The furnaces burned day and night to keep the room at a constant temperature of 100 degree Fahrenheit. The sand covered floor was so hot it could be felt through the thick boot soles. Slaves didn’t last long working at Kenna, the home of fire and all the creatures that belonged to it.
Hareia had been purchased and brought to Kenna the previous day in a batch lot of one hundred. Humans didn’t have a lot of luck in the Elemental Wars; they were fodder, small irritants and distractions to be crushed in Earth, drowned in Water, burnt in Fire and asphyxiated by Air. Each of the competing Elements had their breeding houses and Kenna bred for fire; Salamanders, Phoenix, Ifrits, Seraphim, Chimera, Manticores and the fire breathing Dragons all overseen by the Gods of Fire.
Hareia knew to keep her head down. Already she had felt the lick of fire, hair burnt to crinkled mess over half her head. The overseer had shoved her into this burning hot room with the instructions to turn all the eggs. She looked through eyes that felt seared to all the eggs big and small that would become the army for Kenna once they hatched.
She moved to the first nest and began turning the eggs. As she handled the eggs a fine needle emerged from her hand and pierced the soft shell, through to the membrane. A small sword of destruction almost invisible, creating a breach that efficiently destroyed the foetus in the egg. As she moved from nest to nest she held her mind on the task of turning the eggs, on the heat building up in her blood, on her parched mouth. The destruction she was creating was an automatic action it didn’t require thought and the mind sweeps would not catch a trace of her mission.
When she reached the quarter turn in the wall she moved through into the tunnel, the cooler air feeling almost as if it was freezing after the burning of the nest room. She quickly went to the fountain and guzzled down water to cool her body and blood. She gently wiped the cloth over her sensitised skin, shivering at the touch of the tepid water. She couldn’t linger or the overseer would be on her and a beating was something she could do without.
Back to the burning sands mindlessly turning eggs and piercing shells quarter turn by quarter turn until she reached the final tunnel. As she came out into the tunnel she almost walked into Pele and Agni, quickly stepping back before touching their fiery robes she dropped to her knees prostrating herself. Pele sneered and kicked out at her. Pele’s foot caught Hareia in the chest and as the pain burst out from the contact Hareia bit her lip to keep her response inside.
“Worms, this place is full of pathetic worms” Pele muttered.
Agni looked sideways at Pele “You could clean up the place and get rid of them” he murmured, stirring the pot of discontent bringing it to the boil.
Pele’s sneer turned towards Agni. ‘You like playing with worms don’t you Agni? Pity they don’t last long.”
She moved forward her robe sweeping against Hareia’s arm, skin blistering like pork cooking. Agni sauntered after her a small smile curling his lips. As soon as they were out of sight Hareia got to her feet and plunged her arm into the fountain. The overseer found her there.
“Get your filthy arm out of the fountain” he cried as he beat her around the head with his stick. Hareia bent before the blows. “Get back to work he cried”
She moved painfully back into the fiery room and continued to turn and pierce, turn and pierce. Just one day that is all she had to do, just last for one day. The heat boiled her blood, her mind cloudy as dizziness attacked, she staggered amongst the eggs. She was pretty sure she had gotten all the eggs pierced. Eyeballs dried of fluid could hardly see, skin so tender, lips cracking, boot soles almost burnt through. Her mind filled with the excruciating pain of heat and fire as she waited for the signal.
A dull boom echoed through Kenna. She moved toward the tunnel. She could only manage a slow stagger, enervated by the punishing environment. In the tunnel she moved slowly along the wall, not sure which way to go. Then she felt it a soft caress against her skin, air movement, flowing into the searing heat offering respite. She followed the air imagining herself to be a worm moving through the darkness. She could hear sound of battle but she followed the breath of air and slipped her way out of Kenna.
She managed to move from a stagger to stumbling run off towards the hills. She was both lucky and blessed. She had accomplished her mission and so far survived. As she made her way into the hills she thought on the hubris of Fire, of Earth, Air and Water, they thought they were supreme but they had forgotten that Spirit existed in every element.
