I pushed past people with wings, funny colored skin and black eyes.

“Sam,” I yelled.

I reached the center of the crowd, only to be knocked back by a wave of heat from a bonfire taller than me. Sam Woods stood in his boxers, his wiry frame revealing ribs and bony arms.

“Sam, don’t,” I pushed through, no one stopped me, not yet.

“Emma? Stay back, the fire’s hot.”

No shit. But I didn’t say that, fighting the urge to run from the heat. “You can’t do this, you shouldn’t--”

“Become stronger? I’m not going to die, Em,” he laughed but it felt forced.

“You can’t possibly think of stepping into that,” even as we watched the fire seemed to grow, become angrier.

“I’ve been blessed by the gods,” we turned as one to look at the Prince on his throne. Six and a half feet tall, thin and otherworldly, his eyes didn’t have visible pupils or irises. He watched us without emotion. His non-movement was the only reason the rest of the gods tolerated my involvement.

“Sam, please, you’re my friend and I know you. This isn’t you.”

That was the wrong thing to say. I realized a second too late as his face contorted.

“Then you don’t know me,” he snarled and jumped into the fire.

I screamed but he screamed louder.

I read somewhere that nerves die within thirty seconds when on fire. But Sam screamed and writhed and screamed.

I turned to the Prince, “Please stop this, please.”

He didn’t so much as look at me. I looked around but no one would help.

Gods! Yeah, right!

The screaming just went on and on. In the end all I could do was sit on the ground with my hands over my ears as my friend screamed and burned in the fire. And it was all my fault; tears streamed down my face.

I forgot to be comforted that Sam was right; he didn’t die.

After what felt like hours, the thing in the fire looked nothing like my friend. A giant ball of fire stepped out of the flames. The Prince walked towards it, one hand reached out and touched the thing. The Prince didn’t burn though, he didn’t even seem to feel the heat radiating from the thing.

At the Prince’s touch the fire started to die down, forming into a man shape. He began to cool down, limbs and muscles formed out of the cooled heat, giving him an ashy skin. At last his face shaped out of…whatever that was; ears, nose, mouth, eyes. He opened his eyes and with a sinking feeling I knew Sam was gone. Red, angry eyes stared out of the obsidian shell.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“You look well child,” the Prince said and the thing smiled, “From this day forth, you are Ash, the first of my children.”

The fire died down and extinguished on its own. The gods slowly turned and started walking away. I guess the show was over.

The Prince and Ash turned towards me. I shuddered, why did I come? I couldn’t save Sam, he had made up his mind before he came--was there anything of him left in there?

“Emma?” the thing rushed over and his voice…

“Sam?”

Before he could hug me, the Prince pushed him back, “No, you can’t control it yet.” Then he turned to me, “You should go to your room.”

My room? Seriously? I’m not a pet. I didn’t say that though, I only turned around and walked away. My room was actually the Prince’s room. But since he didn’t sleep, he only used it for me.

I’ve been here for two weeks now. Two weeks of begging Sam not to turn himself into a monster; two weeks of him begging me to stay with him and the Prince.

The longer I stayed the less I thought I had a choice to leave. I mean they had slaves for God’s sakes.

And they stopped asking me to stay.

I curled up on the bed. The bedroom was as big as my entire apartment. How did I get myself into this mess?

Six months ago I met a nice, human guy in the coffee shop where I worked. Yeah, he seemed a little naïve, but I thought I was falling in love. And my roommate and best friend, Sam, seemed to hate him. Suddenly I found a bunch of Worshippers bowing to my nice, human boyfriend, only to realize he was not just a god but The Prince, the leader of the god-monsters. And my roommate not only knew about it, he helped cover it up so he could become a Worshipper.

I buried my face in the pillow as sobs wracked me. The last thing I wanted was for them to hear me cry.

And why me? Why would Nathan--ha, Nathan was a big fat lie--that was the Prince’s name when he lied to me, why would he pick me? Three billion girls in the world and he walked into my coffee shop.

“I’m sorry you feel I hurt you,” I didn’t hear the Prince walk in.

I bit down on my cheek to keep from sobbing. “I’m fine,” I winced as my voice cracked.

“I could do the same for you, take you beyond fear and pain, make you second only to the gods,” there was as much emotion in his voice as I’ve ever heard from a god, “You could be mine forever.”

I froze, picturing Sam jumping into that fire, screaming for hours.

“You could be my Princess,” I felt him crawl into the bed beside me. Why did I yearn to turn around and bury my face in his chest? After everything? God what is wrong with me?

“Was our time together not pleasurable for you?”

“It was a lie,” this time I did turn around, “You really don’t realize that? You pretended to be human, you wanted me to believe…” What? I never prodded him about his life, never questioned why he didn’t know how to use a toothbrush or how he never tried coffee before. I never asked him what he did for a living or asked to see his house. In six months? Did he manipulate me?

“I wanted you to like me,” despite his appearance he still managed to look like a kid about to get grounded.

I laughed feeling like I was going crazy, “Why? Why me?”

He shrugged, a gesture I taught him, “You treated me like…a human.”

I chocked on my next words. Why did he sound so…lonely?

“But you’re the leader of the gods! You’re always surrounded by them, worshipped by them.” That was no joke, sometimes I thought that gods had sex by sniffing each other. They would take these weird deep breaths every time they were around the Prince, like his scent is what sustained them, “Why would you want to be treated like a human?”

He rose and turned to me, holding out a hand, “Come, the humans are having dinner, you should eat, it is essential for human life.”