Burning the Alpha

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

During my long existence, there have been very few times when I have felt the need to move quickly. At my most destructive, I can move incredibly quickly - but that's because it's fun, not because it's necessary.

I can't explain where it came from, but I had a need to rush forward and cover the bomb with my body.

There were three main elements to the explosion. Fire - delicious. Force - no problem. Shrapnel - ouchies.

I was able to take the fire into myself without a problem. The force of the explosion did blow the bench apart, but I was able to take it without going flying. The shrapnel did me filthy. It tore my flesh apart, exposing my inner fires.

Apart from being fire-proof, my skin is more or less like any other humanoid's skin. Ordinarily, I can lie on the slab in the middle of the furnace and soak in the flames, and my skin will remain intact. From memory, my exterior had never experienced the kind of damage it took that day.

See, I don't bleed, I burn.

I turned around to check that the mortals were okay and, I have to say, the expressions on their collective faces looked an awful lot less like the gratitude I had expected, and an awful lot more like absolute horror.

In fairness to the mere mortals, the flesh covering my torso was all but obliterated, and my inner-most flames were on display, for everyone to see.

Fire burns clothing. Of course, it does. I'm used to being naked, as - I'm told - are most werewolves. However, I can't tell you a time I've ever felt more exposed - then, or since.

Shaun recovered quicker than his friends. He stepped in front of me and spread his arms out wide, like he was hoping to block their view.

"Show's over, folks." He said, shepherding them towards the door. "It's safe to say we're all glad that didn't end worse. Let's all get on with our day, and remind the children to stay away from unknown objects in the future."

When Shaun turned back to me, his uncertainty was clear.

"You've demonstrated that fire doesn't hurt you." He said, eyes fixed on my burning torso. "So, I want to assume you're not about to die on me."

My 'injury' was far from fatal, but restoring my humanoid exterior required for me to go - what I like to call - 'full elemental'. This was a dangerous and messy process which would be sure to bring the house down, literally.

I nodded my answer. "I have to go, though. And...you should give me a wide berth."

Shaun did an awkward sort of bow and stepped out of the path of the door, motioning towards it with his hands.

Here's another thing about fire - I'm sure you've heard this before; it's catching. It's like when you fall. There is a certain...inevitably of motion.

Some hundreds - maybe, thousands - of years ago, I was a forest fire. It was exhilarating. I spread through heat, following the spark, banishing moisture to the sky, chasing the animals from their homes, consuming everything in reach. I've never felt so powerful; so unstoppable. Then I heard the screams.

The animals knew about me; they saw the signs, and knew to run. These creatures were not so clever. They tried to run, but it was too late. I tried to stop, but I was already in the state of falling, the inevitable motion.

When you end a life, it marks you. The soul attaches to you, and doles out an eternal punishment, unless you manage to atone and make peace with it. The souls I took that day plagued me for centuries, bemoaning their lost futures, replaying their last moments of terror over and over again in my consciousness.

I admit to this, because the pack-house was surrounded by trees. I was ashamed about my actions in the past, and had no desire to repeat them, but if I didn't find a safe place to restore myself quickly, the likelihood of replicating that tragedy was incredibly high.

My options were not great. Stay outside the packhouse; cause death. Go further into the trees; likely lose control, cause another forest fire, death. Head towards town; obvious death.

I closed my eyes, opening my other senses. The pack-house was ready to burn. The trees wouldn't need much to go up either. Then I sensed it. A large body of water. Everything in me wanted to avoid it, but I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other until I was in front of it.

Any other creature probably would have appreciated the sight. A pretty little waterfall was feeding into a cute little pond. I braced myself against the pain I was about to be in.

The flesh on my feet hissed and sizzled as I dipped them into the water. I let my temperature rise. I wanted to keep myself as contained as possible, but I also felt a need to protect my inner flames from the water.

Once I was satisfied that I was far enough in the water, I let my inner flames consume my human form.

The immediate consequence of going 'full elemental' is a burst of flame I can't contain, and a barely resistable instinct to go with the rush and consume everything I can reach.

It took everything in me to bring myself under control. I hovered above the water, reveling in my truest state, but slowly willing myself back into human form. I couldn't see through the steam that surrounded me. I let myself enjoy being hot enough to banish the water molecules to the atmosphere.

When the moment was over, I drifted back down. My feet came to rest on dry ground.

It took me a moment to realise what had happened, but as the steam continued to rise, two things became apparent to me. One, I had managed to evaporate the entire pond, and two, Shaun had witnessed the entire thing.

I was about to say something about how following me had been stupid of him and I could have killed him, but he managed to get in before me:

"Tell me again why you're so afraid of water?"