Most don’t know their origin or how they came to be, they’re very outnumbered in today’s society. They differ so uniquely from the average human both physically and emotionally, with their bright coloured eyes that glow and glitter, their abnormal ability to heal themselves from any physical damage without even thinking, their inability to feel physical pain, their metallic blood that rushes through their veins granting them everlasting life if they so desire.
Each ignio has their two core emotions, the positive and the negative. When these core emotions are felt, they are felt 20x stronger than the average human; and if the negative emotion is felt strongly enough, the pain can become so intense that one will simply give up on living then and there. That’s said to be the ignios worst weakness.
The presence of positive emotions, on the other hand, gives them the ability to use their healing abilities on others; and, at a high enough intensity, infuse somebody else with the ignio gene.
When either of the emotions are felt, their eyes glow unusually bright; and, at high levels their hair can gain a streak of colour. They grow up learning how to best channel these emotions, and hide the physical signs from the people around us, but sometimes it can’t be helped.
I know as well as anyone else.
My name’s Azura Stone. I’ve lived 17 years on this Earth learning how to best hide my true identity so I could live a normal life, just like the rest of my kind. I know of a few others like myself in our small community in Zandura; they’re all outcasts and picked on constantly, but no one aside from my mother knows that I am one of them. In our society, ignios are very strongly looked down upon. I don’t know why, I guess it’s probably because we’re so different from everyone else; but I’ve lasted 17 years successfully hiding it, so I don’t doubt I can hide it for longer.
I examined myself closely in the mirror and took out my dull contacts to reveal my shimmering, bright teal eyes. I looked for a few seconds longer before I realized I needed to go get my mother a glass of water so that she could rest. The light from my eyes nearly reflected in the mirror as they glowed slightly brighter at the thought of my mother.
Love, I guess its my positive core emotion.
I let myself feel it, let them glow, not needed to worry about concealing the glow in the safety of my home. I live alone with my very weak mother; I’ve never known anything about my dad or even as much as met him, but I guess you can’t miss something you’ve never had. I dressed my flawless and pale skin in a silver nightdress before settling myself into bed and drifting off to sleep.
My alarm rings at 7 every morning, giving me half an hour to get ready and drive myself to school by 8:45. Getting ready is never too hard, maybe a little more demanding at times compared to the other kids, but nothing I haven’t grown up doing. I did the usual things, brushed through my long brown wavy hair and slipped on some casual jeans and a t shirt.
I quickly popped in my dulling contacts to conceal the intense state of my eyes and splashed my face with cold water to wake me up. I went and gently woke my mom up and kissed her forehead goodbye before rushing out the door to get to school.
I entered to school to be greeted by the sight of one of the few known ignios being beaten up, both physically and emotionally, by some casual football jocks. I took a deep breath and put my bag in my locker.
I closed it to be greeted by Caden, my best friend. He’s always given off such a calm and comforting persona, with his kind smile, soft brown hair, and chocolate brown eyes. He was followed by two of my casual friends, Addison and Jayden. They all greeted me and then Caden and I left them to head together to our first period maths class. We sat in our usual spot in the back of the class together where we both turned our attention to the board.
Partially through, our lesson was interrupted by the television turning on. We saw the face of a news reporter appear. She spoke
“Attention residents and citizens of Zandura. This is an address directed at any ignios or anyone knowing of any ignios. The ignios are a valued and respected part of our society, and even more so now as we have discovered that the blood of an ignio could possibly be used to speed up the healing process of wounds and diseases in humans, a possibly life altering discovery. We strongly urge any ignios to present themselves to government officials as volunteers for our tests. Any participants will be rewarded with tangible items and the satisfaction of being an important contributor of society. Friends of ignios-encourage them to help out here. It could be very selfish of them to choose not to. Thank you for your time.”
The presentation ended and the class broke out in chatter and jokes about yet another “life altering discovery”. This was the 3rd announcement this month asking for ignios to volunteer to “change lives”. Caden turned to me and nudged me. “The government sure is desperate for those iggies aren’t they?” he casually joked. I just faked a laugh and nodded as everyone calmed down and turned back to the lesson.
The rest of the day was extremely uneventful. I went through my usual classes, sat in my usual spot with Caden, Jayden, and Addison for lunch, and then drove home.
I drove up to my street to see police cars with sirens going off lining the streets, and police tape surrounding my house. I parked along the road and sprinted to my house with blood rushing through me and my heartbeat pounding in my ears. I was full of fright and concern.
I ran up to the police trying to get their attention but they were all yelling at one another and talking on their handsets. I tried to catch bits of conversation but it was so crowded I could hardly piece anything together. “Gone, completely gone.” “No fingerprints, doesn’t look like anythings even been touched.” “How can someone just abduct like this and leave no signs of ever being there.”
And then it hit me. Something, more like someone, was missing from the scene.
My mother.
YOU ARE READING
Ignite
Roman d'amourAll a lot of people want is to be accepted and feel a sense of belonging. They channel the most vibrant parts of themselves to keep themselves hidden from any chances of standing out or humiliation. A lot of people don't like to admit it, they like...
