Chapter 7: The Girl Blessed By The God Of Fire

“What the? Is this the entire cause of it? Who are you? Why did you do this?” Evan said, walking to the middle of the melted ice.

“It wasn’t me. It was This. Little. Fucker. Right. Here.” A man said, punching something in front of him repeatedly.

“Hey! Stop that!” Evan said, freezing the man in place.

He walked around to see what the man was punching.

“This is horrifying.... You. Why did you do this?” Evan said, appalled.

There was a child, no more than eight, in front of the man.

His body was covered in bruises and injuries.

His hair flashed red, occasionally giving off bursts of heat.

“I see. That’s what caused the fire. You weren’t exactly right when you said it was this kid who did it. He was only the source of the fire, and the fire alone.” Evan said, approaching the child carefully.

“Hello there. I’m Evan. What’s your name?” Evan said, inching closer to try and heal the kid.

He reached out his hand, offering it to the child.

“It’s safe here, let’s move away from the bad man, okay?” Evan asked.

“NO!!” The child screamed, blasting Evan with fire magic.

Evan was sent flying by the force of the explosion.

“Ah….no….. no, not again….” the child said, looking at Evan laying on the ground.

He looked down at his hands, horrified, and angry.

“Why! Why me! What did I do?! If there is a god, tell me! Why are you letting this happen? I… killed someone... again.. Why…” the child asked, tears starting to fall from his eyes.

He wasn’t crying, he wasn’t sobbing, they just fell. Silently.

They fell on his hands as he stared at them, the drops sliding off of his hand and down his arm.

“Why…...” the child whispered, shutting his eyes, trying to stop the tears.

“Jeez. For a kid, you pack a serious punch.” Evan said, jumping to his feet and stretching.

“Huh?....you…. aren’t dead?” The kid asked, looking confused.

“Course not.” Evan said.

The kid smiled, a massive grin, tears still flowing down his face.

“Thank god.” He said, passing out.

“Hey! Woah woah woahhhoho! Jeez! Damn, at least try not to pass out onto spikes. That would have been awful.... This building is seriously shattered, though.” Evan said, catching the kid before he fell onto a sharp piece of the broken building around them.

“Look at this thing. This is so jagged and spikey. That might have actually killed him if I didn’t catch him in time.” Evan said, poking the jagged piece of broken building on the pointy tip.

“Hm. I’ll have to talk to flint about this… it’s a matter for her family. Now, as for you. What should I do? Are you this boy's father?” Evan asked.

“What boy, you idiot? That’s a girl. Let me go already or I’ll beat you too, kid.” The man snorted.

“Wait, really? Huh? Well, I guess it’s hard to tell, isn’t it. Considering what you did to her. Ignoring that for now, I can figure it out later, tell me. Why were you hitting her?” Evan asked.

“What? I was punishing my child. What’s it got to do with you?” The man asked venomously.

“Wow. Is this normal? Does this happen often in families in this country?” Evan asked.

“Of course it does.” The man said.

“Is it legal?” Evan asked.

The man fell silent.

“That’s a no, then.” Evan said, disgusted.

“So what? Why does it matter?” the man asked.

“You noticed her red pulsating hair, right? That’s caused by fire mana. That’s why everything blew up.” Evan said.

“Yeah, she’s a freak. Told you it was her fault.” the man said, spitting.

“Oh? Did I forget to mention that those symptoms happen due to overexcitement and manas’ will trying to make her happy?” Evan asked.

“I don’t know anything about magic.” the man said.

“Then, I’ll put it simply. Due to her extreme emotional trauma being stored as unstable mana in her body, it was only a matter of time before it exploded. That trauma came from you. From what you did to her. Which is why it makes me all the more sick to my stomach to see you standing there, without even a scorch mark on your body.” Evan said.

The man processed that for a second, then checked his body for injuries in a panic. He relaxed when he found none.

“How exactly am I fine?” the man asked.

“Because of her. She diverted the flames from hitting you. She bent Manas’ will without knowing anything, trying to not hurt anyone. Thankfully, from what I can guess, Mana took care of not injuring anyone else. If, however, there was something explosive that caught alight and blew up, Mana can’t stop that. So, good news for you. Someone died because of that. You will be getting a full course meal of torture.” Evan said, holding him in the air with mana.

“Please. I didn’t know. I thought it was the other way around, I promise!” The man said.

“Humans are always the same. You dug yourself even further down in your grave. You knew what was going on, didn’t you? Tell me everything. Why is someone like her here?” Evan said.

The man proceeded to tell Evan everything he knew.

“I… see. I hate saying this…. But I’m not going to kill you right now. Go back to him and run a little errand for me, will you? Maybe I’ll reconsider torturing you.” Evan said.

“What? Hell no! I’m not dumb enough to provoke him! Even if you told me to! His power and influence are second only to the emperor and god himself.” The man said.

“What a massive fucking coincidence.” Evan said, his voice sending shivers down the mans spine.

“Indeed, It really is quite a coincidence. I’ll introduce the young man who is threatening you.” the emperor said.

“Then, I’ll introduce you. Human, This is your emperor.” Evan sneered.

“And this kid is god….. Mine didn’t sound that serious… I’m not joking, though.” The emperor said.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me. Fine. I don’t have much of a choice, then… I’ll go.” The man said, running off.

“You realize he’s probably going to tell Zing everything, right?” The emperor asked.

“Zing? Oh, your underling. Yes, that’s a part of my plans.” Evan said.

“Underling?... I’ll just follow your plan..” The emperor said.

“No matter how I look at it, this is ancient china, but you really don’t seem like what people portray in the stories I read. Maybe I was just mistaken.” Evan said.

“No. Take my father, for example. He was one of the strictest people I've ever met. I’ve made this a more…...relaxing place. It’s not good for my work if I’m too stressed. It’s how my father passed away, too.” The emperor said.

“I see. I did think you guys seemed a bit different, so I took a gamble with Yumi, but this turned out a lot different than I expected. You guys seem like pretty good people, if not a little bit silly.” Evan said.

“Silly? In what way?” The emperor asked.

“Well, you seem to have ditched the normal regal look that most emperors used as a standard.” Evan said.

“We follow the rules of the holy scripture. We are allowed to be casual as we please.” The emperor said.

“Oh, right. I did put that in there, didn’t I? What else did I have them write in that thing, again?” Evan said, thinking.

“Well, I must also say, you are pretty different from what I expected our god to be like. Would you do us the honor of joining us for the annual celebration feast in a few days?” The emperor asked.