[ WP ] Water is generally viewed as an element of life , of healing , with fire being one of destruction and death . I 'd like to see a world where the opposite is true .

The ceremony was held along the pebbled coastline where the Sea could watch. Pyres and roasting pits lined the shore, casting their light against the dark waves. Each flicker seemed to push back the tide, forcing the Sea Gods down below into their murky halls and brightening the beach. Sand and rock lit alongside man and woman. 
 
 The largest pyre belonged to my father, just as it had belonged to his father and his father ’ s father before him. I watched transfixed as he arranged branches into intricate shapes and patterns, folding and weaving them higher and higher until it dwarfed even him. There was a soft rhythm to his work, a peacefulness that seemed at odds with the sharp contours of his body, yet he moved gracefully despite his bulk, building carefully before the destructive sea and arranging methodical before the chaotic waves. One day this responsibility would fall to me, so I watched carefully, memorizing each careful motion and imagining the heat that would one day flicker between my coarse fingers. 
 
 The last branch was placed solemnly, a final touch at the pinnacle of the structure, and my father stepped back, raising his arms for silence. 
 
 “ Brothers, sisters.'' He called out. `` I have been touched by fire! ” The only sound was the roaring of the waves against the shore, hungry and restless. My father raised his right hand where the brand had been placed, showing the symbol, the phoenix, to the silent gathering. “ Reborn! ” He called out, voice echoing between sky and sea, “ As the phoenix once did from the ash, so must we! We must rise with strength! We must rise with faith! We must *rise*! ” The left hands rose, a sea of burning logs flickering in the fading daylight. My father held one too, and in its light his face glowed, red and angelic. “ Rise my brothers and sisters! Just as the smoke rises from the ashes, so must we! Rise my friends! Just as the flames reach for the dark sky so must we! Light chases shadows, and so too must we! Rise brothers and sister, burn away the darkness in your souls! *Rise*! ” 
 
 The voices called out as one, joyous and dogmatic. *RISE! * And with a single swinging motion my father ’ s burning torch spun through the air, flames licking end over end until it reached the wooden pyre. The rest followed suit, and soon the beachhead was lit as bright as dawn, and for a moment the flames cracked louder than the Sea. 
 
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