The Emerald Flame had never stopped burning.
The world only saw the miracles of green fire cloaking the body, mending bone, and regrowing flesh, yet never saw that same flame gnawing day and night at Ezryn's flesh and soul. With every life he saved, he took one more step toward his own end. This was the price—no one knew it better than he did.
But those who were healed gradually forgot this. They stopped asking where the flame drew its power from; they stopped seeing the spreading scorch marks beneath Ezryn's scales. All they remembered was to ask for more. All they remembered was, "Ezryn will save us." Pleas turned into demands, trust into dependence, until it all congealed into one perfectly reasonable reproach: You have the Emerald Flame, don't you? So why won't you save one more? That day, Ezryn knelt before yet another life beyond saving. The gazes around him were no longer filled with grief, but with disappointment—accusation, even. He lowered his head and looked at his own hands: the green fire still flickered in his palms, but now it was as weak as a candle's flame.
"Enough."
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The Emerald Flame
"He burns for us. I would follow him anywhere."
-Disciple of Ezryn
Weary of life, a Scalekin healer sought solitude in the barren dunes of the desert, yearning to live out his days alone. No matter how many he treated from affliction or mortal wound, he could not save Tya's inhabitants from the unforgiving world itself. But those destined for greatness cannot remain idle for long. This is the tale of Ezyrn, the Emerald Flame.
In his youth, Ezryn mastered the complexities of healing so much so that travelers would flock from all over to study beneath him. He became an unofficial "shepherd," even taking on an ambitious apprentice named Zasha, whom he'd come to regard a son.
While Ezryn was off foraging, a dragon known as Raton Barr razed his village, burning his entire following alive and turning the land into a smoldering scar. His pain too much to bear, Ezryn retreated into seclusion.
A year later, a knock came at the door of his isolated hermit hut—Zasha. His young apprentice had survived! What's more, he'd been seeking Ezryn all this time. Overjoyed, elation turned to dread when Zasha pulled a shimmering gem from within his robe.
Deep in the desert there was rumored a hidden temple containing a stone of immense power: The Emerald Flame. The item was believed to possess great healing properties at the cost of its wielder's vitality. Zasha had discovered this artifact by chance, now pleading with Ezryn to help him activate it at their burnt village--it was rumored the Emerald Flame could revive the dead.
Though Ezryn forbid the ritual, when he awoke the next morning, Zasha was gone. Setting off for the great scar of his former village, horror filled Ezryn's eyes at the sight before him: Zasha had energized the emerald, but its very flames were consuming him! The land around him revitalized, including the dead, but Zasha himself was in agony. Leaping between the gem and his apprentice, Ezryn took on the flames in an act of love, triggering a blinding flash seen across the continent.
When the sand settled, all of Ezryn's former disciples, now wrenched from the graves, stood in disbelief. Before them rose Ezryn, coated in viridescent fire--The Emerald Flame was born.
While Ezryn's new form causes him constant pain, his otherworldly powers of healing are unparalleled throughout Tya. It became his resolve to suffer for the people, a true martyr amongst the dunes.
