From beneath a pile of smoking ashes and red-hot steel armor, a featureless lump of white flesh began to grow. It rose past a warped helmet that still bore the charred remains of its former owner, and pushed aside a stray pauldron in its ascent, sizzling from the contact but visibly undamaged. Then, when it broke the surface of the pile and tasted the outside air - filled with smoke and cinders as it was - the ball began to rapidly spread outwards into the shape of a human torso, which in turn sprouted limbs and a head, then toes and fingers, and finally the gaunt face of Mathis Aevitus. All together it composed a perfect mimicry of his person, down to the smallest and most insignificant detail... except for the fact that his right arm stopped at the elbow as an incomplete shard of exposed bone.<br/><br/>With an unpleasant cracking of his spine, Mathis sat up to inspect his legs with a frown on his face. He tucked his feet in and shifted his weight onto one side, only to stumble and fall over as his nonexistent hand failed to support him. The look of confusion on his face was quickly replaced by one of rare and legitimate worry, which soon faded into resignation as he sighed and stood up with the help of his other (fortunately intact) arm. In a single gesture, he grabbed a fistful of ashes and pulled the entire pile up with it, drawing it around himself to settle as a crude garment. The material gained a strange coherence at his touch, and refused to crumble or fall from its rightful place on his shoulders even when he deliberately tugged at it.<br/><br/>"It seems I've been a bit careless", the lord said to himself, inspecting the gruesome stump where his right wrist should have been. He had known that his supply of...<span style="font-style: italic">replacement material</span>was dwindling, but between his long journey to Colen and Kenneth forcing his hand on two separate occasions, he hadn't found a single opportunity to properly replenish it. Now the phoenix was no doubt rampaging through the palace's halls, intent on destroying everything he could use to fix himself that didn't require tearing holes in the building to create. He was going to start withering again if he didn't find something fresh before it did.<br/><br/>...Still, there was one other pressing matter to attend to first.<br/><br/>Mathis strode past the burning table, undisturbed by both the smoke and heat, and stopped in front of the now-abandoned throne of Colen. In keeping with the rest of the palace's theme, it consisted of a gold frame padded with red cloth, most of which had been burned beyond recognition and the rest eagerly following suit. He put his only hand upon the metallic section, ignorant of the burns it left on his skin, and closed his eyes to envision a design that no mason, metalworker, or carpenter could ever truly comprehend. Slowly, the throne's surface shifted, its cloth lining receded into nothingness, and the walls of the room itself thinned as they surrendered their mass to the serpent's host. The thin gold rim of the seat took on an extremely reflective silver color and expanded to nearly three times its former size, filling in every possible gap until the wiry shell had become a solid mass fused to the floor beneath it. From there, it thickened and grew sharp spikes, all of which jutted inwards at irregular angles like a twisted iron maiden. As a final touch, large engraved letters dug their way into the base of the throne, written in a common script that was sure to be understood not only by the future kings, but their servants and guests as well.<br/><br/>Translated, it read:<br/><br/>BEHOLD THE SEAT OF COLEN<br/>A KING OF GLUTTONS<br/>HE SUPPED OF HIS KINGDOM WITHOUT STINT<br/>VICTUAL, WEALTH, LOYALTY, JOY<br/>UNTIL NONE COULD RIVAL HIS CORPULENCE<br/>THIS DAY HE CROSSED A GLUTTON OF KINGS<br/>MAY HIS DESCENDANTS SUFFER<br/>THE SCORN OF THE SOUTHERN LORDS<br/>MATHIS AEVITUS AND KENNETH HUGHES<br/>AD AEVUM TERMINAE<br/><br/>Chuckling once again, Mathis withdrew his hand and stood back to admire his work. As intended, the throne was<span style="font-style: italic">almost</span>capable of accommodating a very thin, very<span style="font-style: italic">still</span>inhabitant without causing significant harm in the process. More importantly, it had become a permanent fixture of the council chamber that would take no small amount of effort to remove, let alone without damaging the surrounding area. Anyone fool enough to preside over the court of Colen would either sit with his peers in the shadow of Mathis's rightful seat, or he would experience the Transgressor's spite personally. It was perfect.<br/><br/>A sharp crack brought his attention back to the burning room he was standing in. Evidently, the stone architecture was doing little to slow the fire's progress when it had so much wood to feed itself with. Not willing to share the same fate, Mathis opened his mouth and inhaled. He didn't stop for several minutes - not until every cloud of smoke, every cinder, and every breath of air was gone from the room. When he was done and the fire was starved down to a few glowing embers, he calmly strode out of the room from the door he had entered it by.<br/><br/>All the while, he hoped that Kenneth hadn't found his way to the kitchen yet.<br/><br/>*Extra information*<br/><div style="margin:20px; margin-top:5px"><div class="quotetitle"><input class="button2 btnlite" onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = '';      this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Hide'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerText = ''; this.value = 'Show'; }" style="text-align:center;width:100px;margin:0px;padding:0px;" type="button" value="Show"/></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">*Chromium is a particular favorite among the metals Mathis tends to use in his alterations. Aside from being highly reflective and thus perfect for catching the attention of others, it is also nearly immune to rust and corrosion, making it 'timeless' much like he believes himself to be.<br/><br/>**A possible Latin translation of "Ad aevum terminae" is "Until time ends", or "Until the end of time".</div></div></div>