The feeling of hopelessness washed over his body cleansing him in self-pity, even with power, he was still useless. As he gently moved Koru from his shoulder to behind a nearby tree, teardrops formed upon the edges of his eyes. He turned to the inferno raging in front of him,he was to late. The fire twisted and contorted as the sun slowly arose in the background. With a determined look in his face, he took a few steps in his stride before heading towards the flames.

“Maddox!!” Daisy’s voice called from behind him “Maddox it is you! We have to go quickly! Come on!” she tugged at his tattered jacket hurriedly.

“Daisy?” he turned to his friend, his eyes glazed as he turned back to face the burning building “Let me go Daisy!”

“No! Maddox, we need to run quickly!” She tugged at his jacket even more “She’s not there!”

“How do you know that!”

“After you left, I sat with your mom for a while then went out to find you! but I couldn’t find you anywhere!” she explained, her voice quickened “When I came back here, the house was surrounded by everyone! I asked what was happening and they said your being banished from the village, they burned down the house and took your mother hostage! Maddox please we need to go!”

A calming wave washed over Maddox’s face, she wasn’t in there after all he thought, he trusted Daisy to tell the truth, relieved. “Ok Daisy, tell me where there keeping her, can you please stay here, keep Koru safe for me”

“...but Maddox” she protested.

“It alright” he reassured her “I won’t let anything happen to me, or her, so don’t worry ok?” he offered her a false smile, he knew she could read through it but it’s all he could do to calm her fears.

“Please be safe” She begged as she wrapped her arms around him tightly “They were saying such terrible things about you, things I know couldn’t be true!”

He looked sadly down at her face buried deeply in his chest, he hadn’t the heart to tell her the truth, with one arm around her shoulders, he patted her head and once again reassured her half-heartedly.

“Right, I’m off so please make sure Koru is safe ok?”

“Hmm” she nodded, wiping away her tears as she looked on.

As he turned to head towards the hall in the centre of the village, a screech echoed unhuman from behind him, the flames scolded and screamed as realty set in. They hadn’t captured her at all, this wasn’t justice, this was revenge, a dark shadow swayed over his contorted face as he glared back at Daisy, her own face fixated on the burning building.

“You knew!” With each footstep the ground started to shake around him, his once blue eyes, flickering to a deep crimson.

She didn’t respond, her eyes still focused on the home she had been in, minutes before the inferno started.

Maddox continued on his war path till standing in front of her, grabbing hold of her shoulders viciously “How could you!” Tears slowly streamed from his face “I don’t care what happened to me but what did she do to you!” his accusing finger pointed to the flames.

Her soul was slowly shattering as she slumped to the floor, her voice didn’t work anymore, her eyes traumatised by the engulfing flames, slowly one word slipped out, repeatedly “I...I...I...”

“I haven’t got time for this!” Maddox chided as he turned and sprinted into the flames, not looking back.

Daisy couldn’t move, that one-word repeated itself until finally “I... I didn’t know...”

As Maddox forced his way through the collapsed doorway, he called out “Mom!! Mom can you hear me!”

No voice responded, the only sound to be heard was the crackling fire, mocking him as he forced himself through the burning flames.

He called again “mom! Please! Where are you!” his tears turning to steam under the intense heat surrounding him.

Deep within the home, a sound finally broke through the flames, the sound of deep coughing entwined with the roar of the fire, enough to get Maddox’s attention, she was still alive. Further he pushed on, jumping over collapsed pillars and blacked furniture, his mind focused solely on getting to his mother. He arrived at her bedroom door, barely alive, the singed body of his mother lay there, hardly conscious but still breathing. “Thank god you’re still alive” he sighed in relief, he gently lifted his diminutive mother over his shoulder and began his way out of the building.

As he almost reached the entrance, he came across another body, barely able to stand as it stumbled its way forward “Maddox *cough* *cough* Let me help... *cough* *splutter* Daisy was barely conscious as she collapsed right before where he stood.

Looking down at her, guilt filled his mind, she really was a good friend, and also a massive idiot, how are you gonna help like this his he mused to himself. With his free arm he scooped up Daisy's spasming body and moved forward, leaving this burning hell behind him.

He carried their bodies from the debris and placed them by a nearby Birch Tree. As he squated before them, he watched with concern, waiting for them to regain consciousness. With a spluttered cough Daisy’s watery eyes opened once more, unaware she had been rescued from the fire. She looked up at the kind face of rescuer “Maddox?” her heart sank as she began to sob uncontrollably, she collapsed into his waist, clutching to the tails of his jacket “I’m so sorry!!”

He placed a warm arm on her back, shocking her at first, the tears sharply deceased as she listened to his words “Dummy, I’m sorry I snapped at you, I believe you ok? Everything’s alright now”

“Really?”

“Really”

As she clung tighter to his waist, she noticed something strange “Maddox? Your clothes?”

“Hmm” he looked down confused “What the?” he examined the material intently, but besides the damages that it withstood earlier, there were no signs of scortch marks anywhere. He continued to look at his skin, looking down at his arms, then legs, no burns. As he took a moment to think about it, how was he able to search within the house for so long? really he should of collapsed like Daisy did. Still, it wasn’t time to be looking too deep into these things right now, a third chorus of coughing had taken both their attention.

“Mom” Maddox sighed with relief.

“Hello son, glad to see your well, maybe too well” his mother glanced over the image of Daisy tightly gripping onto Maddox “I’m happy for you”

“Hey come on now” he smiled, embarrassed “you can’t be that bad if your making jokes.”

“That so?” she giggled as a splutter of coughing followed, a spatter of blood left her lips as her breathing increased.

“Hey come on now...” Maddox’s voice faltered as he sat in front of his mother.

“Sorry son” she apologised “I think I may have stayed in bed too long”

“Don’t say that!” Tears slowly started to form.

“Sorry baby, but please listen, I’ve something important to tell you, come closer”

“Sure mom, whatever you want” he moved closer towards her.

“No sex until you’re married ok” She smiled as she joked in her normal light tone, setting Maddox aback as tears began to fall harder than before.

“Jeez, I hope those aren’t your last words” He wiped away a tear, half smiling.

“Sorry, just making sure” she smiled innocently, but then her expression changed “Maddox, I’m serious now ok? Please take care of Koru, he is your birth brother, I don’t have much time left, but your parent’s left me both of you when they discovered you had inherited their powers, if you go to Naga, over the sea's, everything you wish to know should be there.”

Maddox stared at his mother, his vision losing focus, why had she kept this from them for so long?

She continued, her voice slowly weakening with each word “Don’t be mad baby, it was for the best, I truly love you so much, live your life with no regrets, live a fulfilled life for me please” Her kind face smiled honestly as the warmth of her grin slowly faded, her eyes lost their shine as she sank back into the tree, motionless, she had gone.

“Mom? Mom!” Maddox rushed to her side and held her tightly, she was cold to the touch “No please! You can’t just leave me like that! Please!” He wept and wept until he could weep no more. His tears dried as his face grew dark, his eyes grew crimson once more, the two personalities inside of him were splitting him apart.

Daisy could only watch as he battled his demons from the inside.

“They're dead... They're all dead! I’ll burn every one of them to cinders!” He howled as the sun slowly began to rise.

“M... Maddox... calm down please... your scaring me...” Daisy begged as she watched his features contort.

Two red beads set their sights on her “They all need to die Daisy can’t you see? The world won’t miss people like that will it? They just all need to burn!”

*SLAP* The red eyes looked confused at the weeping girl at first, but slowly dispersed to reveal a deep blue once more.

“Daisy?” Maddox looked at his childhood friend, her eyes swollen with tears, her face etched with anger “You’re wrong!” She screamed in frustration “No one needs to die! Innocent kids grow up here! My family live here! I don’t want anyone in this village to be hurt by you! I don’t want them to see you as a monster”

He looked deeply at her for a moment, he’d never seen her so angry before, had he said something to upset her? “you’re right” he agreed “I don’t know what I’d do without you, that hurt!” he placed his hand over his reddened cheeks.

“Don’t go saying things like that again ok?”

“I promise, if I do please feel free to hit me again”

“Ok” she nodded quietly.

Maddox once again turned to the corpse of his mother “I want to bury her, here by this tree”

“I agree”

“I think there are some shovels by the shed, hopefully the fire didn’t reach that far, could you go get them for me? I just want to spend a little time alone with her”

“Yeah that’s fine” As she walked away, she turned for a moment to see Maddox holding his mother’s hand and weeping, he really didn’t deserve any of this she thought. As she walked past the burning building, she turned the corner to see the shed, at least 10 metres away, untouched, two shovels resting against the side.

“Thank goodness” she said to her-self as she grabbed hold of the tools. From behind her, a quick hand appeared and held her mouth shut tight, as she struggled to scream, the world became dark as she passed out.