You had been adrift, as long as you could remember. You floated between thin wisps of cloud, across an endless plain split between blue and black, the only notable moments the chill as you passed through another one of your kind. It was a dream, but though you'd felt every second go by, you'd never known to wish for anything else.
Now, that had all changed.
In an instant, everything that you had been was burned away. You were wrenched from the dream, and a single moment of impossible pain resolved into a real, solid world around you. Your sleep was over, and for the first time, you wanted something: to never have to return to that mindless stupor.
Next, you looked down around you, through the Fire that you had been liberated by. Surrounding you were odd moving objects, which became animals, which became humans. All around them was an arrangement of large structures, which became buildings, which became a village. Your mind rang with the realizations, and in another second you understood that a hand was outstretched to you. You also understood what they were offering - a Pact.
"Spirit of the air, soul of the wind, we have brought you here and given you Dominion (you understand they are referring to the hearth you are settled in) and this we do freely, as a gift." The woman is sweating profusely. "We plead, though, that you consider our offer. We ask to bind your future to ours, your spirit to our village. This Pact will seal out fates together, to grow together, to work together, and that you shall watch over us, our children, and our children's children, as long as we keep our responsibility to respect and care for you." The woman is out of breath and her hand trembles slightly - is she scared? "Should you refuse, we will let you live in peace."
You consider the offer she's given you, given on behalf of the hundreds around you. You understand that she cannot have lied or spoken falsely - the terms of the Pact are visible in the fire around you, spelled in immutable truth. And... in truth, you're scared to accept. This is the first decision you've ever had to make, and it's the one that will decide your future. Can you really bind yourself so soon after becoming free?
Looking around, though... the sea of faces, staring up at you. Expressions of anxiety, curiosity, but among the auras of the assembled crowd, you sense a persistent hope, a scattered idea of a better future, laid squarely upon you.
You extend a hand, a shape barely formed by wisps of flame, and set your palm against that of the woman before you. Immediately, you can feel something change, the thoughts of those around you becoming clear, and you can see pieces of their lives and thoughts suspended around them. As you make your first step onto the floor below, you step into a new life.
You can feel yourself solidifying, taking on a temporary Form - it is strongly influenced by the humans you are surrounded by, but it will always be yours. What shape do you take?