Briar isn't the only one running towards the fire; in Bagoas' home land, fire is sacred. It is divine, and for a moment he hopes in vain that it is a ritual fire seen to by the Magus; another moment passes and he sees before him the pyre at Persepolis.

To be there and live it alongside his dead King would be a blessing, even in a place such as this.

In the end, when reason claims his mind and turns it once more onto the path of sanity, he drops to his knees and cries to the heavens. This is not Persepolis of old; this is not a dream of Alexander, but a nightmare without end.

Let the fire claim me, he thinks to himself, And let my bones find their peace among the ashes of long lost dreams.