The flames did not wait for him to understand.
They surged.
Nicholas barely had time to react before the fire lunged forward, closing the space between them in a violent rush of heat. Instinct took over and instantly, he threw his arms up, turning his face away as the air itself seemed to ignite.
But it did not touch him.
The heat stopped right at his hands and Nicholas froze.
His eyes opened slowly.
The fire hovered inches from his skin, twisting and folding in on itself like something alive and thinking.
"What…?" he whispered.
It pulsed.
Then struck.
Nicholas cried out as a wave of heat slammed into him, not burning through him, but into him. His body jerked backward, his feet sliding against the ground as something unseen forced its way beneath his skin.
"Stop...!"
The word broke apart into a gasp.
The fire did not listen.
It never had.
Nicholas dropped to one knee, his hands clutching at the air as if he could push it away. The heat spread through his arms, racing upward, searing through muscle and bone like a current that refused to slow.
"I said stop!"
The flames tightened.
Not around him, but within him.
Nicholas's breath shattered into uneven fragments. His vision blurred, the world tilting as the pain intensified, sharp and absolute.
This wasn't like before.
This wasn't a fire that burned and moved on.
This stayed.
"Get out!" he shouted, his voice breaking under the strain.
But the fire did not hesitate.
It consumed.
Nicholas collapsed fully this time, his body hitting the ground hard. His fingers dug into the dirt, grasping at something solid, something real, but nothing could anchor him against what was happening inside.
The heat climbed higher.
Chest.
Throat.
Head.
His heart pounded wildly, out of rhythm, as if trying to escape.
"Please…" he whispered, weaker now. "Please! just stop...!"
The flames answered.
Not with silence.
With more.
Nicholas screamed.
The sound tore out of him, raw and uncontrolled, echoing into the burning air as his body arched against the ground.
This was not pain he could endure.
This was something else.
Something is rewriting him.
"You can't fight it."
The voice returned.
Nicholas's eyes snapped open, unfocused.
"No!"
"You already know that."
His body trembled violently, every muscle locked in tension.
"I don't want this!"
"It doesn't matter."
Nicholas shook his head, tears mixing with ash on his face. "I didn't ask for this...!"
"No one does."
The fire surged again, sharper this time, more precise.
Nicholas's breath hitched violently.
"It doesn't hesitate," the voice continued, calm, certain. "It doesn't wait for you to be ready."
"Then I'm not ready!" Nicholas shouted, desperation breaking through everything else. "I can't control it. I don't even understand it!"
"You don't need to understand it."
The heat tightened, focusing now, compressing into something unbearable.
"You just need to survive it."
Nicholas's vision darkened at the edges.
"I can't…" he whispered.
"Yes," the voice replied.
The word wasn't loud.
But it cut through everything else.
Nicholas's fingers clenched into the dirt again, his body shaking uncontrollably.
The fire reached his core.
And for a moment, everything stopped.
No sound.
No movement.
No pain.
Just, dead silence.
Nicholas gasped, dragging in air like he had been underwater for too long. His body slumped forward, barely catching himself before hitting the ground again.
The heat was gone.
Not completely.
But no longer consuming him.
He stayed there for a long moment, unmoving, his breath uneven, his hands still trembling.
Slowly...
He lifted one.
Stared at it.
The burns were still there.
The pain still lingered.
But something else...
Something new...
Lived beneath his skin.
Nicholas swallowed hard.
"What… did you do to me?" he whispered.
No answer came.
The voice was gone again.
The fire around him had pulled back, no longer closing in, no longer pressing.
But it hadn't left.
It watched.
Waiting.
Nicholas pushed himself to his feet unsteadily, his legs barely holding him.
He looked at the flames ahead.
They flickered.
Then shifted.
Not away from him.
Around him.
Clearing a path.
Nicholas's chest tightened.
"This isn't over…" he said quietly.
The fire answered.
Not with movement.
With stillness.
Because it didn't need to chase him anymore.
Not when it had already entered him.
Nicholas took a slow step forward.
The path remained open.
Waiting.
And as he walked into it, the heat no longer felt like something chasing him.
Nevertheless, something was walking with him.
Fire that does not hesitate… does not leave.
Nicholas moved forward, each step uncertain, the silence around him heavier than the flames. His body no longer burned, but it remembered. Something inside him pulsed, alive, waiting. He clenched his hands, fear tightening his chest. "What are you?" he whispered. The fire did not answer. It only shifted again, deeper this time, as if listening. Then, his hand flared without warning. Not outside. From within. Nicholas froze, staring at the sudden glow beneath his skin, and realized it was beginning again.
The fire inside him awakens, and this time it answers