The bond pulses again as Elowen struggles for control. I feel her attempting to slow her breathing, to contain the terror that threatens to spill over. The hell-born current responds to her restraint, easing slightly under my guidance.
She is learning without realizing it. That, perhaps, is the most dangerous element of this entire situation. Most mortals faced with power recoil from it. They deny it, fear it, pretend it does not belong to them. But Elowen does not recoil in the same way.
Even through her confusion, even through the storm of guilt and dread thrashing inside her chest, she reaches instinctively for calm. She tries to master herself. The bond answers that effort immediately. The flames hesitate. Not extinguished, but restrained, as if waiting for instruction that never comes.
I study her carefully through the shifting veil of smoke. She stands several paces from the others, shoulders tense, hands half-raised as though she does not remember lifting them. Her eyes move between the burning structure and the crowd surrounding her, searching for an explanation that does not exist.
The villagers watch her the way prey watches a predator it does not understand. Fear sharpens their posture. Suspicion curls in their voices. A dozen different conclusions are forming in their minds, and none of them end well for her.
Humans are predictable creatures when cornered by uncertainty. They hunt. They isolate the anomaly and cut it away before it can spread. I have watched it happen across continentsand centuries. Empires have burned for less than what this village now suspects.
Elowen does not grasp the danger gathering around her. She is still trying to make sense of it.
Through the bond I feel the fragile structure of her thoughts forming, collapsing, reforming again.
I did not mean this.
I did not do this.
Did I?
The questions spiral through her, each one feeding the next wave of fear. The bond flares in response, eager and volatile.
I clamp down harder. The underworld current snarls beneath my control, a living force that resents restraint. It was shaped for devastation, not moderation. Holding it back requires precision that would have shattered lesser demons long ago.
And yet the alternative is unacceptable. If the energy were allowed to answer her fear fully, the hay shed would not merely burn. The entire square would. The realization settles deeper with each passing second. This village believes it is witnessing witchcraft.
In truth, it stands on the edge of something far more catastrophic. Elowen shifts slightly, and the crowd recoils as though she has drawn a blade. Someone whispers something sharp and frightened behind her. Another voice rises in accusation.
The bond tightens again. My attention snaps immediately to the source of her distress. A broad-shouldered man, Ravik Keld, the shed’s owner, steps forward through the smoke, fury radiating from him in hot, reckless waves.
His grief sharpens into blame with alarming speed. It would be very easy to remove him. One spark of infernal flame. Onebreath of true wrath. He would vanish as quickly as the first man did. The instinct rises so swiftly it almost bypasses thought.
He frightened her. The bond roars in agreement. I force the impulse down with iron control. Destroying the man now would confirm every suspicion already tightening around her throat. It would escalate the situation beyond recovery.
But the fact that my first instinct is eradication is… illuminating. I have annihilated cities without feeling this particular edge of urgency. Yet a single frightened healer in a marsh village provokes it effortlessly.
The bond hums in quiet approval of the observation.
Possessiveness.
The word surfaces with unsettling clarity.
I do not dismiss it. I catalog it. I don’t even know her, but I want her like fresh air. I need to get a grip. Understanding one's instincts is the first step in mastering them.
Elowen’s breathing steadies again, slow and deliberate. The flames shrink slightly as she regains control of herself, though I suspect she has not yet realized the connection between her heartbeat and the inferno devouring Ravik’s property.
That realization will come soon enough. When it does, it will terrify her. That terror will feed the bond even further. The situation cannot continue like this.
Left unchecked, the cycle will escalate until either the village destroys her in fear… or the bond destroys the village in response. Neither outcome is acceptable. Which leaves only one solution. She must understand what she has become connected to. And I must ensure she survives long enough to learn how to wield it.
The village does not yet comprehend how close it stands to ruin. I withdraw the remaining surge, choking the fire down to what mortal effort can reasonably contain. Buckets of water begin to take effect. The blaze retreats into smoldering collapse.
The damage is done, not enough to slaughter, but enough to convince. And the eyes of Briarthorn are fixed upon her. She looks toward the smoke where I stand partially veiled, and for the briefest fraction of a moment, our gazes align. She sees the outline of me. The bond tightens in recognition. There is no hysteria in her expression. Only fear of herself. That, more than anything, forces decision.
I did not intend to reveal my presence so soon. I had planned to observe longer, to map the boundaries of this tether without interference. But mortals are fragile creatures, and fragile creatures under pressure break unpredictably.
If they turn their fear into action, if they lay hands on her as the first male did, the bond will not allow measured restraint. It will answer in full. I cannot permit that. Not because I fear their destruction. Because she would.
