Pyrelight

> They're those lights you see whenever a fiend dies. The little fellows are responsible for a few fantastic phenomena. Visions of the past, spheres, fiends — these are all the pyrelights' doing. In fact... pyrelights have something to do with aeons, too. The dreams of the fayth reach through the spirit of the summoner... And that which is unreal becomes real for all to see!
>
> Maechen

**Pyrelights** are an ambiguous, naturally occurring phenomenon that heavily influences life in Ozuma. Pyrelights are prevalent throughout the world of Ozuma and are closely linked with the lifeforce of beings, in that they are the form that disembodied spiritual energy takes.

Pyrelights are not living creatures. Though they have been harnessed to many uses — both good and ill — in their inert form they lack self-awareness and any identifiable agenda. As such, they are but an aspect of nature.

## Nature

Pyrelights are usually invisible, but can be seen when condensed in high concentrations. When a fiend is defeated, or when a summoner performs a sending, they glow and thus are often mistaken as "arising when there is a loss of life." Pyrelights and water are said to harmonize easily. When a summoner performs a sending, the pyrelights on a water's surface can solidify into a foothold. The bandersnatch sphere pool utilizes pyrelights to congeal the water into a sphere. Bandersnatch players can stay active underwater for extended periods of time because they are supported by the pyrelights contained in the water.

Pyrelights exist in one of three distinct states. When inert, they manifest as insubstantial points of iridescent light, similar to the fireflies from which their name is partially inspired, which float aimlessly within a particular area of attraction. Inert pyrelights generate a delicate sound. Concentrations of pyrelights can form physical creatures, yet remain insubstantial, creating phenomena reminiscent of ghosts. In the final state, pyrelights can take on the properties of solid matter. For example, aeons consist of vast quantities of pyrelights.

Pyrelights can also crystallize into spheres. This crystallization occurs as a result of the pyrelights reacting to people's feelings and memories and binding them with images and audio. Spheres can therefore be used to create recordings. The raw material for spheres is water that contains a high concentration of pyrelights, gathered from specific locations, such as the Molacalma springs.

Some people are more sensitive to pyrelights than others, and those especially keen to them can become summoners, able to manifest pyrelights into various corporeal forms.

## Pyrelights and death

When a person dies their body cannot simply be laid to rest: their spirit, or lifeforce represented by pyrelights, must be released from the body and given "guidance" to return to the Afterworld, a place inside the planet where its lifeforce is gathered. A summoner is required to engineer this "guidance" in a ritual known as the sending. If the sending is not performed, the body's spirit is trapped in the physical plane, growing first envious, then hateful of the living. The hatred eventually grows strong enough to manifest one's pyrelights into a fiend, a fully substantial and dangerous monster.

Not all of the recently deceased must be sent, but mainly those who have suffered a violent or untimely death. Some scholars suggest that those who have accepted their death may naturally come to the Afterworld, similar to legends of ghosts, as ghosts may linger and become malicious towards the living, but those who have accepted their deaths pass on to the other side.

In some cases the dead do not transform into a fiend. If the deceased possessed a powerful will regarding an unfinished purpose in the world of the living, an individual's postmortem spirit can manifest their pyrelights into a physical form in the image of the deceased's former body. Such beings who may act and function for the most part as they did in life, are referred to as "unsent" and may be benign or malicious, depending upon the individual's nature.

Fiends and unsent, as well as aeons, are sustained by the thoughts that caused their creation. For fiends, it is hatred and envy of the living. For aeons, it is the dream of the fayth, people who willingly gave up their lives to have their souls trapped in statues and exist in perpetual state of dreaming. For unsent, it is the unsent person's own strong will to remain in Ozuma.

The unsent are usually unwilling to enter the Afterworld using the gateways that exist in Ozuma. This is believed to be because they may be physically unable to leave, and are wary of taking the risk. They are vulnerable to the effects of the sending, which can banish the disembodied spirit to the Afterworld and disperse their pyrelights, usually no matter how strong the will that binds them.

Another exception to dying without becoming a fiend in the absence of being sent still results in one's spirit finding its way to the Afterworld. One who accepts death while still alive will travel to the Afterworld after death without assistance. In addition, the unsent may voluntarily send themselves at will.

### The Sending

Main article: Sending
The sending ritual transfers sentient lifeforce to the Afterworld. The lifeforce, if any, of the flora and fauna are unaffected (it can be inferred, in fact, that such wildlife, as well as the planet itself, draw energy from the lifeforce contained within the Afterworld). Fiends, whose souls have been consumed by hatred, are subsequently not affected.

A sending, therefore, is known to affect the following:

* The lifeforce/soul/spiritual energy of recently-deceased, self-aware creatures.
* Unsent beings, i.e. the spirits that have remained on the physical plane after death and retained the purpose of their former lives.

During a sending pyrelights emanate not only from the dispersed "bodies" of the unsent, but also from the recently deceased. This indicates that pyrelights are always present in the bodies of the living, as well as in everything else in Ozuma.

## Pyrelights and the continuation of memory

### The Afterworld

Ozumians have long enjoyed occasional visits to the Afterworld, primarily using the gateway within Waddosalam, to call up their memories of those who have died. Since the Afterworld is filled with pyrelights, some are attracted to the evoked memories and give them partial substance, forming a ghostlike image of the subject being recalled.

### The physical plane

The attraction pyrelights show to the energy of strong memories is not restricted to the Afterworld, nor are the spirits of the dead necessarily required to manifest their spiritual energy to interact with the living on physical terms. It is possible to perpetuate a spirit's memories against their will, and in certain cases the dead may possess the living.

## Symbolism

The physical appearance pyrelight is reminiscent of a firefly. Pyrelights are mainly seen in their inert stage upon a person's death, in the Afterworld (the realm of the dead), and during a sending, which itself alludes to ancient Japanese funeral rites.

Pyrelights transcending all existence in Ozuma relates to Shintoism that posits a generative, immanent force harmoniously pervades the whole phenomenal world.