Kamali & The War of Light

I remember... I remember looking back on that day and feeling it, the fleeting sense of fear and grief as everything I had ever worked for fell apart before me. My home, my family, in one single moment they were gone... and it was all my fault. I had led them there, put everyone in danger. It was always my burden to bear, not theirs, and yet they were the ones to pay the ultimate price. I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to feel so... so empty. This wasn't how it was supposed to end... but sadly it was never my decision to make. I had no control over the passage of time, only the matter of space and, despite the strength of my magic, who am I to go against the natural law? No... there was nothing natural about it. That fire... it wasn't formed from the earth. It was formed from the hatred of others, from the burning anger that resides in their soul. A hatred I, at one time, too harbored deep within.

As a young viscling, it was always obvious I was different. I never was like the others. I could see something they couldn't... Not something ghostly... something... in them. I could see through their masks into the soul hidden within. I could see how some shone bright with the light of innocence while others were tainted, blackened by the struggles of this world. I tried to help but I was always pushed away. I was a freak of nature... with crystals sprouting from my fur, separating me from the masses and leading their hate towards me. Until I discovered it. These crystals weren't just abscesses growing from my body, they held magic, a power only imagined in childhood fantasies and told by the elders who had lived too many years. Just like that I went from the bane of their existence to the pride of the town. I was powerful, loved... feared. They feared the strength that I now had and so they tried to make me happy. They didn't know I wouldn't take my wrath out on them. I knew why they acted as they had and, honestly if I were to be in their position, I would have as well. What I didn't expect was for them to come. Hunters who sought the crystals I carried. They wanted the magic for themselves, wanted to keep it from the rest of the world. My mother would never have let that happen. You see, she was the light in my life. Abandoned by my father as a child, she was all I had and I was all she had, but as long as we had each other it would be alright. She never cared that I was different. To her, I was her baby, her child. She would always protect me... and she did, even to her dying breath. They were breaking into my sanctuary, trying to take me when she stepped in. Screaming for me to flee, I only caught one last glance of her face before I pushed through the back door. My home was in chaos. Houses burned as I rushed through the streets, mothers fleeing with their newborns to the safety of the undergrowth. I dodged the grasps of those who tried to catch me, turning and twisting with all my might through the streets I knew so well. I would escape, my mothers sacrifice would not be in vain. I could see the light of the sun rising in the horizon as a hand firmly grasped my tail. Panic filtered into me as I angrily turned behind me, kicking out with all my might. A pained grunt sounded as the grip weakened and I managed to break free. Pushing myself even harder, lungs burning like the flames licking my feet, I reached for the horizon, chasing after a rising sun. Stopping at the edge of town, I turned back once to see what had befallen the village I called home. A sharp inhale pierced my chest as I saw the flames... no. I didn't see flames. Them, the souls, they burned brighter than I had ever seen. Not innocence... not hate... but love, protection lit them like the fire of determination I saw within. It was then that I knew who they were. They were not the people who had mocked me, pushed me down, or feared me. They were the first guardians.