The Charred Child

Chapter One: Birth of a Fire Child

Heat surrounded him, cradling his very existence in warmth and moving light.

“You are born of The Flame, the renewal of life,” A voice whispered quietly, “Born of the Flame, renewal of life…”

These same words echoed again and again for what felt like eternity, and they seemed to mean something special, but as far as he could tell it was nothing, it meant nothing. The thing that said this, was it talking to him? ‘Born of the Flame’? ‘Renewal of life’? What was that? What did any of it mean?

And what was he then? Where was he? Who was he?

His eyes cracked open, light filling his vision, coming in from every direction, he saw bright things all around him, dancing and moving this way and that with the wind. What were they?

“The Flame!” The voice hissed, “The Flame you were born from!”

The Flame? He reached a hand out and touched it, its heat incasing him, but not hurting him as it would to any other living organism. He was fire-proof, that which had brought him into the world couldn’t hurt him.

He looked around but saw nothing but The Flame surrounding him, beyond it stood tall dark trees that The Flame consumed as it grew, toppling the dark shapes over one by one and destroying them.

So where did the voice come from?

“I made you of The Flame! I made you!”

So who was he?

“You are of The Flame, you are the renewal of life!” The voice all but screamed, making him clamp his hands over his ears and curl up in a ball.

“A name…Needs a name…” The voice muttered.

He hadn’t heard, he still had his hands on his ears. Despite the heat, he was shaking with fear that the owner of the voice would hurt him.

“Nuria,” The voice mused, feeling the name in his mouth, “Nuria will do,”

The boy, now known as Nuria peeked up around him, but again saw nothing but The Flames that surrounded him.

“Your name is Nuria, born of The Flame, brought into the world of the living by Aviur, my name is Aden,”

“Nuria…” The boy said his name, “Where are you, Aden?”

“I am everywhere and nowhere,” Aden chuckled, “But now is not the time for silly questions like that, more importantly, are you hungry?”

“Hungry?”

Aden sighed and then a moment later an enormous tree fell a few feet from Nuria, startling the boy beyond words.

“Watch closely Nuria,” Aden said as The Flame licked at the wood, digging into it in the way that only fire could, chipping at it, cracking it until all that remained of the once enormous tree were large hot embers, glowing like gold inside the cracks of a ruby, the red and bright yellow slowly gliding across the pieces of what was once wood.

Nuria stared at them for a moment before picking up a ember, letting the warmth seep into his fingers as he studied the way the color moved.

“Eat it, Nuria,” Aden instructed.

“Eat it?” What did that mean?

“Put it in your mouth, genius,”

Nuria did as he was told, putting the crackling ember in his mouth and chewing on it, swallowing it and all its warmth. He could feel the way the heat slid down his throat and warmed him from the inside, he craved to be filled with such a wondrous feeling. Picking up more embers and hardly chewing them before swallowing them down, the warmth spreading with each piece he consumed.

“Easy Nuria,” Aden warned, “If you eat too much it’ll make you sick,”

“What’s sick?” Nuria asked around a mouthful of burning wood.

“It’s when your body gets weak and can’t do anything,” Aden explained, “Now come on, our father is waiting for us,”

“Our father? I thought you said The Fla--”

“The Flame is our mother, who births us into the world, but Aviur is our father, do you understand now? Come on, he doesn’t like to be kept waiting,”

“How will I follow you? I can’t see you,” Nuria said.

“Oh, right!” Nuria heard a snap of fingers and then a young man stood a few feet away.

Aden was a tall person, with wide shoulders and a tan lean figure, bright blonde hair and yellow eyes that bore into Nuria with a sort of uncertain dislike that made Nuria beyond confused.

“Alright come on,” Aden said, reaching for Nuria.

Before he could get to him water poured down on them from above, having been dropped from a plane in an attempt to put out the wildfire that Aden had caused. The water put out The Flame and Nuria felt the loss of the warmth, the cold sticking to him like a second skin. Aden reached out for Nuria but was swept away like sand, gone to wherever it is that the fire world was.