#Chapter 117: The Third Trial

Nan’s POV My entire world was aflame. Fire filled my vision. Smoke burned my lungs. I held my breath. The fire licked at my skin. Heated my blood. Seeking to fill the hollow of my bones. The strangest thing was that I was not burning. I should have been. Any normal fire would nave incinerated me. Yet I was not truly burning despite the way my world was now alight. Lionel’s flames would not kill me. I don’t think that was every truly an option. Not when his fire is a part of him. Not when Lionel himself loved me so. It hurts. I was not burning. Not in the physical sense. Yet… ‘My spirit,’ I realize with disturbing clarity. ‘Some part of my soul is being burnt away.’ I did not understand before. Mr. Holder’s words seemed obvious. Vague. ‘There will be intense uncomfortableness. Bordering on pain.’ That description now seems wholly inadequate to the sensations I am experiencing. This was more than just discomfort. This was the forging. I suddenly sympa