fallen hero | matthew fairchild

chapter 02 | made of fire

Hero was dehydrated, tired, and could barely see as the sun went down.

After her interaction with Mr. Love, she felt even more exhausted. She was grateful for whatever forces rescued her, but she wasn't exactly safe until she had the necessities.

She was looking for some sort of human activity. She stared at the back of her right hand. The dark tattoo of an eye stared back at her.

Hero knew that when real people saw Mr. Love, they didn't see his wings. They simply saw a stunning three and twenty-year-old male.

Mr. Love was a warlock. A man with the blood of humans and demons. His defining trait was the great black wings he carried on his back.

Hero also knew the fact that she was a shadowhunter. The only facts she knew of this were that they had the blood of humans and angels and that they sometimes had tattoos on their bodies.

Mr. Love never really wanted to teach Hero about her shadowhunter heritage. He wanted to hurt her.

Hero was so exhausted that when she saw a shimmer of blue in front of her, she thought her brain had made it up.

When she rubbed her eyes, she realized that this wasn't a trick of her mind. In front of her truly was a shimmering ball of blue light.

Hero knelt, feeling the wet grass beneath her palms. Her fingers lifted to brush the little flame, but the second she made contact it disappeared.

She jumped up in confusion.

Hero whirled around herself, looking for where the flame had gone.

When she turned back to the direction the flame had previously been, she saw that the flame was back, but a couple of feet ahead.

Follow me, the flame seemed to beckon.

It's either that or Hero had finally gone insane.

Hero was not knowledgeable enough about the Shadow World to know if these blue lights had an evil or good alliance.

But, she was out of options.

She had the choice of staying here and starving to death or following the suspicious blue light.

"Fine," Hero said exasperatedly. "But just know, I'm made of fire, as well."

The blue flame ignored her.

Hero sighed and stepped towards the blue flame. It blinked out of existence and then reappeared farther into the forest.

The entire time she accompanied the blue flame, she prayed that it wasn't leading her to premature death.

It was after what seemed to be an hour when she suddenly heard something. Hero stopped in her tracks and listened closely to the noise that seemed to be close.

Hero blinked at the realization, that the sound was of people.

Multiple people.

She looked over at the blue flame and smiled.

"If I could kiss you, I would," she told it.

She wasn't sure if it was her exhaustion, hunger, or dehydration, but she swore she saw the little blue flame blush.

★

The sounds of society led her to the sight of a clearing in the middle of the forest. There were many little booths, where people were selling goods. Little lights were strung up on the trees, lighting the entire market.