Prelude: Flesh and Blood
She lay unmoving in the center of the room, the pungent smell of smoke drifting up through the cracks in the wood flooring. Her dark hair tucked neatly beneath her head, tickling the back of her neck.
The first floor beneath her groaned, a sign of the inferno consuming it. Heat radiated from the wood onto her back, warming her skin through the cloth of her Midwich School uniform until it turned raw and red. Her eyes were shut, but in her mind's eye she could see the room clearly, from the dusty green couch in the back to the flames beginning to eat through the door in the front. For the most part the room was bare, save for the couch, a tablestand littered with the wrinkled petals of a dead flower, and a tall mahogany wardrobe on the side wall.
The door creaked loudly, and then it was gone. In its place were the flames from the house fire. Red and yellow and orange tendrils licked up the wallpaper, blackening and curling it, before spreading across the ceiling. Greenish black smoke billowed into and out of the room, pressing down on her. Her chest heaved as it became harder to breathe. She didn't worry though. This needed to happen.
Her skin rippled and the blood within her veins bubbled like boiling water. The acid in her stomach churned in anticipation. She could feel it within her, clawing at her subconscious, desperate to be free. This was the plan, but she wasn't exactly one to follow the rules.
In a flash of pain her back arched away from the floor, her body becoming an abstract human bridge. It was tearing at her, so close to the surface, yet still so far away. Still in her mind's eye, she could see the ceiling, which was now a tumultuous sea of flames. Little spots of dark red seemed to form a face, grinning at her from within the fire, waiting to encompass her flesh and burn the life out of her twitching body. Earlier, in a fleeting moment of smothering fear she had cried out for help. Her voice rang out just as the fire had started, though she knew they wouldn't be back to rescue her. After laying there for minutes and hyperventilating she finally got a grip on her nerves and contented herself to just lay there with her eyes closed. If she couldn't actually see the fire, she would not be as scared.
Her neck snapped to one side, pressed against her shoulder, and a ring of red encircled her figure. It gave off a cool chill and glowed scarlet. This was it. It was time to let it all go.
With a sickening pop her shoulder jutted out from its socket as her arm flung uncontrollably backwards until it hit the ring. It was like being pressed against smooth glass, reinforced with a metal wall. It was slippery and cold to the touch, an iceberg floating in the fires of hell. Her body spasmed and she fought for control. A deep, guttural hiss escaped her lips, but it wasn't hers. It was closer than she realized.
Suddenly she was aware of another person, nobody she'd ever met. She shook her head, still trying to get a grip on her own mind. She felt a sense of calm settle over her as she reached within for a few more moments of strength. A man had entered the house and was now bolting up the stairs, straight for the room she had confined herself to.
No! she screamed within her mind. A low rumble sounded from inside the room. Gradually it increased, until the whole house shook. The tablestand tottered over and shattered into tiny, fragmented pieces. The shaking caused the man to fallen onto the wall of the stairs and cling to the railing as if his life depended on it - which it just might. The stair he stood on moaned, and after a few seconds fell away, leaving him scrabbling to get is footing on the step above. As the shaking steadied, he wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and forced himself up the rest of the stairs.
She clenched her jaw and lay perfectly still, unafraid of the flames creeping towards her. With a series of racking coughs the man barreled into the room shoulder first, although there was no point since the fire had already taken out the door. His gaze swept around the room like he was in some kind of trance. "Oh God," he breathed as he spotted her lying in the middle of the ground, surrounded by the ever increasing flames. Black soot and ash covered his face and hands, and his eyes darted back and forth dizzily. The longsleeve red plaid shirt he wore was torn up one of the arms, revealing a deep gash in his forearm that leaked blood. It smeared against his shirt, the stain looking black in the flickering light.
A narrow beam, brittle and cracked, crashed down from the roof above onto the couch in the back, sending dust and soot and embers into the air. The loud commotion seemed to wake the man from his daze and he darted for her.
She could still feel it hovering at the surface, ready to break loose as soon as she lost focus. The man reached down for her and hesitated, concern spread generously across his features. The ring that surrounded her had another ring inside it. Between the inner and outer ring were a bunch of strange glowing symbols. They looked dangerous, unforgiving. Three smaller circles rested within the inner ring, glaring at him.
He wasn't sure if it was dangerous to enter the protective symbol, but then decided it didn't matter. He was going to save girl. In one swift motion his hand latched onto her bare, dirty arm.
Her eyes snapped open, piercing him with her strong, stormy blue gaze. His arm recoiled in reaction, fist clenching and unclenching at his side. The monster inside her seemed to be ripping her stomach to shreds in frustration and impatience. When she spoke her voice seemed to fill the room, rising above the roar of the deadly fire. "Let me burn."
Around her the scarlet ring faded away, leaving in its wake an ice blue one. A swirl of emotions passed through his visage: confusion, uncertainty, worry, but only one was strong enough to motivate him to move - fear. His arms reached inside the ring once more to grab hold of her, and this time he succeeded in hoisting her out and over his shoulder. But how had he been able to pass through the barrier? It was supposed to act as a sort of force field, to protect from the outside and contain from the inside.
She was too stunned to protest or fight back; the smoke inhalation was catching up with her, and her body burned wherever her skin was exposed. The fire hadn't even touched her, but the heat from it could still do very painful things. Black shadows danced on the backs of her eyelids.
The man made it down the stairs with her and was running across the living room, front door wide open and directly in his line of vision. Just a few more yards and he would be free of the hellish place he had so bravely entered. That's when part of the second floor caved in with a sound like a heavy train smashing into a thick cement wall. The celing rained down around them both, knocking her off his back and out of reach. She hit the ground hard and momentum sent her rolling into a thick patch of intense flames.
The fire was finally granted its wish; it enveloped her body and singed every inch of her. She wanted to scream but didn't; what good would it do? The man was trapped beneath a heavy beamed lined with smoldering embers. He yelled for her, but she pretended not to hear. The blue ring circled her once again and she could feel it rising, taking over her mind, not feeling the very minute difference in the rings.
Slowly, the man pushed himself to his hands and knees and scrambled out from beneath the beam. Without even taking a second to think about himself he reached into the fire, adrenaline preventing him from even feeling the searing pain on his hands and arms. Grunting, he jerked her out of the flames. The shirt he wore ripped off in his grasp and wrapped around her, dousing the worst of the flames that relentlessly clung to her. He wrapped her in what could have been a loving embrace and shuffled the rest of the way out of the house and into the chilly night air.
Fog was just beginning to descend when he collapsed breathlessly on the dry front lawn. In the distance he heard the shrill wails of fire trucks and police and ambulances, but that didn't matter. He shifted his weight until his gaze fell on her, the girl he'd just rescued.
Her eyes were still open. The lashes had been singed away, leaving the lids cracked and burning. In fact, her whole body felt like it had been stripped away of its skin and was left out in the open, raw and bleeding and in excruciating pain. But that's not what raced through her mind as she lay there, barely breathing. Her lips kept forming the same words over and over, but no sounds came from her throat. A single tear escaped from her tear duct, something she thought had been damaged beyond repair beneath the pressure of the flames. It trailed out of the corner of her eye and slid down her cheek before splashing silently onto the ground.
A strange sensation overcame her. It was like she was being split in half, but it wasn't painful. In fact, it felt kind of… good. A blur of faces passed through her mind, all people she despised. Hate flared up within her. Her raw, red wrists clenched at her side. And then the faces stopped flashing by. Only one remained in her mind: her mother. She was going to be so disappointed. But even after all this, she still couldn't hate her. No matter what happened, she'd still love her mother. "Let me burn," she mouthed one last time before her eyes rolled back and she blacked out.
The man's sight kept shifting in and out of focus as he fought to stay conscious. Why hadn't the girl tried to escape instead of just lying there? And how had the fire started? Certainly the fire trucks should have been there much sooner. He was going to find out what happened and if the girl survived. Eventually, as the sirens grew very near, he lost the strength to fight and welcomed the black curtain that fell across his eyes.
Inside the house, the room where she'd laid preparing to die groaned under the fire. It shook once more and that did it. The roof rained down, and in turn the second floor fell through with a jumble of cement and mortar and flame. The mahogany wardrobe smashed in half when it hit the ground, and out rolled another girl with dirty, light brown hair, dizzy and unfocused. She coughed when she took in a deep breath of putrid smoke. Her mind couldn't process what was happening. She was trapped in an inferno, surrounded by smoke and dust and fire. How had she gotten there?
A small pool of blood a couple feet away caught her attention. She elbowed her way towards it, dragging herself painfully through the sharp debris. All her movements seemed like they were incredibly slow. Panic blossomed in her chest. The roar of the fire increased. In minutes the building she was in would be destroyed, reduced to nothing but rubble and ash. She would die, scared and alone, in a place she had never seen. Nobody would find her, and her soul would wander restlessly for all of eternity. Tears sprang to her eyes, but they quickly evaporated in the searing heat.
A splinter of wood sliced open her palm. The immediate sting helped her come to her senses a bit more. The fuzzy, translucent veil that clouded her thoughts and vision temporarily lifted. The pool of crimson fluid beckoned her forward, barely on the edge of the dancing flames. For some reason it enticed her. It promised something to her, she just wasn't sure what. It was irrational, she realized that, but nothing was normal about her situation in the first place. With a moan of exhaustion she smashed her bleeding palm down into the already-drying blood.
Her head flew backwards, eyes wide open as power coursed through her veins, filling her heart. Her whole body tingled and vibrated as the power encompassed her soul. The nails of her free hand dug into her palm, drawing fresh blood. She gasped for air but she couldn't move, couldn't even breathe. The corners of her eyes dimmed, giving her tunnel vision, but her eyesight was crystal clear. She was a statue. Her body was frozen in that position, back arched backwards, mouth agape in a silent scream. After what seemed like hours, but was really only thirty seconds, her neck and back unstiffened and dropped back down into a normal position. Now that she was free of whatever had just taken over her the hazy veil fell around her once again.
She noticed a small hole in the wall a couple yards away. It was so close, but in the chaos it was so far away. She desperately crawled towards it, trying to escape the raging inferno that surrounded her. Her movements were still slow and jerky; the drugs unknowingly pulsing through her system made her body feel lazy and unresponsive. Nonetheless, she pushed through the haze and clambered out the small hole in the wall.
Outside in the fresh air, she saw a forest pressing in on the house. She used the last of her strength to elbow her way deep into the covering of trees, away from the fire. As the last of her strength drained from her limbs she needed to stop. She leaned up against the nearest tree. A sturdy trunk supported her as she faded out of consciousness. An odd feeling passed through her, like someone else was sharing her body. She welcomed the company, not sure why, as the silvery starlight filtering through the canopy of trees dimmed from her vision. Finally, her head fell forward, chin resting on the sooty uniform covering her chest. In the back of her mind, she heard a voice, not her own, softly chanting the same thing over and over, until it was ingrained in her memory forever. "Let me burn."