Afriti

"Do you know the story of the afriti? We

were angels, once. The first and the greatest, formed from the

smokeless fire to be the closest servants to the Merciful One. But the highest

also have the farthest to fall. Pride brought us low. And the power

we held, with which we thought made us superior, became a

constant, terrible reminder that we had been stricken from Him. The

bright beauty of our flame became as bitter ashes in our mouths.

The greatest city of the afriti is filled with the wailing despair of the

old ones who rue what they had become, what was done.

We still know the language of

fire. We still have the power, which strides hand in hand with our

hurt, our anger, our despair. We are now the farthest from Him. And

most of my kind, they still have their pride and their hatred, and they

share this fury with any that they run across. I weep for the afriti.

My... brothers. But we still... know the fire... our creature... as it is... ourselves."