‘Where am I?’

My eyelids parted to the inferno engulfing me.

‘Pyre.’

‘That’s my name?’

The echo left my mind as suddenly as it arrived. As I glanced around me, rubble blazed across a crater, and I sat in the middle of it. Glancing upwards, the night sky was ignited by not only stars, but torches. The pressure of a thousand gazes struck me, as civilians crowded the crater. Fearful chatter blasted the silence. Who are they?

“Monster!”

“Devil!”

“Demon!”

They exploded, as I cleared myself of the soothing firestorm which sparked the surrounding alien debris. ‘What is going on? Why are they afraid of me? Who are they?’ Perplexity, however, ceased in an instant.

“You there! What did you do?!” a man yelled, dimming the crowd to silence.

“What do you mean?” I can't remember anything… Did I hurt someone?

“Don’t try me! We all saw you reign brimstone down on our town. Now resign yourself to custody, unless you want to be slaughtered where you stand!” ‘Brimstone?’

“I didn’t do anything! Are you serious?!” However, my train of thought collapsed as mysterious restraints struck my limbs. The man approached slowly - cautiously. The man’s armour heaved itself towards the centre of the crater. Before I could even utter a word, his fist sunk my mind into darkness.

The next thing I set my eyes on was a dark cobbled floor. Hauling my head upwards, I noticed a strange woman, wearing a milky jacket which matched her hair. She delicately laid her book on the table.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead.” She smiled briefly.

“What are you going to do to me?” I don’t even know what I am myself… What could she want with me?

“I am Grandmaster Mage Eternus.”

“What?” I responded, distressed.

“You’re as unknowledgeable as the report stated, huh. Well, I’ll give you a brief rundown of your situation: A meteor shower occurred two days ago, and alongside it came you. Debris resembling brimstone, and you yourself, collided with the town Pearlmere - where you were captured by our knights. Long story short, I’m here to question you and determine what we, the nation of Ashos, choose as our course of action.”

I came from a meteor shower? No wonder they were so wary of me… This is all so confusing.

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She continued, “I am Eternus, one of the most powerful mages in this nation, and you will answer my questions. First - who, and what, are you?”

I replied, “I do not know anything about what I am. I don’t have any memories from before waking up in a crater… This is all very confusing to me. But I think my name is Pyre.”

“What makes you think that?”

“When I woke up… I heard a strange voice in my head. It told me that.” I don’t know how else to describe it…

“And you think that makes sense to us? That we’ll believe you?”

“I… don’t have anything else to say…”

The cell bars were enclosed by hours of dreadful silence. I doubt they’ll just free me, if I really did demolish part of a town… What are they going to do to me?

“Screeches strike the flaming calamity,

Wailing for demise.

But screeches never let it end,

Everlasting night.”

“Nice stanza, isn’t it, Pyre?” Echoed a bleached face, grotesquely leering at my soul from behind the bars.

“Put simply, you have two options. Tell us which nation sent you, or help me… realise my poems.” He continued with a grimace;

“I’d love to express myself for once!”

The subsequent nights were truly everlasting. Berescour would return to my jail with new contraptions, designed for not only interrogation, but his own sadistic pleasure. The night became day, lit with the hellfire of persecution. In true daytime, I was fed shrivelling scraps and murky water.

But Berescour helped me learn about myself more than I thought; Every time he left, my traumatic blemishes would dissolve in mere minutes. Even missing ears, toes, and fingernails would reappear - I had incredible regenerative abilities.

However, there was one unique occasion that surprised even Berescour. He was growing tired of ‘foreplay’ - Berescour wanted to test my resistance to death itself. His screeching sabre rushed towards my chest, as his demonic smile widened. But I didn’t die. Instead, the cell was sparked with radiance for the first time since my arrival, as a mysterious, calming fire caught his sabre at my heart and swallowed it whole.

Berescour’s right hand met its fate likewise.

‘He’s going to kill me. I’ve survived all this time for nothing. Why did I even bother? I should’ve known this would happen eventually.’ I sobbed to myself, recalling his sentence; “Death awaits you, scum.” Why am I even alive in the first place?

“Pyre!” A mysterious echo ricocheted the hallway, accompanied by rapid footsteps.

“Pyre, I’m here to rescue you. Berescour is trying to kill you, right?” Eternus made her second appearance, this time the distressed one. She exclaimed, “I’m going to free you from this dungeon. I realise now that you were telling the truth - you really are innocent, aren’t you?”

Pyre's eyes lit up, as he felt a sense of hope for the first time in his life...