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111. Fire Part 1

Dzan had said that he was going to continue lifting coin pouches off of these unsuspecting bigots, but he’s tired. Sigvor’s concerned face also doesn’t sit right with him. He watches the crowd of human supremacists nearby while standing next to her. She’s fidgeting, unable to say what she wants to.

Both of them are sitting on a concrete bench next to a sidewalk overlooking three apartment buildings. There are three gatherings of people; one in front of each apartment building. The gathering in front of the building closest to the entrance to the main road leading into Maz square is the most populated with around 150 people concentrated there.

The fourth building of this apartment complex is right where they're sitting, but no crowds have gathered around this one.

While they're both on break sitting here, Sigvor wants to ask Dzan what’s wrong, why he’s pushing himself so hard in order to make money. Sigvor wants to get through to him, to tell him that he can rely on her for whatever he needs. However, she doesn’t know what he needs right now or what he’s dealing with.

But, Sigvor is one who understands that it’s better to just be there, rather than to dig too deeply into the situation. Especially when he’s keeping it a secret to this degree. He’s not a meddler, he’s a friend.

*Sigh* Fuck… How is he so good at guilting me… Dzan thinks to himself.

He looks up at the red moon staring down from the sky. Dzan had always thought of it as a holy being staring down upon its creation, perhaps something as strong as Osva but unwilling to involve itself in a world that allows him to rule. Dzan scoffs.

What a lazy, carefree god.

If only he could do the same. If only he was uninvolved with the lives of the people of this world, of this city. Wouldn’t he feel so much freer? Would he be pushing himself this hard if not for the ties he had forged through love, friendship and time?

He thinks about telling Sigvor about what Malia has been going through. How Malia’s mother has a debt to pay off. How her brother Ket is trying to join the military to pay off the debt, an outcome that would make Dzan sick to his stomach.

Malia… I know she doesn’t like sharing this with the group, but… Hm. Maybe she’s planning to tell Sig on her own terms? I can sort of understand that. Who knows what Sig would do if she hears about this… Malia was probably afraid of that. Or… maybe I’m just trying to justify my own gutlessness.

It’s really half and half. Sigvor is not a very rational person when it comes to helping his friends. She often goes above and beyond for them, but she has very few reputable and law-abiding connections to pull support from. When she needs something, she almost always consults…

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Sig…” Dzan says, interrupting his own thoughts.

“Yeah? What’s… What’s up?” Sigvor hears Dzan’s solemn voice and becomes slightly afraid of what she’s about to hear. Her concerned gaze makes Dzan wince.

“You know… if you were looking to… to make money efficiently, how would you go about doing that?” Dzan’s face twists from his awkward smile to one of anxiety.

…Shit, why did I say that? I could have worded it better, but now—

“Why are you… in need of money? It’s not just for yourself, right? Is it for Malia? Is that why I haven’t seen her since… What’s going on, Dzan? Did something happen to her!?”

—she’s suspicious. I’ve said too fucking much.

“Uh… No, it’s nothing like—“

“Dzan.” Sigvor stares with a serious expression. She isn’t going to put up with any more deflections. Not when he gave her such a large hint.

Dzan becomes silent. He looks out towards the crowd of over a hundred angry humans. He notices some kind of commotion brewing. He watches the disturbance for a few seconds, not wanting to look over at Sigvor. Sigvor only continues to stare directly at his face without speaking.

She is protective of both him and Malia. Dzan can’t just keep things about Malia from Sigvor. However, Sigvor still refuses to push him for more information. Though at the very least, she won’t allow him to make up excuses or lies. If he mentions anything more, it had better be the truth.

Dzan turns from the crowd to find that a cold face staring directly at him without blinking from a closer distance than earlier. He almost has a heart attack.

“Oh, shit… don’t scare me like that.” Dzan complains, but Sigvor doesn’t answer him, apologize or joke around, only continuing to stare with a serious expression. Dzan regrets asking him that question about money. Sigvor’s face falls. He bites his lip and sighs, before looking at Dzan with a once again worried expression.

“Dzan…”

“Look, I can’t exactly tell you about—“

Suddenly, Dzan’s eyes catch movement within the crowd he was staring at. He sees something spray into the air like a fountain. A purplish red spray falls over the crowd of around a hundred and fifty human supremacists.

Then, he’s blinded by a bright white flame.

***

The Twin Moons member’s body has transformed into a fountain of something quite flammable. The liquified fuel that he has become flies up into the air, catching fire extremely quickly after being exposed to the air. Ajax reaches out to the spray.

His hand immediately absorbs the heat from some of the combustible liquid attempting to fly up. Though it still flies into the air, he’s cooled it to the temperature a few degrees above absolute zero. He feels the potent fiery energy enter his body, liquid gold pumping through his veins.

He doesn’t know if it’ll still ignite if brought into contact with the untouched spray that he wasn’t able to freeze, but it’s all he can do. He hasn’t cooled most of the liquid enough to stop it from landing as a concentrated, high temperature fire. The concentrated fire lands on the crowd of bunched together human supremacists.

It would be harder for the spray to miss people than to actually hit them.

Ajax tries to protect the few people in his immediate vicinity, shielding them from the concentrated fire with his hands and arms. He’s able to shield a couple of them, protecting their heads.

However, many others are not so lucky.