Fire Legend 4; Wildfire Woods

The Magnus Ignis shone down on the 'Wildfire Woods', the eternally flaming forest. He sought to take a stroll through the flames and be in his element for a while rather than in meditation within the sun. The forest's bark was dry, but thick, and the treetops were made of fire instead of leaves. This 'Wildfire Woods' extended just as far as any woodland did, and many creatures that had an affinity to fire existed here, like the 'Bumpkins' and the 'Flaming Warhares'.

Magnus Ignis couldn't help but think about what he was and how he came to be. He was not the original Pumpkinhead, and he was but one of many Pumpkin Heads -- the Red Pumpkinhead. For some reason the flame of the forest made him think of the original Pumpkinhead that he ascended from. "... Pumpkinhead..."

As if summoned from a lamp, Pumpkinhead appeared behind Magnus Ignis as he thought, his form like that of a shadow and his head glowing a bright orange despite his scarred pumpkin head being black. No words were exchanged between the two for the moment, as most Pumpkinheads -- save for the Gold Pumpkinhead -- were very taciturn individuals.

Pumpkinhead: "..."

The flames flickered and crackled upon the trees and left the silence between them only broken by the sound of the fire. The Pumpkinheads also should have known what each one was thinking, as they were beings of thought -- of consciousness. Pumpkinhead was the keeper of Consciousness, but each Pumpkinhead had a different purpose. Only the original, however, knew the story behind all of the others and also why they existed whereas Pumpkinhead could have just been a single being, as he was in the olden days.

Pumpkinhead: "... Do You Want To Know Why You Exist...?"

Magnus Ignis turned to see the face of his predecessor and lower Restriction, Pumpkinhead. Magnus Ignis was conscious, but he was unaware of some things that only the original Pumpkinhead knew. As the flames wavered up above, Magnus Ignis bowed his head to his originator, though he was the same being as he. All of the Pumpkinheads were just different versions and Restrictions of the one original Pumpkinhead. Still, there were many questions left to be answered... Many 'Whys' that needed to be understood.

"... I Am Your Ascendant," Magnus Ignis, the Red Pumpkinhead said, "But You Are My Originator. You Exist On A Lower Existence Than I Do, Yet Your Being Is Greater Than Mine. You Are Powerful On Your Own And Have The Same Abilities As Each Of The Other Pumpkinheads." Magnus Ignis Raised his head, gazing Pumpkinhead in his carved eyes. "Why Do You Need Us? What Is Our True Purpose?"

Pumpkinhead was silent for a while, thinking deeply on the answer to these questions. They were difficult to explain, but not impossible. He needed to word this explanation correctly so that it made sense to the Magnus Ignis, who was very wise and understanding when not enraged -- one of the most understanding of all, in fact. Pumpkinhead knew this because that is what he was like when he ascended... And Magnus Ignis is WHAT Pumpkinhead ascended into.

"I Experience All Pumpkinheads Simultaneously," Pumpkinhead said, "But The Other Pumpkinheads Experience Only Themselves. There Are Things Unknowable To The Rest Of You That You Can Only Acquire Through Me." That was the beginning of this rather tricky explanation. The Pumpkin Head that rested on its Nightshade -- Pumpkinhead's Living Shadow and body -- shifted closer to Magnus Ignis, continuing to speak. "When I Ascend, I Become A Different Pumpkinhead... But I Am Always The Same Pumpkinhead. There Are Things That All Of You Know That Only I Know And You All Will Never Know Between Each Other Unless You Share Wisdom." Pumpkinhead hoped that he was making sense, for this is one of the reasons why he had the Pumpkinheads -- to get the garbled mess that was his mind in order.

"Each Pumpkinhead Is A Part Of My Mind. I Am The Consciousness Of All Pumpkinheads, But The Others Are My Subconscious And Unconscious Mind. They Store And Sort Out Information For Me. They Keep Records." Pumpkinhead looked Magnus Ignis in the eye. "But You And The Gold Pumpkinhead Are Different. The Gold Pumpkinhead Is Meant To Release My Consciousness And You... The Red Pumpkinhead... Are Meant To Keep Me In Check." Pumpkinhead was technically supposed to be of the Twelfth Restriction like his brother, Tigen, was. But Pumpkinhead was instead only the Fourth Restriction. Even Magnus Ignis was of the Sixth Restriction, two Restrictions higher than the original Pumpkinhead. "I Chose To Split My Mind Up. I Chose To Give Myself Higher Forms... And I Chose To Fall In Like With The Creator. I Was Crowned With A Special Responsibility During The Fourth Moon By My Own Father... And I Succeeded." Pumpkinhead narrowed his eyeholes. "Without Me, The Entire Veritas Would Not Have Made It During The Destruction Of The Lost World. I Remember This, And That Was My Task..." He looked down. "... To Destroy."

It all made sense in its own way. It was complex and complicated, but not unintelligible. Everything and everyone had purpose, and it was made clear before the Magnus Ignis. "I See..." he said solemnly, "... I Know What You Know About Many Things. You And I Are The Same Being, Essentially. You Grow Into Me, But I Come From You. You Made Me Higher Than You That You Might Become Me, But You Will Always Be You No Matter What Form You Take..." Magnus Ignis looked down, too. "And I... I Will ONLY Be Me." Pumpkinhead had the privilege of being any Restriction he chose, or any Pumpkinhead he chose. That meant that his position in line was not fixed, as the other Pumpkinheads were.

"But Why Are There Only So Many Of Us? You Did Not Create A Great Multitude Of Pumpkinheads, But Only A Select Few. Why Not Make Us As Numerous As You Please?" Magnus Ignis asked genuinely.

"I Did What Was Necessary," Pumpkinhead quickly said. "I Needed A Place Separate From My Inner Thoughts. I Only Made As Many Pumpkinheads As Necessary For Me. I Can Easily Multiply Myself And Create Another Pumpkin Head, But I Cannot Reproduce You All, Who I Made With Specific Intent And Purpose And Sentience And Will." Every Pumpkin Head that was created by Pumpkinhead shared the mind of the original Pumpkinhead and was no different than the original, unlike the other Pumpkinheads, who differed from him. As an example, Pumpkinhead multiplied his one Pumpkin Head that rested atop the Nightshade and had the grim looking jack o' lanterns hover around Magnus Ignis, moving as a hive mind, then dispersing into flame.

"... That Is All I Feel Like Explaining," Pumpkinhead said, turning away from Magnus Ignis. "You Can Figure Out The Rest. You Can Understand What You Need To. And You Know All That You Have To For Now." Truthfully, Pumpkinhead was tired of talking, as he wasn't one to speak very often or very much and when he did, it was always about something critical. "I Do Not Speak When I Do Not Have To. You Are The Same." Magnus Ignis definitely was the same way, keeping silent until absolutely necessary to speak. However, he differed because he was only of the Sixth Restriction, and that is all he would ever be. He would remain Pumpkinhead's ascendant form, but Pumpkinhead would always be the greatest of all Pumpkinheads.

"I Will Go Now," Pumpkinhead said, raising a shadowy hand up and slamming it to the side, creating a rupture in the fabric of spacetime and shattering the dimensional structure that held up that specific location he hit. There was nothingness on the other side -- darkness blacker than black -- and it was void. "Goodbye," Pumpkinhead said, slipping silently into the darkness, the light of his Pumpkin Head being the only visible thing in the void, not even illuminating it, but simply being seen. Soon, the dimensional structure of the realm recovered through its dimensional energy and it reformed the break in its dimensional makeup back to the way it was before Pumpkinhead traversed it.

Still a mystery, as he would ever be.

Magnus Ignis was humble to the Pumpkinhead, bowing before him and bidding him "Farewell." He was no longer confused, but he had much to meditate on now... Things he knew, things he didn't know, things he wanted to know, and things he didn't need to know. All of these things now filled his own head, and he began to walk through the Wildfire Woods alone in thought.

"... That Cannot Be All There Is To It," he muttered to himself, but he did not pursue. He knew that he would know when the time was right. "Still... What Is It That I Do Not Know? And Why... Why Do I Even Care?" Why should he? He was not of the higher Restrictions, which were all omniscient in their own way. All beings of the Sixth Restriction had the capacity for omniscience, but only through their elements. Taomin could see and be anything in the wind. Kairo could see or be any frequency or wavelength. And Magnus Ignis... Could see through fire and the stars. "... It Is Best To Mind My Business, For I Still Have Much That Is Unfinished." Magnus Ignis shifted into flame form, rising up into the fires of the Wildfire Woods and traversing the entire forest at a high speed. He could see everything within the forest and also anything around the forest. It was just the same as when he was the sun, only limited to the area he was in.

A hot bitch was walking through the flames of the Wildfire Forest. She was in all black, wearing a tube top and some skintight shorts that revealed most of her thighs. She stepped -- one boot longer than the other, but still the same height at the sole -- through the fiery wood seeming to be searching for someone or something. Her long, black hair with a red stripe running down one of her locks bounced with her step, her stride expeditious and with intent.

This was Misery, the longtime partner of the progenitor now paired up with one of his forms more suitable for her, The Beast. She was looking for him, raising a hand to her forehead to peer through the smoldering trees. "... Come out, you bastard!" Misery shouted, "I can sense you! I know you're here!" Misery had been waiting a long time for him to return from his excursions in other realms and whatnot. "You've been gone from home WAY too long." It almost sounded like she cared, but she was really just missing some sex. "Be quick about it, too. I've been waiting a looooong time."

The Wildfire Woods responded to Misery's call with a quick crackle of fire like the crack of a whip on her nearly exposed ass from one of the treetops, the scorching heat stimulating the sting rather effectively.

"YIPE!" Misery yelped, officially caught off guard by the snap of the flames. "Oho, that's it, YOU'RE GONNA GET IT!!" Misery extended her sword of Burning Condemnation from the palm of her hand, the dark fire shaping the edge of the sword with a red stripe running down the midst of it. "COME OUT OR I'LL MAKE YOU COME OUT!!" Immediately, Misery started felling trees, one by one, tearing up the Wildfire Woods in all its fiery beauty.

"Wait!" the flames of the trees cried, "Do Not Harm The Forest!" The brazen and reckless Misery Des Gloomi was in her regularly uncaring attitude for what she did to things around her, unlike her husband, Magnus Ignis, who cared for all such things nowadays.

In her path, one of the felled trees would extend into a fiery figure that stood several feet above Misery, hulking and burning as some vicious giant with smoldering eyes. "Why Must You Be So Destructive...?" the fiery Man-God asked, extending his arm of flame outward to merge with the flames of the trees and pick them back up, then melt them back to their stumps. That was about as good as it was gonna get for a Fire God. "I Have Returned," he said assertively, "State Your Business." It sounded like he was talking to her as if she were a stranger or something...

Misery smirked, having gotten her way. "That's better..." she said in a condescending tone, withdrawing her sword blade into her hand. "As for my BUSINESS," Misery would say with a hint of irritation in her voice, "Hell, you KNOW da business 'round here, chump!" Misery swiped at the fiery body with her claw-like hand and tried to grab the hand of the fire entity, only for her hand to continually pass through because he was completely made of fire right now. "... You have been out traveling the otherworlds -- WITHOUT ME, mind you -- and haven't come back to spend ANY time at all with me, and basically, you go off and do shit WITHOUT ME as if I don't exist, or something!" Misery was bored stiff waiting around for this lug to bring his ass back home.

"While you're busy playing around in the sun all day, you didn't even THINK to come see ME first." Misery stomped her foot hard on the ground, which made a small crater and shook the trees of the forest. "WHEN ARE YOU GONNA THINK ABOUT ME, DAMMIT?! Don't make me kill you..."

Magnus Ignis condensed himself into flesh, gazing down at Misery with sharp eyes as she threw her tantrum, wondering if he was like that when he was upset. He could never tell, but he and Misery were very alike in a few ways, which was why they were paired up together after the rebirth. Stubborn, strong-willed, destructive, and fiery.

But, as both a monk and a husband, he listened to the nagging of his wife and closed his eyes, waiting for her to finish before he spoke. "We May Spend Time Together Now," he'd say rather blandly, "I Was Clearing My Head. You Know That I'm No Good When My Head Is Not In The Right Place." He shook his head, opening his sharp eyes to gaze at Misery standing before him.

"Chyeah, you can say that again!" Misery said, going for the low blow when she had the chance, though she knew he didn't mean it that way. "I don't care. Whatever your reasons are, you should have come to me FIRST." Misery growled at him, making an angry but cute face that one could barely take seriously because of how adorable it was. "I missed you!" Finally, what this was all about... Other than sex. "You know how lonely it is in the Veritas when you live in the place where basically everything is ON FIRE and nobody wants to come here because it's ON FIRE?!" Tourism in the Veritas was crap these days. "Even then, I don't wanna be around anyone but you, anyway. Everyone else can go to hell, and I'll see them there." Misery, unlike most of the Goddesses of the Veritas was a Demon. A Succubus, at that. She was Fire Goddess by association, not because she actually was a Goddess. One could call her a Demon Goddess, and they'd be right, but she was WAY more Demon than Goddess. "So let's hurry up and go home already. I found my inner child, or whatever it is you said for me to do while you were off basically having fun without me."

Magnus Ignis furrowed his brow. "I Said Work Things Out WITH Our Child, If You Even Did That Much." It was appalling at how much Misery didn't listen. But he loved her anyway. "Where IS Our Child, Anyway?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Misery said with a shrug. "Probably off destroying people, or something." She shrugged again. "EITHER WAY, we worked it out and she went off on her own to do whatever she was gonna do. So that means..." Misery's hand crept up Magnus Ignis' toned body as two fingers walking, getting as high as she could before she was just too short to reach the thirteen foot tall Fire God's chest, "... We have some alone time..." Misery had a LOT of alone time and did a LOT of alone things in that alone time, but she wanted to do those things with her husband now that he was back. "... So unlock your hands and start destroying me, you bad boy..."

It took an INCREDIBLE amount of patience for Titus -- the true name of Magnus Ignis -- not to be pissed off. Good thing he was 'Lord Patience', himself... Considering he got most of his frustrations out before, mind you, during a Super Oni rage that wasn't that long ago.

But that might have just been for storyline purposes.

Titus the Magnus Ignis would heed Misery's call, making a face that seemed distant and cold for someone to be so hot and fiery. He lifted his linked arms and wrapped them around Misery, beginning to ignite as he and she would burn away toward a new location.