assailant a larger male human stepped from around his tree cover brandishing a flanged mace in both hands. Mercurium had too much momentum to stop, so he tried to pivot, putting all his weight and momentum on his forward foot and turning to put his wing in the way of the oncoming two handed pain train coming his way.

He managed it, but unlike the arrows, the mace hit like the bone breaking hammer it was meant to be. There was a sharp heavy pressure against his feathers, causing them to swing inwards and even if they had softened the blow, the mace impacted his chest. Stopping his momentum and drawing any and all air from his lungs.  Now it was Mercurium's turn to go wide eyed, he laid on his back, not remembering hitting the ground, he must have blacked out from the pain for a moment because the large man was now stepping to his side, looming over his prone body, raising the mace again for a downward final blow. Mercurium knew there was nothing he could do to stop it, but on reflex he put  up his hands to try to defend himself, shouting in a horse gasping tone "ait."

The fear of death and pain rolled up inside him. And an explosion of sound shook leaves from the trees! Ears ringing now from not only the pain but from the sudden presence of light and sound, and heat. A lot of heat! Something heavy landed on Mercurium's wing and he tried to scream again. But had no air in his lungs again. But after his eyes refocused, through their watering from the heat he could see that the large man had been flung a good 10 feet and broke against a tree. The man's upper body was charred and black, while little spots of flame ate away at what was left. The pain from his wing however came from the large mace, apparently the man had dropped it when Mercurium had done..... whatever it was that he had done.

A sudden flash of movement caught Mercurium's attention. The archer had gotten to its feet, a woman now that her mask was around her neck. She was wielding a dagger and was charging at Mercurium. There was no sound or smell, just the sight of her running at Mercurium, much as he did to her earlier. He hadn't actually planned on killing her, or the large man at the time, he just wanted to scare them, even if it meant roughing them up a little. So they would leave him alone. But now with her charging at him, his senses dulled and muted, and the pain and fear stroking his mind. Base instinct took over with little thought behind them.

Mercurium raised his arms to defend himself against the woman's blade. The steel bit deep within his right arm, but he did not notice, his mind was paralyzed with so many signals already. So when her weight came to rest upon him, he grabbed her with both hands and rolled, using his wings for extra leverage. She looked at his snarling face, the face of a monster no longer bound by reason or rational thought, and froze. Mercurium's mind was starting to reassert itself, but not before he lunged forward, fangs bared and mouth open.

Warm crimson copper flowed across his tongue. The sensation was alien but familiar like the taste of the meat he had for breakfast that morning. The flavor sent a shock through his body and his senses rushed back in a tsunami of emotions. Pride that he had won, joy that he had lived,  guilt that he had taken the lives of other sentient creatures, and fear, fear for the fact that he had killed two humans with fire and his own fangs. Opening his mouth wide he withdrew from the woman without actually ripping the flesh that he had bitten into. The flavor now revolted him, he had bitten into her neck. The woman stared, wide eyed. her face full of fear and anger as tears rolled down her face, her mouth locked open, trying to scream; but only small whimpers escaped as the holes in her neck bubbled and gurgled from it’s new holes.

Rolling back to the woman on his knees, pulling the large pouch from his belt and with frantic but practiced hands he set to trying to stop the bleeding. Some small part of him knew that it was worthless, but he tried to save her. All the while muttering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He tried for over an hour, not noticing that she had passed only minutes after he had started.

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Though they had tried to kill him. Though he didn't feel as though he wasn't in the wrong for taking their lives. He still felt guilt, and sorrow, and was very ashamed of himself. Both of them had died because he had lost control. It wasn't even because he had made a conscious choice to do so. Though he wasn't sure that would make it better. Mercurium had erected two graves for them, buried them with all their belongings except for their coins and weapons.

He didn't grieve for say, but he stood at their grave and promised he would get better, be better.  'Not that the dead would appreciate that.' He thought bitterly.

Turning from them and walking back to the little shack that he called home for the time being. He had something that needed to be done. The small shack was made of wood and straw. "Erfect for what I need to learn" he said out loud.  His reasoning that he didn't have the luxury of not learning to control this power, not if every time he and angry or afraid he would set something on fire. So now within his little wooden hut, any mistakes would cost him his shelter, his belongings, his health, and maybe even his life. He had read in some of this worlds books what he was. A sorcerer. While the act and study of wizardry also deals with magic talents, it is often derived from intense study, sigils, science, and constructed boundaries using tools, words and a strong mental fortitude. Sorcerers were known to be unpredictable and dangerous, for their magic was called forth by emotions. The stronger the emotion the more powerful and impactful the energy released. Though wizards tended to have a jealousy for sorcerers. Not their reputation to be sure, but for their ability to become magus. For wizards could not use solely emotion for their magic workings, but a sorcerer can study wizardry to strengthen and control their powers better and more efficiently. For it's just that, a study.

From his time living with Listens to Wind he had been taught the basics of magical theory but at the time they had both thought Mercurium to be a magical dud. Turns out he just needed the right motivation.

He sat himself in a corner of the shack, and with his emotions still running high, he focused on what triggered the bursts of flame. Reaching for the flame wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. In fact it was far too easy now that he knew it was there. A small column of heat and light blossomed from his hand. It was intimidating to be holding that power, more so when Mercurium noticed his hand was starting to burn. The fear only drove the flames to become larger now reaching up to the roof. Panicking further, Mercurium dove for the front door, pointing his hand at the small stream of water he had built his shack next to. The flames burned across the stream failing to even catch the foliage on the banks on fire. Mercurium relaxed a little, killing the flames out. And so it went for 3 days, making little to no progress. Having to take frequent breaks, due to every time he became frustrated the flames would grow out of control. It wasn't until the night of the third day that he had made a campfire using his new found power to cook some meat that he had hunted earlier that day. That an affinity hit him.

Warmth, energy and heat. What was fire other than one of the purest forms of energy? Since starting this training he noticed that he had been eating more, now he figured that he had been literally burning more calories from his body to produce the flames. How, he had yet to understand. But it did make sense in a way. So what if he pulled some of the energy from the flames to reduce the heat. While lost in these thoughts the smell of charring meat filled his nose. The smell both made his mouth fill with saliva and nauseated him. He couldn't help but glance in the direction of the graves. The smell stirred the memories of what he had done. He tried his best to ignore it, but biting into the meat only made it worse, while the seasoned meat tasted nothing like the flavor that the woman had given him. He couldn't keep the memories at bay. But he was ravenous and his supplies of dry food were dwindling. So taking his cooking herbs, he completely drowned the meat in flavor until it was revolting for other reasons.

About a week later, Mercurium made his first break though with his new revelation. He managed to produce "flames" that were simply warm, and did not burn anything other than the energy he fed it. However, holding it for an extended period of time still exhausted him. But now that he had better control of the power he could test his other theory. Digging through his old books he had used to make notes with his old mentor and friend he found the one he used primarily for magical theory. Digging through the book he found the sigil of Metatron. A series of geometric shapes that was said to control energy from one point to another. Drawing a circle on the floor with a soft stone and sitting in it he invested his will into the circle, feeling the energy around him snap shut. Removing the bandages from his right arm where the woman had stabbed him. The bandages stuck to the wound and caused it to start bleeding again. Taking a deep breath, he focused on making the warmth flames in his left hand. The flames sprang to life, eager to feed and grow on the energy he fed it. Next he formed the Metatron sigil in his mind and willed the flames energy to it.

He only had the barest idea of what he was doing as he had originally considered himself a magical dud. But to his surprise the sigil of Metatron burst into life in his left palm, the energy from the flames making the sigil glow and throb. Pushing past his stunned state he then focused on the wound bringing the sigil to bear upon the wound. Focusing on what he wanted to happen, he envisioned the warmth energy being filtered through the sigil and fueling his body's natural  healing ability. The results were a little hit or miss at first, but then the wound began to itch furiously, then began to throb with intense pain, just as Mercurium thought to give up though he noticed that the wound was closing before his eyes, knitting itself back together in real time. His muzzle wrinkled as he snarled in protest against the pain.  But in less than a minute the wound had closed and fur had begun to regrow. Killing the fuel to the flames the sigil faded from existence, leaving Mercurium to stare at the spot where the wound had been, and a childish smile stretched his canine features. Fire was not only for destruction, but it was a primal energy one that could be used. Feeling completely drained from the little experiment he slept.

And so it went, with some slightly cruel moments against animals he hunted, he had found that using the same method, he could heal others as well. Through some willing participants he learned that if he dialed back the power output more, the pain of the procedure was reduced and the not so deadly, but no less intimidating flames died down to just a golden orangish glow from his hand. And that's how Mercurium earned the moniker and title the traveling healer.