Breathe in the Embers

Part 4

It was a disaster, in every sense of the word.

The immense column of smoke rose into the sky before them, a monolithic omen that had haunted them with its continuous growth for the last twenty minutes. Twenty minutes to get to the remote camp, where hundreds of students had arrived that very morning for a camp. There would be deaths already, she was certain of it, and finding any of them alive at all would a miracle. All of the training in the world would do them little good if they couldn’t reach the fire before it claimed victims!

The fire truck raced along backwood roads, lights flashing and sirens blaring. They’d entered the outskirts of the smoke cloud, and it reflected back their lights, as though they raced through an iridescent tunnel of crimson and sapphire. Her nerves were unshaken by the prospect of fighting a wildfire, though it was incredibly dangerous. The thought of the stranded students had her sweating already, even more so than her heavy gear would normally warrant.

Maria Gissepie had faced many fires before, and though she didn’t always come out unscathed, she’d never lost a member of her crew. A fire like this one had a good chance of changing that. The smoke thickened as they approached the fire itself, each of them slipping breathing masks on smoothly, with practiced and efficient movements. It was the job to face the flames, and so it was also the job to arrive too late to help sometimes. She’d face any fire if it meant one less charred corpse ingrained forever in her memory.

These were the thoughts that filled her mind as they passed beneath the ‘Welcome to Camp Coriolis!’ sign, and they all stared in shock at the scene before them.

The camp itself was untouched. Fire raged on all sides of it, a blazing wall of heat and smoke, yet not one building was so much as charred. It quickly became evident why.

A figure walked among the students, firelight gleaming from midnight blue skin and shadow-dark hair. There was an easy confidence in that stride, and one that seemed fully justified, for everywhere she walked the lethal inferno danced to her tune.

Walking a slow circuit around the huddle of students and counselors, seemingly the entire camp, the woman breathed deeply. With each inhale the fire withered around her, the smoke dissipated, as though she drew the very energy out of them, and her own veins pulsed with an intense glow on each exhale. Sky blue eyes, burning with energy even through the smoke, turned toward them, and she grinned.

“What the hell…” the driver breathed, Maria nodding in silent agreement. It was a world brimming with heroes and powers, but this wasn’t one of either that she had heard of. Not to mention.... She gripped her crucifix beneath her uniform tightly. There were more than heroes who had powers, and it would be quite a surprise if one looked like this.

Still, for whatever reason, the demon kept the students alive. Her billowing white pants weren’t even blemished by a speck of soot, and her gold embossed armor was shining. As they pulled up, it became clear that those feet walking through still smoldering embers were bare, and yet the demon showed no sign of discomfort. Maria climbed slowly out, the rest of her crew joining her, none of them willing to turn their backs on this unknown to start combating the blaze.

As if sensing their hesitation, and knowing full well that she was the cause of it, the demon grinned, lighting up her gleaming fangs. She turned and walked into the densest part of the forest, where the blaze raged most intensely, surrounded by an abundance of fresh fuel. The firefighters turned their attention to the stretch between the camp and the river, the trees already charcoal here, the fire guttering. Even as her focus shifted, as the crew got the hose ready, Maria spared one quick glance for the mysterious being.

Where she had walked, the fire was being pulled toward a single spot, sucked away and devoured wholesale. A single bright spot, blinding even among the raging flames, walked casually through the inferno. Untouched. Unbothered. And she may have been imagining it, but she could have sworn that an echoing laugh sounded above the crackling of burning wood.