Written by @Cards
Ashes' mind was racing with hundreds of different thoughts, some of them blending together into an incoherent mess of words. Only one was clear enough to stand out:
Run.
That single word had carried him through his journey across Sornieth, from the Labyrinth to the Ashfall Waste - which was where he was now.

The Fae maneuvered his way through the blacksmiths' town. Avoiding stray sparks and buildings was proving to be difficult in his tired, hungry, and terrified state but he managed to reach a building on the outskirts of the town.
The building's owner opened the door Ashes was leaning against and subsequently knocked him over, taking his chance he scrambled to get inside the house before the owner closed the door.

He nearly clipped his wing in the process, but he reached the inside. With the same haste it took to get inside the building, he rushed to a far corner where he was finally able to relax.
Ashes sat down and pressed his back against the wall, taking deep breaths to calm his nerves. Though breathing didn’t stop the danger he was possibly in, it did slow the rushing thoughts enough to allow him to sleep.

Ashes didn’t know how long he slept but when he woke the sun of the next day was just beginning to rise. For that day he spent it with his back pressed against the cold stone of the wall. He did the same for the next, the next, and more until he had lost track of the time.

One day, however, a tundra the color of the fire that had taken up his vision for what felt like weeks had arrived at the Blacksmith’s door. She greeted the dragon Ashes had been hiding from with words he couldn’t hear. He almost didn’t notice her until she had sat down in front of him, even then his eyes had difficulty focusing.

“Hello, what’s your name?” Her voice was calm and kind. A drastic change from what Ashes had been hearing in his own head for the past weeks.

Ashes voice had gone unused for so long he was only able to speak after minutes of trying, even then he could only say his name before his voice gave out on him again.

“I’m Reborn, did you get lost on your way somewhere?”

Ashes nodded and gestured to his eyes, which were now a pale pink instead of the usual vibrancy of Arcane dragons.

“The Isles?”

Another nod.

“I can take you there, but you’re in no shape to fly that far.”

Hope shined in the Fae’s eyes as he did something he had refused to for so long. He let his guard down, and he leant forward from the wall. This seemed to encourage the Tundra, as she lifted her own head and called to the blacksmith to ask for any extra food the town could spare. The blacksmith called back, though it was unintelligible to Ashes.

He didn’t mind that he couldn't hear the blacksmith, for he had found the chance he was looking for.

——

The inferno.
It consumed all.

The unforgiving heat cloaked his face. He couldn’t breathe. He didn’t understand.
The maniacal look in its eyes, a grudge running like the depths of a bottomless ravine.
He never forgot.