Formless mist erupted from Robert’s every pore. A fog rolling into fire. The fire squealed. Hissed. Spat back at the spell. Inching back from mist. The white wooden dowels holding up the staircase railing splintered. The railing collapsed. Crashing onto the floor. The fire in the hallway dissipated. Nothing but black charred walls and blood.
Robert sighed in relief. Empty. A mere shell; a blackened husk. He rushed towards his son. Pain in every step. Agony. The mist had reached Sarah’s bedroom now. The fire squirmed to avoid the mist’s touch. As he reached down to put pressure on Alek’s stomach, Robert thought he heard a faint sob in the fire.
Crunch.
Yellow flaming teeth bit off Robert’s foot.
“ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”
No blood came out. Just a glowing char on his stump. Robert could hear the bone’s from his foot snapping under the creature’s teeth. He collapsed next to his son & tried to cast another spell.
“lesser heal!”
Nothing. He couldn’t feel even a trace of his mana move. His heartbeat didn’t change. His Amittere Memoriae spell had left him with nothing. Adrenaline unable to be secreted. Only pain & concern for his son remained. He stared at this flaming ball of a creature. No eye’s only a smirking mouth, jagged flames for teeth.
Alek woke up. Groggy. Pain. He wanted to rip his teeth out with pliers. Make it stop. Die. He screamed. Mouth open, face contorted, eyes closed. Nothing came out. Instead, he was gasping for air. The strained exhale’s of a body preparing for death.
Robert saw his son wakeup. Saw his agony. A primal pain. His heart ached. The flaming ball above them stretched out it’s mouth wide, like a deep-sea creature, revealing a blazing furnace inside. So hot the walls burst into flame. It’s teeth now expanded out like tentacles. They tangled up Robert’s legs. Climbing quickly to his waist. Burning his flesh everywhere it slithered. Alek opened his eyes. _____________________________________________________________________________
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. A voice called out over the firetrucks radio.
“This is dispatch. Apple Ridge Terrace. Cross street Goshen River Road. Structure fire, split level house. Stations 219, 304, & 17 please respond.”
Raul, the only man standing inside the fire truck grabbed the mic & replied. “Station 17 arriving on seen. We’ve got heavy smoke coming from the structure. House is on corner of Apple Ridge facing West. We have one woman approaching.”
“Alright. Triage, then update 17."
Raul looked back at his men & saw dark bags under the eyes of each of his men. They’d just been sleeping. The alarm woke them up at 3am. Hastily throwing on gear as they rushed to the truck. The fire had broken out not even a half-mile from their station. Raul had been their captain since most of the crew could remember. A bulldog’s body. Thick neck & thicker muscle’s. The only one not in full gear & mask. From a proud lineage of fire mages, now serving as Jake’s, he didn’t need one. All he needed was a bodysuit that wouldn’t burn up in a housefire. Everyone in his family was a firefighter. Everyone. Drilled into their heads to serve. To rush towards flame & enjoy it. Burned by fire magic as a kid. Part of his families’ tradition. Bald from shaving his head. Another family tradition, borne out for more practical reasons. The smell of burnt hair clung to you for days.
Raul addressed his team.
“Morrison talk to that woman & radio the rest of us. Jamnus, Ryan, Brad, 360 report. Jamnus you take point. Andrew & Tubbs with me on Alpha. Sam 1 & Sam 2 you start running line. Jaime you’re on Mic & Truck. Copy?”
They all replied in unison. “Copy!”
Morrison got out of the firetruck. It continued past him & stopped in the front of the house. Alyssan ran up to him screaming. Pleading for help.
“Ma-am is anyone in there.”
“Yes!! My son & husband. Please! Help!”
“Is this your house? Okay ma’am where are they. I need you to tell me where they are.”
“yes! Yes yes! F.. fro-nt hallway!”
“Okay ma-am I need you to get behind that firetruck. And stay there okay?”
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“My daughter!”
“Is your daughter still inside?”
“No, she’s over there!” Alyssan pointed to her daughter who was coughing in the distance.
“Are either of you hurt?”
“Yes, yes!” She showed the man her burnt back that was now pock marked with red welts & white blisters.
Morrison recoiled. The blister’s & welts littered her back. Gruesome. Almost as if they were still on fire. Moving. Growing. Getting deeper & continuing to whiten her skin
Morrison: “Jaime I’m with the mother of the residence. We have one juvenile, one adult, still inside around Alpha. Last seen in front hallway. We have injuries. One juvenile female, one adult female, call dispatch for a Bus right fucking now. I’m bringing them over to you.”
Jaime: “Copy. Raul you get that?”
Raul: “Yeah, Copy. Guys where’s that 360? I need it now.”
Jamnus, Ryan, & Brad had already lapped the building. Mana infusing into their eyes allowing them to see thermal heat.
Jamnus: “We’ve got fire on the Alpha Bravo corner & at Alpha. Nothing else visible.”
Raul, Sam 1, Sam 2, Andrew, & Tubbs were all on the front lawn of the house. The red glow of the fire reflected in their pupils.
Raul: “Copy. Get back here. Alright boys were on offense. Sam’s, Alpha, now! Tubbs, Andrew, hook that door frame at Alpha. Then hit your spells. Jamnus you boys take that Alpha Bravo corner. Control that fire for now. Don't waste any fucking mana yet. Go!"
Sam 1 & Sam 2 were already running the line out to Alpha located right at the front of the house. Each squaring up with hoses that looked more like long tubes of oversized metal drums. The heat was more intense than usual. They could feel it even through their enchanted masks & protective suits. Enchantment’s that were rated for 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Enchantments that could last an hour at 1800 degrees before the mana in the enchantment needed to be recharged. Back in their acadmey days they’d drilled, with these suits, inside industrial furnaces. They both cast fortify spells on their hands right before pulling down their hose’s metallic lever.
Click. Click. Whrannggg. Whooosh. Whrannnnggg.
The hum & whoosh of the hoses roared. Pressure forcing the two Sam's to tense their whole bodies. Even fortified the pressure nearly ripped the hose out of Sam 1’s hand. Blue fog rolled out. It smelled sickly sweet, like cotton candy, & spread along the ground hovering outside the house. Artificial ice mana laden with chemicals to keep it from dispersing. Or Volwile Juice as the veteran’s called it. Only the men who still remembered Ernest Volwiler & his nobel prize called it that. The young one's had their own slang for it, Zamboni Smut.
Andrew & Tubbs ran towards the front door. Hooks in hand. Both men pouring mana into the curved metal tip of their hooks. As soon as they reached the doorway they both activated the Bash enchantment laid down in the hooks.
Boom.
The door fell back onto the floor. The heat immediately beat them back. Blinded them. Before they even had a chance to cast a spell. Fire spreading out towards them. Raul leapt in front of them blocking the fire.
It wasn’t normal fire. Raul knew that immediately. His bodysuit was shredded & burned. It hadn’t so much as singed in any house fire he’d ever been in. Also, the fire was too red. No yellow’s or orange’s, just shades of red. He hesitated, for a brief moment, before running through the flame’s into the house. His family credo, A Candle for a Flaming Soul, pushing him in. Pushing through his fear as he radioed his team that he was entering Alpha & to be careful of the hottness & intensity of the red flame.
Andrew & Tubbs quickly recovered their sight & wits. They rolled away. Watching as their captain ran into the blood red flames & heard his call over the radio. They sucked Volwile Juice into their mana channels as they channeled their spells.
Andrew: “Magna Aqualida!”
Tubbs: “Supaqua!”
Water flowed out from Andrew like a wave pool. Mighty and unrelenting. Tubbs strengthened the waves increasing their speed. Supercooling their temperature without freezing them. The waves crashed into the fire. Struggled to force the fire back inside the house. Inch by inch the flames relented. Steam building & billowing around the door. Both men gobbling on Volwile juice as they continued to channel their spells. They couldn’t see Raul. Steam & flame turned their visibility to shit. But then they heard the screams.
______________________________________________________________________________
He saw his dad covered in flaming tentacles. Burning him. Screaming. Wailing. The smell of charcoal and sulfur. Of rancid oil or charred meat. His dad looked at him with eye’s pleading for help. Robert tried to say something, but the tentacles wrapped around his mouth & went down into his throat. Alek reached out for his dad. The tentacles lifted his dad up & pulled him into its mouth. Alek turned & looked up at where the tentacles had come from. An orb. A Red Golem. Hell’s furnace. Terror. He could feel his retina’s burning. He screamed for his dad again. Nothing. Throat so tight he couldn’t breathe. He gurgled. Unable to exhale. Now pressure building in his chest. He could feel his heart pounding. Banging. Thumping. Trying to force its way out of his chest. He couldn’t hear his dad’ screams anymore. Could only hear his heartbeat. Then he saw the red tentacles up close for the first time. They weren’t tentacles at all, but tiny layered runes. Collapsing and reforming in a constant churn of cylindric energy. Three of them were pointing down at his chest & connected together forming a hand. A tiny mouth surounded by runes wriggled out from the palm. It’s tongue extended out onto Alek’s chest. He closed his eyes.
Schwip.
The tongue pierced through Alek’s chest into his heart.
Gurrrgle. Guurgle. Huuuuh. Huuuh.
His heart felt like it was going to burst. Alek was desperate for air. Like a kid in a cave trapped under water. He thrashed everywhere searching for a place to breath. But, he could only gurgle as he continued his struggle. Then, finally, he breathed. His whole body contracted as his lungs compressed. Again. Again. Ahhh. He felt light. Warm. Like swimming in a pool of milk. He could see his skin changing color. Losing its ghastly chalkiness & regaining some of its former warmth. The hole in his stomach visibly closing up.