While I had never been invited into Gloria’s new residence, I knew which building it was. Conveniently placed behind the oven she managed, the building was obvious as I made my way towards it. I kept out of sight as much as I could, while far more obvious to any that look my way than I would have liked. My form refused to be reined in, the rage bubbling under the surface agitated my flames. Turbulent flares flicking out at every lapse of concentration.

I tried to keep my thoughts blank. Empty. But any time I came close, they would snap back to the betrayal, the manipulation, the idiocy I’d endured. I’d never hated anyone like this before. Sure, I hated my mother’s murderers. But they were faceless, distant. Like a bogeyman to be feared. Gloria was close, someone I had trusted. I had believed her to be a good person the entire time she took advantage of me. It was a dirty feeling. It was foul, and I knew just how to appease it.

As I arrive into the plaza of the Continae, a commotion drags my attention to the tall tower ahead of me. I jump back into the street I’d come from just as a crowd of ursu charge out of the Continae in my direction. I run back and hide myself in one of the side streets. I had enough sense about me I knew not to be seen by such a group.

The ursu rush past me, heading in the direction I came from, shouting at each other all the while. I come out of hiding and look at where they’re rushing. Over the dark silhouette of buildings is a bright red glow.

Ah, she’s gonna hate me for that. I send a mental apology to Leal.

The thought of Leal focuses me again, the fury building once more. I don’t know what the cheka are, but Leal and Calysta were sure that Gloria would have them sent to them. Hopefully, the fire at the academy would distract them from both their house and what I’m about to do.

After running into the small gap between buildings beside my target’s home, I look up at the stone structure. I wouldn’t be able to burn through it, as this building was one of the few in the city with a stone exterior. I hoped the interior would have enough burnable material for this to work. Now I needed to decide whether I should wait for Gloria to come back or just start burning as is. I would be satisfied as long as Gloria had nowhere to live.

With time to think, I found myself really not wanting her to get off so freely. Sure, burning her house might destroy anything she might possess, but she’d be able to move into any of the vacant houses created by the war.

I remember the visits I sometimes got in the furnace. The pain that followed.

No. I want to make sure the fur gets burnt off the face she is so proud of. I want to disfigure her, then her outside will mirror the inside.

So I sit and wait, trying to cool the fury amplifying my flames as I reflect on all the moments in the past. The times she misled or willingly ignored me. The unreasonable anger, her manipulative words, the constant multiplying fear of the outside world.

Right here, right now, I could not care less if it rained. The rage settling within me prevents any fear I might have from rising to the forefront.

I knew how visible I was right now, so I hide around the corner, keeping any light I give off from being seen. Before long, the sound of whistling greets me right before the slamming of a door.

She’d returned.

I pictured her in my mind, walking with a self-assured smirk, pushing open the door as if everything in the world was perfect.

Incredible searing heat burned through me. I felt hot. A raging tempest of flames whipped around my body. There was no stopping now. I move towards the door Gloria had just gone through with a single track mind. Nothing would be stopping me now.

The handle was far too high for me, as most doors in ursu cities tend to be, but I pay it no mind. My roiling flames melt the handle and hinges in but a moment. Without its supports, the door slams against the ground with a crash. My way is clear.

I made my way up the large wooden stairway, paying little attention to the flames that were spreading off my form as I ascended. Once at the doorway to Gloria’s apartment, I was relieved to find it was wooden. I didn’t need to get any closer than I already was.

I flared my inner flame, inciting it to burn as hot as I could manage. The scorching heat warped the air around me and after only a moment I launched a stream of my flames straight towards the door to that horrible woman’s home. Idly, I noticed the door burn far quicker than expected. Where the stream of fire impacted the wood, it had taken barely ten seconds before it managed to pierce through. I’d planned to keep the flames going, but suddenly, the ground collapsed underneath me. Sudden panic filled me and, for a moment, I was back in that cavern as the ground collapses beneath me.

Fortunately, this fall wasn’t as long as that one had been. The blaze overwhelmed the staircase above. The flames already reaching the highest level of the building. Most of it was still intact, but it burnt fast. I didn’t want to be buried under creaking and crackling wood above, so I scrambled out the front door into the open air.

Sudden screaming came from within and I heard another collapse from the staircase. It was, oh, so satisfying to watch as Gloria ran out shrieking in pain with her entire body aflame. I just stood there watching as Gloria tried to beat out the fire coating engulfing her. The moment we made eye contact, she threw herself at me. Before I could even process what was happening, my arms are pinned to my side and my legs dangle above the ground. Gloria holds me in a crushing two hand grip. I had never felt the size difference between us as intensely as right now.

Panic fills me and I push my inner flame to surround the both of us. I push hard to increase the temperature. I try to burn through the woman’s hands, but the strength of the ursu was too much. Keeping one hand around my chest, Gloria lashes out at me, striking me across the face. I feel my chest cave in and my head throbs with the impact. I keep my flames rippling into her as she continues her beating. My screams soon join hers as I force as much as I can into the flames through the agony she is inflicting.

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I watch in horror as her face melts in front of my eyes; the fur covering her body long since burnt away. Her eyelids scorched out of existence, leaving a gruesome and terrifying visage glowering at me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to look at the disgusting sight, but I can still see every detail. My flames show me exactly what is happening to every part of her body, but I cannot relent on my flames. I keep them swirling around us, burning at any part of her it can.

The screaming stops. Gloria’s grip around my chest loosens. With my free hand, I push against the fingers suspending me, allowing me to fall to the ground. The horrible pain in my chest and the aching of my head left me woozy. I bring a hand up to my chest. I could feel where my body crumpled under the strength of her fingers. My head drops to inspect the damage and I wish I hadn’t. My torso is compressed, looking like a dried fruit. Her hand left a clear imprint on my chest, like clay clenched too hard. My arm — the one that was pinned — doesn’t move. I can’t feel it, but it bends at a strange angle above the elbow. I was lucky she hadn’t whacked my head off with her hits, but the damage was still severe. I wrap myself in inner flame, hoping it might help with my recovery. The soothing it brought to my aching body was a relief in itself.

I look back at Gloria; her abominate glare cuts deep into my being. There is so much hate in her eyes, I’m left stunned. No skin remains unburnt and she cannot move any longer, but she maintains her scorching eyes on me even as one of them bursts. My anger and hatred drain from me. Gone. I’m filled with disgust, not only at the sight of the woman in front of me, but also at myself for having caused it. She doesn’t have long to live, but she is spending every last fibre of her being to show how far her disdain for me extends.

I didn’t want this. I just wanted to get some payback for her betrayal. I wanted to burn her house. I wanted to burn off the fur she spent so long each day tending to. I didn’t expect her to attack me. I never realised how easily she would burn.

The building above me is now engulfed in flames. It’s horrifying how far the fire has spread.

Suddenly, my attention is brought back to the world around me. Cries and screams magnify, crowds of ursu now cluster in front of the burning building.

A family off to my left cry and huddle together, watching the flames burn what I now realise was their home as well. I never even considered anyone but Gloria would be there. I was so lost in fury, I had just not thought about anything else.

Gloria was dead now, but somehow her lone eye stares, damning me.

I didn’t want this. I shook my head as if denying those accusing eyes. I didn’t want this.

Angered shouts reach my ears and I look up once more to see a gathering. A crowd staring me down as I stood over Gloria’s charred corpse. A stone flew past my head and noticed many angry ursu picking any odd item or stone from the ground. But what hit me more was the terrified glances I was given. None of them tried to approach me, many glances sent to the body at my feet.

I rise to my feet, ready to make my escape. When they decided to attack me, I wanted to be gone. A loud crack snapped everyone’s gaze to the burning building. The stone walls contain the blaze effectively, though that wasn’t to say the fire had been controlled. No, the inside of the building burned with an intensity I could not replicate, still visible through the windows in the stone. The entire interior had burned away. No chance any of the ursu’s homes could be saved. I noticed the flames were now breaching the roof of the building, rising above the walls containing it.

Another loud crack could be heard as one of the stone walls toppled into the adjacent building. I watched, unable to do anything as the inferno spread towards the new building, easily burning through the opening made by the wall of the first building.

More panicked screaming spread around the area, and I noticed more and more ursu coming out of their homes.

I need to leave now.

As I ran off, I was mostly ignored by the ursu, finding it too difficult to turn away from the destruction of their homes. I only received a couple of stones thrown in my direction from angry ursu. I try to regain control of my form as I run away, but it’s too hard, the pain in my chest now competing with the guilt for primary position in my mind.

As quick as my aching body will allow, I sprint away.

I didn’t know what I was going to do now. They already hated me before this, now there is no way I would get any leniency if they found me. It was sad that I wouldn’t get to say goodbye to Leal, but I couldn’t stay here. I needed to get out of Morne and get out fast.

❖❖❖

From the cover and safety of the tree-line at the forest north of Morne, I found myself unable to look away. I look down on Morne from the inclined woodland and gulp, trying to gain a hold over my fluctuating emotion. It had gone so far out of control, so much further out of control than I had even considered possible.

The city was burning.

It was burning, and it was my fault.

I don’t know whether it spread from the academy or Gloria’s building, or both, but now it had engulfed an entire section of the city. I hadn’t noticed while I was escaping the city, but it had become readily apparent what I had done when I had looked back. It was currently limited to the central area of the city, but with how fast it had already spread, I didn’t doubt for a second it wouldn’t continue into the outer districts. I had seen the buildings that made up the peripherals of the city, all timber structures.

I was horrified by what I had caused. Because of my anger, an entire city of people would go homeless, an uncountable number of them might not be able to escape. Gloria’s dying, burning, melting face flashed through my mind. I felt sick, but I couldn’t turn my eyes from the sight before me.

I worried about Leal. Did she and her mum get out of the city safely? I could only hope so. I was already wracked by the guilt of having destroyed their home, especially as they had to leave their last not too long ago. I don’t know what I would do if my actions killed Leal.

I had to leave. My inner flame still wrapped, supporting my chest and brightly burning. I would be visible from anywhere in the dark night. I needed to leave, but I struggled to pull myself from the glowing city. A small part of me thought the view was spectacular, the greatest pyre I had ever seen. The flames of the city resonated with me and I couldn’t help but awe in its presence.

I squashed that feeling down within me. Was a good view worth deaths and leaving thousands without homes? Of course not, and I hate that I had even felt that way.

Well, I hate it, but that didn’t stop me from continuing to watch the blaze as it spread. It grew slowly, but it never faltered, incinerating everything in its path. If someone hadn’t left the city yet, I don’t know how good their chances of escape would be. I had already seen firsthand how the ursu weren’t as resistant to fire as I had thought.

When the city was engulfed by conflagration, I realised I was cutting it close. I needed to leave now. The amount of ursu in the area was immense. Most seemed to be more interested in lamenting their loss, but they would chase me sooner or later, my flame did stand out in the darkness after all. Forcefully snapping my eyes from what was both the most glorious sight and my greatest regret, I turned and made my way into the forest.

I tightened Leal’s rain-jacket around my shoulders. I didn’t know where I was going, but I needed to get as far from the ursu as I could.