Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 104 - The Fire

*Warning. Contains angst. Prepare a tissue box just in case. Especially if you have a soft spot for children or/and animals.*

Previously:

The day of the practical exams is finally here and Kiel is inside a large arena created by the Replica Dungeon. Kiel and Nelaira manage to defeat their opponents. Rhur uses Razorblood petals to slice the neck of his opponent open. Kiel and Rhur decide to each take one opponent, however, they can't agree on which opponent to pick. They end up bickering, neither one wanting to fight Deora. Nelaira tricks Deora into attacking the Rroda brothers, and Deora ends up pursuing Kiel with a barrage of fireballs. Kiel runs away, dodging the fireballs, however, Deora manages to hit him with an explosive airball.

* * *

The moment the airball slammed into Kiel's shield, Deora set it on fire.

What followed was a scene from an apocalypse.

The invisible ball ignited, and flames rapidly spread outwards making it look as if a flower was blooming. Looking like a miniature sun, it expanded and expanded until it swallowed everything.

The explosion left a large crater around the epicenter, the blast shaking the whole stadium. The earth around the impact point cracked and disintegrated, and a large mushroom of dust and vapor rose into the air.

The blast was so loud that it caused people present to temporarily lose their sense of hearing. The shockwave reached even Rhur and Nelaira, pushing them back and suspending their fight.

Even Deora, who was prepared for the explosion, was sent tumbling backwards.

Yet, Kiel who was in the center of the explosion had it the worst. His earth shield disintegrated into nothingness as if it was made out of thin paper. The force from the explosion hit Kiel hard, shaking all his internal organs and sending him flying like a flame arrow with blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, his body enveloped in flames.

As he slammed hard into the ground, he coughed out a mouthful of blood, and his consciousness blanked out.

* * *

If despair had a color it would be orange.

A boy no older than six stared around himself with wide eyes. Those big beautiful eyes were usually icy blue, but today, one could see no blue in those large eyes. Their usual icy blue had been completely covered up by an orange reflection of flames.

Yellow sparks rose into the air, flame tongues licked his feet.

The crackling of fire was all he could hear.

All color of the world had been drained, replaced by a sea of orange.

Everything had been swallowed up by the ocean of flames spreading as far as the eyes could see.

Orange. Orange. Everything was orange.

Fueled by the wooden furniture, the flames climbed from the upper floor down to the ground floor, gliding down the curtains, sliding down carpets.

The pretty potted flowers decorating the corridor were withering with speed visible to the naked eye. The sparks kept slowly torturing them, burning a hole after hole in their leaves.

The boy's heart quivered as he noticed a special plant among them – the one his mother and him had planted together. He had watched it grow into a small bud, slowly sprouting leaves, and finally opening its flowers. Yet now, the plant they worked so hard to nourish was getting eaten alive by the insatiable flames, never to see the morning sun again.