It is You who Must be the Guiding Light

Pyro "I will always give you a light."

The fire mage is the idealised version of himself he’s chasing, the star of the story he’s yet to tell and yet the fire mage also represents his worst impulses fed by easy access to destructive power in the palm of his hand. The fire mage is mighty, powerful and will incinerate any opposition faced, it’s the stuff of legends -- but in practice Pyro Dagmeare the living breathing human being now finds himself uncertain of how to distinguish his flame and total destruction.

TF!Pyro apologises to Ambear when thinks he has broken character away from what he feels is expected of him as “The fire mage” in reference to the raging heat of flame he in part feels there is an expectation of him to embody but also the version of himself that was allowed to fester and grow as terrible as it did grand in their schemes together. That Flaming Inquisitor, who killed and maimed with his hands clutched tight in burning fists -- the fire mage, making a name for himself bringing an end to banditry. But it doesn't feel good to embody fire in that way and the legacy written in it's ash is not a kind one. It's not who TF!Pyro is or wants to be.

the betrayal // quiet beginnings and bitter ends

// I'm trying to do better.

Transcribed from Pyroscythe's Twitch: "🐉🔥 The Harbinger of Fire | The Flight #44 | PREPARING FOR THE BANDIT RAID, HANGING WITH FRIENDS !discord" [20/08/2026]

[3:34:26] Pyro: Were you made aware that I was visiting? Bandit: [in game chat] Hi, fire. Not at all. Pyro: Oh, well I scheduled an appointment for us. D’you mind if I come in? Bandit: [in game chat] I must be lucky. Don’t think I have the key. Pyro: That’s fine. [pyro breaks the door, walks in and replaces it behind them] Pyro: [clears throat] Mind if I sit? Bandit: [in game chat] Go ahead. Pyro: Thank you. Bandit: [in game chat] Make yourself at home… Pyro: Oh, yeah, I will, I will. You can sit too, if you prefer to sit? I can stand if you’d like? [the bandit sits on the floor] Pyro: Oh, very good. Pyro: So, you got caught eh? They gave you the suit of armour with the branded helm. Bandit: [in game chat] Yeah… Pyro: Don’t think you had much chance of getting out. Did you know that it was a giveaway? That you’d… be spotted immediately? Bandit: [in game chat] I wasn’t told a thing. Pyro: Oh. [sighing] Unfortunate. Terribly unfortunate. That they’d sell you out like that, no strategic aim – just to send a message. I mean, I wasn’t even in the room. It wasn’t even a genuine attempt on my life. And what, they’d send you in there? They’d pay you a wage? Perhaps they’d give you a bundle of gems, food? A roof? Bandit: [in game chat] I did it for the fun this time honestly. Pyro: Hm. Bandit: [in game chat] Not many chances to go inside that school. Pyro: No, it’s- [sighs] an exclusive place. How old are you? Bandit: [in game chat] 24. Pyro: Twenty-four… Gods, you’ve had many more- many more moons than me! I’ll be your age in a couple of months. It’s a burden you know, sometimes- Truly! I don’t tell many people this but it is a burden to… be so young and have so much on our shoulders as riders. Bandit: [in game chat] Not many left for me I assume. Pyro: You make many stupid assumptions. You made the assumption that that would be fun. You think it was worth it? Bandit: [in game chat] I’m not too sure. Pyro: Hm. In that room, on those shelves was some of if not the most valuable information that we as riders have in defeating the Corruption, the existential threat that day by day gnaws away at our world. That’s not my world – that’s our world. Have you had the misfortune of stumbling across Magnus in your time here? The town? Quite close to the centre. Or-! Have you um, have you had the unfortunate side effects of bathing in the rivers? Bandit: [in game chat] Everyone knows not to go into the rivers. Pyro: You know the rivers are gonna be… You know. It starts at the rivers and then it will spread to the banks, and then down into the earth crawling into the roots and up the trees. Everywhere. Every inch of this place. It’s a beautiful land we share. Bandit: [in game chat] You really think that the Corruption is real Pyro: What…? You haven’t seen it? You haven’t seen Magnus? Bandit: [in game chat] Seen what, some trees being killed? Pyro: You haven’t seen the beasts that roam the lands? The Imps? The wraiths? Bandit: [in game chat] Not at all. Pyro: If only I had proof to show you… No matter.

Bandit: [in game chat] Honestly, could simply be the weather getting warmer. Pyro: Weathers always warm. Don’t know how the trees survive without the rain to be honest, it only rains once a month or so. [sighs] Bandit: [in game chat] Been to Moffa? Pyro: Moffa? Aye! I served on a local council there. You? Bandit: [in game chat] I came from there. Pyro: [scoffs] Right. How did you… manage to find yourself into the misfortune of being here? Last I heard Moffa was… the affairs were mostly in order. A slight food crisis but, Bandit: [in game chat] That’s the problem. Pyro: Too much calm? Too much peace? We did too good a job? Bandit: [in game chat] Exactly. Whereas here? I can control with the chaos. Pyro: You find comfort in the unknown? Bandit: [in game chat] The unknown is fun. Pyro: Hm, I’d agree with that. I was still a youth when I first arrived in Moffa, sixteen. Moffa, back then, as I’m sure you can attest was chaos, no? No matter, we’re far from Moffa now. Bandit: [in game chat] Far from everywhere now. Pyro: It’s a long walk, shorter by horse but not much easier. Bandit: [in game chat] I think you can agree the chaos of this island is far more fun. Pyro: I’d agree! There’s chaos and most of the riders, they struggle sometimes, but it’s not always chaos. Because from the chaos has to come some sort of life – it’s how it always is. Bandit: [in game chat] When I went into your school, I didn’t know if I was going to die by flame or get sent here. That unknown, that ride. Is the fun. Pyro: I feel like half the fun is knowing whether or not you’ll be able to walk out and breathe another day, you know? The thrill of hunting bandits, squashing rebellion – it’s the concept of an end. I mean, some, maybe myself, we’re fighters, we’re soldiers. We… We aren’t- Maybe we’re not meant for the day after the conflict, but we still fight for it nonetheless. Bandit: [in game chat] Do you really want it to end? Pyro: If I wanted it to end I would cast myself into the flames of my room, sit there long enough and hope my skin eventually begins to peel. I know it won’t, so I’d more likely just starve. The only way this is going to end is if us riders… cease. The only thing standing between the Corruption and you. That’s when it ends.

Bandit: [in game chat] You truly think yourself as the high and mighty. Pyro: You don’t understand, until you’re bonded with one. These beasts, [pyro places cindermeare down from his backpack] in all my days walking this realm, nothing comes close. Were you told stories of them, as a young one? Bandit: [in game chat] Every night. I assume you did too. Pyro: And to see them, now, they’re back. Once you have the chance to- Bandit: [in game chat] Means the other half is back too. Pyro: The other half? Bandit: [in game chat] Storm Ravens. Pyro: Well, I haven’t seen any. Bandit: [in game chat] You know the stories, one comes with the other. Pyro: You can feed her if you’d like. [pyro passes the bandit a few raw porkchops.] Pyro: Don’t get too close. It’s not me you’ll have to worry about. [the bandit feeds cindermeare] Pyro: She’ll need more food, needs to be bigger and stronger. Soon she won’t be able to fit in my pack, [he picks her up back into the bag] Does for now though. Bandit: [in game chat] She seems to be bigger than the last time I saw one. Pyro: Bigger by the day. Every morn she wakes up and devours enough pork to make up the body of a whole hog. She’ll be soon to carry me most like, as with all the other riders and their beasts. We’ll be actual riders. Bandit: [in game chat] So why are you really here. Trying to get info from our boss or just wanted to look me in the eye before I die? Pyro: I don’t know why I came here. I told myself I was gonna make you drink my finest vintage, told the others that too. But… Bandit: [in game chat] But, Pyro: It’s stupid. It’s trivial, all of it. I did come here to kill you, truly. Bandit: [in game chat] What changed? Pyro: On the walk here I… took it slow. Looked to the hills, heard the laughter of friends. I lived. Did you have friends back home? A mother, father? Bandit: [in game chat] I left them behind. Pyro: Fuck, you are a dead end. [sighs]

Bandit: [in game chat] Who did you leave behind? Pyro: Not important. Bandit: [in game chat] True. Pyro: They’re still alive and well, so long as the threats your leader made are as hollow as I thought they were. I would suspect them to be hollow. Bandit: [in game chat] Well, I guess we’ll see about that. Pyro: My town is far too distant from here. Bandit: [in game chat] I can tell you one thing, Pyro: Go on, Bandit: [in game chat] Nobody went to Tegrith. Pyro: Didn’t think they would. [sighs] I know you despise order, you despise predictability, but in my time of cutting down your comrades I… Look, many of my fellow riders think I’m thick skulled and hot-headed and full hearted but I’m smart enough to know that people like you won’t stop coming. You’re not a rebel, rebels have got a cause. Your cause is yourself – and that’s fine, I’ve met many a person like that. Whatever, I’ll cut to the chase. Every town around this continent has been completely depopulated. We’ve each been charged with custodianship over a village, yet the population has been decimated by corruption, banditry and starvation. Bandit: [in game chat] That is correct. Pyro: I need people to work my fields. I need strong people, ones who are quick with their hands. Bandit: [in game chat] You’re… Offering me a job. Pyro: Um, I’m testing the waters. Your accommodation won’t be fine, at first. You could make your own but I’m getting to reconstructing the town. The hours they won’t be amazing, but you’ll have a wage, you’ll have food, and you’ll have as much protection as you can give yourself. Bandit: [in game chat] What sort of wage? Pyro: Gems, another wage. I’m not going to pay you just in food. Bandit: [in game chat] How much? Pyro: How much were the bandits paying you? Bandit: [in game chat] I got 30 gems a job, riders 300. Pyro: I’ll give you 30 gems a day. Bandit: [in game chat] Oh. What, you have that much? Pyro: Aye. Kindling is the premier alcohol manufacturer in Terraventus. Up and coming at least. We’ve vines of all strains, vintages of all sorts. The barrels are stocked, the shelves are overflowing. I simply haven’t got the stamina to crush the grapes, fill the barrels, pick the vines. I know the recipes, that’s fine, I can do that. I need you, perhaps maybe some of your ilk, to live there. Bandit: [in game chat] And what about Gandus, she’d kill me. Pyro: Gandus… Gandus has tried to kill me several times. As custodian of Kindling, should you be a resident the only pain you feel shall be your hands cramping at the end of the day. Have you ever worked before? Worked a job that isn’t, you know, shivving, capturing. Bandit: [in game chat] Doesn’t sound like the thrill I left the city for, but I won’t say no to saving my life from this cell. Pyro: You’ll be on thin fucking ice though. Bandit: [in game chat] I suspect you’d melt that ice. Pyro: Melt the ice if you’re fuckin’ around. You’ll not be a servant, but for three months there’ll be a probationary period- If! I can get you out of this cell. And I won’t be pulling any bullshit to get that done either. Only through negotiated settlement will I be able to get you out of here. Bandit: [in game chat] Guess I’ll wait and see. Pyro: Right well! Sit tight! And what’s your name? Bandit (Tony): [in game chat] Code name was Lime, but real name… Tony. Pyro: Tony. We’ll speak soon Tony.

Champion of Tyche!

Part 2 of my Hades art style study with Pantheon SMP

Alt version with a different sword and a version without the background can be found below

Part 1 of the series