ORIGIN

It had become rare, over the last few Cycles, for Sebastian to leave Eridanus. He had become a bit of a recluse, not unlike Rift. Perhaps he had been trying to over-compensate, desperately fighting to protect the Forest after destroying it.

But his Magic was still wild, seldom doing as he wished, often racing out of control. So he had come to Polaris to practice, where there were less plants to catch fire. But there were also more Lessers, so he took a moment to reach out with his Magic, testing out that new spell that he had discovered himself capable of, checking for nearby Lessers. But no plants were in pain, crunched beneath flat teeth or pointed hooves, so he prepared himself to use his Magic.

The panther knew immediately that he should start with an easy spell, and went with one he had known since he was a cub. Smolder Step--although he did not know the name of it--caused him very little pain, although the feeling in his paws was greatly dulled after they had been heavily burned during the Great Fire of Eridanus.

The pad of his paw began to burn, the smell of burning flesh obvious. He brought his paw up high, before pressing it hard against the ground, pulling it away to look at the charred pawprint he had left.

That had worked--and nothing had caught fire.

So far, so good.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Time for something a bit harder, then. The puma couldn't help but to shake, a bit, and decided to use a Spell that could only harm him if it went wrong. He reached for Torchlight--although, again, he didn't know the name--and felt his stomach roil, burning with a pain not unlike heartburn, although it consumed his entire stomach. The puma's eyes and ears began to glow dully, the spell not terribly strong, and he had to bring his paw up to check the thinner skin of his pawpads to make sure that it had worked.

Sebastian waited for the pain to fade away, the light to fizzle out, before trying anything else. It allowed him a moment of rest, to catch his breath.

This... this had gone well. Better than he had expected, actually. And despite himself, courage began to build in his chest. Maybe... maybe he really could do this.

Shaking himself off, he finally decided to try a spell that he could use to defend himself: defend others. One that could do harm, but would be hard pressed to actually set something aflame. Taking a deep breath, he dropped his jaw, releasing a blast of superheated air.

The puma licked his lips, coughing quietly. That... that hurt. It agitated his throat, and he couldn't help but to cough. 'Caves, that hurt.' he grumbled, shaking his head. But he couldn't let the pain stop him, and so he quickly pulled out the next spell.

A spark built in his throat, quickly growing into a flame that billowed from his mouth. It wasn't big, and was rather weak, fizzling out before it could get far, but it reached a nearby rock, charring it. It had worked.

The fire stopped flowing, and the Panther bent double, beginning to cough and choke. His throat burned, each breath of air stinging and throbbing. His eye watered, and he fought desperately to catch his breath. By the time he was done, his tongue was lolling out, red with blood.

He didn't even realize he had cast a spell in his fight for breath, fur charred and smoking.