Sha lit the fire on the altar. The sun was shining in the stained-glass window, its light casting the appearance of rippling flames on the bowl of water nearby.
He stared into the true flames, focussing his vision to ignore the false flames in the water. They danced at the edge of sight, trying to pull his thoughts from the purity of the flame.
He lifted the small dagger from the white linen covering the altar, and heated the tip in the flame.
Ignore even the flames reflected on the dagger; they too are false. Only the true flame is pure, only the true flame is holy.
Sha dropped a few jagged leaves into the small clay bowl, and watched as the flames ate the edges. He leaned over the altar, taking a breath of the smoke, bracing one hand on the altar against the dizziness to come.
His vision sharpened, the flames dancing more slowly and brightly. Sha looked straight down at the flames, breathing deeply to inhale more of the smoke. The dagger glowed with flame; the water danced.
The false flames still called him; he was not yet cleansed.
Sha pulled his face back, and lifted the hot blade of the dagger above the fire. Still watching the flames, still trying to ignore the false flames, he pulled at the bandage on his left hand with his teeth.
He reached for the flame with his scarred left hand. The heat danced on his fingers.
He closed his fingers around the blade of the dagger, hissing as the hot metal touched yesterday's scars. He held it for a slow count of five, then jerked the dagger downwards.
Sha stared into the fire. "Metal is purified with true flame. Blood is purified with true flame. Accept my blood, and purify my soul." He opened his left hand, still above the flames, and the dripping of blood increased to a thin stream.
He held his hand over the fire until the guard handed him a bandage.
"Not purified yet, eh 53?"
"The true flame is pure," Sha said, the hypnotic well started in his bloodstream. "The flame will purify my soul when my mind can see only the pure truth."
The guard nodded, and guided Sha away from the altar for his session with the prison re-educator.
