Chapter 5

“I ran the numbers James,” Jennifer stated a little while later as they trekked through some fairly deep snow, “and I owe you three, ‘I told you so’s.’” James, his breathing hard from having to lift his legs all the way over the four-foot-high snow, stopped for a moment and looked toward Jennifer incredulously,

“What?!” Jennifer ignored his exasperation and continued with her thought,

“Yep, three. You owe me one since we almost drowned and another one since Meerous almost ate us, but I owe you five, one for Meerous not eating us, another since she turned out to be really nice to us, another since helping her saved us a lot of walking, another since helping her made us a new friend, and finally since helping her ended up getting us food and since five minus two is three I owe you three! So: I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!” She counted each one off her fingers as she said them and then flashed a childish grin toward James who was less than amused by the whole thing.

James had been in a bad mood ever since they left Meerous, which Jennifer found odd seeing as they didn’t have to worry about food anymore, at least for a while. But James just kept looking up as if he was expecting to see something that wasn’t there, looking in front of him and swinging his head from side to side in search of something that refused to appear and then fuming for a bit before repeating the whole process over again. When he did it again Jennifer finally spoke up,

“What the hell are you looking for?!” James looked over at her surprised, clearly oblivious to the fact that she’d been watching him.

“Do you know where we’re going?” He asked with thinly veiled frustration. She shook her head no. “Well neither do I… When Meerous took us across it completely threw off my sense of direction… I’ve been looking to see if there’s some kind of land marker that might help me regain my bearings but there’s nothing out here!” He threw out his hands to point out that there was in fact nothing. “So even though we have plenty of food we still don’t have enough to wander out here forever… It’d be nice if the blizzard would let up a bit so I could see more than six feet in front of me, but I suppose that’s too much to hope for.” James sighed letting his whole-body sigh with him, his shoulders slumped, and he really looked quite pitiful. Jennifer would have said something to lift his spirits, but he made some good points, there really was no way of knowing where they were going, which was going to make finding James’ brother sort of difficult.

They appeared out of nowhere.

Jennifer thought they were far off in the distance, but, before she knew it, they were no less than a quarter mile away. She caught glimpses of what appeared to be men and women riding monstrous creatures that thundered across the barren land with their legs hurtling them forward and all four legs leaving the ground at once. The beasts had long hair that fell haphazardly down their necks, their heads were elongated and ended in a large black snout that huffed and shook every so often. Each one seemed to be missing a piece that the others had, some a leg, others an eye, some a nose, and a few large chunks of their barrel like frames. Each missing piece had been replaced with an icy duplicate that had been frozen in place to create patchwork monsters that were neither fully living nor fully ice. The men and women were no different, each of them had missing limbs, eyes, fingers, shoulders, all of which had been replaced with ice. They raised their arms aloft, the ice forming into sharp blades as they hollered incoherently toward the pair.

Jennifer found herself frozen in fear and the beasts and their riders were nearly upon her when James tackled her onto the ground and into the snow. Completely surrounded by snow, Jennifer fumbled around for air but James’ arm held her steady as he crawled deeper and deeper into the snow with single minded focus. Jennifer couldn’t even scream for James to stop and let her come up for air because each time she opened her mouth it filled with snow and left her choking and wheezing as she went deeper and deeper into the snow. She could vaguely hear the hollering above her, now circling their position but clearly unable or unwilling to follow the pair into the snow, but happy enough to block any attempt at an exit. Just when she thought her lungs may burst and she’d experience that death she’d heard so much about, she felt the ground give way out from under her, leaving her sliding on her shoulder down a rocky dive with jagged rocks cutting her arms, legs and stomach as she threw her arms over her head to prevent herself from any serious harm. James’ arm had released and she could hear him shouting something about bracing herself. The sliding stopped and she began falling for what felt like a lifetime stuffed into two or three seconds and ended with her landing on her butt on a ground that gave way about as much as a nun at a nightclub; which is to say, not even a little.

Everything hurt, her whole body throbbed, her cuts stung and her lungs still burned from the snow. She managed to crawl over to the wall of the cave and lean up against it for support as she took in her surroundings. The cave was nearly pitch black, a small glimmer of light could be seen flickering off in the distance and a shadowy form groaned and wheezed on the ground holding its leg in agony, Jennifer hoped the figure was James…

“J-James? That better be you! If it’s you say something or… or else!” She shouted shaking her burning throat, causing a shot of searing pain.

“Or else what?” The shadowy figure retorted. James rolled over to look at her. Jennifer sighed in relief and allowed her head to fall back against the wall, finally giving herself permission to relax and catch her breath. The two sat with only the sound of ragged breathing between them. A couple of minutes later they began the brutal process of rising from their comfortable walls and making some kind of decision as to where to go next. As Jennifer pushed against the wall, she discovered quite quickly every spot where the rocks had either cut or bruised her on the way down, which she felt was a real pain in the butt and complimented her literal pain in the butt nicely. When she finally made it to her feet she was sweating from the effort, but she felt a pleasant sense of accomplishment seeing that she’d beaten James getting up and she exaggeratedly tapped her foot as she watched James go through an equally painful process to get to his own feet. Unfortunately for James, bruises and cuts were the least of his worries. Upon placing his weight on his left foot he yelped in surprise to feel it give way under him. He crumpled back to the ground and groaned as he began his second attempt. Jennifer ran to his side and lifted his arm over her shoulder and, together, the two rose to their feet with the notable exception of James’ left foot which hung uselessly in the air.

“Thanks for the help up but I think I’m good now.” James said as he removed his arm from her shoulder, eliciting another attempted eyebrow raise from Jennifer who pursed her lips in frustration. Since he only had one foot James placed a hand against the cave wall for balance and then swung his head around toward the small glimmer of light.

“Any clue what it is?” Jennifer asked, arms crossed as she leaned against the opposing wall.

“Couldn’t tell you.” James replied wearily, clearly tired of not having answers. Jennifer glanced over at him suspiciously, a thought that had been working its way around her head ever since they fell into the cave finally rose to the surface,

“How did you know this cave was even here?” James went quiet for a moment and then shrugged,

“Lucky guess I suppose.”

“Bullshit.” Jennifer replied, having expected that exact answer.

“You sure like that word…”

“Only because you give me plenty of reason to use it.” Jennifer’s eyes bore into James’ as she searched for some sign he might break and tell her the truth, but he stood strong. “You didn’t just guess, you tackled me and pulled me through snow that was impossible to see in in one specific direction without wavering or searching and you’re going to tell me that was luck?” James considered that for a moment,

“In a way it was luck, either the cave would be there or it wouldn’t, but the odds weren’t great.” Jennifer returned his comment with silent confusion. “The Deathless usually stick to old cities, they occasionally raid out into other places but something about cities keeps them coming back. So, since the Deathless were there, I figured we had to be near a city,” he slowed down and waited to see if Jennifer was tracking, she nodded begrudgingly, still not sure what this had to do with anything. “and most cities have sewer systems. So all I had to do was look for a dip in the snow where the sewer might let out. I was just lucky to be right.” He smiled sheepishly at the end and his eyes seemed to plead with her to drop it either due to fatigue or an unwillingness to keep fighting. Jennifer let him off the hook this time because she happened to be tired as well and, for the first time in her life, a fight didn’t exactly appeal to her, besides, something James said caught her attention.

“So those things were Deathless?” James nodded.

“Yeah, we’re walking through an area that used to be pretty heavily populated so we’re certain to see more of them.”

“But what are they”? Jennifer asked, the memory of the icy beasts hurtling toward her causing a tremble in her hand and a shakiness to her voice.

“I suppose your city didn’t have any of them roaming around nearby?” Jennifer shook her head. “That’s what I figured… The Deathless are people, animals, half-Forms, and the like, but they lost their sanity a long time ago.”

“So why call them the Deathless”? Jennifer asked, her eyes wide like a child around a campfire hearing her first ghost story.

“Because they can’t die… Or I suppose they can die, but Death refuses to acknowledge it. So now they just sort of live on forever and, when they break, Death patches them back up with ice and sends them back out… Well not Death per say, but his representative here on Adam does it.” James mused as he leaned back his head, his eyes lost looking up at the darkness above.

“They wanted to kill us…” Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking no matter how much she demanded they stop, her lip quivered and she felt like tears were not far off, but she refused to cry in front of someone else, especially James.

“Yeah they did. Jennifer most everything out here wants us dead… You know that right?” Jennifer had not in fact known that.

“Why do they want to kill us? What did we ever do to them?” Her legs trembled, and she grabbed hold of them desperately hoping to stop the trembling. James lowered his head and let out a deep sigh,

“Because they hate us. They hate us because we’re not suffering, because misery will always love company.”

“So they ki-kill people!? How is that fair?! How does that make any sense?!”

“It doesn’t, but pain makes people do crazy things, makes them lash out, makes them angry. It’s not their fault, this is exactly what Death wanted for them.”

“Death…” She kept hearing the name but she’d never dug into it any deeper for fear of what she might find, “Is Death like Meerous…? You know, converted or whatever?” Jennifer choked out the question, unable to keep back her fear any longer. Without looking at her or moving his head James took in a deep breath and answered her question,

“Death is an odd case. Like Meerous he made the conversion, making himself human, but unlike Meerous he isn’t limited to any one area or even any one planet. He’s the one who killed Time and threw the whole world into this chaotic twilight. By killing Time he became the new Time and, unlike Time, he wasn’t exactly fond of doing his job, so he left the planet to go out and search the cosmos, but not before leaving Adam crawling with his followers.” He shifted back and forth on his one good foot as he spoke, occasionally glancing off toward the little light in the distance; this topic clearly made him uncomfortable.

“So Death’s not around then?” Jennifer asked with the first sign of relief in her voice since they began this conversation. James shook his head,

“Yes and no… Since Death now has all of Time’s abilities he could return to Adam on a moments notice.”

“Oh…” The relief left her voice and Jennifer longed for the warm safety of her city. The two grew silent, Jennifer stared at her shaking hands, her thoughts racing and her determination wavering.

“Jennifer, it’s okay to be scared.” James assured her, breaking the silence. Before she could protest James cut her off with two simple words, “I am.”

“You are? If you’re scared then why are you out here, why did you leave”? Jennifer wasn’t just asking James these questions,

“My brother’s in trouble, he’s somewhere out there, afraid and alone and… and I’d be a really horrible older brother if I didn’t even try looking for him.” Jennifer considered his words carefully,

“...You really do care about him don’t you”?

“More than anything in the world…” The two again went quiet, with only one question on Jennifer’s mind, and, as if he had some psychic vision, James named it, “Why are you out here, really”? Jennifer shrugged pitifully,

“Man I don’t even know… I ran away from home looking for Destiny, kind of like your brother.”

“Why Destiny, what exactly did you think he’d do for you”?

“I don’t know…” Jennifer smiled weakly, the reckless, poorly thought out nature of her quest crashing down on her, “I guess I thought he’d fix things, change things back to the way they used to be.”

“How did they used to be”? James’ eyes fell on her sympathetically, as if looking in a mirror just a couple years behind.

“Not really sure, the old man told me that the sun used to move, and water would fall from the sky and that… everybody used to grow up…”

“Just like you.”

“Yeah.” Jennifer thought about it for a moment, she’d always been excited thinking about the world in the old man’s stories, but, the older she got, that one part of it took precedence over all the others. “I guess I thought that, if everybody grew up again then…” She fudged around a bit, not wanting to say the obvious.

“I get it,” James interjected, saving her from admitting the sad truth of it all.

“Pretty sad right? My big quest to find Destiny and all it really amounts to is leaving a place that, while really sucky, at least kept me from getting killed, and for what? Chasing a myth in the hopes that people might finally want me around.”

“I don’t think that’s stupid.” His face deathly serious, “Jennifer, out here you have a chance to be who you are, and, if you never left home then you’d never have that chance. But, to survive out here, in the midst of all this insanity, you need to know what it is you’re after. My brother gives me strength, what is it that you want”? Jennifer considered this, her body in agony, her mind petrified, and, shaking off the desire for the safety of her bedroom, she bit down on her lip and demanded she say what she’d been afraid to say,

“I want to find Destiny, and I want him to fix all the stupid people back home. I want home to feel like… home.”

“Then hold onto that, let that trump all the fear. So, what’s your next step”? Jennifer laughed, slightly embarrassed,

“Actually that’s why I’m helping ya search for your brother, I figure that he may have found Destiny. That’s where I thought I’d start.” James chuckled,

“Yeah I sort of figured that too. Well then I suppose we’re partners for a while. And who knows? As crazy as my brother is, he may actually have found Destiny.” The two shared a smile.

Something about saying the words aloud invigorated Jennifer, and even though her legs still shook, she again slipped her shoulder under James’ arm much to his surprise and began walking toward the light. James protested but she ignored it, she didn’t have time for discussion right now, she didn’t have time to debate whether this was the right move, she didn’t have time to dwell. What she did have time for was moving, placing one foot in front of the other heading toward the only goal she could see in before her and, while the glimmer of light in the distance was small, it shined just bright enough to follow. Her legs buckled with each step, the cuts on her leg opened and closed with the extending and contracting of her legs. James’ weight bore down on her causing her already bruised shoulder to scream in agony demanding she stop, but she refused; her body listened to her, but she was under no obligation to return the favor. She could hear her muscles popping every time she shifted her weight or stretched in any way. She rolled her neck back and forth grimacing when her neck reached its limit and she could feel the veins catching on the muscles like strings being tightened on a guitar. Any sane person would have stopped and waited for their body to recover, made a fire, had some food, melt some snow and have a drink, you know, rest. But Jennifer knew that the moment she stopped her mind would catch up and she may be unable to talk herself into ever getting back up. So this was all she could do, move forward toward the slight glimmer of light in the distance and hope her legs would hold.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

As if to answer to her unspoken declaration she felt James’ weight lift off her shoulder and, instead of demanding they stop, she saw him hobbling forward ahead of her. He glanced back briefly and the two locked eyes, the message was clear, there was no stopping now.

Have you ever made the mistake of jogging? What’s the point of running in no particular direction with no destination in mind with the sole goal of shrinking one’s waistline and expanding one’s lungs? There are plenty of other ways to get into shape that are far more interesting, less time consuming and produce far better results and yet people still choose to jog! If you have jogged before then you know the stitches that grip onto your side and screech sharply for sweet release, the burning lungs that occasionally become blocked with spit and mucus so you think you’re about to suffocate, pass out, and fall face first onto the ground and die. What a way to go too, death by jogging… But every smug jogger will tell you that this pain never truly goes away, it’s always present in every jog, what separates joggers from the uninitiated is the promise of a second wind. Everyone gets second winds, everyone knows that odd burst of energy that emerges right when you think you can’t go another step and, while everyone may know it, joggers live by it. Marathon runners run with the knowledge that they will get tired, they will want to die and that the pain will not go away, but they also know that the energy necessary to take that next step, to run that next mile, to finish that marathon will arrive at some point, they just have to run until they reach it. But, if they stop, slow down, break their stride even for a moment, then the feeling never arrives, the body powers down, the mind catches up and the full weight of just how far away the finish line is sets in. At least half of every battle begins and ends in the mind, and the most fit, well prepared individuals live lives of mediocrity because they allow their body to decide when it’s time to quit.

Psychological trauma is no different. Those who suffer from fear, anxiety, uncertainty and despair all run through life with ragged breathing, stitched sides and clogged lungs. In these cases the mind becomes its own worst enemy and something else has to step up to the plate and make the decision no one else can. This thing, whatever it is, burns like a fire and causes everyone around to take notice, some with fear, some with awe, some with envy and some with hope. The fire burns whoever holds it and the pain they have only increases as the fire forces their legs to move and their minds to think. This fuel, like a second wind, does nothing to alleviate the pain, only to allow people to fight for the things they truly want. A mind set ablaze is no longer the mind of a slave, a body set ablaze is no longer a hindrance, a person set ablaze does not allow pain or fear, envy or loss, or any kind misery to choose for them.

James had watched Jennifer carrying him toward the light, some light sparked off her and James found himself in no less pain, but now unwilling to let the pain choose what his next move would be. Jennifer was ablaze, and her shaking legs, trembling hands and quivering chin could no longer stop her from reaching that light.

******************************************************************************

The source of the light was not exactly what they expected… A cage made of glass about the size of a closet stood in the middle of a massive clearing, a single large pipe penetrated the glass box, but where it originated from was a bit of a mystery as it went into one of the cave walls and neither James or Jennifer had any form of X-ray vision. The top of the box opened like a funnel into the ceiling of the cave where a series of tens of thousands of metal rods hung parallel to each other above the opening. But the oddest thing of all was the actual source of the light, a little boy sitting contently in the center of the box literally twiddling his thumbs.

“…Hello?” Jennifer asked glancing over at James who looked equally confused. The boy turned toward them with wide eyes and a full toothed grin. The boy looked to be no older than seven years old with ebony skin and a shaved head. Draped over his shoulder was a piece of red cloth that covered half his torso, his lower half covered by a stained grey robe cut off at the waist. The boy was in fairly good condition, he seemed well fed and healthy despite his current living conditions. He had bright white teeth and a massive mouth that gave him and even larger smile. But the light that Jennifer had been following shone out of his eyes, his dark orange eyes popped and snapped like a campfire.

The boy’s smile faded as he rubbed his hand over his face and, when he removed his hand, all that was left was a dead eyed expressionless stare, the burning eyes noticeably more dim.

“Can I help you?” The boy said, his tone even but his eyes anxious. Jennifer and James looked over at each other and then back at the boy with mouths hanging open slightly producing a series of, “uhh…”s and, “wellllllll…”s and, “we just ummmmmm…”s as they scratched their heads occasionally pointing to the other in the hopes they might manage to complete their thought.

“Are y’all here to fix the pipe?” The boy asked, “It stopped working ages back so y’all certainly took your time getting down here…”

“No… we’re not here about the pipe…” James said beginning to shake off the strangeness of this interaction and wanting to make some sense of it all, “How exactly did you get in that box”? The boy raised his eyebrows and looked toward the box and let out a slight, “huh…” the kind of, ‘huh’ you’d make if someone pointed out how nice a painting in your house was and you realize you’d never actually taken any time to look at it.

“It’s been a long time.” The boy said matter of factly with his eyes closed, arms crossed and head nodding. James waited for some follow up, but the boy just kept nodding his head silently.

“Would you like to get out of the box”? Jennifer watched James ask the question the same way he’d spoken to her when they’d first met, attempting to sound calm and collected, but failing miserably. The boy considered the question for a moment and shrugged,

“Nope, I have to be here.” Jennifer didn’t like that.

“Why do you have to be there? Are you saying you can’t leave”? She asked with a hint of empathy.

“I don’t know,” the boy said with frustrating nonchalance, “never really tried.” A normal person would have gotten the message that a little more information would be appreciated or at least some sign that this was not a topic that they wished to discuss further, but the boy seemed perfectly content to offer neither. The boy spoke like tinder in a campfire, words hitting him like sparks yet he refused to burn, the whole endeavor usually provoking cursing from the one holding the flint. James, his sprained ankle throbbing and his whole-body aching found himself in no mood to play this game, so he dropped the polite chit chat and got straight to the point,

“Can you tell us which way to go to get out of this cave”? James asked shortly. Again, the boy just shrugged,

“Nope.” James began to grind his teeth and drive his fingers into his clenched fist as he took to some slow deep breathing, Jennifer could almost hear him counting to ten in his head. She would have found his annoyance funny if it wasn’t for the whole potentially being trapped in a cave and starving thing that was causing James’ frustration.

“Let’s just keep moving,” Jennifer commanded as she reached for James’ arm and began guiding him toward one of the other openings in the room.

“Goodbye.” The boy whispered as the two stumbled off away from the little light his eyes offered. But as they began to leave they were stopped by the sound of shaking metal clanking from behind the walls of the cave and they turned to follow the noise all the way to the box with the boy inside. The boy tensed up like a child before a shot as the pipe connected to the box began drenching him with water. The boy let out a low whine as he placed his hands above his head and sat curled up in the corner of the box, the water now gushing gallons upon gallons onto the poor boy. But what got the attention of our two travelers was the hissing steam that rose off the boy the second the water touched his skin. The mass of steam rose at an alarming rate up into the network of metal rods causing them to spin faster and faster and from above Jennifer could hear the creaking sounds of metal on metal.

The boy’s whines became cries of agony as the water shot out of the pipe with enough force to throw a man off his feet. Jennifer spun on her heels back toward the box and ran over to the glass, pounding on it with her fist, shouting over the roaring water,

“HOW DO I TURN THIS OFF, HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP?!” The boy’s only reply was more wailing. Jennifer turned desperately back to James, her eyes wild and searching for something she could do. James swung his head around looking for a lever or faucet or switch or something, but the cave’s walls were barren. A fairly large rock lying on the ground caught Jennifer’s eye and she scooped it up into her hand and began smashing it against the glass with increasing ferocity. The glass refused to budge. All Jennifer could do was watch helplessly as the boy screamed in pain, his body getting noticeably smaller the longer the water hit him. With no other options left, she crouched down next to the box where the boy had curled up and placed one hand against the glass. She immediately yanked it back with a yelp of pain. The temperature of the glass had risen to unbearable temperatures causing Jennifer to sweat uncontrollably as the box turned the whole cave into a sauna. Jennifer refused to leave the boy’s side though and, removing her jacket, she sat cross legged in front of the box as sweat dripped from every pore of her body. She again reached out toward the box and rested her hand next to the boy; when her hand made contact with the glass she grimaced in pain, but she refused to remove her hand. The boy reached out a trembling hand toward Jennifer’s and the two hands met with only the glass between them.

Nearly half an hour later the water finally stopped and the boy had shrunk to nearly half his former size. Both Jennifer and James were drenched with sweat from head to toe and suddenly the icy wind above seemed pretty appealing. The boy slowly got up from the ground and rose shakily to his feet.

“Thank you.” He said, his voice maintaining that even tone, “You should go now.”

“Like hell I will!” Jennifer shouted, “I’m getting you out of there you ungrateful little punk! Now tell me how to open this thing!” The boy placed his head in his hands and began shaking it back and forth as he mumbled,

“no, no, no no no, no no no no no…” over and over again. James approached the box and watched the boy curiously.

“You’re the Form of fire, aren’t you?” James said more as a statement than a question. The boy looked up from his mutterings for a moment and nodded his head. “If that’s the case then what are you doing here? Why let yourself be tortured like this and for what? So someone can power their city”? James paused and watched him closely, the boy wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You know their isn’t even a city up there anymore right? You’re down here suffering for nothing!” As James spoke he was surprised to see how passionate he was about the whole thing, he was afraid Jennifer might be rubbing off on him. Jennifer poorly attempted to raise an eyebrow when she heard the whole bit about powering a city and the boy being the literal embodiment of fire, but the rest of it she found herself in full agreement with.

“You don’t understand…” The boy whispered, “No one is making me stay here I want to be here…”

“Why?” Jennifer urged, her eyes pleading as she stared nostalgically at the box before her. The boy paced within the confines of his box throwing up his hands and then bringing them to his head where he scratched and rubbed his barren scalp making non-committal noises. Finally he stopped and took in a deep breath and stared Jennifer dead in the eye and spoke with the most unsettling, unnerving voice Jennifer had ever heard,

“I hurt people, and I will hurt you.” The sound was like a thousand voices layered atop one another with an undertone like the growling of some ancient beast. So startling was the voice that all the blood in Jennifer’s face faded and she instinctively took a step away and braced herself to run, the kind of reaction a mouse might make when face to face with a lion. Unlike her first experience with Meerous where the sheer size and magnitude of her made Jennifer uneasy, now it was merely the presence of this boy that made her whole body seize. She felt as if she stood before something ancient, something so far older than herself and all that she knew. She risked a glance at his eyes and audibly gasped when she saw within those eyes the light of a fire so bright that her momentary glance left her blinded. Grasping at her eyes and letting out a little yelp she heard the sound of James hobbling over and placing a firm hand on her back, helping her to the ground.

“I-I’m sorry…” the boy said, his former voice returning, “I-I didn’t mean to hurt you, I just wanted you to understand…” The boy again sank back to his curled up position and gripped his head with his hand, returning to his mutterings. Jennifer fought through the bright pain behind her eyes and forced them open as she stared toward the darkness blinking rapidly. Eventually the white light began to fade and, while it still hurt like hell, Jennifer was able to make out the shapes of the world around her again.

“You… You should go,” the boy pleaded as he watched Jennifer rising again to her feet.

“No chance.” Jennifer declared, a pained smile on her face. “See you nearly blinded me so I think that grants me at least a couple of answers.” The boy’s eyes widened and he spoke with disbelief,

“You still want to talk to me? After what I did to you…?” With her hands on her hips and her eyes closed, Jennifer nodded her head,

“If I refused to talk to everyone who nearly blinded me I might miss out on some good conversation, don’t ya think?” She concluded as she lifted her head and flashed the boy a huge grin. If one were to look closely at the boy, the very embodiment of all fire, a being capable of drowning whole nations in undying flames hotter than the deepest pits of hell, as he stared at Jennifer utterly stunned, you may just be able to see a hint of a blush. James let out a chuckle Jennifer’s head snapped in his direction, “And what’s got you laughing?!”

“Nothing, please continue.” James smiled cheekily as he waved off Jennifer’s suspicious glare. What James neglected to tell her is his complete and utter amazement at her ability to start conversations with deadly and ancient creatures while simultaneously being so utterly incapable of holding even a decent conversation with another human being. The more he thought about it the more he chuckled, but Jennifer pretended to ignore it. Her former bravado slightly lessened thanks to James’ little giggle fest, Jennifer continued,

“So James here,” she stuck out her thumb toward James who was still shaking off a slight chuckle, “calls you the, ‘Form of Fire’ is that true?” The boy nodded. “See that’s a start! Do you have a name? I met a really beautiful ocean a little while ago named Meerous, so if she has a name I figure you probably do too.

“Enoch” The boy said with a hint of a smile, it had been a very, very long time since anyone had asked him his name; he’d come to miss the sound of it.

“Enoch it is then! So Enoch would ya mind telling us how it is ya managed to get yourself in that their box?” Jennifer tapped on the box and instantly regretted it as her now burnt finger quickly jerked back from the still scalding hot glass. Enoch’s face looked conflicted as he let his head lean back against the glass. “Come on Enoch, don’t stop now! We’re really making progress!” Jennifer encouraged, about to place her hands back on the box but quickly catching herself. She took an awkward step back and placed her hands behind her back. Enoch sighed,

“It all started some time ago when the humans were first starting to make alliances with the Forms. I’ve always had a bit of a closer relationship with humans so that meant that they’d often come to me for advice on how to deal with the other Forms. But the other Forms kept taking advantage of the humans and many groups of humans had to take shelter away from powerful Forms just to survive. One particular group settled in the middle of nowhere with nothing to use to build a home for themselves. I came across them and offered to help them in anyway that I could, so the leader of the people and I came up with an idea. He built this box under the city to house me and, in return, I’d provide power for the city by letting him cover me in water a couple times a day.” Enoch finished his story with eyes that begged his audience not to ask the obvious question. The begging was ignored.

“Then why are you still here if the city’s gone?!” Jennifer shouted throwing up her hands in frustration. James limped over and placed a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder in an attempt to help settle her down a bit as he looked knowingly toward Enoch who was doing his best to avoid eye contact.

“You knew you were just being used didn’t you?” James surmised. Enoch nodded.

“What?!” Jennifer blurted, “Why would you let someone use you like that?!”

“BECAUSE HE WAS RIGHT!” Enoch exploded, his body erupted in flame and his voice again took on the startling growl. James and Jennifer recoiled in horror as Enoch’s inflamed form loomed over them.

“I AM A DEMON, A MONSTER OF SUCH A NIGHTMARISH NATURE THAT MY VERY EXISTENCE IS AN AFFRONT TO ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS WORLD! IF I ALLOWED MYSELF TO LEAVE THIS CAVE I WOULD DROWN THIS WORLD IN AN ENDLESS FIRE!” Enoch’s voice reached a thunderous roar that rattled the entire cave. The roar sounded like a mix of a banshee’s wailing, children screaming, a warrior’s war cry and a dragon’s bellowing all layered atop one another.

A few moments later the rumbling subsided and the cave grew deathly silent as the flaming form of Enoch began to slowly dim and return to his former childlike appearance.

“I think I get it now,” Jennifer reckoned, “He told you that you’d be better off in the cage right? That you’d just hurt people if you were left to wander the world on your own.” Enoch couldn’t believe she was still talking to him after that, he couldn’t fathom what it might take to shake this girl. “But here’s the problem with that, his whole argument hinges on the notion that you’re a… How did he put it?” She looked over at James snapping her fingers searching for the word, James didn’t answer as he was just as stunned as Enoch. “A Demon! That’s what it was! With a nightmarish nature right? Look, the way I see it you’re either a bad guy in which case you should be out there being a bad guy, or you’re a good guy in which case you should be out there being a good guy, either way you shouldn’t be in this cage.” She concluded as she looked toward James for confirmation of her logic. Enoch shook his head in amazement,

“I don’t know how you don’t get what I’m saying! I’m in this cage because I know I might do something bad if I leave it! Before this cave I caused forest fires, house fires, I destroyed entire cities because I lost control! People’s homes, livelihoods, families, all lost because of me! You saw how easily I can lose control, what if I didn’t have this glass here and I’d roasted you two alive?!”

“I may actually see her point Enoch,” James conceded begrudgingly, “You allow yourself to lose control more often because you have that glass protecting you and, the longer you’re in it, the more you convince yourself that you’re simply someone who can’t control himself.”

“Right!” Jennifer interrupted, “This whole nature thing is a load of crap! It’s an excuse for you not to work on yourself, but if you let people convince you that you have some kind of evil nature then that’s all you’ll ever be! Do you want to hurt people?” Enoch couldn’t seem to formulate the words whether out of shock or anger he didn’t know, “Well? Do you want to hurt people? Answer the question?” Jennifer prodded.

“NO! Of course I don’t!” Enoch snapped back in exasperation.

“Great! Now do you want to live the rest of your life in a box?”

“Maybe…” Enoch began

“BULLSHIT!” Jennifer barked, “Do you really want to live in that box forever!” Enoch was silent, “Answer the question! You almost blinded me now answer the question!”

“NO! I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN THIS BOX!” Bellowed Enoch with his earlier bravado, but something about it was different this time, it felt more stable, the layers seemed to be meshing together with one another. Jennifer allowed herself a proud smile,

“Then you need to figure out how to not hurt people without resorting to living in a box.”

“That’s impossible…”

“No it’s not! That guy wanted you to think it was impossible, those people in the city needed you to think it was impossible, but it’s not impossible! Are you really so quick to give up on yourself! You’re not a demon or a monster, you know what you are?” The room suddenly grew unnervingly still, “You are a scared little boy who’d rather make up excuses and let other people walk all over him then actually make the hard decisions.” Enoch stood at the edge of the glass and met Jennifer’s stare head on. The two stood on separate sides of the glass, their breathing heavy, but neither one showing any sign of fear or uncertainty.

James couldn’t believe what he was seeing, he couldn’t believe that a person like Jennifer could exist, and, when faced with the literal embodiment of fire and a nineteen-year-old girl, he wasn’t sure who he should be more afraid of.

“What if I fail…” Enoch whispered as his shoulders slumped and his eyes fell to the ground, “what if someone gets hurt?” Jennifer put on her most reassuring smile,

“Come with us, that way, if you feel like you’re about to hurt someone, we’ll be there to cool you off!” The pun was intentional, but no one got it.

“You’d really feel safe with me around”?

“Nope, but we don’t really feel safe as is so adding you into the mix probably won’t change much.” Jennifer shrugged. James had wished he’d had a vote on this decision, but he felt it’d probably be best if he didn’t voice that right now.

“Can I think about it for a while?” Enoch implored.

“Nope,” Jennifer flashed a cheeky smile, “First day of the rest of your life either begins right now or it doesn’t begin ever!”

A little while later Jennifer and James began departing the cave with Enoch upfront, lighting the way.