The Fallen Throne

Chapter 6 ✦ Cold Flames

"Every fire I've ignited,
Faded to grey."
~ Kai (5SOS, Jet Black Heart)
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They watch with a mixture of awe and horror from behind a tree and some bushes at the now scorched area, the fire inches away from burning the entire wooden tavern down.

Lancaster had gathered all the other three -- who were frozen in shock to even move a muscle -- to safety. None of them move away from their current spots, as they are still partly dumbstruck to do anything; but the main reason is because they are so intrigued by this turn of events that they are willing to stay to witness it.

"Really, it didn't have to come to this if you'd just listened," says a voice as a figure emerges from the ring of flames, perfectly in one piece. Kai is unscathed, with not a single burn. He doesn't even look like he's bothered by the scorching flames and the intense heat around him; fearlessly walking around the flames as if it isn't his first time doing so.

Though a huge radius is engulfed in flames, the men are unharmed. Scattered by the sudden attack they obviously did not expect, they shiver in fear, trying their best to back away from the boy who'd just produced the flames out of thin air. They cower away; some running off while they still can, some backing away and retreating to the trees deep inside the forest, while others just stand with fear and horror, their feet frozen to the ground.

Leaving the gradually dissipating flames in the dust behind him as he takes a few steps forward, Kai crosses the distance between him and the man with the dragon tattoo -- who is frozen with fear, leaning against a tree for support.

"W-what do you want?" he stammers, his hands reaching behind for the tree as if it is capable of helping him. Gripping whatever he can manage of the tree with shaking hands, he backs further away from the approaching boy. "Stay away!"

Somehow, at the words, Kai seems to grow angrier than he already looks. "Relax, I'm not going to burn anyone -- at least, not alive," he says in a deadly voice, glaring at the man and seemingly enjoying the sight of his fear -- the sight of the pathetic man lifts his anger slightly. "I want a deal."

"W-what is it?"

"Forget what you saw, it never happened," Kai says as if he's giving an order, and he slams a bare palm to the trunk of the tree the man is leaning on, just an inch away from his face for emphasis. The man turns to the hand fearfully, blood draining from his face; and he watches as smoke hisses from the place where Kai's palm had just slammed in to. "It never happened," he repeats, "and I'll bet you'd think twice before messing with me again."

"All right, all right!" the man surrenders. "I will not tell a soul!"

Happy with the answer, Kai sets the man free. The man composes himself and along with the remaining men they disappear deep into the forest to reunite with the others who have fled.

"No one would believe what you saw even if you told anyone, anyway," Kai says in a low whisper, once the man had left.

The fire has already vanished; as if it never was there in the first place, though the marks left are obvious -- the scorched grass are a pattern of where the fire had been.

Alaina and the others watch in the shadows of the trees quietly, not daring to make a sound, as Kai slips a pair of white gloves over his hands and picks up his small bag and the heavy sack of gold Alaina had spotted him fiddling with earlier.