What happened...? Something felt...off...like he wasn't himself...

-------------------

It was in the Spider Caves under the Ered Anon Mountains that something had snapped in Kai's mind, in an empty space of it once occupied by Darkfire, his dark half who he'd released from his body in the land of the dead and thus destroyed, freeing him from what seemed like was to be a lifetime of having a large weight on his shoulders, placed there from his difficult past and the threat of his dark half ever-present. A pair of voices, though both faint, so much so that he couldn't even make out what they were saying. That was how it seemed everything leading to this moment had started, but then what was the result?

Then, wandering the caves for a day, which seemed like an eternity, he ran into a small group of people, one of which was Sanzen, guildmaster of the Syndicate of Blades and thus an ally of his. They could almost be assumed to be hunting the werewolves that were apparently down there, which Kai didn't run into until they arrived, striking one down in a brief burst of savagery, the extended time underground beginning to awaken his more...feral, animalistic self, from his vulpine roots.

Not much happened down in the caves at the beginning, except for a girl's injury, and the occasional small pain in his mind, aftershocks from the immense, unbearable one before. But when they'd been attacked by a large group of the werebeasts, he tried to unleash his fire on them in a large, intense stream. Granted, he'd been successful in doing so, but he'd released too much in his current state of mind and body, and it consumed him in a large surge of flame from within him, the flame he'd been born with, and everything from then to this moment was...blank...

---------------------

That's right, that was what had happened...but that still didn't answer the question of where he was. Groaning faintly and lifting himself up to a half-sitting position, he looked around at the endless fields of sand, and the blue sky with the searing sun right in the middle, exactly where it would be during midday.

...but then where was he?

Taking a closer look at things directly in front of him, all he could see was flames, now that he noticed, in what seemed to be a mostly stable form. Weren't those supposed to be his legs, though?

Sighing, breathing out a puff of shimmering, heated air, he looked around at all parts of him that he could see, which all seemed to be there, tail included. Well, he was still the same shape, at least, but made of fire...and it might just've been him, but he could've sworn he felt wings...

Man was it hot in the desert. Az knew he'd have some fun wandering in a searing hot desert at a high noon, but once he got into it, he knew he should probably turn back. But, his wandering soul told him to just keep going, maybe you'll find something of interest, like an underground you'll stumble into through some hole, or a big trap spider will attack you. Well, here in Arda, anything could happen. Az had seen pretty much anything, only being here for a short time.

Even though Az was roasting hot, sweating, his shirt off and dangling from the back of his pants, his desert was now one of his more favorable places to be. The scenery was great, seeing a bunch of tan ground for miles, then suddenly seeing huge cliffs erupt up from nowhere at the edge of the rocks and sand. The huge cliffs have many layer of rock, ranging colors from black to red and back, and had sharp jagged rocks at the bottom of them. Doesn't look like a pleasant place to find an enemy, Az thought.

Walking on through desert without his shirt, his shoulder, chest and lateral muscles rippling with every swing of his arm, he didn't see much life like his other than stationary, boring plants every few meters. Though he did see odd colorful desert birds, which caught his attention. They soon flew away, and Az wasn't going to chase after any just to get a look. But soon enough, he could have sworn he saw fire burning a few hundred yards away. What in the world would want more heat in a freakin' desert? He thought to himself, quickening his pace towards the fire.

He approached it closer and closer, realizing that it looked more like a body than a bundle of sticks burning. He suddenly started to feel a little worried, thinking someone passed out in the desert and caught on fire in this heat. He knew it was likely, but someone even thinking about going through the desert was insane. In the back of his mind he thought how someone might have ended up like this.

He arrived at the burning body, with wings even, as it was coming too. He stood over the body, blocking the sun from its eyes, his hands on his hips and looking down at him. Seeing that he was coming too, he asked sarcastically, "So aren't you a little warm?" He didn't know the whole story, so that's all that came to his head. It still boggled him how someone would be on fire and still be alive in freakin' hot desert.

"So aren't you a little warm?" a voice rang out from nearby, and Kai realized he'd been so distracted wondering...well, in all honesty, what he was now, that he hadn't even noticed anyone else nearby. Well, his instincts and the like had been a bit...off since his extended stay in the spider caves. Maybe he just needed some time to re-gather his thoughts, return to his normal state of mind. Well, mostly normal...

Realizing he was drifting back into his thoughts, he glanced over to the person standing near him with the golden, solid pools that were currently his eyes, noticeable by a sliver of light within them. Whoever this man was, they'd obviously been here in the desert for some time, their shirt hanging off the back of their waist, tucked into their pants, and noticeably sweating. Of course, at the moment, the heat wasn't exactly something he was doing any good towards...it was probably hotter even to be standing around him in his current, fiery form.

"Not really, though I suppose I've never been much affected by heat or cold anyway...although to be honest, this is kinda new to me," he said, holding his left hand in front of his face, which he had to slightly struggle to make out, and flexing the fingers experimentally. Well, he was still solid enough, it seemed. That was a good thing, right? Well...mostly. He still wanted to try and get his old form back.

Az listened to what the flamed-up guy had to say, looking over the flames blazing up heat even more right there. He still wondered how anyone would still be alive in this condition, in these weather conditions. Then again the flame guy looked like he didn't even know how he came to be that way, the way he looked at his hand and such. Maybe he just needed some water, and he had no clue where to find water in this desert of a million degrees...

"You need some water?" He asked sarcastically, trailing after his own thoughts of him needing water. His black eyes kept running over and over the flames of a million and one degrees, going back to the wings a few times. "So, if its new to you, are the wings new too?" He asked, pointing to the wings sprawled out under him. "And how come its new to you? Just a phase in your life?" He was still waiting on his, if he was to have one. He was expecting something cool to happen with the demon part to him, maybe an increase in strength, or even demon-like wings to sprout. But, it hasn't happened yet, so he lost hope a long time ago.

"You need some water?" the man asked sarcastically. Well, at least he wasn't serious...even in his normal state Kai didn't much like water, it disrupted his powers. Bending his knees and lifting his legs and the lower half of his upper body up into the air, placing his hands palm down on the ground, Kai sprung up easily enough to a standing position. "So, if its new to you, are the wings new too?" the man asked, this time in seriousness it seemed. That confirmed it, he did have wings...he'd definitely be taking some time at some point to get used to them. "And how come its new to you? Just a phase in your life?"

"Well, certainly don't have any use for water in this form...but yeah, the wings are pretty new. Thought I felt them back there, but I wasn't really sure..." Kai said, giving them an experimental flap. However the air they rushed forward was just as heated as his breath now was, so he ceased for the moment. "Not sure how it happened, personally...I guess my two days in the spider caves got me to tap more into the fox in me than the humanoid, which in turn must've caused the power over fire that I was born with to erupt to this extent..." he then continued thoughtfully. It may not be accurate, but it seemed as good an explanation as any he could come up with for himself. Whatever the case, it would definitely be an asset.

((Ok, sorry for the long ass wait...))

Az watched as the firy dude flipped up easily, and was quite impressed. He listened to his words, nodding a bit. He understood the somewhat amnesic state, but didn't understand how one couldn't remember how they got into their physical form, especially like this extreme one.

He watched Kai flap his wings, and felt even more hot air rush past him, but didn't mind it, since his body was soon getting adjusted to it. He heard something about the Spider Caves, and didn't know where that was, or even heard of it before hand. "Spider Caves? Where are those?" He asked naively, thinking it might be a place to check out sometime. He didn't know if it was out of his league or not, but eventually, even on accident, he might stumble onto them, just like he had with everywhere else he had been. "You sure you're not warm at all?" He asked again, wondering seriously how he could stand being on fire...