Fiery Essence
#11 of Ilkarin
A quick little scene that came to my mind: Ilkarin trying to access the element of fire based inside of him and not let it's power consume him as it had previous times.
Fiery Essence
The fire raged inside of him. He could feel it surging throughout his body; it filled and fueled his veins. The pulsing beat of his heart spread it all throughout his body.
There he stood, trying to harness what lied within. Many already had believed he was a dragon of fire, considering the common coloring of his scales: ruby red and shimmering bright in the reflective light of the campfire in front of him.
Ilkarin opened his eyes, bits of yellow and silvery hair flowing along his golden eyes. He could feel his body heat climbing, the fire burning as he pulled more of that essence that swirled around within his core. It fueled his passion, his love, his rage...
The dragon tried to keep his thoughts focused: he knew his mind could wander, and this process would be lost, he needed that concentration and sense of meditation beyond his physical body. The dragon wore little more than a shirt and pants on his lithe frame, but was already beginning to emit steam from his scales, and sweat over his brow. The heat was rising.
Now it became harder, Ilkarin knowing that this portion of the process could very well overload his body and senses if he did not keep himself careful and working to unravel the chains of that fiery essence cautiously. In the past his anger had unleashed the energy in a full burst, and in those instances, he lost control. He became emotional, primal: a beast.
But not now...years of having honed his emotions and mental state had allowed him this chance to access the power without losing his mental faculties to a berserk fury. He could feel the flames starting to creep out from his scales now as a glowing yellow stared to trickle throughout the cracks, burning through his clothing and sizzling the skin below the scales that had not yet been hardened and resistant to the intense temperatures.
So close, he was becoming so close to attaining something new, something only accessed through continued trials and effort of making slow progress forward. Could he actually break through this time and at least make the initial succession to allowing his body to transform into a stronger creature?
The fires started to burn now as he clenched his teeth to keep himself steady and push through the pain he was receiving. His clothing had all but burnt away, leaving the dragon naked as the streams of molten yellow spread further throughout his body. He could feel the strength and power burrowing into his mind, desiring to let him just indulge in it, to lose his mind into the frenzy of it all.
But no, that was not his intent, it never had been. He fought the barriers as best he could, his mind and body wanting to relent, to let it all just overtake him as it had before, but the dragon was stronger this time, he pushed those thoughts away and opened his eyes.
If anyone else was around, they would have noticed that those eyes were glowing, burning like smoldering embers. The dragon's body crackled and sparked with heat now as bits of the magma burning throughout Ilkarin's scales dripped and sizzled against the ground like acid.
With a great roar, he pushed headlong into the last vestiges of unlocking that final gateway and his mane of hair burst into a blaze of red, yellow and orange, as his body began to radiate a deep glow and warmth.
His scales were still red and yellow, but now darkened and charred in a few spots near the edges, giving him a mix of black as well.
The magma dragon did not last much longer than a minute on the dragon before he stumbled back and panted the effort to maintain it and pull forth such overbearing elemental power.
Ilkarin sat down and stared at the campfire, the dragon sat there and began to watch the flames, and wondered what other secrets they might hold for him if he kept trying...