and some by virtue fall; any

[Kushiel]

Kushiel rarely strayed far from the burning tree. He didn’t see why anyone would. It was perfect, like the Chamber its self. It was a statement, a warning, and just a little bit magical. He inhaled smoke and ash, and thought, not for the first time, that it was better than fresh air.

Kushiel liked fire. Fire was reckless. It didn’t care who it hurt, and it was never personal. It burned because it was hungry, and that was all the reason it needed. He reveled in it’s heat and closed his cloudy, contented, satiated eyes.

The large gray stallion leaned against the trunk and growled low in his throat, like a petted cat or a rumbling tiger. If he wasn’t careful he would just declare this tree his lover and be done with it.

After all, they burned for each other.

Kushiel snorted loudly as he eyes flew open. He had inhaled too much smoke. He took a single step away from the tree and looked up at its branches. After the Gate’s raid something had shifted in him, ever so slightly. The flames he’d used to burn the tree had been all consuming. They had burned for so long that he felt himself become flame. He wasn’t sure what would happen, if he did it again.

A part of him really wanted to try.

Yet, some of the craving had gone as well. It was like all the desire to destroy himself had burned up, and the creature that emerged still needed the flame, but he was more like the lantern, rather than the moth. Perhaps, he had just inhaled too much smoke and he was beginning to hallucinate. That was very possible, it had happened before.

Kushiel snorted again. He needed to get a hobby. Preferably something more productive than self examination. Nothing good ever came from introspection. He was of the opinion that the unexamined soul was the peaceful soul. Better to let sleeping dogs lie.