Godless

Two - When Gods Get Mad

Lilith

I had gone to the bathroom when I felt the familiar tingle of fire. I'm used to the flame, perceiving it as a part of me and not something scary that could rage out of control and devour me. The fire will never harm me. But this fire isn't right.

I leave the bathroom, smoke filling it as I open the door. Although the smoke doesn't fill my lungs with pain, it does cover the hallway in darkness. I close my eyes, feeling the heat surrounding me. I can generally sense people and objects around me with their different heat signatures, but the smoke and fire are obscuring everything. After a couple of minutes of reaching out and coming back with nothing, I start to get frustrated.

"The flame is mine alone." I say out loud to no one but the fire and myself.

Raising my arms slightly, palms up, I start to raise my body temperature. As it soars well past the average temperatures and hotter than the fire around me, I can feel it submitting. It keeps an ebb and flow with the rhythm of my heart until finally, it releases. Absorbing and melding into my skin to join with my fire.

Once the hallway is clear of smoke and fire, I draw out my powers again. Searching and feeling the heat until I find my mark. I begin walking down the hallway toward the source of the fire, as well as towards my friends. Anyone seeing me from the outside would think I was unfeeling or courageous even. But inside I am angry and scared. Peyton and Lynx are the only family I have left. Losing them would devastate me and in that devastation, who knows how much my anger and hurt would lash out.

As I walk the halls, putting out the fires on my way, I start to get annoyed that it's taking so long. It's like the person doing this is making every section of fire hotter than the last. Stupid pyro. Using the fire this way is the perfect way to get yourself burnt. I know someone is causing us trouble but why? I have no clue. At first, it was little things. Like when Lynx's shower became so hot, it created welts on her back before she could get out of the room. Then it was water at a local spray park started to boil and even a campfire exploding during a summer fest at the beach. The pyro is getting more daring every time, testing their flame and mine at the same time. It was just annoying with the little things, but now it's out of control.

After what feels like the hundredth hallway engorged with the flame that I have come to, I stop. A group of people has suddenly appeared at the end of the hall. They haven't noticed me yet, so I stand there and watch them.

"Shit, it's hot here." One of them says.

"Use your ice, Claire." Another rasps, the smoke filling his lungs and making his voice sound hoarse.

The only girl, I'm guessing to be Claire, drops to the ground. Her face contorts in pain. Who's the idiot to bring an ice user into a furnace?

"I can't. It's too hot." She says out of breath.

The rest are struggling as well; the flames unrelenting of their new victims. They can't be the ones who started the fire, or they would have known not to bring a snowman in here to melt. Normal humans would be passed out or worse by now, so I didn't have to hide. Guess it's time to save them and get the girls.

I close my eyes again, raising my temperature and calling the fire to me. It never matters how hot or big the flame is; it always belongs to me. As the fire touches my skin, I absorb it as the hallway becomes clear and the newcomers stare.