Hello again. 

When I woke up with a headache and a sunburn I expected today to be rough.

Breakfast was self delivered in the form of a massive bug. Its got lots of legs and wings and some sharp mandibles. 

These critters like to camoflage into the sand at the base of dunes and come flying right at your face with their legs spread and mandibles snapping.

Its been a while since I last surprise screamed.

They're actually really weak though, just look terrifying. Some panicked punches and stomps leave them at your mercy. Which is nonexistent when it comes to both massive bugs and food.

So, you remove the head, legs, and wings right? Then slowly roast the remnants, which are about the size of my thigh, until the shell turns bright blue and fragrant steam comes from the seams.

Then you just crack it up and chow down. Its super delicious and filling. Desert cuisine at its finest.

In the desert there is nothing to worry about burning so I've been able to just let loose and relax for the first time in a while. The feeling of letting the flames that have been building up inside me finally getting out into the world is indescribable. 

The unspoken pressure from my conscience to not let my flames cause another disaster has been draining and weighing on me for a long time. But out here. I can cut loose.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

So I play with my flames, I make creations out of my flames. On top of the biggest dune I can find I make a festival of fire. Dancing firey beasts weave and spin across the sand. Vague impressions of shape and form. I laugh and clap to the silent melody the mismatched merry makers frolic to.

It's a strain to make so make expressions of fire but It is oddly relaxing. Like finally stretching after being cramped for a long while.

Encouraged by this feeling I add more and more, heat and detail to the dancers. Looping slithers sweep across the sand in hoops of fire and crimson branch brains leap through their coils. Droves of fiery legumes sizzle past in a heated tango as a pair of winged Wreckers slowly waltz overhead.

More, my flames spread more and waves of flame carry fireships across heated seas. The air itself shifts and wiggles in its own dance.

Not to be left simply watching at the side I make a dance partner with a wave of arm and a burst of my imagination.

I slowly cradle a faceless fire woman in my arms as we slowly waltz about the dune top.

I took a lot of inspiration from the winged woman statue, so she's small and wonderful. Soon the whole dune is coated in the hottest flames I can express and I take the festival into the air and we wing our way from dune to dune with flaming entourage on our heels.

Idly I watch as droves of the same tasty breakfast bugs hurriedly buzz out of my processions path. Elsewhere I see waves of sand shifting in the wake of some great creatures underground movement. Large varietys of scaled and insectoid creatures scramble from my path.

Dreamily I continue this impromptu parade long into the night. But slowly my flames dim and falter.

The waves recede, and the animals are snuffed out one by one until its just me and my nameless, faceless, dance partner. Until finally even she fades away.

And I fall to the quickly cooling sand below.

Now I lie alone on the cold night sand, staring at the stars. I do not think I have ever felt so alone

Goodnight.