No Flame Burns Forever by Lotrfan

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

It glows with as bright a light as he remembers, from long ago when he first saw it in his father's hands. He cradles it in his palm and a part of him wonders that it does not feel as cool as he expected. It feels warm, more than warm, as his hand closes around it. The heat intensifies, searing his palm, flaring hot as the forge, the molten metal, all the flames from his past. He cannot throw it from him—it has melded with his skin in the intensity of its heat. His eyes look to the chasm in front of him, the ground shaking as the earth shatters and cracks all around him. He sees the flames in the depth, the heat radiating up. It calls to him. He has claimed it but it claims him in the end. He is burning already and he can think of no other end but to give himself to the flames below. Stepping over the edge he falls into the fiery abyss, holding the jewel near his heart