Fire Legend End; Training Complete

Titus' daughter, Shinity would be sitting upon his lap still, having been transported along with him during their ascent into the Sun and descent back down upon the land. She was finding all of these things cool because she'd never gotten to see them before and it was really cool. "How did we do that?! Can I do that, too?" She wanted to learn everything so that she could learn to do cool things, too, and then show everybody all the cool things that she could do after she learned from her parents. Plus, then she could show her sisters, too, and they would be so jealous. "Heeheehee, Shinity gets to be with Daddy~." She figured since none of her sisters were spending any time with him presently that she was special. Shinity giggled to herself.

"Daughter," Titus, who was the elemental spirit of Fire that Shinity's father had commanded to watch over her, "Our time is up. I must do other things now." Titus had broken his meditation only to say this, for he had foreseen many things during his time connected to the collective consciousness of the Veritas. By this time, the sun had been consumed by its container; Titus' lower Restriction form, 'Pumpkinhead.' By this, Titus was freed of his labors and was no longer bound to nor overseeing this land. "However, you have been blessed with the strength of Fire in your spirit from your mother and I, and with that, I want you to travel the land, but leave your Fire elemental form here." Titus rose up from the ground and grabbed Shinity with one of his large, oversized hands of fire, which would surround her in a warm embrace that was the grip of his fingers over her whole body. He dropped her on the ground beside him once he rose up to his feet, gazing over the mountain and at the horizon.

"Pumpkinhead, my lower Restriction form, will be with you. It is still me, but I will have contained my energy." He looked down to his daughter, patting her head and petting her fondly. "I want you, too, to learn how to control and contain your energy, so this is why you will continue your own training with my lower Restriction form." It was better for all of them that way. "By the time your mother realizes, she'll be ready to assume her Restricted form, as well. But don't tell her." Just the same way as Titus had to learn and how Shinity would learn from Titus was also how her mother would have to learn to control herself and take her Pumpkin. Where Titus harbored the Pumpkinhead to contain his thoughts, his beloved harbored the Pumpkinheart to control her emotions. A misalignment caused many tragedies, which was why this is how it had to be dealt with. "Now, when I start to take on my restricted form, I want you to remember that it is still me. I am just containing my energy." Hopefully his daughter understood. She was very bright, and seemed to catch on quickly.

Titus wasted no time after the 'Everything The Light Touches Is Our Kingdom' explanation to adorn the Pumpkinhead, which had already done its part in consuming the Magnus Ignis of the Corona Badlands and becoming the rightful sun over the entire land. To Titus, it felt like nightfall, and also like a candle being put under a cover. His body soon faded away, and all that would be left was night, and the Pumpkinhead that would be standing just before Shinity at Titus' new, restrained, controlled form.

Pumpkinhead was still the same height as he was when he was in his higher Restriction form as Titus, but his appearance was different in some manners. His body was nothing but a dark shadow, a remnant of what it was in a time long past. Still huge and hulking, the shadow that made up his body -- his Living Shadow called 'Nightshade' -- would carry upon it at its top the Pumpkin Head, which changed the user into a vessel for Pumpkinhead whenever they wore it. This, however, was just another apparition of the true Pumpkinhead, who had a physical form, because he was the Fourth Restriction of the Creator.

The darkness that befell the land quieted the Land Of Great Fire like the night and left a dim glow all around. Pumpkinhead -- whose pumpkin head was still aglow -- would stand before Shinity ready to take her into the wilderness and teach her about the many natural aspects of the Veritas so that she could properly rule over the Dawn as the Princess Goddess that she was, much like her sisters were Goddesses of their Realms. He said but one word to her before he took hold of her in his shadowy arms: "Come." At that moment, the two, Pumpkinhead and Shinity, would disperse into pure energy and arrive at a new location in the Dawn where it was most naturally abundant -- the Great Forest.

--- Three Year Timeskip ---

The training that Shinity went through under the guide of Pumpkinhead for the sake of Titus, the Magnus Ignis, had been completed long ago, and the Pumpkinhead had dissipated once it taught Shinity how to rule over the land. This was all during the time that Titus was consciously gone from the Veritas and the sun was dimmed by Pumpkinhead's Oversoul coating it. It still shone brightly during the day, but it was not as intense upon the land unless he became Bloodred Pumpkinhead.

All of that was to say, Shinity learned how to rule over the Dawn and Titus returned from his three year excursion with his daughter in power over the Dawn. He and Tetra -- Shinity's Fourth Restriction form -- would appear from the top of Mt. Elios back at the Fire Sanctuary where they lived, waiting for Garnet, now Misery, to appear. During the three years Titus was gone, she'd allegedly completed her training as well.

"Daughter," Titus called out to Tetra, "Your Mother Should Already Be Here. She Showed Me The Fruits Of Her Training As Well Before You Came To Me, And I Instructed Her To Come Back To The Sanctuary." Titus would stand before the enormous shrine dedicated to him and his family of fire gazing at the large doors that beheld the innards of the Fire Sanctuary, which were mostly molten and arduous due to its being on a volcano. Still, it was a palace, despite its interior being rather... Hot. "Let Us Proceed Inside To Greet Your Mother," Titus said, stepping forth up the wide stairway up toward the doors.

"Whatever You Say, Pops," Tetra said in a mellow fashion. She was more or less just happy that he was back home. Tetra walked up the stairs beside her father and up to the door. She pushed the Fire Sanctuary's door open and called out to her mother. "MA," she cried, "WE'RE HOME." Tetra walked inside of the Fire Sanctuary's pathway to the throne room.

There, sitting lackadaisically on the Fire God's throne, leg up on an armrest and cheek buried in a knuckle was Misery, who was also called 'Garnet' as the Souzenryoku Of Fire. Misery's long black hair with the red stripe going down it rested underneath her askew buttocks, her single leg swinging above the floor. She was being 'The Sun' as the throne was meant to be for the entire Corona Badlands. Sitting upon it, one could see the perspective of the sun itself and oversee the Land Of Great Fire from a seated position.

"Took you long enough," Misery said to Titus with her usual attitude, "It's not like I've been waiting for THREE YEARS for you to show up and then, when I find you, we have a fight." She showed off her skills enough during the battle, she figured, as well as during the aftermath. "But hey, who's counting? All that training surely took three fucking years." She was being saucily sarcastic. "Be lucky we already made up. I'm still fuming about how you were gone that long and just blatantly didn't realize it." For someone who was supposed to be the consciousness of the sun itself, he had a pretty big blind spot.

Misery adjusted herself on the throne, hoisting herself up and letting her black jacket flutter as she walked briskly up to the two. "So, how was YOUR training, or whatever you were doing for three whole motherfucking years, eh? Please, enlighten us, O Fire God." Misery lowered her eyelids sharply, wrapping her arms around her daughter, who was now nearly as tall as Misery was. Three years of growth, you know.

Titus came in to hear Misery's nagging, as usual, about some tiny thing, as usual. Though he knew this particular instance was special considering the length of time that he was gone, he was still trying to downplay it. Breathing heavily through his nose, he motioned toward his throne as he said, "Time Simply Functions Differently In Different Worlds." That was his explanation and he was sticking to it. "Consciousness Merely Got Away From Me As I Frequented Specific Otherworlds And, Sooner Or Later, That Time Turned Into Three Years." But with Pumpkinhead, the Veritas went on like there was no change at all, except that the sun was a bit dimmer. It wasn't like the Corona Badlands were that much to manage. It was practically a fiery wasteland.

"Besides, I Was Not The Only One Out On An Excursion," he mentioned, resting his read upon his throne, "The Kazegami, Taomin, Was The One That Insisted Upon Going To Other Worlds And I, Taking It Upon Myself To Keep Watch Over Her, Followed Her. It Was Because She Was Busy Playing In Other Worlds That I Was Busy For So Long. You Know How The Wind Goddess Gets." He recalled a time where the other Gods had to trap her just to get her to take her place in the Veritas correctly. "When We All Reconvene, We'll Realign The Veritas Again As We Did When It Was First Raw And Chaotic, Then Time Will Be Stabilized Throughout The Entire Land." As it stood, there may have been temporal displacements about that did not correctly align. "I'm Sure It Will All Be Sorted Out By The Time Of The Fall Of The Sixth Moon. We Have More Than Enough Time," Titus assured.

Tetra chilled out whilst her parents bickered, walking up to the throne and resting herself on the armrest near her father. "I Don't Wanna Be 'That Guy', But I Don't Think It Really Matters." Tetra might have been the child, but she was the voice of reason for both of them sometimes. Her father was a wise monk known also by the title of 'Lord Patience', but sometimes, even his patience wore thin. Tetra's rarely did, considering she basically didn't care about much. Not too much sparked her interest.

"We're All Back Together, We've All Done Some Training, We've All Done Some Growing. I Think That Was Dad's Point In The First Place, Mom." She knew that was all that he wanted, since they weren't as adept at the element of fire as he was at the time. Now, the two Goddesses should have rivaled him with all that time to themselves to hone their skills. "Dad Wanted Us To Get Better With The Fire Element, And We Did. Now The Only Thing We Have To Do Is Watch Over The Land." That's how Tetra saw things.

Misery rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, it's whatever at this point." She agreed with her daughter. "Mission accomplished, then." Misery walked back over to Titus and sat in his lap seductively, sprawling herself out amongst his large, hard body. "Now we can just sit back and enjoy each other's company." Misery closed her eyes and let the warmth of Titus' body soothe her, nearly falling asleep rather quickly.

Titus smiled softly as his two girls came to him, realizing that he was loved by them. He knew this to be true before, but when the expression of love was given to another, it had a very pleasant feeling. "Yes," he said softly as Misery laid in his lap, "... Now, We Rest."

Thus came an end to the Fire Legend.