Briar Rose - Taekook

Chapter 7

❝Ash on an old man's sleeve

Is all the ash the burnt roses leave.

Dust in the air suspended

Marks the place where a story ended.

Dust inbreathed was a house-

The walls, the wainscot and the mouse,

The death of hope and despair,

This is the death of air.❞

-T.S. Eliot

⚠️ If you are not comfortable with the topic of death, especially death by burning, please DO NOT read this chapter. You have been warned.⚠️

VII: Taehyung 

The stench of death hovered in the air, curling around everything and anyone surrounding it.

The flames devouring this city weren't from any normal fire.

Only a vampire could make fire rise this high and aggressively.

It was the starting of a war, whether we wanted it or not.

"The attacks are getting worse," Yoongi muttered to my right, staring at the city ablaze. "Even Shadow Valley has taken it too far this time." I nodded gravely, taking in the mass destruction around me.

Flames licked at the iron frames of buildings and devoured everything in its path. As we watched, the spire of a skyscraper fell with a horrific crack, crashing down on the already fire-burned pillars and towers on the ground. Embers flashed and fell, turning the sky into an orange firework show which no one wanted to watch.

So much like the devastating fire 300 years ago...

Screams echoed around us, as throngs of people fled the city, each carrying only the bare necessities with them. Most had only the clothes on their backs, as they ran with blackened feet towards the fleeting hope of escape. Any stragglers left were devoured by the hungry flames, dying screams fading away into nothing as the blazing monster barreled down the streets of what used to be one of the bustling capitals of the human world.

None of them saw us.

None of them could see us.

We were the only people walking towards the ongoing holocaust, while everyone else was focused on saving themselves. Or more specifically, what was left of themselves.

I crouched down, making sure that my sleeves were rolled up, before stroking a piece of the raging fire beside me with my hand. My emerald chain bracelet glowed eerily in the firelight, reflecting the light and making small green shadows dance on the orange flame.

Part, I told the flames. Part and let us through.

Immediately, the flames obeyed my command, clearing a way through the burning wreckage straight into the heart of the city. Even though I held a grudge against my power, being a pyrokinetic came in handy sometimes.

The inferno rose higher and higher all around us, feeding off the bodies of the human dead, and climbing towards the heavens. The stench of burning flesh and blood was so overwhelming that I had to cover my nose with my cloak. Half-dead people were trying to make their way through the blazing heat, eyes pleading for help and mouths open in silent screams that no one could hear. I opened my mouth to say something to Yoongi when—