I couldn’t breathe and the fire wasn’t helping, Loki was smiling at my failed attempts to scorch him to death. Shadow or Fenrir as Loki called him, was fighting off two men in Alfar’s company, the wolf was burning but that didn’t seem to stop him.

“I am a king of Jotund mortal! I’ve lived Odin’s wrath and Thor’s disdain to be burned by the likes of you!” He shook me like a rag doll and all I could do was talk to the flames and beg them to burn brighter. As I lost consciousness I could hear Alfar directing the team.

“Now Samuela! Envelope him!”

I saw a light bubble appear over me and Loki and I could breathe for a brief second.

“It’s not working… Drógar attack!”

From behind Loki two blades the size of my arms pierced through Loki’s body. Loki was stll smiling as blood filled his mouth.

“Do you think this is enough? Do you think you can kill me this easy!?”

A seeping cold filled my bones and I could see it was affecting everybody around me, I was still unable to breath and my fire was dying. I lost consciousness.

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I drifted in my dreams, it was cold in here. I could hear a raging storm within my mind and someone trying to escape it.

“Hello, who’s there?” I asked unsure. Wondering if I would be answering myself.

I kept walking in the dark and the raging storm became louder. It seemed that I walked for ages until I found the distinct figure of a burning bush.

“Hello?” I asked the burning bush.

“Umm…who is there?” the burning bush asked my way.

“Are you blind?”

“You could say so, may I ask to whom I’m speaking?”

“My name is Kami, what’s your name?” Other than the burning bush and myself nothing else was happening in the void we found each other.

“I have no name, but you’ve called me Fire ever since I’ve known you”

“Then could you at least answer what you are doing here?” The burning bush thought for a while.

“You called upon me, so I came” I was pretty confused now, when had I called a burning bush?

It kept talking “Don’t you remember the last time we met?” I was having a hard time taking the burning bush seriously. As far as I was concerned I’d never met a burning bush before.

The burning bush sighed “Well, it seems that yet again we meet under inauspicious circumstances, if you don’t do anything quickly you’ll probably die.”

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“What do you mean I’ll die?” I couldn’t feel any pressure in the void, and the raging storm was dying.

“Outside, your friends are dying, and the fire is being eaten by the cold, if you don’t wake up we will probably not meet again and not many people call for me now a days, it would be a pretty lonely life.”

I turned and looked around, it was all dark but for the light emanating from the fiery bush.

“So what do I do?” I asked the bush

“Do what you did last time. Burn it all!” The fiery bush’s tone had changed and the fire on its branches were reaching higher and higher in the void and I could see that we weren’t really alone in the dark place. The light now showed me images of what was happening outside.

I saw the woman Samuela being attacked by Shadow and two men trying to contain him, Alfar and Drógar fought Loki and my limp form hung from his hand. One man was dead under Shadow’s body and a woman hung from his jaws, the third and last woman of the party was running away trying to heal herself.

I hated seeing me weak and naked hanging from Loki’s arm, he was laughing maniacally and a hint of his effeminate side could be seen from the way he carried my body. If he’d let himself be fucked by a horse I didn’t want to know what he would do with a dead man.

I looked towards the fiery bush and asked one last question “Are you by any chance a burning olive bush?”

The fiery bush hesitated “I have no idea, do I look like a burning olive bush?” I nodded knowing full well the bush couldn’t see me. I looked at myself one last time and I yelled for fire.

The fire in the void grew and grew until It could no longer be contained and I opened my eyes.

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I was breathing, Loki was on the ground and so were the remaining living people from the party. The ground was scorched and Shadow was lying some feet away whimpering. I got close to him.

“Shadow why did you do this?” The wolf had tears in his eyes, we’d gotten to know each other and at least I thought he felt bad for his betrayal. “Will you be OK?” I asked the dying wolf.

It howled in assurance and I knew he’d be ok. Later on I would learn he was a god as well, but to me he was my wolf. I killed him with one of the swords of the dead adventurers. His hide was too thick, but the exposed soft tissue from the burns made it easier for me to kill him. It took a while and it probably hurt like hell but my wolf had betrayed me and he knew it.

“You are quite something aren’t you Prometheus?” Loki was standing up and back to his girly manners, his long nails drew circles on his cheeks.

I faced Loki “Who the fuck is Prometheus and could you explain what just happened?” I could see Drógar and Alfar making their way towards me, Samuela and the two other surviving members of the party were taking care of their wounds.

“Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, ignorant world we’ve been thrust upon haven’t we love?” from behind Loki, Sigyn appeared looking like a fallen angel all in black and very little clothes.

“Yes husband, it would seem so but at least the mortal is talented.” She pointed my way. “Are the fields destroyed?” Sigyn asked her husband. Loki nodded towards his wife.

“Then our job here is done, the others are waiting for us, you can have fun later.” She playfully pinched her husband’s cheek and disappeared into thin air along with Loki.

I turned around to see the rest of the adventurers and from the eight people that had begun their little treck only six were left. Drógar, Alfar, Samuela, two other men and a woman. The mood was somber and the death of the other two members in the group weighed heavily on them. I gave them a sincere apology and let them know I would be on my way to see my fields. Before I could make my way home I heard the voice of one of the women.

“Just so you know, your eyebrows are gone.” One of the surviving men said my way.

“What?” I asked

“Your eyebrows are gone… for that matter also your hair, like everywhere” He motioned towards my whole body. I looked at Alfar for confirmation and he nodded.

I looked towards Drógar. “It doesn’t look thaaaaaat bad.”

I followed his gaze to the woman lying on the floor who had been trying to flee moments before, she seemed the straight forward type. She cocked her head to the side. “No… they are lying, you look like shit”