Unaware that they ran towards the fire. Feeling the heat in the air increase exponentially, Aileen looked up to see the fire in front of them and find themselves trapped between the wildfire and the hoards of the dead. She stopped with hundred of meters between her and the wildfire, which was fast approaching.

Alan bumped into her and dropped Raheem, who made a grunted sound when he hit the ground.

“Why did you—” Alan didn’t finish his sentence, when he saw the fire.

Behind them, Brian and Garret were running fast, but stopped when they saw what Aileen was staring at in the distance. Dropping their weapons, they fell to the ground on their knees, feeling exhausted from running and fighting non-stop. And now it looks like it was all for naught.

Water was dripping from their furs, eventually mixing with the blood from their wounds, fell down to the ground. The water that was cascading down their faces blurred their visions. Their ears losing strength went down like a sad dog.

The screeching sound of the hoard mixed with the roar of the fleeing animals and the rumbling of thunder in a distance made them feel hopeless. The lighting light up their wide eyes and mouth each time it strikes.

“At least he will go out in his sleep,” said Alan, looking at Raheem.

None of them speared him a glance. They were all taken by the raging flame ahead and the hoard behind.

“Looks like we’re shit out of luck,” said Brian, “I really wish a god, any god, takes pity on us and saves us.”

“How is it still burning this fiercely when it raining this much? The rain should have extinguished the wildfire by now, or at least reduce its spread,” said Garret.

“It’s like the rain has no effect.”

“Aileen, could you control that fire to make a way in the middle?”

“No, it too much for me, but I can try.”

Aileen extended her hands forwards and tried to split the fire. But the fire ignored her attempt and marched towards them, reaching them in seconds, but it halted meters away from Aileen.

In seconds, the heat caused the water on their body to vaporize, but sweat quickly replaced it.

“Good job, Aileen,” Alan laughed in the loudest voice he could muster and said, “Now you just have to send that fire towards the hoard and save us.”

The others also felt surprised. They were happy that she had done it. But their smile disappeared when they saw her scratch her head.

“Aileen, what’s wrong?” asked Garret, his voice strained. His question stopped Alan’s laugh and looked at Aileen with a hopeful eye.

“It wasn’t me.”

Their face fell. They stared blankly at the fire. Few things are as disheartening as having hope only for it to be snatched away instantly.

Aileen stared at the fire with wide eyes in surprise at its unusual behavior. First, the rain couldn’t extinguish it and now it stopped on its own.

The entire forest fell into a deadly silence. The animals, the hoard, all of them stopped. Their ragged breath and Raheem’s constant groaning became the only sounds that filled the air, making it seem to be louder than natural.

She felt a fiery touch on her face as her mask started to melt slowly.

“Take off your masks now!”

Initially, they looked confused, but their confusion dissipated when they observed Aileen’s mask melting and sliding into the ground. They immediately took off their mask, and a pungent smell assaulted them.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“It’s not the poison, it the masks,” said Aileen.

“The fire must have burned the poison,” said Garret as he observed the surrounding. The hoard has stopped moving and were staring at the fire with their blank expressions.

*******

These creatures’ action surprised Mark when he looked at them. It was almost like they were sentient beings. He looked at the two at the back kneel on the soft grass and the one at the front with her raised hand, with some fascination. He looked at the one laying on the floor wounded. All of this create a picture of civilized beings but he had never seen or heard of such creatures. He didn’t think it was possible.

The hoard at the back looked like they were about to attack them, so Mark moved without thinking much about it. Whatever these creatures were, they might help him understand where he was.

‘This is definitely not Earth. Where the fuck am I?’

The fox people raised their hands in defense even though there was nothing they could do, it will at least give them a tiny sense of safety.

For over two hours, they saw as the fire burn the hoards to ashes. When he finished, all that remained was a blackened ground. The fire burned all the grass, animals, hoard, and trees to ash.

They watched in amazement as the fire avoided them as if it was alive.

“Do you think there is a Luminary controlling it?” asked Alan.

None answered him as they watch the fire circle them and trap them with no way to retreat.

After encircling them, the temperature rapidly decreased, and they rejoiced, believing the rain had caused it. But the rain never extinguished the fire; it kept burning, emitting less heat, which they could withstand.

The fire then suddenly began to twisted and turn, eventually forming a face made of fire that had the shape of Mark’s previous face, but it wasn’t complete. It was like it was learning how to do it now.

“Hello, my name is Mark and what are you? Where are we? And what were those things?” asked Mark without stopping, fearing they might interrupt him.

The sound emitted by the thing shocked Aileen and the others, but they couldn’t comprehend its words. All they heard was loud noises that didn’t have any pattern to it, but that alone proved that it was not an elemental or a fire conjured up by a Luminary. It was something else entirely.

“Is it a miracle from a god?” asked Alan.

His question brought all of them out of their shock. All of them got on their knees with their head on the ground. It didn’t matter what it was. All that mattered was it was powerful, and it saved their lives and didn’t kill them…yet.

Their actions greatly surprised Mark. The heat was no more, and their body was getting drenched by the heavy rain.

Aileen and the others tried to thank it or the god behind it, but they couldn’t understand what it was saying. Mark also couldn’t understand them. For a while, both sides made some noises either side couldn’t understand.

“Is there a god with fire in its authority?” asked Alan.

Garret answered, “no, it’s the only element that has no god associated with it.”

“So, who could have sent this?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. But whoever they are, this might be our only chance to be noticed by a god.”

“What do you mean?”

“Whatever this thing is, it must be from a god. Whoever this god is, their attention is here now, either on us or something in this forest,” answered Brian.

“And if it’s on us good, but if it’s the forest—” continued Aileen.

“If it’s the forest, then we only need to persuade them to use us to search or whatever else they might need; they’ll protect us until we succeed.”

“And the Nightshroud wolves won’t be a problem.”

All of them thought to pray to whoever sent this, but the problem was they didn’t know who send it so, they don’t know what name and title to use.

While they were thinking that, Mark was thinking, ‘GOD, what do I do? They can’t understand me, I can’t understand them. Nothing seems to be going my way ever since I came to this fucking planet.’

He fell silent for a couple of seconds.

He said in almost a pleading tone, “God, if you can hear me, please take me home and I promise I’ll be a good man. I’ll go to church, I’ll be nice to everyone, hell…no, heck, sorry, I’ll even donate all of my money to charities and churches, you name it. So, please do just me this one favor, please.”

He stopped using energy eye and shut off all of his senses and waited a few second and opened his senses, only to find himself in the same dark place he woke up before. When he used his energy eye, he saw the same creature on their knees.

“Fuck… God. No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be using that word when asking you a favor. Please send me home.”

But no matter how much he prayed, there was no reply.

He looked at them, “at least let me understand them. Please, I need to understand them if I’m going to survive. You could at least do this much for me, right?”

It surprised Brian and the others when it started talking. Somehow, they knew it wasn’t talking to them. So, they stole a glance and saw it looking up at the sky. They guessed that it was talking to its divine self.

They didn’t know what it might do after finishing its conversation.

Aileen started to pray first. “God of flame, savior of the lost, thank you for the miracle. I vow to warship and obey your commands now and forevermore.”

The others went followed and prayed exactly like her.

[Prayer detected.]

[initiating Divine Faith system.]